complete dependence upon the
Lord for all needed help this morning. I wish to direct your
very prayerful attention to Psalm 100 and the text is all of it. We'll read together the psalm. It is a short psalm of only five
verses. We shall venture to go through
each verse Psalm 100, a psalm of praise. Make a joyful noise unto the
Lord, all ye lands. Serve the Lord with gladness. Come before his presence with
singing. Know ye that the Lord, he is
God. It is thee that hath made us
and not we ourselves. We are his people and the sheep
of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving
and into his courts with praise. Be thankful unto him and bless
his name for the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting and
his truth endureth. to all generations. The late Dr Robert Hawker said
that upon this particular psalm that no service can be real unless
it is free and from a heartfelt desire to give thanks what we have before us has been
determined by many to be a benediction suitable yes for an opening for
a morning service such as this but is it not also the end of
all things The Lord Jesus said, I am Alpha
and Omega. Those are two letters I understand
at both ends of the alphabet, the Greek alphabet. And what we have before us is
the whole spirit of worship. Now, by way of context, It is
understood most of the commentators would say that David penned this
psalm. I have no reason to contradict
them. I feel that is likely if you
consider the language that is offered up. And is in direct
reference to particularly the peace offering. You may have
thought it very strange this morning that I read that passage
in Leviticus. It's not a an easy book in many
respects, but we can gather some precious thoughts upon these
things. And of course all the offerings
that we have, the meat offerings, the burnt offerings and so on,
they all speak to us of some various aspect of the Gospel
and of Christ's sacrifice. Unless we understand that, Really,
our comprehension of the whole tenor of the Old Testament is
deficient. Christ is to be found in all
the Scriptures. And all these instructions that
we find the children of Israel to be engaged in are not an end
in themselves. They were never purposed to be
an end in themselves. We're here on the Sabbath day
And, of course, when you use that term, people get rather
shirty and difficult and say you shouldn't call it the Sabbath.
Well, it is, friends, the Christian Sabbath. It is the Christian
rest. People say it's not the Sabbath.
Well, it is the Sabbath. It's the Christian Sabbath. But
the difference is, friends, that we have the fulfillment of all
the elements of the Old Testament Sabbath by Christ. What I mean
by that is the various preparation of food and the washings and
so on. All those things are complete.
They're done. They're found in Christ. This
is a simple rest. It's the principle of having
this first day in seven, holy unto the Lord. It's a Sabbath
of rest. It's not meant to be a burdensome
thing. It's not some form of punishment to come to the Lord's
house as Dr Hawker said. It's a free thing we come here
because we desire to be here and I trust we wouldn't desire
to be anywhere else. So here Psalm 100 is thought
to be sharing some of the out workings
of the peace offering. You see the peace offering had
two purposes. One, it was first and foremost
an act of worship. When the people came, they came
to worship the Lord. In verse 14 of chapter 7, "...and
each of it he shall offer one out of the whole oblation for
an heave offering unto the Lord. And it shall be the priests that
sprinkleth the blood of the peace offerings and the flesh of the
sacrifice of his peace offerings for Thanksgiving shall be eaten
the same day that it is offered he shall not leave any of it
until the morning see we can see here in the temple this peace
offering it wasn't an end in itself the
people were to consider what this all meant Thanksgiving unto the Lord. The
children of Israel who had been brought those 40 years through
the wilderness. David understood these things. It was an offering of thanksgiving. Is it not the case that when
the Lord does a work in a man's soul, in a community, in a particular
place, what is the first thing that happens? A meeting house
is erected to the praise and the honor of the Lord. That is
what happens, isn't it? The Lord's people desire to meet
together in corporate worship and thus we have the children
of Israel here remembering and considering the Messiah that
was to come by faith. Now listen to these people who
tell you the Old Testament saints had no faith. They had faith.
They had faith. And they were each born again
by the precious Spirit of the Lord. You see, that's the essential
thing, isn't it? You can only come unto the Lord
with that real sense of worship if we know Him for who He really
is. I was speaking to a Russellite
the other day synonymous term for a Jehovah's Witness it seems
to be many of them outside the stations in London everywhere
you go you find them and I said to this man the other
day doesn't the scripture say you must be born again and he
said well only if you're going to heaven but I'm going to live
on the earth would seem rather strange, wouldn't
it then, that there is so much in the scripture of the new birth
if there were only 144,000 people going to get there? It is nonsense,
friends, but that's an aside. Here we can see a real heart,
a heart that is changed, a heart that desires to come to the Lord's
house. In my own case, I remember the
very first pangs of conviction I felt was that I knew I was
a habitual Sabbath-breaker, an absconder from the Lord's house. We have to come unto Him, don't
we? Into His courts with praise on His day. there is also the second aspect
of course of this offering isn't there? and that is a partaking
and that of communion it is that that speaks of coming unto the Lord and desiring
to meet with him there is a partaining, as verse 20 says, but the soul
that eateth of the flesh of the sacrifice of the peace offerings,
that partain unto the Lord, having his uncleanness upon him, even
that soul shall be cut off from his people. So even here we can
see there's a difference between formal worship and real worship. Moreover, the soul that shall
touch any unclean thing, as the uncleanness of man, or any unclean
beast, or any abominable unclean thing, and eat of the flesh of
the sacrifice of the peace offerings which pertain unto the Lord,
even that soul shall be cut off from his people." The priests
that offered up these sacrifices. There was a difference between
a clean and an unclean priest. It was acknowledged among the
people. But nevertheless, we have to
understand these things by context. Considering the verses in front
of us in Psalm 100, "...make a joyful noise unto the Lord,
all ye lambs." This was also a witness, and the worship that
took place in Israel was a witness unto the Gentiles. And thus,
every Service, we would call a worship service. We don't call
this a teaching service or a gospel service or any other type of
service. This is a worship service. The Lord has dictated Himself
how He is to be worshipped. It is through the, you shall
see, you can read, through the singing of praises, through the
offering of prayers, and through the preaching of the Word. This
was a witness to the Gentiles, a witness to those outside the
world as they were known. That this is the Lord. There's
only one true Lord. And to abscond from His house is indeed to be in willful rebellion
unto the Lord. That's the reason why this chapel
is not full. So the people don't want to come.
That's the reason why. It's a reflection of the heart
of man. Serve the Lord with gladness. You see there's a difference
here isn't there? And this was the instruction that David was
giving unto his people. there is always a difference
between serving the Lord with gladness and serving him out
of servile fear and coming out of a heartfelt desire to meet with
the Lord to hear his word preached and to come because well we sort
of have to perhaps you've been brought to the Lord's house and
for years perhaps all your life but the real reason you come
is because you have to you feel the social pressures around you well yes friends we are commanded
to come to the Lord's house and yes it is the least you can do But you know to come because
you have to is the most base motivation for anything. Do we not look forward to the
first day of the week? No. Here serve the Lord with
gladness. There is a serving Him with gladness. And I've said it from this pulpit
here before. I make no apologies for saying
it again. It's worth repeating. The only
life that will bring real satisfaction is one that is in service unto
the Lord, unto Christ, unto His Kingdom, and unto the Lord's
people. It's the only really satisfying
life. You see the scripture says them
that honour me, I will honour. And them that despise me, I will
lightly esteem. And the Lord proves it every
single time. He proves it in your life. He proves it in mine. These are
the things that he brings to pass. Serve the Lord with gladness
with gladness it's a good thing it's a rewarding thing if we can use that term it's
a delightful thing to come to the Lord's house and to serve
Him in whatever manner that might be before his presence with singing here we can see that singing
was an aspect of the service now of course here our Presbyterian
brethren would get rather vociferous and would say that this is exclusive
psalmody and so on and so forth well you would have a difficulty and
I always maintain this because friends if we are to be truthful
to the original Psalter as many of the Presbyterians are so insistent
upon then we would have the form of Gregorian chant of which you
have in the Anglicans. It's the only way of being faithful
really to the original. But here it says come before
his presence with singing. And that's all it says. Of course
in the New Testament we have these examples of those original
compositions. But singing is to form a part
of the worship of the Lord. Now, we would not be militant
in respect of insisting upon exactly how many hymns we should
have. I would personally believe that
three or four is sufficient. If we go beyond that, I think that we are, shall we
say, overloading the service in an unhelpful manner. The emphasis
is supposed to be on the preaching, but nevertheless singing is to
form a part of the worship of the Lord. now the next verse is very pertinent
in respect of worship there's an awful lot in it you might
even say it's the key verse to the whole chapter know ye that the Lord he is God
it is he that hath made us and not we ourselves we are his people
and the sheep of his pasture. Know ye that the Lord he is God. Do we know whom we're coming
before this morning? This is the question. This is
the question. Know ye that the Lord he is God.
Nothing is hidden from him you cannot escape him for a moment
he knows your very thoughts he knows your very heart and there is not one scintilla
about your life that goes unnoticed the scripture says the hairs
on your head are all numbered So what's our attitude? What's
our attitude? The Lord is God. He is God. And He has an absolute right
and an absolute claim over us. So therefore, do we not approach
Him with that reverence and with
that godly fear you see here there is a scriptural principle
is there not we're not to come before the Lord in that familiar
and chummy manner we've all been to prayer meetings
where people address the most high in the most familiar of
terms and the most light spirit friends that will not do for
me I don't know about you One of the reasons why I find myself
in this denomination is because I cannot address the Lord in
a familiar way and in a light spirit. The Lord is God. He's God. But you know the Lord
has promised to make himself known. And the Lord has made
himself known through the Gospel. So likewise, We are encouraged,
are we not, to come boldly to the throne of grace. As our pastor
said many times, is that all speech? Coming from those two
great words, to come with all speech. You see, if there's nothing hid
from the Lord, He knows every concern. He knows every doubt. He knows
every fear. We are encouraged to come just as we
are. Are we not? With all our burdens
and with all our difficulties. If we really believe the Lord
to be God, is he not the Lord that can answer our prayers and
that can overturn our concerns? You know, we're not like the
Romanist who believes that there's no
such thing There's an assurance of faith. There's no such thing
as being really sure. We need the assistance of the
papacy to help us along a little bit. Grant us some indulgences
and give us a few years off purgatory. That's not what we read here.
Know ye the Lord that He's God. Nothing can prevent Him from
making His will known. The providences in your life
will prove it. It is He that has made us and
not we ourselves. You see, here we come to ownership,
don't we? What is the principle of the
Christian? You are not your own. You are bought with a price. And again, that does not mean
that we are slaves to anything. We are servants. We use that
phrase, those of us that preach, of being ministers of the Gospel.
Now to be a minister simply means to be a servant. To be a servant
of the Lord. That's all it means. To serve Him. It is He that hath
made us and not we ourselves. Now here is the difference, isn't
it? Again. If the Lord has dealt with us, we realise that we're
not our own. Our lives are not our own. Our bodies are not our own. We're not to decide. What we
think about things has been the best course of action. Certainly
not for worshipping him. That's why we're in the state
that we're in. we are his people and the sheep
of his pasture you see we haven't made ourselves that's why we
cannot accept anything other than a six day creation and that
we cannot accept anything other than the Lord feeding his people
by his divine means the sheep of his pasture. Now
sheep have to belong to a shepherd. They have a sense of ownership. Don't they? They have a sense
of ownership. And their needs are to be found
by that which is provided for them. The shepherd leads them
into the pasture wherein they may feed on good things and friends if we're to feed
on good things we'll have to have that balancing in our diet
won't we we can't just feed on one thing
continually we'd make us ill may even poison us that the sheep are led through
various pastures. And is there not various experiences
in the child of God's life? It was said to me a long time
ago. Some Christians learn a lot in the beginning. Some learn
a lot at the end of their life. And some learn a bit all the
way through. according to the way that we
travel and we all have a different life and each and every sheep
is different aren't they? they're all different but they're
all marked they're all marked and here we're
either the sheep of his pasture not anyone else's so there is
a sense of ownership here verse 4 we notice linking with verse 3 the sheep
of his pasture how they have a togetherness they have a identification as belonging one
to another and here we have enter into his gates with thanksgiving
and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him and bless
his name you might say well much of this is covered within the
first two verses it is but we would add these observations that when we come into the Lord's
house we always have to acknowledge once again we've been brought
through another week once again we've been favoured to come into
his house. We've been favoured to see this
very day. And if the Lord is dealing with us,
he has taught us something, as you know. We don't ever stop
learning, do we? These are not just intellectual
lessons, but they are lessons of life. I don't know about you, every
time I read the book of the Proverbs, I see more and more of my own
mistakes and you can identify more and more with the spirit
of what is expressed enter into his gates with thanksgiving
the Lord has brought us through many things the Lord has brought
us here and into his courts with praise we have to remember again
coming back to this principle of the church that we come together
corporately. Something that we're not very
strong on really in our circles is this principle of corporate
worship. I was discussing this with Dr.
Wilkins over at Hedge End some time ago. That the Lord's people
come together. And when we sing, we sing together. When we hear the word, we hear
it together. the man that prays, that engages in prayer, is leading
the people in worship. In that corporate sense. And our first obligation when
we come to worship, when we come to the Lord's Day, is to worship
Him. You know, we can be very, very
self-centered. It does not mean to say we do
not seek at all for something for our own souls but that's
not the first principle the first principle is to come to worship and to worship him enter into his gates with thanksgiving
and into his courts with praise be thankful unto him we live in the age of dissatisfaction
we live in the age of whinging people are always whinging about
something it's the sort of spirit that we've got into isn't
it? particularly in the world and if we are not careful we
can be infected with it we're not immune for those things that
are happening around us But some people, they like to
complain. I don't know about you, but I've
met relatives over the years, and they enjoy complaining. Think of that word again in the
Proverbs, Make no friendship with an angry man, lest thou
learn his ways. In other words, if we spend our
time with such people, we become like them. To be thankful. To be thankful. thankful unto Him if we don't want for anything then we are to be thankful and bless His name for who the Lord is His character His goodness for the Lord is
good His mercy is everlasting and His truth endureth to all
generations. When the Lord Jesus came to the
earth, what do we read? He went about doing good. The Lord Jesus' life was one
of service. No one who came for healing was
ever turned away, were they? He had a good and a positive
effect upon those around him, whether they were regenerate
characters or not. When it came to the crucifixion, what was said, they could find
no fault in this man. He'd not breached the law. which made, of course, the scribes
and Pharisees even more indignant. The Lord is good. He's good. And He is our forerunner, is
He not? He is our example. He's more than an example but
He is our example. He went about doing good and
the Lord has only been good even unto the graceless we don't believe
in what men call common grace but the sun does shine upon the
righteous and the unrighteous he is long-suffering unto the
wicked and can we not say even here
this morning with the hymn writer and if my soul was sent to hell
Thy righteous law approves it well. You see, this is the problem
with Arminianism, isn't it? People think they have a right
to go to heaven. People think they have a right
to be saved. We have no rights. No rights
before the Lord. As men, we are equal. Nobody's
any better and any worse than anybody else. But before the
Lord, we're all debtors. We're all debtors. but the Lord has been good we read here that His mercy is
everlasting now now just think of this all the sins that you've committed If somebody else had committed
them against you, what would be your attitude? We're hard creatures, aren't
we? That's who we are. We're hard creatures. We might
think of ourselves as forgiving, I don't know. But really, really,
what are we? We're hard creatures. But the
Lord's mercy is everlasting. He is gracious. He is good unto
us. Even through your fallen nature
and mine. Even through our breaches of the law. Word, truth and deed. He's merciful. He's merciful. You see, even if we're repentant
sinners, we're not sinless. Mr. Brengle got it completely
wrong. when he wrote his book on Christian Perfections, de
Brengel of course was the originator of the Salvation Army and he
said that you could reach a stage of bliss whereby you walked about
all the day and you were just filled with love well I don't know where he was
living but it certainly isn't with a mind that is on the ground
as it were His mercy is everlasting. And think of all the generations
of sinners. Has He not proved His mercy to
be everlasting? But here, you see, there's a
discriminating element, isn't there? Because His mercy is everlasting
and His truth endureth to all generations. Now this is a witness to the
Gentiles. But for the most part the Gentiles did not accept or
see this at all, did they? But you see it's the same gospel,
it's the same mercy, it's the same grace that comes down from
generation to generation to generation to generation. And that's why
when people say shall we change, we say no. We say no. We say no. We don't want any
change. We don't want change. We want the old paths. Because
the Lord is the same. Society might change, but the
Lord is the same. Man's needs have always been
the same. Man is a debtor to the Lord of
the Lord. He is a debtor to the Triune
God. But you see, here is truth endureth
to all generations. The Gospel will be preached. The Lord will send his servants
forth in every generation. And the gates of hell will not
prevail against it. From David's day to this day,
the Lord has his people And you know, none of us are indispensable.
There's an old man who lived with my family who was a preacher
in the Bedfordshire area and then in his retirement he came
to live with some of my relatives. Connected with the chapel at
Leeds. He was very Fit man for his age, he lived to be about
86. About 18 months before he died, his strength really began
to fail. And he said, I don't know why
the Lord doesn't give me strength to answer all these letters.
He received, he was a real scholar, he received over 100 magazines
a month. He spent all his time reading.
If anybody denied himself to live the godly life he did, and
somebody said to him maybe the Lord doesn't want you to answer
all these letters you see he thought that the work
of the Lord would only continue so long as he was around of course
he said I realise I realise that the Lord will bring his purposes
about with or without me so he became then submissive and to realise that
his work was done you see his truth endureth to
all generations and that is why we are to be men and women of
vision you know we don't want to be amongst these and I've
heard it said when certain deacons have been challenged about the
state of things oh well it'll seal us out no good friends no
good no good The Lord will. I shall be 32
in June. But you know, if this world continues,
I do not want our denomination to end with me and our generation. Friends, are we not men and women
of vision? Do we not desire to tell it to the generation following,
as the Psalmist says? Are we not to look to the future. We don't know
what's before us. We may be taken unexpectedly. We may live many years. We don't
know. We don't know. We don't know. But you see His
truth endureth to all generations. What does that mean? What does
that mean? Does it not mean to continue
to contend earnestly for the things that are believed among
us? for an absolute sovereign operation
of the Spirit of God in the soul. For a excellent translation of
the Scriptures that we may expound and set forth what is contained
within them. To hold to the principles of
a restricted table. To hold To the principles of
the New Testament Church and its offices. Its offices and
its purpose. And to the worship of the Lord
Himself. You see, we're not here to please
ourselves, are we? We're not here to please ourselves. Psalm 100 bears that out. but you see the gospel is to
be proclaimed and the Lord has set forth how he will do it his
truth endureth to all generations you see when that last vessel
of mercy is called home this world will have no further purpose
and there won't be a secret rapture nobody's going to disappear in
secret there won't be any of that When the Lord shall return
shall he find faith on the earth. We'll see that falling away,
there's no question about that. There's no question about that.
And the number of believers upon the earth we know will be few. But his truth will endure to
all generations. And everything will come to pass
just as the Lord purposed it to do so. There'll be no second
chance. We don't believe in chance, do
we? There'll be no missed opportunities. But friends, on that day, there
will be a realisation. Oh, that the Lord is God. And
there will be that realisation. That His mercy is everlasting.
that His mercy has been... the Lord has actually been so
good to us if we've realized it in its fullness we couldn't
stand it. That's the truth of it all. That's
the truth of it all. You know we only ever scratch
the surface of these things, don't we? We don't know the half
of it. But nevertheless friends we receive
these things by faith. The truth endureth to all generations. That is why we have to look not
for a sign, but we look unto Him. Unto Him. Well, may the Lord add His blessing.
Amen.