Let us turn to the psalm that
we read, Psalm 94. I'm drawing your attention for
a while to the words that we find in verse 12. Psalm 94, 12. Blessed is the
man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law. Blessed is the man whom thou
chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law to say something
then with regards to the blessing of this chastening or the blessed
man who is taught of God the blessed man that man who is taught
of God and there are of course two aspects to that that we have
set before us in this verse and that's the division that
I want to follow really to say something with regards to those
chastenings that are spoken of in the opening clause and then
to say something with regards to that teaching out of the law
that is spoken of in the second clause so simply dividing what
we're saying into two parts. First of all the chastening And
here we see in the psalm quite clearly that there is a difference
between God's dealings with the blessed man and his dealings
with the ungodly. And of course we see that right
at the outset of the book of Psalms when we think of the content
of the first psalm. And again there we have the blessed
man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth
in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful.
But his delight is in the law of the lords, and in his law
doth he meditate day and night. But then on the other hand we
have the ungodly. The ungodly are not sober like
the chaff which the wind driveth away, says the Psalmist. Therefore
the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, those sinners in
the congregation of the righteous. And the Psalms do tend to constantly
set before us these two different characters and contrast them
and the Lord's dealings with them. And in this Psalm we certainly
read something of His dealings with the ungodly. In verse 10,
He that chasteneth the heathen He that chastises the heathen
shall not he correct?" is the question. One of God's dealings
that way in which He chastises, that's a word that's used, He
chastises the heathen. How does the psalm begin? O Lord
God to whom vengeance belongeth O God to whom vengeance belongeth
show thyself Lift up thyself thou judge of the earth, render
a reward to the proud. Lord, how long shall the wicked,
how long shall the wicked triumph? How the psalm speaks then very
solemnly of the way in which God deals with these ungodly
Verse 4, How long shall they utter and speak hard things,
and all the workers of iniquity boast themselves? They break
in pieces thy people, O Lord, and afflict thine heritage. They
slay the widow and the stranger, and murder the fatherless. Yet
they say, The Lord shall not see, neither shall the God of
Jacob regard it. How foolish! how brutish they
are said to be there in verse 8 he that planted the ear shall
he not hear? he that formed the eye shall
he not see? he that chastiseth the heathen
shall not he correct? and the scripture repeatedly
tells us how God does deal with the ungodly right at the beginning,
how soon after the wonders of creation and that world that
God pronounces to be very good, how soon before God is destroying
the earth. Genesis chapter 6 we read all
that detail concerning that flood that God was pleased to visit
upon ungodly men. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth and that every imagination and thought
of his heart was only evil continually and it repented the Lord that
he had made man on the earth and it grieved him at his heart
and the Lord said I will destroy man whom I have created from
the face of the earth both man and beast and the creeping thing
and the fowls of the air for it repenteth me that I have made
them And then that remarkable word, but Noah found grace in
the eyes of the Lord. Oh, that discriminating grace
of God, how we have to be thankful for it, though God would destroy. And God did destroy. We have
the record, of course, of that flood, that universal flood that
was visited upon the earth, because it was so wicked. The earth was
corrupt before God at all. the earth was filled with violence
and God looked upon the earth and behold he was corrupt for
all flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth and God said unto
Noah the end of all flesh is come before me for the earth
is filled with violence through them and behold I will destroy
them with the earth the words seem so opposite when
we think of the world in which we're living in this our day
God doesn't wink at the sins of men and the arrogance of men and the vile ways of men because
again we only have to turn to the book of Genesis and what
do we read in chapter 18? we have the record of those wicked
cities of the plain and all that God was pleased then to visit
upon Sodom and Gomorrah because of all their perversions in Genesis 18 and there at verse
20 the Lord said because the cry
of Sodom and Gomorrah is great and because their sin is very
grievous I will go down now and see whether they have done all
together according to the cry of it which is come unto me and
if not I will know." Not that the Lord God didn't
know, He knew of course but this is a God who is so just in all
His dealings and so He looks and He examines so carefully
all these matters and then what do we read? how God visits an
awful judgment upon the wicked cities of the plain chapter 19
then the Lord dragged upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and
fire from the Lord out of heaven and he overthrew those cities
and all the plain and all the inhabitants thereof and that
which grew upon the ground, the very spot where today is the
dead sea. God's judgments upon the wicked. O understand ye brutish among
the people, and ye fools, when will ye be wise? He that planted
the ears shall he not hear? He that formed the eyes shall
he not see? He that chastiseth the heathen
Now these are the ways of God. And then again, and it's there
in Genesis, when God enters into covenant with Abram in chapter
15, and He gave Abram promise concerning that land, the land
of Canaan. But it was inhabited by 7 peoples,
Canaanites, Hittites. Amorites, Jebusites and so on. And what does the Lord God say?
The iniquity of the Amorites is not yet full. They were wicked
nations that inhabited that land that He promised to His servant
Abraham. They were evil peoples but their
iniquity had not yet come to its full flourishing. But it came and what does God
do then? He sends the Israelites into
the land, and what are they to do? They are to smite those people,
there at the beginning of Deuteronomy 7. They are told quite plainly,
and right through that chapter, what they are to do? They are
to utterly destroy all those wicked peoples. All the end of
the wicked, how God Himself has appointed it. Here in verse 13,
until the pits be digged for the wicked. There is to be a
day of reckoning and there will of course be a final separation
and there is a place called hell which is to be the everlasting
abode of those who know not God, the ungodly, the wicked, the
god-denying, the disobedient sinner. But there's a contrast
you see, we have that on the one hand but then on the other
we have God's dealings with his people and God deals with his
people also in the way of chastening that's the amazing thing in verse
10 we are told of him that chastises the heathen and then in verse
12 the words of our text blessed is the man this isn't the ungodly,
this isn't the sinner this is that man who is blessed blessed
is the man whom thou chasteness and the wise man of course in
the book of Proverbs many times he refers to the way of God with
his people and the chastenings of God with his people there
in chapter 3 Proverbs 3 and verse 11 my son despise not the chastening
of the Lord neither be weary of his correction, for whom the
Lord loveth he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he
delighteth." This chastening then is a mark of sonship, it's
a mark of the favour, the blessing, the love of God towards His people. And again in the book of Job,
a remarkable book, Job 5 and verse 17, behold it says happy,
happy is the man whom God correcteth therefore despise not thou the
chastening of the Almighty for he maketh sore and bindeth up
he woundeth and his hands make whole or when he's dealing with
his people there are those two aspects there's a balancing you
see there's a certainly a making sore but there's also a binding
up and there's a wounding but there's also a making whole God
always has that good and gracious end in view he knows the thoughts
that he thinks towards his people and that thoughts of peace and
not of evil he will give them an expected end, a blessed end
all God's dealings end with his people And what do we learn concerning
these chastenings? There are a number of things
that we can observe from the teaching of scripture with regards
to the way in which God chastises his children. It's a mark of
their sonship, as I said. It's a mark of his love, and
so it's all very carefully weighed out by God, this God who is just
and equitable. It's only for a period. It's
only for a period. It was like that for the children
of Israel, for those Jews who were taken away into exile, into
Babylon. Remember in his lamentations,
as Jeremiah is lamenting the sad state of Jerusalem, desolate. destroyed, the temple razed to
the ground, nothing left really. Oh how he laments the sad scene.
But then, what does he say in the third chapter? Verse 31, the Lord will not cast
off forever. Oh the Lord will not cast off
forever, but though he cause grief Yet will he have compassion
according to the multitude of his mercies, for he doth not
afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men. To crush
under his feet all the prisoners of the earth, to turn aside the
right of a man before the face of the Most High, to subvert
a man in his cause, the Lord approveth not. Oh, the Lord has
a good end. and a gracious end in view for
his people. He will not always chide, says
the Psalmist, neither will he keep his anger forever. Blessed then is the man, this
blessed man whom the Lord is chastening. It's for a set period
of time. Now for a season, Peter tells
us. Now. Just now. for a season, for a little while,
a set time. We are in heaviness through manifold
temptations. We're in the midst of trials
and troubles but it's only just for a little season. God has a good and a gracious
end in view. How striking are those words
of the Apostle. The trying of your faith, he
says, more precious than the gold that perisheth, though betrayed
in fire, is ultimately to the praise and honor and the glory
of God. Oh, the Lord is that one then
who doesn't always chide and chastise and correct his people.
And when he is about that work, what is he doing? It's all intended
for their profit. we read it there in Hebrews 11
rather Hebrews 12 and verses 10 and 11 Hebrews 12 and verses
10 and 11 it says it's for our profit that we might be partakers
of his holiness verse 10 for our profit blessed is the man
whom thou chastenest O Lord and teachest him out of thy law. It's profitable. Those chasing for the present
is joyous, but grievous, he continues. Nevertheless, afterward, it yieldeth
the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them who exercise thereby. God deals with us to exercise
us. We like to have a comfortable
life. We want things just to work out as we think is best
for us. A nice straightforward cause.
No reverses, just everything working out as we pray about
these things. But God doesn't always deal with
us in that way. He exercises us. He humbles us. He deals with us. because we
still have an old nature and we know that there is that
conflict within because of the old nature and the new nature
the flesh is lusting against the spirit and the spirit against
the flesh and the contrary one to the other Paul says and you
cannot do the thing that you would and yet God is sovereign
in all of these things always for our profit ultimately It's
for the good of our soul. It's for our sanctification.
And here in the text you see this chastening in a sense as
the priority we might say. In a sense it's set before us
as the principal part of God's teaching. We read of the chastening
before we read of the teaching. If we If we think of the schoolmaster,
his business is to teach the child. And we might say that's
the important part of his occupation. He might have to use the rod
on occasions, but that's only an occasional thing. The principal
task is to be teaching. But here, the chastening does
seem to have the priority. How strange that is. How strange
it is. Again, in the book of Job, we
have this verse, Job 33, 16, the words of Elihu. Then he openeth
the ears of men and sealeth their instruction. How does God open
the ear when he lays on the rod? He is chastened also with pain
upon his bed and the multitude of his bones with strong pain.
We read again there in Job, Job 33, 19. Oh, the Lord's voice is in all
of these things and who is the wise man, he observes these things
and he comes to understand something of the Lord and something of
the loving kindness of the Lord the covenant faithfulness of
the Lord. Oh, poor Job, how he was chastened and chastened in
a multitude of ways chastened in terms of all his possessions,
he lost all his possessions Chastened in his family, he loses all his
family, all his children are taken from him. And then chastened
in his own person, his health is destroyed. And God is in it. How in the mysterious ways of
God, the Lord speaks about how Satan has moved him, turned him
against Job as it were. The strange ways of God. And
yes, we have that word in Job 5.17, Behold, happy is the man
whom God correcteth. Happy is the man whom God correcteth. Therefore despise not thou the
chastening of the Almighty. Or let us not be despisers of
God and the way in which the Lord God deals with us. when
he marks us out as those who are his favourites, the blessed.
Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest
him out of thy law. Well, let us turn in the second
place to say something with regards to this other clause. The teaching
out of God's law. Now, all those who know anything
of the Lord, all those who know anything of salvation, where
do they learn it? They don't learn it from a man.
Oh, we're not followers of men. They shall be all taught of God,
says the Lord Jesus. Without any exception, all his
children are taught of God. They shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that has
heard and learned of the Father cometh unto me. That's the only
way we can come unto God, when the Lord Himself takes us in
hand and is our teacher. And how does the Lord teach His
people? Well, there's two parts, aren't
there, to the Lord's teaching. There's law and there's gospel.
We cannot avoid that, because that's what the Bible is. On
the one hand we have law, on the other hand we have gospel.
and we're not to think that the Old Testament is all law and
the New Testament is all gospel because there's much gospel in
the Old Testament and there's a good deal of law in the New
Testament but it's a different ministry
these two the ministry of the law, what is the ministry of
the law? well it's for the conviction of sin we know that We know that
what thing soever the law saith, it saith that them are under
the law, that every mouth may be stopped and all the world
become guilty before God. That's the meaning of the law.
To bring men in guilty before God by the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in his sight. There's no justification
in the law of God, no salvation in the law of God. By the law
is the knowledge of sin. And how does God deal then? Well,
he makes his people sore, and then he binds his people
up. He wounds them, and then he makes them whole. There's
the two sides, you see. There's the making sore, there's
the wounding. That's the law. How the sinner
is brought to that place of conviction. Those on the day of Pentecost
are pricked in their hearts. They recognize what they're guilty
of now. Peter has told them so plainly
in his sermon. They were the crucifiers of Christ. But when they come to understand
that spiritually, they see what it is that has nailed him to
the cross. It's not the Roman soldiers,
it's the sins of those he came to save. That's the amazing thing. Well, when God takes us in hand
and teaches us by His Spirit in the law of God. And though
this man Saul, this Pharisee, this expert in the law, this
man who really believed that he was obedient to every commandment
of the Lord, he thought he was righteous touching what the law
said and then how he speaks Romans you know the chapter that 7th
chapter what does he say there verse 8 sin taking occasion by
the commandments wrought in me or manner of concupiscence for
without the law sin was dead oh he thought he knew the law
he didn't know anything at all he was dead and the law was dead
to him. I was alive without the law once,
but when the commandment came, sin revived and I died. He was brought under that terrible
conviction, that sense of his sinnership, sin taking occasion
by the commandment deceit and by its slumber. and how hard it was. There he
was, he was convicted like those on the day of Pentecost, convicted
in his conscience and there he is kicking against the pricks,
his conscience goading him. The Lord says to him, doesn't
he there in Acts 9, it is hard for thee to kick against the
pricks when the Lord's dealing with a man and he's troubled.
All the Psalmists certainly knew something of that. Look at David's
language. Previously here in the 32nd Psalm What does he say? Verse 4, Day and night thy hand
was heavy upon me, my moisture is turned into the drought of
summer, Selah, I acknowledge my sin unto thee. And mine iniquity
have I not hid, I said, I will confess my transgressions unto
the Lord. And thou forgave us the iniquity
of my sin. Selah. Each of the verses ends
with the Selah. Here is something for us to stop
and think about and meditate upon and take to heart. God's
hand you see heavy upon a man, his moisture dried up and this
is the Blessed Man. Oh again it's the Blessed Man.
Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.
Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputed not iniquity,
in whose spirit there is no guile. It's the same man that we read
of later there in verses 4 and 5. There is a ministry of the
law. To some degree we must know something
of it. That's how we know that we're
sinners by the law is the knowledge of sin. But there's also the ministry
of the gospel here. Now I know we just have the word
law and teach us him out of thy law but the word that we have it
is the word law it's the word Torah the Hebrew
word for law Of course they don't just call the Ten Commandments
the law, the first five books of Moses are the law, the Torah. But the words as this idea also
of teaching and instruction. Often times in scripture it's
not just used in that confined sense, that specific sense with
regards to that law of the Ten Commandments. that brings a conviction
of sin. Think of the language of David
in the 119th Psalm, there in verse 96. He says, Thy Lord is exceeding
broad. There's a certain breadth in
the Lord. And we can understand the Lord
oftentimes in terms of the Gospel here. And I believe that's the
case in our text. Who is the one that's being spoken
of? Well, it's Jehovah. Look at the name that stands
there in the center of the verse, O LORD. It's the God of the Covenant. The faithful God. The merciful
God. And he teaches out of the law.
Now, there is a law that comes out of Sinai. But do we not also
read of a law that comes out of Zion? there in Isaiah 2.3
out of Zion shall go forth the law and the word of the Lord
from Jerusalem and remember how these two places Zion and Sinai
are contrasted in that chapter that we were reading from Hebrews
12 later on in the chapter we could have read all of the chapter
we only read the first part but there is a contrast there between
the man Sinai and the man Zion and Zion is identified with the
gospel and out of Zion shall go forth the Lord it says in Romans Romans 8.2 we
read of the Lord of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus this
is the gospel this is the gospel James calls it the perfect law
of liberty. That's surely the gospel. We
wouldn't argue that James is describing the terrors of the
law of God, that he's that ministration of condemnation and that ministration
of death, when he says it's a perfect law of liberty. No, this is the
gospel. the gospel of our Lord and Savior
Jesus Christ. And so as God makes sore, so
God binds up. As God wounds and pierces and
convicts, so God also makes whole and comforts. The law was given
by Moses but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Oh thank
God! race and truth have come by Jesus
Christ. And how God teaches his people
in the gospel. Behold, God exalteth by his power,
who teacheth like him. Oh, he teaches us our ruin in
the fall, he teaches us what we are as sinners, but he teaches
us also that blessed way of salvation. And how does He teach? He teaches
us in the depths of our being. He teaches us in our souls. He
deals with our souls. What do we read here in verse
13? That thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity
until the pit be digged for the wicked. Again, what a contrast. The pits digged for those wicked
ones. who was spoken of previously who so sit against God's people but then also here at the beginning
of that 13th verse there is rest who is this rest for? it is for
those spoken of in verse 12 the man whom thou chastenest, the
blessed man the man that is taught out of God's law that thou mayest
give him rest from the days of adversity. God's under the gospel
he brings his people, doesn't he, to that blessed rest. Come
unto me, says Christ, all ye that labour and are heavy laid,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, learn
of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest
unto your souls. Having done that great work of
conviction by his chastening, this is the expected end. when
that poor sinner is brought to rest himself in the Lord Jesus
Christ and to find all his comfort there, all his salvation there
there remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God for he that
is entered into his rest he also hath ceased from his own works
as God did from his the language of the Apostle in Hebrews chapter
4 speaks of God's resting on the 7th day from all his works.
That was the end. The work of creation was finished
in 7 days, 6 days, 6 days, to be clear, 6 days, the 7th day
God rests. The work is complete. Of course,
foolish men who deny God teach a theory called evolution which
I assume is... I mean we're still evolving.
Everything is still evolving. Everything's still in a sense
making progress, improving. And yet, well, we look around
us. Change and decline in all around
us. The folly of men. God finished
his work of creation in six days. That's so clear from what he
says there right at the beginning. I refer to it today as Hegen,
those words at the beginning of chapter 2 in Genesis. Thus
the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of
them. And on the seventh day God ended
his work which he had made, and he rested on the seventh day
from all his work which he had made. It was made It was finished. It was ended. Now, that doesn't
mean God's inactive because God works in providence and God works
in grace. Thank God for that. He's still
sovereign over all his creatures. And in this fallen work, this
fallen world, He's working out that great eternal purpose. He's
saving a multitude of sinners. and they've been saved by the
precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and that salvation is
being brought home into their souls. And how is it brought
home? It's done by God's teaching.
Or as we read there in Job 36, Who teaches like Him? Or do we
know anything then of this teaching of the Lord? The teaching of
the Lord. How do we learn it? Well we sang
that little couplet in Gadsby's hymn, we must not learn God's
truth as schoolboys learn their tasks. We don't learn by rote. It's not just a matter either
of our intellect and giving a sense to certain truths in an intellectual
way, in a notional way. No, God teaches us in the very
depths of our being. we have to learn scripture lessons
by experience that is the school of the Lord Jesus Christ and
the truth has to enter into our very beings we have to with meekness
receive it and know it as that engrafted, that implanted word
that is able to save our soul it please God Paul says to reveal
his son in May or do we know that inward revelation the Lord
dealing with us in all the experiences of our life. Daily teaching us
more and more about ourselves and teaching us more and more
about himself. Do we give ourselves to self-examination
as we ought? We ought to be a people who do
that. Or let a man examine himself when he comes to the Lord's supper.
Let a man examine himself. So let him eat of this bread,
drink of this cup. examine yourselves, prove your
own selves know you're not your own selves and that Jesus Christ
is in you except ye be reprobate well the Lord deals with us you
see to cause us to engage in that examination there's a place
for it but also as we look to ourselves we have to ultimately
look to the Lord Jesus Christ looking on to Jesus the author
and finisher of our faith. That's our only hope. Pour not
on thyself too long, lest it sink thee lower. Look to Jesus,
kind, strong, merciful, joined with power. Blessed is the man
whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law,
that thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity. May
the Lord bless These words to us. Amen.