THE Psalmist here calls upon the Church of God to praise Him for His goodness, and in particular for His goodness as seen in His mercy, whereby everlasting blessings flow forth to the Church. The Lord is good in creation. He looked upon His works in creation, and, behold, they were good. All was perfectly fitted for the great end of His creation. But the exceeding greatness of His goodness is not seen either in creation or in providence. His infinite goodness is seen in redemption, in His mercy—saving sinners from the hand of the enemy, and bringing them to the city of God. This is the crowning mercy of the Church, that she so enjoys and experiences the goodness of the Lord. This supreme revelation of His goodness is therefore the song of the redeemed. “His mercy endureth for ever.” In directing your attention to this portion of His Word, in dependence upon His Spirit, we observe the following points:—
- The enemy from which they are freed;
- Their Redeemer—they are the redeemed of the Lord;
- Their experiences as here recorded of them;
- Their final abode—”A city of habitation”;
- The call to praise the Lord for His mercy in all this.
I. Their Redeemer finds them in the hands of the enemy.
This enemy is sin. Sin is the first and great enemy. Death is the last. “The last enemy which shall be destroyed is death.” We see from the Word of God the agency of sin in three leading aspects—1. There is first of all the manifestation of sin as seen in Satan. The adversary of souls, the accuser of the brethren, is himself under the power of sin. He is the prince of fallen spirits, and the prince of this world, the spirit who now worketh in the children of disobedience. What a cruel and powerful foe this enemy is! He ever increases his own guilt and torment in warring against the Lamb and His Church, yet he ever does his utmost against the Kingdom of Christ. He is compared to a serpent, to a lion, and can transform himself, particularly in matters of religion and the faith, into the appearance of an angel of light. But greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world. The Lord delivers His people from every evil thing, and preserves them unto His heavenly Kingdom.
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The power and the effects of sin are also seen in the world. “The whole world lieth in wickedness.” In thinking of the world, we naturally have in view the walk and conversation of worldly men. What does the life and walk of the natural man manifest but aversion to God and godliness? There is evidently a desire for religion, but it ever takes the form of self-righteousness, self-effort, to please or placate the Being whom the natural man visualises as God. And what sin is seen in the world of men in the form of seeking an earthly portion, earthly honour and glory! “All seek their own, and not the things which are Jesus Christ’s.” This is our natural disposition. “They are all gone out of the way, they are together become unprofitable; there is none that doeth good, no, not one. And the way of peace have they not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes.” There is obviously only one remedy for the nations—for such men. That remedy bestows continuous cleansing as long as there is need of such—continuous fruit, which all are welcome to pluck and eat of—and continuous health to cure and to preserve in soundness. “And He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.”
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But sin is above all to be viewed as seen in the heart, ruining the soul. Here it is seen minutely. “Sin is any want of conformity unto or transgression of the law of God.” “The strength of sin is the law.” Without law there would be no sin. Or, as one puts it, “If you take away law, men may act unreasonably, or in a way injurious to themselves and others, but they cannot sin.” Also, if there were no law, there would be no condemnation. “The law not only reveals and condemns sin, but it exasperates and excites it, and thus gives it strength.” Sin then reigns in the heart. Sin entices, fascinates, entangles, and finally torments. Body and soul are the helpless victims of this pitiless and befouling enemy. Never is there the remotest hope of escape from its presence—its guilt, misery, power, love, and very being—by any effort of mere man. We should particularly seek to realise that we take the guilt of sin and the disease of it with us into the world of spirits, if we go hence without pardon and sanctification. The Redeemer of Israel is waiting to embrace the contrite in heart, and to say, “Thy sins are forgiven thee; go in peace.” “He is ever nigh to those that be of broken spirit.” He is able and willing to give liberty in order that the trusting soul may enjoy holiness and love, and may purify himself even as He is pure.
II. From such a foe, then, the Lord redeems His people.
He is their Redeemer. What they cannot do, He can, and did in large part already. What the law cannot do, He did (Rom. viii. 3, 4). The obedience unto death of the Lord of Glory is the price of the liberty of the Church. “Ye are bought with a price.” The Paschal Lamb, with its sprinkled blood, was one of the chief types of the sacrificial Blood of the Saviour, under the Old Testament dispensation. “Without shedding of blood is no remission,” and “When I see the blood I will pass over you,” are two of the pillar-truths of the faith which the Israel of God are taught in every age. What a suitable Saviour, then, He is! The Goël was suitable in his own place. So also Melchisedec, and Aaron. Sacrifices and offerings were good. The law was good. Tears—smiting upon the thigh—coming with weeping and supplications—are all good as evidencing the state of mind and heart of His Ephraim. But none of these can wash away sin. The only remedy is the infinitely meritorious sacrificial blood of the Divine Saviour. He is suitable for the trembling, contrite soul, is ever nigh to those that be of broken spirit. And as for one, so for all truly seeking His face. The innumerable multitude which shall assemble on Mount Sion with the Lamb shall have the one testimony as to His priestly dignity and His Atonement, “Unto Him who loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood.” How different His suitability and sufficiency is to that of the pool of Bethesda! It was only for some troubles and for the first who entered at the appointed time, but the Lord Jesus is able and willing to save to the uttermost. “Now is the accepted time”—“the acceptable year of the Lord.” While eternal redemption was obtained by His dying for the Church, and entering into the Holiest with His own blood, it is also needful to keep in view that He applies His redemption to all whom the Father gave Him, by the power of His Spirit. The Holy Spirit comes as the Spirit of the Head of the Church, His Blessed Agent, to make sinners willing to receive the truth and kiss the Son of God in a day of grace. “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth.” He has an arm that is full of power; His hand is great in might. He changes a Paul, a Philemon, an Onesimus, and they are all one in Christ Jesus. Each learns more deeply the truth, “By grace ye are saved.” And where the self-same spirit is which these three had—and many more in their day—there, as Jacob said, is the house of God, and there is the gate of heaven. The Head of the Church, then, by His Word and Spirit, applies to them for their justification, sanctification, and perfect blessedness at last, the redemption purchased by Himself. “Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvellous light.”
III. Thirdly, we have before us the experiences of the redeemed as part of the reason for their praising the Lord.
They praise the Lord for the Unspeakable Gift of His Son to be their Redeemer, and have increasing reason to praise Him for what He does in them, and for His presence, protecting care, and provision for them by the way. This is implied in the application of the work of redemption, but we may briefly look at this part further as we have it in the context. It is said of them that they wander in the wilderness in a solitary way. To say so usually means that they back-slide, or are prone to lapse. This, sad to say, may be true. Their love is apt to wax cold, they may be left to slumber, and there is within an old nature as well as the new—an evil heart of unbelief ever ready to depart from the living God. Dr Duncan points out that God sees some of His own children walking more closely with Him than others, and rewards them accordingly. Others of His family are less obedient and require chastening for their profit that they may be partakers of His holiness. He does them good in this way, and they shall praise Him for His mercy. “I will make an everlasting covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do them good; but I will put my fear in their hearts, and they shall not depart from me.” Their wandering is, however, to be taken in the simple sense of sojourning and travelling. The Lord led them all the way, going before them to seek out a place of rest, and He brought them duly to the border of the sanctuary. It is noteworthy that Israel alone, of all the families of the earth, travelled by a pre-arranged way from the house of bondage to the land of promise. It was a solitary way as regarded them or the other nations. Egypt was left behind. Amalek crossed their path. They met with other foes also. But they alone as a nation had the experiences and blessings and hopes and revelations in their great journey, of which we read in His Word. So with the Church. She travels in a way which the world knows not of, and has blessings in possession, and infallibly in prospect which are bestowed upon her members only. They have here no city to dwell in. Yet is it true that by faith they are come to the city of the living God, the New Jerusalem. But the fulness of that blessing is reserved for the Kingdom of Heaven—the city where the inhabitant shall not say, “I am sick; and the people who dwell therein shall be forgiven their iniquity.” As regards their experience by the way, we see further that the redeemed are often hungry and thirsty on the journey. As the Lord provided for the bodily and spiritual needs of Israel in the wilderness, so He provides for the necessities of the Church. He gave manna. He gave water. Their clothes waxed not old. Their feet swelled not. He prevented them with blessings. So we are dependent upon, and indebted to, the Lord for all His goodness in Providence, and for all the blessings of mercy, of grace, and of glory. “What shall I render to the Lord for all His gifts to me?” His revelations concerning Himself—the truths as to the Trinity—the Person and Mediatorial Office of the Saviour, the whole counsel of God for the believer and for the Church are all, by the blessing of God the Spirit, the meat and drink of the new nature. “Her food I’ll greatly bless, her poor with bread will satisfy.” It is part of the joy set before the Saviour—part of His reward—to bless them with spiritual desires after Himself and by His Word and Spirit to bestow out of His fulness upon them what sustains and satisfies the longing soul. “Eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly, O beloved.”
IV. We have, fourthly, the city to which they all come.
Every one of them in Zion appeareth before God. Without remarking upon this part at length, let us observe the contrast between the land which they left—and even their condition by the way—and the city which they arrive at, their eternal home. They had formerly no true rest, no true refuge. But not so now. What is said of the year of Jubilee is applicable to the Kingdom of God in its consummation. “The land shall yield her fruit, and ye shall eat your fill, and dwell therein in safety.” In that kingdom which the saints of the Most High shall possess, shall not the land yield her fruit? Shall they not eat their fill? Shall they not dwell in safety? “In Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” “Walk about Zion. Tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces that ye may tell it to the generation following.” How glorious His Jerusalem upon earth is! How the brethren and companions love it! When you touch their heart-strings, how they melt with love toward the house of the Lord, and to the Lord of the house—to the ordinances of God. His cause, house, Zion, is their chief joy now. With all their lack of love, they love it, and with all their felt lack of love, they love Him. Jehovah-Shammah! “Blessed are they that do His commandments that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city.”
V. Such praise Him.
“O praise the Lord; let the redeemed of the Lord say so.” They sing of mercy righteously bestowed. The fruits of mercy are songs of praise, their love to the Three-One God. Their praise is spiritual, holy, heavenly. Praise comes from a renewed heart and sanctified lips. It is accepted through their Head and all-prevailing Intercessor, the Angel who hath much incense. They know not the “numbers” of His justice and salvation. In the courts of the Lord’s house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem: Praise ye the Lord. “And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia, for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth” (Rev. xix. 6.)
In preaching the Gospel of the grace of God out of the abundance of your hearts, you are well aware, Fathers and Brethren, that the messengers sent by the Head of the Church have to do with two classes. There are, first, those who are still out of the way. They are on the broad way. They as yet know not Him who is the Way in Justification, and also the Way in Sanctification. It is for you—in the spirit of the Great High Priest who was faithful to Him who appointed Him, and had at the same time compassion on the ignorant and on them who were out of the way—to declare to them their need of Christ and Him crucified. It is for you to show them the right way, that, by God’s blessing, they may receive the gift of faith, and, therefore, the end of faith, even the salvation of their souls. They shall thus rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
It is also a special duty and privilege to seek to know the needs of the household of faith, and administer consolation or needful counsel accordingly. The Lord of the Church had the tongue of the learned, and knew how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. And as with the Master, so with the disciple. Those sent forth by Him seek that believers may grow in grace—that they themselves and the many sons whom the Father is bringing to glory may daily press on toward the mark—continue in the grace of God, abide in Christ by receiving out of His fulness, and so when He shall appear, they may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming. May we be engaged in heart, by the gracious power of the Holy Spirit, to serve Him daily, so shall He be our Shield and our exceeding great Reward! May the answer to the prayer of Moses be granted to us also—“My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest.” “O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; for His mercy endureth for ever. Let the redeemed of the Lord say so!”