Last week we looked at the family
of Lazarus and Mary and Martha in Luke's gospel. And I remember
saying what a blessed family it was. And that got me thinking,
and hence the reason for a short break from the gospel of Luke. Because the text this morning,
the verse from which the title is taken, is Psalm 89 verse 15. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. A blessed people. This is what
we are as believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, a blessed people. And what a privilege, because
we live in such a fallen world. We're surrounded by nothing other
than naked rebellion. Naked rebellion against the reality
and rule of God, who is sovereign over all things. And we see that
rebellion everywhere. We see it blatantly in the media. We see it in education. We see
it in politics. We see it in public opinion.
Rebellion against the reality and rule of God. We live in a
fallen world. Everywhere, this fallen society
is building its towers of Babel. Do you know what the towers of
Babel were? When man again, after the flood, tried to build towers
to reach up to heaven. You know, it's symbolical. Whatever
they were doing, it's symbolical of the fact of what the heart
of man in the strength of his own flesh always wants to do.
We will not have this man, this God rule over us. Why do the
heathen rage and imagine a vain thing against the Lord and against
his anointed, says Psalm 2. They want to break the bonds
of God asunder. They want to cast off the yoke
of God and live the way they want to live. They want to build
their towers of Babel to get to heaven themselves. And it
all leads to death. It all leads to a hopeless, lost
condition. It all leads to that condition
that the Apostle Paul describes in Ephesians 2, verse 12. Speaking
of what we were like before we came to a knowledge of the truth,
he says that at that time you were without Christ in your experience,
in your knowledge. At that time you were without
Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, the commonwealth
of the people of God, the church of God, the redeemed of God,
strangers from the covenants of grace, the covenants made
between the persons of the Godhead before the beginning of time
to save a people for the glory of the Father, for the glory
of God, to save a people out of a sinful situation. And being
in that condition, knowing nothing of those things, you had no hope
and were without God in the world. That is the condition of this
world around us, without hope and without God in the world.
But the people of God are blessed. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. Oh, the world says blessed is
the people that have loads of money and can do whatever they
want to do. Blessed is the people that have a life of complete
unaffected health in every respect. This is what the world says.
This is what this fallen world says. Blessed are the people
that have all the money that they need and can go and do whatever
they want to do. But no, the scriptures say this,
blessed is the people that know the joyful sound. This psalm
is written by Ethan the Ezraite but it's about David and it's
about David in times of great trouble but nevertheless the
rejoicing is in the blessing the blessing of knowing the things
of God greatly blessed as believers always are in the flesh in times
of trouble who shall deliver me from the body of this death
says the Apostle Paul I live in the flesh yet I know things
that are of a heavenly nature we always have trouble but nevertheless
know this great blessing and this psalm is instructive of
the blessings of grace in everything that's what a mask is, it's an
instructive psalm so the title of the message is blessed in
knowing the joyful sound and I want us to see in these first
eighteen verses I want us to see that though we're small in
number as the people of God in this godless society all around
us, this irreligious society all around us, though we're small
in number, we're blessed with, first of all, the revelation
of mercy, second, we're blessed with knowing God in Christ, the
true God in Christ, and thirdly, we're blessed with knowing the
joyful sound of grace. If you believe the gospel, this
will confirm God's promised salvation to you. If you disbelieve the
gospel, I plead with you, ask God to reveal the truth of these
promises before you enter a lost eternity because it's appointed
to man to die once and then the judgment. Blessed with the revelation
of mercy then, verses one to four, I will sing of the mercies
of the Lord forever. With my mouth will I make known
thy faithfulness to all generations. Remember this is in trouble.
for I have said mercy shall be built up forever. Thy faithfulness
shalt thou establish in the very heavens. I have made a covenant
with my chosen. I have sworn unto David my servant. Thy seed will I establish forever
and build up thy throne to all generations. Selah. This is singing
amid ruins. Because verse two says, mercy
shall be built up forever. The picture is one of a ruined
situation, but of a new building being built up amid the ruins
and singing amid the ruins. It's rather like, you've probably
seen pictures of this or heard of this, that in the utter ruin
and devastation of the First World War trenches and that terrible,
terrible slaughter, the numbers of soldiers that testified to
the fact that when it was still, and the shelling had stopped
for a moment, they could hear birdsong. The birds were still
singing, despite all of the destruction all around. This is singing in
the midst of ruins, the ruins of mankind, the ruins of sin
and of rebellion against God, the ruins caused by the works
of Satan. There's this black, black canvas,
this black backdrop on which God illuminates His glorious
mercy. Built up, mercy built up. I will
sing of mercy being built up. Do you have any sense of sin
before God? Do you have any sense of judgment
and justice? Verse 14, this God with whom
we have to do justice and judgment are the habitation of thy throne.
These happy, clappy folks that think they can breeze casually
into the presence of God, as if they're breezing into the
company of their mates down at the social club, they need to
realize God is a God of justice and judgment. Justice and judgment. Oh, do you have any sense of
sin before a God of justice and judgment? Do you have any sense
of being an alien from the Commonwealth of Israel? An alien from that
situation? If you do, Mercy is a wonderful
idea. What a blessed sound. What a
joyful sound, isn't it? Mercy in the midst of ruins. There's mercy in the midst of
ruins. Mercy and faithfulness, and it's
everlasting. Verse 2, mercy shall be built
up forever. Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish
In the heavens, it's an everlasting mercy and faithfulness. Things
happen, things change, but the mercy and faithfulness of God
does not change. Because it's based, verse 3,
on a covenant. I have made a covenant with my
chosen. I have sworn unto David my servant. Yes, it has meaning
in respect of David the king, the shepherd boy, but it means
much more than that. This is a covenant between the
Father and Son and the Holy Spirit in the Godhead. David here is
our Lord Jesus Christ. I have made a covenant with my
Chosen. Christ is the Chosen of God, the Chosen Redeemer,
the Chosen Saviour. I have sworn unto David my servant. In the covenant of grace there
was an agreement, there was a swearing, there was a shaking of hands,
a striking of hands. And this is what the father said
to the son. The son would go and covenanted to go and redeem
his people and the father said, thy seed, the people whom you
redeem, verse four, thy seed will I establish forever and
build up thy throne to all generations. It's based on a covenant, a covenant
of grace. Of grace. Not of works. The churches that talk about
preaching grace And yet, just lift the lid slightly. Just listen
slightly to what they say. It works. It's the works of man. That's all it is. It's the works
of man. It's not a covenant of grace.
This is a covenant of grace. The scriptures declare God's
covenant of grace. And its objective is the establishment
of a seed for the glory of God, of the building up of a throne.
And a throne implies a king. A king sits upon a throne. A
king implies a kingdom. A kingdom implies citizens, a
particular people. This is what it is. I will establish
your seed forever, and build up thy throne to all generations,
a kingdom of particular people, chosen in Christ from before
the foundation of the world. And all of this fulfilled in
the coming of Christ. Here's the promise, and it's
fulfilled in the coming of Christ. John 6, 39. This is the Father's
will. This is a declaration of the
Father's will. Jesus says, this is the Father's
will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me,
of all that seed promised here and in other places, I should
lose nothing, every one of them will be saved, but should raise
it up again at the last day. It's certain. It's not dependent
on sinful man. Oh, thank God it's not dependent
on me. Thank God it's not dependent on anything I do or say or The creed that I might write
is not dependent on anything I might do, but it's dependent
on what God has declared, and on what Christ has done, and
what He has finished. Dependent on Him, on God, to
save His people from the ruins of their sin. For mercy is built
up. Mercy is built up forever. That's
a cause of singing. Mercy built up forever. Have
you been blessed with the revelation of mercy? Have you? Not all men
have. Not all people. Who knows these
things? Who knows of the mercy of God?
Who experiences the mercy of God? Is it the intelligent? No. No. Not many wise. Is it the
popular? You know, the ones that everybody
goes flocking to see? Is it the popular? The music
stars? The celebrities? Is it the powerful? Is it what we might call the
cool people? No. It's only those blessed of
God with a gift. And what's the gift? Ears to
hear where others don't hear, where flesh doesn't hear. Ears
to hear. Eyes to see where others don't
see. Eyes to see what God says and
to know the joyful sound. Secondly, blessed with knowing
God in Christ. Verses 5 to 14, the heavens shall
praise thy wonders, O Lord, thy faithfulness also in the congregation
of the saints, for who in the heaven can be compared unto the
Lord? Who among the sons of the mighty
can be likened unto the Lord? God is greatly to be feared in
the assembly of the saints, and to be had in reverence of all
them that are about him. O Lord God of hosts, who is a
strong Lord like unto thee, or to thy faithfulness round about
thee? thou rulest the raging of the sea. When the waves thereof
arise, thou stillest them. Thou hast broken Rahab in pieces. As one that is slain, thou hast
scattered thine enemies with thy strong arm. The heavens are
thine, the earth also is thine. As for the world and the fullness
thereof, thou hast founded them. the North and the South thou
hast created them. Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice
in thy name. Thou hast a mighty arm, strong
is thy hand, and high is thy right hand. Justice and judgment
are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face." There's a description of God. There's a description
of the true God, the true God of the universe, the God declared
in Scripture. How does that compare with the
God of most religion today? The God of most religion that
calls itself Christian today is a pale, weak, insipid character
waiting on the whims and preferences of fallen man to do that which
he's trying to persuade them to do. The God of Scripture is
that God of power and of might. And what is the chief end of
man, as the old catechism used to say, what's the chief end
of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him together. And that
implies you must know God. How do you know God? Society
teaches children godlessness. There was a debate on the breakfast
show the other morning, and there were two people talking about
religious education. and I've got views about religious
education in schools, most of it, I wish there was none of
it, because it causes more harm than good, but they were talking
about teaching comparative religion and basically it comes down to
godlessness, to godlessness, to teaching them mechanistic,
pointless, random evolution, and that's what led, that philosophy,
you think of the, you know, does it matter? It muttered to millions
of people in the last century. That philosophy led to the evils
of Hitler and of communist dictatorship in the 20th century. That philosophy
is at the root of all of that. But it's heralded by fallen man,
in the ruins of fallen man, it's heralded as the greatest liberation
of the human mind, to have shaken off the yoke of God, to have
shaken off the shackles and restraints of God, to be able to do what
we want to do and think the way we want to think, and turn his
law upon its head, and turn his precepts upon their head. But
by contrast, what a blessing to no purpose. What a lost condition
that is, but by contrast, what a blessing to know purpose, to
know reason, to know wisdom from God, to know salvation in Christ,
to know something of his revealed person and nature. Let's look
at these verses. Verse 5, he's declared in the
heavens. The heavens shall praise thy
wonders, O Lord, thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the
saints." He's declared in the heavens so as to leave man without
excuse. Verse 6, he's incomparable. You know, your thoughts of God
are altogether too human. He's not a man as we are that
he should lie. Not a man like we are. He's incomparable. Isaiah 55, verses eight and nine. For my thoughts are not your
thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For
as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways than
your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts. This is the God. with whom we have to do. We who
think we can be so familiar with one another, this is the God
with whom we have to do. You think you understand God?
My thoughts are not your thoughts, says God. My ways are not your
ways. As the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways. Oh, always remember
that. That's why Solomon says in Ecclesiastes,
when you go into the house of God, don't be quick to speak.
Spend far more time with your mouth shut listening than you
do trying to speak. No, no, don't be quick there.
Know whose presence you're in. How can we know this one? Verse
seven, he's to be feared. He's greatly to be feared. in
the assembly of the saints and to be had in reverence. This
isn't a slavish fear of judgment for the saints of God. No, no,
not at all. This is what Hebrews 12, 28 calls
reverence and godly fear. It isn't that slavish fear because
John tells us in his epistle, 1 John 4, verses 17 and 18 talk
about love and fear and that slavish fear being incompatible
with the love of God, but this is reverence. for who God is. This is true childlike godly
fear. And here's a strong God, verses
8 and 9. They try and portray God as somebody
who tries to do things but is constantly frustrated by the
will of man. God is the one who is omnipotent
over all things. He knows all things, He can do
all things. There is nothing that He has
decreed that He will not accomplish. O Lord, God of hosts, who is
a strong Lord like unto Thee? O Thy faithfulness, we change,
but He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He rules
the raging of the sea. He controls all the physical
elements. He's omnipotent in strength.
He's sovereign over natural forces. Who is he? How do we know him? How can I know this God? The
disciples were on a boat on the sea of Galilee, and a storm came
up. And they said, Lord, don't you
know he was sleeping? Don't you know that we're about
to perish in this storm? And Jesus said to the wind and
the waves, Peace, be still. And they said, What manner of
man is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him? Psalm
89 verse 9, Thou, O Lord our God, rulest the raging of the
sea. When the waves thereof arise,
thou stillest them. Is this not our Lord Jesus Christ?
No man has seen God at any time, says John. No man has seen God
at any time. The only begotten Son, who is
in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. This is how
we know this God, in our Lord Jesus Christ. The one true God
is only known in our Lord Jesus Christ. If you would know God,
you must know Christ. If you would know anything about
God, you must know Christ. If you don't know Christ, if
you don't know God in Christ, the God you know is not the God
of Scripture. You know God, the true God, in Christ our Lord,
and only in Him. Beginning at Moses and the prophets,
He, the risen Jesus, expounded to the disciples and the road
to Emmaus, the things concerning himself. The scriptures speak
of him. God is not known in Islam. Allah
is not the Muslim's name for the true God. It's a name of
an idol. He is not the true God. This
is the true God, who alone is known in Christ. He's not even
the God that's known in many Reformed Baptist churches. in
this country, up and down this country, where the preaching
of Christ in truth has all but disappeared. His name might be
mentioned from time to time, but the setting forth of Christ
as the Savior of sinners, the Savior of his people, is almost
gone from places that once stood as pillars of the truth. The
church, the pillar and ground of the truth, and now They're
nothing other than places that peddle a works-based, man-centered,
false gospel. There is no gospel at all, says
Paul. No. The true God is known in Christ.
It's not either, you know, going to the other extreme, those churches
that are all the time, Jesus this, Jesus that. Again, it's
an idol. It's a figment of their own imagination,
an idolatrous figment of their own imagination, because they
forget the fear, the true reverence of the Lord. In Christ, In Christ,
in Christ alone, God has done these things. Verse 10, Thou
hast broken Rahab. That's Egypt in the Scriptures.
Egypt, and what it symbolizes. It symbolizes Pharaoh, who said,
Pharaoh said when Moses came, who is the Lord that I, I, Pharaoh
of Egypt, should obey him? It symbolizes the power of Satan. Symbolizes the power of Satan.
Thou hast broken Rahab. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, How
shall I do anything in the strongman's house unless I first come and
bind the strongman? He came, he bound the strongman. Where did he bind the strongman?
On the cross of Calvary, when his blood made satisfaction for
sin. He bound the strongman so that
Satan, the accuser of the brethren, comes before the throne of God
to accuse the people of Christ so that they might be condemned.
And the scriptures shout back, who shall lay any charge to God's
elect? It is Christ that has died. He
has broken Rahab in pieces as one that is slain. He's bound
the strong man. Verse 11, he's created all things. The heavens are thine and the
fullness thereof. Thou has founded them, all things. Colossians 1 verse 16, for Christ,
all things were created by him. and for him, says the scripture.
How do we know the true God? We know the true God in Christ.
Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound of knowing the
true God in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 12, earthly powers, the
North and the South, Tabor and Hermon and everything that they
symbolically represent, all worldly powers are for his purpose and
for his glory. Who set up the Chaldeans to take
Judah into captivity? God did. They were his instruments
to accomplish his purposes. All powers, justice and judgment. Verse 14, Justice and judgment
are the habitation of thy throne. Mercy and truth shall go before
thy face. Justice and judgment is established
in the Lord Jesus Christ. We know the God of justice and
judgment in the Lord Jesus Christ. Outside of Christ, he is nothing
other than a consuming fire. For it is a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of the living God. But in Christ, we know justice
and judgment, satisfied. We know that He is a just God
and a Savior. If He's not a just God, He's
no longer God. And He's the same every day,
yesterday, today, and forever. He's a just God. His justice
is always established. Yet, He saves sinners. He saves
those who are deserving of judgment because he satisfies justice
in our Lord Jesus Christ, a just God and a Savior. He's just and
the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. This is how it's all
fulfilled, blessed in knowing God in the Lord Jesus Christ.
so that in the midst of all the troubles and the ruin of sin
all around us there are those blessings of knowing God in Christ
and of seeing His mercy built up forever. And then thirdly,
blessed with knowing the joyful sound of grace. Verse 15, blessed
is the people that know the joyful sound. They shall walk, O Lord,
in the light of thy countenance. In thy name shall they rejoice
all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted, for thou
art the glory of their strength. And in thy favor our horn, that's
a symbol of power, shall be exalted, for the Lord is our defense and
the Holy One of Israel. is our king. Did you notice? It's a specific people. Blessed. Blessed is the people, blessed
is the people that know the joyful sound. Those people are blessed. Nobody else. Those people are
specifically blessed. This is a specific people. Those people are blessed with
the favor of God, that know the joyful sound. Those people are
blessed. You know, there are those that
put out a message that God loves everybody, that why don't you
come along and try this nice club that we've set up. No, that's
not the message of Scripture. The message of Scripture is that
there is a specific people in the sovereign purposes of God
that are blessed and favoured with God's goodness. They walk,
it says, they walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance.
They live their lives in the light of God's countenance, under
the overarching protection and guidance of the God who is sovereign
and strong over everything. Romans 8 verse 4, talks about
how, who shall deliver me from this body of death. I thank God
in Christ Jesus, my Lord. There is therefore now no condemnation
to those who are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh,
but after the Spirit. And then in verse four, that
the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who
could never fulfill that righteousness outside of Christ, who walk not
after the flesh, but after the Spirit. This is it, to walk in
the light of His countenance. They know the joyful sound of
the gospel. Blessed is the people that knows
the joyful sound of the gospel, the sound of redemption accomplished
for God's elect. You go to different places perhaps,
we do it very rarely now because we've been so disappointed, but
you go to places that used to have a name for preaching the
gospel of grace, and you go and you hear nothing other than works. You don't hear Christ. All you
hear is must do, should do, and is it Is that a new thing? No. In the days of John Kershaw,
a couple of hundred years ago, he talks of going to different
places that had a name for preaching the gospel and being very, very
sadly disappointed when he heard nothing other than works preached
there. Nothing at all. That's not a
joyful sound. That isn't the tinkling of the
bells on the hem of the robe of the priest. You know, in Exodus,
the The specification was given for the priest's clothing and
on the hem there had to be a golden bell and a pomegranate, a golden
bell and a pomegranate. And the reason for the golden
bells was this, when he went into the holy place on the day
of atonement If they still heard the jingle, jingle, jingle, they
knew he was still alive. They knew that the sacrifice
had been accepted. That's what the golden bells
are about. Another sound was the blowing of the trumpet, of
the jubilee trumpet. Sound the trumpet. The trumpet
is the sound that proclaims liberty, that proclaims freedom. Blessed
is the people that know the joyful sound of the gospel, of liberty
in the Lord Jesus Christ, in freedom from the law in the Lord
Jesus Christ, in freedom from the obligation to the law because
the law has been satisfied in him, because sin has been paid
for in him. It's just like those golden bells
and those jubilee trumpets. It's the sound of acceptance
in substitutionary atonement. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. Do you know that joyful sound?
Have you heard it? When you go to hear preaching,
when you listen to a sermon, do you hear the joyful sound
of that golden bell, of that jubilee trumpet? or do you hear
just nothing, that enslaved situation that people put themselves into
and they're happy to sit under, well not happy but you see them
there sitting under it. Blessed is the people that know
the joyful sound. Verse 16, in thy name they shall
rejoice all the day and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. You see how resonant of the gospel it is.
You see how the gospel is not some new idea? It's there, isn't
it? In thy righteousness shall they
be exalted, for thou art the glory of their strength. And
in thy favor our horn shall be exalted. Not in our own strength,
For the Lord is our defense, and the Holy One of Israel is
our King. The marginal translation of that, if you've got a marginal
Bible, you'll see that it says, the Lord, this is the alternative
way of translating the original, the Lord and our King. is the
Holy One of Israel. The Lord and our King is the
Holy One of Israel. He is His people's Redeemer.
His names are what they rejoice in. In thy name shall they rejoice. You know this is a big study
in itself. But in His names, He is just seven, that He's the
provider, Jehovah Jireh. He's the provider of His people's
acceptance with God. He's the healer of his people's
iniquities, of his people's sin leprosy. He's Jehovah Rapha. He's the banner of love over
his people, for I have loved you with an everlasting love.
They rejoice in his names. He is Jehovah Nisai. He is their
peace with God. Oh, when there is enmity, oh
what blessing it is to know peace with God! Peace with God! He
is Jehovah Shalom. He is the one who feeds them
and leads them in green pastures. He is Jehovah Rahah, the shepherd.
The Lord is my shepherd. He is their righteousness. I
need righteousness to stand before God. He is the Lord, my righteousness,
Jehovah Tzidkenu. He is the one who is with me.
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
You are with me. You are with me. I will never
leave you nor forsake you, said our Lord Jesus Christ. I will
never leave you nor forsake you. Whatever circumstance you're
in, He's Jehovah Shammah. We rejoice. In thy name shall
they rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they
be exalted. He is their righteousness. He
is their power. He is their glory. He is their
strength. He is their defense. Oh, what
blessing to know this. Blessed is the people above all
other people all around where there is nothing other than ruin
and devastation and futile attempts to build towers of Babel. to
know that joyful sound of the gospel of his grace. Who knows
this? God's people know it. Christ's church knows it. How
blessed to be numbered amongst those people.