8. Dedication To Reason Psalm 30:9

Text:  “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.  If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land.”

                                                                              Isaiah 1:18-19.

Good morning, reasoning Christian!  The Lord God, through the inspired writing of His prophet, Isaiah, has graciously invited you and I to ’Come now, let us reason together…’, and by faith, we have sought to take the Lord God at His own inspired Word.  Thus, we are enabled of Him, by His Spirit, and in the Name of His Son Jesus Christ, empowered and invited to ’reason together’ in prayer with our Creator Lord.  Wow!  What an absolute Divine privilege God has given us!  Hallelujah!

This man-to-God ’reasoning’ is what David is seeking to do in our selected verse from Psalm 30: “What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit?  Shall the dust praise Thee?  Shall it declare Thy truth?”  The Lord graciously invites us to reason with Him in this reverent and sincere manner of close communion in prayer.

Old brother Job - in all his deep and terrible testing, heartache, and grief - sought a ’daysman’ ( a person who appoints a day to hear a cause; an umpire, or a mediator) that would act as a go-between with him and the Lord God, and explain to him, or help him to understand why such terrible things had befallen him and his entire family circle.  Job manifested a profound need to be enabled to ’reason together…’ with the Lord God Almighty.

“For He is not a man, as I am, that I should answer Him, and we should come together in judgement.  Neither is there any daysman betwixt us, that might lay his hand upon us both.  Let Him take His rod away from me, and let not His fear terrify me: then would I speak, and not fear Him; but it is not so with me.”  (Job 9:32-35) 

Job’s heartfelt plea is fully answered in this dispensation, for at the appointed time, the Lord Jesus Christ came into this world; was born of a virgin; lived a sinless life; was in fact, God manifested in flesh, or incarnated in a human body; went to the Cross for ‘His people’; suffered to pay the full penalty for our sins; died the infinite death you and I deserved to die; was buried in a tomb; and on the third day, arose again from the dead to justify all those whom the Father had elected in Eternity to save.  Hallelujah! 

We now have that ‘daysman’; that Holy Umpire; that One Mediator between God the Father and sinful mankind - Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living Lord God!  Glory to His Holy and Victorious Name!

“For there is ONE God, and One Mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave Himself a ransom for all (elect from every nation), to be testified in due time.”  (1 Timothy 2:5-6)  Hallelujah! 

We now have a Divine Daysman, in Christ Jesus!  Glory to His Holy and Heavenly Name.  Amen.  We can now ‘Come, and reason together’ with our Heavenly Father, through our Mediator Lord and High Priest, His dear Son, Jesus Christ.

“For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:15-16)

Verse 9.  “What profit is there in my blood?  So then, poor saints of God when they come and tell the Lord in prayers that indeed He may condemn or confound or cut or cast them off; He may continue to frown upon them; He may deny such and such requests of theirs, for such and such just causes in them; but what will He gain thereby? 

“He may gain many praises, etc., by hearing them and helping them; but what good will it do Him to see them oppressed by the enemies of their souls?  Or what delight would it be to Him to see them sighing and sinking and fainting under sad pressures, etc?  This is an allowed and very successful kind of pleading (reasoning).”  (Thomas Cobbet 1608-1686)

Verse 9.  “…Shall the dust praise Thee?  Can any number be sufficient to praise Thee?  Can there ever be mouths enough to declare Thy truth?  And may not I make one - a sinful one I know - but yet one in number, if Thou be pleased to spare me from descending into the pit?”  (Sir Richard Baker 1568-1645)

All the old Puritans knew this concept well, the concept of reverent ‘reasoning together’ with the Lord God Whom they loved and sought to serve diligently.  It is this power of permitted ‘reasoning’ with Divinity, that enabled such prayerful men and women to take a stand against the powerful Stuart kings and their notion of Absolute Monarchy, the Divine Right of kings to rule a nation as seemed good in their own eyes; practiced in England in the seventeenth century.  ‘The Lord is our Salvation’ was on their battle standards, but it was on their knees in reasoning, pleading, prayer that the Puritans won their victories! 

“Prayer that is likely to prevail with God must be argumentative.  God loves to have us plead with Him and overcome Him with arguments in prayer.”  (Thomas Watson 1620-1686)

Thought: “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord:” (Isaiah 1:18)  A church without prayer, is a church without power to serve the Lord God.

7. Dedication To Prayer Psalm 30:8

Text:  “I cried to Thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord (Jehovah) I made my supplication.”

                                                                                                                    Psalm 30:8.

Good morning, prayerful Christian!  Unless you and I are ‘prayerful Christians’, we proclaim ourselves to be the most outrageous hypocrites that ever lived!  How come?  Because if we are not in constant ‘fellowship’ with the Lord God Whom we profess to worship and love - then we are not true Christians at all! 

We show, outwardly, that we love someone, by the amount of time we seek to be near them and walk with them; and seek to commune with them.  IF, therefore, we genuinely love the Lord God, we will desire constant fellowship with Him; seek a close walk with Him; and continually speak to Him in prayer - listening for His reply in His Word.  We will be ‘prayerful Christians’ indeed.

“God is faithful, by Whom ye were called unto the fellowship of His Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”  (1 Corinthians 1:9)

“That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that ye also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ.  And these things write we unto you, that your joy may be full.”  (1 John 1:3-4)

“If we say we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth; but if we walk in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the Blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanseth (cleanses and continues to cleanse) us from all sin.”  (1 John 1:6-7)

Dictionary Definition: Fellowship - (noun) the state of being a fellow or partner; friendship; communion; an association…  (The Chambers Dictionary, page 592)

Verse 8. “I cried to Thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord (Jehovah) I made my supplication.”

Dictionary Definition: Supplication - (noun) the act of supplication; an earnest or humble petition; earnest prayer or entreaty; a petition for some special blessing. (The Chambers Dictionary, page 1662)

Verse 8. Paraphrase: In an attitude of humble earnestness and reverence I cried my heart out onto Thee, oh Lord God, Jehovah; unto Thee alone, in the Name of Thy dear Son, Christ Jesus, I made my sincere petition.  Please answer me during our sweet fellowship, as I worship Thee and place my petition before Thy Holy throne of grace.  In the Name of Thy dear Son, Jesus Christ, and according to Thine own perfect will, I humbly make my request.  Amen.

Prayerful Christians become powerful Christians.  No prayer?  No Divine power!

Verse 8.  “I cried to Thee O Lord.  Prayer is the unfailing resource of God’s people.  If they are driven to their wits’ end, they may still go to the mercy-seat.  When an earthquake makes our mountain tremble, the throne of grace still stands firm, and we may come to it.  Let us never forget to pray, and let us never doubt the success of prayer.  The hand which wounds can heal; let us turn to Him Who smites us, and He will be entreated of us.

“Prayer is a better solace than Cain’s building a city or Saul’s seeking for music.  Mirth and carnal amusements are a sorry prescription for a mind distracted and despairing; prayer will succeed where all else fails.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 146)

“One of the mightiest men of prayer of the last generation was George Mueller of Bristol, England, who in the last sixty years of his life (he lived to be ninety-two or ninety-three) obtained the English equivalent of $7,200,000.00 by prayer. But George Mueller never prayed for a thing just because he wanted it, or even just because he felt it was greatly needed for God's work. When it was laid upon George Mueller's heart to pray for anything, he would search the Scriptures to find if there was some promise that covered the case. Sometimes he would search the scriptures for days before he presented his petition to God. And then when he found the promise, with his open Bible before him, and his finger upon that promise, he would plead that promise, and so he received what he asked. He always prayed with an open Bible before him.

(R. A. Torrey on George Mueller; "The Power of Prayer," 1924 (P. 81)

Note: R. A. Torrey (1856-1928) was selected by Dwight L. Moody be in charge of his Chicago Bible Institute (now known as The Moody Bible Institute). When Dwight Moody died during an evangelistic campaign, R. A. Torrey was chosen to be his replacement, and thereafter had a ministry of Evangelism.

“John Knox and Prayer: It is said that Mary, Queen of Scots trembled when John Knox went to his knees in prayer. One time she even exclaimed that she feared Knox's prayers "more than an any army in Europe."  Why was she so shaken? It was because Knox believed that God worked through prayer. This was no simple assent to a truth. Knox acted on his belief. He would boldly come before the throne of grace like no other, throwing his petitions at the Father's feet.” (Larry Christenson, The Christian Family)

Thought: Prayerful Christians are powerful Christians - for their power is given from God Almighty, and at all times in order to fulfil His Sovereign will and purpose.

6. Dedication To Eternal Security Psalm 30:6-7

Text:  “And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.  Lord, by Thy favour Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong; Thou didst hide Thy face, and I was troubled.”

                                                                                                                 Psalm 30:6-7.

Good morning, fully dependant Christian!  Through many trials and testing times, perhaps, the Lord has taught you and I the invaluable lesson of continual dependence on Him and His grace alone.  Just as, in the words of the hymn, ‘…the arm of flesh will fail us, we dare not trust our own…’; we dependant Christians have learned not to trust in material riches, or human resources; or personal skills and abilities; nor the power or authority of our own human will or reason.  We trust completely in the Christ Who suffered and died for us at the Cross, and thus, ‘…our mountain stands strong…’  Hallelujah!  Lord, we are trusting and depending on Thee.

“Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not (depend not) unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.  Be not wise in thine own eyes; fear the Lord, and depart from evil.”  (Proverbs 3:5-7)

There is no one in as much deadly danger as the Christian who has become just that little bit too comfortable in life; that little bit too wealthy in this world’s currency; too unchallenged by difficulties in day to day living.  When the Christian begins to depend too much on material things, or personal abilities - he/she is in a dangerous place indeed!  Christian, beware!  Stay close to your Lord in prayer!  Trust Him alone.

“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he/she fall.”                        (1 Corinthians 10:12)

“Better is little with the fear of the Lord than great treasure and trouble therewith.”  (Proverbs 15:16)

King David at war was fully dependent upon the Lord his God.  King David, too comfortable and at ease upon his bed in Jerusalem, took his eyes off the Lord, and fell into the gross sins of adultery and murder.  (2 Samuel 11:1-17)

You and I are no different in our old nature to what David was in his - we have the potential to commit every vile sin imaginable, but for God’s good restraining grace.

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?”  (Jeremiah 17:9)

“…For there is no difference; for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.”  (Romans 3:22-23)

Verse 6.  “And in my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved.  When all his foes were quiet, and his rebellious son dead and buried, then was the time of peril.  Many a vessel founders in a calm.  No temptation is so bad as tranquillity.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 146)

“We are never in greater danger than in the sunshine of prosperity.  To be always indulged of God and never to taste of trouble is rather a token of God’s neglect rather than of His tender love.”  (William Struther 1633)

Verse 6.  “…I shall never be moved.  Ah, David, you said more than was wise to say, or even to think, for God has founded the world upon the floods, to show us what a poor, mutable, movable, inconstant world it is.  Unhappy he who builds upon it!  He builds himself a dungeon for his hopes.”  (C.H. Spurgeon 1834-1892)

Riches, material possessions, natural talents and abilities are NOT evil or wrong of themselves, if possessed, viewed and used according to and under the revealed will of God.  The Lord is our Primary Source for all things.  When we get that vital concept correct, all else is assured to us, and peace of mind to enjoy our gain also!  Put God first, and ‘…all these things shall be added unto you…’ according as He sees fit.

“But seek ye FIRST the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”  (Matthew 6:33)

Verse 7.  “Lord, by Thy favour (grace) Thou hast made my mountain to stand strong.  His state he compares to a mountain, a molehill would have been nearer - we are never think too little of ourselves.  He boasted that his mountain stood strong, and yet he had before in Psalm 29, spoken of Sirion and Lebanon as moving like young unicorns.  Was David’s state more firm than Lebanon?  Ah, vain conceit, too common to us all!”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 146)

Social stability is founded upon God’s Provident hand and generosity.  Eternal stability is founded solely on Christ Jesus, and upon His finished Sacrifice of full Atonement for our sin.  ‘All other ground is sinking sand.’

Verse 7.  “Thou didst hide Thy face, and I was troubled.  There was no need to come to blows, a hidden face was enough.  This proves, first, that David was a genuine saint, for no hiding of God’s face on earth would trouble a sinner; and, secondly, that the joy of the saint is dependent upon the Presence of his Lord.”  (C.H. Spurgeon 1834-1892)

Thought:  Fully depending upon Jehovah God - we are Eternally safe and secure.

5. Dedication to His Grace Psalm 30:5

Text:  “For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour (His grace) is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”

                                                                                                                    Psalm 30:5.

Good morning, grace-saved Christian!  You and I were saved by God’s Sovereign grace, or we have never been saved at all!  God’s Word, on this matter of Eternal Salvation, is both certain and clear: we are saved from sin and Eternal death by the Lord’s great grace alone.  From beginning to end, Salvation is of the Lord!  Glory to His Name!

“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God; not of works, lest any man should boast.  For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.”  (Ephesians 2:8-10)

Eternal Salvation is a miracle of God’s regenerative powers.  There is only ONE Creator, the Lord God Jehovah - and ‘His people’ are ‘…created in Christ Jesus…’, according to the Scriptures contained in His Word quoted above.

Let me hear no more of this ’Oh, I made a decision at church…Oh, I responded to an ’altar call’ rubbish!  ’Oh, I made a conscious decision based on my human responsibility.’  Oh yes?  Did you?  Well then the Holy Scriptures that clearly teach us that, ’The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are Spiritually discerned.’ must be wrong!  If the Bible makes sense, please let us not try to make it nonsense!  (1 Corinthians 2:13-14)  God’s Word is absolute TRUTH. (John 17:17)

God’s favour, or to give this wonderful gift its proper name, God’s Sovereign grace, is what is necessarily shown to sinners such as ourselves, if ever we are to be saved from the state of Spiritual death our primary progenitor, Adam, brought upon us in Eden’s Garden. 

Adam’s great Fall from God’s grace, his first sin of disobedience to God his Creator, blighted the entire human race with the incurable plague of SIN. (I.e. falling short of God’s glory, the perfect state manifested by Christ Jesus Himself.)  Only Christ Himself can redeem us from such a lost state, and He does so by the shedding of His own sinless Blood for us, ‘His people’, at Calvary’s Cross.  This is the Gospel truth.

“And she (Mary) shall bring forth a Son, and thou (Joseph) shalt call His Name Jesus: for He shall save His people from their sins.  Now all this was done, that it might be fulfilled which was spoken of the Lord by the prophet saying, Behold a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a Son, and they shall call His Name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us.”  (Matthew 1:21-23)

God the Father ‘elected’ (chose) all those souls that He desired to save long before time began. He made His election choice in Eternity.  God the Son, sent by God the Father to make Himself a sinless Sacrifice for those whom the Father had given Him to save - in the time ordained - was incarnated as a babe in Mary’s womb, by the power of God the Holy Spirit, and went to the Cross, suffered, died, and rose again from the dead, to pay the penalty and justify ‘His people’ given Him by the Father.  This is the Gospel truth.  (1 Peter 1:2-5) (Luke 1:26-38) (John 6:37-40) (Leviticus 17:11) (1 Peter 1:18-25)

Without God’s Sovereign grace being given - no soul can receive Salvation!

Verse 5.  “For His anger endureth but a moment; in His favour (grace) is life.  Oh admire and wonder forever at the Sovereign, distinguishing grace of God.  Are you that are at ease better than many of His people that are now thrown into a fiery furnace?  Have you less dross than they?  Have they sinned, think you, at a higher rate than you have ever done?  He is angry with them for their Luke warmness, for their backsliding; and have your hearts always burned with love?  Have your feet always kept His way and not declined?  Have you never wandered?  Have you never turned aside to the right hand or to the left?  Surely you have; and therefore, what a mercy is it, that He is not angry with you as well as with them.”  (Timothy Rogers1660-1729)

Verse 5.  “…In His favour (grace) is life.  If a damned soul should be admitted to the fruition of all the pleasure of Eternal life without the favour of God, Heaven would be Hell to him.  It is not the dark and horrid house of woe that maketh a soul miserable in Hell, but God’s displeasure.

“If an elect soul should be cast thither and retain the favour (grace) of God, Hell would be an Heaven to him, and his joy could not all the devils of Hell take from him; his night would be turned into day.”  (Edward Marbury 1649)

Verse 5.  “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.  When the Sun of Righteousness comes, we wipe our eyes, and joy chases out intruding sorrow.  Who would not be joyful that knows Jesus?”  (C.H. Spurgeon 1834-1892)

“And so, when life with its struggles and toils and sins, bringing us perpetual conflict, ends at last in the fierce struggle of death, then God ‘…giveth His beloved sleep.’  They sleep in Jesus and awake to the joy of a morning which shall know no wane - the morning of joy.”  (Treasury of David, page 145)

Thought:  God’s grace alone turns natural human weeping into Supernatural joy and everlasting peace.  Trust Him - He will bring you through your trials and grief.  “Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.”  Amen.

4. Dedication For Praise To God Psalm 30:4

Text:  “Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His Holiness.”      Psalm 30:4.

Good morning, singing saint!  Saint’s are not some historical figures, canonized by popes or priests or prelates.  No!  Every soul that has been, will be, and is Spiritually regenerated by the Lord God Jehovah, qualifies to be called a ’saint’.  Fact.  And true saints are all dedicated, set apart, for praise, worship, and thanksgiving to our Holy Lord God.  Let me hear it?  ’Hallelujah!’  We praise Thee, Lord God Almighty!

Verse 4.  “Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His.  David would not fill his choir with reprobates but with sanctified persons who could sing from their hearts.  He calls to you, ye people of God, because you are saints: and if sinners are wickedly silent, let your holiness constrain you to sing.  You are His saints - chosen, Blood-bought, called, and set apart for God; sanctified on purpose that you should offer the daily sacrifice of praise. Abound ye in this Heavenly duty. (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 144)  

When the Lord God granted me repentance and faith - through the reading of His Word contained in a prison issue King James Version Bible - and very soon after that day in 1979, in cell 9 of H Block 6, H.M.P. Maze, Northern Ireland; He gave me a promise I could claim for myself, and it was written there in Psalm 40:3: “And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God; many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.”

By simple, childlike, faith I claimed this verse as a promise from the Lord God in prayer, and by His great grace, He has fulfilled this promise to me, over and over again, down through the last 36 years since that day that He saved me.  God’s Word is truth.

Here is what Haddon Spurgeon, ’the prince of preachers’ has to say on this matter:

“Psalm 40:3.  This man who talks about his song, and seems to be very much struck with the fact that he has become a singer, was formerly a man of prayer.  I doubt not that he was still praying while he was praising; but he began to pray before he began to praise.  It is ill to go in the choir first; we must begin our Spiritual experience at the ’penitent form’.  He who sings without having wept may have to weep, by and by, where he can never sing.  Listen to what this man’s experience had been: ’I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry.’  That is where God gets His singers, out of the place of praying and weeping.  Where they learn to pray they begin to sing.  Oh, yes, even in Heaven itself, the sweetest voices that there praise God and the Lamb belong to those who came out of great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb!  Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple.  Do not try to get the joy of Christ without first having sorrow for sin…

“This man, who says that God has put a new song in his mouth, began with a new prayer in his heart: ’I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry.’  Further, this man, who sings so well that he cannot help talking about it, was once in a very deplorable state where there was no singing for him; but God brought him up out of it…’He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a Rock, and established my goings.’”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Psalms, The C.H. Spurgeon Collection, pages 54-55)   

Many professing Christ in this 21^st Century, seem to have little to sing about!  Singing a praise to God, seems to be seen as ’doing God a favour’!  How sad!

If the Lord God has ’…brought up our souls from the grave…’; if He has, by His free grace and totally unmerited favour, ’…kept us alive…’; and saved us from ’going down to the pit…’ - should this miracle of God’s grace not cause our very souls to be uplifted unto our Saviour in deep heartfelt praise?  How can we cease from singing His praise?  How can we fail to utterly worship and adore the Living Lord God?

“Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His Holiness.” (Psalm 30:4)

“Men who know from what they are saved, men who have felt the iron rod of the Law, and have been crushed and broken beneath the millstones of conviction, these are they who appreciate ‘free grace and dying love’ to the full, and speak of it, and sing of it.  I do not find so much of this singing now, and the reason is because there has been so little of the deep experience of which our good old fathers used to speak.”             (C.H. Spurgeon, Psalms, The C.H. Spurgeon Collection, page 55)

Verse 4.  “…Give thanks at the remembrance of His Holiness.”  Why give thanks when we remember God’s Holiness?  Why?  Because it is His ’Holiness’ that condemns our sinful souls down into a Christ-rejecter’s Hell, for sin cannot enter the Kingdom of Heaven!  Selah…now think deeply on this!  The Thrice Holy Lord God, Who cannot even look upon sin without punishing it sore, now, because of our covering in Christ’s sinless Blood by faith, permits us to stand in His Holy Presence with praises in our mouths instead of screams of terror and fear!  That is why we ’…give thanks at the remembrance of His Holiness’.  We remember the horror He has shielded us from, and the great Sacrifice of His Own dear Son at Calvary made to deliver us from all sin.  Thanks be to Thee, dear Lord God!  We lift up our very souls in praise and adoration.

Thought:  IF you and I are ’His saints’, let us ’Sing continually unto the Lord’, and ’give everlasting thanks at the remembrance of His Holiness’.  Amen.