A Psalm for the Lord's Day

some of the treasures of what
they called in the olden days the Sabbath psalm. That's what
this psalm was called many, many years ago, the Sabbath psalm,
or a song for the Lord's Day. Maybe that's what we'll entitle
the message, a song for the Lord's Day, Psalm 92. Charles Spurgeon said about this
psalm, I always consult the treasurer of David when I preach from the
psalms because it's the best, the very best commentary you
can get on the psalms, the treasury of David. Charles Spurgeon said
in the treasury of David, no psalm in my lifetime is more
frequently sung by the people of God on the Lord's day than
Psalm 92. And yet I've never brought a
message of Psalm 92. I guess there's a lot of rich
treasures in the scripture that I haven't unearthed. But we'll take a shot
at this. Psalm 92, it says in verse 1,
it's a good thing to give thanks. I'm going to stop there for a
moment. It's a good thing, it says, to give thanks to the Lord,
but I'm going to stop and say it's a good thing to give thanks
anytime to anyone. It's a good thing to give thanks. It's the character of a godly
man to give thanks. It's the sign of a work of grace
to give thanks, to be grateful. To be thankful for what we have.
To be thankful unto all for their mercies and blessings to us.
But especially a good thing to give thanks to the Lord, because
He deserves it. He deserves it for the great
blessings and benefits that He gives us day by day. And does
not the Scripture say, every good gift and every perfect gift
comes from the Lord? It's a good thing. It's a good
thing to give thanks unto the Lord. It shows the grace of God
in us and upon us. Turn, if you will, with me to
2 Samuel chapter 7. I could just read this to you,
but I'd like for you to turn to it because if there is acceptable
prayer and praise and thanksgiving found in our hearts, And that's
where true praise and thanksgiving and gratitude comes from the
heart, if God receives it. If it's found in our hearts,
it's the gift of God. And here in 2 Samuel chapter
7, David is praying, and he says in verse 26, 2 Samuel 7 verse
26, And let thy name be magnified forever, saying, The Lord of
Hosts is the God over Israel. And let the house of thy servant
David be established before thee. Bless my house. For thou, O Lord
of Hosts, God of Israel, hast revealed to thy servant, saying,
I will build thee an house. Therefore hath thy servant found
in his heart to pray this prayer unto thee. I'm praying a prayer
of gratitude and thanksgiving and praise. But I found this
prayer in my heart. That's where true acceptable
praise and thanksgiving and prayer, that's where it comes from. I
found it in my heart. God put it there. God put it
there. So it's a good thing. to give
thanks unto the Lord. And, verse 1, Psalm 92, and to
sing praises unto thy name, O Most High. Let me read that again.
And to sing praises. And to sing praises unto thy
name, O Most High. It's a good thing in the form
of song. Praise and gratitude and thanksgiving
come from the heart. And they're expressed with the
tongue. Now, silent worship is sweet. I know that. Silent worship is
sweet. But vocal worship from the heart
is sweeter. But vocal worship... You know,
I don't know where it started, but I remember it back in my
boyhood. Certain macho men didn't sing
in worship services. They let the women and children
sing. Singing is for grannies. They
thought that. So they didn't sing. But I'm
here to tell you, all of God's creation sings. It's a good thing to sing praises
under thy name, O Lord. The birds sing. The brooks warble
as they flow over the rocks. The trees sway and sing in the
wind. The thunder rolls, giving forth
the bass notes, and the rain patters on the leaves, and even
frogs croak. Everything sings in God's creation. Isn't that right, Mike? And they
sing in concert. I'd hate to hear frogs only,
but frogs and birds and wind and breeze and brooks and trees
together sound pretty. Together in concert. They sound
good. And I'll tell you this, to use
the tongue for every purpose but praise is to deny that tongue
The very purpose for which God made it. To use my tongue for every purpose
unto heaven, but to sing praise to Him. If I even if I croak
like a frog, or sing like a canary, or do nothing but make noise
like the wind, it's still in concert to God. Barnard says, everybody whom
God saves, sings. Let those refuse to sing who
never knew our God, but children of the heavenly King, sing forth the praises of their
Lord. That's right. It's a good thing
to give thanks to God. It's a good thing to sing praises
to His name. That's right. And to use my tongue,
For every purpose but praise is to deny my tongue the very
purpose for which God Almighty made it. To thank God. To praise His name. Amen. Verse 2 says, To show forth thy
lovingkindness. To show forth thy lovingkindness. That's what David said, have
mercy on me according to thy lovingkindness. And to show it forth in thanksgiving
and song, to show forth thy lovingkindness when? In the morning. In the
morning. Give thanks in the morning. Our
days ought to begin with praise to God. No, I was too early to thank
God. No, I was too early to praise
God. He saw me ruined in the fall,
yet loved me notwithstanding all. He saved me from my lost
estate. His loving kindness, oh, how
great! It's great in the morning, and
it's great every night. Show forth His loving kindness
in the early hours, The end of the day is a most appropriate
time to say, thank you, Lord. Thank you, Lord. We rise in the
morning and we say, Lord, keep me this day. Keep my children.
Keep my grandchildren. Keep my loved ones. Put a hedge
about us, O God. Protect us through this day.
There's so many harmful things out there, so many powers I don't
know anything about, so many influences and evil ones. Lord, help us. Don't leave us,
nor forsake us. And then to lie down at night
and say, thank you, Lord. They're all in. The door's shut. They're all home. Every car's
in the garage, and every person's in his bed, and the night rain
is softly falling, and you've done wonders for us. Huh? How pagan are we? We wake without
a thought, and we lie down on our beds without a word of gratitude. Well, it's a mighty good thing
to thank God. It's a mighty good thing to sing
praises to show forth His loving kindness in the morning and every
night. And he says in verse 3, upon
an instrument of ten strings, and upon the psaltery, and upon
the harp with a solemn sound. Come on now, listen. A solemn
sound. We're not only to praise God
with our voices, but with these instruments. With the stringed instruments,
with the psaltery, with the harp. To sing and show forth His praises,
not only with our voices, David and his singers, but David employed
the instruments of music. Turn to Psalm 150. Psalm 150. And you know, I know a lot of
people, not a lot, but some anyway, get
the idea that we're not supposed to use pianos and organs and
guitars and instruments, but that's just peculiarities on
their part, that's all. That's all, because the scripture
talks about using these things. He talks about praising God with
all of these estimates. In Psalm 150, praise ye the Lord. Praise God in His sanctuary.
Praise Him in the firmament of His power. Praise Him for His
mighty acts. Praise Him according to His excellent
greatness. Praise Him with the sound of
the cornet. Praise Him with the psaltery
and the harp. Praise Him with the timbrel and
the pipe. Praise Him with string instruments
and organs. Praise Him on the loud cymbals.
Praise Him on the high sounding cymbals. Let everything that's
got breath praise the Lord. Everything. You've got breath,
He gave it to you. Use it to praise Him. That's
what it says. If I go against that, it's just
my peculiarities, that's all. Trying to attract some attention
to myself or something. And now notice this, it says,
with a solemn sound. See that word there in verse
3, with a solemn sound. Not foolishness. Not noise. But meditation and
worship. A solemn sound that is characteristic
of His glory, of His majesty, that speaks of His character.
That's what we're talking about. You see the mere mechanics of
music. Get all the keys and the strings
and the notes and the bars and all these things. Actually, this
type of thing has carried many people away from worship. It has become not a means of
worship, but the end. And when music becomes music
of itself and in itself to glorify either the musician or the instrument
or the piece that's written, it's not a part of worship. It's
taken people away from worship. Use these instruments and the
voices with a solemn sound, with a solemn sound, with a glorious
note. We're not entertaining sinners
on the road to hell. We're singing praises to God,
the King of kings. Is this song worthy of hymn? Then don't sing it if it's not.
Is the way we're singing it worthy of His majesty and glory and
awesomeness? If not, don't sing it. Don't
use it. But let that note from here,
and that note from here, and wherever it comes from, let it
be with a solemn sound, with an awesome majesty, worthy of
the King. Then he says in verse 4, For
Lord, thou hast made me glad, Thou hast made me glad. Through
thy work, I will triumph in the work of thy hands. One of my
old teachers supplied an outline here for this verse. Lord, thou hast made me glad.
That's my state. I'm glad. Oh, say but I'm glad. I'm glad. Oh, say but I'm glad. Jesus has come. Come into this
world to save sinners. He's come to the cross to redeem
us. He's come to meet and face the
law and keep it. He's come to my heart in revelation
and grace and mercy. He's come and made me glad. I never knew gladness until I
knew Him. Like Brother Scott said, I never heard any bad news
since I heard the good news. He's made me glad. How did I
get that way? He says here, Lord, for Lord,
You made me glad. It's the gift of Your grace.
You made me glad. Thou hast made me glad. Salvation
is of the Lord. I didn't choose Him. He chose me. I chose Him because
He chose me. I didn't seek Him. I did seek
Him, but He sought me first. He loved me. I didn't love Him. I love Him now by His grace.
He reconciled Himself to me before I was ever reconciled to Him.
He made me glad. He put a song in my heart. How
did He do it? Listen, through His work. For
Lord, Thou hast made me glad through Thy work, Thy work of
redemption and grace. You've made me glad. You've heard me tell this story
before, but I'll tell it again for some of the young people
that have grown up and they haven't heard it. Old Dr. A.J. Gordon was pastor
of the Church of the Open Door up in New England somewhere. Back in the early years, after
the turn of the century, in the early 1900s, Dr. Gordon was out walking one day
and he saw one of the boys from his church, one of the little
Sunday school boys coming toward him and the little boy had a
birdcage in his hand. And as he got closer to the pastor,
the pastor saw in that birdcage he had two little field birds
like sparrows. And they were scared to death.
They were in that cage, old homemade cage, and they were cringing
over in the corner of that cage. And when the little boy came
by, Dr. Gordon spoke to him and caught him by the arm and said,
where did you get the birds? The little boy said, I trapped
them. He said, what are you going to do with them? He said, well,
I'm going to play with them. I get tired of playing with them.
I'll probably feed them to the cat. Well, the pastor said the more
he looked at those little birds, the more pity rose in his heart
for them. He said, son, would you sell
them? He said, sell these birds, preacher? You don't want these birds. They
ain't no good. They don't sing or nothing. They're
just old field birds. They're not worth anything. Besides,
there's millions of them out there. You don't want to. Yeah,
he said, son, I do. I want those birds right there.
Those birds right there are the ones I want. I'm willing to pay
for them. What do you take? Well, he said, I'll sell them
to you for two dollars, cage and all. That's a good buy. It
wasn't a very good buy either back in 1900. But Dr. Gordon
said he took out two dollars and paid him, paid that boy,
and the kid handed him the birds, the cage and all. And he said
he stood there with those birds in his hand and watched that
little boy go off down the street. Every once in a while he'd look
back at the preacher and shake his head. What a simple-minded
fellow to spend his money for two old birds. And finally the
little boy turned the corner and Dr. Gordon took that cage
in his left hand and he unwired the little makeshift door He
opened the door and he said, now little old birds, he said,
I loved you and I bought you and you're mine. I'm going to
set you free. And he held that cage up in the
air and patted on the back of the cage and he said, the first
little bird spotted that open door and out he went. Flew into
the sky. Right behind him, the other one
flew into the sky. And though they weren't canaries,
he said, I could just imagine they were singing as they flew
free in the sky. Redeemed! Set free! Free! He said, one day my Lord met
the law and justice walking across heaven. And I was in bondage. I was in a cage. I was in prison
to the law. The law had me captive. Justice
of God held me captive. And my Lord saw me ruined by
the fall, in captivity, in bondage, and He said, I'll buy those birds. And the law said, Lord, you don't
want them. They're no good. They can't sing. There's plenty
of them out there. You don't want these. Yeah, I
want those. I'll buy them. How much? It's
a heavy debt. They owe so much. It'll cost
you the silver of your sweat and the gold of your blood. Death
and hell to buy these birds. He said, I'll pay it. He went
to the cross, paid the price. And he took me in his arms and
he said, you're mine. I bought you and I paid for you. I'm going to set you free. He
made me glad. How did he make me glad? Through
his work. Thou, Lord, hast made me glad
through thy work. I will triumph in the work of
thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works! How great is thy love! How great
is thy grace! How great is thy mercy! And thy
thoughts are great, and they are deep and mysterious. Oh, how mysterious. How mysterious! His creation,
the heavens, declare the glory of God. His providence, not a
sparrow, falls to the ground without the Father. We stand
by the shoreless sea of divine wisdom and mercy and exclaim,
O Lord, how great are Thy works! How deep and mysterious are Thy
thoughts! He controls the least thing. Our television program is on
a station in California, Oakland, California. That's where I'm
going tomorrow to preach for the people who own that station.
Family radio, 37 radio stations. Been on about two years. We're receiving enormous amount
of correspondents from out there asking for books and tapes and
so forth. How did I get on that station
in California? How did that take place? I've
never met any of those people, they've never met me. I'll tell
you how. There's a fella that runs a sandwich
shop across the street from the Capitol in Sacramento, George
Curry, a Jordanian. I met him through his brother-in-law
in Nelsonville, Ohio, who is a doctor in Nelsonville. I met
George and his wife and his two children and his mother and father. His father's name Abraham, his
mother's name Sarah. I had dinner in their home years
ago. Years ago. Gave him a set of
our commentaries, or he bought them. Years ago. Well, about two and a half years
ago, George Curry, the Jordanian, took Abraham and Saber to see
a doctor in Sacramento. They sat down in the waiting
room, and the doctor's office had magazines and papers And
there was some Christian literature laying on the table, and George
saw it. And when he went in to see this
doctor, Dr. Ron Stott, S-T-O-D-T, he asked
him, he said, are you a Christian? The doctor said, well, yes, I
am. He said, I mean, are you really
a Christian? He said, as a matter of fact,
I really am. I'm a Christian. And George said, I got some books
I want to send you. Next time I come, I'll bring
them. Next time he brought Abraham and Sarah to see Dr. Ron, he
brought those commentaries. Our commentaries. Sunday school
lesson. Gave them to him. The doctor put them up on the
shelf. He told me this. He said, I put them up on the
shelf. Months passed. I was teaching my Bible class
on the subject of rewards in heaven. He said, I didn't believe
that there were degrees of glory and rewards in heaven. I believe
that all believers are the same in glory. He said, I thought,
I believe I'll see what that old preacher in Kentucky says
about that. And he reached up and pulled them down. And said,
I started reading. He said, hey, these are good. I met him. He got in contact
with me. He called these people. that have the television station.
He said, I got a man that ought to be on your station. He preaches
the gospel of God's grace. And that's how we got on. They
called you, didn't they? They asked for tape. How mysterious are the ways of
God. You don't have to shove doors
open. God will open them. Most of the
time when you shove them open, they're your doors. And you'll
be responsible for whatever takes place. But if you wait on the
Lord, He'll open the doors. That's what He's saying, Lord,
how great are Thy works. In verse 6, a brutish man, what's
a brutish man? A natural man with no thought
of God, no eyes to see God's glory and power and providence
and all things. A brutish man doesn't know anything
about this. A fool doesn't understand this. See, the natural man neither
sees nor hears nor understands the glory, the providence, the
purpose of God. The natural man is automation.
He's a machine. He moves by gravity. He's held
to the earth only by gravity. He's fed by his own hand. He's
like an ox that works. He's like a dog that barks. He's
like a black bird that annoys. But he doesn't see God's hand
in things. He's not able to see the Lord
in everything. The hand of God. Somebody wrote the story of Peter
Bale. Did you ever read the story of
Peter Bale? I never had. But Peter Bale, walked among
the valley and the streams, walked in the green woods and the hollow
dale. These were his dwelling night
and day, but they never found a way into the heart of Peter
Bell. In vain through every changing
year did nature lead him as before. A lovely primrose by a river's
brim, it's just a yellow flower to him, Nothing more. At noon, when by the water's
edge Peter lay beneath the branches high, the soft blue sky did never
melt into his heart. He never felt the mysteries of
God's beautiful sky. There's a hardness in his cheek.
There's a hardness in his eye. As if that man had fixed his
face in many a solitary place against the God who rules the
sky. Old Peter Bale, he never saw
it. But that's what it says here, a brutish man, he doesn't know. Maybe that's why he doesn't sing,
he doesn't have anything to sing about. Maybe that's why he doesn't rejoice,
he's got nothing to rejoice in. He's got a hard cheek and a hard
eye and a hard heart. And verse 7 says, And when the
wicked spring as the grass, that's what they are. Isaiah 40 said,
The glory of man is the grass of the field. It flourisheth
and fadeth away. When he springs up as the grass,
and when all the workers of iniquity do flourish, It is that they
shall be destroyed forevermore. But thou, O Lord, art most high
evermore." Watch this now. Listen. Listen carefully. Old
Brother Mews said, don't move a hand or a hair. Listen. The
natural man springs up like grass. And after a while, he reaches
his highest point. His strongest point is mental
Agility and strength, highest point. His earning power, highest
point. His influence, highest point.
His power and authority, highest point. His mind, highest point. That's when he starts down. He
can't get any higher. Your higher now is your goal,
naturally. His mind gradually goes. His
earning power gradually grows. His strength gradually grows. His coordination gradually grows. His gifts gradually disappear. He's coming down. And great is
the fall. That's grace. The glory of man
is the grace of the field. It grows. It springs up. And its end is to be destroyed. But thou, O Lord, art most high,
the same yesterday, today, and forever, evermore. And those
who reign with thee, and are seated in thee, and exalted with
thee, will never die." Never come down. That's what he says.
Lo, your enemies will be destroyed, your enemies shall perish, but,
verse 10, my horn, my power, My life shalt thou exalt like
the horn of a unicorn, and I shall be anointed with fresh oil, and
my eyes shall see my desire on my enemies." I told you those
words in italics, and they expressed a vindictive spirit. I just think
they're better left off. You know, over here, I told you
Wednesday night, over here in Psalm 91, verse 8, Only with
thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked,
because thou hast made the Lord which is my refuge even the most
high of thy habitation, and no evil shall befall thee, nor plague
come nigh thy dwelling." And you'll see the judgment of the
wicked, but what you'll see you don't know. And you can't say
it's your desire to see them fall. That's vindictive. That's not the Spirit of God.
Somehow the translators put this in, I'm going to see my desire
on my enemies. I'm going to see my desire when
the wicked rise up against me. My will and wish is to see them
destroyed. Oh no, I don't know what I'm
going to see, but it will be alright whatever I see. It's
alright for me to do that, but I really believe that And I got
some authority from other sources on that. I'm going to see the
reward of the wicked. I'm going to see the judgment
of evil men. I'm going to see the enemies
of God perish. But my response and reaction
to that will be up to the Lord. It won't be a desire, especially
if it's my own loved ones. Huh? But now watch this. Here we go.
Listen. Verse 12, now stay with me, I've got a couple more minutes. What did it say back there in
verse 7? When the wicked spring up as
grass, you see that? Verse 7, when the wicked spring
as grass and flourish and then destroy it. Verse 12 said the
righteous shall flourish like a tree. A lot of difference in
grass and a tree. Huh? A tree. The righteous shall flourish.
The wicked spring up as grass. The righteous flourish as a tree.
The wicked are as chaff that the wind driveth away. Tumbleweeds. But the righteous are planted
by rivers of water. Trees. It says, you know something
about these palm trees grow in the desert. And the cedar grows
on the hills and mountains of Lebanon amid all the storms and
wind and rain and snow. Those giant, beautiful cedar
trees that they used to make the house of God. That's the
believer. And verse 13 says, God planted
them. See, the grass springs up everywhere. Not for long, but it does spring
up. But these trees are planted, verse 13 says, those that be
planted. Every plant which my father hath
not planted will be rooted up, grass or flowers or whatever
it is, but not trees. My people, he says, are like
trees. I plant them. Where does he plant
them? The house of the Lord. The righteous shall flourish
like a palm tree in the desert. He shall grow like a mighty cedar
in Lebanon, not as grass. And those be planted, God planted
them, God rooted them, God rooted them in Christ, in the house
of the Lord. They flourish in the courts of
our God. I tell you, if a man's got a
vast estate out yonder on the hills, little old scrubby pines
grow and grass grows and vines grow, but in his courtyard, closed
in by the walls that he built on the three or four acres that
make up his estate, he plants trees on purpose to serve a purpose
for beauty, shade, fruit. He plants apple trees and he
plants peach trees and he plants other trees on purpose in the
courtyard. And that's my Lord's kingdom.
Grass grows everywhere. Everywhere. Trees are planted. My Father planted them. They'll
never be rooted up. There's no wind that can root
them up. There's no freeze that can kill them. They're planted
in. They're His pride. They're His joy. They're His
trees. They furnish fruit. Ah, listen
to verse 14. And they shall bring forth fruit
in their old age. Let me tell you something. The
trees you and I plant, the older they get, the more they decay
and rot and fall apart. So finally we cut them down.
But in grace, in the kingdom of God, the older the tree, the
more mature the tree, the better the fruit, the sweeter the fruit. That's right. It takes a long
time for his trees to mature, but when they do, When they do,
you find shade, the leaves are full, they're green. It says
there, down here in verse 14, it says they're fat and flourishing.
Now that's not fat like some of y'all are thinking. That fat
there means full of moisture, full of sap, full of grace, full
of His mercy. They're fat. Full of grace, full
of mercy, full of God, full of the Spirit. And they're flourishing,
they're green. And their leaves offer shade,
and the fruit will give you some nourishment, some comfort, some
encouragement, some help. That's right, they're His trees.
The amazing thing about His trees is they shall bring forth fruit
in old age. The more mature, the fatter,
and more flourishing, and more fruitful at his trace. Takes a long time. Takes a long
time. And all of this, verse 15, is
to show that the Lord is upright. That word upright is faithful.
To show that the Lord is faithful. Not to show the faithfulness
of the tree. It's the skill of the husbandman.
It's the faithfulness of the husbandman. It's the power of
the husbandman. It's to show that he's faithful
because he's our rock and there's no unrighteousness in him. Let
me give you one more little word here for the encouragement
of some of us who are a little older. People err who measure
life by years. People err who measure life by
years with false and thoughtless tongue. Actually, some people
grow old before the time and others are always young. He liveth long who liveth well. All other life is vain. He liveth
long who can tell of life lived in Jesus' name. That life never
ends. He liveth long who liveth well,
all else will soon fade away. But he liveth longest who can
tell. Acts of kindness and grace done
each day. Horatious Bonar. Alright, our Father bless the
word to our hearts. We're grateful for this psalm. Such a blessing. Thank you. Such a blessing to us. To comfort
us, to convict us, to encourage us. Thy word, O God, is a lamp
unto my feet and a light unto my path. Bless it from this day forward,
and this message wherever it may go, for your glory and our
good, for Christ's sake. Amen.

A Psalm for the Lord's Day

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

A Psalm for the Lord's Day

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book