back in Psalm 115. I thought about last night and
quite a while yesterday, quite a few times, that since we last
met here to worship, it'd be two weeks ago because last Sunday
we didn't meet, but I thought how many changes could have taken
place in those few days? How much, as we just sang, for
good or bad, for better or worse, could we have passed through?
And when thinking along that line, I remembered the words
of James the Apostle. He wrote in his epistle, chapter
4, go to now, you that say. Today or tomorrow, we will, we
will. That sounds pretty boastful,
doesn't it? That sounds pretty prideful. That sounds like someone
that's not really thinking. Today or tomorrow, we will go
into such a city and continue their year and buy and sell and
get gain. We'll do that. And I'm guilty
of that. I'm guilty of that. But look, James corrects us.
And he says, whereas you don't know what shall be on tomorrow,
you don't have a clue. what tomorrow might hold, for
what is your life? It is even a vapor that appeareth
for a little time and then vanisheth away. For that ye ought to say,
ye ought to say, if the Lord will, if the Lord will, we shall
live and do this or that, if the Lord will. A couple of years
ago we were in Danville and I was preaching there and the night
before we left to come back here There was a flood and the parsonage
was, you know, was in bad shape. You know what was done, all the
money that was given. And we were within, we thought,
a few weeks of moving back in. There were workers there. And
again, we were out of town. God, by his good providence,
I was out of town again. And we thought, well, we're going
to have this and going to have this. It's going to look like
this. It's going to look like that. And God came again and took it
all away. We don't know what a day might
bring forth. The hymn writer expressed it
this way. Abide with me. This is his prayer to his God.
Abide with me. Fast falls the evening tide.
The darkness deepens the Lord. Lord, rather, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee, help of the helpless, oh
abide with me. I like that, don't you? These
old hymns, that's why I use them so much, and I forewarn you,
I'm gonna use several in this message. Another verse of that
one says, swift to its close, ebbs out life's little day. Earth's
joys grow dim, its glories pass away. Change and decay in all
around I see, O thou who changes not, abide with me." Who else
would we want more than him? As you've often heard it said,
and it's true, we just sing it, I don't know what tomorrow holds. I don't know what. I don't know
what. But I know who. And that's where the joy lies,
that's where your peace and comfort comes from, not knowing what,
not knowing when, not knowing why, but knowing who. I know
who holds all of my tomorrows. I thought with that being so,
it might do us good to remember this, to be reminded of this.
Look at verse 15 of this song, Psalm 115 verse 15. Ye are blessed
of the Lord which made heaven and earth. Wow. That's not a small thing. That's
not a small thing. You are blessed of the Lord which
made heaven and earth. Now notice that the word R-A-R-E
is in italics and you know that means it wasn't in the original.
So let's read it that way. Ye blessed. Ye blessed of the
Lord which made heaven and earth. Blessed of the Lord. Yes, we're
blessed. We have been blessed. We will
be blessed. We are blessed. And we will yet
be blessed. Oh, the best, I think I could
say, is yet to come. Oh, what a blessing when we see
him as he is and we're made like him. Notice verse 12. Let's go
back to verse 12. And here really is the foundation,
the reason of all these blessings. The first phrase of that verse,
verse 12, Look at this. What a wonder this is. The Lord
has been mindful of us. My soul, Billy Cobb, the world
passes you by. They don't pay you much mind.
Little man lives up on that hill, gets out and drives Sunday morning
to come to that little church where there's just a few people.
What's he do all that for? But listen, listen. The Lord
has been mindful of you. The blessings of God begin right
here. There's never been a time, and
I know as I say this, I cannot wrap my mind around it and I
don't expect you to, but I can still rejoice in it. There's
never been a time that God has not had his people on his mind
and in his heart. Never been a second. You mean
since he created the heaven and the earth? Oh no, I mean before
that. Before time began as we know it, God always has been
mindful of his people. Listen to what the prophet said,
what the Lord said by the prophet Isaiah. Remember these, O Jacob
and Israel, for thou art my servant. I have formed thee. Thou art
my servant, O Israel. Thou shalt not be forgotten of
me. You ever been depressed and down,
have a pity party, and just sitting, you've fallen into that Elijah
syndrome. Oh Lord, I'm the only one left.
They've torn down all your altars, they killed all your prophets,
and I'm the only one left. Oh, poor, poor, pitiful me. And
they're seeking my life. Oh, not so. The Lord says, I
have not forgotten thee. I have not forgotten thee. But
Zion said, the Lord has forsaken me, and my Lord has forgotten
me. You ever feel that way? Sure
we have. And here's God's answer. Can
a woman forget her sucking child? that she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb. Yea, they may forget, yet will
I not forget thee. He's been mindful of us. Behold,
I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands. Thy walls are continually
before me. Psalm 139. I like this. Verse 1, O Lord, thou hast searched
me and known Christ said, I know my sheep. I love my sheep forever. Verse 2 of Psalm 139, thou knowest,
thou knowest my down setting and mine up rising. You know
my ups and my downs. You know that I'm just flesh.
You know how frail I am. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. Oh, what a cheering word for
sinners. If God didn't know us perfectly, how could he ordain
such a perfect salvation for his people? Just what they need. An uncomfortable truth for God's
suffering saints. Your Heavenly Father knows. He's
not uncaring, unseen, Unaware of what you're passing through,
your Heavenly Father knows that you have need of all these things.
Verse 3 of Psalm 139. Thou compassest my path and my
lying down, and God, you are acquainted with all my ways. You've been mindful of us. God
is wherever I am. God is wherever I am. He is wherever
I shall be. He's wherever I could be or may
be. The psalmist said, if I ascend
to heaven, if I descend to hell, if I travel to the most distant
part of the earth or up to heaven itself or into hell itself, you
are with me. Your hand is always upon me. I'm forever in your thoughts.
God has been mindful of us. What a blessing. Verse 4 of Psalm
139. For there is not a word in my
tongue, but lo, O Lord, thou knowest. Thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and
before, and laid thine hand upon me. And the psalmist says, oh
my soul, he thinks about that. He thinks about that. He's alone
with his God. He shut out the world. He's turned
off the telephone, the TV, the clatter, the jamber, the rattling
of pots like Martha in the kitchen, and he's sitting at the feet
of his Savior hearing every word. He deserves my undivided attention. And he says, such thoughts are
too wonderful for me. It is high. I cannot attain unto
it. I just can't reach that high. It's true, God is imperfectly
known by us, but we are perfectly known by him. He knows us perfectly. The truths about our God, too
wonderful to understand, to comprehend, but we can still rejoice in those
truths, can't we? The incomprehensible attributes
of God give unspeakable value to his promises. I think I'll
repeat that. The attributes, the incomprehensible
attributes of God Almighty give unspeakable value to His promises. In other words, is anything too
hard for God? Again in Psalm 139 down to verse
17, How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! How great is the sum of them. David says, if I should count
them, they are more in number than the sand. My soul! When we read that God has been
mindful of us, we've said a mouthful. If I should count them, they
are more in number than the sand. When I awake, I am still with
thee. God's thoughts of us are certain. Oh, how certain, how numerous,
how condescending, how tender, how wise, how constant. Old John Kent, he lived several
hundred years ago. He became completely blind. He was a preacher and pastor
in London, I think it was. He became completely blind in
his fifties. He was a great hymn writer. and
he would dictate to his grandson the words of hymns after he was
blind and his grandson would write them down. Here's one of
them. That o'er my spirit row, they
swell beyond my... Oh, I'm sorry. How precious are
thy thoughts, that o'er my spirit row, they swell beyond my thoughts
and captivate my soul. How great they are some, how
high they rise, can never be known beneath the skies. David
says they're just too high. I can't reach that far. Before
thy hands had made the sun to rule the day, or earth's foundation
laid, or fashioned Adam's clay, what thoughts of peace and mercy
flowed in thy great heart of love, oh God. My soul. a monument of grace, a sinner
saved by blood, the streams of love I trace up to the fountain,
God. And in his sovereign counsel
see eternal thoughts of love to me. He's been mindful of us. And
in his sovereign counsel see eternal thoughts of love to me. No wonder, David said, or no,
Paul. He wrote some pretty good Psalms
of praise himself, didn't he? Like this one, all the depth
of the riches, both of the wisdom and knowledge of God. How unsearchable
are his judgments and his ways past finding out. For who has
known the mind of the Lord, or who hath been his counselor?
This, of course, is in the last few verses of Romans 11. Who has first given to him, and
it shall be recompensed unto him again. For of him, and through
him, and to him are all things to whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen. And he, that great God
that has no beginning, that has no end, that does all of his
will in the armies of heaven and among the inhabitants of
the earth so that none can stay his hand or say unto him, what
are you doing? That great God has been mindful
of us. Isn't that something? And from
that everlasting mindfulness, from those everlasting thoughts
in the mind of God comes this. He will bless us. He will bless
us. He will bless the house of Israel.
He will bless the house of Aaron. Verse 13 here in Psalm 115. He will bless them that fear
the Lord, both small and great. Again, verse 15. He blessed of
the Lord which made heaven and earth. We should not be at all
surprised that the Lord will bless his people when we read
that the Lord has been mindful of us. We wouldn't expect to
read words like these after reading that statement. The Lord has
been mindful of us so he will do nothing for us. No, no. The Lord has been mindful of
us. He will do nothing to keep me out of hell. What would that
be worth? No, never. Five times. Five times in three verses we
read the Lord has been mindful of us and we're told he will
bless us. Five times. The Lord has appeared of old
unto me saying, yea, I have loved thee. I've been mindful of thee. I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, therefore, I will
leave you to yourself and let you die in your sins. Oh, my
soul, if that's the love of God, keep it. Keep it. It'll do me
no good. And yet there are some people
who profess to believe that very thing, that God can love me today
enough to send his son to die for me and then cast me into
hell to suffer under his wrath. Oh, no. The Lord has appeared
of old unto me, saying, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love. Therefore, therefore, with loving kindness have I drawn
thee. The Lord is all in capital letters. Did you know that? Please notice
that. L-O-R-D are all capital letters. To be blessed of the
Lord is to be blessed indeed. To be blessed indeed. I have
people say to me all the time, they did the other day, two or
three times, on the same visit to Walmart. Oh, how I love to
go into Walmart. How I love to get in and get
out. But I was bagging my groceries. There was two, one on each side,
just watching, make sure I scanned everything, I suppose. And then
when I got ready to go out, they said, blessings to you. Have a blessed day. That's become
a popular little religious slogan, isn't it? People just toss it
out there, don't give it any thought whatsoever, but it's
popular to say, have a blessed day. I don't know what they mean by
that. Probably what they've heard so many preachers say when they
lie and say God wants you healthy and wealthy. blessings of God
to them and their mind, its things, its material things, is to have
more, bigger barns and so forth. Oh, no. No, the blessings of
God are much richer than that. The Lord Jehovah, God Almighty,
if He blesses me, I'm truly blessed. If He blesses me, no one can
take it from me. No one can steal it. It'll never
end. The higher the Lord is, the Lord
Jehovah, God Almighty, if He blesses me, the Lord Himself,
that one that's high and lifted up, that heighth represents all
power and all glory and all excellence, His everlasting rule and reign,
that's good for me. That's good for me. The higher
my Lord is, the better off I am. Huh? The greater my God is, the
more comforted he is to this weak and feeble sinner. Perhaps
it would be better, instead of asking how things are with me,
I should remember to ask how are things with him. If it's
well with the great shepherd, it's going to be well with the
sheep. Is that not so? Is that not so? If it's well
with the captain of my salvation, it will be well with those he
calls to follow him. If I'm in the Lord's mighty hand,
I must be safe, I must be secure. In his hand, why wouldn't I be? What reason would there be if
I'm in the hand of my great faithful shepherd, where none can pluck
me out, why would I not be secure? There's no reason. There's no
reason that I'm not. If I'm in his hands, I must be
safe. I must be kept with the Lord
as my keeper. No wonder the psalm begins with
the words of verse one, considering that he's been mindful of us,
that he's blessed us and blessed us and blessed us. No wonder
it begins with, oh, none of us, oh Lord. Not unto us, but unto
thy name give glory. It's not about me. It's not about
you. It's about Him. When we come
here, God help us to remember that. Remember that we're not
coming here to catch up. We're not coming here to indulge
in chit-chat. Do that after the service. We're
here to worship God Almighty. That deserves some heart's preparation. That deserves a prayer. God,
help us to do that, to gather in your name. Oh, not unto us,
O Lord, not unto us, but in thy name give glory for thy mercy
and for thy truth's sake. Oh, James Smith, you've seen
his name in your bulletin as well. He pastored the church
that Young Spurgeon came to after him. But he said this, what an
astounding blessing to have God for our father in a world like
this and in times like these. He could have wrote that this
morning, couldn't he? What a blessing to have God as our father in
a world like this and in times like these. God's people are
blessed in Christ. They're blessed through Christ,
and soon they shall be blessed with Christ, with him. In verse 12, we're given a trinity
of blessings. The blessings of the Lord's people
are from their triune God. God the Father says, I will bless
you. God the Son joins with the Father and says, I will bless
you. And then God the Holy Spirit, in covenant agreement with the
Father and the Son, says, likewise, I will bless you. The very fact
that God has been mindful of us gives us the sweet assurance
that he will bless us. Someone put it this way, and
I like this, this is good. After so much mercy passed, will
God let me sink at last? After so much mercy passed, will
God let me sink at last? If he has blessed me, He will
continue to bless me. If He has loved me, He will always
love me. If He's had mercy on me, He will
always have mercy on me. The very guarantee that He shall
continue to do so is because He already has. He's the Lord. He changes not. After so much mercy passed, will
God let me sink at last? And remember, that's never happened
before. that's never happened before.
Not one of Christ's sheep has ever perished. There's not been
a single time, a single instance that one of his sheep has ever
been plucked out of his hand. It's never happened. And I ain't
gonna be the first. Oh, glory to his name, I won't
be the first. They go from strength to strength,
every one of them. Every one of them. God's children,
God's pilgrims. Every one of them in Zion appeareth
before God. Augustus Toplady, he wrote quite
a few hymns too. The most popular, of course,
is Rock of Ages. But these words are from one
of his hymns. Sweet is his faithfulness to
rest, whose love can never end. Sweet on his covenant of grace
for all things to depend. Sweet in the confidence of faith,
to trust his firm decrees. Sweet to lie passive in his hands,
and know no will but his. If such the sweetness of the
streams, what must the fountain be? Where saints and angels draw
their bliss immediately from thee. Oh my soul. When it is
so sweet to walk by faith, trusting our God, what will it be when
faith gives way to sight and I stand before him, oh my soul,
and see him as he is, with my own eyes and not another's? He
has been mindful of us. God's children will never regret
trusting him, will they? Bobby, we exchanged a few texts
about this the other day. No, no, their regret runs in
the other direction. They regret that they don't trust
him more. I don't trust him as he should,
but he deserves all my trust. Oh, to be able, by the grace
of God, to glorify him as old Abraham did. Abraham, we're told
in Romans 4, didn't consider his own body being old. in the age of Sarah, his wife,
he didn't consider that. When God promised him Abraham
will have a son and he's 100 and Sarah's 90 and that son hasn't
come, Abraham didn't consider that. That wasn't a problem.
That wasn't an obstacle. Why? Why? How could that be?
Because he considered his God. He considered the glory. and
the greatness of his God, and he concluded that what such a
God had promised, he was able to perform. If God said it, it'll
be done. I know whom I had believed, we
just sang, didn't we? And I'm persuaded that he's able,
he's able to keep that which I've committed unto him against
that day, as Elisha told his trembling, fearful servant. When his servant woke up one
morning and went up on the rooftop and looked out and saw that they
were surrounded by an army that had come to get Elisha, to shut
his mouth, to put him to death. Can you just visualize that young
man? He runs down and he wakes up Elisha. Master, master, what
are we going to do? Elisha goes up on the roof and
he prays, Lord, open his eyes that he might see. And the Lord
opened the eyes of the young man and he saw an army, chariots
of fire round about that fleshly army. And Elisha said, don't
be afraid because greater are they that be with us than they
that be with them. Oh, if God be for us, who can
be against us? Note the comparison here. between
those gods, a little g, that are the work of men's hands and
the true God. Their idols are silver and gold,
verse four, the work of men's hands. They that make them are
like them, so is everyone that trusteth in them. And turning
away from the useless gods made by man, we're reminded of the
true God and exhorted to keep trusting him. Our God is in the
heavens. Oh, what a, What a thought. Our
God is in the heaven he hath done, whatsoever he hath pleased. It is well with my soul. That's
the foundation of God's blessings for his people. God wills that
we should have them. They shall be ashamed and also
confounded, Isaiah 45. The Lord says they shall be ashamed
and also confounded, all of them that shall go to confusion together
that are makers of idols. But Israel shall be saved. God's
true Israel. Romans 11, so all Israel shall
be saved. But Israel shall be saved in
the Lord with an everlasting salvation. Ye shall not be ashamed
nor confound the world without end. God hath blessed us, past
tense, he will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel,
he will bless the house of Aaron. You're a chosen generation, a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, a peculiar people, that ye should
show forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light. And they sung a new song, sang
in glory. Thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain, and has redeemed
us to God by thine own blood. That's what we'll remember, the
accomplishments of our Redeemer. Out of every kindred and tongue
and people and nation, and has made us unto our God kings and
priests, and we shall reign on the earth. Those who are blessed
of the Lord are these, blessed of the Lord which made heaven
and earth. Let me just read some verses as we bring this to a
close. has blessed us. Blessed is the
man. Is that you? Blessed is the man
whom thou choosest and causes to approach unto thee, that he
may dwell in thy courts. We shall be set aside with thy
goodness, the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple. What about this blessing? Blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven. Be of good cheer, thy
sins are all forgiven thee. When justice cried for payment,
it was more than I could give. Oh, but mercy smiled upon me,
saying, I forgive. Blessed is that man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity. That's right, he does it, not
his people. And in whose spirit there is
no God. And to be blessed of the Lord
is this, just to sum it all up, Blessed be the Father, the God
and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with
all spiritual blessings. And Paul names those blessings,
many of them. We won't read them, Ephesians
1 and 4, but he has blessed us with all spiritual blessings
in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. And there's more to follow. The psalmist said, Surely goodness
and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, And when
my life is over, I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. And I heard a voice from heaven
saying, write, blessed, blessed are the dead which die in the
Lord from henceforth. Yea, saith the Spirit, that they
may rest from their labors, and their works do follow them. The Lord again by the mouth of
the prophet Isaiah said this, the sun shall no more be thy
light by day, Neither for brightness shall the moon give light to
thee, but the Lord, the Lord shall be unto thee an everlasting
light, and thy God thy glory. Thou shall no more, thy sun shall
no more go down, neither shall thy moon withdraw itself, for
the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning
shall be ended. Thy people shall also be all
righteous. This Isaiah Chapter 60, verse
21. Thy people also shall be all
righteous. They shall inherit the land forever,
the branch of my planting, the work of my hands, that I may
be glorified. Oh yes, there's more to follow. Look at verse 18 here in Psalm
115. The last verse says, but we will
bless the Lord. He's blessed us, so let's bless
him. Let's glorify him, let's brag
on him, Brother Scott Richardson used to say. But we will bless
the Lord from this time forth and forevermore, praise ye the
Lord. Robert Hawker, on that verse,
the last verse here, verse 18, he made this comment. He said,
O glorious Lord, help me while living to praise you, and when
dying to praise you, and in the act of death to praise you. that
the first and last of all sounds on my trembling lips may be Jesus. And let the sweet savor of thy
name refresh my soul forever. Amen." Another old preacher that
lived in the 1700s, a man by the name of Samuel Medley, wrote a hymn entitled, Death
Viewed in Jesus. Toward the end of his life, I
read that he had trod a path of great suffering, but when
called to cross the river, he was able to say, dying his sweet
work, sweet work, my heavenly Father, I'm looking up to my
dear Lord Jesus, my God, my portion, my all in all. And when a little
before he died, he said, glory, glory, home, home. Glory, glory, home, home, and
without a struggle or groan, he was taken to heaven on July
17, 1799. Here's a few verses of that hymn.
He began it by quoting from Job chapter 3. There the wicked cease
from troubling, and there the weary be at rest. Death and the
grave are doleful things, for sinful mortal worms to sing,
except the Savior's brighter beams dispel the gloom and touch
the strain. Death awful, sound, the fruit
of sin, and terror of the human race, who except Jesus smiles
within, can look the monster in the face. Yet dearest Lord,
when viewed in thee, the monster loses all its dread, there all
his frightful horrors flee, and joy surrounds a dying bed. Jesus the mighty Savior lives,
and he has conquered death and hell. This truth substantial
comfort gives, and dying saints can sing tis well, tis well. It must be. He's been mindful
of us. God bless you.