who were not with us on Thursday
just to recap a little this psalm is the first psalm in the fifth
book of the psalms the psalms are divided and have been divided
from almost ancient history into five sections and this is the
fifth section of the book of psalms I need to say on Thursday
which are the various books of that make up all the sections
that make up this book of Psalms. And we notice that each of the
sections of the book of Psalms ends with a doxology, a word
of praise to Almighty God. And Psalm 106 concludes with
the words, blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting
to everlasting. And let all the people say amen,
praise ye the Lord. And of course, the psalm 150 is a doxology in
itself the whole of the 6 verses of psalm 150 praise ye the Lord,
praise God in this sanctuary and so it goes on let everything
that hath breath praise the Lord, praise ye the Lord this psalm begins with the words
O give thanks psalm 170 O give thanks unto the Lord for he is
good, for his mercy We noted three things, three particulars
about this verse. First of all, it is speaking
about God being a covenant God who gives thanks unto the Lord. I mentioned that every time you
see the word Lord in capital letters, it is referring to Jehovah,
the trium God, and he is the covenant God. the covenant God
of Israel. We refer back to the book of
Genesis where Abraham was, where the Lord entered into a
covenant with Abraham and that it is the covenant God of Israel. covenant of grace as the apostle
Paul speaks of in the epistle to the Galatians and then not
only does it deal with the covenant and every dealing of God with
his people is by covenant it is an agreement but it is not
an agreement of equals when you buy a house you enter into a
covenant with the purchaser sorry, you're the purchaser and you
enter into a covenant with the vendor and you are there entering
into that covenant of sale and purchase as equals now the covenant
of God is one sided we cannot enter into a covenant with almighty
God as equals because we are not equal with God indeed in
Isaiah it asks the question to whom will you liken me? The question
is asked by God. But the covenant that God enters
into with his people is expressed there in the first chapter of
Isaiah, in verse 18. Come now, and let us reason together,
sayeth the Lord. Though your sins be as scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow. Though they be red like crimson,
they shall be as wool. If ye be willing and obedient,
ye shall eat the good of the land. But if ye refuse and rebel,
ye shall be devoured. with the sword for the mouth
of the Lord hath spoken it is one sided it is what God has
done and we see that covenant coming to fulfilment in the person
of the Lord Jesus Christ that he is the surety and that he
is the mediator of the covenant because he has done everything
everything has been accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ there
on Calvary's cross he gave his life a ransom for many and the
price has been paid And those are wonderful words of Augustus
Montague Toplady, a one of his hymns. A payment God can at twice
demand. First at mine bleeding, sure
at his hand, and then again at mine. It is a covenant that has
been signed, sealed and delivered. in the blood and the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ the office that the Lord Jesus Christ
took was and is that he is the mediator and the surety of the
covenant and then we looked in the second place the second clause
of this verse for he is good and that displays something of
the character of God John tells us in his epistle that God is
love. In his gospel, he tells us in
John 3, 16, that well-known verse, for God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. The character of God is
that his attributes shine forth as being good, that he is good,
for he is good. that we looked in the third place,
the compassion of God, the covenant of God, the character of God,
and the compassion of God, for His mercy endureth forever. What a wonderful psalm is Psalm
136. Every verse reminds us His mercy
endureth forever. And as I said last Thursday,
the word endureth there is in italics in our authorized version.
That means that it's not there in the original Hebrew, in either
the Masoretic text or the Septuagint version of the Old Testament. It is not there in the original.
It has been placed there by the translators of our English Bible
to give more sense and understanding of it, for his mercy forever.
And of course, they put the word endure, endure forever. because
it makes more sense. Or give thanks unto the Lord
for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever. And each verse,
26 verses in this Psalm 136, it tells us that his mercy endureth
forever. And it tells us, the repetition
tells us that it is worthy of repeating. We go over and over
and over again considering the mercy of God when the cow chews
the cud it turns the grass over in its three stomachs until it
is digested and it is a good thing for us to ruminate upon
the word of God to turn it over to keep turning it over considering
the mercy of God it's as if you're looking at a diamond you look
at a diamond you go into a jeweller's and you want to buy a diamond
and the jeweller will have a dark cloth on his counter and he will
show you the diamond in tweezers and the light will shine upon
it and every time he moves it it flashes a different colour
there is a depth in the diamond that cannot be plummeted you
cannot see through a diamond the light is always refracted
out of the diamond you cannot see through a diamond because
there is such a depth in it and what a mercy it is that in the
mercy of God there is such a depth oh but I've sinned yes but underneath
says the scriptures underneath are the everlasting arms would
I be so low but underneath are the everlasting arms we cannot
go beyond the mercy of God And as the hymn writer says, the
appointed time rolls on a place, not proposed but called by grace,
to change the mind, renew the will, and set the feet to Zion's
hill. No matter how far down we go,
how far we might backslide, if we are the Lord's, he will bring
us back to himself. He will bring us back to himself. What a mercy it is, for his mercy
endureth forever. We are children of finite time
time will come to an end time will cease but God is infinite
and his mercy goes on and on and even in heaven when we are
brought safe to heaven through the blood and the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ when we are brought there we will
still be the recipients of his mercy his mercy endures forever,
just as his love endures forever, so his mercy endures forever. And so we are encouraged to give
thanks, oh give thanks unto the Lord. And in these verses that
we read together from this opening section of Psalm 107, there are
reasons given for us to give thanks to almighty God. So with the Lord's
help for a few minutes this morning I'd like us to consider some
of those reasons why we should give thanks to our covenant God. David said on his deathbed, I
referred to this last Thursday, but David said in 2 Samuel chapter
23 and thus 5. Although my house be not so with
God, yet he hath made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered
in all things and sure. For this is all my salvation
and all my desire, although he make it not to grow. he had made
with me an everlasting covenant and so we give thanks for that
everlasting covenant of which we've been made recipients and
we are given the reasons here why we know that we have been
made recipients of that everlasting covenant so in verse 2 we see
that we are redeemed people we've been redeemed The scriptures
are replete with references to the redemption that is in the
Lord Jesus Christ, that price that has been paid. What a mercy
it is that our Lord Jesus Christ came from the glories of heaven.
What a mercy it is that our Lord Jesus Christ was found in passion
as a man. Remember how the Apostle Paul
writes to the Philippians and he speaks about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let this mind be in you. which
was also in Christ Jesus, who, being in the form of God, thought
it not proper to be equal with God, but made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the
likeness of men. And being found in fashion as
a man, he humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even
the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. You
see how the Apostle Paul, under the inspiration of the Spirit
of God, is able to compass the whole of the person and the work
of the Lord Jesus Christ into just a few verses. He thought
it not proper to be equal with God. Why? Because he was God. He is God. He is the second person
of the Holy Trinity. He is the eternal Son of God.
He has always been the eternal Son of God. He did not become
the son of God when he became incarnate he was the son of God
in eternity past with neither beginning of days nor ending
of days as Paul describes his priesthood being of the order
of Melchizedek with neither beginning of days nor ending of days he
thought it not proper to be equal with God no he's co-equal and
co-eternal with God and so in eternity to come when we're singing
the praises of the Lamb, when we're singing the praises of
the Lord Jesus Christ, and through all eternity to Thee a grateful
song we'll raise, but all eternity's too short to utter all His praise. He will still be the eternal
Son of God, and we will cast our crowns before Him, lost in
wonder, love, and praise. But Paul goes on to speak about
the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, he made himself of no
reputation and took upon him the form of a servant we read
how in Isaiah 52 and 53 how the Lord Jesus Christ was the servant
of Almighty God and the service that he did was to give his life
a ransom for many he humbled himself why he could have spoke
the word on the pavement Gabbatha and Pilate would have shrunk
into insignificance the priests and the Sadducees the crowd that
was there before the pavement of Gaddafi would have shrunk
into insignificance if the Lord Jesus Christ had but spoke the
word no he didn't he went willingly he humbled himself he who was
the creator all things were made by him and without him there
was nothing made that was made the creator he humbled himself
and submitted himself to the judgement of Pilate he submitted
himself to the obeying of the crown crucify him we have no
king but Caesar they cried and he humbled himself and he became
obedient unto death even the death of the cross and there
he laid down his life a ransom for many he shared his precious
blood and he paid at the full price of our redemption and therefore
as the Lord says to Isaiah fear not for I have redeemed thee
I have called thee by thy name thou art mine look at those things
that in those verses that are spoken by Isaiah first of all
I have redeemed thee I have called thee thou art mine I will be
with thee When thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned,
for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel. I gave Egypt
for thy ransom, Ethiopia and Seba for thee, since thou is
precious in my sight. We are redeemed. What a mercy
it is. What a mercy it is that we have
been redeemed by the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
and the ransom has been being paid in the blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember how Peter writes in
his epistle about that redemption. 1 Peter 1 and verse 18, for as
much as ye know that ye were not redeemed
with corruptible things of silver and gold from your vain conversation
received by tradition from your fathers but with the precious
blood of Christ as of a lamb without blemish and without spot
who verily was poured in before the foundation of the world that
was manifest in these last times for you. we give thanks to God because
we are partakers of that redemption that has been purchased by the
Lord Jesus Christ and then in the next verse we read how that
the Lord's people are a gathered people they're being gathered
we turn back to the book of Genesis that speaks about that gathering in the blessings of Jacob he
blesses each one of his sons he is there on his deathbed and
he is speaking to his sons he delineates their characters and
then he tells them what kind of blessing that they will receive
in the future days and of Judah he says thou art he whom thy
brethren shall praise, thy hand shall be in the neck of thine
enemies, thy father's children shall bow down before thee. And he goes on to say, the scepter
shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his
feet, until Shiloh come, and unto him shall the gathering
of the people be. Who is this person that Jacob
is speaking of? Who is this person that he is
saying will come from from Judah that will rule and be a lawgiver
the scepter shall not depart from Judah nor a lawgiver from
between his feet until Shiloh come Shiloh of course is Hebrew
for peace and so he is speaking about the prince of peace his
name shall be called Isaiah 9 verse 6 his name shall be called Wonderful,
Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince
of Peace. He is the Prince of Peace. But
who is this One? Who is it? For it can be none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Unto Him shall the gathering
of the people be. They gather unto the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. We meet on the Lord's Day and
we gather not just for the preaching of the word we gather not just
for the singing of praise we gather not just for the reading
of the word but we gather unto the Lord Jesus Christ because
that's the promise of the Lord Jesus that where 2 or 3 are gathered
together in my name that I will be there in the midst and that
to bless He is there in the midst just as the tabernacle was in
the midst of the the camp of the children of Israel remember
when they were marching from Egypt to the promised
land they crossed the desert, 40 long years it took them and
when they camped the Tabernacle was there in the midst and the
Jews camped by tribes all the way round at the tabernacle and
the mercy seat was there in the most holy place and the Lord
came and dwelt between the cherubim above the mercy seat of Shekinah
the glory was there, his presence was there and the Lord Jesus
Christ is in the midst and although we cannot see with these eyes
with our spiritual eyes we are able God willing to see something
of the beauty and something of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. We gather to his name. We've
been through this period of lockdown, where some of the churches, first
of all, all the churches were closed. But after lockdown was
lifted, some of the churches continued to be closed. And they
gave the impression that the church continued down the telephone
wires through such programs such as Zoom and the like the church
didn't continue the church is only manifested when the people
gather together unto him not sitting in front of a computer
screen unto him shall the gathering of the people be and whilst Zoom
is very helpful for ministering to lock-ins those who are unable
to get out because of ill health and it is a mercy that we have
such things The prime meeting of the church is when we gather
together for public worship and to praise his name, and when
we gather around the Lord's table for to worship and praise his
holy name. Unto him shall the gathering
of the people be. But then the psalmist goes on
to speak that they are gathered from the east, from the west,
from the north, and from the south. and in the book of the
revelation we are told how that the people of God are gathered
from every tribe and every tongue and every nation they are gathered
to him they are gathered to him because he is the redeemer because
he is the one who has saved them and he is the one who will carry
them to glory and so we are told in verse 4 how that they are
a people that were lost they were lost That's why I read that
chapter in the Gospel according to Luke, because it reminds us
of those parables that the Lord Jesus spoke about, the ones that
were lost, the sheep, the sheep that was lost. Sheep are silly
creatures, so we're told, and they wander away, they wander
as far as their eyes can see they can see some grass in the
distance so they go and they will start eating the grass and
then they look further and they find more grass and before they
know it they have separated themselves from the flock and their lots
this is the picture that the Lord Jesus Christ draws in this
parable from verse 4 to verse 7 of the lost sheep it was lost
he couldn't find his way so the shepherd went out to find the
lost sheep and it tells us here how the shepherd lifted the sheep
upon his shoulders the shepherd must have been a strong man must
be very strong to be able to lift and control a sheep that
is struggling, and put it over the back of his neck and carry
it on his shoulders. Very strong, now says Isaiah. Their Redeemer is strong, their
Redeemer is strong. You see there upon Galileo's
cross, there he is nailed to the cross, but it's not the nails
that keep him there, It is the sin of his people, the sins that
have been laid upon him. He who knew no sin was made sin
for us, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. And he had the strength of the
everlasting consolation of God, that he shall see of his seed
and be satisfied. He saw through Calvary and he
laid his people, as it were, on his shoulder. and brings them
safely through in redemption to salvation there is his strength
and ability but it also tells us something about the sheep
the sheep had no strength the lost sheep was tired and weary
and had no ability to find its way back to the fold but the
shepherd came and he lifted his sheep and carried it way back
to the fold and where he joins the other ninety and nine and
it is there safe behind the walls of the fold and protected from
the world by the fire at the front of the fold he is safe
so there's the lost sheep then there's the lost coin the ten
pieces of silver it's talking about the Hebrew a wedding dress that the young
woman would have worn at her wedding. Around the forehead
there would have been these ten pieces of silver. Probably week
by week throughout her married life she would look at that part
of the wedding garment and count the pieces of silver. One day
she would have picked the garment up and noted I counted up to
nine and there was one missing. Oh, the horror in her heart that
she'd lost that which was precious. And so she sweeps the house out,
she takes the light into the darkest corner, and there she
finds that missing coin. And it is placed, put back on
the dress, and it is put away safely, never to be lost again. We're like that lost coin. We're
lost. We're lost and we wander away.
Prone to wander. Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave
the God I love. Here's my heart, says the inviter.
Take and seal it. Seal it from my cult about. And
the peace is restored. Just as the prodigal son was
restored, and we'll come out of that in a few moments time.
He was restored. And the God's peace of silver
was restored, as was the sheen. They're brought back. What a
mercy it is that the Lord's people are brought back. And so there
is this prodigal, this one who took his inheritance prematurely,
and he squandered it in righteous living. The brother said that
he spent he had devoured by living with
harlots so he obviously knew a bit more than his father did
but he was there in a lost condition he did the most abominable thing
that a Jew could ever do and that was to go and feed the swine
and then he came to himself and he returned to his father he
confessed his sin of her father receiving. What a mercy it is
of her father receiving. This father saw him and had compassion
on him and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. The father,
he drew him back and he drew him back into the family. Oh
he wanted to come back as a servant but he was thrown back into the
family. He was given the best robe. And
are not the children of God given the best robe? Jesus Thy blood
and righteousness my beauty are, my glorious dress. Midslaving
worlds in these arrayed with joy shall I lift up my head. Clothed in the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. In the book of Revelation chapter
17 it tells us that the saints of God are clothed in fine linen,
white fine linen, which is the righteousness of saints. Beware
of the which tells us that they're clothed in the righteous acts
of the saints. It's in this translation. It is the righteousness of saints. The righteousness of saints is
the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. Remember how Paul
writes to the Corinthians, 1 Corinthians 1, and the last, the penultimate
verse, verse 30. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus,
who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification,
and redemption. He is everything. It's not our
acts. It's not what we can do, but
it is what God in Christ has done. As Bonaparte said, not
what these hands can do, can save a guilty soul. He goes on
to say, thy work and thine alone is the means of salvation. so he is given that robe and
then he is given a ring on his hand that he has put back into
the family and shoes on his feet he was the slaves or the servants
that walked barefooted in the house the household wore shoes
and then there was that rejoicing well there was that rejoicing
on that final day when we are brought to the marriage supper
of the Lamb We gathered, we wandered, we were hungry and thirsty, but
our time has gone, so we have no more time to speak further. But just to go to verse seven,
and he led them forth by the right way. He led them forth
by the right way, and they are brought to that city of habitation. Hebrews 11 tells us how that
Abraham looked for a city whose builder and maker was God. We
are looking for a city. We are looking for a mansion.
We are looking for the promise of the Lord Jesus Christ to be
fulfilled. In my Father's house are many
mansions, and we are guided to that place. As the psalmist says,
Psalm 73, nevertheless I am continually with thee. Thou hast holden me
by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy
counsel. mercy it is that he guides us
we're not left to chance our pilgrim path is a path that has
been meted out for us and it is there that we walk in that
path and it is an upward path it is not the broad road that
leads to destruction it is an upward path that leads us to
life and leads us to life eternal where we will be forever with
the Lord and so the psalmist concludes this section of the
psalm O that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and
for his wonderful works to the children of men for he satisfies
the longing soul and fills the hungry soul with goodness contentment
says the apostle Paul I have learned in whatsoever state I
am therewith to be content God grant that we might ourselves
be content that we will not seek the broken systems of this world
but that we will seek the goodness of God. Water that I shall give
him, says the Lord Jesus, shall be a well of water springing
up into eternal life. God grant that we might indeed
be brought to drink of that well and that we might lay hold on
eternal life. May the Lord have his blessing
for these few thoughts.