The notices for the coming week
are God willing as follows. Pastor will preach here next
Lord's Day at 10.30 and two o'clock. Also on Thursday evening at seven
o'clock. There'll be a prayer meeting
here on Tuesday evening at seven o'clock. Let us commence our
services today by singing together hymn number 737, The tune is Synod 245. Sorry,
the tune is Buckland 450. Gracious Lord, incline thy ear My requests vouchsafe to hear. Hear my never-ceasing cry. Give me Christ, or else I die. Hymn 737. Give me Christ, or else I die. Well that donor, I did say, Hath
decomposed load of pain, He shall in earth stand his pride, Give me Christ, or else I die. No pain I behold, thou wilt Amazing,
all my guilt, Subject at Thy feet I lie, Give me Christ, or
else I die. O unholy and unclean, I am nothing
else but sin. ? Of thy mercy I rely ? ? Give
me Christ, or else I die ? Help us really save the Lord,
In Thy grace alone may trust. If I am ensued from life, give
me Christ, or else I die. that has promised to forgive
all who in Thy Son believe. O Thine alabaster light, Let us read together from the
holy word of God in the second book of Samuel and chapter 7 the second book of Samuel, chapter
7. And it came to pass, when the
king sat in his house and the Lord had given him rest round
about from all his enemies, that the king said unto Nathan the
prophet, see now, I dwell in a house of cedar, but the ark
of God dwelleth within curtains. And Nathan said to the king,
Go to all that is in thine heart, for the Lord is with thee. And
it came to pass that night that the word of the Lord came unto
Nathan, saying, Go and tell my servant David. Thus saith the
Lord, Shalt thou build me an house for me to dwell in? whereas
I have not dwelt in any house since the time that I brought
up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but
have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all the places
wherein I have walked with all the children of Israel, spake
I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to
feed my people Israel, saying, Why build ye not me an house
of cedar? Now therefore, so shalt thou
say unto my servant David. Thus saith the Lord of hosts,
I took thee from the sheep coat, from following the sheep, to
be ruler over my people, over Israel. And I was with thee whithersoever
thou wentest. and have cut off all thine enemies
out of thy sight, and have made thee a great name, like unto
the name of the great men that are in the earth. Moreover, I
will appoint a place for my people Israel, and will plant them,
that they may dwell in a place of their own, and move no more. Neither shall the children of
wickedness afflict them any more as before time, And as since
the time that I commanded judges to be over my people Israel,
and have caused thee to rest from all thine enemies, also
the Lord telleth thee that he will make thee in house. And
when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep with thy fathers,
I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out
of thy bowels. and I will establish his kingdom.
He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the
throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he
shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will
chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children
of men. But my mercy shall not depart
away from him, as I took it from Saul, whom I put away before
thee. And thine house and thy kingdom
shall be established for ever before thee, thy throne shall
be established for ever. According to all these words,
and according to all this vision, so did Nathan speak unto David. Then went King David in, and
sat before the Lord, And he said, who am I, O Lord God? And what is my house that thou
hast brought me hither to? And this was yet a small thing
in thy sight, O Lord God. But thou hast spoken also of
thy servants' house for a great while to come. And is this the
manner of man, O Lord God? And what can David say more unto
thee? For thou, Lord God, knowest thy
servant for thy word's sake, and according to thine own heart
hast thou done all these things to make thy servant know them.
Wherefore thou art great, O Lord God, for there is none like thee,
neither is there any God beside thee, according to all that we
have heard with our ears. And what one nation in the earth
is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem
for a people to himself, and make him a name, and to do for
you great things and terrible. For thy land, before thy people,
which thou redeemest to thee from Egypt, from the nations
and their gods. For thou hast confirmed to thyself
thy people Israel to be a people unto thee for ever. And thou,
Lord, art become their God. And now, O Lord God, the word
that thou hast spoken concerning thy servant and concerning his
house, establish it for ever, and do as thou hast said. And
let thy name be magnified for ever. saying, the Lord of hosts
is the God of Israel, and let the house of thy servant David
be established before thee. For thou, O Lord of hosts, God
of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying, I will build
thee an house. Therefore hath thy servant found
in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. And now, O Lord God,
thou art that God, and thy words be true, and thou hast promised
this goodness unto thy servant. Therefore, now let it please
thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may continue
for ever before thee, for thou, O Lord God, hast spoken it. And with thy blessing, let the
house of thy servant be blessed for ever. May the Lord bless
that portion of his own precious word and grant unto us a spirit
of real prayer. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God almighty,
which is an art, an art to come, the high and lofty one that inhabits
eternity, whose name is holy, Father, Son and Holy Ghost, we
bow before thy great majesty, the only true God, and Jesus
Christ, whom thou hast sent. O most gracious Lord, may we
worship thee this day. We come, Lord, as poor sinners.
We would not rush heedlessly into thy presence, but we would
come confessing our sins and our sinfulness, our emptiness
and our poverty, our insufficiency, our helplessness. Because of
our sinful condition, we prove the truth, O Lord, of thy word.
The heart of man is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked, and we painfully feel it. From the crown of our head
to the sole of our foot, wounds and bruises and putrefying sores,
there is no soundness in my flesh. But O, we do thank thee, most
gracious Lord, that there is one God and one mediator between
God and man, the man Christ Jesus, who gave his life of ransom for
all to be testified in due time. May the grace of our Lord Jesus
Christ, the love of God our Father, the sacred fellowship of the
Holy Spirit rest and abide upon us. We do humbly beseech of thee
this day. We pray for the power of the
Holy Ghost, for the unction of the Holy One to be known and
felt in our hearts, in our souls, in pulpit and in pew, even this
day. that we may worship Thee in spirit
and in truth, that we pray for those divine drawings of our
eternal Father to draw us unto His best beloved and all-glorious
Son, that we may lay hold of that hope that is set before
us in the Gospel, that we may touch the hem of Jesus' garment,
that we may draw from that fullness that is in Him We thank thee
for God manifest in the flesh, that profound mystery of godliness. We thank thee that in him, as
he was made of a woman and made under the law, the law has been
fulfilled and honoured and magnified and thy name has been glorified. Oh, we do thank thee for what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done. Our hope is in his glorious person. in that precious redeeming work
that he has wrought out for his people. We thank thee that our
sins were laid upon him. All our sins, all our iniquities
were laid upon him. We thank thee, most gracious
Lord, that he took our sins and he nailed them to his cross.
We thank thee that he suffered and bled and died for our sins. Gracious Lord, oh, we do bless
thee, we do thank thee, we do adore thee. God so loved the
world, he gave his only begotten son. We thank thee that he died
for our sins and rose again for our justification and is bodily
ascended into heaven and sitteth at thy right hand. That we indeed
have a great high priest We come before thee, O Lord, with thanksgiving,
with praise, with adoration for the wonder and the glory of the
person and work of our Lord Jesus Christ. For through him we have
access by one spirit unto the Father. We pray, most gracious
Lord, that thou wouldst bless us as a church and as a congregation. Remember our brethren, the deacons,
and give them needed grace, wisdom, and help. Remember each one of
our brethren and sisters in church fellowship, and unite us together,
draw us together in the bonds of Christian love, union, and
communion. May we each be found endeavoring
to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. We do humbly
beseech of thee. Or we pray, most gracious Lord,
that thou wouldst bless the little ones, the children that gather
with us. We love to see them and hear
them in the sanctuary. Or we pray that they may be blessed
in their young and tender years. That thou wouldst suffer those
little children to come unto thee. Gracious Lord, do hear
us, we pray thee. Put the fear of the Lord, which
is the beginning of wisdom, into their hearts. The dear young
friends, bless them indeed. Guide them, O thou great Jehovah,
guide them to thyself. Bring them to living faith in
Jesus Christ and make them true followers of thee and of those
who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises. We pray
thy blessing, dearest Lord, upon them in all the paths of providence,
in their education, that they may be guided in future employment,
thou wilt grant them a partner in life's journey. Oh, do hear
us, Lord. We humbly beseech thee. We lovingly
commend them to thee and to the word of thy grace, which is able
to build them up and to grant them an inheritance among them
that are sanctified. We pray for the prodigals that
have wandered from the sanctuary. We pray that thou wilt stretch
out thy almighty arm and cause them to be in want and cause
them to return. Oh, do hear us, Lord, in heaven,
thy holy dwelling place, and when thou hearest, O Lord, forgive,
we do humbly beseech thee. And we pray that thou wouldst
give wisdom and grace unto parents, that they, O Lord, may be given
that grace to bring up their children in the nurture and admonition
of the Lord. and that there may be the raising
of the family altar, the reading of the word and prayer to be
made in the family. Hear us, Lord, we humbly pray
thee. Make us more spiritually minded,
set our affections on things above and not on things of the
earth. Grant, O Lord, that we may be
favoured to see thy work appearing and thy power known. Deliver
us from the temptations of the enemy, even Satan, the old serpent,
the devil, and graciously fulfil thy promise that when the enemy
comes in like a flood, the spirit of the Lord will lift up a standard
against him. Grant that the Lord Jesus Christ
may be exalted among us, may be lifted high on the gospel
pole, that poor sinners may look and live. Hear us, O Lord. we humbly beseech of thee for
thy great name's sake. Send out thy light and thy truth
into this village, graciously gathering precious souls from
the surrounding villages and hamlets. Oh, that we may see
thy work and thy power and thy glory in the gospel. The strongholds of Satan poured
down, the kingdom of our Lord Jesus set up in the hearts of
sinners. O Lord of hosts, O God of Israel,
O Thou that dwellest between the cherubim, shine forth before
Ephraim, Benjamin, and Manasseh, and come and save us. Let Thy
hand be upon the man of Thy right hand, the son of man whom Thou
madest strong for Thyself, so will not we turn back from Thee.
Gracious God, incline Thine ear. Thou hast promised in Thy word,
I will bring Thy sons from far. and thy daughters from the ends
of the earth, and they shall come from the north and from
the south and from the east and from the west. O gracious God,
let thy work appear unto thy servants and thy glory unto their
children. We pray thy blessing upon those
of us in the evening time of life's journey, that we may be
graciously prepared for that great day. And now my God, prepare
my soul for that great day and wash me in thy precious blood,
take all my sins away. And oh Lord, we do pray that
thou would remember all in affliction and sadness and sorrow, bereavement,
support, sustain and strengthen them. We do humbly beseech thee. And gracious God, We do pray
that thou wouldst hear prayer for all thy servants as they
labour in word and doctrine upon the walls of Zion today, that
thou wouldst set them free and at liberty, that thou wouldst
grant mighty signs and wonders to follow the preaching of the
word, that there may be an outpouring of thy spirit in this dark day
in which we live. Oh, hear us in heaven, thy holy
dwelling place. We do humbly beseech thee. And,
O Lord God, we do pray that thou wouldst graciously remember the
little hills of Zion up and down our nation, indeed throughout
the nations of the earth, O that thou wouldst grant thy gospel
good success. We do humbly beseech that thou
wouldst return unto Jerusalem with mercies, that thou wouldst
make bare thine holy arm And oh Lord God, we do pray that
thou in thy precious mercy would remember those who labor in word
and doctrine throughout the nations of the earth. We think of Ian
Sadler and that great work that he does in India and Pakistan
and Burma and Africa. Lord, supply all his many returning
needs and grant good success to his labors. Remember the Mombasa
mission, and grant thy blessing there upon thy servant as he
labours, that there may be an in-gathering, and that thy people
may be built up in their most holy faith. And, O Lord God,
we do pray that thou wouldst remember the Savannah Education
Trust and that great work that they are doing in Ghana, and
may it redound to the honour, glory, and praise of thy great
and holy name. Remember those in other nations
that do not have the freedoms and liberties that we have. Lord,
those that are persecuted for Jesus Christ's sake, send them
help from this sanctuary and strengthen them out of Zion.
We do humbly beseech of thee. O Lord, we pray for our nation.
We pray for our King and the Queen. Thy blessing may rest
upon them and upon all the royal household. We do humbly beseech
them that thy rich gospel may reach into their hearts for thy
great namesake. Remember all that rule over us
and give wisdom, guidance and direction in all matters. Oh
Lord, we do humbly beseech of thee. We thank thee for every
favour and every blessing. Thy mercies are new every morning
and great is thy faithfulness. Make up in giving where we do
so fail in asking. And come and touch one's lips
with a live coal from off the heavenly altar. We ask for Jesus
Christ's sake. Amen. Let us now sing together hymn
number 732. The tune is Indulgence 547. Indulgent
God how kind are all thy ways to me whose dark benighted mind was
enmity with thee, yet now, subdued by sovereign grace, my spirit
longs for thy embrace. Hymn 732. Dear God, dear God,
? Praise God the Almighty ? ? By
force and might He willed me ? ? In the certain rights of
His people ? O come, O come, all ye faithful joyful and triumphant, They slowly, on my footstep,
captivate my soul. Christ the Lord is born in Bethlehem. ? My feet they trace to them ?
? And there should I have gone ? ? How can God hold this well? ? Thy love, God's strength, Thy
mercy free, Earth from the pit deliver me. ? Of grace ? ? A sinner slain by
God ? ? Has returned ? ? All thy days gone ? ? To the ground
there ? As in His wondrous mercy sleep
eternal hope sunk Greatly feeling to need the Lord's
gracious help, direct your attention to Psalm 138, and we'll read
the eighth verse for our text. Psalm 138, read in verse eight
for our text. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me, Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not
the work of thine own hands. Those far more learned than me
believe that this psalm was penned by David in what we read in the
seventh chapter of the second book of Samuel. It's a psalm
of thanksgiving. It's a psalm of praise unto the
Lord for all that the Lord had done for him. He had rest from
his enemies. He had many enemies. There were
times when he thought those enemies would overcome him and would
destroy him. On one occasion, David said,
there is but a step between me and death. And on another occasion
he said, surely I shall fall by the hand of Saul. But you
see, my beloved friends, he was brought to see the mercy of God
and the goodness of God in preserving, in keeping, in delivering him
from the hand of his enemies. And these things are recorded
to encourage us that the Lord will indeed perfect
or complete that which concerneth me. In this psalm, he commences
this Psalm 138, O praise thee with my whole heart. You notice
when the Lord spoke to him. He spoke of his family for a
great way to come. And you'll also notice in what
we read together, that it would bless his house forever. Now
we know that David's actual literal house as king did not stand and
undergird in each of those promises concerning Solomon and his seed
was the fact that there would be raised up a king that would
rule upon his throne. And that King is Jesus Christ,
the King eternal, immortal and invisible, the only true God.
And if you trace through the Old Testament, right from the
Garden of Eden when the first promise was given of the seed
of the woman, and that of course is speaking of Christ to be born
of the Virgin Mary, you notice how as we come through that lineage
of Christ in Holy Scripture, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and
Right the way down through it's listed in the Matthew and Luke's
Gospels that lineage right through the Old Testament of the seed
of Christ there was one occasion that when that was down to one
person and that Child its life was preserved and kept Just that
one child that was left And there was one seeking to destroy that
one child. And yet, that child lived. Why? Because he was in the lineage
of Christ. He was a child of promise. What
a mercy if we are children of promise. It's like I've often
said to you, it's very clear, very, very clear in Romans and
in the Galatians in particular, that the seed of Abraham the
Christian church is the seed of Abraham. And it's couched
in those beautiful words to Abraham, in thee shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. That blessing was not only on
Israel, it was upon all the nations of the earth. And of course that
was fulfilled in the coming of Christ. And the divine command
after Christ Redeemed his people and that before just before he
was about to ascend into glory He said to his disciples go ye
into all the world Preaching the gospel unto every creature
That was the divine command and it's still the divine command
today go ye into all the world preaching the gospel unto every
creature and the Lord he promises that he would caused his servants,
their seed to be cast into good ground. So David, here in the remembrance
of the Lord's goodness and the Lord's deliverances, why he said
to me on one occasion, when he was going out against Goliath
of Gath, but a young stripling, he would only been about 16 years
of age. And Saul gave him his armor. He said, I can't go with this.
I haven't proved it. What wisdom. He showed, wasn't
he? He took a sling and five smooth
stones from the book. And he went out against that
great giant that had defied the armies of Israel for 40 days
and 40 nights. And with one stone, he slew him. You see, and the confidence of
faith that the Lord gave him. When Saul said to him about,
he's a man of war. He said, the Lord that delivered
me from the poor of the lion and the poor of the bear shall
also deliver me from the hand of this uncircumcised Philistine. You see, he walked by faith. He was only a young man, but
he was walking by faith. What a wonderful thing it is
when we see young people walking by faith, by faith in Jesus Christ,
looking unto Jesus. And then that great long trial
of, after he was anointed king by Samuel, and 13 years, and
most of those 13 years, he was being pursued by Saul. who wanted
to take his life, Saul knew. He knew that he was a far better
man than he was. You see, David is the man after
God's own heart. And then even when he got into
his kingdom, the Philistines, they came again and again in
waves of people to destroy him and to destroy Israel. And the
Lord gave him the mastery over them all. And so he went into
the house of the Lord. And he sat before the Lord, contemplating. We read it together. And who
am I? What is my house? He was greatly
humbled. Who am I? What is my house? You see, and then when we look
here in this psalm, which was set at that time. I will praise
you with my whole heart. Before the gods will I sing praise
unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy
temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy
truth. For thou hast magnified thy word
above all thy name. David had proved these things. He'd walked them out. He'd experienced
them. All the kings of the earth shall
praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy man. You
see, he was lifted up in the Spirit. What a mercy when we
are lifted up in the Spirit. When the Lord speaks to, or John
speaks, In the book of the Revelation it says, I was in the Spirit
on the Lord's day. I was in the Spirit. What a mercy
when we're in the Spirit. When the Spirit of grace and
the Spirit of love and the Spirit of kindness and the Spirit of
Christ dwells in our hearts. And we indeed then have the mind
of Christ. But there's one thing that that
will always do, it will never lift you up in pride. It'll always
humble you in the dust of south basements. Just what happened
to David. Who am I? What is my house that
thou hast brought me hither to? And David had proved these things. Verse six here in this psalm,
that though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the
lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar off. How true these things
are. They're born out throughout all
of the scriptures of truth. And he says here in verse 7,
Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine
hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall
save me. You see, thy right hand. You know we read in Holy Scripture
of the Lord's right hand and the Lord's left hand. Probably
the most prominent place is found twice in the Song of Solomon.
His left hand is under my head and his right hand doth embrace
me. What do we see in the left hand
and the right hand? The left hand and right hand
of God. Now of course the literal sense of the word God doesn't
have hands or arms but it speaks metaphorically it comes down
to a level that we can understand the Holy Spirit in holy scripture
he comes down to our level of understanding we know what a
hand does we know what an arm does it speaks of the legs of
God but in reality God doesn't have legs or arms, he doesn't
have a body. But the spirit of God is coming down to our level
of understanding. So his right hand and what we
call right hand blessings are the blessings of the eternal
covenant ordered in all things and sure. The blessings of the
grace of God in Jesus Christ. That wonderful blessing of our
Lord Jesus Christ in that he has loved us with an everlasting
love, in that he took our sins and he now them to his cross.
These are the wonderful right hand blessings. These right hand
blessings, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth
us from all sin. These are right hand blessings.
Jehovah Sidkenia, the Lord our righteousness Christ is our righteousness
these are right hand blessings they're the blessings of the
eternal covenant ordered in all things and sure what are called
in holy scripture the sure mercies of David these wonderful and
rich blessings of his grace to his people here upon earth and
the promise of eternal life Christ died for our sins and rose again
for our justification. So when the believer dies, they
die in hope of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. They're
said to sleep. They sleep in Jesus. Because
they will awake. They will awake. See, these right
hand blessings are eternal blessings. They're everlasting blessings.
The gifts and calling of God are without repentance. He doesn't
change his mind. He's not like man. He's eternally the same. His blessings are eternal blessings. And this is what is meant in
this word that we have as a text. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. And it was particularly the first
clause that rested on my spirit, the Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever,
forsake not the work of thine hands. Now, the left-hand blessings,
just remember what we were speaking of, his left hand is under my
head and his right hand doth embrace me. Left hand blessings are providential
blessings. The Lord has promised to supply
all your need while you're here on earth. My God shall supply
all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. He's promised to do that. And
when it says his left hand is under my head, supporting me,
sustaining me, supplying all my Daily needs my providential
needs everything I stand in need of David had proved this Solomon
proved all the Lord's people were proven that the Lord will
perfect that which concerneth me He's promised to take you
safely and honorably through life Through death into eternity
You think of this the Lord will perfect that which concerneth
me Think of that word in the first chapter of the Philippians.
He that hath begun a good work in you will perform it unto the
day of Jesus Christ. Think of that beautiful word
in Hebrews chapter 12 concerning our Lord Jesus Christ. What does
it say? He's the author and the finisher. He's the author and the finisher. of our faith. You see, these
things are divinely certain. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth men. Because His mercy is unchangeable. It goes on here in this verse.
Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the work of thine
own hands. That good work which is begun
in you. He will perform it. He's the
author of it. He's the finisher of it. And
he will perfect. Now, in other places in scripture,
this word perfect is translated complete. Complete. The Lord will complete that which
concerneth me. The apostle, he says, doesn't
he, that ye are complete in him we are accepted in the beloved
our perfection that means this complete this perfection is in
christ we we get very tried about ourselves
because we're so imperfect because we're so sinful and that greatly perplexes the
child of god it did even the the great Apostle Paul, he said,
O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body
of this death? But he goes on immediately to
say, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. That's where the work is completed
and that's who completes it. He's the author and the finisher
of our faith. He's begun that good work in
us. The Holy Spirit Is said to proceed
forth from the father and the son And he proceeds forth into the
hearts Of the lord's people The foundation of god stand is sure
having this seal upon it the lord knoweth them that are his And at the appointed time he
will send his spirit into the heart and he will quicken their soul
into life. Now why? Because they were chosen. Because they're redeemed. Because
they're in Christ. That's why. And Christ is the
author and the finisher of our faith. You are completing him. We'll
never be completing ourselves. and will never reach perfection
this side of the grave. The perfection that you seek
is in heaven and it's in Christ. This corruptible must put on
incorruption, this mortal must put on immortality. The Lord
will perfect that which concerneth men. You see we get very tried, very
perplexed. concerning ourselves and concerning
our pathway and concerning our circumstances. There may be spots
and places where you're sorely trying. The Apostle Peter, he
speaks of it twice in particular in his epistle, in his first
epistle. He says, the trial of your faith
being much more precious than of gold or silver that perisheth.
It's the trial of your faith. another place he says think it
not strange the trouble is we do think it not strange concerning
the fiery trial which is to try you as though some strange thing
happened unto you remember the words of our Lord
Jesus Christ it is through much tribulation that you shall enter
the kingdom and that tribulation it Some people have very great
outward trials which other people can see. And it's very plain
and evident. Some people have bodily afflictions,
some have mental afflictions. And everyone can see it. Others
have a very, what you might say, private experience. It's hidden
from everyone else. I believe that that was the case
with the Apostle Paul when he said that he had a thorn in the
flesh, a messenger of Satan to buff him. He sought the Lord three times
to remove it. We do not read at all that the
Lord did remove it. But he gave him most sweet and
precious promise, my grace. That's the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ. My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in
weakness. Now that's a paradox, isn't it?
What a mystery that is. The Lord is glorified when we
are crucified, humbled, or the word used sometimes is mortified. And some of the things that the
Lord's people have to walk in, they are mortifying things. The
word mortify means to kill. And it kills us to all hope in
the flesh. It brings us to the end of ourselves. It does. I remember years ago
preaching at the Dicker Chapel, and my text was in the Book of
Proverbs, which is the same text that is quoted in the Hebrews,
whom the Lord loveth, he chastened, and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. And there was a elderly man there
and his wife, his wife told me this afterwards, and he was a
man that lived in London all his life, and he retired down
to Sussex. He prospered in business and
done very well, And apparently, during that sermon, she said
the Lord opened up to him. It always tried him because he'd
always prospered outwardly, providentially. And the devil is just so tempting
that he wasn't a real true child of God because he was so prosperous
and he didn't have outward trials. And apparently under that sermon,
she told me, he was brought into gospel liberty. He said, as I
went through the various things that the children of God passed
through, the inward trials, the inward temptations, she said,
the Lord broke that snare. And he saw how in his spiritual
experience and through the temptations of Satan, He'd had all this tribulation
within him. Great trial it was. He really
seriously wondered if he was a true child of God. And not
long afterwards, he was diagnosed terminally ill and died, but
he died in the fullness of the blessing, the sweetness of it,
even though he'd walked most of his days feeling so tried
as to whether he really was a true child of God. And the devil tempted
him, you see, but the Lord will perfect that which concerneth
me. He will. And whom the Lord loveth. And that dear man, he saw how
all those inward temptations and trials and the darkness and
the perplexity that he'd had to pass through was the chastening
hand of God. And he saw so clearly whom the
Lord loveth. Whom the Lord loveth. It's because
the Lord loved him. that he brought him into those
dark places in his own soul. But then he delivered him. You
see, each one of the Lord's people has their trials, their perplexing
circumstances, and those things that greatly try them and perplex
them. You know, when we're very tried
and we feel our inward sinfulness and wretchedness. You know, one
of the great afflictions of the true child of God is unbelief.
It's a great affliction. It's a great trial. Oh, that
I could believe, then all would easy be. And it's a great trial
when you're afflicted with it. It troubles you. It's one of
your besetting sins. It perplexes you. If only I could
lay hold, if only I had a clear view of Christ, if only I could
touch the hem of his garment, if only I could believe and have
that sweet assurance of faith. You know friends, and even on
this point, see the Lord will perfect that which concerneth
me, even on this point of assurance, some people get very tried on
the assurance of faith. As to whether they, ever have
it or ever had it but assurance doesn't necessarily come with
great wonderful joy there is the joy and peace in believing
of course and there are those times when Christ is made very
precious when your heart is melted but just think of those times
when your heart has been melted or when Christ has been made
precious That's the assurance of faith. It doesn't have to
be with great ecstasies of joy. You have the assurance of faith.
It's that deep-seated sense in your own soul that the Lord loves
you. That's the assurance of faith. He loves you. He loves you with
an everlasting love. His love is not just for time,
it's for eternity. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. It's a love that has been from
eternity, and it's a love that will be to eternity. Yea, I have
loved thee with an everlasting love. Therefore, and notice the
connection, it's all in the same verse. Therefore, with loving
kindness have I drawn thee. And so your heart has been mounted
and drawn. That's the sweet assurance of
faith. It's the evidence that he loves
you with an everlasting love. With an everlasting love. And
the sense of that love in your heart, it constrains you. What the apostle says, doesn't
he? For the love of Christ constraineth us. And you feel constrained
to follow him, to serve him, to do that which is right in
his sight. To live a life that is sacrificial, honor him in
all we do see the world they live to themselves and if we're left to ourselves
we would live to ourselves but when the Lord really touches
your heart you don't desire to live to yourself you desire to
live to the Lord while our days on earth are lengthened may we
give them Lord to thee cheered by hope and daily strengthened.
The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. There may be those
things in your spiritual experience that you long for and that you're
seeking for, you're praying for, you're exercised in your soul
about these things. You want to know your sin's forgiven. You want to know the blood of
Jesus Christ has cleansed you from all sin. You want to be
clothed in the everlasting robe of his righteousness. But these
are the things that he's promised to do. And he will perfect it, he will
complete it. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. Fear not, I am with thee. Be
not dismayed, I am thy God, I will help thee. I will uphold them,
I will strengthen them with the right hand of my righteousness.
You see, the Lord has promised to do that. He's promised to perform that. He performeth all things. It
says, doesn't it, in the word of God, the Lord that performeth
all things for me. And he will. He's promised to
and he will do it. God is true to his promise. His
promise shall stand forever. All the promises of God are yay
and amen in Christ Jesus. Yay and amen in Christ Jesus. All those precious promises that
the Lord has given in his word are fulfilled in the glorious
person of our Lord Jesus Christ. We read in Psalm 57, be merciful
unto me, O God, be merciful unto me, for my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. I will
cry unto God most high, unto God that performeth. all things for me. He will, he
doesn't change. He shall send from heaven and
save me from reproach of him that would swallow me up. Unto God that performeth all
things for me, the author and the finisher of our faith, the
Lord will perfect that which performeth me. Of course, the
rock upon which this text is built is the person of Christ, God manifest in the flesh. It's
what the Lord said to Peter, wasn't it? When Peter said, thou
art the Christ, the son of the living God, and Christ answered
him, blessed art thou. For flesh and blood hath not
revealed this unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven,
that he is the Christ, the Son of the living God. But what does
Christ go on to say? Answer in Peter's confession. Upon this rock I build my church,
and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. This eternal
rock of ages, That's who Christ is. David, he confesses on several
occasions, thou art my rock and my fortress, my strong and my
high tower. The glorious person of God manifest
in the flesh. The one mediator between God
and man, the man Christ Jesus. The Lord will perfect that. You
think of what he done to make you perfect. to make you complete. He came to this sinful world
and was made of a woman under the law. He lived as a man under
the law, who? The Son of God. The eternal Son
of God that gave the law lived under the law that he might fulfill
the law on the behalf of his people. Christ is the end of
the law for righteousness. That's what Christ has done.
He's perfected it. He perfected the holy law of
God. The law that was broken when
Adam fell. And we are all said to be born
in sin and shaped in iniquity. And that word iniquity in particular
refers to our original sin that dwells in us. But that has been dealt with
by Jesus Christ. Not only your actual sins, but
the sin that dwells in you. And you know, this is the great
trial of the living child of God. The sin that dwells in them. There's a difference between
sin dwelling in you and you living in sin. And I want to make that
distinction. There's a difference between
sin dwelling in you and you living in sin. Sin dwells in every one of us. And it will do until we die.
There's the old man of sin. There's the new man of grace.
The one is the contrary to the other. And this is the great
conflict in the true child of God. You might say, what is the
antidote to it? The finished work of Christ.
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's son, cleanseth us from all sin. From all sin. That's the antidote. That's the refuge. Thou art my
rock and my refuge, my strong and my high tower. It's the person
of Christ, the holy son of God manifest in the flesh, living
as a man here upon earth, fulfilling and honoring and magnifying the
holy law of God on the behalf, in the room, in the place of
his people. The life of Christ was a vicarious
life. That means substitutionary, it
means in the room and the place of. Christ's life was in the room
and the place of his own people. You know these things, they need
to be spoken, they need to be preached, so that we're clear
on the doctrine of truth. I heard of a man some time ago
now, and he said in the pulpit, The life of Christ is nothing.
The death of Christ is everything. Well, what utter nonsense. What
utter nonsense. The life of Christ is everything.
And the death of Christ is everything. But the whole of the work of
Christ is essential. The fulfilling of the law on
the behalf of his people was essential. was needful and necessary
to their salvation. That's why the Eternal Father
sent his only begotten Son. And in that virgin birth of Christ,
he's holy, he was pure. He didn't have iniquity. We're
born with sin and iniquity. He did no sin, he had no sin
in him. That's why it says in Luke 2,
that holy thing that shall be born of thee without sin. And
he lived without sin. He suffered and bled and died
when the sins of his people were laid upon him. He laid upon him
the iniquity of us all. That's such a beautiful and sacred
word that we find in the second epistle to the Corinthians where
it speaks of our Lord Jesus Christ being made sin for his people.
Corinthians chapter five. and he says now then we are ambassadors
for Christ as though God did beseech you by us we pray you
in Christ's head be reconciled to God for he hath made him to
be sin for us who knew no sin Christ knew no sin Christ magnified
and honored the holy law of God he lived a holy life a pure life
a spotless life that we might be made the righteousness of
God in him. So in that eternal covenant ordered
in all things and sure the sin of the church is lifted
off the church and it's imputed to Christ. It's called the doctrine
of imputation. So the sin of the church is lifted
off the church by our eternal father and it's imputed to His
only Son, manifest in the flesh. As it says in Isaiah chapter
53, He, that's our Eternal Father, laid upon Him, that is His only
begotten Son manifest in the flesh, He laid upon Him the iniquity
of us all. That is why we see Christ in
Gethsemane sweating His word, great drops of blood falling
down to the ground. Why? Because there The sin of
the church was laid on him and he being in agony, sweat as it
were, great drops of blood falling down to the ground. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Sin was dealt with at Calvary. He took our sins and he now them
to his cross. He did and he suffered and bled
and died in the room place instead of his people. and then he rose
again for our justification. So now the church is without
sin. Their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more, justified by faith in the finished work
of Christ. Without sin. See, it says in that very beautifully,
Hebrews chapter nine, when he says, as it is appointed unto
man once to die, so after death the judgment, and unto them that
look for him shall he appear without sin. What does that mean? I remember reading, I love reading
some of the old Puritans, I was reading Thomas Goodwin one day,
he was commenting on that passage of scripture. And as he quoted
that, without sin, and then he immediately said, child of God,
there is your justification. Because what he meant is that
the sin of the church was laid on Christ, he suffered and bled
and died to redeem them and to deliver them from the curse of
the law, from the power of sin and death and Satan. He rose
again, the evidence that that sin has been atoned for is in
the resurrection of the dead. So when he comes a second time
unto those that look for him, he's without sin. Your sins are
gone. Your sins are gone. Never to
be remembered again. Never to be seen again. It's
like that goat on the Day of Atonement, one of the Kid goats
was sacrificed on the altar, its blood was taken. Again, a
beautiful type of the sacrifice of Christ. But then the other
kid goat, the high priest, he laid his hands on the head of
that other goat. He confessed his sins and the
sins of the children of Israel. Ceremonially, putting all the
sin of Israel onto that goat. And then that goat was taken
by the hand of a fit man into a land not inhabited. In other
words, never to be seen again. Never to be seen again. What
a beautiful type of Christ and what he has done for the sins
of his people. The Lord will perfect that which
concerns me. That's what Christ has done.
You are complete in him. You are accepted in the beloved.
He's done it. He's accomplished it, but when
he cried on Calvary, it is finished. The sin of the church was put
away. The work is finished, it's done,
it's accomplished, it's fulfilled in the glorious person of our
Saviour, Jesus Christ. And he says to poor, needy, wretched
sinners, come unto me, come unto me. What two heavy-laden, poor wretched
sinners, poor undone sinners, poor ruined sinners, poor lost
sinners. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That's the rest
of faith. It's in the glorious person of
the Son of God manifest in the flesh. It's in that precious
sin-atoning blood that he has shed on Calvary. That's where
you'll find your perfection. You'll find it nowhere else.
But in Christ, where sin has been put away, and divine justice
has been satisfied, and the curse has been removed, peace, perfect
peace, we're in Christ, in his precious blood, in his glorious
righteousness. And when he comes, he will receive
his people unto himself, a people that are perfected, a people
that are complete, a people that are accepted. The Lord will perfect
that which concerneth me. So, you see there are, what I
was saying, the foundation of the text is Christ and his finished
work, and what he has done, and what he has accomplished. But
also, that work in your heart, the work he has begun, he will
perform it. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. He will perfect that work. And though there are many fears,
and many doubts, and many perplexities, and many trials, and many temptations,
and yet He will perfect it. He will, because He's loved you
with an everlasting love. Because there's an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things ensured. And because you're in
Christ, you're eternally saved. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for
ever. Forsake not the work of thine
own hands. May the Lord have his blessing. Let us now sing together hymn
number 411, The tune is Synod 245. Come, saints, and sing in sweet
accord With solemn pleasure tell The covenant made with David's
laws in all things ordered well. Hymn 411. Let us sing this bitter
chord, Gave proof through the night
that our flag was still there. ? This proud and true ? ? This
time begins ? ? When North and South ? ? Shines bright ? Which
hath promised them freedom at birth,
In all things o'er the earth This covenant all believers swear,
Thy rising is the world, in all of the earth. O say can you see, by the dawn's
early light, What so proudly we hailed at the twilight's last
gleaming, Whose broad stripes and bright stars through the
perilous fight, ? Shield and ratify ? ? In all
things ? ? Old and well ? ? In all things well ? deep heart
unfurled, and thousand streams to fill. This cup of life shall help the
savings at last, In all things order well. In glory serve with Christ their
King, His saints shall surely dwell, And in Israel's countenance
ever see, Now, may the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ, the love of God the Father, the sacred fellowship
of the Holy Spirit, rest and abide with us each. Amen.