Our text is found in the 138th
Psalm and the 2nd verse Psalm 138 and the 2nd verse David says
I will worship towards 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. And I want us to consider in
particular this morning the magnified words that was so much a part
of that worship that David sought to render to the Lord. 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
in the first place surely the magnified words is none other
than David's greatest son is it not the words incarnate that
is being spoken of here at the end of the verse We're told by
John in the fifth chapter of his first epistle that there
are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word,
and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. It is John, of
course, who speaks of him in terms of the words, not only
there in his epistle, but we think of the opening words of
the 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 made. In Him was
life, and the life was the light of men. He is the eternal Word
of God. John goes on, of course, to declare
that the Word was made flesh, and we beheld His glory, the
glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace
and truth. It is through Him who is the
Word then, that David comes in the psalm to worship his God. It's very much a psalm of praises
particular psalm, I will praise thee with my whole heart, he
says, before the gods will I sing praise unto thee, I will worship
towards thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness
and for thy truth, for thou hast magnified thy works above all
thy name. This worship can only come through
him who is the Word incarnate. It's the only way in which we're
able ever to appear before God. There is one mediator, we're
taught, between God and men, the man, Christ, Jesus. And we sang, of course, in our
opening praise, those words, Worship God then in his Son. There his love and there alone. As we're thinking of the words
of God incarnate. We have to recognise that the
Lord Jesus Christ is that One who is the mediator, the mediator
between us and God, the One who stands between the sinner and
that God who is declared to be the Holy One of Israel. He is
that One who is the mediator of the new covenant. Is there not here in this text
some allusion to the covenant? We have this lovely word, loving
kindness. I will worship toward thy holy
temple and praise thy name, says David, for thy loving kindness. And it's a word very much associated
with the idea of God's covenant. It might be rendered in terms
of his covenant faithfulness. He is the God of the covenant
and he is the God who is faithful to those things that he has revealed
and declared in his covenant. It reminds us of the steadfastness
of that love of God in terms of the covenant, his sovereign
grace. David, of course, was familiar
with the covenant. in Psalm 55 is it not spoken
of in terms of the sure mercies of David. I will make an everlasting
covenant with you even the sure mercies of David. And this is a man who when he
comes to the end of his days he finds all his comfort there
in the covenant. We read of the end of David's
life there in the book of 2 Samuel. At the end of that book, the
23rd chapter of 2 Samuel, we have the last words of David.
David, the son of Jessel, the man raised up on high, the anointed
of God, the sweet psalmist of Israel, he says, the Spirit of
the Lord spoke by me. And what was it that the Spirit
spake and made known to him? He hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things and sure. For this is all my
salvation, he says, and all my desire. He is mindful, is David,
then, of the covenants. And we see it, I say, in the
use of this particular word, this great word, loving-kindness. It's a word that really is so
full and so pregnant with meaning that it's very difficult really
for the translation to bring out the force of what is contained
in the particular word that is used here. As I've said, it's
not just loving kindness, it's covenant faithfulness, it's sovereign
grace, it's steadfast love. It's all that God is, as he has
revealed himself in the Covenant. And where do we see it? We see
it, of course, ultimately in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Or it is Christ in the
New Covenant, the Covenant of Grace. But not only that, but
also in Christ we have that one who is the great witness to the
truth as David comes to worship God he says I will worship toward
thy holy temple and praise thy name not only for thy loving
kindness not only for thy covenant faithfulness but he says also
for thy truth for thy truth And isn't the Lord
Jesus Christ that one who reveals to us all the truth of God? In fact, isn't this a name that
is given to him there in the book of the Revelation? He is
spoken of as the Amen, the faithful and true witness. The Amen, the faithful and true
witness. I am the Way, the truth, he says,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. He is that one who is the ultimate
witness into the truth of God. We have that fullness, that finality
of the revelation of God with the coming of the Lord Jesus
Christ. No man has seen God at any time,
the only begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father He
hath declared Him. And here we see how God has magnified
His Word above all His Name. Thou hast magnified Thy Word
above all Thy Name. Now, we are aware of the significance
of nines, as we have them here in the Word of God. The nine
that is often given to God's servants, the nine that is given
to those who are raised up to be God's spokesmen, God's prophets. And it is most striking, of course,
in the case of a man like Elijah, who is ministering there in the
northern kingdom of Israel, which is sunk in the most gross idolatry. Their worshippers have bowed,
they've departed from the true God. And that wicked king Ahab
and his evil wife Jezebel are reigning there in the northern
kingdom. and the whole people are sunk
in idolatry and suddenly this man Elijah appears. Now he's
introduced to us there in the 17th chapter of the first book
of Kings, we're not told anything concerning his birth or anything
about his life, but suddenly he births on the scene, Elijah. the Tishbah, and he comes as
that great prophet of God, that man who in many ways is representative
of the whole prophetic office in the Old Testament. On the
Mount of Transfiguration in the Gospel, those favoured disciples,
they see two men with Christ, Moses and Elijah. Moses is representative
of the law of God, and Elijah representative of the prophets
of God. He's a great prophet. And his
name is prophetic. His name is a part of that revelation
that God was giving to that people who were sunk in idolatry. The
name Elijah simply means the Lord is God. The Lord is God. Interestingly, Names that are
used in the Old Testament in reference to God, we have the
Hebrew name Elohim, which is shortened here to Eli, and then
we have the name Jehovah, which is shortened to Jah. The Lord,
that is Jehovah, is God, He is Elohim. The very name of the
Prophet then is significant, it's an important name. But with
the prophets it's not just the names that the individuals bear,
it's even the names that sometimes they give to their children.
And we have that very striking example of that in the ministry
of Isaiah the prophet, when his wife bears a son in Isaiah chapter
8. And the name that is to be given
to this child is a message, and it's a message to the Syrians,
with their capital at Damascus, and also to the nation of Israel,
the Northern Kingdom, with its capital at Samaria. And these
two, the Syrians and the Kingdom of Israel, were in league against
the little Kingdom of Judah in the south, but they are going
to fall before the great armies of the Assyrians. And this is
the message that the Prophet comes to bear to those two kingdoms,
Syria and Israel and it all centers in the name that is given to
this son that is to be born. Take thee a great role and write
in it with a man's pen concerning Mayher Shalal Ashbas and the
prophet is faithful, he does as he is commanded and his wife
conceives and bears a son, and he calls the son by this name.
And here is the message, before the child shall have knowledge
to cry, my father and my mother, the riches of Damascus, the Syrians,
the spoils of Samaria, the kingdom of Israel shall be taken away
before the king of Assyria. And the message is in that name,
and you might see there in the margin the meaning of the name. And what does the main mean? In making speed to the spoil,
he taketh the prize. In making speed to the spoil,
he taketh the prize. They're going to become a prize
to the Assyrians under Sennacherib. They're going to fall. But there's
a message, you see. in the strange name that the
prophet gives to his son. Names are very important and
significant in the scriptures and ultimately when we come to
the New Testament the name that's given to him who is conceived
by the Holy Ghost in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Thou shalt
call his name Jesus, says the angel, for he shall save his
people from their sins, Jesus. Joshua, salvation is of the Lord. Behold, a virgin shall conceive
and bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel. This is another name given to
him, is it not? Immanuel. Which being interpreted is God
with us. He is God. He is God manifest
in the flesh. He is God with us. And here is
his human name. He is Jesus. He is that one who
has come to be the saviour of sinners. That one who, as the
saviour of sinners, gives to us that full and that final revelation
of God. The brightness of God's glory
and the express image of God's person or the significance of
names and here is the name you see. He is the word of God and he
as such is magnified above all God's names. This is that full
revelation that God has given to us in the person of his only
begotten son. And in that work, of course,
that the Lord Jesus Christ came to do, do we not see the revelation
of God? Do we not see in Him all the
attributes of God? And we see how all those attributes,
all that God is, all so wonderfully harmonise in Him. We see in Christ
how that God is a just God. And yet God is a saviour, just
God and a saviour. In him we see, as it is declared
in another psalm, that mercy and truth are met together. Righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. Oh, what a revelation we see
in the person and the work of the Lord Jesus Christ. He is
that one who is the great witness. to the truth, that one who comes
to give that final revelation of God. I will worship towards
thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness,
says David, and for thy truth, and for thy truth. for thou hast
magnified thy word above all thine eye." The Lord Jesus Christ
is that one then who is exalted, magnified. And of course 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. How the Lord in and through him
takes account of these poor sinners, these lowly sinners. David says
in verse 6, Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto
the lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar. he has respect unto the
lowly, he has made a wonderful provision for them in the person
and the work of his only begotten son, that one who is the word
of God incarnate, God manifested in the flesh. But then, in the
second place, can we not also understand this reference to
the word in terms of the scriptures? not only the Word of God incarnate
in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, but the Word of God inscripturated,
which we have before us today, of course, here in our Bibles. And the hymn writer rightly says,
the Scriptures and the Lord bear one tremendous name. The written
and incarnate Word in all things are the same. Or what is the
Scripture ultimately? Is it not that it reveals to
us Him who is the Saviour? He could say to the Jews in His
own day, search the Scriptures, in them you think that you have
eternal life, and these are they that testify of me. Is it not
Christ who is to be discovered in all the Scriptures, from Genesis
through to the Revelation? This is the wonder of the book,
is it not? And as we come to the Word of God, it is our desire
as we read it that we might discover Christ, that the Spirit might
come and reveal Christ to us in every part of the Scripture.
He is there in the Old Testament, He's in it. Is there not that
anticipation of His Incarnation, His coming in the flesh, when
we see Him many times appearing as the Angel of the Lord? Remember
how Abraham in Genesis 18 he entertains those three men and
the third is the angel of the Lord and it is him who is Christ
that Abraham was entertaining and not only there but later
in chapter 22 when he is commanded by God to perform that strange
act to offer up his son, the son of promise, Isaac and he
is obedient to God as God comes to try and to test his faith. And yet there in the mountain
what does he seek? All the Lord will provide. The
Lord will provide himself the land for a sacrifice. And so
he receives his son as from the dead and there is that ram that
is sacrificed in the place, in the stead of his son Isaac. And so Christ can say in the
Gospel to the Jews, your father Abram rejoiced to see my day
and his story, and was glad. There was that revelation then
to Abram, the father of the faithful. And many times Christ appears
to men and to women as the angel of the Lord, anticipating his
coming in the fullness of the time in human flesh. He's there of course in all the
types, all the Levitical types, all the sacrifices. Are they
not a prefiguring of Him who was to come and to make that
one sacrifice for sins forever? Christ is to be found here then
in the Scriptures and it's for us to read the Word and search
the Word with that prayer that the Spirit Himself would come
and reveal Christ to us. Lord, that that word might come
with power to our souls. The Lord Jesus says in the course
of his ministry, the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit
and they are life. Is that how we desire to come
under the word of God, that it might be spirit and life to our
souls? We are not just those who are
going through the motions, who come together and attend to these
things because It's our habit. It's just force of habit. We
do it week by week. Oh God, grant that that might
not be true of us today. That we might not be those who
are satisfied only with the form. But we want God's Word to come
to us. And we want to know something of that revelation of the Lord
Jesus Christ. His Word, you see, which is before
us. And He says concerning this Word,
the Scripture, cannot be broken. Or do we have that view of the
word of God and we see the preciousness of it because it is to us that
bears witness to Christ is in all the scriptures. The psalmist
we know very much celebrates scripture Suppose the psalm that
is the greatest celebration of the word is of course the 119th
psalm, which is an acrostic poem. It's built around the letters
of the Hebrew alphabet. At the head of each section we
have the letters of that alphabet. And as we said before, in the
long 176 verses that we find making up the entirety of that
psalm, there's only two verses, 122 and 132, where there's no
reference to God's Word. In every other word, 174 verses of that
psalm, we'll find reference to the words. Sometimes it might
be spoken of as God's testimonies, or God's statutes, or God's judgments,
or God's law. Different synonyms are used,
but repeatedly throughout the psalm there are those references
to the word of God. It's a great celebration of the
words, and God, we're told here, has magnified his words above
all is 9. It's not only the 119th Psalm,
but we see something very similar in Psalm 19. We have these repeated references
to the Word of God under different synonyms. Verse 7, the Lord of
the Lords is perfect, converting the soul, the testimony of the
Lord is sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord
are right, rejoicing the hearts. 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. All these different names you
see, but all speaking always of the Word of God. More to be
desired are they than gold. yea, than much fine gold, sweeter
also than honey and the honeycomb. Moreover by them is thy servant
warned, and in keeping of them there is great reward." These
different names, and amongst the names that are given to the
Word of God is this, the fear of the Lord. There in verse 10
of Psalm 19, that's one of the names that's given to the Scriptures,
the Word of God. Verse 9 rather, the fear of the
Lord is clean, enduring forever. Or do we, friends, as we come
to worship God, do we have such a view of His Word? Is it not
central to our whole act of worship? We would worship, as David says
here in the text, I will worship toward thy holy temple and praise
thy Now, is it that David worships, he comes and he worships in reference
to this word, thou hast magnified thy words above all thy name,
the centrality of the words of God in our worship. It is no
accident, is it, that in non-conformist worship the pulpit is so central
and the ministry of the words is the vital part of the service
of worship. Herr Vorbeisch understood the
significance, you see, of the Bible and the open Bible and
the reading of the Scriptures and the ministry of the words.
It dominates. Why? Because this is God, who
comes to us by His Spirit, who comes to us in His Word. And if we would worship Him aright,
we must reverence the sacred page of Holy Scripture. Say, Christian, wouldst thou
thrive in knowledge of thy Lord against no scripture ever strive,
but tremble, tremble at His Word. Not only the incarnate Word then,
the one by and through whom we worship because he is the mediator
but also the importance here of the Word of God inscripturated. And what do we have? Well we
see here the truth of God's Word. The truth of God's Word. Look
at the second part of the text. It says, Thy truth, David will
worship God for his truth, for thy truth, for thou hast magnified
thy work above all thy name. Now God's name, let me say something
more with regards to the significance of the name. Names are important,
as we said. They reveal to us something of
the character of a man's ministry, like Elijah. He is decrying all
idolatry. He is declaring that Jehovah
alone is God. Names might also reveal something
of the character of the person, tell us something about the individual.
Certainly God's name does that. God's name includes all God's
perfection. What is God's name? It is all
that God is, all that God is. Now think of the significance
of that. If his name is the revelation of God and the declaration of
God, and the setting forth of his very character, why, we see
then the force of this statement at the end of the text. thou
hast magnified thy word above all thy name if the word of God
fails if the word of God fails, if God's word is not true then
God fails and God is no more you see how God has so magnified
his word, so exalted his word and we see it of course in terms
of the covenant When God gives his promise, how
does God confirm his promise? He confirms it by oath. Many
times we refer to those striking words that we have there at the
end of Hebrews chapter 6. Verse 13, when God made promise
to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he swore
by himself. And then the Apostle goes on,
verse 17, he says, wherein God, willing more abundantly to show
unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel,
confirmed it by an oath. Here is the promise of God, here
is the counsel of God, and it's an unchangeable counsel, and
he has confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things,
in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have strong
consolation who have fled for refuge that I hold upon the hope
set before us," says Paul. The two immutable things, the
two unchanging things, what are they? It's the Word of God, the
promise of God, and the oath of God. His very being, who He
is. is at stake, you see, in relation
to his words. Oh, friends, here is our assurance
that the word of God is true. The word of God is true. It is
as true as God himself is true. Now, it is the fool who says
there is no God. If God is, then God's word is
true. This very book that we have before
us, it is the truth of God. what does he say through his
servant the prophet Isaiah chapter 45 verse 23 I have sworn by myself
the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness and shall not
return that's the word of God God is not a man that he should
lie nor the son of man that he should repent as he said it shall
he not do it as he spoken it Shall ye not make it good? Remarkable is it not that we
can rest all our hope in this Word of God. Paul goes on there
in Hebrews 6 to speak of that hope which as an anchor has entered into heaven itself.
Oh, that's where we anchor our hope, is it not? It's in the
very character of God, as God has revealed himself here in
his word. Heaven and earth shall pass away,
says Christ, but my words shall not pass away. And again he says
to heaven and earth, perhaps one jot or one tittle, shall
in no way fail from the Lord till all be fulfilled. God has
greater regard for his words than for his works, we might
say. He has greater regard for his words than for the works
that he has made with his own hands. Heaven and earth shall
pass away And it will pass away. There
will be the end of time, the end of all things. And yet God's Word shall not
pass away. O friends, though we are to be
those then who would reverence His Word, and desire that God
would come to us by His Spirit in His Word, that Word of God
which is quick and powerful, sharper than a two-edged sword,
saith Paul, piercing through the dividing asunder of soul
and spirit and of the joints and marrow, a discerner of the
thoughts and the intents of the heart. This is what we desire
as we come unto God's Word, that He would probe us with His Word
and search us with His Word, that His Word might come to us
with that power. We read that lovely 139th Psalm
as well as Psalm 138, and that prayer of David, the end of the
psalm, search me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know
my thoughts, and see if there be any wicked way in them, and
lead me in the way everlasting. This is how we come under the
Word of God. We want to have our souls exposed to that Word,
that Word which is so quick and so powerful and so sharp. We
want God to come and to try us. because we want to know that
what we have is a real religion, that our faith is a genuine faith
that we really are those who have known something of the Lord's
dealings in our own souls, we want to worship Him and we want
to worship Him as that God whose presence we feel something of
God's word I say is a true word and then not only a true word
it is of course also a A trustworthy word. It's a trustworthy word. And we come back to this word,
this lovely word, loving-kindness. I will worship toward thy holy
temple and praise thy name for thy loving-kindness as well as
for thy truth. What is loving-kindness? As I
said, it's that covenant faithfulness of God. It's God's covenant faithfulness. Thou wilt perform the truth to
Jacob. and the mercy to Abraham which
thou hast sworn unto our fathers from the days of old says Micah. God will perform the truth and
the mercy and the loving kindness in him who is the words incarnate
the Lord Jesus Christ in him all the promises of God all the
great exceeding great and precious promises of God. In him, says
Paul, they are yea and they are amen. And here is the assurance
that we have for the poor sinner. What does David say in the very
next verse, verse 3? In the day when I cried, thou
answerest me. Or do we cry? Do we cry to God? Do we call upon God? when we
come to worship Him, do we come as those who as we look to Him
and as we seek to present Him our praises, we would also bring
our prayers and we want God to not only hear our prayers and
accept our praises, we want to have answers from God. But here
is the assurance, in the day when I cried, says David, thou
answerest me and strengthenest me with strength in my soul. O friends, this is the God that
we are favoured to have dealings with, is it not? He says at the end, the Lord
will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth
forever, forsake not the works of thine own hands, or that God
would come and work such gracious works in us today as we come
together as those who desire only to worship Him. And we would
worship Him in and through Him who is the Mediator, His Eternal
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate. We would worship
Him always in reference to this blessed book, the words inscripturated
and all that it declares to us. concerning the character of our
God, 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. Amen.