Let us turn again to God's Word
in the portion that we read, Psalm 107, the last verse of
the psalm, Whoso is wise and will observe these things, even
they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord. Psalm 107, verse 43, Whoso is
wise and will observe these things, Even they shall understand the
loving kindness of the Lord. Some of us have a great love
affair with books. We love to handle them. We love
to browse through them. We love to read them. But it
has been well said that there are three principal books that
we need to be well acquainted with and to read well. First of all, of course, there
is the book that's before us tonight, The Word of God. Is it not a fact that often times
we spend too much of our time reading other books to neglect
The Word of God? And yet, how precious is this
book that God himself has given. God is the author of this book.
Yes, he made use of different men over many centuries, but
it's the Word of God. Those holy men of God, they spoke
as they were moved by the Spirit of God. And so all Scripture,
we are told, is given by inspiration of God there at the end of the
third chapter in 2 Timothy. The Apostle reminds John Timothy
from a The child, he says, has known the Holy Scriptures, which
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,
throughly furnished unto all good work. This is that book
then that makes a man wise unto salvation. We should certainly
be those who are familiar with its content, familiar with the
promises, and the old Puritans delighted to thicken their prayers
with God's promises, and they would seek to surround the Almighty
by his own words and be emboldened to hold him fast to those things
that he had said. It is the best book of all for
us to be familiar with then, the book of God, the word of
God. But I said that there are three
principal books. Another book that we should surely
be well acquainted with is the book of our own heart. We should
desire to know ourselves. Paul says, examine yourselves,
whether ye be in the faith. Prove your own selves. Know ye
not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except
ye be reprobate. We are to know our own selves. And there is a connection, of
course, between these two books. We can best know ourselves as
we know the Word of God. James reminds us how God's word
is as a looking glass, a mirror. And when we come to God's word
we should desire that God would indeed show us ourselves and
make us to know the book of our own hearts, to be well acquainted
with what we are and what our real needs are when we come before
God. But then there's a third book
we should also be acquainted with and that is the the book
of providence, the book of God's government of the world. God, who is the creator of all
things, is also the upholder of all things. And we do well
then to observe his providences. And this psalm, of course, speaks
principally of providence. The manifold providences of the
Lord is the title that runs across the head of the page in this
pulpit Bible. The manifold providences of God. And we see these providences
in the various circumstances of life, In verse 4 we see how
the God watches over those who we might say are travellers. Verse 10 following we read of
those who are captives. Verse 17 following those who
are in a state of sickness. Verse 23 speaks of those who
are doing business in deep waters, cement All the different circumstances
and situations of life are spoken of throughout the psalm. We come to this word, this last
verse in the psalm, where we read, Whoso is wise and will
observe these things, we should observe the providences of God. Even they shall understand the
loving kindness of the Lord. is sovereign. In fact, we hardly
need to say that God is sovereign. If God is God, then He must be
sovereign. But we have to remind ourselves
of the great truth of His sovereignty. God is in the heavens, we read
in Psalm 115. He hath done whatsoever He pleased. Now God humbled that haughty
monarch, that great Babylonian emperor, Nebuchadnezzar. So as
Nebuchadnezzar was made to acknowledge that the heavens do indeed reign,
all the inhabitants of the earth said Nebuchadnezzar are as nothing. And he doeth according to his
will among the armies of heaven and the inhabitants of the earth
and none can say his hand or say to him what doest thou. God so dealt with that man that
that was the confession that he was brought to make before
Daniel. God is the one then who is sovereign
and if we really are believers in the sovereignty of God We
must be those who are observant, not only of the words of God,
but also the ways of God. That's why we say that this is
another book. There's the book of God's word,
here in the scriptures, but there's also the book of God's ways. The way in which, by his strange
and mysterious providence, he is ruling and reigning over all
things and fulfilling his own purpose. In spite of all the
oppositions of men, there be many devices in a man's heart,
says the wise man in the Proverbs, nevertheless the counsel of the
Lord that shall stand. Now in Isaiah, Isaiah 42, the
Prophet rebukes those in Israel whom he speaks of as seeing many
things, but they observe not. they observe not. Or that we might be those who
are observers of the government that God is exercising in the
world. It is a comfort to us if we would
but be careful to take account of these things. We can become
much downcast when we hear of the news even in our own land
and those things that occur in the nation and those wicked laws
that are brought before Parliament and passed. And we lose sight
so quickly of the fact that God is overruling with regards to
all of these things and they do not take Him by surprise.
I'm sure many of you are familiar with that little book by the
Puritan John Flavel, The Mystery of Providence. Or there is a
mystery in what God does. But now we need that God himself
should grant us that wisdom to understand his providences. Whoso is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness
of the Lord. This word that we have here,
to observe, who so is wise and will observe. The literal meaning of this word
is to watch. And to watch a thing so as to
keep a thing. It reminds us really of the task
of the watchmen in those ancient ward cities. there were watchtowers
of course scattered around the walls of the cities and we read
of the responsibilities of those watchmen in scripture for example
Isaiah chapter 62 and verse 6 God says I have set watchmen upon
my walls O Jerusalem which shall never hold their peace day nor
night Ye that make mention of the Lord, keep not silence. There are watchmen and they are
observing to see if there is any danger that is likely to
come to the city. Not only Isaiah but Ezekiel has
much to say with regards to the watchmen and their solemn accountability. The whole of the 33rd chapter
in the book of Ezekiel is taken up with the duties of these men.
Just read in the opening part of that chapter, you can read
it through at your leisure again. The word of the Lord came unto
me, says Ezekiel, saying, Son of man, speak to the children
of thy people and say unto them, When I bring the sword upon a
land, if the people of the land take a man of their coast, and
set him for their watchman, if when he seeth the sword come
upon the land, he blow the trumpet and warn the people, then whosoever
heareth the sound of the trumpet, and taketh not warning, if the
sword come and take him away, his blood shall be upon his own
head. He heard the sound of the trumpet,
and took not warning, his blood shall be upon him. But, he that
taketh warning shall deliver his soul but if the watchman
see the sword come and blow not the trumpet and the people be
not warned if the sword come and take any person from among
them he is taken away in his iniquity but his blood will I
require at the watchman's hand and then he goes on to speak
you see of the ministry of the prophets how they were to be
his watchmen in their ministry to the nation of Israel, and
now the false prophets failed in their duties. But when we
think of that figure of the watchman, now their eyes must be open,
they're standing there on the watchtowers, they're alert, they're
considering all that is about them. They have a duty to take account
of any danger that might be coming near to the city and that you
warn the people of that danger and this is how we are to observe
God's providences like the watchman our eyes open our minds alert,
our wits about us taking account of what God is doing in all his
providences And it's interesting what we read concerning those
watchmen in that sixth verse of Isaiah 62. The margin reading is very instructive
to us. God says, I have set watchmen
upon thy walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never hold there
peace day nor night, ye that make mention of the Lord, Now
the margin says that that is literally ye that are the Lord's
remembrances. Ye that are the Lord's remembrances
keep not silence. Does it not indicate as the Lord's
remembrances they are to not only speak to the people, to
warn the people, they are to remind God, they are to plead
with God, they are to pray to God for the people. Now if we watch Providence and
write, will it not have that effect? It will move us to prayer.
It will move us to be God's remembrances. To remind God of the things that
he has written in his words. We'll be brought to bring God's
word to bear upon God's wives. This is how we are to be observing
his Providence, you see. We're not doing it in some detached
fashion. but it has an effect upon us
and we are moved to cry to God and to call upon Him as we see
these things. We have to meditate, do we not,
upon God's dealings, God's providences, if we would discern what the
will of God is. We are told concerning Jacob
in the matter of his son Joseph, how his brethren envied him,
but his father observed the same. When Joseph came to speak of
those dreams and how the God had indicated to him that he
was going to be raised above his own family, not surprising
that his brethren would envy us. In fact they would feel a
bit hatred towards him, they wanted rid of him. But all Jacob
observed the same. We need to be observant then
with regards to God's providence. We want to discern what God himself
is doing, what God himself is saying to us in these things.
Has he not made us in that way? We have this ability to think
for reason. He says, I will instruct thee
and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee
with mine eye, Be ye not as a horse or mule that hath no understanding,
whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, that we are to
be different to the brute beasts. He has given us this ability
to read his word, to meditate upon his word, to consider his
hand in providence, and to bring these things together and to
seek to understand what God is saying to us. We are to be those
then who are observant, observant of the providence of God. And we see it, I think, in a
remarkable way in some of the writings of that godly man John
Newton. We often sing John Newton's hymns,
remarkable hymns. And I don't know if you've read
his letters, but his letters are well worth the perusal. And how dear old John Newton
seems to be so full of good, practical, godly, common sense. If you want some instruction
with regards to observing God's providence, with regards to the
whole area of understanding what the will of God is in the way
of guidance, I suggest that you read some of those letters of
John Newton. They are very practical letters
and it sanctifies common sense so often that we see in them
he's a man who was observant. of the providence of God. He was ever watching God's hand. He knew the significance of small
things in his life. He says if he came out of his
front door and went one particular way to go to his church there
in London, why that was the providence of God. He was meant to go that
way another day. He might instead of turning to
the right turn to the left. He could go a variety of ways.
But he thought, you see, that his every step was significant.
All his steps were being ordered by God. We need to be those then who
would be observant of the providences of God. And we also need, of
course, with regards to the whole doctrine of God's providence,
to look to Him that He would grant to us that spirit of meekness
and that spirit of submission. We've said how God humbled that
haughty man, the Emperor Nebuchadnezzar, so that he was brought to acknowledge
and to confess the sovereignty of God. We need also to be humbled
under that mighty hand of God. We see, do we not, in the case
of Joseph, we referred just now to the dream, and he understood
of course at that time that God spoke through dreams that was God's word to him but
what do we read here in the previous psalm, Psalm 105 and verse 19
speaks of Joseph and it says this, until the time that his
word, that is God's word came the word of the Lord prided Until
the time that His word came, there was a time, you see, that
God Himself had ordained. There was the appointed time
when those things that God had intimated to His servant Joseph
must have their fulfilment. But they were long coming. And
until they came, there was a trial in that Word of God. But ultimately
God's word was fulfilled. We know that of course from the
history that's recorded there at the end of the book of Genesis
concerning the life of Joseph. What does he say to his brethren
in the last chapter of Genesis when they're so afraid after
the death of old Jacob that now their brother is going to seek
his revenge upon them for all the evil that they did to him. No, not Joseph. He says he thought
evil against them, but God meant it for good. God meant it for
good, as it has come to pass this day to keep much people
alive. All we need, that grace of God
then, to be those who, as we observe the providences of God,
would do so with a spirit of meekness. to be humbled under
the mighty hand of God. In Psalm 28 we have this verse,
Because they regard not the works of the Lord, nor the operations
of his hands, he shall destroy them, and not build them up. Well, God forbid that that should
be true of us. That's true of those wicked ones. They do not regard God's works. They do not take account of the
operations of His hand. We should be those who are observant
of all His providences. These things have a voice. The
prophet Micah tells us, the Lord's voice crieth unto the city. The
man of wisdom shall see thy name, hear you the right, and do as
appointed it. Even when God comes with his
chastening rod in his hand, when he deals with his people in contrary
ways, yet this has a voice. There is a word of God even in
the works of God. First of all then the importance
of us being observers of God's providence. In the second place,
There is also the interpretation. Whoso is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness
of the Lord. The interpretation. How important
here then is our understanding. Those who observe, they shall
understand it. The particular verb that's used
here is a reflexive verb. William Romaine says, the observer
finds his own interest in it. In other words, it reflects back
upon himself. There is some profit in it for
himself. That's what Romaine is saying.
We're not to come to God's Word, we are not to come to the Book
of Psalms, are we? In that simple, objective fashion
and consider it just as an historical book. We don't just read the
Bible as history. We are to come to the Word more
subjectively. We want to understand God's Word
spiritually. We want to see how it does indeed
relate to us and apply to us. And we have the authority of
the New Testament, those words that we often refer to of the
apostles in 1 Corinthians 10 for example, it tells us concerning
God's dealings with Israel in the Old Testament, how all these
things happened unto them for example. The margin says types. All these things happened unto
Israel for types. And they are written for our
admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come. The Old
Testament is full of types. We were thinking this morning
of the type of the Mercy Saint. And it is very much a type of
the Lord Jesus Christ. But all God's dealings with his
people in the Old Testament are typical. The nation of Israel
is a typical people. In God's dealings with them we
can understand something of His dealings with His true spiritual
Israel. We know that they are not all
Israel that are of Israel. What are we to understand by
the spiritual Israel? That's the whole body of the
election of grace. That's Jew and Gentile. They
are the true Israel of God. Those who are favoured with that
grace of faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, those who are living
the life of faith, and God's dealings, I say, with his ancient
covenant people here in the Old Testament, are a type. All that
happens to them, they are in samples. That's the old-fashioned
word the Jews there in 1 Corinthians 10. And they belong to us. upon whom
the ends of the world are come. Again in Romans chapter 15, whatsoever
things were written aforetime were written for our learning,
says Paul. He is speaking of the Old Testament. Those things
written aforetime, they are written for our learning, that we through
patience or endurance and comfort of the Scriptures might have
hope. And this is how we are to understand
this. The Word is not just considered by us in a detached fashion.
It's not just a question of a Bible study. In some ways I dislike
the term Bible study. Not that the study of the Bible
is unprofitable. Of course there's profit in it.
We don't just come to God's Word to inform our intellects. We
want to feed our souls. We want to see how this Word
reflects back upon us. And that's what we have here
with this word, to understand. In Romain's words, the observer
finds his own interest. Or do we have an interest in
these things? Do we feel that we have an interest in the things
that are written in this book? This book is for us. When we
come to it we want to find ourselves in this book, we want to find
God's instruction for us, God's direction for us. And this is how we should come,
you see, to all God's dealings with us. Paul uses an expression
in the second chapter of 1 Corinthians at the end of verse 13, comparing
spiritual things with spiritual. Can we not be those who are comparing
spiritual things with spiritual in this sense? We're comparing
God's dealings with us in the way of providence, the things
that come into our lives, and we're taking these things and
we're bringing them constantly to the Word of God, and we're
testing everything by the Word of God, and we're trying to understand
what God is doing with us, what God is saying to us. And there we need wisdom. Oh,
we need wisdom to understand. to interpret God's providence
in the light of God's word, who so is wise, it says. Where can we obtain that spiritual,
that heavenly wisdom? We obtain it from God. James tells us in the opening
chapter of his epistle, if a man lacks wisdom, is to ask of God,
who give us to all men liberally, and the praguers not. That's
how God gives, so freely. But do we ask God for that wisdom? That God is so ready and so willing
to give to all that ask, and He shall be given you, says Christ.
If you lack wisdom, ask of God. He giveth to all men liberally
and the praguers not, but we're to ask Him finally. We're not to mock God with our
unbelief, we're to come believing that God will hear us when we
ask for that wisdom and we want it, we need it. The wisdom from
above, which is first pure and then peaceable and gentle and
easy to be entreated and full of mercy and good fruits and
without partiality, without hypocrisy, all what wisdom that is. And when struck by what The Apostle
says concerning that heavenly wisdom. Yes, it's peace, it's
peaceable. It brings peace with it. But
that's not the first thing, is it? The wisdom from above is
first pure, it says. It's first pure, and then it's
peaceable. We need that wisdom, and that
wisdom that only God himself is able to give us. And we have
to ask for it, that we might be those who are not only observing,
carefully watching His dealings with us, but we want to understand
His dealings. We want to be able to interpret
His dealings. The need then for us to have
an understanding of these things. But then also there is God's
loving kindness. they shall understand, it says,
the loving kindness of the Lord. Now remember, what we have here,
of course, is the poetry of the Old Testament, Hebrew poetry,
and one of the striking features of that poetry is the use of
parallels. And there's some parallelism
in the verse, in the sense that these things answers to the loving
kindness of the Lord. That's the parallel statement
here. How are we to understand the loving kindness of the Lord?
We observe these things. And what are the things that
we observe? We observe all that has been said in the previous
parts of the psalm. And in all of these things we
are to be those who would discern that loving kindness. of the
Lord. Again, this is that great word,
that remarkable word in the Old Testament that is translated
in different ways, in different parts of the Old Testament. The translators of our authorised
version saw fit to do that. They wanted to bring out really
the richness and the fullness of the particular word. There's
no English equivalent to the particular word that they're
trying to translate, so sometimes they would translate it as mercy,
often times it is translated as mercy, even here at the beginning
of the psalm you see, for his mercy, endureth forever, remember
psalm 136 and that refrain throughout those 26 verses of the psalm,
for his mercy, endureth. Forever, it's the same word as
we have here in the text tonight, rendered loving kindness. Oh,
what a rich and full and pregnant word this particular word is. It speaks of God's mercy, it
speaks of His loving kindness, His covenant, faithfulness, His
steadfast love, His sure mercies. I will make an everlasting covenant
with you, He said. even the sure mercies of the
hundred. These things teach us the loving
kindness of the Lord. Now it has been said concerning
the psalm, I said at the beginning, it is the psalm that's dealing
with God's providences, the manifold providences of God. But remember,
it's a spiritual book. And it has been well said of
Psalm 107 that it is really an epitome of Christian experience. Not just God's providence, the
experience of the people of God. If we interpret in that spiritual
sense, we will understand God's loving kindness. Just briefly
as we come to a close, see what he said in the former part. We
read of captivity, such as sit in darkness and in the shadow
of death, being bound in affliction and iron, because they rebelled
against the words of God and contended the counsel of the
Most High. Therefore He brought down their heart with labour.
They fell down, and there was none to help. Then they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out of their
distresses. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of
death and break their bands asunder. There was at least often times
the experience of the people of God. Heman in Psalm 88 certainly
felt he was in bondage, he was a captive. I am shut up instead
and I cannot come forth. When God takes us in hand and
shuts us up to what we are. When God teaches us the awful
doctrine of our total depravity. Then we have to find our complete
impotence. We cannot help ourselves, we
cannot save ourselves. We are lost, we are undone. We are those who are captives
to our fallen nature. Before faith came, says Paul,
we were kept under the law, shut up to the faith which would afterward
be revealed. This is how God deals with us,
is it not? It's all the same faith. But it's the object of the faith,
you see. When the object of that faith is the law of God, that
holy law of God, that law that condemns us. Or there's no deliverance
there, there's no salvation there. But it's God's law. It's the
same faith then that deals with the gospel, and him who comes
as the great deliverer of his people. the saviour of his people. He brought them out of darkness
and the shadow of death and break their bands in sunder. Who is
that one? Why is the Lord Jesus Christ?
This is the loving kindness of the Lord, is it not? To those
who were captive to sin and to satan. And then again, we read
here of those who were sick The seventeen fools, because of their
transgressions and because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Their soul hath bore us all manner of mischief, and they draw near
unto the gates of death. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble, and He saveth them out of their distresses. He saveth them. It doesn't say
He healeth them. This surely is some spiritual
sickness. They that are whole have no need
of a physician, says Christ. But they that are sick, I came
not to call them righteous, but sinners to repentance. Oh, the Lord is the one who is
able to heal those sin-sick souls. He saves them. This is the loving-kindness of
the Lord, you see. He saves us from all the bondage,
the captivity of our sin. He saves us from all that dreadful
sickness. Sick unto death we are. Or are
we not those who by nature are dead in trespasses and sins?
And yet He comes to those in that sad condition and He gives
life to the dead. And then again we have mention
of those who are travelling, those who travel on the land verse 4 and the following verses
we read of such as travel by land and then later in the psalm
at verse 23 we have those who go and travel on the sea they
that go down to the sea in ships and do business in great waters
and so on travelers by Land nor travellers by sea, but what's
the spiritual significance? Well in verse 4 we're told this,
they wandered in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell in. How God's people often travel
in a solitary way. How God's people sometimes feel
that their experience is like none other. And that troubles them, you see.
They can't understand. They are so different to all
others. The Hymn writer says, Companions,
if we find alas how soon they are gone, for it is decreed that
most must pass the darkest paths alone. Alone in the sense that there
is none other with us, and yet of course not alone because the
Lord is with his people. and he will never leave them,
he will never forsake them. But now they have to learn their
complete and their utter dependence upon him. Look at what it says in verse 27 concerning those
who are doing business in the deep waters. They will to and
fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wits end. The margin says all their wisdom
is swallowed up. That's what it means that they
are with sin, they have no wisdom. In that solitary way, you see,
that God is pleased to lead his people in, what is he doing with
them? He's bringing them to see their complete and their utter
dependence upon him. And this is what is repeated
so many times, is it four times here? in this psalm, that was
at verse 6 and verse 13 and then again at verses 19 and 28. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresses
or he saved them out of their distresses. Four times None of
its vain repetition, because there is no such thing as vain
repetition anywhere in the book of God. What is God doing then? He is teaching His people their
complete and their utter dependence upon Him. That's the loving kindness
of the Lord. Or when God makes us to see that
we are so utterly helpless of ourselves and all our help must
come only from himself. That's the loving kindness of
the Lord. And so what do we read here at
verse 7? He led them forth by the right
way. Always the right way. It's the
way of God. It's the best way. It's the way that God himself
has appointed. We are to interpret, I say, God's
Providence is God's dealings with us and we are to interpret
it all in the light of His Word, in the light of what God has
declared here and revealed to us concerning Himself and His
own character. He is that God who is good. He
is that God who as a good God only does what's good. And so
all things work together for good to them that love God. to them who are called according
to His purpose. That's our comfort. The purpose
of God, the sovereignty of God. Whoso is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand the loving kindness
of the Lord. Amen. The tune is London 174. God moves
in a mysterious way. He wanders to perform. He plants
his footsteps in the city and rides upon the storm.