Well, let us turn to God's Word
and to the psalm that we have just read, this short psalm,
Psalm 138, and the last verse of the psalm. Psalm 138, verse
8. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works of thine
own hands. the Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever forsaking not
the works of thine own hands and the grammar here is interesting
because we have the name of God but we have it in different cases
the beginning we have the word the Lord the nominative case
it's a statement concerning the Lord and then in the middle of
the psalm we have the evocative case O Lord as the psalmist doesn't
speak of God but addresses God calls upon God and I want us
to consider for a while each of these two aspects of the verse
to take up the theme as it were of David's confession which we
have in the opening clause, the Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me, it's a statement of his faith in God and then
in the second place to consider his cry, the prayer really as
he addresses God, thy mercy oh Lord endureth forever forsake
not the works of thine own hands. Taken up in the theme of David's
confession and his cry. And first of all, to consider
something of his confession. The way in which he expresses
his great confidence in the Lord is God's. The Lord will perfect
that which concerns me. It is surely a great statement
of faith. He is here acknowledging God.
He is here confessing his great confidence in God. And how important
it is that we should know that confession. If thou shalt confess
with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. With the heart man believeth
unto righteousness, with the mouth confession is made unto
salvation. And here we have then his his
confession as he comes before his God he is the one that will
perfect all that he is pleased to accomplish in the life of
the King and it's interesting isn't it that he makes reference
to the works of God's own hands the Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me forsake not the works of thine own hands. One of the Puritans remarks here
how all men love their own works, and many doubt over them. And
shall we think that God will forsake his works? Here is his confidence here,
and his confidence is placed in the God who is his creator,
the one who has made him. the one who has given him his
very being. And it's a good thing, isn't
it, when we come before God to remember that we owe our very
lives to Him. He is the Creator of all things. He is the one who has given even
to us the lives that we're living. And we see how Israel oftentimes
in the midst of their difficulties, would look to God and plead the
fact that He was their maker at the time of the captivity. There in the book of Isaiah,
remember Isaiah ministering many years before the captivity, but
making mention of that awful calamity that would come upon
the nation. and he teaches them how they are to pray to the Lord
God at such a time that there might be yet a gracious deliverance. Look at the language, for example,
that we have at the end of Isaiah 64. Verse 8, But now, O LORD, thou
art our Father, we are the clay, and thou art putter, and we are
all the work of thy hand, Be not wrath very sore, O Lord,
neither remember iniquity for ever. Behold, see, we beseech
Thee, we are all Thy people. Thy holy cities are a wilderness,
Zion is a wilderness, Jerusalem a desolation. Our holy and our
beautiful house, where our fathers praised Thee, is burned up with
fire, and all our pleasant things are laid waste. Wilt Thou refrain
Thyself for these things, O Lord? will thou hold thy peace and
afflict us very sore." Now, we find the people being directed,
as it were, to plead with God, to call upon God. And what's
the basis of their prayer? Well, they come looking to God
as the One who is their Maker, the One who is their Father.
There in that 8th verse. We know that God's works are
all good and God's works are never abortive. What the Lord begins, the Lord
always accomplishes. He finishes his works. Again
he says there in the book of the prophet Isaiah, Shall I bring
to the birth and not cause to bring forth, saith the Lord?
Shall I cause to bring forth and shut up the womb, saith thy
God? No, God is that one who, as the
great Creator, is never frustrated in any of his works. And Paul
reminds us of that in the New Testament, when he writes to
the church at Philippi, those believers there in that city,
being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun
a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. All we are to praise God then,
as that One who is the Creator, the Maker. The psalmist says,
All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints shall
bless thee. And so the psalmist here, The
Lord will perfect that which concerneth me. All we know is
that God never forsakes the works of His own hands. Now, looking
again principally at this opening clause of the verse in the first
place, we see two grounds for the confidence that David is
expressing, his confession of faith as it were. How can he
be so sure that the Lord will perfect that which concerns him? Well, two grounds, I say. First
of all, there is the purpose of God. There is God's decree,
God's eternal counsel, God's covenant of grace. As he addresses
God, how does he address him? Well, twice he uses the expression,
Lord, the Lord, And then, O Lord, and of course he is using that
name that's associated with God's covenant, Jehovah, that name
that's derived from what God says to Moses concerning himself,
I am that I am. And see how as he addresses God
as the one who is a covenant God, so he makes reference to
God's mercy. Thy mercy, he says, thy mercy,
O Lord, endureth forever. And this is one of the great
words, really, of the Old Testament, the Hebrew word that we have
here. and really it's so full and pregnant
in meaning that it's translated in a variety of ways in our English
Bible. It has really the idea sometimes
of God's loving kindness. We have it previously here in that translation in the second
verse. I will worship toward thy holy
temple and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness. The same
word that's rendered mercy in our text. I will praise thy name
for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth. All God's lovingkindness
is covenant faithfulness. He is that one who is true, true
to his word, true to himself. When we come to the end of the
prophecy of Micah, we have that lovely passage concerning God's
mercy. And what does he say right at
the end, thou wilt perform the truth to Jacob? the mercy to
Abraham which I was sworn unto our fathers from days of old,
the truth to Jacob, the mercy or loving-kindness to Abraham. He is pleading then with God
and as he comes and makes his prayer there at the end of the
text, he uses that evocative case, addressing God, O Lord,
previously we see him as one who's whose faith is in the gods
of the covenant. Isaac Watts says, the gospel
bears my spirit of a faithful and unchanging God lays the foundation
of my hope in oaths and promises and blood. That's God's mercy.
That's God's loving kindness. Again, see the language that
we have in the previous psalm, there in the 105th psalm. at verse 8, and the following
verses, he has remembered his covenant forever, the word which
he commanded to a thousand generations, which covenant he made with Abraham
and his oath unto Isaac, and confirmed the same unto Jacob
for a law, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant. Look
how he speaks here then of the covenant, it's an everlasting
covenant, It's associated with God's oath. He speaks of it as
God's law. It's this God then that he is
looking to and trusting in. And here is David, he feels so
much his own weakness, his vulnerability. He's in trouble, though I walk
in the midst of trouble, he says. thou wilt revive me, thou shalt
stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and
thy right hand shalt save me. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me." Oh, he looks into the great purpose of God.
God is sovereign and God cannot be frustrated in any of his works. He is the unchanging one, the
I am that I am. the same yesterday, today and
forever isn't that how comfort even at such a time as this when
we think of the passing of a monarch who we've known I suppose really
all our days and now gone that the Lord is the one who is the
unchanging one and perfects all his works well as he looks to
God in his sovereignty purpose, his decree, his covenant so he's
also very much aware of the promise of God because what God's purpose
is in the covenant is what God is pleased to perform and what
he has purposed is that that he is therefore being proclaimed
here in his work He confirms all that he has said
with his promise and with his oath. And that's a very striking
statement that we have at the end of the second verse. Thou
hast magnified thy word above all thy name. What is God's word? That's his
promise. That's a proclamation of his covenant. And He has magnified
that Word above Himself. Because when He made the promise
to Abraham, because He could swear by no greater, He swore
by Himself. His own person then, we might
say reverently, is the thing that is at stake. If God's Word
fails, God is no more. And He has not only sealed it,
with an oath he has sealed it also with precious blood or Paul
says how much more shall the blood of Christ do through the
eternal spirit offered himself with oaths but to God purge your
consciences from every dead work or that precious blood then of
the Lord Jesus Christ And all of this to confirm his
words, confirmed by oath, sealed with blood, that's what we have
in the eternal covenant. Ebenezer Erskine makes the observation
concerning Gardias, he has a greater regard to the words of his mouth
than the works of his hands. He has a greater regard to the
words of his mouth than to the works of his hands." And we have
the Word of God, and we have the Word of God before us. He
tells us in the course of his ministry, does the Lord Jesus,
verily, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot, or one tittle,
shall he no wise pass from the law until all be fulfilled. The Jots. and the tittle, the
jot, the very smallest of all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet.
And the tittle, some say that's the pointing that's used under
the consonants to indicate the vowel sounds. Some say the tittle
is just parts of some of the consonants to distinguish them
one from the other. Well, whatever it is, it's a
very small part of the Hebrew Scriptures. Yet the Lord says
that one jot, that smallest of all the letters, no one tittle
is ever to pass away until everything is fulfilled. Oh, this is the
one then who perfects all his works. The Lord will perfect
that which concerneth me, says David here. In faith he's able
to utter these great works. The work which his goodness began,
the arm of his strength will complete. His promise is yea
and amen. And never was forfeited yet. His confidence in, his confession
of faith in the Lord, the God of the covenants. And then turning
secondly, just to say something with regards to his prayer, his
cry, as we have it here at the end of the verse. Thy mercy,
O Lord, endureth forever, forsake not the works of thine own hands. So David turns from talking about
God, talking of God, and begins to talk to God. That's the movement
that we have in the verse, as we go through the verse from
the first clause and into the following two clauses. He speaks
of God and then he speaks to God. And of course, this is how
God's word should come to us. If God's word comes to us and
we have right views of what God is saying to us in his word,
that should lead us to pray to God. Isn't prayer the Lord's
own appointment? Is it not an ordinance that God
in His mercy has given to us? Christ said men ought always
to pray and not to faint. And we're bidden time and again
in the exhortations of the Apostle in his various epistles to pray,
to pray without ceasing. And we need then to recognize
the place of prayer. And so, thinking of David's prayer,
how his confidence really is in the sovereignty of his God.
Even in what he pronounces there at the beginning, the Lord, he
says, will. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. His confidence is in the sovereignty
of the God that he's about to address. If we really believe in the sovereignty
of God, it will not prevent us from praying. If we
have a right view of God's sovereignty, it won't cause us to become fatalists
and to think, well, God has willed it, we don't have to do anything,
it will happen in any case. What's the point of prayer? That
will not be the response of our hearts if we really believe in
the divine sovereignty. Of course, the Muslims have a
view of what they call divine sovereignty, but it's fatalism.
It's the will of Allah. That's not how we understand
the will of the Lord God Himself. If we really believe that God
is all that He has declared Himself to be here in Scripture, all
that He has revealed of Himself to us in the person of the Lord
Jesus, what will we do? We'll pray. will pray, and will
pray concerning his will, because that is what God has appointed.
I will yet for this be inquired of, he says, by the house of
Israel to do it for them. You know that verse that we have
there at the end of Ezekiel 36, here they are, they're in exile,
The God will bring them out of the captivity. They will be restored
in the appointed time. But they've got to inquire of
Him. I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel. He
says to do it for them. I will increase them with men
as a flock. And then, as you know, in chapter
37, the prophet sees that vision of the valley that's full of
dry bones. It's God's ancient people there
in captivity. They've been slaughtered, as
it were, on the battlefield. But now, the Prophet is to prophesy
unto the dry bones, and the bones come together, and sinew covers
them, and flesh, and they stand up, the Great Army, and then
he's to prophesy to the four winds that they will come and
blow. And so, life comes into these. into
what was the Valley of Dry Bones, his restoration. But God must
be inquired of to do it. And we see it in Daniel of course.
Daniel is the one who prays concerning those in exile, there in chapter
9 of his book. He understands from the writings
of Jeremiah that God has accomplished the 70 years and he sets his
face and he pleads and he prays. all behold the throne of grace
the promise draws us near says dear John Newton how God's promise
then is an encouragement or shall not God avenge His own elect
which cry day and night unto Him He will avenge them though He
bear long with them or He may bear long with them but ultimately
God will answer their prayer. We have to recognize that to
wait upon God is not just being passive. There's much activity
in the soul of those who are really waiting upon the Lord.
There's all that sighing and groaning. Those prayers we feel
are not prayers at all because we can hardly begin to express
ourselves and yet there's those yearnings. there's activity of
faith, there's hope, there's expectation that the Lord will
appear though he bear long wisdom or the Lord will answer the prayers
of his people and David is here recognizing the importance of
prayer God will perfect that which concerns him but what does
he do? He prays, I mercy O Lord endureth
forever for save not the works of thine own hands and as we
see something of the place of prayer we also see here what
prayer is it's pleading it's pleading with God it doesn't
center in self but it centers in God and the works of God for
sake not the works of thine own hands is the plea I can no denial take when I plead
for Jesus' sake." Oh, it's the honor of the Lord. It's the glory
of His name. And again, we see something of
that in the language that we have in that 36th chapter of
Ezekiel that I've already referred to. Look at the words that we
have there in verse 22. of Ezekiel 36. Therefore say
unto the house of Israel, Thus saith the Lord God, I do not
this for your sakes, O house of Israel, but for mine holy
name's sake, which ye have profaned among the heathen, whither ye
went. And I will sanctify my great name, which was profaned
among the heathen, which ye have profaned in the midst of them,
And the heathen shall know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord
God, when I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes." It's
God's name. And what is the first petition
that we have to pray in that patterned prayer? Hallowed be
thy name. Oh, it's the work of God, you
see, that's at stake. And that's why David prays as
he does, for saving up the works of thy new name. God's honour,
God's glory is the thing at stake. Thine is the kingdom. Thine is
the power. Thine is the glory. All ultimately centers in Him. Remember after those remarkable
chapters in Romans 9, 10, 11, when we come to the end of the
11th chapter, what does the Apostle say? and ever. Isn't that then to
be the ultimate burden of our prayers? And this is what David
is concerned for. Oh yes, he's aware of his own
need. He feels his own weakness. But he is pleading in terms of
God's honor and God's glory, God's works. The Lord's will
perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth
forever. forsake not the works of thine
own hands. Oh, the Lord help us then to
learn of the psalmist as we come to seek our God's face in prayer. But before we pray, let us praise
the Lord as we sing our second hymn. We sing the hymn 376 and the tune Holy Warfare 471. Lord, I cannot let thee go, till
a blessing thou bestow. Do not turn away thy face, mine's
an urgent pressing case. 376, June 471. Lord, I cannot let thee go, till
a blessing thou bestow. Do not turn away thy face, mine's
an urgent pressing case.