let us turn once again to the
portion we were reading in Psalm 118 and directing you to the
words that we find here at verses 17 and 18 Psalm 118 verses 17
and 18 I shall not die but live and declare the works of the
Lord The Lord hath chastened me sore,
but he hath not given me over unto death. It seems that this particular
Psalm, Psalm 118, lies at the very center of our Bibles. I'm not trying to establish that,
but that's what's so many of the scholars declare that this
particular psalm is found right at the middle of God's holy word
and it was certainly a golden psalm to the great reformer Martin
Luther he found much comfort in it and at times it would greatly
revive his spirit and particularly These words in verse 17, I shall
not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord in all
those many troubles and great dangers that he found himself
in at the time of the Protestant Reformation. He was persuaded
very much the Lord hand to be upon him, preserving him, kept
by the power of God. and you can understand then as
one who was principally a minister of the word of truth he was a
professor at the university there in Wittenberg the subject he
lectured in was the exegesis of holy scripture the interpretation
of God's word but he was also principally one who didn't just
lecture he preached that word of God and so he would draw comfort
from what we read here, I shall not die but live and declare
the works of the Lord. But it is of course a psalm that
is far greater than Martin Luther. It's a messianic psalm. It clearly
speaks to us then of the Lord Jesus Christ and we see that
We see that in the words of verses 22 and 23 where we read of the
stone which the builders refused becoming the headstone of the
corner. It is the Lord's doing, it is
marvelous in our eyes. And the Lord Jesus himself makes
reference to those words in the course of his own ministry when
we see him there in the 21st chapter of Matthew preaching
and this was his wont he preaches by parables and he tells the
parable of the vineyard and those unjust men who were
left in the charge of that vineyard and how the good man of the vineyard
would send his servants but how cruelly they were treated by
those wicked keepers and then eventually the good man sends
his only begotten son and when the Lord comes to interpret the
parable the parable of the vineyard We see him directing his comments
very much to the Jews. He was that one who would come
unto his own, his own received him not. And he says in the parable, when
he sent the son and heir, they said, let us kill him and seize
on his inheritance. And so they slew him. And verse
40 of that 21st chapter, When the Lord therefore of the vineyard
cometh, what will he do unto those husbandmen? They said unto
him, He will miserably destroy those wicked men, and will let
out his vineyard unto other husbandmen, which shall render him the fruits
in their seasons. Jesus saith unto them, Did ye
never read in the Scriptures the stone which the builders
rejected? the same is become the headstone
of the corner this is the Lord's doing and it is marvelous in
our eyes it's those very words that we
have in the psalm that the Lord is taking and applying to himself
and not only there in the gospel but also when we come to the
writings of the apostles remember that Simon Peter for example
writing in his first epistle and there in the second chapter
he also refers to those words from Psalm 118 in 1 Peter 2 and
verse 7 he says unto you therefore which believe he is precious
but unto them which be disobedient the stone which the builders
disallowed. The same is made the head of
the corner, and the stone of stumbling, and the rock of offense,
even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient,
whereunto also they were appointed." And so we know from the New Testament
and these quotations and there are others, the account of the parable for
example is repeated in the other synoptic Gospels But from the
New Testament we can conclude without any doubt that the 118th
Psalm is one that speaks to us of the Lord Jesus. And does it
not go on also to make some reference to that great sacrifice that
he was to make, the purpose of his coming? Verse 27, "...bind
the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar."
So one, what we see here in the psalm is that that directs us
to the Lord Jesus Christ. I thank God that we can find
him in all the scriptures. And as we come tonight to consider
the words that I've read for a text, I want to say something
with regards to the manner in which the Lord deals with his
people. in the way of chastening. I shall
not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord
hath chastened me sore, but he hath not given me over unto death. And to speak in particular of
the difficulty and the design of chastening. The difficulty
and the design of chastening. Following that simple division
as we turn in particular to these verses. First of all, the difficulty. Because this chastening that
is being spoken of is associated with discipline. What is chastening? It's to teach, it's to instruct
by the way of sufferings. and such training is usually
associated with children, with childhood. And you know how we
see it so many times in the wisdom literature, in the book of Proverbs. He that spareth his rods, hateth
his son, but he that loveth him chasteneth him betimes, oftentimes. he doesn't spare the rod again
it says chasten thy son while there is hope and let not thy
soul spare for his crying there is profit but it is not easy
it's painful and it's difficult and doesn't the Lord God chasten
his own and he chastens his own even in their early experience
we might say when He begins with them, when they're babes, when
they're children. He chastens them by bringing
them into those convictions of their sins, of their sinnership.
When Paul writes in the Galatian Epistle, he speaks of the Lord
as a schoolmaster. The schoolmaster that bringeth
us to Christ, he says. the schoolmaster is in that place
of authority and will discipline the child and so the Lord disciplines
his people when he begins with them and how does he do that? he brings them into that place
of conviction by the law there comes that conviction of their
sinnership and we see it time and again and we have it here
you see I shall not die but live and declare the works of the
Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore but he hath not given
me over unto death." I suppose in a sense we might say we have
the counterpart to those words in the New Testament in the language
that Paul uses in 2nd Corinthians 6.9 and he's speaking of something
of his own experiences and he says as dying and behold we live
as chastened and not killed chastened and not killed and it's interesting
because the very word that he is using there to chasten that
verb is derived from the noun for a child it's dealings with a child it's
a mark of sonship then when God deals with us in the way of correction
and of chastening even at the beginning of our experience when
the Lord troubles us in our conscience and we feel something of what
we are as sinners and so it goes on all our days really whom the
Lord loveth he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth
if ye endure chastening God dealeth with you as with sons What son
is he that the father chasteneth not? Oh, is there not comfort here
then? It's difficult, yes. And yet
it's one of the marks of sonship. It serves that the Lord has a
purpose of grace to accomplish in their souls that He will deal
with in that way of chastening, bringing them, as it were, under
the schoolmaster of the law. And that law is meant to serve
the gospel. it's a schoolmaster to bring
us to Christ the end of ourselves and to look only to the Lord
Jesus Christ but the difficulty of this experience is this that
chastisement is a humbling thing and chastening is a hard thing
we'll just think of that for a moment how humbling it is,
the experience of chastening. To show the importance and the
necessity of humiliation, remember how in the Gospel the Lord Jesus
Christ takes a child and sets him before his disciples. You
may recall the incident that's recorded there, for example in
Matthew chapter 18, Verse 2, the Lord says, Verily
I say unto you, except ye be converted, and become as little
children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven. Whosoever
therefore shall humble himself as his little child, the same
is greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whosoever shall receive
one such little child in my name receiveth me. He takes the young child, a little
child it says. It is a diminutive, the Jews
there. It's a tiny child. We might even say little more
than a toddler and he sets that little one amongst them and says
it's necessary to be converted and to become as little children.
How humbling that is. How humbling that is. but the
Lord sees, you see, that what is bound up in our unbelieving
hearts what's bound up in our fallen sinful nature is pride and it's there because of sin
and the language that we find there in Genesis 3 at the fall
of Adam and Eve what does the serpent, the instrument of Satan
say to the woman Ye shall be as gods. Men, you see, would be in charge
of their own destiny. They want to be as gods. They
think they can make themselves acceptable with God. Even religious
people. There's a natural religion. Oh,
we see it, don't we? It's a religion of the scribes
and the Pharisees. It was a religion of Saul of
Tarsus. What self-righteousness was in
that man? Touching the righteousness which
is of the Lord, he considered himself to be blameless. He kept
it. Well, what we see in the Lord's
ministry is that that proud man has to be brought low, has to
be humbled. He takes a little child and tells
his disciples and tells those who are about them that they
have to be converted and become like little children now that
pride must be destroyed or it is an accursed thing it's there
as I said at the beginning when Adam and Eve sinned it is pride,
accursed pride that spirit by God abhorred, do what we will
it holds us still and keeps us from the Lord chastening then
is humbling and that's not easy, that's a difficult experience
when the Lord comes and corrects us but chastening is also a hard
and a bitter experience I shall not die says the psalmist, but
live and declare the works of the Lord. I shall not die but
live. Now remember the parallels that
we have in that verse that I referred to just now in the New Testament
in 2 Corinthians 6 verse 9. Paul says there, as dying and
behold we live as chastened and not killed. You'll see that the
vocabulary is so similar to what we have in the verses in the
psalm. But there in the epistle we have what we might say are
parallel statements. The expression we live is equivalent
to not killed. And so the word chastened answers
to dying as dying and behold we live as chastened and not
killed and sometimes it does seem when the Lord is dealing
with us in a hard way and chastening us that that correction is going
to altogether overwhelm us all the Lord's chastenings Sometimes
the Lord deals with these people in that way, even with regards
to their physical health. We see it, don't we, in the language
of Elihu, there in the book of Job, that man that speaks after
the other friends have all been silenced, they were poor comforters,
and then along comes Elihu and he makes a long speech. And amongst
other things we find these words, Job 33, 19, he speaks of a man,
chastened, also with pain upon his bed, the multitude of his
bones with strong pain, so that his life abhorreth bread, and
his soul dainty meat, his flesh is consumed away, that he cannot
be seen, and his bones that were not seen stick out. Yea, his
soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers. Chastened, he says in verse 19. And then, the words at verse 23, if there
be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show
unto man his uprightness, then He is gracious unto him, and
saith, Deliver him from going down to the pit, I have found
a ransom." Oh, the Lord has a good ending in His chastening, you
see. Without chastening is such, it might appear that He's going
to overwhelm a man, going to completely destroy the man. And God does deal with us in
a multitude of ways when He comes to chasten us and to teach us. He may do it in the way of providence
the Lord's providences the Lord's voice crieth unto the city the
man of wisdom shall say thy name, hear ye the rod and do hath appointed
it the rod as a voice and it's a voice of the Lord, the Lord
has appointed it and what is the Lord doing in his providences?
Well, everything is in his sovereign hands. Nothing comes to us merely
by chance. The fictitious powers of chance
and fortune I defy. My life's minutest circumstance
is subject to his eye. We sometimes sing those words
of Charles Wesley, how true they are. and we need to be those
who would be observant of the Lord's providences and try to
hear His voice speaking to us, who so is wise and will observe
these things even they shall understand the loving kindness
of the Lord. What providences? God said sometimes
there are trials that come into the family, difficulties in family
relationships there are those trials that come in the workplace,
difficulties with our colleagues difficulties with those who are
in a position of authority over us. None of these things happen
by chance. There are even those trials and
troubles that can come into the body of the church. How the Lord, you see, is dealing
with us and sometimes we think this is going to completely overwhelm
us, but not so. Or there is an interpreter. We have to look to the Lord and
ask that the Lord would show us what His way and His will
is in all of these things. But sometimes the Lord chastens
us by inward spiritual trials. It's not always God's providences.
It's not those external things in our lives, be it in our family
or the workplace or even in the church. God's dealings are very
personal with His people. are we not sometimes greatly
cast down in our souls? or God seems to frown he hides
his face and we begin to think will he cut us off forever? certainly the the Psalmist knew something of that
we have those words in the 42nd and 43rd Psalms little refrain almost
repetition in Psalm 42 verses 5 and 11 then again at the end
of Psalm 43 Why art thou cast down O my soul? Why art thou
disquieted with him? Hope thou in God for I shall
yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God
And as I said on previous occasions, it's profitable to look at those
two Psalms and compare what is being said in those three verses.
They're not identical. There are subtle differences,
but there's much instruction. But now the psalmist is there
addressing himself. It's a sort of soliloquy. Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? And it makes me think of the
hymn 708 a dialogue between a believer
and his soul. It's a long hymn. It's not one
for public worship but it's profitable, certainly very useful to read
quietly in our devotions and to think
upon the words how the believer addresses his soul and the soul
of the believer responds and the believer comes again It's
a man conversing with himself, conversing with his soul. And
the last verse, the soul speaks, the believer
answers, right through the eight lines of that concluding verse. Read through the hymn 708. Or
sometimes God's people are cast out. But what does the psalmist say
here? I shall not die, but live and
declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore,
but he hath not given me over unto death." And we have that
truth, don't we? The Lord will not cast off His
people, neither will He forsake His inheritance. That is the
truth. That's the objective truth of
God's words. he will never cast off his people
whom he has foreknown and yet sometimes his dealings are so
difficult and so hard and so bitter and we are greatly trying
and we need to stop and to remember and remember what else the Psalmist
is saying here in the midst of all these chastenings Verse 8,
it is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in
man. It is better to trust in the
Lord than to put confidence in princes. Oh, how the Lord will
bring us to that where we have to look to Him and we have to
trust in Him and in Him alone. And let us never forget what
the Lord Jesus Christ has done. He has come and He has borne
the judicial punishment that was due to all the sins of his
people. As I said, the psalm that we
have here is a messianic psalm. And so ultimately, it is directing
us to the person and the work of Christ. The stone which the
builders refused has become the headstone of the corner. This
is the Lord's doing. It is marvellous in our eyes. Oh, it's the Lord. And He is that One who has come
to make the great sin atoning sacrifice, bind the sacrifice
with cords, even unto the horns of the altar. Christ has borne
that judicial punishment of all the sins of all his people. So,
even when the Lord deals with us in the way of chastening and
correcting, and we begin to wonder where
will the sin end? It's such a sore trial and trouble
that we're in. None of that is in any sense
judicial. Chastening is a mark always of
the love of God. That's the truth, is it not?
Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom
he pleases. Christ has borne the punishment,
the judicial punishment. What would my blood avail if
spilt? Thou hast in richer blood been
paid, when all my dreadful debt of guilt was on my dying Saviour
laid. That's where God has dealt with
the matter of our sin. And so the Psalmist can say with
all confidence, I shall not die but live. And declare the works
of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened me so,
but he hath not given me over unto death. Oh, there's life, you see. There's
spiritual life in the soul of this man. He's not going to die. That's an impossibility. He's
a living man. We recently read those words,
didn't we, in the third of the Lamentations? Wherefore doth
a living man complain, a man for the punishment of his sins?
That's chastening. Let us search and try our ways
and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with
our hands unto God in the heavens. Oh, the Lord would have us come,
you see, and look to Him. It is better to trust in the
Lord. Whatever our situation, whatever our circumstances, for
His correction, render prize, "'Tis given before thy good,
the lashes steeped on thee he lays, and softened with his blood."
There's our comfort, there's sweetness, even in the rod. All that rod is dipped in honey,
just as Jonathan dipped his rod in the honey and put it to his
mouth, and what sweetness, what revivings it brought to the man. The difficulty then, the bitterness,
the extremities of the trial, the chastening. And yet, there's
not only difficulty, there's also a blessed design. Or there's
a gracious design. And so in the second place, to
say something with regards to the Lord's design. We've made
reference already to the language of Paul in the 12th of Hebrews
turning to that passage Hebrews 12 verse 9 he writes furthermore
we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave
them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection unto
the father of spirits and live for they verily for a few days
chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit,
that we might be partakers of his holiness. There no chastening
for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless
afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them
which are exercised thereby." Or there's a nevertheless, there's
an afterward to the chastening, it yields something, peaceable
fruit of righteousness. But there must be that exercise.
This is the Father's intention, it's for our profit that we might
be partakers of His holiness. This is the Lord's blessed design. And so there's life here, spiritual
life. By these things men live. In
all these things is the life of my Spirit. The language of
Hezekiah there in Isaiah 38, I shall not die but live. How good it is when the Lord
deals with us. How awful when the Lord leaves us, leaves us
to ourselves, leaves us to our own devices. Ephraim is joined
to idols, says the Prophet. let him alone, oh what a terrible
sentence if the Lord should let us alone and leave us to ourselves
and our own devices and not come and have dealings with us even
those corrections and those chastenings he will teach us and he'll teach
us our complete and utter dependence upon himself. The Lord Jesus
there in the Gospel in John 15 speaks of the vine and the branches
and how the husband and the father will make the vine a fruitful
vine. I am the true vine says Christ. My father is the husband man.
Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away. And
every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more
fruit. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear
fruit of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can ye except
ye abide in me. I am the vine, ye are the branches,
he that abideth in me and I in him, the same bringeth forth
much fruit, for without me ye can do nothing." Here is the
Lord's design you see, He will teach us our complete and our
utter dependence upon Himself, upon the Lord Jesus Christ our
Saviour. Or the believer is one who is
weak, so often helpless in himself and how does he learn that truth
his own utter weakness isn't that what the Lord is doing with
his chastenings when he deals with us as those
little children he humbles us he humbles us you know the scripture
is full of these things think of the language again of the
apostle when he writes to that church at Corinth in the second
epistle to the Corinthians and there in chapter 4 verse 10 speaking
of himself and his dealings he's defending himself freely, his
apostleship how they despised him, how they had been so sadly
led astray by false teachers who despised Paul and his message
and so when he writes he has to explain something of his own
pedigree we might say and what the ministry was costing him
and he says this verse 10 in 2nd Corinthians chapter 4 always
bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that
the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body
for we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus'
sake that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our
mortal flesh." All the Lord's dealings are for the death of
self that the life of the Lord Jesus might be ever more manifest
in our body and manifest in our mortal flesh. again earlier in
that same epistle in the first chapter he says we had the sentence
of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves
but in God which raiseth the dead who hath delivered us who
doth deliver us in whom we trust he will yet deliver us he does
deliver his people he has a design in view that they might come
increasingly to the end of themselves and ever more dependent upon
the Lord Christ. I am crucified with Christ. All
those familiar words of Galatians 2.20. I am crucified with Christ.
Nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and
the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith
of the Son of God. who loved me and gave himself
for me. That's the Christian's calling.
But it's one thing to see it there on the page of the Bible. It's another thing when the Lord
begins to write that truth in our hearts. And the way in which
he does it is by these chastenings and these corrections, by all
these trials in providence. by those inward trials that at
times come into our lives the Lord is in these things and how
remarkable is that word we've referred to it several times
I said it's it's the New Testament counterpart of our text 2nd Corinthians
6 and verse 9 he says as dying and behold we live as chastened
and not killed but thinking of what he has in that first clause
is dying he says and behold we live he doesn't just say dying
and we live but he introduces that striking word behold and
the force of it really something to look to and to study and to
contemplate that's the force of the word behold fix the eye
We're dying. Behold, we're alive. Why? It's
the Lord's doing and it's marvelous in our eyes. Wasn't this something
of the experience then of a man like Luther? How he was raised up at that
particular point in human history and the history of the church
and raised up for a purpose. And now God in many ways accomplished
in his soul that great work that he was going to ultimately work
out in the history of Western Europe. That's where the Reformation
really began. It began in the soul of Martin
Luther. No wonder then the man could
draw so much comfort from such a portion of scripture as we
have before us tonight. I shall not die, but live and
declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened me sore,
but he hath not given me over unto death, or that we might
be those then who would bow to that sovereignty
of our God in all His ways, in all His dealings, and seek to
discern by His grace what the Lord is doing with us, what the
Lord is saying to us. May the Lord then be pleased
to bless the word to us. Amen.