May it please God to bless our
souls this evening as we consider his word. Let's turn to the book
of Psalms and Psalm 44 and we'll read the first three verses.
The first three verses in Psalm 44. We have heard with our ears,
O God, our fathers have told us What work thou didst in their
days, in the times of old? How thou didst drive out the
heathen with thy hand, and plantest them? How thou didst afflict
the people, and cast them out? For they got not the land in
possession by their own sword, neither did their own arms save
them. but thy right hand, and thine
arm, and the light of thy countenance, because thou hast a favour unto
them." We read very many times in the
Word of God about that record of reflecting upon those things
which the Lord has done. And how good it was and how good
it is for us today to reflect upon those things that God has
done. And we have the Word of God,
of course, which is full of wonderful examples of what God has done. And we have many examples since
the Word of God was written throughout the history of the world of what
God has done and the great blessing will be for us tonight if we
can find in our hearts those things that God has done. Now the psalmist commences here
by telling us we have heard with our ears O God Our fathers have
told us what work thou didst in their days, in the times of
old. And so there is a statement which
is relevant to us today. The Psalmist was able to say
that they had heard with their ears, O God, what their fathers
had told them. of those things that God had
done. And we should not forget the
importance of those things. We know there are those occasions
in the Word of God when they raised up pillars or altars so
that they might remember the way that the Lord their God had
brought them and directed them. There was a need to be reminded,
to remember what God had done. And of course, we today have
one very relevant and very important occasion to remember, and that
is the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as we're able to
gather together for that communion, for the Lord's Supper, surely
that is a time that we've heard of with our ears, O God, and
our fathers have told us. It's not something that we should
want to forget, not something that we should turn aside from.
And important it is that we who are fathers or mothers or mothers
in Israel, it matters not really, that there should be that conveying,
that speaking of those things which the Lord has done. Indeed,
we're told, aren't we, to tell it to the generation following. Remember in Moses' day, how concerned
he was, especially when he wrote the book of Deuteronomy, that
those who followed might be reminded of the things that God had done
for them. To such an extent, they might
speak about them and speak about them when they went walking when
they laid down, when they got up, when they ate. Every opportunity
they were to speak of those things which God had done for them. Well, I'm sure to a large extent
we fall short today. But it would be good, you know,
if we did reclaim that kind of position so that the name of
God was constantly before the people, our children, those we
meet with the Lord ordained in remembrance that occasion
of the Passover so that the people of Israel might remember the
occasion when they came out of Egypt. It was a wonderful deliverance. There are many deliverances recorded
in the Word of God. There are many deliverances of
which perhaps you and I have been blessed with. We're not
to hide them. Here we have this thing. We have
heard with our ears, O God. It's good when we can say that,
when we can confirm that we've indeed heard with our ears, O
God. Our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their
days, in the times of old. And that Passover was instituted
and we read in Exodus that ye shall say it is the sacrifice
of the Lord's Passover who passed over the house of the children
of Israel in Egypt when he smoked the Egyptians and delivered our
houses and the people bowed their head and worshipped. It was instituted
so that the children of Israel might remember that occasion
And more importantly, they might be pointed to the Lamb of God,
who taketh away the sin of the world. It is important that those
historical accounts, those historical occasions, always direct us to
deliverance and to the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a wonderful
example that Passover was. We see there that Lamb taken
as perfect as could be. Christ was the Lamb of God. He was the perfect Lamb of God. But there was to be taken that
Lamb of God. That Lamb as perfect as could
be found. And it was to be slain. And the blood was to be taken. and that blood placed upon the
doorpost and lintels. And what did that signify? It
signified that all those who passed into the dwellings, there
was safety under the blood. And so today, there is only eternal
safety, as you and I found under the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a wonderful occasion,
a wonderful statement to make. We have heard with our ears,
oh God, our fathers have told us of such a great and important
truth and the significance of it. Although carried out those
many years before, yet when the Saviour came, what did He do? He gave His life as a Lamb of
God, as that sacrifice, roast in the fire That signified roast
and the wrath of God, enduring the wrath of God for His church.
These are very important things. They are not just historical
accounts. They are historical accounts. They teach us and they lead us
to Christ. So may it be so today. May there
be that statement in our lives and that the lives of our children,
the lives of those we meet with are able to come and say, We
have heard with our ears, O God. Our fathers have told us what
work Thou didst in their days in the times of old. What does it do? It brings glory
to God. What else does it do? It points
us to Christ. And what else does it do? May
it stir up the hearts to seek unto the Lord and to understand
the great and glorious truths which are contained in the Word
of God. And of course it was not just
the Passover. There were all those continual
sacrifices which again signified the need of shed blood to be
accepted And then there was that great and wonderful day of atonement
when the High Priest went into that holy place. The Holy of
Holies, not without blood. And let us remember, that Holy
of Holies represented heaven. It represented heaven. It was
symbolic of that. And who was in the midst? The
Lord Himself. and what was there the mercy
seat and what did the high priest do he went in to that holy of
holies on that annual occasion at day of atonement not without
blood but to receive the atonement for the sins of israel oh how
wonderful then to have these things set before us as those
in the Old Testament desired to set these scenes before them,
before their people, before their children. And of course they
didn't have the privileges that we have today of the New Testament
explaining to us the great blessing that those ceremonies signified. But they were so relevant and
they were so important. So it's good to read a statement
like this. We have heard it's good if we
have heard we're able to confirm yes we've heard it with our ears
it's been spoken oh god our fathers have told us what work thou didst
in their days in the times of old the work of the lord appeared
and it's good to remember and to observe the work of the lord
appearing not only then in those occasions recording the Word
of God but in our lives today to be able to record those things
which the work of God it's a glorious theme and it's a theme we desire
to observe we don't want to be blind and go about with blind
eyes just eyes for the things of this world We need to go about
with spiritual eyes desiring to see and to see the work of
the Lord. We have heard with our ears,
O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their
days in the times of old. And then he says, how thou didst
drive out the heathen with thy hand and plantest them. How thou
didst afflict the people and cast them out. The enemies of
the Lord rose up against Israel. And there were many, many deliverances. And my friends, Israel never
deserved it. Israel often complained. They rebelled about what God
ordained for them. They complained about the hardness
of the way. especially on that journey through
the wilderness. He wanted to return to that place
of captivity in Egypt. The Lord didn't deal with them
as their sins deserved. The Lord was gracious and long-suffering. And indeed He drove out the heathen
with His hand and planted them How this afflicted the people
and cast them out. There were those occasions when
the enemies, those nations rose up and the Lord afflicted those
nations. Sometimes with a great slaughter.
And they died overnight. Sometimes the Lord granted great
deliverances as the children of Israel fought the battles. Well, since scriptural times,
The Lord has again appeared on many occasions. He's appeared
to us as a nation, has he not? And it's good to remember and
to speak of those deliverances, those wonderful deliverances
which we've had in times of war. We can go back through our history
and see on many occasions the goodness of the Lord, how he
drove out the heathen with his hand and planted them how thou
didst afflict the people and cast them out. Now we should
remember that our God still rules and reigns today. He is the same
yesterday and today and forever and He still can do great and
wonderful things. Let us not limit our God and
let us speak well of Him and to remind ourselves and to remind
our families and the children, the people we come in contact
with, of what the Lord has indeed done. And then we come on to
this third verse. This is what we read here. For
they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did
their own arms save them, but thy right hand and thine arm
and the light of thy countenance Because thou hast a favour unto
them. Well we can take this in two
ways. First of all we can take it in a natural way. And then
we can take it in a spiritual way. Well we know that naturally
God did have a favour to Israel. Israel were a chosen people. They were a peculiar people.
And the Lord ordained that that nation should be greatly blessed. We look back and we see how Abraham
was commanded to leave the Chaldees, the place where he was born,
his homeland. And he went out not knowing whether
he went. But what did he have? He had
faith in God. And we today need faith in God. Abraham, he didn't hesitate. He went out. It's a long journey. It's a long journey through the
desert. It wasn't an easy journey. But the Lord was with him. And
the Lord was with his family and with his children. The Lord
promised Abraham that there would be a great nation like the stars
in the sky. And so it came to pass. And the Lord promised them that
they would indeed come and dwell in the land of Canaan. Now that
promise was given many years before the fulfilment of it. My friends, the Lord sometimes
gives promises and many years have to elapse until the fulfilment
of the promise. Many things had to occur. Many great miracles had to be
performed. The Lord's power had to be demonstrated
and observed. No doubt they thought these things
would occur much quicker. The Lord had His purposes. The
Lord had His timing. And as we read the account of
Israel as they grew from Abraham until the time that they entered
into Canaan, we see how God's purposes were fulfilled in a
very, very remarkable way. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph,
the patriarchs. You think of it. You think of
the leading of the Lord. They got not the land in possession
by their own sword, neither did their own arms save them. The
Lord directed them. The Lord went before them. especially perhaps we might think
in Joseph's case, in Jacob's case, how remarkable were their
lives. And yet they were in accordance
with God's divine purpose. A wonderful blessing was brought
about. Jacob had to go away for a long
time. The Lord was with him. The Lord
prospered him. The Lord blessed him. Jacob was blessed with those
sons. We see Joseph blessed with those
promises. And then, how they seem to be
so distant. Put in prison, not for any sins
of his own. Wrongly judged. But we read,
God was with him. The blessing is to know that
God is with us and we're told until the time
that promise is fulfilled, the word of God tried him. So in
our lives today, we can believe. Lord gives us a promise. We can
be sure that promise will be tested and it will be tried to
determine whether it is from the Lord or not. And then in
Joseph's case, when deliverance came in such an unexpected way,
but when it came, what a wonderful outworking there was of that
dream, or those dreams rather, which Joseph had. And so we see
then, the beginning of the fulfilment of these words for they got not
the land in possession by their sword. Israel then had to dwell in Egypt
for 400 years according to the word of the Lord. Yes, and they
were delivered not by their own sword. The Lord
delivered them out of Egypt again in that wonderful way. so that
in the end Pharaoh let them go. They came out of Egypt, the Lord
prepared for them going across the Red Sea. He was with them
those 40 years in the wilderness. Although they were disobedient,
although they disobeyed the Lord when he told them to go up and
possess the land, they believed. That view of those 10 spies and
didn't listen to Caleb and Joshua. But nonetheless, the Lord was
merciful. They had to suffer. They had
to journey 40 years in the wilderness because of their unbelief. A
year for a day that the spies were in Canaan. But what do we
observe at last? The Lord brought them across
Jordan and into Canaan. And that was really not by their
own sword, because although that land of Canaan, that town of
Jericho was very strongly fortified, the people were very strongly
armed inside, yet the Lord wrought that wonderful deliverance and
the walls of Jericho fell down, fell down flat. Israel could
not claim that it was their work. They had to acknowledge it was
the Lord that had appeared for them, for they got not the land
in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arms save
them. No, it wasn't anything that they
were able to do in of themselves. By comparison, they were a weak
people. But God gave them strength and
God appeared and so we can follow the account of Israel overcoming
those lands in Canaan and taking possession of that promised land. And so it came to pass. Now we can look at this from
this perspective. They were brought safely home
to that promised land. They had that land in possession,
not by their own sword, Neither did their own arms save them.
And it's the same spiritually with the Church of God. They come and they possess the
promised land. That land which is afar off. That land of glory. That land
where all God's people arrive at safely in glory. It's not because of what they've
done. It's not because of their ability. It's not because of their ableness,
their strength. It's because of what the Lord
has done. If you and I get to glory, it'll
be because of what God has done for us. won't be what we've done
it will be what he's done so we read neither did their own
arms save them but some very important buts in the word of
God and here is a but which is very important but thy right
hand and thine arm and the light of thy countenance that's what
saved Israel and that's what saves the people of God today. It's the hand of the Lord that
comes upon us, that hand which directs us, that hand which stops
us, that hand perhaps which stops us in our wild career. We were heading for a lost eternity. The Lord put forth His hand and
stops us. The Lord was gracious. The Lord
was merciful. Thy right hand and Thine arm. Yes, the Lord comes and draws
us to Himself, puts His arm around us. Yes, it wasn't us. It was God. And we read those
words so clearly. As he said in the 15th of John,
you have not chosen me, but I have chosen you. We would never choose
God ourselves because being dead in trespasses and sins, we will
be content with the poor things of this world. When the Lord
comes and puts his hand upon us, He puts, as it were, His
arm around us and shows us that He's taking control. But He it is that's leading and
directing us. He it is that has the land, that
heavenly land, that land of glory and Thine arm and the light of
Thy countenance. It's as God shines into our heart,
the light of His countenance. He shines His light into our
heart. It's not our light. We are in
darkness and gross darkness. But blessed be God if He has
come and shone His light into our hearts. What does that light
do? It does two things really. first
of all it reveals to us what we really are before that we didn't see we
didn't observe it we're carrying on in our mad career but when
the light that light shines into our hearts my friend you and
i cannot put that light out we may try to perhaps but that light
is an eternal light It's God's light. When it shines into our
heart, it reveals to us who we are and what are we. A base, vile and ruined sinner
with no goodness in ourself. Bless God if that light has shone
into our hearts to reveal that to us. And we will find it is because
God has a favour unto us. And it is a very wonderful thing
to have it revealed to us that God has a favour to us. And if
he has a favour to us, that light will shine into our hearts and
it will reveal ourselves. And it must reveal ourselves.
Because if it does not reveal ourselves, we will never have
a need of a Saviour. And the reason? We'll be content
with our own abilities. We can be content with our own
situation. And we'll carry on content with
our life. When the Lord shines into our
hearts and shows us a little of ourselves and it will only
be a little when that light shines to begin with but we'll stand
then and we'll have to hang our head and we'll have to confess
that we are the sinner we won't be looking around to compare
ourselves with other people we won't be then thinking well I'm
not as bad as that person and I don't do that what those people
do when the light shines shines into our hearts so that we are
indeed like David was when Nathan came and he spoke those words,
Thou art the man. And David knew he was the man. He knew on that occasion that
it was the Spirit of God that was speaking to him. Yes, he
thought he hidden his sin. We might sometimes think that
we might hide our sin, but you'll never hide sin from God. You
may think, like David did, he'd hidden his sin for some time.
But in due time, the Lord came and shone it through his heart
and convicted him and convinced him that he indeed was that sinner. And so then he comes and he pleads
that the Lord would cleanse him, would wash him. Wash me thoroughly
from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin. When that light
shines into the heart, it convinces us in that way, it's not just
something superficial that rubs off. It's indelible in our heart.
We need the Lord to come and to cleanse us and to wash us
from all our sin and iniquity. And what will He make us do?
Like it did David. He had to acknowledge his sin.
That's not something we like to do. We don't like to confess
we've made mistakes. We don't like to confess we've
sinned. We don't like to confess we've done those things that
are wrong. But you see, when the light shines into our hearts,
then we have to come, we have to acknowledge our transgressions. David said his sin was ever before
him. He couldn't shake it off. He
couldn't get rid of it. It was there. My friends, our
sin will be there until the Lord washes it away. The light shines. to shine all the sin. You won't
be able to get rid of it. Now that's the difference between
those who are blessed in this way and those who are not. The light shines into our hearts
and so then it will be a cry like it was with David. He was
convinced and convicted of his sin and he says make me to hear
joy and gladness he wanted to hear the good news and bless
god then if he shines into our heart with the good news of the
gospel and what would that be to reveal christ to reveal christ
as our savior to come in in a right way and david was brought to
that, because he comes and says, the sacrifices of God are a broken
spirit, a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou would not
despise. The light had shone into his
heart, convicted him of his sin, directed him to the Saviour with
that hope for forgiveness, and recognizing he needed the blessing
of that broken spirit, a broken, a contrite heart, O God thou
would not despise, that really means to be truly sorry for sin,
not something trifling, not something which was just easily passed
off, but when the Holy Spirit shines that light into our hearts,
it is a lighter conviction. And so then Can we come and bless
God when that light shines and reveals to us the way of salvation,
the way of forgiveness? We may not have understood anything
truly of the Gospel until the light really shines. It's just
words. When the Spirit of God shines
into our heart through His countenance The light of Thy countenance.
We then come and we see Jesus. I believe we see Jesus, you see,
in two ways. We see Him when we're committed of sin as our
judge. That light and the countenance
of the Saviour as our judge. And we are guilty. And we aren't
able to defend ourselves. We might try to begin with. And
that light truly shines. We won't be able to defend ourselves.
We'll be defenseless. We won't have any weapons. We'll
stand helpless before a holy God. We'll be unrighteous. We'll be unholy. And we'll feel
it. Realize we stand in the presence
of a holy righteous judge of all the earth. And then to see the Saviour,
to see His countenance and see in that countenance, mercy, grace
and love. That which we never deserved.
Because thou hast a favour unto them, because thou hast a favour
unto us and what a blessing that will be when we then view the
saviour not as our judge but then as that one who has died
in our place that one who's atoned for all our sins that one who
has suffered in our place oh what a difference that will make
the difference that will make in our lives We'll be a changed
person when the light shines and reveals Christ. What a blessing
that is. It wasn't us by right. It wasn't
anything in ourselves. It wasn't our sword, neither
our arm that saved us. It was the Saviour who saved
us. And what would this mean? I believe
it will mean this, Jesus will become a reality. Jesus will
be precious to us. Jesus will mean something to
us. And then you see, I believe we'll
then begin to look forward to that land in possession. That heavenly land. And I believe
that then will be that desire to see Jesus and that desire
to go and to be with Jesus. Now, of course, we have the continual
conflict between our old nature, which cleaves the things of this
life, and the new nature, which seeks after holiness, seeks after
Christ, and seeks after eternal blessings and looks forward to
eternal favours in glory. Be not surprised at the conflict. Be not surprised. It's difficult
sometimes to look forward to the glory of Emmanuel's land. But bless God, sometimes if we're
lifted up a little from the poor things of this life and we might
then perhaps understand what Peter said when he wrote his
epistle. And he said, Blessed be the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his
abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by
the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. The light has
shone and may the light shine into our hearts like that so
we do view Christ crucified And we then view Christ risen from
the dead, a conqueror over sin, hell and the grave, to an inheritance
incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved
in heaven for you who are kept by the power of God. When that
light shines, we have a reserved place in glory. We always have.
But then tonight's reserved for us. It reveals to us that the
Lord God Almighty in His great love and mercy has indeed reserved
a place for sinful you and me. And it is an inheritance. It's our inheritance. The Lord Jesus has died, and
this is the inheritance. Eternal life in glory. And who is it to? You, who are
kept by the power of God, through faith, unto salvation, ready
to be revealed in the last time. It is by faith. You and I walk
by faith. the light shines into our hearts
we walk by faith not by sight faith is tested faith is tried
but nonetheless it is through faith under salvation ready to
be revealed in the last time we're in he says ye greatly rejoice
though now for a season if need be ye are in heaviness through
manifold temptations. There are some times. And it's
needful. The Lord knows the needful. If
there's a need to be in your life and my life, that it is
through many temptations. The devil is very active. He
goes about, sometimes an angel of light trying to tempt us here
and there. He says at the trial of your
faith. fire of our faith being much more precious than of gold
that perisheth. Though it be tried with fire,
it might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing
of Jesus Christ, whom, having not seen, ye love." It's a wonderful
blessing to be given that faith. and that love. Now that love
comes to us as we behold and receive the love of God to us. It's not that we loved God, but
that he loved us. For they got not the land in
possession by their own sword, neither did their own arms save
them, but thy right hand and thine arm, and the light of thy
countenance, because thou hadst a favour unto them. Now this
means that all the glory, all the glory will redound to our
God. It means that you and I can claim
nothing. We are lost and ruined in the
fall, no hope in self. But as that light shines, we
look out of ourselves, condemned though we are, we look out of
ourselves to the Lord Jesus Christ, believing those words which the
Apostle spoke when he wrote to the Church of Rome. There is
therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. The blessing is, when that light
shines, we're in Christ Jesus and we're in Him forever. Our eternal state is secure. Lord has reserved a place that
we will inhabit and we shall by his grace be one day around
that throne in heaven singing his praises for what he's done
for his great love toward us it'll be an eternity of blessing
an eternity of favor and we shall find the land is in possession
not by what we've done but through what the Saviour has done who
has come to redeem our soul and to save us from all our sins. Well, may we rejoice tonight
in the truth of God and remember all the Word of God in all points
to the mercy and the favour and the blessing of the Lord toward
His Church and what His Word says is true. Amen.