Turn back to Psalm 89. Psalm 89. I titled this Psalm the Covenant Psalm. The Covenant Psalm. Many of the
commentaries that I read called it the covenant psalm. The word
covenant is mentioned in verses 3, 28, and 34. He speaks of God's
covenant. Everything God does with us, He does by way of a covenant.
That's comforting and that's good news if you understand who
God is. And that when God makes a covenant,
He doesn't break it. And I can't break it. I cannot
break this covenant. Because it's a covenant made
between God the Father and God the Son, and the terms of this
covenant are between them. Now it's made with us in Christ,
but the covenant doesn't rest on my shoulders. It doesn't rest on my doing.
It rests on the person and work of Jesus Christ who is our God. This is God covenanting with
God. Think of Selah. Think about that
one. This is God covenanting with
God. And everything He does, He does
according to the covenant. And the reference here throughout
this psalm to David is a reference to our David, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And this covenant that's between
the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, even though the
Holy Spirit is not mentioned, He's involved in this covenant.
He's the one who takes the things of Christ and He reveals them
unto us. You know, the Godhead never act
independently of each other. They don't act independently
of each other. They act as one. They act as one. And these covenant
mercies are sure to all the seed of the Lord Jesus Christ. David
speaks of the sure mercies The Scripture speaks of the sure
mercies of David. Well, the sure mercies of David
belong to Jesus Christ. They belong to Him. And they
belong to His seed in Him. Us. Us. All the blessings of
this covenant, which I know we haven't even scratched the surface
of. We've not really scratched the surface of all that's in
this covenant of grace. And it's ours. This is what our
minds and our hearts ought to be set on, right? This is what
we ought to be thinking about. It's what we have in Christ. Now there are three things mentioned
throughout this psalm repeatedly, and I'm sure you've already picked
up on it, and I think I already mentioned it. And it's the mercies
of God, the faithfulness of God. the faithfulness of God, and
this covenant of God. Now, he starts out here in verse
1. I'm only going to look at the first four verses. He starts
out here and he says, I will sing. Here is a holy resolve
to celebrate in song the mercies of God. You know, we ought to really,
and I mean this, we ought to determine this with ourselves
before we come here every service, that we are going to celebrate
the mercies of God to us. We don't know how many mercies
God has upon us, but I do know this, do you know anyone that
can say, sing of the mercies of God and
absolutely do it. I know one, Jesus Christ. This is Christ speaking. I thought
of this today. I thought that Christ is our
Craig, our song leader. Christ is our song leader. It
is our Lord, it's the Spirit of Christ in you that moves you
to sing of His mercies. If He left it to us, we would
be singing some rock and roll song or something. We'd be singing
something else besides the mercies of God. If He left us alone now,
wouldn't we? We'd sing what we listen to on
the radio. But He puts it into the heart of His children to
sing of His mercies, and there's no one who knows the mercies
of God, the mercies of the covenant of God, like Jesus Christ. He
knows all the mercies. Do you know all the mercies that
God has shown to you? There have been so many mercies
today that I don't even recognize. There's things that He has kept
from happening to me that I don't realize. There's things that
He has stopped. He's given His angels charge
over us and protected us today. He has protected us today in
a world that would like to kill us. He has protected us today
in a world where Satan would like to crush us. If He could
crush us right now, He would. But it's of the Lord's mercy
that we are not what? Consumed. That's what it says. It's of the Lord's mercy. It's
not because we're strong. I found out a week ago, again,
how weak I am. Vicki and I both found out how
weak we are. And from time to time, you read
that in Psalm 90, teach me how frail I am. We're frail, aren't
we? We're a frail bunch of people.
We're a feeble folk. We are a feeble folk. It's of
His mercies we are not consumed by the evil of this world, by
our own inward sinfulness, that old Adamic nature we still have,
we're not consumed by it. The only reason that old Adamic
nature didn't take over me today is because of the mercies of
God. If I had a thought, if I had
a good thought of God today, it was because of the mercy of
God. He gave it to me. He caused me to think upon Him.
But our Lord here is the lead singer. He's the lead singer. Now listen to Hebrews 2.12, saying,
I will declare thy name unto my brethren, and our Lord has
done that, and our Lord is doing that now. You know that? If this
is true preaching, what's going on right now? If I am truly preaching,
the Lord is speaking. The Lord once again is declaring
God's name unto the brethren. In the midst of the church will
I sing praise unto thee. This is the Lord speaking. In
the midst of the church will I sing praise. In Romans 15 verse
9, listen, And that the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy,
as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among
the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. Our Lord is the song leader. He is the song leader. I will sing, and I will sing
of His mercies. His mercies. I will meditate
upon them, I will thank Him for them, and I will sing of them."
I will sing of them. David speaks of the Lord's loving
kindness and tender mercies. He speaks of His tender, tender
mercies. Jesus Christ, He leads us and reminds us of
the tender mercies of our God. And we must resolve, and I pray
to God that He'd put this in our heart, that we would resolve
by the grace of God to sing of the mercies of the Lord and for
all the covenant blessings that He's given us in Jesus Christ
every time we come here. You know the fact that we're
here right now is a covenant blessing? This is a covenant
blessing. You and I are able to gather
together here and hear of the Lord Jesus Christ, to read of
His Word, to read of Him in His Word. This is a covenant blessing. Bought by the blood of the Son
of God, our Mediator, our Lord, our God. I will sing of the mercies
of the Lord and listen forever. It starts here, but it's never
going to end. You know, right now, if the Lord
would open up that divide between here and eternity, and let us
see into that realm, that spiritual realm where He dwells in paradise,
you know what we would hear? We would hear the whole host
of heaven singing His praises. Those who have gone from here,
just think, they're singing His praises perfectly now. They're worshiping Him perfectly
now. We're trying to. With God's help, we're trying
to worship. We're trying to listen. We're
trying to rest our attention every time and get it back here
and listen a little bit, and there it goes, and get it back.
It's just like a yo-yo. But in glory, perfect attention,
perfect harmony, perfect singing of His mercies. They're still
singing of His mercies. Worthy is the Lamb." Still saying
it. And you know this, David in 1
Chronicles 15-16, you remember they were bringing the ark back?
They were bringing it back. David was building a house for
the ark, and he built these cities, and he built one. He was building
a place for the ark to rest because the Philistines had taken it,
and they went and they beat up the Philistines, and they got
the ark, and they're bringing it back. Well, this time they appointed
singers. They appointed singers to go
before the ark. Listen, in 1 Chronicles 15 and
16, And David spake to the chief of the Levites to appoint their
brethren to be the singers with instruments of music, psalteries,
and harps, and cymbals sounding, by lifting up the voice with
joy. As they were taking that ark
back, they were singing with joy. God was among them. That ark represented the presence
of God. Do you know what represents the
presence of God now? The Gospel. The Gospel. And Christ is the Gospel. The
Gospel is a person. And we are the singers. So when
we end the service tonight, let's really put some effort in singing.
How could you not when you read this? And then, listen, over
in 2 Chronicles 20, verse 21, but that chapter has to do with
Jehoshaphat. And the Ammonites, the Moabites,
I think they were, they were coming up against him, and he
took his prayer before the Lord. And the Lord told him, He said,
You don't need to fight in this battle. This battle is with the
Lord. This is not your battle. But you know what he did have
them to do? Listen, "...and when he had consulted with the people,
he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that they should praise
the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and
to say, Praise the Lord, for His mercy endureth for ever."
That's what they did when the Lord defeated the Ammonites and
Moabites. The Lord defeated them. He beat
them. You know what their part in it
was? Singing. Singing His praises, praise the
Lord for His mercy endureth forever. And while they were singing,
the enemy was getting whipped by God. He was whipping them. We will sing of the mercies of
the Lord forever with my mouth. Is there any better way to use
your mouth? You know, if Adam had not fallen, we wouldn't be
cussing, would we? We wouldn't be cursing and cussing
and swearing. Everything comes out of our mouth.
The filth that comes out of our mouth. But God's given us a new
heart, a new nature. And with this mouth, and with
this tongue, will I make known thy faithfulness to all generations. Now, our Lord did this. Our Lord never spoke an unkind
word. Our Lord never spoke what you
and I would call an off-color word. When He was reviled, He
reviled not again. He didn't say, I'm going to get
you. Oh, you just wait. As soon as
I get off here, I'm getting you. He never said that. I would have said, I would have
said, you just wait. You just wait, you untie me,
you're in trouble. He never used his mouth. He never
used his mouth in any derogatory, in any bad use. He never lied. I can't say that. I can't say, you can't say that.
We cannot say, not a person in this room can say we've never
lied. Because if we did, we'd just be lying. He'd be lying if he said it.
But he never did. He never used his... So this
here, first it belongs to Christ, "...with my mouth will I make
known thy faithfulness to all generations." See, you and I
are going to be here just for a generation, aren't we? And
we're going to be gone. But the Lord's not. The Gospel
is going to be preached. Now I don't know if it will be
preached here and how long it will be preached here, but I'll tell you this,
it's going to be preached to all God's people in every generation. Jesus Christ lives to see to
it. He lives to see to it. And me as a preacher, and you
and us as believers, as witnesses of the Lord Jesus Christ, our
mouth is to be used for praise and witnessing. That's the truth. That's the truth. With my mouth, I'll praise thee. You know, the scripture says,
out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh. All you got
to do is let somebody talk long enough. I'm serious. Just let them talk long enough.
If you can shut up long enough and let them talk long enough,
you'll find out who they are. That's the truth. I'll make known thy faithfulness,
faithfulness to His covenant mercies. Faithfulness. That's the next word. We've looked
at His mercies and we've seen His mercies, now we're with faithfulness.
And this is something His children are to celebrate. God's faithfulness. It's hard to find that. It's
hard to find somebody that's faithful in that. It's hard to
find. This barber I went to, he said,
I heard you and your wife had an anniversary. And of course, Jason had told
him, I guess, because I don't know the man. But I said, yeah. He said, how long? I said, 46
years. He said, how did you do that?
He'd been married a year. And I said, well, you just, I
said, you got to hang in there. But I did tell him that. Hang in there like a. Yeah. Anyway, I told him, I said,
I did. I said, but after I made a goofy
remark. I said, you have to be committed.
You just be totally committed and faithful. And that's it. Everything else got to go. But
you're faithful. God is faithful. When you and I are not, we're
not faithful all the time. Not spiritually. Spiritually,
our hearts wonder. Spiritually, our hearts, from
time to time, go after other things, don't they? They'll go
after other things. And the Lord has to bring us
back. The Lord has to visit. He says, I will visit your children
with a rod and their nickels and stripes. That has to happen
to every one of us. He chastens every son whom he
received because there's none of us perfect. None of us perfect. Vicki told me, I've told this
to her before, she told me she never got a whip and never got
a spanking growing up. I said, somebody messed up. There
ain't nobody that good. There ain't nobody that good. He chastens every son whom he
receives because we're a bunch of sinners. We are a bunch of
sinners. But our God is faithful. God's faithfulness is mentioned
six times in this psalm. Verse 1, 2, 5, 8, 24, and 33. His faithfulness is mentioned
because it's great encouragement to us. Faithfulness is an attribute
of God. He could not be God and not be
faithful. He couldn't do it. He couldn't
be God and not be faithful. Know therefore, in Deuteronomy
7 and 9, know therefore, know this, know therefore, that the
Lord thy God, He is God, know that first, He is God, He is
the only God, the faithful God. Now listen, which keepeth covenant
and mercy with them that love Him, and keep His commandments
to a thousand generations. He keeps covenant. He didn't
say covenants. Covenant is one. The one He made
with His Son Jesus Christ. And mercy. And mercy. That's why you and I keep receiving
mercy because of this covenant. In 1 Corinthians 1.9, God is
faithful. by whom you were called unto
the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord." He's faithful.
If He said it, He will do it. Take Him at His Word. He's faithful
to His Son, faithful to His Word, His people, His covenant. God's
faithful. He's faithful. Now listen. God's
faithful to Himself. He would have to deny Himself
to not be faithful. Now, he says here in verse 2.
Man, that was just verse 1. For I have said, Mercy shall
be built up for ever. Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish
in the very heavens. He said it in his heart. And
he said it out loud. For he believed it in his heart
that mercy shall be built up for ever because God said that
he would be merciful. Go over, when you've got time,
not now, 2 Samuel chapter 7. And you can read where God made
this covenant with David. Now it's to the Lord Jesus Christ,
but He did make it with David. And He spoke of His seed and
the mercy and the throne being established forever. And this is what Ethan is banking
on. But he's looking beyond. You
know, David's already gone. David's throne is not with us,
but I tell you what, it's in heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of David. He's called the Son of David.
But mercy shall be built up. And notice He speaks here of
mercy like a building being built up. God is building up a house of
mercy. He's building up a house of mercy.
And the stones of this house are sinners saved by the mercy
of God. It's a house of mercy, and you're
the stones. Adam ruined the first house,
but this house, of which Jesus Christ is the foundation and
the chief cornerstone, is a house of mercy being built up by the
wise master builder. And it will not be torn down.
You see, Adam tore the first house down, but the second Adam
has established it. Rather than the church is a building
of God, it's a house of mercy, built by God. Built by God. And His faithfulness, and thy
faithfulness, here He speaks of God's faithfulness again,
"...shalt thou establish in the very heavens." Here's how Even though the Lord has saved
us and given us light and understanding, yet there's so much that passes
us by day by day, isn't there? That sun came up this morning
in the heaven by the faithfulness of God. That moon out there tonight
is by the faithfulness of God. The stars, they're in the same
place. Thousands of years. Thousands
of years. That sun comes up at the appointed
time every day, every season. No season has ever ceased. Summer, spring, winter, fall.
The heavens declare the faithfulness of God. And yet we will wring
our hands and worry whether we're going to make it or not. You
know, some little trouble comes along and we're just distraught. And yet, here God has proven
His faithfulness day after day after day. You know why that
sun's shining? First of all, God's faithfulness, but it's
shining for you. Take God's elect out of this world and that sun
shines no more. That sun shines no more. It's
over with. That sun shines for us. That
faithfulness is for us. It's for us. God assures us that His mercy,
His faithfulness, His covenant are established, they are as
sure as the sun, the moon, and the stars are in heaven. This earth rotates on its axis
the same all the time. It never gets off kilter. The
ocean doesn't go, you know, out of its banks and shores and floods
over the earth. You realize what chaos it'd be
if it did that? But God has given His Word and
it obeys His Word. He has established it by the
power of His Word and by His faithfulness. I'm so glad God's
faithful. I'm so glad He's faithful. Because
we are not. Not as He is. Listen to what Matthew Henry
said, "...Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens,
though our expectations are in some particular instances disappointed."
We read that earlier, as Ethan started saying that God had broken
His covenant. Yet God's promises are not disannulled. They are established in the very
heavens, that is, in His eternal counsels. They are above the
changes of this lower region and out of the reach of the opposition
of hell and earth. Established, settled, fixed. Can't be moved. Now let me close.
In verse 3, I have made a covenant with My chosen, I have sworn
unto David My servant. We'll probably pick up on this
next time. But I have made a covenant with
My elect. Over in Isaiah 42.1, Behold My
servant, Mine elect. You can't talk about election
and not talk about Jesus Christ first. People who despise election
despise Jesus Christ. He's the elect and we were chosen
in Him. He's the elect. I have sworn
unto David my servant and to his son Jesus Christ. God made a covenant with Jesus
Christ And He said, I have sworn it, I'll do it, I will fulfill
this covenant. I'll do it. Now since God made
this covenant with His Son, Jesus Christ, He will make it good. You know, until I heard the Gospel,
until I heard Henry preaching the Gospel, I never even heard
about the covenant. I don't remember ever hearing about a covenant.
And yet there's so much made of the covenant. in the Word
of God, in the Gospel. It's called the everlasting covenant. And then God made this covenant
with Christ concerning His seed, and this covenant with Christ
is an everlasting covenant, and it can't be changed, and it can't
be disannulled. Listen to Isaiah 55.3, Incline
your ear and come unto me, here in your soul shall live, and
I'll make an everlasting covenant with you, even the sure mercies
of David. Let me read it like this, even
the sure mercies of Jesus Christ. They'll be yours. They'll be
yours. And last of all, there's a covenant
promise. And thy seed, he's speaking here
to Christ, if you believe the gospel, he's speaking to you.
This belongs to us. Thy seed will I establish forever,
and build up thy throne to all generations. That's what's going
on right now. God is building up His throne. This has its accomplishment in
Jesus Christ, who's of the seed of David, who lives forever. to whom God has given the throne
of his father David. God's given him that throne.
And in the increase of his government, the Scripture says, there shall
be no end. There shall be no end. Brethren,
this is what we have coming. This is what we have coming. My, my, my. We'll look at the rest of it
later.