Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to turn to the book of the Psalms and I'd like to read 3 Psalms 22, three and four.
My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring?
Oh my God, I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not, and in the night season, and am not silent. But thou art holy, O thou it inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in Thee, They trusted in Thou didst deliver them. They cried unto thee and were delivered. They trusted in Thee and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man.
A reproach of men and despised of the people.
All they that see me laughed me to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying He trusted in the Lord that he would deliver him, let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him.
But thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope. When I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly.
Be not far from me, for trouble is near, for there is none to help.
Many bulls have compassed me. Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax that is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws. And thou hast brought me into the dust of death.
For dogs have compassed me, the assembly of the wicked have enclosed me, they pierced my hands and my feet.
I may tell all my bones. They look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.
But be not thou far from me, O Lord, O my strength, haste thee to help me deliver my soul from the sword, my darling, from the power of the dog.
Save me from the lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.
I will declare thy name unto my brethren. In the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
Ye that fear the Lord, praise him all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him, and fear him all ye the seed of Israel. For he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him he heard.
My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them that fear him.
The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek Him. Your heart shall live forever.
All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before thee, for the Kingdom is the Lord's, and he is the governor among the nations. All lay that be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship. All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him, and none shall keep alive his own soul.
A seed shall serve him. It shall be accounted to the Lord. For a generation they shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born, that he hath done this.
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He restoreth my soul.
He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Yeah. Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.
Now prepare us to table before me in the presence of mine enemies.
Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever.
The earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof the world, and they that dwell therein. He hath founded it upon the seas, and established it upon the floods.
Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord, or who shall stand in his holy place, he that hath clean hands and a pure heart, who hath not lifted up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully?
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He shall receive the blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.
This is the generation of them that seek thee, that seek thy face, O Jacob. Selah.
Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory.
Selah.
I'm sure the Spirit of God arranged the order of the Psalms, and so we find them very often in groups. And I believe in the case that we have just read, the Spirit of God has arranged these three psalms together in order that they might bring before us a certain order, beautiful order of truth. We find this quite often in the psalms. We find the 43rd, 4th and 5th Psalm brought together where we see a discouraged heart, a heart lifted up.
Heart counting upon God. And so very often we see these series of psalms because undoubtedly the Spirit of God was not only in the inspiration of the whole Word of God, but also in the arrangement. And I believe we can learn something by looking at these together. And that's why I read these three psalms together. Brethren, someone has said they bring before us the Lord Jesus.
Is the Good Shepherd as the Great Shepherd?
And the Chief Shepherd also, the comment has been made that we have the cross and the crook and the crown. And I think you can see this as we read these psalms. And of course it must be in that order, because there could be no crown if there had been no cross. There could be no help for us in our pathway if it were not for the cross. And at the end of life's pathway for the believer is the glorious future ahead for if we suffer with Him.
We shall also reign with him.
But as I say, the Lord makes himself known in those three different ways. First of all, as the Good Shepherd. That is, we needed to get to know him as the One, the Good Shepherd who gave his life for the sheep. And I hope each one of us in the company here this afternoon can say he gave his life. He gave himself for me. The apostle Paul could make that intentionally personal in Galatians chapter 2.
When he said.
The Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. And so how precious for us to know him in that way. The one who gave himself for me, entering into it as though I were the only Sinner, yet the Lord loved me enough to take my place and bear my judgment.
And then two, we have life's pathway before us. And so, as I said in the 23rd song, we have His present care for us. We have that brought before us in Hebrews 13, where it tells us that He is the Great Shepherd, caring for us according to the blood of the everlasting covenant, to make us perfect in every good word, to do His will.
Working in us that which is well pleasing in his sight and I think we can see in the.
23rd Psalm. Just that, that as we read that Psalm together, we can see life's history portrayed to us and how the Lord, as the Great Shepherd is seeking to produce those things in us. That would be for his glory and praise.
Perhaps in the thought of the Chief Shepherd that's brought before us in first Peter chapter 5.
The Apostle Peter was talking of the time when the chief Shepherd would appear, and he speaks of the crown of glory that fadeth not away.
And I like to think about how the Lord Jesus is the one who is the Chief Shepherd, That is, he has more interest in your soul and mind than any mortal on earth.
There is no servant of the Lord, no matter how devoted he is, that has such a care and interest in your soul as the Lord Jesus Himself. He is the chief Shepherd. But rather than we have the privilege of being as one brother used to call it, under shepherds. Now that is seeking to have a care for the people of God with always in view the day when all would be presented in that glory above.
So that the apostle could say.
That he rejoiced those Corinthian Saints, that he would be presented with them.
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He also says in Thessalonians.
He says, what is our hope or joy or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ that is coming. He had something at the heart of Christ for the people of God. And so he was looking forward to the day when they would be rewarded, when that those Saints at Thessalonia would be rewarded. And he said, that will be my crown of rejoicing.
Sometimes thought of it like a.
Feature teaching in school and puts a lot of extra effort so the class would do well and at the end of the year feels very rewarded when everybody in the class passes some with honors. She feels oh, my effort was worthwhile. The class has done so well and brethren, do we have that care one for another so that when that coming day comes that it will be our rejoicing that we had the privilege in some little.
Way of contributing to help others along the pathway of faith. And that's why it speaks of a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
It may be that when you try to do something for the people of God, you may not get much glory. Perhaps they may forget to thank you. But the Lord takes notice of a cup of cold water given in His name. He said, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me. So all these things encourage us. And so I just like to look at these psalms in bringing before us those three different lines of truth.
Shall I say, I'm sure that all of us can easily see how the 22nd Psalm brings before us the Lord Jesus as the Good Shepherd, giving His life for the sheep.
It's given, of course, in far more detail than the others, because that work is the center of two eternities. The whole of a past eternity looked forward to it. The whole of a coming eternity is going to look back to it. There is nothing in comparison with that glorious work accomplished by the Lord Jesus at Calvary. A little hymn says Center of two eternities, which look with wrath adoring eyes.
Onward and back to thee.
And so this first verse, this 22nd Psalm, is something that you and I can never really enter into because as believers, we will never know what it is to be forsaken of God.
Now the Lord has promised to us as believers, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee.
But all what the Lord Jesus had to endure, He was the only one that always did His Father's will in every step of His pathway. It was a sweet fragrance to God, and He offered Himself to God as a sweet smelling savor. His whole pathway was a fragrance. How could it be that He was forsaken? Well, as we aptly say, He was forsaken that we might never be forsaken, but that cry that run out in the darkness.
Misunderstood by those who stood by is the most marvelous thing and I'm sure that everyone of our hearts.
When we read it in the Bible, when we hear it, why, it can't help but stir our inmost affections to think.
That the Lord Jesus was forsaken there now that is, God is of two pure eyes to behold evil, and cannot look upon sin. And so when that blessed Son, when that blessed one was made sin for us.
The one who knew no sin, then God must turn his face away. He couldn't look upon sin. And 2nd Corinthians 5 in verse 21 Says He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
I've heard some try to define that, but I think it's best to leave it just as it is. You and I can't be finite. We can't enter in fully to what it means that he was made sin, but we know it was so. We know that he stood in our place, condemned and bore our guilt when he was there. As the one, as the scripture says, thou shalt make his soul.
An offering for sin.
And then it says in the second verse, O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season, and have not silent.
This is remarkable because we all know that those hours of darkness were in the middle of the day, so that it actually was daytime. But it was also the darkest night this world ever knew when, as the hymn writer said, the sun withholds its rays of light. The heavens are clothed in shades of night, while Jesus wins the glorious fight on the cross.
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And so it was day and it was night.
The darkest night that ever could be. I sometimes like to put in contrast with that. If you turn over to the 42nd Psalm.
The seventh verse.
Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water spouts all thy waves, and thy billows are gone over me.
Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime, and in the night His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.
When we read that seventh verse, we think of the Lord Jesus when deep called unto deep, when all those waves and billows of judgment rolled over him. And the psalmist in this 42nd Psalm is greatly distressed. He's cast down. He's going through trial.
And when he thinks of the Lord's suffering, then, shall I say, he makes a comparison with what happens when we go through suffering? It says there in that next verse, Yet the Lord will command his loving kindness in the daytime. If you ever go through trial, you're not going to be forsaken. This very Psalm says He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, neither hath he hid his face from him.
And so when you go through trial.
And it seems as if billows of trouble are rolling over you. Remember, you're not forsaken. The Lord will command His loving kindness in the daytime. It may be a very precious time in your life when the Lord draws near. But it was not so with him. He was forsaken. And it says there, and in the night his song shall be with me. And so he gives songs in the night, and in our nights of deepest trial and sorrow He gives songs.
And the access of prayer is always open, but to him it says that he was not heard. Oh, what a contrast. I believe the Spirit of God would bring before us just what it meant in some measure to the Lord Jesus.
For he answers his own question here and says, thought thou art holy, but thou art holy. What is holiness? Well, it's the abhorrence of evil with delight in good.
And there was a person who abhorred evil and delighted in good God.
God abhors evil, and He delights in good, and there was the One who D always done His will, who was offering himself as a sweet savor. But God is holy, and so the whole issue of light and love were brought together at the cross. All that was in the heart of God in love must come out, but all that He is as light must be fully vindicated in order that there would be no hindrance to the outflow of that love.
And then he says, Our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted, and thou didst deliver them.
And then he says in the sixth verse, But I am a worm and no man. Think of the humble place the blessed Savior took.
As we were saying the other night, he took a body capable of death not subject to death.
You and I have bodies that are subject to death, and if the Lord doesn't come, they're going to wear out. They're going to have to be laid away as our dear sister was just yesterday. These bodies of ours are there in that sense, subject to death. But the Lord Jesus had a body over which sin had no power. Death had no plane. He would, He must dismiss his own spirit.
Because it says.
No man taketh it from.
I lay it down of myself to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. Now this commandment have I received, and my father.
And his body never saw corruption, because corruption is the result of sin.
Third day when he rose, that body saw no corruption. He was the holy, sinless, blessed. 1 Yet how marvelous he takes this low place. A worm. Scripture says man is a worm. And the Lord of glory came down to this world and walked through this world as it was read to us this morning, though in the form of God.
It was not robbery for him to be equal with God, yet he made himself of no reputation. He emptied himself and came down into this world. And did man appreciate that? No, they didn't. He was. He took that lowly place and he was despised of the people. People despised him. They laughed him to scorn. He shot out the lip, they said.
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Let God deliver him if he delights in him.
Just think, this one who could have called for a myriad myriads of angels and have destroyed every one of them. This one who stood in the garden and when he said I am, they all went backward and fell to the ground. And yet why didn't he display that power? Friends, he was on his way to Calvary if he had.
If He had smitten them dead and not gone to that cross, where would you and I be? There would be no glory for us. There would be no home above for us. He must bear that. And he was laughed to scorn. As it says, they shake the head.
And they are on that cross, and they said, come down from the cross, and we will believe on thee. But what would have happened if he had come down?
I say again, you and I would have been lost forever if He had come down, because on that cross and in those hours of darkness, there and there alone was the question of sin settled. I think it's important that we see that it wasn't the Lord's sufferings at the hand of man that put away sin. It wasn't Pilate that put our sins upon the Lord Jesus. It was what He endured at the hands of God.
I think most of us are acquainted with the 69th Psalm, and in the 69th Psalm the particular theme is what the Lord suffered at the hands of man, while here it's what He suffered at the hands of God.
I might say, however, that in this Psalm we have something of what he suffered at the hands of man brought in, and in the 69th Psalm we have something of what he suffered at the hands of God brought him. And why is that?
Well, I believe something like this.
If you went to do an act of kindness for somebody.
And while you were trying to do that act of kindness, they were laughing at you and spitting in your face. And you still went on and did that kind act for them. Even though they were punching you and hitting you and laughing at you. I would say that would only bring out your love in a much fuller and deeper measure. And so while the Lord Jesus was there as the sin bearer, man was showing his heart, and it only brings out to my heart.
In greater and fuller measure.
The love that not only bore the judgment, but in the face of all that man was doing. And my heart was no better than that crowd. Your heart and mine was the same. And then when we turn over to the 69th Psalm, we have him suffering at the hands of God, but the other the hands of man rather. But we have the other side brought in just to show us that it was. It only made man much more guilty when he was there.
The one who was to pay the debt of sin and man would have prevented him as he could if he could have. And it only brings out more of the guilt of man. If you were trying to do a kindness to somebody and at that time they were hating you and showing you unkindness, wouldn't it make their guilt far worse in the face of kindness?
It has been said.
Jerry Taryn Good for good and evil for evil is human. To return evil for good is divine, but to return good for evil is of Satan and man was led on of Satan and he returned evil for man's for God's good.
So this Psalm brings in primarily the sufferings of Christ, but also the attitude of men. And so we find these things brought out here. The 12TH verse. Many bulls have compassed me. Strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion.
I believe this represents the leaders of Israel.
Now that is the ones who ought to have known, for they had the Scriptures says in Romans chapter 3. What advantage then hath the Jew, and what prophet is there of circumcision? Much every way, chiefly because that unto them were committed the oracles of God. They were far more responsible than the Gentiles, because they had the Scriptures, and the Scriptures had foretold about the coming of Christ. They had this 22nd Psalm, They had the 53rd.
Of Isaiah, they ought to have known who he was, but there were the strong bulls of Bashan, the leaders of the people. It says they stirred up the people that they would ask Barabbas and destroy Jesus, and says they gaped on me with their mouths as a raveling and a roaring lion. That is, they were led on of Satan because you know, that's what Satan does.
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Satan's greatest opposition is to Christ.
Sometimes he's presented in the Scripture as a roaring lion, sometimes as an Angel of light, but always in opposition to Christ. Always in opposition to Christ. What concord hath Christ with Belial? And so we see here.
These leaders that ought to have known better just standing there and looking on, saying it's not lawful for us to put any man to death, but calling upon the Gentiles to carry out what they wanted to do.
And we find a little in the 1415 and 16th verses of what the Lord Jesus suffered there at the hands of the Roman soldiers, because, as we often know, the usual way for the Jews to put a person to death was to stone them. That was the manner in which they killed someone who was guilty. But.
Here we find another way by which the.
Was put to death long before there was a Roman nation. We read about they pierced his hands and his feet. That wasn't at that time a way that when the Psalm was written, that wasn't the way that they normally would put a person to death. But God is looking on to the time and he knew that they would deliver him over to the Roman power. That's why it says.
Dogs have compassed me in the 16th verse.
You know that the Gentiles, outside of the covenants and promises made to Israel are looked upon as dogs. The Lord said it's not meat to take the children's bread, cast it to dogs. Dogs in the Bible are a figure of shameless evil, and the shameless evil that went on in those Gentile nations was absolutely horrible. And so here we find the whole picture brought before us, the Lord Jesus there.
The very tree on which he was hung up he made to grow himself.
The very nails that were driven into His hands, He made the iron from which the nails were made. He was the Creator of all things, and He allowed His creature to do all this to Him. Did the Lord feel it? Yes, He felt it perfectly.
Oh, how marvelous to see. Even when they came and would have given him then he had a drink mingled with gall. He tasted their oven, wouldn't drink anything that would in any way lessen the suffering that he was to endure. Usually when we have to face suffering, we want something to lessen the suffering. But the Lord Jesus had come to bear the full penalty of sin.
And so he wouldn't take it at the very end when they offered him vinegar to drink.
It showed out the hatred of their hearts, but we find that the Lord Jesus felt everything perfectly and fully, it says here.
My bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. Perhaps there's a little thought there when you and I.
Face some difficulty or something like that. Well, we try to harden ourselves, hitting ourselves so that we won't feel things. But the Lord felt everything fully and perfectly. He felt the hatred. He said Reproach hath broken my heart. I am full of heaviness. I look for some to take pity. And there was none for comforters, but I found none. He felt everything perfectly.
And then?
To know that these people whom he had come to bless, were rejecting Him.
Well, we have a picture here of crucifixion, and of how fully the Lord felt it. And then in the 18th verse they part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture. But being out thou far from me, O Lord, O my strength, haste thee to help me. Well, these things are just brought before us to show us how fully the Lord felt.
All that man did, and above all, being forsaken of God.
But I have only, when we come on to this 20th verse, Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling, from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. When man has done his very worst, the Lord Jesus has exhausted the judgment. Then he cries. It is finished.
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And it wasn't Satan's victory, it was his. It was his victory, Thy weakness and defeat. He won the Medan crown, trod all our foes beneath his feet by being trodden down. And so the very last act of man's hatred, in putting the sword into the dead side of the Savior only, as the hymn writer said, drew forth the blood to save.
Never again will they be able to heap any indignity upon that Blessed 1. He finished the work. He has shed his blood. The victory was not Satan's. The victory was his.
And it says in resurrection he announces that I'd like to think too about the apostle Paul when he says that going from city to city, he said the Lord leads us in triumph from place to place and makes the manner manifest the.
Of his knowledge by us in every place. It was apparently the custom, when there had been a great victory run won by a Roman general, for him to lead a March of triumph through the streets of Rome, and people could look on and see the fruit of the victory that he had won.
Now Paul went from city to city in these heathen places, and he also suffered being despised and beaten and stoned and so on. He suffered at the hands of man. A believer will never suffer at the hands of God. But he faced all that rejection. But he called it a March of triumph.
He said the Lord is leading us in triumph, just as that general, whether people blamed or whether they applauded. That's why it says we're unto God, a sweet savor of Christ in them that are saved, and in them that perish. He, he considered his going through these cities was a March of triumph. And brethren, I think this is a nice thought for us as we announced the glad tidings of the victory of Calvary. It's a March of triumph.
The Lord Jesus won a victory there and we have the privilege of saying I'm one of the results of that work that he has done and I want to tell others of that great victory. He was heard.
And so he goes into death as the triumphant 1. He dismisses his own spirit. The work was finished, and now he says, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
So goes on here.
In the 22nd verse.
Passes on to resurrection. I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation. Will I praise thee in resurrection. The Lord could say to Mary, Go tell my brethren, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father, and to my God and your God. Yes, He could announce the victory that he had won.
He could tell them of that name that they could know God as Father. A new thing, because it's only resulting.
The result of the finished work of Christ and the coming of the Holy Spirit that we can enter into and enjoy this relationship. And no, God is our Father. The Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.
Then He stands in the midst and shows His disciples his hands and His side. Then I believe that now, as we gather around Him, if our hearts are in harmony with His brethren, I believe He's leading the singing. He's drawing out our poor cold hearts in praise and Thanksgiving. What a what a privilege We sang in a little hymn. He who knows, He who knows it leads the singing loud to God.
Our voice is raised so.
He leads at our hearts in those triumphant praises to Him as a result of what He has done.
So he says, in the midst of the congregation, in the midst of the congregation, I will praise thee.
Yeah, ye that fear the Lord, praise him all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him and fear him, all the seed of Israel.
It's nice the thoughts that are brought together here.
When it says the seed of Jacob, we think of what we were by nature. Jacob was just a little example of what human nature is. And so he could say, he that all ye the seed of Jacob. But where has grace brought us? Says here, Fear him all ye the seed of Israel. Israel means a Prince with God. So God has brought us, who were once so far away into such a place of blessing. Now he assures us.
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In the 24th verse that will never be forsaken, that he hasn't despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, rather than He doesn't hide his face from us. The Father's face of radiant grace shines now in light on me and you, and I can look up. Another hymn says, If clouds have dimmed our sight when past eternal lover towards me.
As ere thou art, bright clouds may come between.
You and I sometimes look up and say it's the sun isn't shining today. It's not exactly accurate because we've got it above the clouds. The sun is shining just as it always was. It's only the clouds that dim the site. And so isn't it blessed that that face of radiant grace looks down upon you and I?
And the Lord is looking forward to that great congregation. He's looking forward to the time when he'll be in the midst of the whole redeemed company of Israel and in the midst too, of ourselves as the heavenly company in that glory above, and our hearts will break forth there in eternal praise.
Then the 26th verse the meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek him. Your heart shall live forever.
We know that this is the characteristic of the godly remnant, the meek and brother, and I believe it ought to be characterized. It ought to characterize us too. We don't have any rights in this world.
The Lord Jesus said, take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. What is a meek person? A person who doesn't show resentment when he's put down?
You know, and we show resentment, we get ourselves all upset and angry and everything about things, but the meat person accepts it from the Lord. The Lord Jesus accepted everything from his Father. He said Even so Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. And he says take my yoke upon you and learn of me. You've got to expect in this world that we're going to share his rejection.
And the characteristic of the of the godly remnant and what I.
Characterize us as meek and lowly in heart, like our blessed Lord and Master. But this is beautiful, isn't it?
It says eat and be satisfied.
God in His grace has arranged a great privilege for us that we can gather and as we partake of the bread and drink of the cup, we're reminded of what the Lord Jesus did. That's the only satisfying portion is knowing Him and what He's done for us. And So what a privilege to gather around him and remember Him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied. And truly, as I say, there's no satisfying portion apart from Him.
And then this little expression too. Your heart shall live forever. You know, if we set our heart on things down here, our hearts are not going to live forever.
If I set my heart upon a new house or a new car or a better job, why, that's all for this life. I'm not saying that we don't need houses and cars and things, but if we set our hearts on them, brethren, they're all going to pass away. The things that are seen are temporal, but the things that are not seen are eternal.
Isn't it blessed, as we had in our chapter at the conference?
Set your mind or your heart on things above, not on things on the earth. Our hearts by thee are set on brighter things above.
And I even think about the Lord's people. You may meet you. Maybe you've got a nice neighbor, maybe you meet a nice person in business and you say that person's nice to work with, but you know that person doesn't know the Lord. Why? That's a friendship that's going to come to an end no matter how nice that person is. But when you and I make links and form friendships with the people of God, that's forever.
Everyone in this room who knows the Lord as Savior, I'm going to be your friend.
Forever. And if I allow my heart to go out to you in love, it's not going to come to an end because that love will flow for all eternity. Your heart shall live forever. Oh brethren, may our hearts be set on those brighter and better things for down here. Too often we allow ourselves to get attached to the things of this world and even the people. Maybe I say they might be nice people, but if they're not saved and have no heart for Christ.
Them it's all.
Just a temporary thing, and so here it tells us.
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All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nations shall worship before him. The Lord is going to have His rightful place.
And the 29th verse All be fat upon the earth shall eat and worship all they that go down to the dust shall bow before him. The Lord Jesus is going to have his rightful place.
As we gather, we often delight to sing our beautiful little hymn. Christ of God, our souls confess Thee, King and Sovereign, even now.
But everyone's going to have to own him as universal Lord. Every knee is going to bow every time he's going to confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. But brother, and I say again, isn't that a great privilege that says all that be fed upon the earth shall eat and worship?
Now in connection with that word fat Chanel, in the sacrifices, the fat was to be offered to the Lord. It says the fat of the sacrifice was to be for the Lord. And so if you and I are really for the Lord, what are we going to do? What we're going to give the Lord Jesus his rightful place. We're going to want to worship him and praise him and thank him for what He's done for us. So all to be fed upon the earth shall eat and worship.
And then a seed shall serve him. It shall be accounted to the Lord. For a generation They shall come, and shall declare his righteousness unto a people. It shall be born that he hath done this.
Tell the Spirit of God so beautifully brings before us what we mentioned briefly this morning worship and service worship and service. It's a great privilege to be worshippers, but let's not forget we have the privilege of declaring to others what the Lord has done That's that's our blessed privilege going into all the world preach the gospel to every creature. And so after telling us in this chapter.
The Good Shepherd giving his life for the sheep, the resulting blessing to ourselves, the praise that ought to fill our hearts. Then it says, let's tell others. Let's tell others that is.
They were the one generation living now. Maybe, maybe doesn't know these wonderful things, but we have the privilege of proclaiming it.
Now we come to this 23rd Psalm, and as we said, this has been spoken of as the crook that is the Lord leading us through the wilderness.
Scripture tells us that we're pilgrims and strangers, and we often sing This world is a wilderness. Why? We have nothing to seek or to choose. We've no thought in the waste to abide. We've not to regret nor to lose. We're just passing through. The world has taken on a new character. To us it's a wilderness. It doesn't have anything to satisfy the longings of the new man.
But isn't this beautiful? The Lord is my shepherd, and as I mentioned, we won't take time to turn to it. In Hebrews 12 it says He's the great Shepherd. It says that God brought him from the dead according to the blood of the everlasting covenant. And then He's the great Shepherd. To make us perfect in every good work, to do His will working in us what is well pleasing in His sight.
And we might ask, what more do we need than Christ? It says here, I shall not want.
I don't mean that we have to be at the meetings all the time, but God cares about your business life. He cares about your home life, He cares about your health. He's concerned about everything. There is no detail of your life and mine that isn't a concern of His casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you so he can say the Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want.
I'm sure you've noticed in this Psalm that it's divided into 3 parts. You have a new translation. You'll see there are three separate paragraphs. In the first part he's talking about the Lord. That's verses 1-2 and three.
Then in verse four and five, he's talking to the Lord, and then in the sixth verse he's talking about the result and how it filled His heart with thankfulness and praise. This is very beautiful. So you and I first begin by talking about the Lord. He made with me to lie down in green pastures. He leadeth me beside the still waters. He wants us to know that He is caring for us and just as.
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Shepherd, the sheep doesn't take the responsibility of providing the necessary pasture or the water for it to drink. The shepherd is the one who takes the responsibility for this. And isn't it blessed to know that the Lord Jesus there up on high is caring for us, and He is the He is, I say again, the great Shepherd who's caring for us, seeking to make us perfect in every good word to do His will.
He wants us, as we have in the 14th chapter, in the 15th chapter of John. He wants us to enjoy and prospect his home, his peace, his love, his joy, his companionship. He wants us to have all these things. And so he leads us and makes us lie down in green pastures.
Leads us beside the still waters because it says.
Says My peace I give unto you. And then again he says, he restoreth my soul. You don't always keep as close to the Lord as we should. But aren't we thankful that the one who died for us lives for us? Our great High Priest and our advocate? Is there anyone here you've got away from the Lord?
You've let things come into your life that you know are dishonouring to him. Isn't this lovely?
He restoreth my soul. He wants to bring you back. Don't go on another day.
With those things in your life unconfessed and unjudged, get them out and have them right before him. We know that even in natural friendships we can let things build up between friends, between husband and wife, between father and children. We can let them build up in the assembly. I know how good it is that we seek to correct these things when we possibly can.
Well, how much more that we shouldn't allow anything to come between us?
And the Lord, he restoreth my soul, He leadeth me in the paths of righteousness. Brethren, we can never enjoy the Lord's company in paths of self will. We can't enjoy it because how could we? When the two were going on the road to Emmaus, they didn't recognize, even though the Lord walked with them. And it wasn't until He had stirred their hearts to their depths that they they recognized him.
And they go back to Jerusalem. Oh, how gracious is our blessed Lord. But I say, if there's any of us walking carelessly, we're losing the best portion in life. We can't enjoy His company. He leads me in paths of righteousness for His name's sake. So that's talking about Him, and now He talks to Him.
Yeah, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil. He doesn't. He doesn't say for he is with me. He turns and talks right to the Lord and says for thou.
Somebody I could talk to. But you have one, and he invites you to come. You can never get lower than his everlasting arms. They're always underneath. Underneath are the everlasting arms. So he's talking about the Lord. Here thou prepare us the table before me in the presence of my thine enemies. Isn't it wonderful that the Lord did that just before he went away?
He instituted that table.
Spoken of in 1St Corinthians 10 as the Lord's Table. What a privilege in a world where he was rejected and cast out, that He has prepared for us. A privilege. You know how forgetful we would be, and so He prepared a table for us.
And then thou knowest my head with oil.
You know there were two in Israel that were anointed was the high priest and the king, and he has made us kings and priests unto God and his Father. What a place is ours. And then he says, My cup runneth over, that is, he talks to the Lord. Now thou prepare us, thou knowest my head. Now he begins, as it were, to think a little of what he has in the Lord, and he said.
My cup runneth over.
He says surely goodness and mercy not talking to the Lord, and in a certain sense he's not talking about the Lord, he's just talking of the happy result in his own life. He says my cup runs over.
Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the House of the Lord forever. He's enjoying His portion. In other words, brethren, are we enjoying our portion in Christ? Are we? He went to Calvary. He was forsaken for us, but now He set this pathway before us, and He's everything that we need for the pathway. And this is beautifully brought before us, I believe.
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In this 23rd Psalm. And now we come to the 24th.
This and we find here that the earth is the Lord's, and the fullness thereof.
That is, the true Christian recognizes the rights of the Lord here in this world.
Man talks about our world, our country, but for the Christian, the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. And we never will feel right until the kingdoms of this world become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and we shall reign forever, and he shall reign forever and ever. And then it tells us the 24 elders in that 11TH chapter of.
Revelation. They fall on their faces and worship him.
We delight to look forward to that time when the Lord will take what is rightfully His.
Perhaps I could just suggest here, when it says this from the third verse to the end of the fifth verse, that this was only imperfection in the Lord Jesus.
He was the one who had a right because his life was perfect, always glorifying his father.
But Brad and I believe that God sets before us a perfect example. The scripture says that the Lord Jesus left us an example that we should follow in his steps. We will never be perfect. We need constantly the restoration of our souls. But God always sets before us a perfect example. He said to Abraham, walk before me and be thou perfect.
He said in Matthew.
Be therefore perfect, even as your Father, which is in heaven is perfect. God doesn't say as long as you're 75% like the Lord, that's very good. Now he says, I have set before you a perfect object. I've given you a power to live to please Him. I've made provision for your failure, but never lose sight of the perfection of our blessed object. Now I believe when we apply this to the Lord Jesus, He's the chief shepherd. But in that 5th.
Chapter of First Peter. It speaks about those who feed the flock of God and it says there are to be examples to the flock and you know, we need to be careful, Paul said to Timothy.
He said, Take heed unto thyself, and to the doctrine. Continue in them, for in so doing thou shalt save thyself and them that hear thee.
And so I believe that it's very important for us to remember that God has given us this. You know, the older we get, the more.
Young people and others are going to be looking to us as to whether we are examples to the flock. This search is our inmost hearts, doesn't it? But if we're going to seek the blessing of the Lord, it's not the blessing of our brethren, I should say. It's not just what we say with our lips. It's what they see in us that really is a testimony to them that I believe, brethren, that that's very important. And so this Blessed 1 is set before us.
But lest we should think that there was anything in ourselves, there is a beautiful thought that's brought out in the end of this 24 sum, and I just like to call attention to it beginning at the seventh verse.
Perhaps I should just mention the sixth verse. This is the generation of them that seek the hymn that seek thy face, O Jacob or O God of Jacob is the margin says, and that is we're conscious of what we are, but we seek his face. But now this seventh verse, lift up your heads, O ye gates be lift up ye everlasting doors, and the king of glory shall come in.
Who is this king of glory?
The Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle, lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in.
Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts? He is the King of glory. Notice this is mentioned twice. Perhaps you wondered why it's repeated in this way at the end of this beautiful Psalm.
Well, I like to look at it and add it in this way, brethren.
It says in the end of the eighth verse, the Lord's strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle. Isn't it beautiful to think of when the Lord Jesus had accomplished that mighty work of redemption that fully glorified his Father, had shed his precious blood?
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Then he went back to glory. He was the one who is mighty in battle. He was the one who the victor who rose and went back there in all the triumph of his blessed work.
And this afternoon he sits there at the right hand of God, a Prince and a savior. But he's there alone. He's there alone. Heaven opened to him as the mighty victor who glorified God, who had accomplished the work. But what for? So that there might be others? Enter the glory too.
He was like the Hebrew servant who didn't want to have his freedom and the enjoyment of his freedom alone. The Hebrew servant said, I love my master, my wife and my children. I will not go out free. So he goes to the judges and he becomes a servant forever. And the Lord Jesus is up there. What is he waiting for? He's waiting for the fruit of his toil and victory.
To be with him. Isn't this lovely?
It repeats these words, Lift up your heads, O ye gates, even lift them up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of glory shall come in you. Notice the different response now in the 10th verse from the 8th. In the eighth verse it says the Lord strong and mighty, but here the Lord of hosts. How does that make you think about what do you think of a host of people? Don't you how when you think of hosts, you think of a host of people? Do you know heaven is going to open again? And who is it going to open for?
It's going to open for a host of people to enter. The one who won the mighty victory is going to enter again, and he's going to enter as we have in the 2nd chapter of Hebrews. It says, I believe He'll introduce us to the Father's house. Behold, I and the children which God hath given me. Oh, how wonderful. The future that's ahead for us.
And brethren, perhaps they could suggest again that this 24th chapter, this 24th Psalm, brings before us the Lord Jesus as the Chief Shepherd. And we could ask ourselves how much we are seeking the good and blessing of the others who are going to enter that home with us, because it's going to be a vast company. And when the Chief Shepherd shall appear, he shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away.
How much the Lord loves his own, speaks of them as the excellent of the earth, and cares for them. And we could ask ourselves, how much do we care? How much do we help them? You know, when that Samaritan brought the man whom he picked up in the ditch and brought him to the end, he gave, he gave to the innkeeper 2 pants, and he added something. He said, Whatsoever thou spendest more when I come again.
I will repay.
You know, I've heard different thoughts about the two pens, but I like to think of the two pence as the two days of the Lord's absence, because we know that the present period is often spoken of in that way.
This present period and the Lord has provided for everything that's needed for this present day as we go through What then is that whatsoever thou spendest more?
Well, the innkeeper there, he could have easily said.
Well, this is all right to bring a man in. This is an inn, and we're willing to give him his bed and his meals and his breakfast and all that, but this man's going to require a little extra care. He's a sick man, he's got a lot of sores and wounds, and you're expecting us to take care of this person and look after him?
Well, you know, sometimes, brethren, there are those who require little extra care, a little extra interest, a little bit of extra help. And isn't it nice that the Lord says, I'll repay you if you do that, I'll repay you for any little more that you do. You say, well, why should I care? But the Lord cares. And so isn't that wonderful? He said, you just do that for this man. And when I come back.
I'll repay you for the extra I've made provisions.
For the two days, but there may be some extras. The Lord says a cup of cold water given to the least of His own. He says in Matthew 25, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these, my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Well may the Lord stir our hearts. Brethren, we have a wonderful portion in Christ. He's the Good Shepherd who gave His life for us. He's the chief Shepherd, and has made all the provision necessary for our pathway.
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But he gives us a little bit of privilege too, to have some part.
And caring for his own. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, he's not going to forget it. And there's going to be a mighty host that entered in that day, and he's going to joy over his own with singing everyone, even the one who perhaps seemed to be a little careless. It says he shall see as a travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. While we're waiting for the heavens to open again.
To receive that vast company of the redeemed. What a privilege to be.
Among that company, according to his own matchless grace, it's because of the God of our salvation.