Miscellaneous

The Promises of God

Professor: Dr. R.J. Rushdoony

Subject: Conversations, Panels, and Sermons

Lesson: 1-2

Genre: Talk

Track: 1

Dictation Name: RR321A1

Location/Venue:

Year:

Let us worship God. Blessed is the man who walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful; but his delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law does he meditate day and night. Let us pray.

Glory be to Thee, God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. We thank Thee, we praise Thee, we acknowledge that Thou art the Lord, that with Thee is all righteousness, all government; and we come to Thee mindful of Thy greatness and of Thy grace to cast our every care upon Thee who carest for us. Make us ever mindful oh Lord that our times are in Thy hands, and that Thou art He who doeth all things well. Teach us to trust in Thee, in Jesus name amen.

Our scripture today is Psalm 138.

“138 I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.

2 I will worship toward thy holy temple, and praise thy name for thy lovingkindness and for thy truth: for thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name.

3 In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.

4 All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth.

5 Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of the Lord.

6 Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.

7 Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.

8 The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.”

The psalms are both a hymnal and a prayer book. The hymnal and the prayer book of the ancient church of Israel, and of the early church as well. The Psalter also has been the daily strength of countless numbers of Christians over the generations. It used to be that books of Psalms were very popular, published separately from the Bible, and used by countless peoples for their daily praying. I know that I have one such copy which I have used since I was young.

This particular psalm has a high emotional and personal content for me. I have ended and begun for many years now, each year, with the reading of this psalm. Very often during the course of the year I have turned to it. This psalm in particular is a very intensely emotional psalm, although this is not immediately apparent. But first, let us look at the psalm, and then turn to certain key aspects.

David says: “I will praise thee with my whole heart: before the gods will I sing praise unto thee.” David, in the presence of the gods, that is all the powers of this earth, before all his enemies, all the powers of a world alienated from God, openly says: “I will praise Thee with my whole heart.” He then, in verse two gives the reason for his thanksgiving, God’s mercy, and God’s truth. Then in verse three, for answered prayer: “In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul.”

David speaks of times of trial, when he did more than pray, he cried. He cried out to God, he cried out in the intensity of his despair and his emotions, and God answered him and strengthened him.

We see here the greatness of David. One of the things over the years that has greatly distressed me has been the stupidity and immorality of many who call themselves Christians, in their attitude towards David. Queen Victoria disliked David intensely. Of course that says a great deal in favor of king David, given Victoria’s character; she was a shrew and a nag. She tried to lord it over her husband, prince Albert consistently, would scream at him if he dared differ, and if he quietly withdrew and went into his room and shut the door, she would scream and pound on the door and carry on, without a thought of any of the many many servants in Windsor Castle. She was a screaming and more or less mentally unstable woman, who showed her further instability by going into virtually permanent mourning after his death. Poor Prince Albert was delivered from an ugly situation which he put up with in Christian patience and fortitude. But she played the greatly bereaved widow, who had been the unfailing shrew and nag.

More recently, not too many years ago, a prominent lay leader who was on the board of more than one prominent evangelical organization told me that he disliked any use of David’s Psalms because David was so obviously an ungodly man. He referred to David’s adultery. Well, God who punished that adultery more than adulteries are punished today, also spoke of David as His beloved, and through David gave us not only a considerable portion of scripture, but also through David His beloved, brought forth finally His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ.

One of the things that marks the greatness of David is his proneness to thanksgiving. These are David’s prayers, the Psalms are, and how often David thanks God for His answers. “In the day when I cried thou answeredst me, and strengthenedst me with strength in my soul. Therefore I will praise Thee with my whole heart.”

What about ourselves? Are we not too seldom thankful for received blessings and very strong to complain for yet un-received blessings, things that we want? Not so, David.

Then David goes on to speak of the triumph of God’s kingdom. This is clearly a postmillennial song, not as emphatically so as some of the others but he does say: “All the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth. Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord: for great is the glory of the Lord.”

When David wrote these words, only little Israel was Godly, the whole world was in darkness and sin; and even Israel was far from faithful. And yet, David inspired of God speaks with assurance, looking down the centuries to the day when every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.

David speaks then of God’s grace to the lowly in verse 6: “Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.”

He speaks also of God’s protection in verse 7: “Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt revive me: thou shalt stretch forth thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall save me.”

There is a remarkable aspect to David’s psalms; virtually every psalm speaks of problems, of troubles, a very critical situation, things that would reduce us to tears, to grief, to a quivering hulk. For example, the greatest of David’s Psalms, the best known, the 23rd:

“23 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

2 He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

3 He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

4 Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

5 Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the Lord for ever.”

Now it is true that in some Psalms David is crying out in pain and agony, grief, but in so many as in this- we have to look at the words closely to realize how ugly the situation was from a human perspective. The valley of the shadow of death. Probably this was written when David was a refugee from King Saul, being hunted down like an animal before he became king. He speaks of the presence of enemies, and evil around him; but also, and this is a hard thing for any of us to say: “Thy rod and Thy staff, they comfort me.” God’s rod and His staff work to discipline, to chastise, to punish. The sheep that strayed from the fold, the shepherds staff, grabbed by the neck with the crook of the staff and hauled back. Not very pleasant, but David says of God’s chastening: “Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.”

This is why David grew all the days of his life, and those who despise and criticize David have no growth.

Then, another tremendous statement in verse 8, God’s providence: “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands.”

The first sentence of that eighth verse over the years has been my mainstay. I have begun and ended the year with it, and turned to it again and again during the course of the year. “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.” So often we feel so very much alone as we face our burdens and our problems, and as we see our hopes being broken on the hard facts of the heedless world. But in the face of all of this we can say with Paul that indeed all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose, and we can say with David: “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.” Memorize that. Repeat it to yourself again and again together with Romans 8:28 when you find yourself dismayed and shaken by the course of events: “The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.” What a tremendous statement. It has to be a part of every believers faith.

That sentence, over the years, 40 or more years now at least, perhaps 45 years, has been very, very important to me. Yet one of the amazing things about the Bible is that we read it and reread it and suddenly we find things in it in the most familiar passages which we never saw before.

This last January or February, it was well after New Years, I was again reading Psalm 138, and I saw a sentence that was so amazing, so startling that I was stunned to think that year in and year out I had read the Psalms and never noticed this sentence; it is the last part of verse 2: “For Thou hast magnified Thy word above all Thy name.”

Now the name of God stands for God, for His person, for His power. The same is true of God incarnate, Jesus Christ, so that the apostles would say: “In the name of Jesus Christ I command thee to walk.” The name represents the person. But what is David here saying, inspired of God? That God has exalted and placed His very word, His covenant word, His promise to us in Jesus Christ, above even His name.

Now the thought is an audacious one, it is a statement that no theologian would have dared ever make; what is greater than God? What can be greater than His name? But God here, and again in Hebrews when we are told that by two immutable things God who cannot lie gave His word, gave His oath, that He would be faithful to His covenant. So we have that statement at least twice in scripture.

Now, God is saying that His promise to us in the covenant to be our covenant God and to be faithful to the covenant, He places above His very person, His very life. We know that He means what He here said, because He did exactly that in the death of our Lord. God the Son was faithful to the covenant, unto death. The Triune God magnified the word, the covenant word of promise to man, above the very name and person of God.

For us then to doubt the promises of God, to doubt the certainty of God’s government, the certainty of God’s grace and of His love is really a fearful sin. God has said that His promise is more important to Himself than life itself.

The thought is so astonishing, that as I said no Theologian would have dared make such a statement; to place God’s word above His very person- it is hyperbole, there is nothing greater than God and His word is equal with Him- but what is God saying in all of this? He is trying to make us understand that we should cast our every care upon Him who careth for us. If God be for us, who can be against us? He is telling us that we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us, and so it is folly, it is stupidity, it is evil to doubt the love, the grace, and the providential care of our Lord.

“The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.” We have this promise from God, who has magnified His word above His very person. Let us pray.

Oh Lord our God, we believe. Forgive us our unbelief. Thou hast spoken the word, Thou hast given Thy promise, Thou hast confirmed Thy word and Thy promise in the blood of our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ. Be merciful on us for our fearfulness, our distrust, our impatience, our doubts, our foolishness. Lord increase our faith, and make us strong by Thy word and by Thy Spirit, that we may indeed be more than conquerors through Him that loved us, even Jesus Christ our Lord. in His name we pray, amen.