The Right Keynote for the New Year

The Right Keynote for the New Year

(No. 2289)

INTENDED FOR READING ON LORD'S-DAY, JANUARY 1, 1893.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the LORD." Psalm 115:18.

IT has been truly said that if the members of our churches were in a
right condition of heart, the work of the pastor towards them would be
no more difficult than that of a commanding officer to his troops. A
general, or a captain has never to study eloquence–he has simply to
give the word of command tersely and plainly–and himself to lead the
way. So, if our hearts were right in the sight of God, we would not
need illustrations to win attention or arguments to urge us on–we
would only need to know what is the special duty of the hour and,
helped by the Divine Spirit–we would, with alacrity, seek to perform
it.

Well, now, let us hope that this is our condition tonight! God grant
that it may be! Certainly it ought to be our condition in reference to
the duty which is taught us in the text. I shall but, as it were, give
the word of command in my Master's name–and I trust that the Holy
Spirit will be working in all our spirits, causing each one of us to
say, "Ready, yes, ready, to bless the Lord from this time forth and
forevermore. Praise the Lord."

You noticed, while we were reading the Psalm, that it contained a piece
of cutting sarcasm upon the gods of the heathen which are unable to do
anything for their worshippers. Albeit that they have the outward
semblance of the organs of life and sense, yet in those organs there is
neither life nor power. Their mouths cannot speak; their eyes cannot
see; their ears cannot hear; their noses cannot smell; their hands
cannot handle; their feet cannot walk. But our God is declared to be
the living God who is in the heavens and who has done whatever He has
pleased. Well, that being so, a living God should be worshipped by a
living people in a living manner!

This is one of the rules of Christian worship which we should never
forget. Let us come before the Lord, not as mere bodies, fancying that
it is enough to put in an appearance in the place where prayer is known
to be made, but let us bring our living selves, our souls, our hearts,
into God's worship–and whether it is in prayer, or in praise, or in
the proclamation of His Truths, or in the listening to the Gospel
message–let us do it with all our life! Let the praise be full of
life! Let the prayer be full of life! Let the ministration of the Truth
of God be the lively oracle of the living God! And let the ear, the
heart's ear, be all alive while we listen to the Gospel!

There is nothing more that is acceptable to God in the mere routine of
Christian worship than there is in the turning of the windmills of the
Tartars, when they put their prayers upon the mill and they revolve
with the blowing of the wind! If true life is absent from our service,
though we speak with the tongues of men and of angels, though we have
the richest music, though we have everything that heart can devise to
create a charm, yet it profits us nothing, and brings no Glory to God.
"God is not the God of the dead, but of the living," is a text which
may be applied to dead services as well as to dead men. May the Lord,
in mercy, send to some religious services a resurrection! May He be
pleased to put a living heart and soul into them, for if there are not
these, He will not accept a dead sacrifice at men's hands! A living God
must be worshipped in a living way by a living people!

In the context we see, also, that as it is true with the heathen's
idols, that, "they that make them are like unto them, so is everyone
that trusts in them," so ought it to be with us in reference to our
God. A living God should have a living people and a blessing God should
have a blessing people. He has blessed us with unspeakable favors. He
is always blessing us! It is not possible for us to compute the amount
of blessing which He is constantly bestowing upon us. Therefore, "Bless
the Lord, O my Soul: and all that is within me, bless His holy name."
If He exalts you with His favor, take care that you exalt Him with your
praise. If He enriches you with His blessings, bring your blessings and
offer them at His

feet, as the wise men brought their gold and frankincense and myrrh and
laid them as tribute at the feet of the newborn King. Bless a blessing
God! What can be more congruous? As the echo answers to the voice, so
let our blessing of God answer to the blessing we have received from
God, even as Paul puts it, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with all spiritual blessings in
heavenly places in Christ: according as He has chosen us in Him before
the foundation of the world."

This, then, is the work that is to occupy us tonight, and the work in
which we shall continue, I trust, from this time forth and forevermore.
Living unto the living God, time and eternity will be spent in blessing
the blessing God.

Notice, in the text, which is clearly intended to excite us to praise,
first, a mournful memory, suggested by the word "but." Secondly, a
happy resolution–"we will bless the Lord." Thirdly, an appropriate
commencement–"from this time forth." And then, fourthly, an
everlasting continuance–"and forevermore. Praise the Lord."

I. First, then, there is in the text the trace of A MOURNFUL MEMORY.
Read the preceding verse, without which we do not get the sense of this
one to the fullest. "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go
down into silence. But we will bless the Lord from this time forth."

The mournful memory is that of those who, at one time praised the Lord
with us, and exulted in His holy name during the past year, some have
been numbered with the dead. There are gaps in our ranks, my Brothers
and Sisters, which death has made during the past year. Some have been
taken from us whom we could ill spare, as we thought, but they were,
nevertheless, needed up above. He who bought them had a better right to
them than we had and His prayers prevailed over ours, as they always
should. We said, "Father, we will that they whom You have given us be
with us where we are." But Jesus prayed, "Father, I will that they,
also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am." And they have
gone. He had the best right to them and we can only say, "It is the
Lord: let Him do what seems good to Him." But, as far as this world is
concerned, they who have been taken from us do not praise the Lord,
save that, being dead, they speak by the recollection of their holy
lives. And their memory is sweet, like incense that has been burned,
and leaves a perfume behind. Save for this, "The dead praise not the
Lord, neither any that go down into silence."

I know that in Heaven they are praising Him! They have been added to
the orchestra above and have helped to make it complete. Fresh
songsters are there before the everlasting Throne of God, but here they
cannot swell our praises. Their bodies sleep beneath the green sward in
the silence of the tomb. As I look round the different parts of the
Tabernacle– my eyes being better able to distinguish the gaps than
some of yours are because I rather know something of all, and each of
you knows but a part of this great congregation–as I look around, I
notice where sat one whose eyes were full of glances of delight
whenever the name of Jesus was mentioned. I have heard him speak in his
Master's praise most sweetly and yet tearfully, but I shall never hear
him here again. I looked into his tomb but a few days ago. He has gone
down into silence so far as his body is concerned.

There was another dear worker who was always here, I might say that he
was always everywhere where there was anything to be done for Christ!
And we went to his grave, also, and we laid him in the silent tomb.
During the year I suppose some 70 or 80 of our number have gone over to
the majority–I mean, 70 or 80 of those who were actually members of
the Church, besides those who, I trust, loved the Lord, although they
had not confessed His name in Baptism and united with His people in
Church fellowship. They have gone over to the great host above–and
there are so many the fewer here. Well, what doe this say to us? I will
not imitate Dr. Watts, and say–

"Hark, from the tombs a doleful sound!" I think we hear too many
doleful sounds from the tombs. But I hear a lively, earnest sound, and
it says, "Brothers and Sisters, keep up the song of praise unto the
Lord! Do not let the music falter. Our voices are gone from among you–
sing, therefore, each of you, the more sweetly and loudly to make up
for our absence from the earthly choir."

Now that so many saints have gone Home, there are so many the fewer on
earth to praise the Lord. O you who have recently come into the Church,
you who have been baptized for the dead to fill up the gaps in our
ranks, be earnest, with your loud hosannas, to bless and magnify the
name of the Lord! Brethren, let us take a blessed revenge on Death, and
if he takes from our numbers, let us, as God helps us, increase the
real efficiency of the Church by each of us endeavoring to become
double what we formerly were in the service of our Master! O Death, you
have struck down a songster who used to sing at my side, but my voice
shall be louder than before! I will make music for us both and there
shall yet come another to fill his place! And so there shall be three
songs instead of two–and God shall be a gainer on earth and a gainer

in Heaven by the loss which death seemed to cause to Christ's Church!
They are going, one after another, my Brothers and Sisters. They are
gathering homeward one by one. The most useful, the most mighty in
prayer, the most holy, the very pillars and strength of the Church are
going and, as a Brother said the other day, "When so many good ones are
going, what can we do better than pack up and go with them?" As each
one goes, we feel almost inclined to say what the disciples said
concerning Lazarus, "If he sleeps, he shall do well." And to add, with
Thomas, "Let us also go, that we may die with Him."

But I am of another mind and I say, "No, if there are so many going,
let us ask to be allowed to stay, for this great fight has to be fought
out somehow and, if some of the troops have fought the good fight, and
exchanged the sword and shield for the palm branch and the harp, let us
who are left pray with all our might unto the Lord God of Hosts to
strengthen us in this day of battle, that we may not go till we have
finished our part of the fight and have been the means of calling
others to prolong the blessed struggle by which victory shall be given
to the name of Christ."

By the thought, then, of the many dead who cannot any longer praise God
among us, let us be stimulated to bless the Lord from this time forth
and forevermore!

There comes up in my mind, however, another reflection, that, as others
are gone, we, ourselves, shall also go soon. "The dead praise not the
Lord, neither any that go down into silence." O Brothers, if we are
called to preach, it is only for a little while! We have not an
indefinite period in which to be wise to win souls. Our work must be
done soon or it will never be done! O teachers, you must win your
children for Christ soon, for you are not to live a thousand years to
go on seeking the little ones! They must be brought to Jesus soon or
they will not be brought by you, for you will have passed away! O all
you Christian people who love your Lord, be busy in those sacred works
which can only be performed on earth, for angels cannot clothe the
naked or feed the hungry! No angel can be a Dorcas to make garments for
the poor. These things are for this life–these modes of praising God
are only for time–there are others for eternity. These are for this
life and to these we have to attend as long as we are here.

To keep the Church of God on earth, the Church militant, in good
marching order, and good working condition, and so to glorify God here
is what we must do now, and do it soon, for, "the night comes when no
man can work." I wish we all felt more that we are dying men. The sound
of the chariot wheels of eternity should make us quicken our pace. If
you could often look through the heavenly telescope and see the
Judgment Seat, the Great White Throne in the heavens, and the assembled
multitude, and yourself rendering up your books of account to the last
great Examiner, some of you would live far differently than you do! God
help us to do so and, by the recollection of this, "but," though it
comes over us like a cloud, tonight, let us be quickened into the
immediate and joyous work of blessing and magnifying the Most

High!

II. Let us now go to our second point which is this–A HAPPY
RESOLUTION. "The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down
into silence. But we will bless the Lord."

"We will bless the Lord," for it seems to us to be the very thing for
which we were created. This is the flower of our being! We are never
happier, surely, never more developing what God has put into us by His
Grace, than when we are praising and blessing Him.

We will bless the Lord by our songs. They shall be more frequent than
they have been. Brothers and Sisters, do you sing as much as you might?
Do you sing at work and do you sing in the household, and do you sing
on your beds? I have known some who have managed to live always
singing. It was my joy to know an old man, a very old man, who was
famous in the village where he lived because, as he walked the streets,
he was always humming a little bit of a hymn. He was a grand old
Methodist of the grand old days–and he had always some glorious hymn
that he would go along tooting as he went about the streets! And he
sang himself to bed and sang himself to sleep, and, I was going to say,
sang himself awake–he was scarcely awake before he began to sing
again. It was all singing with him!

Now, you know how the worldlings sing. You cannot be quiet in your
beds, at night, because of the noise they make in the streets. Let us
be as ready with the songs of Zion as they are with the songs of
Gomorrah! Let us magnify the Lord with our songs far oftener than we
have done.

Then, let us magnify the Lord in our daily talk and conversation while
we speak about Him. Never speak badly of His name. Some of you do.
There is sometimes a grumbling at His Providences. There is a fretting
at the trials He sends. There is a complaining about all sorts of
things. But you who love Him, begin, from this night, to bless Him by
speaking

well of His name. Bless Him for everything! Bless Him for the bitters;
bless Him for the cold; bless Him for poverty and sickness. "That is a
hard thing to do," you say. Yes, but it is a sweet thing to do–it will
be as comforting to yourself as it will be glorifying to God!

Begin to praise Him in the tone of your spirit. May God the blessed
Comforter help you to do it by a calm, equable frame of mind, by a
Divine placidity of temper, by a complete subjection of the will to Him
so that you shall not feel it to be subjection, but find it to be your
delight that the Lord should do with you whatever pleases Him! It is
bliss to praise God so that our very thoughts praise Him, not by
effort, but as flowers pour out their perfume, so that our inmost soul
praises Him, just as the birds sing, not as if it were a task, but
because it cannot help it! Was it not made to sing? And so it sits on
the bare bough, before the spring has yet developed the green leaf and
opening bud, and it sings even amid the frost and snow–and wakes us up
in the spring morning with its hymn of praise to its Creator. "Its," I
said, but I mean a thousand of them–winged choristers praising and
blessing God, not because they are told that they ought to do so– but
because it is their intense delight to pour out their music! Oh, that
we were little birds, made always to sing God's praise! Oh, that we
were drops of dew, forever sparkling in the light of God's love!

I like to look at the lilies, sometimes, and think how they worship
God. They never study a sermon, or compose a hymn, or weave a rhyme, or
even think–but they serve God by standing still and showing themselves
and breathing out their sweet perfume to the winds! Oh, to be full of
God, till, at last, you bless Him even by existing! Till life becomes a
Psalm and even breathing becomes a hymn of praise unto the Most High in
whom we live, and move, and have our being! Blessed be His name! We
will bless the Lord from this time forth, in some such way as that, as
He shall help us!

For, dear Brothers and Sisters, we may well bless the Lord because we
are alive. That, "but," suggests that since others have gone, we should
bless Him that we live. I do not know whether I would not as soon have
been in Heaven as here, but, still, to abide in the flesh for a while
may be more necessary for some and, therefore, I am glad to be alive.
And some of you with your children about you, with many dependent upon
you, should thank God that while you are needed here you are spared
here–and you should thank Him who has kept you. You might have been
killed in some accident. You might have been struck down, as many have
been this year, by contagious disease. You might have been in such
pain, tonight, that death would have seemed a relief to you. Bless the
Lord that it is not so. Bless Him that you live. O God, our Creator and
Preserver, we will, from this time forth, bless You that we are alive!

Then bless God because of spiritual life, for there is something in
that calling for devout gratitude, for to live, and yet not to be alive
spiritually, is to be a walking corpse, an animated dunghill, a Lazarus
who by this time stinks, and yet is not in his grave! It is a horrible
thing to be going about in this world with eyes that do not see God,
and with ears that never hear His voice when He is speaking everywhere,
and with a heart that never responds to His Divine love. Better not to
be, than to be and yet not know the greatest and best of Beings. Let us
bless God that He has quickened us into spiritual life, for it was not
so with some of you a long while ago.

No, it is but a few months since some of you were made alive. And this
new year may remind you of some former new years, and of how they were
spent, and into what condition you brought yourselves! O Lord, our
state of spiritual death does not bear thinking of, except we wet the
page of memory with many tears! Blessed be Your name, You have
delivered us from the bondage of corruption and brought us into newness
of life! Therefore will we bless You from this time forth and
forevermore!

And let us bless the Lord because, according to the Psalm, we have been
blessed of Him. Read, again, the 12th verse, "The Lord has been mindful
of us: He will bless us." Now, it is not only according to the Psalm,
but it is also a matter of fact. "The Lord has been mindful of us." I
do not know your histories, dear Friends, as you know them, but I would
like you to pull out your pocketbooks and your diaries, and just look
down them. How many times has the Lord been mindful of you during the
past year? I could tell of many interpositions of His Divine love on my
behalf, but I will not do so at this time. I will bless His name in
secret for His loving kindness towards His unworthy servant.

A good old woman used to hear people speak about their Ebenezers, or
stones of help, in remembrance of God's mercy, but she said that when
she looked back on hers, she thought she was looking back on a wall.
They were set so closely together that they seemed to make a wall on
the right hand and on the left of all her pathway. Well, that is just
like mine. I am such a debtor to Divine Mercy that if I could but pay
half a farthing in the pound, I should need to give fifty million times
more than I am, or ever hope to be worth! Oh, what I owe Him!

Rutherford speaks somewhere of his soul going right down in the stream
of God's love, not floating in it, but sinking, foundering, going down
till mighty love went over the masthead of his soul. And such do I feel
that our gratitude ought to be. The ocean of God's love rises above us
so as altogether to swallow us up. The Lord has done such great things
for us that if we do not bless Him, the very stones we walk on in the
streets might cry out against us, and every beam in the wall might
groan in the night to think that it sheltered such an ungrateful
sleeper! Oh, the mercy, the forgiving mercy, the abounding mercy, the
ceaseless mercy of the living God! What tongue can ever tell it? Surely
the poet did not strain metaphors too much, or use hyperboles, or push
them too far, when he said–

"But, oh, eternity's too short

To utter half Your praise!"

Again, we ought to praise the Lord, according to the Psalm, because He
will bless us. You must have noticed that the Psalmist expressed that
idea several times in different forms–"He has been mindful of us: He
will bless us." This is a very sweet duty to which I would exhort you,
to bless the Lord in the prospect of what He is going to do. Come, let
us weave songs out of tomorrows! We will not boast of them, but we will
bless God for them. Let us praise Him for all the love and kindness
that is going to be with us through all the year that is just
beginning! Troubles will come, but the Lord will deliver the godly out
of them all! Tribulation will be our portion, but in Christ we shall
have peace! Perhaps we shall go Home this year–if we are to do so, let
it not cause us even so much as one single fear, but let us put that
into the song and bless the Lord for gates of pearl and harps of
gold–so soon to be the heritage of His unworthy children!

III. Now I must be brief on the other points, but I want to delay a
minute or two on the third head, which is AN APPROPRIATE
COMMENCEMENT–"From this time forth."

When is the time to begin to praise God? Now, Brothers and Sisters,
now–"From this time forth." You see, it was just then that the heathen
were saying, "Where is their God?" When God is blasphemed by others,
then let His people praise Him! Whenever you hear anything said against
God, any note of blasphemy or skepticism, then say, "We will bless the
Lord from this time forth." Always feel as if you were called upon to
make some recompense to the blessed name for the dishonor which the
adversary has done to it. I think there will be less swearing in the
world if we always do that, for the devil will tell his children to
leave off when he finds that every time they curse, we bless God all
the more. Whenever you hear that a bad book has come out–whenever you
hear that some scientific man has been saying something that will
mislead the unwary, say, "We will bless the Lord from this time forth.
We will have a new song because of that. We will make some kind of
amends to God's great name because of all the calumny that is cast upon
it."

So let us do it whenever we have a sense of mercy. He has been mindful
of us, therefore, from this time forth, we will praise His name. Do you
feel as if He had done great things for you, of which you are glad? Is
your heart leaping, tonight because of some special mercy? Then let
this be your sweet resolve, "We will bless the Lord from this time
forth."

I think that we ought to praise the Lord from the first moment in which
we know our sins are forgiven, the first moment in which we have peace
with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, and then from every period of
spiritual enjoyment. You who are about to be baptized may well say, "We
will bless the Lord from this time forth, from the time when we come
forward to confess our faith in Jesus, when we put on Christ by public
profession of allegiance to Him." From every season of coming to the
Communion Table, from every hallowed night of wrestling prayer, from
every time you climb the Mountain of Transfiguration and behold your
Master's Glory, yes, and from every Gethsemane's night, when you strive
almost in vain to watch with Him one hour–even then, say, "From this
time forth we will bless Him."

I am sure that I may claim that the beginning of another year is a good
time to begin blessing the Lord. For the mercies of another year, the
forgiveness of another year, the provision, the instruction, the
guidance, the supplies of another year, for the mercies of the year on
which we enter with good heart of hope, for all our fears which have
been averted, for all our hopes which have been fulfilled, for all that
we have learned, for all that we have experienced, let us carry out
this happy resolution that, from this time forth, we will bless the
Lord!

Oh, how I wish that I could put this resolution into the hearts of some
people whom I know! I hope they are Christians, but, you know, they
were born on a bleak day and they always speak with lips of frost. You
are never many minutes with them but you hear grievous complaining.
Dear Brother, how would it do for you to say, "From this time forth I
will bless the Lord"? We know some who, like myself, are depressed by
this horrible wintry weather. We get to feel all

our bones aching and we are very apt, when we are full of rheumatism,
to begin to talk about it. Come, my Sister. Come, my Brother, let us
have done with that theme, and say, "From this time forth we will bless
the Lord!"

I know the style of talk that is very frequent–"Never was there such a
dull time for trade. Business is worse than I ever knew it. Everything
is going to the bad. There are wars and rumors of wars, and the world
is coming to an end, and I do not know what is not going to happen."
Well, Brother, if you like that strain, you must keep on at it, but as
for me, and you, too–I really think that it would be better if we were
both to say–"From this time forth we will bless the Lord." We have
strummed away long enough on that sackbut–let us begin to play on the
psaltery and the harp of a solemn sound! We have too long been
singing–

"Lord, what a wretched land is this,

That yields us no supply!

No cheering fruits, no wholesome trees,

Nor streams of living joy.

But pricking thorns through all the ground,

And mortal poisons grow;

And all the rivers that are found

With dangerous waters flow." Let us go on to the next verse and sing–

"Yet the dear path to Your abode

Lies through this horrid land.

Lord, we would keep the heavenly road,

And run at Your command!"

Let us begin to sing of the path, and the Guide, and the Home to which
we are going! We are a day's march nearer Home, a year's march nearer
Home, so from this time forth let us bless the Lord!

IV. And then comes, lastly, AN EVERLASTING CONTINUANCE–"We will bless
the Lord from this time forth

and forevermore'"

I was born in a county where there were many old-fashioned people and I
am old-fashioned, myself. Whenever I read my Bible and find that it
says, "everlasting," or, "forevermore," I believe that it means what it
says. Of course, I have lived in a world in which I am informed that it
does not mean anything of the kind–that it means a very short period–
or a period longer or shorter according as circumstances may happen! I
am afraid I shall never learn this new lingo. I have no intention of
trying to learn it, either, so I am sure that I never shall be able to
understand things the wrong way upwards, as the wise men now do.
"Everlasting" will be everlasting with me forever and ever, I can tell
you, and it will find me, at any rate, a believer in eternity as being
that which never has an end! I believe that those who think differently
will have to come round to the opinion that I have found in the Word of
God. At any rate, if we are to agree, they will have to do so, for I
shall never come round to their view.

Now, then, the expression, "We will bless the Lord from this time forth
and forevermore," means that our praise shall have no end to it,
"Forevermore," means eternity, I believe, and I pray God that we may
make it to mean eternity in our praise "from this time forth and
forevermore." Falling from Grace shall not come in to make us cease
praising and blessing the Lord! We began to praise Him, not in the
strength of nature, but in the strength of Grace–and that strength
will not exhaust itself, for it will be renewed day by day–so that we
shall be able to bless the Lord forevermore.

Death itself shall not stop us from blessing God! No, it shall but
increase the choir and sweeten the harmony! We shall love the Lord more
and praise Him better when death shall have divested us of these
tongues which now are impediments to the highest praise–and shall have
given us the power to speak without lips and tongues in a nobler
language before the Throne of God–

"My God, I'll praise You while I live, And praise You when I die, And
praise You when I rise again, And to eternity."

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ, if we are in the right state of
heart, there is not a time when we could leave of blessing the Lord.
When shall we cease to bless Him? When He leaves off blessing us? That
will never be! When we leave off being in debt to Him? That can never
be! When He ceases to be worthy of blessing? That cannot be! Or when
the life

of Divine Grace within us ceases to recognize His blessedness? That,
also, cannot be, for it shall be in us "a well of water springing up
into everlasting life." Leave off praising Him? O Brothers, Sisters,
never, never, never, not even for the time in which a clock might tick
once! Go on praising Him if He shall take you up to the bed of
sickness–if every limb shall be a mass of pain, if every nerve shall
be a highway for a crowd of pains to travel on–yet still go on
blessing and praising and magnifying Him, for this is His due! When we
have praised Him best and most, we have not given Him what He deserves!
Let us fill this House of Prayer with our praise and thanksgiving
tonight! The Romanist sets his incense on fire and fills the whole
place with its smoke. Oh, let there go up to God from our grateful
hearts a cloud of the smoke of praise unto His blessed name! Blessed be
the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, from this time forth and
forever-more!

If any man cannot join in that praise, let him remember that he is not
fit to live, nor fit to die–for to die without praising God and to
rise again–would be to remain in a state in which he could not
possibly enter Heaven, since the one occupation of Heaven is magnifying
and blessing and praising the Lord forever and forever! Let such an one
seek the Lord, now! Let him trust in the Lord Jesus Christ! Then he
shall be saved and he will be able to join us in saying, "We will bless
the Lord from this time forth and forevermore. Praise the Lord."

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON. PSALM115.

Verses 1-3. Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto Your name give
Glory, for Your mercy, and for Your Truth's sake. Why should the
heathen say, Where is now their God? But our God is in the heavens: He
has done whatever He has pleased. It was very natural that the heathen
should say, "Where is their God? because they had no outward emblem, no
visible image, no tangible token–whereas the heathen had their many
gods, such as they were, made of wood and stone, so that they asked,
"Where is their God?" I think that when that question is suggested, it
is a good sign, for it proves the purity of the faith which has
cleansed itself from outward symbolism. May men often have to ask of
us, "Where is their

God?"

But I fear that the people of Israel were brought into so low a state,
at times, that this question was also asked in scorn and derision,
"Where is now their God?" "He was with them when they came out of
Egypt. He was with them when they captured Canaan. He has been with
them in many a terrible battle, turning to flight the armies of the
aliens, but where is now their God?" It is a cutting question under
such circumstances. It was so with the Psalmist when be said, "As with
a sword in my bones, my enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto
me, Where is your God?" "But our God is in the heavens where their gods
never were. He has done whatever He has pleased." The gods of the
heathen have done nothing–they cannot do anything.

4-7. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They
have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: they
have ears, but they hear not: noses have they, but they smell not: they
have hands, but they handle not: feet have they, but they walk not:
neither speak they through their throat. It is a grim piece of sarcasm
which the Psalmist here aims at the idol gods. I do not know,
sometimes, whether this is not all that superstition deserves of us–to
be utterly laughed at and put to scorn. The spirit of Elijah is not
altogether the most Christ-like, and yet even the Christian may well
say to the priests of Baal, in derision and contempt, "Cry aloud, for
he is a god." What do they deserve who so degrade themselves as to
worship things which their own hands have made–things which can be
seen with the eyes and touched with the hand? Yet, even in this country
we have thousands who call themselves Christians, who prostrate
themselves before idols made in different forms and shapes–yes and say
to a piece of bread that the baker made, "This is our god." Well says
the Psalmist–

8. They that make them are like unto them; so is everyone that trusts
in them. They are as doltish and as stupid, as blind and as deaf, and
as ridiculous as the gods that they make, for no man was ever better
than the god he worshipped!

9-11. O Israel, trust you in the LORD: He is their help and their
shield. O house of Aaron, trust in the LORD: He is their help and their
shield. You that fear the LORD, trust in the LORD: He is their help and
their shield. There is real help in the living Jehovah, real protection
in Him.

12. The LORD has been mindful of us: He will bless us. There is a New
Year's motto for you. It will go back through the old year, and forward
into the new one–"The Lord has been mindful of us: He will bless us."
See how mindful He has been of us all through the past year in a
thousand ways! Long before we have known our needs, He has supplied
them. He has delivered us from dangers of which we never knew and led
us into mercies of which we never dreamed!

12, 13. He will bless the house of Israel; He will bless the house of
Aaron. He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great.
Great blessings for small people, and not small blessings for those
whom He makes great in Israel.

14, 15. The LORD shall increase you more and more, you and your
children. You are blessed of the LORD which made Heaven and earth. This
is the Creator's blessing, therefore a real one. Many of you have had
the new creation worked in you–you shall live to see new heavens and a
new earth!

16. The Heaven, even the heavens, are the LORD'S: but the earth has He
given to the children of men. And they seem as if they meant to keep
it, too. The sad thing is that they get the earth into their hearts and
so they miss the blessing which the Lord intended them to receive from
His gift of it.

17. The dead praise not the LORD, neither any that go down into
silence. As far as this world is concerned, no note is heard from the
grave.

18. But we will bless the LORD from this time forth and forevermore.
Praise the LORD. So let us do tonight. Let us have an extra Psalm of
praise to the Lord who has brought us safely through another year!