Let us turn to the psalm that
we read, Psalm 146. I'm drawing your attention tonight
for our text to the words that we find here at verse 5. Psalm
146, verse 5, Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his
help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. The 146th Psalm and
the fifth verse. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. This is very much of course a
psalm of praise, how it opens, praise you the Lord, Praise the
Lord, O my soul, while I live will I praise the Lord, I will
sing praises unto my God while I have any being. And then the
final words in the Psalm again, he says, praise ye the Lord. And in fact, you will observe
in the following Psalms 147, 148, 149, and 150, they all begin Just as his psalm begins with
that Hebrew word, hallelujah, which of course is translated
here as praise ye the Lord. Here is a psalm of praise and
the person spoken of in the text, this happy man, is surely one
who delights in the praises of his God. Well, as we come to
consider these words. I want to speak of the happy
man being described and to observe three things. We see his happiness,
we see from whence his help comes, and then we see something of
the hope that constantly sustains him. I don't know if you're aware
of a book that bears that title, The Happy Man some of the sermons
and various addresses of Lachlan Mackenzie who was a minister
in the Scottish Highlands on the west coast there at Loch
Caron in the closing years of the 18th century and I've always
been struck with what he has to say with regards to the happy
man. This is his description. Let
me just read it to you. And now we need to examine ourselves
to see if it describes us in any sense. He says, The happy
man was born in the city of regeneration, in the parish of repentance unto
life. He was educated at the school
of obedience, He has a large estate in the county of Christian
Contentment, and many times does jobs of self-denial, wears the
garment of humility, and has another suit to put on when he
goes to court called the robe of Christ's righteousness. He
often walks in the valley of self-abasement, and sometimes
climbs the mountains of heavenly mindedness. He breakfasts every
morning on spiritual prayer, and supps every evening on the
same. He has meat to eat that the world
knows not of, and his drink is the sincere milk of the word
of God. Thus, happy he lives, and happy
he dies. Happy is he who has gospel submission
in his will, due order in his affections, sound peace in his
conscience, real divinity in his breast, the Redeemer's yoke
on his neck, a vain world under his feet, and a crown of glory
over his head. Happy is the life of that man
who believes firmly, prays fervently, walks patiently, works abundantly,
lives holy, dies daily, watches his heart, guides his senses,
redeems his time, loves Christ, and longs for glory. He is necessitated
to take the world on his way to heaven, but he walks through
it as fast as he can, and all his business by the way is to
make himself and others happy. Take him all in all, in two words,
he is a man and a Christian." Now that's Lachlan Mackenzie,
wonderful description. I think the book is still in
print, but I would recommend that book on the happy man, if
you want to read something of the writings of that Scottish
divine. But turning then to consider
tonight And I fear that what I say is not going to measure
up in any measure to what we've just heard from Mackenzie. But
we'll look at this text here in Psalm 146 and the fifth verse. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. First of all then, to say something
of this happiness. And you'll see how it is very
personal. It's a statement here that's
really drawn very much into a focus. It says quite plainly, happy
is he. Now I know that the words is
he are in italics, in other words they've been introduced by the
translators to bring out the sense as they understand it in
the original Hebrew. But they do understand something
of the Hebrew idiom, our faith for translators of the authorized
version. And here, how the statement is
very much brought into focus. Happy is he. It's something similar
to what we see in the faithful ministry of the Prophet Nathan,
when David had sinned so grievously in the matter of Bathsheba and
her husband Uriah the Hittite. Remember how when he comes to
the king, the prophet, that the King be the greatest man in all
of Israel. How faithful is Nathan, and he
says, thou art the man. Thou art. And here we have this
statement, happy is he. Now you know, there is much recorded
here in the book of Psalms concerning that man who is spoken of as
the blessed man or the happy man. Repeatedly we have descriptions. We've looked at these things
in times past on a Thursday evening at the prayer meeting, something
of those statements concerning the blessed man as he said before
us throughout this book, this remarkable book. And the very
door, the opening of the Psalms to us is a description of this
character. Blessed is the man, or happy
is the man. that walketh not in the counsel
of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth
in the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the Lord
of the Lords, and in his Lord doth he meditate day and night. Oh, the blessed, the happy man
is one then who has a delight in God's words. He reads the
Word, he meditates in the Word, He feeds upon the Word. He desires
to live in accordance with all those holy precepts of the Word
of God. He wants to conform more and
more to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ, the One who is
revealed to us throughout the Scriptures. And then again we're
told in the 32nd Psalm something concerning this character. Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth, not iniquiteth. and
in whose spirit there is no guile. All this blessed man you see
is that man who stands justified before his God. There's no imputing
of his sin to him, why his sin is covered. He bears about him
that robe of righteousness of which Mackenzie speaks there
as the happy man's suit when he goes to court, when he does
business with his God, he pleads. The blood, the righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's the man who's living the
life of faith. We're told again, Psalm 34 verse
8, blessed is the man that trusteth in him, he trusts in the Lord.
Psalm 40 and verse 4, blessed is that man who maketh the Lord
his trust. Oh there's an emphasis. The happy
man is a believing man. He doesn't walk by sight, he
walks by faith. He's that man who really believes
in God, he recognizes therefore the sovereignty of God. Now that
all things are subject to his will. and he will wait upon his
God in prayers. This is a happy man. As I say,
he is spoken of time and time again here in the book of Psalms,
and we see something of his character. Again, Psalm 65 verse 4, Blessed
is the man whom thou choosest, and cause us to approach unto
thee. The one whom God has chosen,
those who are the election of grace, are those who will approach
unto Him. Well, many are tormented by that
great doctrine of the sovereignty of God in the election of grace
and they wonder, are they really of that blessed component? Are
they those whom the Lord has set His sovereign love upon and
chosen them in Christ before the foundation of the world?
Well, here is the evidence of it. The man whom God has chosen,
God also causes that man to approach unto Him. And when we consider our lives,
when I look at my own life and the prayerless days, you have
to wonder, really, am I one of the Lord's chosen ones? What
do we know of real prayer, that constant calling, that persevering
in prayers, that crying unto God at every turn? Are we those
who are looking to the Lord and see that all our help can only
come from Him? What does it say here in the
text? Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help. Well, is it not the same truth
that we find in the 84th Psalm at verse 5? Blessed is the man
whose strength is in the earth. Or do we feel that of ourselves
we are helpless? We're all weakness. All our strength
must therefore come from the Lord. That's the blessed man.
And then again we think about that blessed man He's the man
whom God has dealings with, He corrects and He chastises His
children, it's a mark of their sonship. Why just this last Thursday
we considered something of those chastenings of the Lord. Think
of the language there in Psalm 94 verse 12, Blessed is the man
whom thou choosest and cause us to approach unto thee. All God chooses, yes, but God
also chastises. That man is a chastened man.
Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest
him out of thy law. When God corrects us, lays his
rod upon us, shows us the folly of our ways, works conviction
in our souls, We see then time and again as we read through
this remarkable book, the book of Psalms that there is a description
of that man who is truly the blessed one and the happy man. Now, coming to the New Testament
I quite deliberately of course read that passage at the beginning
of the Sermon on the Mount because there in the opening section
of that remarkable sermon The Lord Jesus himself speaks of
those who are the blessed, the Beatitudes. And you're probably
aware of the fact that that word that we have repeated, blessed,
is really in the plural. Blessednesses or happinesses. What the Lord is describing himself
there is that man who is truly happy. That man who is blessed of the
Lord is God. There is in this remarkable description
concerning the happy man. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. But to consider something of
his happiness. And we see it in these two things
that are spoken of in the text. The word help and the word hope. Firstly then, this man, this
happy man, is one who has been taught something concerning himself.
What has the Lord taught him? The Lord has taught him his utter
helplessness. Oh, and this man feels it. He
feels himself to be so helpless. What can he do for himself? He's
brought to the end of himself. He has such an awareness of what
he is as a sinner before God. The Lord has taught him that
solemn lesson. He has been shown the terrible
truth of the doctrine of man's total depravity and all the implications
of that doctrine. Here is one who is so impotent.
What can he do? He knows now that by nature he
is dead in trespasses and in sins. We know that sin itself
is of the creature. God is not the author of sin.
Perish the thought. It's a blasphemy. God is not
the author of sin. Sin is of the creature. but all
that sense of sin that realization that we're sinners
that comes only from God God has to show us that truth and
this is the man that we read of here he has learned his sinfulness and he feels now he's so helpless
look at what the psalmist says In verse 3, put not your trust
in princes, nor in the Son of Man, in whom there is no help. No other man can help him. But
that expression, the Son of Man, you know, often times when we
see it in Scripture, it reminds us of the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is the Son of God, the Son of Man. But remember, throughout
the prophecy of Ezekiel, when the Lord Himself addresses the
Prophet, He speaks to him as the Son of Man. Son of Man. Son of Man. There are those occasions
when it's not to be understood in reference to the Lord Jesus
Christ, though He is the preeminent Son of Man, He is that One who
is the True Man, the Real Man, the Lord from Heaven. But here
we're to understand it in terms of the weakness that belongs
to man as a fallen creature. And this character, this happy
man, has learned the truth with regards to himself. He doesn't
put trust in others. No man can help him, but he doesn't
put any trust in himself. He can do nothing. His case is
so utterly hopeless. That's how he feels. It's only
the Lord God that can help him. Now, the Apostle Paul certainly
learned that lesson. When he was Saul, he was a Pharisee,
he was the son of a Pharisee. And he imagined he could do a
great deal to help himself. He thought that he could live
a righteous life. He looked to the law of God and
his own observance of that law touching the righteousness which
is of the law. He considered himself to be blameless,
as you know. That was his legal mind. And
that legal mind, of course, it's in all of us by nature. All men
are wedded to the idea of works The covenant of works, we're
the children of Adam, are we not? And we see how there in
the Garden of Edom, when God made our father Adam, He put
him under test. It's a covenant of works. He
was told concerning the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil, that he must not eat of it. In the day that he disobeyed,
he would die. He's being tested. and he failed
the test, he failed, but we're all ready to that idea of doing
something or not doing something by nature we're legal we want
to look to the law, there's something for us to do and as we said before
even in the New Testament when men are awakened under the ministry
of the apostles or when they come to the Lord Jesus how often
do men speak of something to be done that rich young ruler
who comes to Christ wants to know what he must do. Even those
on the day of Pentecost who are awakened under the preaching
of Peter and the apostles want to know what they must do. And
that was Saul. Oh, there was something to be
done. He thought he could keep the
Law of God. He didn't understand the Law of God. He was so ignorant.
And God had to teach him. And when the Lord taught him,
what was he brought to? He acknowledges, by the Lord's
dealings, he feels himself to be nothing. Though I be nothing. The cipher. The zero. Utterly,
completely, helpless. And that was the sentence of
God that was brought into his soul. Look at what he says there
in the opening chapter of 2nd Corinthians. We have the sentence
of death in ourselves, he says. that we should not trust in ourselves
but in God that raises the dead who delivered us from so great
a death who doth deliver in whom we trust that he will yet deliver
it was a constant ongoing experience he needed the Lord to be his
Saviour day after day, moment by moment he needed constantly
to experience those deliverances of the Lord Why? Because there
was death upon himself. Oh, his case was so helpless.
Oh, we sing that verse in Toplady's great hymn, Rock of Ages. Nothing
in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come
to thee for dress, helpless look to thee for grace. Foul I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Saviour. or I die. And doesn't the top lady sum
it up there? That's how we have to come. If we're going to be
those who are truly happy, we'll have to be brought to the end
of ourselves. Happy is the man that has the
God of Jacob for his help. He knows this man. that there's no help in the Son
of Man put not your trust in princes nor in the Son of Man
in whom there is no help, nothing in the creature but all of God
and now when we come before the Lord, when we come in prayer
to the Lord, when we come to worship Him, to utter our praises
how are we to worship Him? We are to worship Him by acknowledging
always our complete and utter dependence upon Him. You think
of that woman again in the Gospel, that woman of Syrophoenicia,
she was a Canaanite-ish woman. Those Canaanites excluded from
the congregation of the Lord forever, it says in the Law.
All but the mercy, the goodness, the grace of God in the Gospel.
How she worships the Lord Jesus. And how did she worshipped? She
worshipped Him saying, Lord, help me. Oh, there's the best
worship. When we come and we come with
nothing in our hand, we come acknowledging our complete, our
utter dependence upon the Lord God Himself. And what help there is there.
Oh, happy is the man that hath the God of Jacob for his help.
What does God say in another psalm, Psalm 89? I have laid
help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one chosen out
of the people. And who is this one? This one
that has been chosen out of the people, this is that one, remember,
who is the seed of David. That 89th Psalm speaks to us
so clearly of David. It's David's seed. This one who
is chosen out of the people, but not just David's seed. He's
the seed of Abraham. But he's not just the seed of
Abraham. We go right back, he's the seed of the woman. Oh, and Eve, you see, when she
thought, I've gotten a man from the Lord. Did you think that
this was a fulfillment of what the Lord had promised concerning
her seed? We know it was not the case then,
but it would be the case in due time, the seed of the woman would
come. And here is a man you see, and the Lord has laid help upon
this man, this mighty man. And we know who this man is,
it's the Lord Jesus Christ. The first man is of the earth,
earthly, The second man is the Lord from heaven. And how this man is able to save. It says he's able to save to
the uttermost all that come unto God by him. His strength never
fails. That's the Lord Jesus Christ.
Why he is a prince and a saviour. He's that One who is King of
Kings and Lord of Lords. He's that One who has come and
He has vanquished all the powers of darkness. He has defeated
Satan. O death, where is thy sting?
O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death, we're told,
is sin. The strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God,
which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, this
is that one who helps you see. He has the God of Jacob for his
help it says. What does the Psalmist say elsewhere?
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
He is the great Creator of all things. He is that one who is spoken
of as the Word of God. 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 made. All by the
Word of the Lord the heavens were made and all the host of
them by the breath of His mouth. All my help cometh from the Lord.
this mighty God who breathed all things into being, the one
who made the heavens and the earth. And what sort of a help
is it? Well, in Psalm 46 we're told,
oh, he is a very present help in trouble. You see, he's not
just a help, he's a present help. When there's trouble, He is present. He appears for His people in
the midst of all their trials and tribulations. But He's not
just a present help. What does it say there in that
great 46th Psalm? It says He's a very present help. Not just a help, not just a present
help, a very present help. and that's the emphasis that's
brought out in the faithful rendering that we have here in our authorised
version. It brings out for us the strength
of the Word of God, the comfort of the Word of God. And it was
of course that precious Psalm that was so dear to dear Luther
when he would say to Melanchthon when he was in one of his fits
of depression, come Philip let us sing Psalm 46. Oh our God you see a very present
help in trouble. This is one of the marks of this
happy man. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God. But let me notice also here this
other characteristic, he has hope, he has hope, whose hope
is in the Lord, is God. We just sang as our opening praise
what's his paraphrase of Psalm 90. And of course we have it
there in the opening words of that well-known hymn. I suppose
it's been sung a great deal today, but I wonder how many of you
as I sing those words of what really appreciate the truth that
is contained in them. Oh God, our help in ages past,
our hope for years to come. These two things you see brought
together, God has been our help in times past, and so we can
put our hope in God for the future. Is that how we draw on our experiences? I'm sure as you look back, as
you reflect on your lives, you see the good hand of God, the
gracious hand of God. How many times has the Lord appeared
for us? How many times has He answered
our prayers in such remarkable ways? And yet we so quickly forget
these things. Just like the children of Israel
in the wilderness, we forget. We ought to remember. we ought
to reflect upon all that why and all those many things that
the Lord has done for us and that will encourage us to hope
in the Lord look at the one here in whom this happy man hopes we read of God in terms of this
the God of Jacob and the Lord God the God of Jacob and the Lord's God. And Lord,
again, as is so often the case, is in capital letters. In other
words, it's Jehovah. It's the I Am that I Am. It's
the God of the Covenant. And isn't Jacob that one who
is in the Covenant? the God of Abraham, the God of
Isaac, the God of Jacob. And we think in terms of those
great patriarchs. Look at what we read previously
in another psalm, Psalm 105. And the language here at verses 8,
9 and 10. He hath remembered his covenant
forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, which
covenant he made with Abraham, and his oath unto Isaac, and
confirmed the same unto Jacob for a law, and to Israel for
an everlasting covenant." See how this covenant is being
described in terms of what God promised to these various men.
We read of His covenant, the covenant that he remembered,
we read of his words, his oath, his law, and then again to Israel
it says an everlasting covenant. What is it that God has promised
in that covenant? Well, in the covenant we see
him as that one who is ever merciful and gracious. And there's that
wonderful passage and I know I've referred to it many, many
a time but what a portion of scripture it is there at the
end of the book of Micah where the question is asked who
is a God like unto thee? or who is a pardoning God like
thee? or who has grace so rich and
free? who is a God like unto thee that
pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage He retaineth not his anger for ever, because
he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have
compassion upon us, he will subdue our iniquities, and thou wilt
cast all their sins into the depths of the sea. Thou wilt
perform the truth to Jacob, and the mercy to Abraham. which they
were sworn unto our fathers from the days of old." Here is the
covenant again, and see how it's spoken of now in terms of the
truth to Jacob and the mercy to Abraham. And all that God
has sworn. Why? God is a gracious God, He
is a good God. And this is the God that the
happy man has dealings with. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God all
his hope is in the Lord and you know how we have to remember here this
very solemn truth that this this God who deals with his people
in terms of such mercy and such grace is one who makes a difference,
makes a separation. How the Gospel is distinguishing
and discriminating. And we have to acknowledge that
even in this 146th Psalm. Verse 9, The Lord preserveth
the strangers, he relieveth the fatherless and widow, but the
way of the wicked he turneth upside down. Oh, this Word of God, you see,
it comes, and it comes to some the savour of death unto death. Thankfully, it comes to many
as the savour of life unto life. Oh, what does the Lord God say
Himself? Jacob have I loved, Esau have
I hated. There's the discrimination. Those
words, we find them in that great ninth chapter of the epistle
to the Romans, as it is written. Where is it written? It's written
in the opening part of Malachi's prophecy. As it is written, Jacob
have I loved, Esau have I hated. It's repeated. It's at the end
of the Old Testament. And then we have it in the New
Testament. God's grace is a discriminating grace. God's grace is sovereign
he has mercy on whom he will have mercy and he hardeneth whom
he will harden and how important it is friends that we know that
we have a personal interest here well this is the thing that should
concern us what does it say with regards to this man this happy
man he has the God of Jacob it says
for his help it's that personal you see it comes to individuals
and that's where we have to examine ourselves and prove ourselves
and know ourselves that Jesus Christ is in us except we be
reprobate is Jesus Christ in us are we in the Lord Jesus Christ
or we cannot afford to come short of that to be found in him that's
where that sinful legalists, all of Tarsus,
found salvation. His great desire to be found
in Him, to be found in the Lord Jesus, not having mine own righteousness,
he said, which is of the law, but that which is through the
faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God, by faith. The Lord is God. the God of Jacob cares for his
children for how he cares for them I am the Lord he says I
change not therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed Jacob
who becomes Israel ought to be those who are the true Israel
of God again look at the language that we find in Isaiah 41 14
fear not thou worm Jacob, and ye men of
Israel, I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the
Holy One of Israel." Or worm Jacob, you see, worm
Jacob, and ye men, or as the margin says, ye few men, There
in the margin in Isaiah 41-14 it brings out what it literally
is saying there, it's the few men, it's the remnant. It's those who have entered in
the straight gate and have found now walking in that narrow way. All their hope, their hope is
only in the Lord, whose hope is in the Lord, his God it says. But what a hope this is! What
a blessed hope this is! Paul to the Thessalonians speaks
of good hope. Peter in his first epistle speaks
of a lively or a living hope. It's a good hope. It's a living
hope. And why so? Because of the One
in whom it centers. Again, look at the language of
the Apostles. There in Romans 8.24 he says, We are saved by
hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth,
why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see
not, then do we with patience wait for it. What we hope for is not what
we are able to see with our natural eye. It's those unseen things. All the things that are seen,
they're all around us, but they're temporal. The unseen things,
those are the eternal things. And that's where our hope is
to be settled. And now you see, if we have that hope, Paul says
there in Romans 8, then do we with patience wait. Or with endurance
we have to wait. This happy man, what does he
do? He waits and he waits and he waits upon the Lord his God. Why? He is truly a man of faith. He is one who walks in the faith
of his father Abraham. And Abraham, you know, is the
father of all them that believe. Now, what do we read concerning
Abraham? That is, hope. There in Romans chapter 4, at
the end of that chapter, verse 18, believed in hope that he might
become the father of many nations according to that which was spoken
so shall thy seed be and being not weak in faith he considered
not his own body now dead when he was about a hundred years
old neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb he staggered
not at the promise of God through unbelief but was strong in faith
giving glory to God and being fully persuaded that what he
had promised he was able also to perform and therefore it was
imputed to him for righteousness. Oh, he knew, you see, justifying
faith and that justifying faith why it centered in the one who
had been promised. That wasn't Isaac, that was the
greater son than Isaac. That's the Lord Jesus, the seed
of Abraham. Who against hope? Believed in
hope, it says. And what does he go on to say?
The apostle here says at verse 23, Now it was not written for
his sake alone that it was imputed to him, but for us also. to whom it shall be imputed,
if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead,
who was delivered for our offenses, and was raised again for our
justification." Oh, this is hope! And this is a hope that is being
spoken of in the psalm with regards to the happy man. He has the
God of Jacob for his help, His hope is in the Lord, His God. And consider, as we close this
evening, something of the character of the God that he is hoping
in. This is God, and God is the Almighty
One. He says at verse 16, at verse
6 rather, which made heaven and earth. the sea and all that therein
is which keepeth truth forever. Why? He is the great God, He
is the mighty God. He is the maker of all things,
He is the sustainer of all things. He is that God who does not lie,
that One who is true to Himself and true to His Word, that's
His character. And He is a God who is so compassionate.
He is so compassionate. Verse 7, which executes judgment
for the oppressed, which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord
looseth the prisoners. The Lord openeth the eyes of
the blind. The Lord raiseth them that are
bared down. The Lord loveth the righteous.
The Lord preserveth the strangers. He relieveth the fatherless and
the widow. But the way of the wicked He
turneth upside down. but there is such an emphasis
in those verses upon His compassion and when we read those words
who does it remind us of? Does it not remind us of the
Lord Jesus? Remember when Christ commences
His own earthly ministry and we see Him there in Luke chapter
4 as He goes as was His world on the Sabbath day to worship
God in the synagogue and the minister gives to Him the book
of the Prophet Isaiah. And he turns to the 61st chapter
and he reads there. He came to Nazareth where he
had been brought up and as was his custom he went into the synagogue
on the Sabbath day and stood up for to read. And there was
delivered unto him the book of the Prophet Isaiah. And when
he had opened the book he found the place where it was written
the Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed
me to preach the gospel to the poor. He hath sent me to heal
the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives,
and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them
that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord."
Why, he's reading Isaiah 61 and yet the words are so akin to
what we have here in the 146th Psalm it's the same Lord God and we're told how he closed
the book gave it again to the minister and sat down and the
eyes of all that were in the synagogue were fastened on him
and he began to say unto them this day is this scripture fulfilled
in your ears And all bear him witness, and wondered at the
gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. And they said,
Is not this Joseph's son? There we have the revealing of this God who is the portion of the happy
man. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God."
What a favor we have that we can come together in such a day
as this, this Day of Grace, the acceptable time, the Day of Salvation. And we can hear these words,
these gracious words that reveal to us something of the character
of the God that we look to, the God that we trust in, the God
that we place our hope in, the only one who is able to help
us, the God of our salvation. Oh God grant that we might be
those then who know him and can enter in some measure into the
experience of this happy man. This happy man, happy, is he
that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the
Lord his God. The Lord bless his word to us.
Amen.