A Practical Discourse
(No. 3313)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY AUGUST 1, 1912.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON, ON LORD'S DAY EVENING,
SEPTEMBER 9, 1883.
"A month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home." 1 Kings 5:14.
IT was right that when a Te a levy was made and a certain number of men
were chosen to work in Lebanon. It was, however, most fitting that work
for a gracious God should be joyful work–not the bondage of slaves,
but the delight of sons. Solomon did not demand that any Israelite
should toil in the mountains and queries for years together and leave
his own fields to lie waste, but he decreed that the workers should
have one month in Lebanon at work on the Temple and two months at home
for their own affairs. Our God is not a taskmaster–and sacred service
should not sour into forced labor! Self-sacrifice is the soul of true
religion, but we must not demand of others that which would turn
religion into slavery. Solomon knew that the common people would grow
weary of working even for Jehovah, Himself, if they were taken away
from their own families and inheritance altogether and, therefore, in
his wisdom he put it so–"One month in Lebanon, and two months at
home."
I am about to draw from this text two lessons. They are these–first,
that you and I ought to be rendering service to the Lord our God and
assisting to build up His spiritual Temple. But secondly, that while we
labor abroad, we must be doubly careful to watch over our own
households and our own souls. Marthas must also be Marys. We are bound
to serve, but we must not be cumbered with much serving. We must work
with Martha and yet sit with Mary at the Master's feet–there must be
one month in Lebanon and two months at home!
I. First, then, WE ARE BOUND TO DO SERVICE FOR OUR KING–service for
the living Temple of our God.
It is not enough for us to say, "I believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
and, therefore, I am saved." That is notthe end of it all, otherwise
religion were a grand piece of selfishness! Our souls may not be hooped
in within our own ribs. Absorption in our own safety and neglect of
others would betray a spirit directly opposite to that of Jesus and His
true disciples. No, Brothers and Sisters, as the Father sent His Son
into the world, even so has He sent usinto the world–that we may be
made a blessing to our fellows! Our lifework is to prepare living
stones which may be built upon the one Foundation to be a habitation of
God through the Spirit. We are to be hewers of timber and squarers of
stones for the House of our
God!
Lay home to your hearts your obligations to the Lord Jesus Christ. "You
are not your own, for you are bought with a price." Therefore no man
lives unto himself. Your own salvation is of the utmost importance to
you, but an essential part of it is salvation from selfishness. If you
begin and end with your own interests, you are the servants of selfand
not of the Lord Jesus! We owe our all to the blessed Lord Jesus Christ
and, therefore, His business is our business–and what is His business
but to seek and to save that which was lost? We are now the lifelong
servants of Him "who, though He was rich, yet for our sakes became
poor." Shall we grudge our month in Lebanon? No, rather we will now see
to it that the whole 12 months of the year are dedicated to Temple
service since He has called us to be priests and, therefore, we always
dwell in His House!
Remember also our obligations to others. How were we converted? Was it
not through the instrumentality of some Christian man or women?
Directly or indirectly, it was so in every case, for those who have
gone to Glory long ago have left us debtors for the knowledge of the
Gospel which they handed down to us. Most of us were blessed by direct
agen-cy–a good book was quietly placed in our way, a kind word was
gently spoken, an earnest sermon was aimed at us–a holy example was
set before us. By such things as these we were drawn to Christ. By the
tears and prayers of others we
were brought to the Savior's feet. Some owe their conversion to their
parents, others to Sabbath school teachers, others to preachers of the
Word. The bulk of us were brought to Jesus by some one instrumentality
or another. Pay your debt, then. You also are to bring another to Jesus
as a recompense to His servants. A certain generous man used to give
liberally to the poor, but he did it in this fashion–he said to each
one, "I only lend this money to you, and you are to pay it back to me
when you are able to do so, by giving as much as this to another poor
person." That is the method of our Lord Jesus Christ–He grants us a
knowledge of His Gospel under bond that we tell it to others. Brothers
and Sisters, we are debtors! If we are built up a spiritual house, let
us gladly give our month in Lebanon that other stones may be built into
the heavenly Temple!
Besides, there is a life within every Christian which is the best
prompter to holy service. My Brother, if you are born-again, you cannot
be idle, for the life of God is never sluggish! Did not Jesus say, "My
Father works hitherto, and I work"? If you are not diligent in sacred
service, you will soon be afflicted with doubts and fears, for this
disease attends on spiritual sloth! The month on breezy Lebanon is for
your soul's health. To be idle is to sicken, but to serve God is health
and delight! It is like swimming to a strong swimmer–he delights to
breast the waves. It is like flight to the condor of the Andes who
joyfully spreads his wings towards the sun! Tell the eagle that it is a
toil to mount into the ether, and his joyful flight replies, "Toil to
me to fly? I was made on purpose to dart among lightning and to be at
home amid tempests! My eyes can even dare to gaze upon the sun." O
Brothers and Sisters, it is not slavery to serve Christ! Even when it
involves stern effort, the labor brings its own refreshment. The more
we can do for Christ, the more are we indulging those sacred instincts
which Regeneration has implanted within us! Let us shoulder the axe and
spend our month in Lebanon! Felling trees is fit work even for
premiers, and preparing stones for the spiritual Temple would be an
honorable occupation for angels!
This work is most beneficial to ourselves. Those Christians people who
do nothing are usually troublesome, for they are at leisure to find
fault with those who are doing their best. Many can see exactly how it
ought to be done, and yet do nothing! They discover where the worker
fails. They detect the little crotchets and peculiarities which reveal
themselves in his service. The minister would preach so much better if
he did it in the patent way which his critics have invented. Why do not
these fellows attempt the work themselves? No, they are too fine for
that–their high vocation is to review the defects of their brothers! I
am sick of them! Is not their Lord weary of them, too?
Working for the Lord necessitates prayer and this is a great blessing
to us. If a man gives himself wholly to soul-winning, he must be much
in prayer, for he will be all at sea without help from Heaven! If he
tries to comfort the downcast penitent, how readily will he be baffled!
How soon will he cry to the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, to do the work
effectually! Every Grace which a Christian possesses is bettered by its
use in heavenly service. The practical value of the Gospel will soon
strike you if you labor among the fallen, the ignorant, the infidel.
Does anybody know how precious the Gospel is till he has seen it light
up the eyes that were dim with despondency? Does any man know how the
joyful sound of the name of Jesus can charm a heart till he has seen
the smile of newborn faith? I do not see how our coming memories can
minister to our eternal happiness unless we earnestly labor to bring
sinners to the Savior! Let us be up in earnest and win jewels for Jesus
and happy memories for ourselves! Will it not enlarge our Heaven to see
those in Glory who were saved by our word? Was Rutherford wrong when he
said, "Oh, to see the people of Anwoth in Heaven shall be seven heavens
to me"? I can truly say of my Hearers that the Heaven of each one shall
be another Heaven to me! For this joy let us each one gladly take his
month in Lebanon! Let those who have begun to loiter awaken themselves.
It ill becomes any of us to be hearers of the Word for ourselves and
never publishers of it to others!.
II. It remains that I now remind you that if we take our month in
Lebanon in active service for the Lord's House, WE MUST TAKE SPECIAL
CARE TO SPEND OUR TWO MONTHS AT HOME.
Our own households must have special attention. The first duty of a
Christian man is within his own heart. The second is within his own
house. Teach children? Yes, by all means, but begin with your own!
Convert sinners? Yes, but labor first to win those who are round about
you. Religion must begin at home! The Apostles were to begin at
Jerusalem, because Jerusalem was their home. If we care not for our own
households, we shall be worse than heathen men and publicans. I am
afraid that many professing Christians will have the doom of Eli
pronounced upon them. Eli's sons made themselves vile and he restrained
them not. He said a gentle word to them, "Do not do so, my sons," but
he did not put his foot down and tell them plainly, "This shall not be
done in my house. You shall not profane the sanctuary of God by
open sin if I can prevent it. I am resolved upon that." The end of his
indulgence was their destructions and you know how sorrowfully the old
man ended his days and what a curse fell upon his household in later
generations. God grant that it may never be so with one of us! If
anybody should ask me whether I know an Eli, I fear I could put my
finger on several. I do not say that I can see one here–I will not
look that way, but let each one ask, "Lord, is it I?"
Rest assured that all our talk about religion and all our public labors
will go for very little if our own families run wild. It is a horrible
thing in Israel when the children of godly men are the sons of Belial!
Such cases do occur and then some say to me, "It is written, 'Train up
a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart
from it.' How do you make that out when So-and-So's son is such an open
rebel?" I answer, "Whenever I have been able to lift the veil, I have
invariably found a reason for the children's non-conversion in the
mismanagement of the household, or in the inconsistent conduct of the
parents." I suspect that we may generally say, "Is there not a cause?"
I will not say "always," because singular things do happen, but yet if
God gives His people Grace to walk uprightly before Him and they pray
for their children, and instruct them, and set them a godly example,
the children usually follow in their father's footsteps.
Take heed, then, that you spend your two months at home! Do not offer
to God the sacrifice of public service smeared with the blood of your
home duties. Do not diminish your care in your own house, for the
neglect of domestic piety will prevent the acceptance of your public
service. God forbid that when you talk to outsiders, they should reply,
"Look at your own children." Our own offspring must be prayed for and
we must do more than that–we must correct them for sin, instruct them
in the Scriptures and pray with them personally till we weep over them!
Family prayer must be maintained in a devout and interesting
manner–and our young people must go with us to the sanctuary and be
trained to treasure up what they hear. I know the Spirit of God alone
can renew their hearts, but He is not backward to bless the means.
If the Lord helps us to be earnest with our children, what a blessed
reward awaits us! "I have no greater joy than this, that my children
walk in the Truth of God." Every Christian parent may say this of his
offspring. Oh, the delight it is to look upon sons and daughters all in
Christ!–to hear and know that they are as earnest for the Redeemer's
Kingdom as we are! All the honor must be given to the Sovereign Grace
of God–but the comfort is ours. I am sure that when my mother pleaded
with me, she was doing better than if she had addressed large
assemblies. I am equally sure that when my father knelt down with me,
alone, and pleaded with God for me, and besought me to pray for myself,
he was doing a better day's work then when he was preaching, though in
that he has had great blessing! Who knows what your son may be? Who
knows what usefulness God may give to your daughter? Surely, if Dr.
Busby used to take off his hat when he went into the schoolroom because
he did not know who the boys might be, for they might turn out to be
great statesmen or judges, you might take off your hat to your
children–for you cannot tell what God may make of them! Pray for Grace
to look well to the ways of your household, that they may bring no
discredit upon the cause of Christ. Use well those two months at home.
Lastly, I change the run of thought to reach another point. There is a
home that is nearer home than our own homes–and that is the state of
things within our own breasts. If we give a certain care to the service
of God, publicly, there must be double attention to the work of Grace
within. We must not neglect the cultivation of our own heart! We must
watch our own growth in Grace, our own communion with Christ, our own
faith, our own hope, our own love– for if we do not, we shall be in
great danger! I fear that many Christians are busy here and there and
their own spiritual life is withering. They accomplish little because
their spiritual money is put into a bag which is full of holes! They
work hard, but take no fish because they never mend their nets. If we
neglect our private prayers, we shall not "so run that we may obtain."
In some cases the neglect will prove to be fatal. I do not mean in the
case of the genuine child of God, but I do mean in the case of many
whom we take to be such. They keep the vineyards of others, but their
own vineyard they have not kept. They urge repentance, but they have
not themselves repented! They teach faith, but they have not themselves
believed. They forget the work of the Holy Spirit within them in their
zeal for their own fussy endeavors to outdo others. If you neglect your
own souls and hope that you will get right by performing Christian
duties, you are grievously mistaken! If you try to shine and have no
oil in your vessels with your lamps, your lamps will go out and you
will die in the dark. If you try to tell others what you do not know
and speak to them of a Savior in whom you have never trusted, your life
will be a dreadful failure! You will preach and teach your own
condemnation! What else can come of it? Do see to it that if you go up
to Lebanon, the axe is first laid to the root of your own sins.
Supposing the professor to be a real and true Christian, yet, if he is
always active and never contemplative. If he spends much time in
working and none in prayer and Bible reading, it will be very weakening
to himself and damaging to his work. A weak hand may wield a good tool,
but it cannot do much with it. When you are sickly, ailing, out of
sorts as to body, you cannot do your work well. It would be a foolish
thing to put a poor consumptive man to labor like a strong laborer on
the railway–he would weary himself and do little with great pain.
Fussy work that is done for Christ without communion with Christ comes
to nothing because it is not worked in the strength of God. O my
Brothers and Sisters, nothing can come out of us if it is not first
worked in us by the Holy Spirit! It is essential that a Christian
worker should himself be the workmanship of God. If we would heal, we
must be healthy. If we get out of fellowship with Jesus, it will lead
to innumerable evils! And the more we try to do, the more those evils
will show themselves. We shall grow proud of our doings and we shall
censure others till we grow unbearable. We shall become
self-confident–and the more we attempt, the more self-confident we
shall become! Or else we shall take to murmuring and grow displeased
because God does not prosper our work–and we will feel like Cain when
the Lord had no respect to his offering. You must walk in the light as
God is in the light if you are to enlighten a dark world and glorify
your Lord!
Finally let me say to you, dear Friends, there must be the two months
at home as to prayer. Do not forsake the Mercy Seat. Be in the frequent
practice of prayer and–what is better–be always in the spirit of
prayer! May the Holy Spirit lead you to baptize every duty into the
pure stream of Grace and to do the same in every lesson in the school,
every sermon you deliver, and every tract you give away! Pray over the
whole business! Prepare for the one month in Lebanon by the two months
at home spent in pleading with God for a blessing!
Be much in Bible reading. We do not read the Bible half as much as we
should. Look how the Puritans searched it from end to end. How familiar
they were with every book! What blessed family prayer there must have
been in the household of Philip Henry since it led Matthew Henry to
write that famous Commentary! Oh, that we had more Bible searching and
Bible preaching! Talking about the Bible is well enough, but searching
the Scriptures is better! Feed on the Word yourselves, or else your
teaching will be thin and watery.
So, too, as to self-examination–a duty much neglected! Let us not fail
in it. How few there are who look over the actions of the day before
they fall asleep at night! But how well it would be to revive the
practice!
Repentance, too, that sweet Grace with the diamonds in her eyes–sweet
tears of holy grief for all that has been amiss–is not this pushed
aside? This must not be!
And faith, also, the constant trusting the Savior, should we not
exercise it more continuously? Oh, to have times of quiet for the
exercise of faith and the growth of love!
As for communion with God, oh, that we lived in it always! But we do
not get time enough. We do not taketime enough to get near our God. We
are like men who eat their meals in a hurry, for business calls them
away. If a man has no regular meals, but gets a snack here and a snack
there, he soon gets out of sorts. He needs time for regular food and
its mastication and digestion. We need the same for our holy feasts
upon the heavenly food! And to this end I would urge Solomon's
rule–one month in Lebanon, but two months at home. A word to the wise
is enough and, therefore, I say no more.
EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON: 1 KINGS 5; PSALMS 48; 95.
1 Kings 5:1-5. And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon;
for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the place of his
father: for Hiram had always loved David. And Solomon sent to Hiram
saying, You know how that Davidmy father couldnot buildan house unto
the name ofthe LORD his God for the wars which were about him on every
side, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet But now the
LORD my God has given me rest on every side, so that there is neither
adversary nor evil occurrence. And, behold, I purpose to buildan house
unto the name ofthe LORD my God, as the LORD spoke unto David my
father, saying, Your son, whom I willset upon your throne in your
place, he shall build an house unto My name. When God intends a man to
do any special work for Him, He will find him all the helpers he needs.
Sometimes those helpers may seem to be very unlikely persons, but–
"Remember that Omnipotence
Has servants everywhere."
See, dear Friends, when the Lord had given rest to Solomon, he
proceeded with the building of the Temple which David had planned.
Whenever God blesses you, show your gratitude to Him by undertaking
some special service for Him. Now that you are out of your recent
trouble, bring your sacrifice of thanksgiving and do all that you can
for your Lord– your time of rest may not last as long as you could
wish, therefore use it while you have it to God's Glory.
6. Now therefore command you that they hew me cedar trees out of
Lebanon; and my servants shall be with your servants: and unto you will
I give him for your servants according to all that you shall appoint:
for you know that there is not among us any that can skill to hew
timber like the Sidonians. It is not every man who has every gift.
Hiram and his Sidonians could hew timber more skillfully than Solomon
and his Israelites. God can always find the right sort of men to do His
work. Do not be dispirited because you cannot do everything–why should
you? Should not somebody else have a share and be also permitted to
have the honor of serving his God? It is well that you cannot do all
that has to be done, and that somebody else can do something better
than you can!
7, 8. Andit came topass, when Hiram heard the words ofSolomon, that he
rejoiced greatly, andsaid, Blessed be the LORD this day, which has
given unto David a wise son over this great people. And Hiram sent to
Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which you sent to me for
It is always a good thing, before you agree to do anything, to consider
it, to look at it from all points of view. I wish that in giving money
to the service of God, there was more consideration as to the objective
for which it is given. Some give simply because others do. Some because
they are asked. But he gives best who considers the matter and looks
all round, and then says, "Yes, this is a just claim upon me as a
servant of God and, therefore I will respond to it." So, "Hiram sent to
Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which you sent to me
for"–
8-11. And I will do all your desire concerning timber of cedar, and
concerning timber of fir. My servants shall bring them down from
Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the
place that you shall appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged
there, and you shall receive them: and you shall accomplish my desire,
in giving food for my household. So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and
fir trees according to all his desire. And Solomon gave Hiram twenty
thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty
measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year.Is it not
a very pleasing thought that both Jews and Gentiles built the Temple of
Solomon? They put the big stones together and cut the cedar and fir
trees into the proper shape, yet they were Hiram's fir trees and
Hiram's cedar trees, and he floated them by sea to the place where they
were landed, and then they were dragged to Jerusalem. And God will let
His people of every race and nation have a share in the building of His
great spiritualhouse!
12-14. And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, as He promised him: and there
waspeace between Hiram andSolo-mon, and they two made a league together
And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was
thirty thousand men. And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month
by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and
Adoniram was over the levy.That was a capital rule–"a month they were
in Lebanon, and two months at home." You who work for God must have
your month at work, but you also need two months at home to attend to
your own business. There are some people who always stay at Lebanon,
always at work, but there is spiritual work to be done at home as well!
Getting your heart ready for service, sharpening your tools, looking
after your own flocks and herds and so on There was hard work to be
done, and if it was to be done well, the workers needed to have their
sinews and muscles in good order, so "a month they were in Lebanon, and
two months at home." One prayer in the class and two prayers at home!
One hour of teaching the lesson, twice as much time taken in getting it
up and preparing it.
15. And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bore burdens, and
fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains. What were their names? I
cannot tell you, but probably there was a book in which they were all
recorded. And Christ has many humble workers, hewers of wood and
bearers of burdens whose names are not known among men. Well, what is
in a name? Let us be content to serve under our greater Solomon and let
the whole Glory of building His spiritual Temple go to Him! Never mind
who bears the burdens or who hews the stones–the Temple is for God, so
let God be glorified, and not man!
16. Beside the chief of Solomon's officers which were over the work,
three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people that
worked in the work There must be various degrees among the workers in
the service of God. He is a
Sovereign and He divides unto every man according as He wills. How this
ought to hush all envy and rebellion against the officers in the work
of God whom He has called to be overseers of others!
17. And the king commanded. That is at the bottom of all service for
our King–let us but get a command from the King, and we obey at once.
17, 18. And they brought great stones, costly stones and hewed stones,
to lay the foundation ofthe house. And Solomon's builders and Hiram's
builders did hew them, and the stone squares I am glad they are
mentioned here, for there are still some Brothers and Sisters who are
not hewers, but they are stone squarers. Perhaps they do not see many
conversions through their efforts, but they do a great deal of the work
of instructing the converts. They polish what other people have
excavated–they are stone squarers–and just as the Temple at Jerusalem
needed the work of the stone squarers, so does God's great
spiritualTemple need those who square as well as those who hew the
stones that are to be built into it.
18. So they prepared timber and stones to build the house. Nothing is
too good or too costly to be given to God, and let us reckon no labor
too hard or too heavy that will bring Glory to His holy name!
Psalm 48: A Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah. It is not every Psalm
that is a song, for some Psalms are full of sorrow and it is not every
song that is a Psalm, for, alas, there are many songs that are mere
foolish rhymes or something worse, but here is a happy combination, "A
Song and Psalm for the sons of Korah."
Verse 1. Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised—Surely a great
God should have great praise–"greatly to be praised"–
1. In the city of our God, in the mountain of His holiness. If there is
any place where He ought to be praised, surely it is there! Even if all
the rest of the world is silent, let God be praised "in the mountain of
His holiness." Holy people must praise the holy God. It is natural that
they should do so. It needs holy people to see God and when they do see
Him, their eyes will glisten with delight and their voices will ring
with His praise!
2. Beautiful for situation, the joy ofthe whole earth, is Mount Zion,
on the sides ofthe north, the city ofthe great King. Thus the Jew
praises Jerusalem and thus the Christian praises the Church. The Church
of Christ is, to His eyes, the most precious thing in the whole
world–there is nothing upon the face of the earth that is so lovely in
the sight of God as His own chosen Church!
3. God is known in her palace for a refuge. Are not all her people
kings? Therefore they live in palaces and they, none of them, trust in
themselves–God is known to them as a refuge.
4. 5. For, lo, the kings were assembled, they passed by together. They
saw it, and so they marveled. They came up with their confederate bands
of kings to attack Jerusalem! And they looked at it and wondered at its
strength and beauty.
5. They were troubled, and hastened away. If they came quickly, they
went away still more quickly, hurrying off like a band of frightened
children.
6. 7. Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in
travail You break the ships of Tarshish with an east wind.God broke up
the confederacies of kings that were leagued against His people. Even
the great galleons of Tar-shish were dashed to pieces when the Lord
blew with His wind and scattered them as, many centuries later, He did
with the "Invincible" Armada on our own coasts!
8. As we have heard, so have we seen in the city ofthe LORD ofHosts, in
the city of our God: God will establish it
forever. Selah. [See Sermon #2014, Volume 34–AS WE HAVE HEARD, SO WE
HAVE SEEN.] Well might there be a pause here for solemn consideration,
for putting the harp strings right and lifting up the heart to the Lord
in praise.
9. We have thought of Your loving kindness, O God, in the midst of Your
Temple. [See Sermon #2783, Volume 48–a worthy
THEME FOR THOUGHT.] Here is a blessed subject, "Your loving
kindness, O God"–a blessed people, we who have enjoyed it–a blessed
occupation, "we have thought of Your loving kindness"–and a blessed
place in which to do it, "in the midst of Your Temple." When we are in
the midst of the Lord's people, in the midst of His Church, then is the
time for sweet and blessed thoughts concerning our gracious God!
10. According to Your name, O God, so is Your praise unto the ends of
the earth. As is God's name, so is His fame–unto the very ends of the
earth shall men hear the praises of the Lord, especially when He
delivers His people.
10. Your right hand is full of righteousness. God's right hand is never
empty–"Your right hand is full." And when He comes to sinners, He
deals with them in righteousness. And when He comes to His saints in
mercy, it is still in righteousness. "Mercy and truth are met together;
righteousness and peace have kissed each other." "If we confess our
sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins"
11. Let Mount Zion rejoice, let the daughters of Judah be glad, because
of Your judgment. That is, the smaller cities of Judah, let them sing,
as well as Jerusalem, the high praises of their delivering God. Perhaps
it refers to the women who, in times of war, have to suffer most and
worst of all–let them be loudest in their joyous music–as Miriam took
her timbrel and led the song of the women on the shore of the Red Sea,
so let the daughters of Judah be glad because of the Lord's righteous
judgments upon the enemies of His people.
12. 13. Walk about Zion, and go round about her: count the towers
thereof. Mark you well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that you may
teel it to the generations following. Sunday school teachers, note the
security of the Church of God! Mark the eternal Truth on which she is
founded, the everlasting promises by which she is guarded, the forts
and bastions of Omnipotence that preserve her from the assaults of her
enemies! And then tell all this "to the generation following."
14. For this God is our God forever and ever: He will be our guide even
unto death. But the Hebrew is better still– "He will be our guide even
over death." We shall trample down death, or, as one puts it, we shall
stand by the grave of death! What a glorious place for us to stand in
when death, itself, is dead through the ever-living Christ, and the
Resurrection power that comes through His death! "He will be our guide
even over death."
Psalm 95:1. O come, let us sing unto the LORD: let us make a joyful
noise to the Rock of our salvation. The worship of God should always be
joyful, hence there is to be much singing in it. God is not like Baal
who can be worshipped with crying and lamentation, and the cutting of
the flesh with knives. We who believe in Him regard Him not as the
destroyer or the avenger, but as "the Rock of our salvation." You who
have hidden in that Rock can truly praise Him!
2. Let us come before His Presence with thanksgiving. Let us not be
afraid to stand in the immediate Presence of God. On the other hand,
let us not worship Him with lightness and frivolity, but let us come
before His Presence with due reverence and solemnity. And when we come,
let it be "with thanksgiving." I need not remind you what innumerable
reasons we have for thanksgiving. Let us render to God thanks according
to what we have received from Him.
2, 3. And make a joyful noise unto Him with Psalms. For the LORD is a
great God, and a great King above all gods. There are no other gods
that are worthy to bear that name, but Jehovah is the great King above
all that are called gods.
4. In His hand are the deep places ofthe earth. The innermost caverns,
the deepest mines of earth, and the far-down places in the depths of
the ocean–these are all in God's hand.
4. The strength ofthe hills is His also. He is the God of the hills as
well as the God of the valleys. Let us read this verse again. "In His
hand are the deep places of the earth." Are any of you there today?
Then praise Him out of the deep places. "The strength of the hills is
His also." Are you on the tops of the mountains today? Then give Him
the praise who placed you there lest through pride your feet should
slip.
5. The sea is His, for He made it. Men cannot parcel it out into
estates, or cut it up into allotments as they do with the solid earth.
But "the sea is His." There God reigns alone and surveys the broad
acres of the wild waste of waters as His own.
6. And his hands formed the dry land. As though it were so much plastic
clay out of which He had molded this great globe and fashioned the
various countries in which the nations of mankind dwell.
6, 7. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD
our Maker. For He is our God; and we are the people of His pasture, and
the sheep of His hands. Blessed are we if we can say this in very
truth! We are highly privileged to have this God to be our God, and to
be, ourselves, His purchased inheritance, the objects of His daily
care– "the people of His pasture, and the sheep of His hands."
7, 8. Today if you will hear His voice, harden not your heart. It is a
tender heart that hears God's voice–and the heart that hears His voice
is sure to be made tender. These two things act and re-act the one upon
the other.
8-11. As in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the
wilderness: when your father tempted Me, proved Me, and saw My work.
Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a
people that do err in their heart, and they have not known My ways:
unto whom I swore in My wrath that they should not enter into My rest.
They had seen God's work, but they did not know His eyes. They had not
the sense to perceive the hand of God even in His miracles, or when
they did perceive it, they oft rebelled against Him. Oh, that we may
not be like that unbelieving generation that grieved the Lord for forty
years in the wilderness!