Let us turn once again to God's
Word, and turning to the 119th Psalm, Psalm 119, and I'll read
the portion from verse 89 to 96. Psalm 119, verse 89. Forever,
O Lord, thy Word is settled in heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all
generations. Thou hast established the earth,
and it abideth. They continue this day according
to thine ordinances, for all are thy servants. Unless thy
Lord had been my delight, I should then have perished in mine affliction.
I will never forget thy precepts, for with them thou hast quickened
me. I am thine, save me. for I have sought thy precepts.
The wicked have waited for me to destroy me, but I will consider
thy testimonies. I have seen an end of all perfection,
that thy commandment is exceeding broad. I want to take for a text the first
verse that we've just read here in this 119th Psalm, verse 89.
Forever, O Lord, Thy word is settled in heaven. Forever, O Lord, Thy word is
settled in heaven." I mentioned in the past what some of the
commentators called pericopes here in the word of God, those
portions of Holy Scripture that are very striking. that declare
great truths that we should come back to time and time again and
I suppose in a sense we might say that of the 23rd Psalm we
were looking again at part of a verse there on Thursday evening
but in a sense the whole of the book of Psalms is a great pericope
There's so much to comfort us in this part of God's Holy Word. And you may recall, I'm sure
you will, that only last Lord's Day morning, of course, we took
for our text the last verse of this section that I've just read. Verse 96. I have seen an end
of all perfection, but thy commandment is exceeding broad. There we have the breadth of
God's Word. And I suppose in the verse that
I've announced this morning, the opening verse of this section,
we have the height of God's Word, the height of the Word of God
settled in heaven, says David. When we were thinking last time
in terms of what is declared in the 96th verse, the breadth
of that Word, We remarked how God's Word does serve us in that
it reveals to us so much of the emptiness of the world, and there
are certain portions that make that so abundantly clear. You can think in particular of
the book of Ecclesiastes. And we have that refrain many
times, vanity of vanities. All is vanity, says the preacher. written by King Solomon who was
the wisest of men and now he acknowledges the vanity of all
his works. There in the second chapter of
Ecclesiastes, verse 8, he says, me also silver and gold, and
the peculiar treasure of kings, and of the provinces. I got me
men singers and women singers, and the delights of the sons
of men, as musical instruments, and that of all sorts. So I was
great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem.
Also my wisdom remained with me, and whatsoever mine eyes
desired, I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from
any joy, For my heart rejoiced in all my labour, and this was
the portion of my labour. Then I looked on all the works
that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured
to do, and behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there
was no profit under the sun." Now God's words serves us in
that it shows us the vanity of the works of the creature and
certainly the vanity of the ways of sin. Now God's law was there
of course constantly as it were pursuing the children of Israel. Remember that direction that
was given there in Deuteronomy chapter 11 and verse 18 Therefore
shall ye lay up these my words in your hearts, says the Lord,
and in your soul, and bind them for a sign upon your hand, that
they may be as frontless between your eyes. And ye shall teach
them your children, speaking of them, when thou sittest in
thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, when thou liest down,
and when thou risest up. and thou shalt write them upon
the doorpost of thine house and upon thy gates." And they took
that very literally, the children of Israel, when we come to the
New Testament, how the Lord rebukes the Jews, particularly the Pharisees,
for their vain traditions. How they had those little leather
boxes, the phylacteries, and they made them very large, so
that people could see that they constantly had God's Word, as
it were, bound around their foreheads, before their eyes, or they bound
them on their wrists. They had God's Word on their
hands, in all that they did. And yet, what did that Word do?
It did nothing for them. What God is saying back in Deuteronomy
is, wherever they go, whatever they are about, they are to remember
His words. And what is it God's word does?
It shows man the vanity of his own life, and the wickedness
of his many departures from the laws of God. All God's commandments
truly is an exceeding broad commandment. It finds out the sinner on every
hand. And yet, as we said last time,
that same word also reveals to us the gospel. It reveals to
us the fullness that is in the Lord Jesus Christ, that great
way of salvation, where sin aboundeth, the apostle says grace does much
more abound. And remember the prayer that
Paul prays for the church of the Ephesians, there at the end
of Ephesians chapter 3. He says that Christ may dwell
in your hearts by faith, that ye being rooted and grounded
in love may be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth
and length and depth and height and to know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge that ye might be filled with all the
fullness of God." All the breadth, the length, the depth, the height
of that love of God that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. Who can
begin to comprehend the wonder of the ways of God? He doesn't
just send His Word, His Lord, to condemn men. He sends His
Gospel to declare to them that way of salvation. In another
psalm we read, He sent His Word and healed them and delivered
them from their destructions. That Word of God, that Lord of
God then, that we were considering here in verse 96 just a week
ago, I have seen an end of all perfection, says David, but thy
commandment is exceeding broad. Well, let us turn to the opening
verse in this particular part of the psalm, verse 89, where
we read of the height, the height of God's Word. Forever, O Lord,
thy Word is settled in heaven. Now what does that declare to
us? Well, two things it reminds us of, and I want us to try to
consider these two things for a while this morning. It reminds
us of the preservation of the Word of God, but also it reminds
us of the immutability, or we might rather say the unchangeableness,
of the Word of God. It is settled in heaven. But first of all, to say something
with regards to its preservation. It is that that endures. It's
an enduring Word. Now you may be aware of some
of the vanities of men and those man-made religions. The Muslims,
for example, say that their Quran is kept in heaven and the contents
of it were simply dictated to the one whom they say was their
prophet, Muhammad. He simply received what was already
kept in heaven. The words were simply dictated
to him and he wrote them down. Now if you ever look at that
book of the Quran, it's full of nonsense really. But there
we are, that's their claim. They say that it is actually
kept in heaven. It's stored there. But then also
we have the Latter-day Saints, or the Mormons, and they say
something similar. They say that the Book of Mormon
is actually preserved on golden plates in heaven. And again,
that was simply given to the Prophet Joseph Smith. He had
some special glasses whereby he could read, and then he could
communicate. that that he had received from
God, the book of Mormon. But these are the vanities of
men. And what we have here in the
text before us tonight, forever, or rather this morning, forever,
O Lord, thy word is settled in heaven, it doesn't support those
superstitious claims of men. When God gave his words here
upon the earth, he didn't simply dictate that word to men. But God gave the word in a very
special manner. He gave it by what we call inspiration. He gave it by inspiration. We're
reminded of that, aren't we, by what Peter says. We often
refer to those words at the end of the opening chapter of his
second epistle, where he speaks of those holy men, those seers
and prophets in the Old Testament. Those are the ones he's really
referring to. Holy men of God, he says, spake
as they were moved by the Spirit of God. they were moved by the
Spirit and what did they did as they were moved along by the
Spirit they declared thus saith the Lord and thus saith the Lord
and the verb that he uses there it's a very strong verb really
how were they moved? well the same word is also used
in Acts 27 verses 15 and 17 where we read of Paul on that journey that he
made from Jerusalem to Rome, and they're there in the middle
of the Mediterranean, there's a great storm, Euroclidan it's
called, and the vessel that they're on board is being broken up by
the storm. They're in danger of shipwreck,
in fact they were shipwrecked, such was the violence of that
storm, and He speaks in those verses in Acts 27 about how the
vessel was driven, driven of the wind and of the waves. The mariners, the men responsible
for that vessel, they can do nothing, they simply have to
commit it to those elements. And it's just borne along, driven.
And that's the same idea with regards to what Peter is saying
at the end of that first chapter in his second epistle. Those
holy men of God, they were just carried along by the Spirit of
God. They were not speaking their own word, but they were not having
words dictated to them. God was working in a remarkable
way in their souls and in their minds, and they were giving expression
then not to their own words, but they were giving expression
to those words that were divinely inspired. Again, that other great
verse that speaks to us of the doctrine of the inspiration of
Holy Scripture, 2 Timothy 3.16, all Scripture, is given by inspiration of God
and is profitable says the Apostle and it's a remarkable verse in
that what we have in our English Bible given by inspiration of
God given by inspiration of God five words and yet that's the
rendering of a single word but it's such a pregnant verse really,
it's full of such matter. And literally, what is rendered
by those five words has the idea of God's breathing. All scripture is given by God's
breathing. God breathes forth His word.
How does He breathe it forth? When He inspires those holy men,
and they speak His words. And that's what we have here,
that Word, it's settled in heaven, it's God's Word. But God, in
that way of inspiration, has communicated that Word to men
here upon the earth. And God will therefore preserve
His Word. Because what we have in Holy
Scripture is not the words, Amen, but literally the Word of God
Himself. And so, we say that all Scripture,
that means from Genesis to Revelation, all the chapters, all the verses,
all the words, were given by inspiration of God. And God will preserve His Word,
because it is inspired in every part. Plenary. Plenary inspiration. Every part of it is inspired.
But more than that we often use the word verbal inspiration because
all the words are inspired. And as we've said many many a
time, The great beauty of our English Bible here in the authorized
version is that the translators are so faithful to those words
that when they feel it necessary to bring other English words
in to bring out the proper sense they indicate that by the use
of italics. It's such a faithful rendering
of what God first gave. And by his sovereign providence
God is the one who preserves His word. The Lord Jesus declares,
verily, till heaven and earth pass one jot or one tittle shall
not pass from the law till all be fulfilled. All God's words, it's preserved,
it endures. And we read those words in the
19th Psalm. The fear of the Lord is clean
enduring forever but what is that fear of the Lord that is
being spoken of in that psalm and there in verse in the 9th
verse the fear of the Lord well you'll see how in the context
from verse 7 through to verse 9 David uses
various words to describe God's word in Holy Scripture. Different
synonyms. He speaks of the law, the testimony,
the statutes, the commandments, the judgments, and also the fear. The fear of the Lord is a reference
to Holy Scripture. Because it is preserved in heaven,
we are to reverence it, we are to fear it in that sense. It
should bring us to a spirit of awe when we're handling the Word
of God because we see that it is the very breathings of God. We often sing that hymn 878, Revere the sacred page, to injure
any part. Betrays with blind and feeble
rage a hard and haughty heart. If aught there dark appear, beware
thy want of sight. No imperfection can be there,
for all God's words are right. For the fear of the Lord it endureth
for forever. It's God's word. But it's interesting
what we have in this particular 89th verse of the psalm. The
Puritan, Thomas Manton, says of these words that they may
also refer to God's decree. Not just the book of Scripture,
but as it were, the book of God's decree. Forever, O Lord, Word
is settled in heaven. There is a book that God has
written, the book of His decree, His great purposes, that He predestines
from all eternity. It must all have its fulfilment
in the appointed time. In another psalm we read, our
God is in the heavens, he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Men have their plans, but our
God time and again frustrates the designs of men. The wise man tells us in Proverbs
19.21, there are many devices in a man's heart, nevertheless
the counsel of the Lord, that shall stand. Oh, there is that
that God has purposed from all eternity. It's settled in heaven. It will be fulfilled in His appointed
time here upon the earth. And again, the language that
we have there in the 139th Psalm. Verse 16, Thine eyes did see
my substance, yet being unperfect in thy book all my members were
written. which in continuance were fashioned
when as yet there was none of them." Remarkable words, aren't
they? Speaking of course of the fetus
in the womb. There's a time to be born for
each individual that is ever born into this world. They come
into this world at that time that was ordained of God from
all eternity. A time to be born, a time to
die. And yet, when we look at these
words, they also indicate to us that God does have a book.
There's a spiritual interpretation that we can make. There are those
who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. When the apostle
writes to the church at Philippi, he mentions certain ones who
were a great help to him, who were a real assistant in all
his work. whose names he says are in the
Book of Life written in the Lamb's Book of
Life from the foundation of the world we read twice there in
Revelation chapter 13 and verse 8 and chapter 17 and verse 8
the Lamb's Book of Life all is written there concerning every
aspect of the lives of men, all that comes to pass in our lives.
It's written in the book of God, in the decrees of God. But there's
that book and there are those names that are written in that
book from before God ever created the world. And all the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ is also written in the book of God. Remember how Paul speaks of it
there in Hebrews chapter 10 at verse 5 following, and he's quoting
from the Psalms. He's quoting from the 40th Psalm
here, a Psalm that speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ quite clearly
because Paul is making that plain to us when he makes reference
in Hebrews 10. Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire, Mine ears hast thou opened, burnt offering and sin
offering hast thou not required? Then said I, Lo, I come. In the
volume of the book it is written of me. I delight to do thy will,
O my God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. Those are the words that are
quoted by the Apostle in Hebrews. He continues here in the Psalm.
Does David, I have preached righteousness in the great congregation. Isn't
the Lord Jesus Christ that one who is truly the preacher of
righteousness? But all the ministry of Christ
is in the volume of the book. Written in the volume of the
book. That that was purposed in eternity must have
its fulfillment in the appointed time. because God's word is settled
in heaven and so when the fullness of the time comes God sends forth
his son made of a woman made under the law the precise time
that God himself had appointed and written from all eternity
and so too with regards to the death of the Lord Jesus Christ when The hour has come that he
should be received up. He sets his face to go to Jerusalem. It's settled. He is the Lamb
slain from the foundation of the world, slain in the purpose
of God. And the amazing thing is, of
course, that what we have in Scripture is a book in which
God is continually revealing to us those things that concern
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Scriptures and the Lord bear
one tremendous name. The written and incarnate words
in all things are the same. Christ could say to the Jews
in his day, search the Scriptures. In them you think that you have
eternal life, and these are they, he says, that testify of me. Oh, we search the Scriptures.
What do we seek to find here? To search that we might find
and discover more and more the person, the work of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And this is why John and these
other apostles write as they do in the various parts of Holy
Scripture. When John is writing there in
that first general epistle, remember what he says. the purpose for
him writing, that which was from the beginning, he says, which
we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we
have looked upon and our hands have handled of the Word of Life,
it's Christ, the Incarnate Word, the Life was manifested and we
have seen it and bear witness and show unto you that eternal
Life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us, that
which we have seen and heard declare we unto you that ye also
may have fellowship with us. And truly our fellowship is with
the Father and with His Son, Jesus Christ. And these things
write we unto you, that your joy may be full." There's the
purpose. Why is He writing these things?
That they might have all that fullness of joy as He communicates
to them something of the wonder of the person and the work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Can we not say that there is
that sense in which that word that is now settled in heaven
is Christ? In the fullness of the time He
came, in the volume of the book it was written of Him, He accomplished
all that that God had decreed, and having finished that great
work, having made that one sacrifice for sins, He rose from the dead,
He has now ascended on high, and Christ has entered heaven
itself we are told now to appear in the presence of God for us forever our Lord thy word is
settled in heaven there he still abides and he rules and he reigns
in his kingdom his mediatorial kingdom he is the head over all
things to the church This is His day, this is the
day of grace. And so it will be until He come
again a second time without sin unto salvation. Then comes the
great day of judgment, the last day. The book's opened. How we constantly read of these
books. The book of God's decree. The Lamb's book of life. the
book of Holy Scripture, that book that is to be opened in
that final day, the great day of judgment. All forever, O Lord,
thy word is settled in heaven. And as it is a word that God
preserves, a word that will endure, so it is also that that is immutable. it never changes this word of
God look at the context here in what
follows forever O Lord thy word is settled in heaven thy faithfulness
is unto all generations thou hast established the earth and
it abideth they continue this day according to thine ordinances
for all are thy servants Though in this world there are
many changes, change and decline, in all around we see many, many
changes, they come. They come all the time, they
come into our lives. We discover that we're living
in a world of time and of sense. Things move on. There's change
on every hand. And so it will be even to the
end. And how the Lord, when he speaks
of the end, reminds us there in Mark 13. In verse 7 he says, When ye shall
hear of wars and rumours of wars, Be not troubled, for such things
must needs be, but the end shall not be yet. For nation shall
rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there shall
be earthquakes in diverse places, and there shall be famines and
troubles. These are the beginnings of sorrows." All in the world
you'll see sorrows, troubles, tribulations, But what do we read here? Thy
faithfulness is unto all generations. Thou hast established the earth,
and it abideth. They continue this day according
to thine ordinances, for all are thy servants. Amidst all
the changes, all that is taking place, we need to remember that
God is sovereign, and God is sovereign in His providences. the Lord rules and He has declared
in His words that settled in heaven He has declared in His
faithfulness while the earth remaineth seed time and harvest
cold and heat summer and winter day and night shall not cease
and it matters not what men might say even the experts amongst
me we look beyond the vain opinions of men we look to that God who
is sovereign all the inhabitants of the earth are subject to his
will and he is doing according to his will among the armies
of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth and no one can stay
his hand no one can come and question him as to what he is
doing and if we're wise we'll observe these things doesn't
the 107th psalm speak so clearly to us of God as a God of providence
and it ends with that remarkable 43rd verse who so is wise and
will observe these things are we observant? do we watch God?
do we watch the hand of God? the wise are marked by their
observations of the sovereignty of God. There is their comfort.
The heavens rule. Whoso is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand the loving-kindness
of the Lord. And what a word is that, the
loving-kindness? Oh, it has the idea of God's
covenant faithfulness. thy word is settled in heavens,
thy faithfulness is unto all generations." Now we need to
be those who are always comparing the ways of God with the words
of God. To try to understand God's providence
is in the light of God's words. as we read there in 1 Corinthians
2.13 which the Holy Ghost teaches comparing spiritual things with
spiritual God's ways are spiritual ways but they are a mystery to
us and God's words God's word is a mystery but we try by the
help of the blessed Spirit of God to understand, to interpret
God's dealings by bringing everything to the touchstone of his faithful
word and see how here in this psalm David is speaking very
much of his own experiences and many of those experiences that
David had to endure they were bitter experiences look at what
we have in the previous section in verse 85 he says the proud
have digged pits for me which are not after thy law all thy
commandments are faithful they persecute me wrongfully help
thou me they had almost consumed me upon earth but I forsook not
thy precepts how he constantly speaks then of how the wicked,
how evil men are treating him and all his comfort he finds
only when he comes to the word of God here at verse 95 he says
the wicked have waited for me to destroy me but I will consider
thy testimonies no easy thing and how at times
David fainted with a heart why? that he had to walk and he began
to faint, he began to fail again look at the language in that
previous section verse 81 he says my soul fainted for thy
salvation but I hope in thy word mine eyes fail for thy word saying
when wilt thou comfort me? all my soul is continually in
my hand he says in verse 109 yet I will not forget thy law
his hand you see was holding his very life and he could so
easily lose grip of that and be lost as it were oh David found his comfort surely
in the immutability of the Word of God. God's Word abides. And
God's Word is an unchanging Word. Now, this Word, this text that
we're looking at this morning, here at the beginning of this
section, verse 89, "...forever, O Lord, thy Word is settled in
heaven." It's a remarkable verse, at least in this sense, because
it is really the very center of the psalm this is the longest
of all the psalms altogether 176 verses and so
verse 89 really stands at the very center of the psalm. And what does the
psalm do? What we reminded you of last week, it's a psalm that's
celebrating the Word of God. It's built around, as I said
last time, all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet, the language
that was used, of course, to give us God's Word here in the
Old Testament. And in each of the sections there
are eight verses, and I'm sure the children can work out what
8 x 22 amounts to 8 x 22 we get 176, 176 verses and here at the
middle of the psalm this statement forever O Lord thy word is settled
in heaven God has given us his words and
what has God done in giving us his words? he's given us a revelation of
himself because the the word is a name that's also
given to his son the Lord Jesus in the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God and the Word was God the sign was
in the beginning with God and the Word was made flesh and dwelt
among us and we beheld his glory the glories of the only begotten
of the Father full of grace and truth he is the Word in the sense
really I suppose that he is that one in whom God does speak and
reveal himself He is the image of the invisible God. What a
remarkable thing that God has given to us this revelation of
Himself in Holy Scripture, and it all centers in Christ, in
His person, and in His work. And we read those words there
in the 138th Psalm, in the second verse. Thou hast magnified thy
word above all thy name, Oh, God has done that in the
Lord Jesus Christ, highly exalted Him, given Him a name which is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee is to
bow, every tongue to confess that He is Lord, to the glory
of God the Father. But God has also in that sense
magnified His Word in Holy Scripture above all His name. How has God
done that? Well, when God gave his word,
when God gave his promise to his friend Abraham, we're told
there in Hebrews chapter 6 how he swore by himself, saying,
Blessing I will bless them. He took an oath and he took an
oath upon his own being. That's what God did. And what
has God therefore saying to Abraham? He is saying that if that promise
should fail God has failed and God is no more and that's an
impossibility He has magnified His Word above all His name and
the Lord Jesus Christ has come and that that was promised and
confirmed by an oath has now been sealed in precious blood. All has been sealed by the blood
of Him who is the Word of God incarnate. He has died. And in dying, of course, He has
sealed the New Testament, the New Covenant. It stands. We have
that full, that final revelation of God in Christ Jesus. forever our Lord thy word is
settled in heaven how we should make much then of what we have
here before us as we come together week by week as we come together
on the Lord's days as we come together on Thursday evenings
and we turn to the word of God and we read the word of God we
attempt to set forth that word to preach that word and it's that that is settled,
preserved forever, endures to eternity. Heaven and earth shall
pass away, says Christ. My words shall not pass away. Oh God, help us then to find
our comfort and our encouragement in this blessed word. And oh,
that as we come to God's word we might increasingly discover
more and more the wonder of the person of that One who is here
in all the Scriptures, even our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Forever, O Lord, Thy Word is
settled in heaven. May the Lord bless His Word to
us. Let us conclude our worship this
morning as we sing the hymn 352, the tune is Baker, 292. The moon and stars shall lose
their light, the sun shall sink in endless night, both heaven
and earth shall pass away, the works of nature all decay. But they that in the Lord confide
and shelter in his wounded side shall see the danger overpassed,
stand every storm and work and live at last. What Christ has
said must be fulfilled on this firm rock believers built. His
word shall stand, his truth prevail, and not one jot or tittle fail."
352, the tune is 292.