May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let
us turn to the book of Psalms and Psalm 89 and we'll read verse
15. Psalm 89 and reading verse 15. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the
light of thy countenance. This psalm is a very wonderful
and a very beautiful psalm. And it does set up the Lord God
as a high and powerful and eternal God. desire that all of us should
ever have right views of Almighty God. And we read together the
seventh verse, God is greatly to be feared in the assembly
of the saints and to be had in reverence of all them that are
about him. And so as we've gathered here
tonight, we've assembled together to realize this great truth,
God is greatly to be feared. I'm sure that very often we do
not have great and high enough views of Almighty God. Because I'm sure if we did, it
would influence our lives to a greater extent. Again, as the
Psalmist goes on in 11th verse, the heavens are thine and the
earth also is thine. for the world and the fullness
are off thou hast founded them and again gives a clear view
the greatness of God and to him being the creator of all things
and then he says thou hast a mighty arm strong is thy hand and high
is thy thy right hand. And surely as we might tremble
to think of the greatness of our God, yet to be encouraged
that we come to such a God even tonight. And that great almighty
God looks upon us and we pray therefore he will come and remember
us for good and touch our hearts and speak to our souls And so
we come down to the next verse which says, justice and judgment
are the habitation of thy throne. God is just, he's right and just
in his justice and judgment. And mercy and truth shall go
before thy face. Well, he is a God of truth and
we should be so thankful for that. But nothing in the word
of God has the vestige of any error in it, any lie in it. It
is the truth of God and we can depend upon it and we can rest
upon it and also to think of the Lord's mercy. His mercy is
from everlasting to everlasting. That's why the psalmist commenced
with this verse, I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever. Well tonight, have we not reason? to thank and praise God for his
mercies, for his mercies toward us, day by day, through our life
to the present moment of time. We haven't been cut off as a
camera of the ground. God hasn't dealt with us as our
sins deserve. He looks upon us in mercy. And so tonight do we rejoice
in the mercy of our God. And we will do if we understand
something of our sinfulness and our unworthiness of any notice
from Almighty God. And then to realize that he has
been gracious and he has had mercy upon us. And such are those
who are able then to come in with this verse we read together
this evening. Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the
light of thy countenance. The Lord tells us here who these
blessed people are. And I'm sure we want to know
that we are amongst the blessed of God. Blessed is the people
that know the joyful sound. It doesn't say Blessed is the
people that hear the joyful sound, and that is of course true, but
you see that isn't evidence of saving grace. There are many
who hear the joyful sound of the gospel, but it never touches
their heart. It never has any effect upon
them. But bless God, if we are amongst those who through his
grace know the joyful sound. Because it's those to whom the
Lord has shown himself. Those who has revealed to themselves
what a need they have. Those to whom God has revealed
himself as the great almighty God. the merciful and yet the
terrible God to all those who know him not. And perhaps therefore
the Lord in his mercy has brought us to a position where we've
trembled before Almighty God. The Lord has shown us our position
in some measure, our unholiness whereas we stand before a God
who is indeed holy. Isaiah had a view, didn't he,
of the holiness of Almighty God. And in his prophecy, he tells
us in the sixth chapter where he was blessed with that wonderful
view where he saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted
up and his train filled the temple And above it stood the seraphims. Each one had six wings, with
twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet,
and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and
said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory. Well, what a mercy if the Holy
Spirit brought us to know something of the holiness of God. It puts
things in a very different perspective to our natural life. And it lifts
God to a very high place, as it should do. And to be brought
to that position, as this seraphim did, when he cried out, holy,
holy is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory. This is the great God that the
prophet saw in a vision. This is the same great God that
we have before us today. And you may ask the question,
well, what was the effect upon Isaiah when he had that view,
when he had that view of the holiness of God? Well, he tells
us what effect it had on him. And this was the effect. He said,
woe is me. For I am undone. And that means
can also be cut off. For I am cut off. He was standing
in the holiness, presence of the holiness of a holy God. And
therefore he says, because I'm a man of unclean lips. And I
dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. For mine eyes
have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. Now, Isaiah had that
vision. But I believe God's people perhaps
don't have a vision in the same way that Isaiah did, but nonetheless
they come to that understanding that they are before a holy,
righteous God. And so we might think, well,
I don't think that's a very joyful sound. I don't think that's really
very beneficial to us. Well, it is because such a condition,
such a needy conditions, leads us to a right position. And it
leads us to a position to seek to know, to know that we are
amongst those who are the recipients of the mercy of Almighty God. And when the Lord Graciously
comes and perhaps answers our prayer and our prayer may have
well have been when I'm sure it would have been I'm sure all
God's people pray that prayer of the public and God be merciful
to me a sinner and when the Lord comes and shows to us his mercy
The unmerited mercy that we received the freedom of that mercy which
has come to us and Is it not a joyful sound? Mercy is welcome news indeed
to those who guilty stand. Have you? Do you? Do we rejoice in the mercy of
God? Do we therefore come within these
words, blessed is the people that know the joyful sound, Yes,
it hasn't been just a theoretical exercise. It's not just been
something which we've nodded our head to, but we've walked
it out by the blessed grace of God and we realise His mercy
is great. Yes, His mercy is great and wonderful
to such an unworthy sinner. You see therefore when we see
ourselves in the true light of a holy righteous God it should
make us tremble, should make us bow down and should make us
truly come and seek that we may know personally the one who dispenses
this great and glorious mercy and to know why it is dispensed
and why we receive it to make us come really then within a
more full knowledge of this great word, blessed is the people that
know the joyful sound. And it's so needful for us to
know the joyful sound of the everlasting gospel, to know the
truth of that word, that the Lord Jesus came into this world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. Now that's a wonderful
blessing. And that's cause for great joy,
to realise the Lord Jesus came to save me. Sinner as I am, evil
as I am, wretched as I am, to know that the Lord Jesus came
to save my soul. The reality is that true religion
is personal and the Holy Spirit will bring us to that case of
personal need. So that we need to know, and
we do need to know, the Lord has looked upon us and the Lord
came into this world to die upon Calvary's cross to save my soul. Now when the Holy Spirit comes
and touches our heart and moves our spirit and gives us faith
to believe the great truth of the Gospel, do not we rejoice? We understand then more fully
the words that the Psalmist is able to set before us. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. And do remember that word, know. It is to be known, this blessed,
joyful sound. And when the Lord does bless
our souls, there is joy in our hearts. And what does that do? That brings honor and glory to
our God. Yes, it's those things in our
life which bring honor and glory to God that you and I want to
see. When we are by his grace, blessed
with this knowledge of the joyful sound of the everlasting Gospel,
to know that the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world to die,
and in dying the evidence of His death of course was His shed
blood. And what a joyful sound that
is, to know that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all
sin. Not the big sins, not what we
think are the big sins, but from all sin. Yes, that's why the
Apostle Peter could come and say, we're not redeemed with
corruptible things as silver and gold from our vain conversation
received by tradition from our fathers, but with the precious
blood of Christ. Now, my friends, tonight, if
the Holy Spirit has revealed that to you and me, that we are
redeemed with the precious blood of Christ, is it not a joyful
sound? Would it will be if the Holy
Spirit has moved your heart? It will be. You'll go on the
way rejoicing, thankful to know that Almighty God, this great
God who is described in this 89th Psalm, is the God who has
given you cause to bless his name and to know the joyful sound. Now, the word goes on to encourage
us, because those who are blessed with this knowledge, they shall
walk Lord in the light of thy countenance What does that mean? What it means that the true believer
the true child of God doesn't stand still In spiritual experience
there is a walking a Walking they shall walk. Oh Lord doesn't
say well, perhaps some will it doesn't say that is it? It says,
they shall walk. We might ask, what does that
mean? That means this, that we might grow in grace and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Because as we walk,
we're walking on the gospel way. And where are we walking? We're
walking by the grace of God to the celestial city. We're on
a journey. and a journey where God is, and
a journey where God is with us in that journey. And to realize
the great truth as the psalmist tells us in the 107th Psalm,
He, the blessed God, led them forth by the right way that they
should go to a city of habitation. And you see, the Israelites,
they did progress. There were some times, of course,
when they had to stay where they were. But when the cloud moved,
they moved. They moved. And so this statement
is here. And shall walk, O Lord, in the
light of thy countenance. So it wasn't a going on where
there was no light. The 119th Psalm tells us in the
105th verse where we read, thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a
light unto my path. The Lord shines upon the path. It may not always be a very bright
light, sometimes it is, but it will be like it is here, a lamp
unto my feet. Now, if we're walking, we want
to know that the path we're taking with our feet is a good path
and a safe path. It's no good having a light high
up and we can't see when we're walking. We want the Lord to
graciously shine upon our path and for our feet. Thy word is
a lamp unto my feet. And the Lord therefore leads
his people in that right way. And the light shines like a lamp. A lamp doesn't give a light to
a great vast area, it's just really a relatively small area. But here is the needful area,
an area for our feet to walk in. Now says the Word of God,
they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. Clearly, the view here is, the
Lord will shine upon us and direct our feet so we shall walk in
the right way. And when I say that, it's the
God appointed way. As I sometimes say, the Proverbs
tells us, there is a way. that seemeth right unto a man,
but the end thereof are the ways of death." We don't want to go
in a way that seems right. Sometimes you see our flesh looks
for a route and looks for a path and we see something which is
attractive to our nature and perhaps we don't look very carefully
and perhaps we don't pray about it and we're not too concerned
because we may not be very healthy in our soul but what a blessing
it is when God comes and shines like this and he shows the light
of his countenance upon us the light of thy countenance And
what does that mean? That must mean that the Lord
is looking upon us. And we therefore see his face,
his countenance, that light, the glorious light of that countenance. And we know it is so great and
so wonderful that in glory the light of the Lord is all that's
required. in glory, no need for the sun
or moon. The Lamb is all the glory in
Emmanuel's land. And so they shall walk, O Lord,
in the light of thy countenance. We can believe, therefore, that
if the Lord has brought us to this situation so that we do
know the joyful sound. And remember, that's in a two-fold
way. First of all, our need and then
the need supplied by the work, the finished work of the Saviour.
And then as we are called the children of God and the Lord
is with us and directing us, then we will walk O Lord, in
the light of Thy countenance. Now may we know the Lord shining
upon us, upon our path. Again, it's not a question of
anyone else. You and I have to walk an individual
path. But it is the right way. It is the right way. It may not
always seem the right way. It may seem sometimes very mysterious. But the reason it may seem mysterious
is because we don't understand what the Lord is leading us to
and into. We should always seek to view
our pathway as leading through this world. through this world,
and to always remember that this world is not our rest, as Micah
says, it is polluted. It is polluted. The devil wants
you to settle down here. He wants you to believe you can
live here forever. The children of God are strangers
and pilgrims upon this earth. We're passing through it. This
is not our rest. And so we should be thankful
to have a God who leads us and who directs us in our path. And
to believe therefore that we shall walk, O Lord, in the light
of thy countenance. Because if God be for us, who
can be against us? There might be all manner of
ways which may be attractive to us, but is God shining? I suppose we should say that
in that path, in the way, if we're walking in it, if we're
walking in the right way, and the Lord is showing the light
of his countenance, it will be to view the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, the Song of Solomon
has a very beautiful statement in the second chapter where the
bride of Christ tells us, and it's good to realize what she
said, the voice of my beloved, the voice of my beloved, the
Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, he cometh leaping upon
the mountains, skipping upon the hills. My beloved is like
a rower or young heart. Behold, he standeth behind our
wall. He looketh forth at the windows, showing himself through
the lattice, his countenance shining upon us. My beloved spake
and said unto me, rise up, my love. My fair one, come away
for lo! The winter is past, the rain
is over and gone. Perhaps we've been in a time
of winter, not much life, all appears to be hidden. But when
the Lord comes and shines upon us like this, they shall walk,
O Lord, in the light of Thy countenance. There's a wonderful change. The
winter is past. The rain is over and gone. The
flowers appear on the earth. The time of the singing of birds
has come. And the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. The fig tree put it forth her
green figs. And the vines with a tender grape
give a good smell. And then the Lord says, arise,
arise, my love, my fair one, and come away. Come away from
all the poor things that drag us down, the things of time,
the things the devil wants us to be involved with, which take
us away from the great things of God. But may we therefore
be found once again walking, walking, they shall walk, O Lord,
in the light of thy countenance. And what a wonderful blessing
it is to know that there is that favour and that mercy of Almighty
God. We referred to Isaiah already
but there's another occasion in the prophecy of Isaiah where
the Lord speaks and he tells us And though the Lord give you
the bread of adversity, and you and I will have that in our life,
if we didn't, we'd be very prayerless, become very carnal. And though
the Lord give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction,
yet shall not thy teachers be removed into a corner anymore,
but thine eyes shall see thy teachers, and thine eyes shall
hear a word. behind me, saying, this is the
way, walk ye in it when you turn to the right hand and when you
turn to the left. They shall walk, O Lord, in the
light of thy countenance. You see, when we're walking,
when the Lord is smiling upon us, when we see that light, the
glorious light of the everlasting gospel, we do indeed rejoice. And perhaps we hear again the
words that Isaiah heard when he had his description described
to him. And he was able to hear those
glorious words. Come now, and let us reason together,
saith the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. And though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient,
ye shall eat the good of the land. So you're blessed with
this wonderful countenance shining upon us. But if you refuse, you
shall be devoured with a sword, for the mouth of the Lord hath
spoken it. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the
light of thy countenance. Remember the Lord said, I am
the light of the world. And my friends, it's a glorious
light to have shining and to be able to walk in that light,
to know the Lord is with us and that the Lord will not forsake
us, that we will continue to shine the light of his countenance
upon us throughout our life. It may not always be as bright
as we expect, as bright perhaps as we want, But if we receive
this grace to walk, to follow the way the Master trod, to follow
the path of the Lord Jesus Christ, to not lean to our own understanding,
in all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct their path,
direct your path, direct my path, Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. And the joyful sound is, of course,
the Word of the Lord. The Word of the Lord. Isn't it
wonderful? If we know that, it's the rejoicing
of our hearts, isn't it? Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. The Lord calls, the Lord speaks,
the Lord encourages, the Lord directs. and we hear that great
and glorious direction, and therefore we know the truth of these words,
they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance. And
such a people, by the grace of God, will be brought at last
safe home to glory, there to view the great and glorious Saviour,
who has been so gracious, so condescending, so merciful, so
full of love towards such unlovable people. Not for any good in ourselves,
but think the Lord loved us with a loving kindness. Yea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting loving kindness that cannot be
taken away. It is from God and it is everlasting. May we rejoice in it. May we
bless God for it. May we thank him for his word.
And may we be encouraged tonight, as we read this 89th Psalm, to
know how the Psalmist was moved by the Holy Spirit to write such
words for your and my encouragement. And remember this, as we just
mentioned. Thou hast a mighty arm, a mighty arm, strong is
thy hand, and high is thy right hand. The Lord supports us under
every load. The Lord is with his people through
every time, through every trial, and will bring them at last to
their desired haven. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord, in the
light of thy countenance. Amen.