Psalm 119 - 2009.11.28

“Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee..” — Psalm 119:11

With only two verses, Psalm 117 is the shortest in the Bible. Choosing a nugget as a given. This Psalm, just two beyond, is the longest chapter in the scriptures, and settling on a single verse or short passage is somewhat akin to having to choose one morsel in a candy store. This familiar text is, perhaps, as appropriate as any, and representative of the essence and objective of the whole Psalm. One can only hope to not offend the Spirit of God by serving so tiny a portion of so magnificent a feast.

“THY word.” That is the subject of this magnificent continuum man somewhere chose to break up into 176 verses. Every one of those segments, except for two or three contain some synonym for the Divine revelation: the law, His testimonies, precepts, commandments, statutes,, “thy righteous judgments,” Thy Word, etc. It is God’s word in man’s language, and its magnificence is disclosed in this Psalm like a diamond turned slowly in the light that its radiant beauty may be observed and enjoyed from every facet.

That God has SPOKEN is wonderful. That GOD has spoken is awesome. That God has spoken in a language we can understand, for our information and instruction (and in the interest of our eternal salvation) should make it the most compelling, important and interesting communication in this “information age.” It was that to the Psalmist. If you had in your library a book written by the hand of the eternal God and personally presented to you with His signature, it would be the greatest treasure in your possession. And we do! Yet few of us esteem it that highly. It was that to the Psalmist, and so ought it be to us.

This book, however, was not written to grace a library shelf or reside in some place of honor in the living room, but to be tucked away for security purposes in a safety deposit box of the heart. Only there will it fulfill the purpose for which God gave it to you and me. Observe that the sanctuary for God’s word is not the head, but the heart. The head is the seat of the intellect, and that is the avenue through which it must travel, but it is in the heart that it must find its resting place, the seat of our affections.

Fifteen time the word heart occurs in the Psalm, and fourteen of them refer to affection for God and His word. “Out of the heart are the issues of life.” An intellectual approach to the word of God will afford information, but it is only when it travels eighteen inches further and affects the heart that it will accomplish its intended goal. That goal, as expressed in our text, is the reinforcement of the soul against the ravages of sin.

The reading of the word is important and necessary. The memorization of scripture is a good and wise exercise. But neither will automatically bring victory over sin. It is the heart’s embrace of the word that does that. The word of the Lord is not a coffee table book for occasional viewing, but a working manual to be cherished and employed as a functional tool. Ministering in a rescue mission on Boston’s skid row many years ago I dealt with an inebriated soul who proudly muttered as he pulled a little New Testament out of his shirt pocket, “I always carry the bible over my heart.” His statement defined his problem; it was over his heart, but clearly not in it. There he might appreciate it in measure, but he could never reproduce it. That is the problem for many a soul, even in more glamorous circumstances. It is the great service of scripture to direct us to life eternal and how to live it, but the heart must not only incline to embrace it; one must purpose to follow its direction. The Psalmist said in another place, “Give me understanding, and I shall keep Thy law; yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart (v. 34). If the heart is not involved, the will is not engaged.

One more thing, it seems to me, remains to be said. We have an insight that the Psalmist did not. He knew the scriptures only in print. We have access to the word in Person, the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is the function of the written word to introduce us to a living relationship with the Living Word. Short of that, the word will never render the grand service of which it is capable. Through the centuries there have been many, and there are many today, who have a high regard for scripture, but who have never come to embrace the One who is its author and objective. For all such, the word that could have saved them from sin will instead be their indictment.

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier

Psalm 118 - 2009.11.21

“The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD'S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes.” — Psalm 118:22-23

Our text for today is an appropriate companion to last week’s. As that referred to the hope of the nations in their call to worship the Lord of glory, this relates to the foundation upon which that hope rests.

The idea of the “head stone of the corner” as used in scripture appears to have a two-fold significance. Sometimes it infers a key foundation stone, architecturally or symbolically. Again it seems occasionally to refer to the “capstone” or keystone of an arch, for example, by which the structure is held in place. In our language the term has acquired the figurative meaning, “An indispensable and fundamental basis.” Christ is both the foundation and the capstone of our hope of eternal life. All begins and ends with Him.

That the prophetic reference here is to the Lord Jesus Christ, the New Testament makes indisputably clear. In a passage too extensive to include in our brief meditation, when the chief priests and elders of Israel challenged Jesus’ authority, near the conclusion of an extended discourse in reply the Savior quoted this very passage: “Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner: this is the Lord’s doing, and it is marvelous in our eyes?” And He added, significantly, “And whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken: but on whomsoever it shall fall, it will grind him to a powder.” (Mt. 21:42,44. See the whole passage, Mt. 21:23-44.)

The apostle Paul draws upon the figure when he declares to the Ephesians, “Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God; And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone [Eph. 2:20].” It is in Christ that the ages long conflict between Jew and Gentile is ended in a common entity, the church.

And the apostle Peter employs the same illustration:

“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, that ye may grow thereby: If so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious. To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. Wherefore also it is contained in the scripture, Behold, I lay in Sion a chief corner stone, elect, precious: and he that believeth on him shall not be confounded. Unto you therefore which believe he is precious: but unto them which be disobedient, the stone which the builders disallowed, the same is made the head of the corner, And a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed [I Pet. 2:2-8].”

Christ is both the foundation and the finish, the beginning and the end of God’s redemptive program. But note; it is “the stone which the builders rejected, refused, disallowed.” The prophet Isaiah said of the Messiah, “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not [Isa. 53:3].” Jesus said, “The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed… [Mark 8:31].” The saddest thing is not that He was rejected of men, as Isaiah predicted, but that He was rejected of “the builders,” clearly referring to the religious leadership. It is not the pagan world that is here accused of rejecting the CornerStone, but the “builders” of Israel. And Spurgeon remarked in his day, "Still do the builders refuse him: even to this day the professional teachers of the gospel are far too apt to fly to any and every new philosophy sooner than maintain the simple gospel, which is the essence of Christ" It was so then; sadly it is still so today in the vast majority of churches.

Nevertheless, by His death and resurrection Christ has become “the head of the corner,” the chief cornerstone,” and those who put their trust in Him are joined with Him as “living stones, built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God.” This is, indeed, the Lord’s doing and is marvelous in our eyes.

Have you made Him the foundation and capstone of your life?

For His glory and our good,

"Pastor" Frasier

Psalm 117 - 2009.11.14

“O praise the LORD, all ye nations: praise him, all ye people. For his merciful kindness is great toward us: and the truth of the LORD endureth for ever. Praise ye the LORD.” — Psalm 117

There are few things more deadening than spiritual pride. It blinds us to our own needs and tends to make us indifferent to the needs of others. It was one of the great plagues of Israel, generating in the nation generally a sense that they were the “chosen people” and the rest of the world (the Gentiles) hopelessly lost and beyond their concern.

Like many in the church today, neglect of their scriptures or indifference toward them, left them in a state of spiritual myopia not shared by the prophets who were in touch with God. Our text for today is the entire 117th Psalm, “at once the shortest chapter of the scriptures and the central portion of the whole bible.” And its reach, in this short compass, is as great as the gospel of the grace of God. An invitation is here extended to all nations, peoples and individuals to join in praise to the Lord of glory. No one is excluded. No one is excluded from the scope of “His merciful kindness.”

It is a brief, but telling reminder to us of this later dispensation that in His merciful kindness that “the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world [I John 4:14],” and that when Christ died he died “not for our sins only, but also for the sins of the whole world [I John 2:2].” “God was in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself [II Cor 5:19].” These are representative of the grand emphasis in the New Testament of the ground and validity of the scope of this wonderful gem of a Psalm; like a diamond, it is small, but of immense worth. And let me note in passing, it is the ground upon which all our efforts in world evangelism rest.

Justification for this emphasis is made clear by the reference to this Psalm in Paul’s epistle to the Romans:

“Now I say that Jesus Christ was a minister of the circumcision for the truth of God, to confirm the promises made unto the fathers: And that the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy; as it is written, For this cause I will confess to thee among the Gentiles, and sing unto thy name. And again he saith, Rejoice, ye Gentiles, with his people. And again, Praise the Lord, all ye Gentiles; and laud him, all ye people. And again, Esaias saith, There shall be a root of Jesse, and he that shall rise to reign over the Gentiles; in him shall the Gentiles trust [Rom. 15:8-12].”

The Psalm is not only precious, but prophetic. When the King comes back “some from every tribe and nation” will be in the chorus of adoration, “to the praise of the glory of His grace.” The apostle John saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” and “the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven.” When he finishes his description of it he declares, “And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour unto it… And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it.”

The emphasis in the Revelation on the coming international community is, in fact, quite remarkable. In chapter 12 the “woman” “brought forth a man child who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron” (v. 5). In ch.15 the great choir sings, “…all nations shall come and worship before Thee…” (v.4). And in Ch. 22, wrapping up his vision of the Holy City the prophet observes, “He showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations (v. 1-2, my italics).

Beloved, the nations are not going to be healed at the ballot boxes, nor by armies of liberation nor by becoming “democracies,” The problems of the nations, including this one, are the result of sin and idolatry, and the only cure is in the disclosure of the merciful kindness of our God Who has made the “water of life” available to all who will “come and drink.” Let the church not waste her energies on campaigns to correct the wrongs in human government which, like every other dispensation is doomed to failure, but on getting the gospel out, which alone can change the hearts and destinies of men. Let us remember that the Savior said, “And this gospel of the kingdom shall first be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come [Mt. 24:14].”

For a world in desperate need,

"Pastor" Frasier

Psalm 116 - 2009.11.07

“The sorrows of death compassed me, and the pains of hell gat hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of the LORD…I was brought low, and He helped me.” — Psalm 116:3-4, 6b

Through the prophet Isaiah the Holy Spirit made an interesting and important disclosure: “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts [Isa. 55:8-9].” This truth accounts for a number of real or apparent paradoxes in God’s dealings with us. One of those paradoxes, illustrated in our “nugget” for today, is that for the soul under the influences of the Spirit, “the way up is down.”

The Lord Jesus illustrated this when He concluded His parable of the wedding feast with this principle, ”For whosoever exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted [Luke 14:(7-)11].” This is exactly opposite to the prevailing attitude of man in general. The concept could well be explored in a number of directions and at some length, but the use we want to make of it here is just this: it is a principle that explains the value of what we are inclined to call negative experiences in the life of a soul with whom God is dealing, saved or unsaved.

The key word in our text, a word of more than passing interest in scripture, is the word “then.” The writer indicates some kind of affliction so intense that he associates it with death and hell and defines it as “trouble and sorrow.” This surely is not, in our way of thinking, a “blessed experience” in the ordinary sense. But, it was God’s way of getting his attention. It was not until he was put in the crucible of suffering that he “came to himself,” like the prodigal son, and then he “called upon the name of the Lord.” There are some who would never call upon His name did they not feel His chastening rod.

However we perceive it in the process, what a blessing God has bestowed upon us when He causes or allows some trial or testing in our lives that drives us at last to Himself. The New Testament elaborates on this Divine principle this way:

“Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we gave them reverence: shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the Father of spirits, and live? For they verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness. Now no chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous, but grievous: nevertheless afterward it yieldeth the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised thereby [Heb. 12:6-11].”

Certainly not all suffering is to be interpreted as chastening, but when it is, it is a wonderful evidence of God’s love for His wayward child, seeking to humble him until he will “call upon the name of the Lord” and be a candidate for God’s gracious exaltation. “I was brought low, and He helped me.” And see what great good came out of it: “I love the Lord because He hath heard my voice and my supplication (v.1).” The relationship between the child and the Father was restored and love revived in a heart that had grown cold.

Now there is an interesting alternate reading of this verse. The ARV renders the last clause, “I was brought low and He saved me.” This translation captures the fact that God not only uses affliction to “help” His wayward child back into a right relationship with Himself, but He has and may use the same principle to bring the arrogant sinner to his knees (literally), wakening him to his need for repentance toward God and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ, bringing him to salvation, a proper love for God and the joy of eternal salvation.

An acquaintance of mine described with gratitude the physical pain that sent him to the doctor who diagnosed his heart condition which, unattended, could have taken his life. How many a believer today can testify with joy of the “trouble and sorrow” that moved him to seek the Great Physician and find the remedy for that spiritual heart trouble which could have resulted in eternal death and damnation. Such will join in chorus with the Psalmist and say, “I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my supplications!”

“Trouble and sorrow” could prove to be one of the best things that ever happened to you!

For an understanding of His ways,

"Pastor" Frasier