Let us turn to God's word and
turning to the psalm that we read, Psalm 138. And I'll read again the second verse of
the psalm. Psalm 138, the second verse,
I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for
thy loving kindness and for thy truth. for thou hast magnified
thy word above all thy name. I want to take from the text
that last clause in this verse, the words for thou hast magnified
thy word above all thy name. In scripture it is the Lord God
himself who speaks to us These holy men of God, we are told,
they spake as they were moved by the Spirit of God. Though there are human authors,
and often speaking out of the fullness of their own hearts
and their own experiences, yet in all things they are uttering
inspired words, even the words of God. And so as God speaks
here, He reveals Himself to us. And of course the great wonder
of the book of Psalms is that in fact here we find the sinners
themselves speaking to God. So many of the Psalms are in
the form of a prayer, and this Psalm of David is so. And he
addresses God in these opening verses, I will praise thee with
my whole heart. Before the gods will I sing praise
unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy
temple. and praise thy name for thy loving
kindness and for thy truth, he's addressing God with his prayers
and with his praises. And then those words that we
have for our text, for thou hast magnified thy word above all
thy name. And it's interesting when we
come to the end of the psalm, the way in which we have the
word here in that last eight verse, you will see that there
are different cases here, two forms of address. We have the
nominative at the beginning, the psalmist speaks of God, he
says the Lord, he's speaking of God, the Lord will perfect
that which concerneth me. And then we have the evocative
case where he speaks to God, he addresses God, O Lord, He
says, Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the works
of thy own hands. So we have there these two things
as the Psalmist both speaks of God and also speaks to God. It's all part of God really speaking
to us and revealing himself to us. But in order to in turn address
God with our prayers as a psalmist is doing we must be those who
have a right understanding of God right views of God and we
know that ultimately God has revealed himself in the person
of his only begotten son in these last days God has spoken unto
us by his son Christ is the image of the invisible gods and so
when we come to the holy scriptures we have the word of god and that
word of god ultimately centers in the person of the lord jesus
christ and i want us to bear that in mind as we come to examine
these words that i've announced for our text here at the end
of the second verse for thou has magnified thy words above
all by name. What or who is the word that
is being spoken of here? There are two things tonight. I want us first to consider this
as the word incarnate, that is the Lord Jesus Christ himself,
and then secondly to consider it in terms of the word as we
have it before us on the page of Holy Scripture. It is not
improper surely for us to recognize uh... that's that's where that
has been magnified is the lord jesus christ we read of him in
our new testament reading the familiar words of the beginning
of john's gospel in the beginning was the word and the word was
with god and the word was god the same was in the beginning
with god all things were made by him and without him was not
anything made that was not made I'm sure familiar with that remarkable
portion of holy scripture that we've read just now there at
the beginning of that gospel. And then again, it's John who
makes that great Trinitarian declaration in the last chapter
of his first general epistle when he says that there are three
that bear record in heaven. The Father, the Word, and the
Holy Ghost, and these three are one. Who is the Word then? The Word is that One whom we
also see in Scripture as the Eternal Son of God. And then John tells us how the
Word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld His glory,
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. quite clear there, he speaks
of Christ as the Word, but he also speaks of him as the only
begotten, that he's the only begotten Son of the Father. And so, Christ is that one who
is revealed to us as God's Son, the Son of the Father, in truth
and in love, and also that one who is the words of God and so
here David says I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise
thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth for thou hast
magnified thy word above all thy name and he is speaking of
that one whom we know of as his greater son this is the one that
he is worshiping He speaks of worshipping toward the Holy Temple. Now what is the Holy Temple there
in the Old Testament? Is it not a type? It's a type
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We think of that remarkable little
work by John Bunyan, Solomon's Temple Spiritualized, in which
Bunyan unfolds how in the temple we have before us Christ in type
and in figure and then when we come to the New Testament we
have the authority of the Lord's own words those words that we
find in John's Gospel there in chapter
2 at verse 19 speaking to the jews he says destroy this temple
and in three days i will build it again now thinking in terms
of the physical building that was still standing and they were
aware that it had taken something nearly 50 years for the building
that was really the rebuilding on the on the herod not the building
in the days of king solomon that temple had been destroyed of
course and was rebuilt in the days of eshra but It had taken
a great many years for that temple to be built and they think in
terms of that physical building that the Lord was speaking of
himself and when he rose again from the dead on the third day
we're told there by John that the disciples remembered those
words of the Lord. He declares quite clearly then
that he is the temple. David Here he's speaking of him,
I will worship towards thy holy temple, the Lord Jesus Christ. And praise thy name for thy loving
kindness and thy truth. And here when we think of loving
kindness and truth, doesn't that also direct us to Christ? This word, loving kindness. One
of those great words that we have in the Old Testament scriptures. It speaks of God's covenant faithfulness,
it speaks of God's sure mercies, it speaks of God's sovereign
grace. And we know that grace and truth
came by Jesus Christ. This word that we have then,
loving kindness, it is a word that is so intimately bound up
with God's covenants, his faithfulness to his promises. And Christ is
that one who has come as the mediator of the new covenant. Or when God says, I will make
an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies of
David. Who is that one who is the mediator
of the covenant? There is one God, says Paul,
and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. I will praise thy name then,
says David, for thy loving kindness and for thy truth. Do we see God's covenant faithfulness
in the gift of the Lord Jesus Christ? Well, in him also we
behold the truth of God. When the Lord comes as the image
of the invisible God, how he declares himself as the great
I am and that theme so clearly runs right through the gospel
according to Saint John those great I am statements in the
most and what does the Lord say John 14 6 familiar words I am
the way the truth and the life no man cometh unto the father
but by me why Christ himself is the truth he is the truth
and there in in the book of the revelations In chapter 3 and
verse 14, we read of the Amen, the faithful and true witness. O Christ, it is that one who
is the true witness, who has come to speak words of truth. Again, I was thinking about John's
gospel, that remarkable, so different to the other gospels, that gospel,
a remarkable gospel in that sense. and clearly it sets forth the
deity of the Lord Jesus Christ and I was thinking of how there
time and time and time and time again the Lord is prefixing his
teachings and his doctrines with that words which we know in our
authorised version as Verily Verily I say unto you Verily
Verily I say unto you. And what does the word mean?
It literally means truly. It is the word Amen. So it is. So it shall be. For the Lord
Jesus Christ is that one then who has come to bear witness
to the truth. He is that one who is the mediator
of the covenant and becomes to speak the true words of God. And now He has faithfully executed
that work that the Father had given to Him in the Eternal Covenant. It was His least to do the Father's
will to finish the work that the Father had given Him to do.
He comes to speak the words of God. And now the Father has therefore
vindicated him as that one who has faithfully executed all that
work. Philippians 2, 9, Wherefore God
also has highly exalted him, and given him a name which is
above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should
bow, and every tongue confess that he is Lord, to the glory
of God. God has highly exalted him, and
what does David say here? I will worship toward thy holy
temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy
truth, for thou hast magnified thy words above all thy name."
Well, Christ has that name which is above every name. And we're not to lose sight of
the significance of names when we come to the Word of God. well
aware, I'm sure, of the importance of those names that are given
to God's servants, to the prophets. Think of Elijah, so representative
of the prophetic office in the Old Testament. Though that man
suddenly burst upon the scene there in 1st Kings 17, we are
told nothing of where he comes from, nothing of his family connections. It's simply declared that Elijah
the Tishbite is there, speaking the word of God. And he's speaking
that word of God principally to that northern kingdom of Israel
which was sunk in the most awful idolatry. They were worshippers
of Baal. the very name Elijah but does
he declare Jehovah is God Jehovah is God the Lord is God and so
many of the prophets when we come to consider their ministries
we do well to take account of the names that they bear not
only their names but sometimes there is a message in the name
that they give to their offspring to their children Many a time
I've mentioned that strange passage at the beginning of Isaiah 8,
where the child is born to the wife of the prophet Isaiah, and
the name is given by God, Meher Shalal Ashbas. That's what the
child was to be called. Strange name, Meher Shalal Ashbas. And the margin tells us what
it means in making speak to the spoiled, the hastiness, the pride,
there's a message and there's a message to Israel again and
also to Syria how these kingdoms were in league against little
Judah but what God is saying is that their confederacy will
be in vain because the great empire of the Assyrians under
Sennacherib will come and Damascus the capital of Syria and Samaria
The capital of Israel will fall before the armies of the Assyrians. In making speed to the spoil,
he hasteneth. All the significance of these
names. And then, of course, in the New
Testament, that message that is given by the angel to Joseph,
who was to be the husband of Mary, Mary
with child of the Holy Ghost. Now Joseph is reassured they
shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from
their sins. Well this is a name then that is to be magnified, the
name which is above every name. For that one that was born to
the Virgin Mary Behind the language of prophecy, behold, a virgin
shall conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel. Oh, he is Immanuel, God with
us. The great mystery of godliness,
God's manifest in the flesh. In the words of the hymn, our
God contracted to a span, incomprehensibly made man, or the wonder of the
person, then, of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Word was made flesh,
it says, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. He is the brightness of the Father's
glory. He is the expressed image of
the Father. the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ. No man hath seen God at any time. The only begotten Son which is
in the bosom of the Father. He hath declared Him. There He
is. He is in the bosom of the Father. He is God of God. He
is very God of very God. And yet, He becomes a man. And remember the language that
The Apostle employs, when he speaks of the glories that belong
unto Christ, as that one who is the image of God. There in the opening parts of
the Epistle to the Hebrews, Hebrews 1 verse 3, who being the brightness
of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding
all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself
purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the majesty
of God, being made so much better than the angels, as he hath by
inheritance obtained a more excellent name than that. For unto which
of the angels said he at any time, Thou art my son, this day
am I begotten thee, and again I will be to him a father, and
he shall be to me a son. And again, when he bringeth the
first begotten into the world, he saith, and if all the angels
of God worship Him all He is a man and yet that man Christ
Jesus is never anything less than true almighty God the person
of Christ He is that one then who is the
Word of God but we think not only of the glories that belong
to Him in His personage but also that work, that great work that
he accomplished here upon the earth. And in the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ, do we not see the revelation of God? How all the divine attributes
harmonize and come together in Christ. Mercy and truth are met
together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other, says the psalmist. In Christ we see that God is
a just God and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. The harmonizing then of all those
attributes. God we know is a holy God, a
righteous God, a just God, of eyes too pure to behold iniquity.
He can by no means clear the guilt What then of those who
have transgressed and sinned against God? The soul that sinneth
it shall die. But in Christ we see the mercy,
the grace, the love of God to sinners. And in that he hath
laid help upon one that is mighty, and one able to save to the uttermost,
even his only begotten Son. And so we see in Christ both
God's justice, the punishment of sins in the person of Christ,
and yet also we see the wonder and the greatness of the love
of God to sinners. All this in order that the sinner
might know the pardon of his sins. And so David here will worship
God. I will worship, he says, toward
thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness
and for thine truth, all revealed in Christ. As Gatsby says in
his highest work, redemption see is glory in the plains. Nor
can angels ever mention, or to the Lord of God, his plains. Oh, what a revelation then we
see in the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou hast magnified thy word
above all thy name. how God has highly exalted him. And why is Christ exalted now?
Well, He is exalted for sinners. He is exalted for sinners. Him
has God exalted with His right hand to be a Prince and a Saviour
to give repentance to Israel and the forgiveness of sins.
There is the purpose of His exaltation. Risen from the dead, ascending
on high? Does he not send gifts to men
and to the rebellious also that the Lord God might dwell amongst
them? For our God, you see, in Christ
is taking account of poor and needy sinners. Verse 6, it says,
Let the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly. O the high and the holy God Thou
shalt respect unto the lowly, to those poor, needy sinners,
and all that we might be those who would come humbly before
this God. Peter says, Be clothed with humility,
for God resisteth the proud and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore,
under the mighty hand of God, that he might exalt you in due
season, all that these truths might might bring that humility
into our souls, that loneliness. Or remember that great passage
in Philippians 2, that lovely passage that's full of the doctrine
of Christ, where Paul describes something of the wonder of his
person and his work in the form of God. He thought it not robbery
to be equal with God. and made himself of no reputation,
and took upon him the form of a serpent, 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. Here is Christ in his person.
He is equal with the Father, and yet he humbles himself to
become a man, and then his work, his great work of salvation in
the in that work how he humbles himself, he's obedient in life,
he's obedient unto death, he dies, the just of the unjust.
But what is the context here? It all has to do with that loneliness
of mind. In the previous verses, let nothing
be done through strife or vainglory but in loneliness of mind. Let
each esteem other better than themselves, Look not every man
on his own things, but every man also on the things of others.
Let this might be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. And
then he goes on to speak of Christ in his person and in his work. Surely, friends, if we're those
who would know the Lord Jesus Christ, we must have that mind
of Christ, that lowliness of mind, that recognition that we
are really nothing at all, deserving of the least of His favours.
Or wasn't that Paul's confession when he says, Thou, I, Thee,
nothing, a zero, a siphon? That's what he wants. And Christ,
then, is all in all to that sinner. He is that one who is magnified.
Thou hast magnified Thy Word, the Word incarnate, above all
Thy Name. But then, the words in scripture. The word in scripture. We often
sing in 8-7-8, we're going to sing it later, the Lord willing. The scriptures and the Lord bear
one tremendous name. The written and incarnate word
in all things are the same. How can Christ be separated from
his words in scripture? Does he not say to the Jews,
search the Scriptures? For in them ye think that ye
have eternal life, and these are they that testify of mine. All the words that we have in
Scripture are identified with Christ. He says the words that
I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life. Though our
desire should be that Christ would come as our prophet and
speak to us, and speak to us the words of Holy Scripture. The Scripture, we're told, can
not be broken. Here is the truth, the Word of
God. And look at the language in verse
4, all the kings of the earth shall praise your Lord when they
hear the words of thy Magus. Lord, to hear the words that
come from the mouth of the Lord Jesus Christ. Is that how we
come to the Word of God? We pray over the Word of God.
We want that the Lord Jesus Christ would come and speak these words
home to our hearts. Over here in the Psalms, of course,
we have a remarkable celebration of the words of God. You think
of the 119 Psalms, that long psalm, 176 verses in
total and it's divided into sections and at the head of each section
we have the letters of the Hebrew alphabet and in fact really it
is an acrostic poem that's built around those letters of the Hebrew
alphabet. It's a wonderful celebration
of the word God's given here in the Old Testament, of course,
in Hebrew. And as you know, in every verse,
every verse bar just two verses, there is some mention of the
Word of God under a variety of synonyms. The statutes, the laws,
the judgments, and so on. Repeatedly there is reference
to the Word of God. And it's not the only sign. Besides
the 119th, we can also turn to the 19th psalm and see in that
psalm, again, a wonderful celebration of the Word of God. Look at the
language that we have there in psalm 19. And verse 7, the Lord
of the Lords is perfect, converting the soul. The testimony of the
Lord is sure, making wiser the simple. The statutes of the Lord
are right, rejoicing the heart. The commandment of the Lord is
pure, enlightening the eyes. The fear of the Lord is clean,
enduring forever. The judgments of the Lord are
true and righteous altogether. Again, these various synonyms,
speaking of the word of God, the law, the testament, the statutes,
the commandments, the judgments, and strangely amongst These various
words we read of the fear of the Lord. The fear of the Lord
is clean, enduring forever. Or as we come then to the word
of God, do we reverence that word, handle God's word carefully,
and pray over God's word? It's the fear of the Lord, do
we have that fear in our hearts? As we come before God, as we
come to hear the ministry of His Word, say, Christian, wouldst
thou thrive in knowledge of thy Lord against no scripture ever
strive, but tremble at His words? Or are we those who are tremulous
at the Word of God? Do we revere the sacred page
of Holy Scripture? What do we see here then? If
we Understand the verse, the words of our text at the end
of the verse in their context. David worships God and praises
God's name for his loving kindness and for his truth. Think of God's word. God's word
is truth. God's word is truth. Thy truth,
he says, is the truth that belongs to God. It is God who speaks
here in Holy Scripture. And God is not a man that he
should lie nor the son of man that he should repent. Hath he
said it, shall he not do it? Hath he spoken it? Shall he not
make it good? So what does God say concerning
his word? I have sworn by myself, he says. The word is gone out of my mouth
in righteousness and shall not return. The Word that God has
given to us here in Holy Scripture, it has gone out of His mouth
in righteousness. It cannot in any way be abrogated.
Why? God says, I have sworn by myself. And it reminds us of those words
in Hebrews 6 where the Apostle speaks of God's dealings with
Abraham, when God made promise to Abraham because he could swear
by no greater It says he swears by himself, saying, Blessing
I will bless. Or when God swears by himself,
what is the significance of that? It means that if God's word should
fail, if God's word should be broken, God himself should fail
and God would be no more, which of course is an impossibility.
Or thou hast magnified thy words, above all they name. The name
is the revelation of God. God revealing himself and he
has so magnified his word. And so Christ says heaven and
earth shall pass away but my word shall not pass away. When we come to the word of God
then we're not in any way dealing with uncertainty. We must have
this high doctrine of Holy Scripture It is all given by inspiration
of God. It is all the very breathings
of God. Till heaven and earth pass, Christ
says, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the Lord
till all be fulfilled. What is the jot and the tittle? Well, the jot is the smallest
of all the letters of the Hebrew. A very small letter, the jot. And the title, well, there's
some debate. Some say it's just part of a
letter. The Hebrew is made up simply
of consonants. And some of the letters are very
similar in shape. There might just be a little
curl or a little dash that distinguishes one of the letters from another.
And they say that the titles are those distinguishing dashes
or curves. But then some say that the tittle
is to be understood in terms of the dots and the dashes that
are put underneath the consonants to serve as vowels. They are vowels and
consonants of course. The point I make is simply that
the Lord is clearly teaching a very high doctrine of Holy
Scripture when he utters those words, till heaven and earth
pass one jot or one tittle, shall in no wise pass from the law,
till all be fulfilled. I came across this sentence from
one of the Old Scots Divines, Ebenezer Erskine, Ralph Erskine's
brother, Ebenezer, he says, God has greater regards unto the
words of his mouth than to the works of his hand. God has greater
regard to the words of his mouth than to the works of his hands. You see, the heavens and the
earth can pass away, but not one jot or one tittle can pass
from the Lord. thou hast magnified thy word
above all thy name God's word is true and as God's word is
true so God's word is also trustworthy David worships God and praises
God's name not only for his truth but also for his loving kindness
for thy loving kindness thy covenant faithfulness thy sure mercies So God, you see, has given his
word and his word is that that can be depended upon. Look at the language that we
have at the end of the prophecy of Micah. They will perform the truth to
Jacob and the mercy to Abraham which they were sworn unto our
fathers from the days of old. The truth to Jacob and the mercy
or the loving kindness, it's the same word really. The truth to Jacob, the mercy,
the loving kindness to Abraham. It is that we can rest in even
in the word of God. For all the promises of God in
Christ Jesus are young and in him are men to the glory of God
by us. All God's word and the comfort
of God's word then. No wonder that the psalmist comes
before God here with praise and with worship. I will praise thee
with my whole heart, says David. Before the gods will I sing praise
unto thee. I will worship towards thy holy
temple. Why so? Because he knows that
this God speaks truth and this God's words is a trustworthy
word. He goes on in verse 3, In the
day when I cried, have watchers me, and strengtheners me with
strength in my soul, all to have dealings with a God so good and
so faithful as this God. Has he not said to us, Ask and
it shall be given you? Seek and ye shall find, knock
and it shall be opened unto you. Everyone that asketh receiveth,
and he that seeketh findeth, and him that knocketh it shall
be opened. The word of the Lord Jesus assuring
us that we will be heard when we call upon him. I said not
under the seed of Jacob, seek him I face in vain. In the day when I cried, thou
answerest me. or let us be those in who as
we come to the word of God and as God reveals himself to us,
as God declares himself to us as we're granted such a revelation
as we have in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ
that it might move us to to pray to this God. As I said at the
beginning in verse 8, the end of the Psalm, Davies David speaks
of God. Thus he speaks of God. He cannot
but help speaking to God. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me, he says. And then, thy mercy, O Lord,
endureth forever. Forsake not the work of thine
own hands. Oh, the Lord then be pleased
to bless this word to us Tonight, words of this second verse I
will worship toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for
thy loving kindness and for thy truth for thou hast magnified
thy word above all thy name. May the Lord bless his word to
us.