Let us turn once more to God's
Word in the portion that we read at the end of the book of Psalms.
Earlier we were in Psalm 2, the beginning of the Psalter. Turning
now to Psalm 147, one of the last of the Psalms. And I want
to consider with you the opening words of the Psalm verses 1 and
2. Praise ye the Lord, for it is
good to sing praises unto our God, for it is pleasant and praises
comely. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem.
He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. In Psalm 147 and verses
one and two. as I said this is amongst the
last of the psalms, 150 psalms of course in total and it's interesting
to observe how these final psalms from Psalm 146 through to 150 all begin and
close in exactly the same manner Each of these final five Psalms
opens with Hallelujah, Praise ye the Lord, and then it closes
with the same word, the Hebrew word Hallelujah, translated into
the English as Praise ye the Lord. The last five Psalms then
are very much Psalms of Praise. Now, we're not to confuse these
Psalms with what the Hebrews would refer to as the Great Hallel,
the Great Hallelujah. That's found in the Psalms 113
to 118. And it was portions from those
earlier Psalms that would be sung on the occasion of the Passover
and when we read in the gospel of how the Lord Jesus Christ
at his last Passover instituted the Lord's Supper remember that
we're told that when they had sung the hymn they went up to up to the mount up to the Mount
of Olives And there, of course, they entered into the garden
of Gethsemane. But they sang a hymn, it says
in the Gospel, literally, they sang a psalm. They sang a portion
of that great halal. The book of Psalms, of course,
is altogether, in its totality, very much a book of praises but
as I said here at the end there seems to be a great emphasis
upon that particular fact and so the words that I've read tonight
for a text Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing praises
unto our God for it is present and praise is coming and then
of course in what follows we have the various reasons as to
why God is thus worthy of our praises. And thinking in particular
of what we're told here in verse 2, And I want to really take for
a theme God's true Israel, to ascertain who are these people
who are appraising people. It's one of the marks of God's
true Israel that they are very much not only of praying people
we know that they are praying people, the Israel of God because
that's how Jacob came by the name of Israel back in Genesis
32 when he met with the angel, the angel met with him it was
one of those Old Testament appearances of the Lord in anticipation as
it were for that A great day in the fullness of the time when
God would send forth his son made of a woman. But we have
these theophanies in the Old Testament and there in Genesis
32 we're told how the angel of the Lord meets with Jacob and
wrestles with him. And Jacob would not let the angel
go except he bless him. And there he became Israel, the
prince with God. a prince with God, a prince in
prayer. And so God's Israel are a praying people. And God does
not say to the sons of Jacob, seek ye my face in vain. But as God's Israel are prayers,
so they are also those who are prizes. And I often think, there's
one of the Puritans, you know, who was given the name Praise
the Lord. That was the name that his godly
parents gave to the young man. Praise the Lord bare bones. How
remarkable were that set of men back in the in the 17th century
who walked so closely with God. God's people then are praising
and I want us to consider who the true Israel are, and something
of the marks of that true Israel, besides the fact that they pray
and that they praise. And first of all, to establish
the fact that they are a spiritual people. It's the spiritual Israel
that we are to think of. Jacob, who became Israel, was
very much the object of God's choice. and has chosen a people
to himself. And that truth, of course, is
brought out in the ninth chapter of the epistle to the Romans. And there, remember how the apostle
makes reference to the words that we find in the opening part
of the book of Malachi, in Romans chapter 9 then. And verse 10,
Paul writes not only this, but when Rebekah also had conceived
by one, even by her father Isaac, for the children being not yet
born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand, not of works, but
of him that calleth. It was said unto her, The elder
shall serve the younger. They were twins, but Esau was
the elder, the firstborn twin, Jacob was the younger. But God
says, the elder shall serve the younger as it is written, Jacob
have I loved and Esau have I hated. They are each of them sons of
Isaac, sons of Abraham. But there we see the discriminating
love the discriminating grace of God. Jacob have I loved, Esau
have I hated." And how Jacob then is so favoured of God. And we see it at the end of the
Psalm, verse 19, "...he showeth his words unto Jacob, his statutes
and his judgments unto Israel. He hath not dealt so with any
nation, And as for his judgments, they have not known them. Praise
ye the Lord." How God is to be praised for this discriminating
race of God's. And Israel in the Old Testament,
as we've said many times, they're a typical people. We're not to
think that All of ethnic Israel, all of the nation were the people
of God. There was ever the doctrine of
the remnants. They are not all Israel, which
are of Israel. Says the Apostle again, there
in Romans 9 verse 6, they are not all Israel, that are of Israel. there is a spiritual Israel.
There ever has been a spiritual Israel and again we are told
in the epistle to the Romans that he is not a Jew which is
one outwardly and circumcision is not that which is outward
in the flesh but he is a Jew which is one inwardly and circumcision
is that of the heart in the spirit not in the letter whose praise
is not of men but of God How clear the Scripture is in that
God's true Israel is a spiritual people circumcised in their hearts. And they were but a very small
remnant really in the Old Testament in the nation of Israel. They
were just a remnant there. And how they're spoken of in
those terms. Think of the opening chapter
again of the book of the Prophet Isaiah. What does he say there
at verse 9? Except the Lord of hosts had
left unto us a very little remnant, we should have been as Sodom
and like unto Gomorrah. Except the Lord had left unto
us a remnant, he says, a little remnant, a very little remnant,
a very little remnant. What does God say to these people?
Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel. And there in Isaiah 41, 14, you
might see that the margin indicates that it literally says, and ye
few men. Fear not, thou worm Jacob, and
ye few men of Israel. I will help thee, saith the Lord,
and thy Redeemer, the Holy One of Israel." This then is God's
Israel. It's a spiritual company of people. And it's this Israel that is
being spoken of here. Sometimes they're spoken of,
of course, in terms of Jerusalem or Zion. And here we see what
God says to this praising people. the Lord doth build up Jerusalem. He gathereth together the outcasts
of Israel. Again, Jerusalem and Zion are
seen to be one and the same thing. Look at verse 12. Praise the
Lord, O Jerusalem. Praise I God, O Zion. God's spiritual Israel, that
is Zion, that is the Church. The Church of the Living God.
It is a spiritual people then, who are that people that show
forth the praises of their God. It's spiritual worship that we
seek to present to Him, even praising Him with the fruit of
our lips. here we see that they are very
much a scattered people of course there in the in the old testament it was the
nation you only have I known says God of all the families
of the earth it's the it's the nation the
one nation and God doesn't know the other nations,
the Gentile nations. He has not dealt so with any
nation. As for His judgments, they have not known them. But
when we come to the New Testament, and the Gospel does go forth
to all the nations, to the Gentile nations, we begin to see that
in a sense this Israel, this spiritual Israel, is scattered.
Where are they called from? Well we come to the very last
book of Holy Scripture and there in Revelation 5 we read that
out of every kindred and tongue and people and nation and we
see how God is working this out in the ministry of the apostles
as we have it recorded there in the Acts as the gospel is
proclaimed and there's persecution And there's martyrdom. And there
in Acts chapter 7 we read of the first Christian martyr, Stephen. And what is the outcome? All
of this, of course, is under the sovereign hand of God. Nothing
happens merely by chance. The end of that 7th chapter that
records the great defense of his faith, the testimony that
Stephen speaks at the end and eventually he dies calling upon
God saying Lord Jesus receive my spirit and he knelt down and
cried with a loud voice Lord lay not this sin to their charge
and when he had said this he fell asleep he falls asleep in
Jesus But you see there's a young man there. As we see at verse
58, they cast him out of the city and stoned him. And the
witnesses laid down their clothes at a young man's feet whose name
was Saul. Saul is there witnessing this
martyrdom. Verse 1 of chapter 8, Saul was
consenting unto his death. and at that time there was a
great persecution against the church which was at Jerusalem
and they were all scattered abroad throughout the region of Judea
and Samaria except the Apostles. The devout men carried Stephen
to his burial and made great lamentation over him as for Saul
he made havoc of the church. And all of this, I say, is God's
dealings. And there's a scattering. And
there's a purpose in the scattering. He goes on to speak about they
go everywhere and they're preaching, not preaching in a formal sense,
but they're speaking, they're witnessing, they're testifying
to the grace of God. But there was a scattering. And
Israel then and thereafter is very much a scattered people
over the whole face of the earth. And remember when Peter comes
to address his first epistle to believers, it's a general
epistle, it's not addressed to any particular church, there
are epistles that are written to specific churches, Paul's
epistles in the main. I know he writes to individuals
as well, like Timothy and Titus, Philemon, but he writes to the
churches. Although it's all the Word of
God to the whole Church of God. But there are those epistles
that are general epistles, not written to a particular specific
church. and Peter amongst them. And there
in the opening words of his first epistle, what does he say? Peter,
an apostle of Jesus Christ, to the strangers scattered throughout
Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, Bithynia. He's writing
to these scattered spiritual Israelites. And again, When we read of them,
the faithful of the Old Testament, in Hebrews chapter 11, there's
a sense in which even they, spiritually, might be spoken of as the people
who are scattered. They're strangers, they're pilgrims.
Look at the words of Hebrews 11, 13. These all died in faith. Not having received the promises,
but having seen them afar off and were persuaded of them and
embraced them and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims
on the earth. Strangers, pilgrims, scattered. And not only scattered, they
are scanty. In a sense, there's not many
of them. Oh God has said it himself, I
will take you one of a city, he says. Two of a family or two
of a tribe. The Lord Jesus when he is ministering
here upon the earth, his disciples in a sense are not many. They're not many, there are the
twelve apostles. and there are others of his disciples
others who are followers but how does the Lord speak of them?
He says fear not little flock it is your father's good pleasure
to give you the kingdom they are a little flock and how the Lord by his ministry
and we were speaking of this only the other week was it last
Lord's Day evening the Lord winnows them constantly winnows them
He sifts them. He sorts them out as it were.
And there in John chapter 6 we see the consequence of that ministry. The multitudes in the end are
so reduced it seems as only the twelve left and will they also
forsake the Lord Jesus? All this is God's Israel. They're
a spiritual company but in a sense we have to recognize they are
few and they're far between. Again, we see these things so
often in the Old Testament, as it were, in type. When we read of David, and David
in many ways is a remarkable type of the Lord Jesus, doesn't
Christ himself come of the seed of David? We said it this morning,
the opening words of the New Testament, that genealogy of
Christ is of the seed of David. And David is a remarkable type
of Christ. His very name, he's the Beloved.
And isn't that the Lord Jesus? This is my Beloved Son, says
the Father from heaven at his baptizing again in the Mount
of Transfiguration. This is my Beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased. And think of those who gathered
themselves unto David. David there at the cave of Dollum,
back in the first book of Samuel, when David is having to flee,
constantly flee, to preserve his very life, how Saul is set
on his destruction, so it's constantly to be killing him. And so we're
told in that 22nd chapter of the first book of Samuel, David
therefore departed thence and escaped to the cave of Dunham. And when his brethren and all
his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him.
And everyone that was in distress, and everyone that was in death,
and everyone that was discontented, the margin interestingly says
that the Hebrew means bitter of soul. discontented with themselves,
I take it, discontented with the sinfulness of their lives.
They gathered themselves unto him, and he became a captain
over them, and there were with him about four hundred men. Isn't that typical of those who
are gathered to the Lord Jesus Christ himself? Or that scattered
remnant there at the cave of Dunham. You see, they're not
only literal outcasts. There is that sense in which
they are spiritual outcasts. I like the remark of C. H. Spurgeon
where he says, or asks the question rather, what are men under conviction
of sin but outcasts from God? Or when the Lord begins with
a man. when there is awakening in the soul of the sinner, when
the sinner is born again. Because there can be no spiritual
feeling until there's spiritual life, and by nature, the sinner
is dead in trespasses and sins, but when life comes into the
soul, when there's conviction of sin, how does that person
feel then their own cause? Oh, they feel what they are.
They feel the awful sin that they were conceived and shapen
in they're outcasts but it's to
such of course that the gospel is to be proclaimed look unto
me all the ends of the earth for I am God and there is none
else now I know that there in Isaiah 45 22 it's a word that is really speaking
of God's Word is ultimately to go to the Gentile nations who
were the outcasts but truly in a spiritual sense does it not
apply to those who being awakened under conviction of sin now feel
it they feel themselves to be cast out and cut off without
hope, without Christ, they are awakened to their true needs. We have that word, that word
in Isaiah 18 verse 7. In that time shall the present
be brought unto the Lord of hosts of a people scattered and peeled. It says in that time, what is
that time? It's the gospel day. That is the time that is being
spoken of, the last day, the day of grace, the acceptable
time, the day of salvation, and there is a people to be presented
unto the Lord, and what is the mark of that people? They're
scattered. But they're not only scattered, they're appealed.
And what is appealing? Well, it refers to the state
of their shoulders out of people so burdened the skin is peeling
off their backs or they are so burdened by the
sense of their sin we don't understand it in that figurative sense and
Christ says come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy
laden and I will give you rest these are the ones who are presented
unto the Lord or they feel what they are Those who are scattered so far
off from God, they feel their wretchedness, they cry out. And
isn't, in a sense, that ever the mark of the people of God?
Paul, again writing to the Corinthians, says, we that are in this tabernacle
do grow and be in burden. I know the burden's gone. when a sinner is saved and delivered
and yet we never seem to be able to escape the awful reality of
what we are by nature we feel the conflict and we cry out with
Paul, O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the
body of this death? it's as if there's this great
burden constantly weighing us down, wearing us down oh this
is the Israel of God then A spiritual people, they're very much a scattered
people. They're scarce, or they're an
afflicted people. And then also, and we see this
quite clearly in the text, they're God's outcast Israel. That's
the description that we have of them. The Lord built up Jerusalem,
He gathers together the outcasts of Israel. The outcasts who belong
to Israel. Now, what are these people? Well,
they're outcasts in this wicked world, this profound world. Again, those words we've referred
already to, Isaiah 18, 7, they're scattered, they're peeled, they
are trodden on the foot and here in verse 2 they are outcast and
you say well what a description is this of those who are the
Lord's favourites those whom the Lord has loved Jacob have
I loved and yet this is something of their condition, what they
feel. They are outcasts, they are outcasts
in this profane world. And we see it, there are many
scriptures that we can refer to. When Jeremiah writes in the
book of the Lamentations, of course he is lamenting the fact
that at that time the nation of Israel was very much an outcast
nation. Their nationhood was gone. They've
been taken away, removed into exile. There they are languishing
now in Babylon. Jerusalem utterly forsaken. The
temple in ruins. Now the Prophet writes that remarkable
book lamenting. Lamenting the outcasts of Israel. And look at the language that
we have in Lamentations 3.45, Thou hast made us as the offscouring
and refuse in the midst of the people. That's what he says concerning
how the world would look upon the people of Israel. What would
the other people say of that nation? Thou hast made us as
the offscourings and refuse in the midst of the people." Now,
interesting to those words, Lamentations 3.45, although in our authorized
version it appears as a simile, that is not really the case,
because that word, as, is in italics. It doesn't say that
they're as the offscourings and refuse in this world, but they
are that. They was made us, the offscourings
and refuse in the midst of the people is what it literally says.
I remarked on this before, we see
the same in Psalm 73 verse 22, where the Psalmist cries out
to God, I was as a beast before thee. And for some reason the
translators of our authorised version have understood it in
terms of simile, but it's not really, it's more stark. The
psalmist says, I was as a beast before them. He's not drawing
a comparison with the beast, it's what he feels himself to
be. And that's the same with the prophet there in Lamentations. He sees God's ancient people. That covenant people, that typical
people, He sees them as the off-scouring and refuse in the midst of this
wicked world. They're rejected now. They're
there in exile, as I've said. They've been taken away from
all the blessings of that promised land. All that land that God
had promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. That God had, in His
goodness, brought them into the possession of. But now they had
sinned away all their privileges, all their blessings, and God's
judgments had come upon them. And there they were now, offscourings, refuse, outcasts. Well, that's the Old Testament.
But when we come to the New Testament, we find similar language being
used by the apostles in description of the Church, the spiritual
Israel of God. And the Apostles themselves,
what they felt. In 1 Corinthians chapter 4 and
verse 13 for example, we are made as the filth of the world
and are as the offscouring of all things unto this day. What
language, what language is this that the Apostle is using? the
filth of the world. And again, this word offscouring,
you know, when you have to scrape it off, the filth has to be scraped
away. And that's how he describes himself
and those other believers. In fact, he goes on there in
1 Corinthians 4.9, he says, we, that's the apostles, are made
a spectacle or it might be rendered a gazing stock, we are made a
spectacle unto the world and to angels and to men. And that's not only true of the
apostles, that's true of all the people of God. Because he
says something very similar in Hebrews 10.33, he says, ye were
made a gazing stock. the gazing stock or a spectacle.
It's interesting the word that is used both there in Hebrews
10.33 and also in 1 Corinthians 4.9. In one place it's spectacle,
in the other it's gazing stock. It's the same word really. And
it's that word from which we obtain our English word theater. They are, as it were, on the
stage. Everyone is looking at them. Everyone is gazing upon
them. They are a rare and a peculiar people. It's a strange sight
that the people are beholding. Isn't that how the world looks
upon us? If we're faithful to the Lord Jesus Christ, we don't
conform to the world and the ways of the world, and they think,
well, these strange people, these old-fashioned people, That's
how they dismiss us. These people who are so extreme
in their beliefs. These people who still believe
in a young earth and an act of creation. These people who don't
do the things that we do. They don't follow the pattern
of lives that we want to live. They're always protesting against
things. You know the sort of attitude
that the world displays towards the people of God. They dismiss
us. as extreme, as fanatics. Yea, all that will live godly
in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. There's no avoiding
these things. There's no avoiding these things. And yet what does Paul say when
he speaks in that great 11th chapter of the Hebrews concerning
those faithful ones from the Old Testament of whom the world
was not worth? of whom the world was not worthy
and yet the world despises them and scoffs at them and ridicules
them and rejects them. Oh, but God gathers them. God
gathers them. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem
in spite of all the oppositions of the world. He gathers together
the outcasts of Israel. And we've said that there was
a time in the Old Testament when Israel literally was taken away. Well, the ten tribes were scattered
everywhere. It was Judah and Benjamin taken
into Babylon and in due time, of course, there was the restoration.
After the 70 years and the decree of Cyrus the Persian and the
work of Ezra and Nehemiah and those who were engaged in the
rebuilding of the temple and the rebuilding of Jerusalem.
The Lord doth build up Jerusalem. And the Lord builds up His spiritual
Jerusalem. Even in our day, this day of
small things, He's building up Jerusalem. He's saving sinners
and He is saving as many as are dying to be saved in the day
in which we're living. We're not to doubt that for a
moment. Though it is a day of small things, let us not despise
the day of small things. But let us not be afraid to ask
God to do great things. He will listen to Israel. He
will increase them with men as a flock. That's His promise. All these people of whom the
world was not worthy, they're outcasts. They're outcasts in
this profane world. But But there's a sense in which
they're also outcasts in the professing church. And that's
a hard thing, is it not? They're the outcasts of Israel. The outcasts of Israel. It's
not just sinners, sometimes it's so-called saints. From sinner
and from saint, he meets with many a blow. His own bad heart
creates him smart, which none but God can know. Or the believer,
you see. His worst enemy is himself, his
bad heart. He grieves over that, but sometimes
you see he's misunderstood by others, even those who would
say that they're the Lord's people. Or we read of Joseph, do we not,
in the Old Testament, him that was separated from his brethren.
What a hard path it was. They were all the sons of Jacob.
They were all, in that literal sense, the sons of Israel. But
Joseph was separated from his brethren. Outcast from the professing
Church, in that sense. And again, we see it earlier
with the sons of Abraham. There's Ishmael, there's Isaac,
him that was separated from his brother. There's a separation
between those two brethren as he that was born after the flesh
persecuted him that was after the spirit Even so, it is now. That's how Paul understands it
when he's writing to the Galatians and he's dealing there, you see,
with those in the church who are legalists, those who want
to bring the believers under the Lord of Moses. They all profess
to be followers of Jesus Christ. But there are those, you see,
and they're coming in with these strange teachings these erroneous
teachings, these heretical teachings we might say and Paul draws a
parallel with what happened with those who were the sons of Abraham
who is the father of all believers all those words so telling As
he that was born after the flesh persecuted him that was after
the spirit, even so is it now. Ishmael, the legalist. Isaac, the son of promise, the
true believer. How hard it is when there's those
misunderstandings, that persecution. Isaiah 63, 16 Doubtless thou
art our Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us. And Israel
acknowledge us not, thou art our Father. Thou art our Father. That's our comfort. And doesn't
the Lord warn His disciples of where the cruel persecutions
are going to come from? In a sense, it's not so much
the world It's those who profess to be the people of God, doing
the work of God. There in John 16 and verse 2,
They shall put you out of the synagogues. Yea, the time cometh
that whosoever killeth you will think that he doeth God's service.
That's Saul the persecutor, isn't it? He's so zealous against the
people of God, he thinks he's doing the work of God. all these
persecutions, O Lord, pity outcasts, poor and base, the poor dependents
on thy grace, whom men disturb as call by sin and by sanguish
good, for these too bad, for those too good, condemned and
shunned by all, that's the people of God, poor outcasts, wild,
base, But now you see they are a people
prepared for the Lord himself. He was an outcast. He was an
outcast. Let us go forth therefore unto
him without the camp, says Paul, bearing his reproach. Or the
Lord himself was rejected. And God's people often feel themselves
to be rejected. They feel themselves to be so
very much alone. oddballs, speckled birds. I watch, says the psalmist, and
am as a sparrow alone upon the housetop. That's how God's people
feel at times. But what do we read of God and
God's dealings with these people? Well, God setteth the solitary
in families. Or God setteth the solitary in
families. He gathers his people together.
We believe in that doctrine, the doctrine of the gathered
church. The church of those who are gathered out of the world.
These odd, these peculiar characters, the Lord deals with them in such
personal ways, but he's doing the same work in each and every
one of their souls. They are renewed by the grace
of God. They are born again by the Spirit of God. They are brought
to the end of themselves. They are trusting only in Christ
for salvation. They see in Him all their justification. All God, you see, is the One
who doth build up Jerusalem and He does it by gathering together
the outcasts of Israel. Unto Him shall the gathering
of the people be. All the gathering is to be to
the Lord Jesus Christ and so God's people are not to forsake
the assembling of themselves together. And what do we come
together for? We come together to worship God. We come together to show forth
the prizes of God. We come to shout to God our hallelujahs. Praise ye the Lord. Praise the
Lord, O my soul. While I live I will praise the
Lord, I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. Praise ye the Lord, for it is
good to sing praises unto our God, for it is pleasant, and
praise is common. The Lord doth build up Jerusalem,
He gathereth together the outcasts of Israel. And what does He do
with them? He healeth the broken in heart
and bindeth up their wounds. Oh, He saves them completely.
And who is this God? He's the one who telleth the
number of the stars and calleth them all by their names. He's
the great God. And this God, oh, He's the God
of salvation. Great is our Lord. and of great
power, His understanding is infinite. Oh, let us be those then who
would indeed show forth the praises of our God. The Lord bless His
Word. Amen.