Preached in Greenock, Second Sabbath of October, 1949,
by Rev. J. MACLEOD, Greenock.
THIS portion of the Word of God is a revelation of the joys, trials and afflictions of the Lord’s people from the dawn of their regeneration to their last day in the wilderness of time. We are not told who was the Writer of the Psalm, but we are sure enough of the Author. The Holy Spirit was the Author, and His divine impress is on every line from the beginning of the Psalm to the last word in it. It is so designed by Him to suit every believer in all ages, at all times, and in every station and stage in the serious life of the godly. This Psalm will not grow old as long as there is a believer in the world. It is always green, fresh, and new in the experience of the humble believer. That is the way with the Word of God, always divine, spiritual, heavenly, saturated with the honey of gospel sweetness, pouring divine blessings, comforts, and sanctifying light on the path of the poor and needy. The Word of God does reveal to God’s people their lost, ruined, and corrupt condition by nature, state and practice in the world. But it reveals to them infinitely more than that. It reveals to them the remedy than can heal all their diseases, and the Book of Psalms is full, and overflowing with the consolations of the gospel. Our great Scottish Reformer, John Knox, used to go through the Book of Psalms once a month. When the Holy Spirit shines through it into the soul, what riches, what light, strength, and comfort the believer derives from the Word of God. They may be passing through deep waters, without a ray of light till the blessed Spirit sends His divine rays into their poor souls, and that often happens through a passage of the Word as contained in the Book of Psalms. How can men (and we thoroughly believe, true believers), go to the muddy waters of man-made hymns instead of the pure, divine, and inspired Psalms, is really a puzzle which we cannot appreciate, nor understand. Men who believe in the Inspiration of the Bible in every chapter and verse of it! Custom and Tradition dies hard! The Roman and Greek Churches adopted the use of human hymns very early in their respective histories, which caused burning and bitter animosity among the people; and to this day in England, one branch will not sing the hymns that “Saint B.” composed, and Mr. Over-righteous cannot tolerate the hymns composed by “Saint Just.” All should agree to praise God by the use of the Psalms. That should not cause divisions and bitter feeling among God’s Children.
(1) In the first place we may consider how we ought to praise God for His goodness. It is most evidently set forth in the Scriptures that we cannot add anything to the happiness, greatness, and majesty of God. He is eternally happy, and eternally above and beyond the reach of His creatures. From everlasting to everlasting He is God. His praise is, to ascribe to Him the glory that belongs to Him. He has revealed infinite greatness, goodness, wisdom, power and glory in the creation of this world out of nothing. His mighty works are to be observed by all His rational creatures. It ought to be a mirror to us wherein we might behold His glory in mighty seas, high mountains, deep valleys, tiny flowers, creeping worms, swift eagles, the cautious wren, the growing herbs, the fading leaf—an endless variety of things in His creation to demand study, attention, admiration and soul submission to the Divine Goodness. Alas! our mental and spiritual blindness is such that we resemble more the brute creation than creatures that were created to glorify and enjoy Him. That does not alter the fact that we should seek the glory of God, and praise His name for His goodness.
We are spiritually blind. “Marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.” This new birth is from above. The Holy Spirit regenerates the soul. His divine power alone that can do it. It is a complete change. There is a change of state and of nature. We are the children of a fallen father. Adam sinned against God and lost his holiness, blessing and happiness. He could not praise God. Sin, guilt, shame and corruption closed his mouth, heart, mind and will to praise his Maker. He gave his ear to the devil, who tuned his heart to mutter his own hymns of hate! God in adorable wisdom provided a remedy, a Saviour to redeem sinners from that fearful condition. In the gospel we have that divine and glorious Saviour presented and offered to us without money or without price on our part. “O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been His counsellor?” (Rom. xi). The Elect will praise God forever that in their low estate He thought of them, called them to life, to exercise faith, which was and is, His own gift, uniting them to the Lord Jesus Christ. “For of Him, and through Him, and to Him are all things: to whom be glory for ever, Amen.” The Holy Spirit calls, makes willing, and unfolds the love and mercy of God in Christ to the poor sinner. The gospel Table is set before them: “A feast of fat things, a feast of wines on the lees, of fat things full of marrow, of wines on the lees well refined,” (Isa. xxv). The gospel marrow is most nourishing to the hungry soul. “I have loved thee with an everlasting love,” is wines on the lees well refined in the wisdom, love and mercy of God from eternity to eternity. “God so loved the world” is no empty sound in the ears of a poor soul brought out of the house of bondage, from being a slave of the devil to serve the living God. This is the “New Birth.” “The conscience purged from dead works to serve the living God,” (Heb. ix). This man does not require an Organist to play on the understanding, will, and affections of his soul. His tune is praise to God for His mercies that will endure for ever. He will praise God forever! The glory of redemption, love and mercy is with the whole heart, and mind, ascribed to Him. When he looks back and begins to see how near he was to a lost eternity while serving the devil, the flesh and the world: and at the same time as ignorant of God as an ass or mule; what cause of the deepest humility, and at the same time of the highest praise to Him that observed, watched over him, took care of the poor wandering sheep! If this is not mercy, what is mercy? It is all mercy from the womb to the grave, and to all eternity. The goodness of God! The Formalist, Legalist, and Pharisee can never enjoy the gospel. They are outside. We must be inside the fold with the good Shepherd before we know the joyful sound of the gospel. The Covenant of grace is an absolute Covenant. It is an eternal Covenant. It is a glorious Covenant. It has no need of the Armenian props to strengthen and establish it. Christ did that with His own blood in heaven. “Oh that men would praise God” for this ever blessed Covenant! On the other hand, the blind cannot appreciate the beauty of colours. The Formalist leans on the staff of his own wisdom, powers of reason, and sings the praises of his own excellency, and is mighty pleased with his own great attainments. He lives off the gospel, but not on the gospel. He has a name to live and that satisfies him; and well he may sing his own hymns of praise, and if others will not admire his performances, he calls for fire to come down from heaven to destroy all opposition. He looks on the poor and needy in Zion with the fire of the murderer in his eye as the Pharisees looked on the Saviour of the poor. He was never poor, as he lives in the green pastures of his imagination, without God and without hope in the world!
(2) In the second place we may consider the next part of this verse: “and for His wonderful works to the children of men.” All His works are wonderful, but the revelation He has given of Himself in Christ transcends all His other works. The Father elected His own Son to die for the ungodly. We who were far off, under the curse of the Law, helpless, hopeless, ruined, maimed, blind, dumb, deaf—as we are described in the parable of the prodigal son—feeding the swine of our own lusts. No thought could enter our minds that there was anything better than to feed the swine (the flesh), of our own lusts till the Spirit of God quickened us to consciousness of our lost condition. The spiritual darkness of the soul was like the inside of the grave—death and darkness reigning supreme. “God said let there be light, and there was light.” If God had passed over us, we would have remained in that darkness forever! From spiritual darkness to utter darkness in a lost eternity. “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us, and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins,” (I John iv). We had no hand in this business. See Titus iii to confirm and set your mind at ease on the glorious Rock of the Covenant. “And He shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and the Lamb,” (Rev. xxii). This vision revealed to John is the whole scheme of redemption “clear as crystal” from the fountain head—God. The gospel is the “water of life” to all that will savagely drink it by faith. “Open thy mouth wide,” and the Spirit of God fills it to the entire satisfaction of your immortal being. Christ fills it. We need Christ in His finished work as our complete and perfect Saviour. His wonderful works to the children of men are to be seen in sending the gospel to our native island many hundreds of years ago. We see, read, study, and I hope we do appreciate at least to a certain extent the blessed Reformation, and the blessed fruits that followed that wonderful work of God to the shores of Britain, to the Highlands and Islands of the sea. Men of God raised, and sent to preach the gospel of love, mercy and peace to benighted savages in Wales, Ireland, and down to the Island of Lewis, with the Bible in their hands, Christ in their own hearts, His blood in their consciences, and divine love in their souls, to declare His righteousness to naked self-destroyed souls! The harvest of souls Christ took from the British Isles for the last, near two thousand years, shall not be known till the great day! This was His wonderful works to the children of men. Paul preached Christ and Him crucified to a savage and hostile generation, facing death, privation, persecution, cold, hunger and nakedness, but His wonderful works were so great in his eyes that nothing mattered if Christ was made known to sinners of the lost ruined children of Adam. It was not fine studied essays that Paul preached. No! Such rubbish might feed swine, but not the poor of the Lord, or meet with the awakened conscience of a lost sinner like the jailer in Philippi. With Paul it was Christ or nothing! If Christ is not in the preaching, in His love, mercy, power, grace and salvation, there is nothing but death in the “pot.” It was the work of God to send the gospel to our fathers while dreaming about a future that did not exist. He revealed Christ to them in His glorious robe of righteousness that could cover their own vile nakedness, heal their diseases, enlighten their souls, renew their will, to enable them to follow Jesus in the way. It was a day of gospel power, peace, and blessedness. We their children should not forget the wonderful works of God! It is base ingratitude on our part to forget His wonderful works in liberating us from the idolatry of Rome, that yoke of bondage, and slavery of the flesh.
Are we not eye witnesses of what happened in other Roman Catholic countries and idolatrous nations such as Russia, Turkey, the whole of Asia, Africa, Italy, Spain, France, Lower Canada and South America, that are at this very day wallowing in the mire of atheism, ignorance, murder, rape, with the Pope as king-priest over millions of this poor mob, and Stalin demanding obedience over the rest of the benighted millions of Asia and Eastern Europe! The Pope claims that some three hundred millions follow his path. Stalin claims some seven or eight hundred millions who follow his philosophy! What if the Pope and Stalin agree to co-operate to crush all opposition to the Vatican and the Kremlin? Who can tell? The Pope may change his policy at a moment’s notice. He may direct all his followers to agree with Stalin if he sees that there is no alternative to retain his Triple Crown. The Protestants of Europe, U.S.A., Canada, South Africa, etc., may have to fight the combined forces of the Vatican, and Russia in Asia and Europe. The Lord reigns above all and over all. Let us not forget what the Lord did for us and our fathers in the past. He is the same to-day. He has not changed. May our prayer be, “May thy kingdom come.” His Kingdom must come into the hearts and lives of all that shall be saved of the human race. Christ must reign over them as their Lord and God. The powers that oppose Christ and His people must perish. They will pass away like the flies that are born at sunrise and die at sunset. The wicked shall not last. We need not be over-burdened in our minds as to what commotions may take place in the world. If the devil’s kingdom is divided into parties, sects and creeds, that is the surest sign of its final end and destruction. Satan must be cast out. It is the gospel in its divine power and life that does that. The seat of Satan in this world is the heart of man. When the strong man armed is defeated, overthrown, and cast out by the Word, Spirit, grace and love of God from his seat; his power, kingdom and place is taken away. If ten million, or a hundred million men are brought under the yoke of the gospel, Satan loses his place and seat in every soul regenerated by the Spirit. It is by the power of the gospel that Satan must disappear for a long period in the future history of our poor race. It is the gospel that will destroy Romanism, Communism, and all who daringly and wickedly oppose the Lord Jesus. In recent times, Roman Catholic priests have been converted to the Protestant faith, and many of them are now preaching the gospel that once they knew not and despised. The Roman priests are leaving the Church of Rome in U.S.A., Canada, Italy, South America, in considerable numbers in recent years! That is a good sign. In England, many of the clergy of the Church of England would join Rome to-morrow, and the poor blinded hypocrites know, or should know, that the Roman Catholic priests in thousands do not believe one word of what they are made to say like prattling fools at the command of the Jesuits of the Vatican.
(To be continued.)