“Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are
continually before me.” ISA 49:16.
 
God had created man in the image of God for the purpose of reflecting God’s
righteousness and holiness.  Due to Adam’s fall, this heritage of the Lord was
empty.  This chapter reveals the Father’s call, gathering His people together,
that the heritage of God should be inhabited.  The image of God may again be
reflected in our human nature through the Lord Jesus Christ.
 
In ISA 49:11-12 we read, “And I will make all my mountains a way, and my
highways shall be exalted.  Behold, these shall come from far: and, lo, these
from the north and from the west; and these from the land of Sinim.”  The Lord
Jesus Christ made a king’s highway, not merely a footpath.  He made a way where
there was no way. 

 
This chapter reveals the joy there is in heaven because of Christ’s victory over
sin, death, and the grave.  We read in ISA 49:13, “Sing, O heavens; and be
joyful, O earth; and break forth into singing, O mountains: for the LORD hath
comforted his people, and will have mercy upon his afflicted.” 

 
The Lord has made a way whereby comfort can be brought to His afflicted ones. 
The angels in heaven rejoice over one sinner who comes to repentance, and here
is a way open for the comfort of all His people.  There is joy in the
proclamation of the one and only way of salvation to comfort His afflicted ones.
 
Christ’s victory over Satan and sin, delivering His church from eternal death
and hell, is the great wonder of eternity, but is not understood by most men. 
Natural man does not understand how God’s grace has purchased salvation for His
enemies who have turned their backs upon Him.  He has worked reconciliation
through the Lord Jesus Christ, who came to mediate between two offended parties:
God, the Father, (whose justice was offended) and man (who has rebelled in utter
rejection of the Lord).  The Lord Jesus Christ is the mediator who can break the
barriers and bring salvation for fallen man.
 
To men of modern religion, salvation is a decision of the human intellect
whereby they appease their consciences and expect to escape the consequences of
sin, but salvation is so much greater than that.  Salvation is to be delivered
from sin, restored to the image of God, and returned to oneness with God. 
Atonement means “at one ment” or “reconciliation.”  The atonement of the Lord
Jesus Christ restored the oneness between God and man.
 
To every sinner who knows the deceitfulness of his own heart, the work of
redemption is the greatest work God has accomplished for fallen man.  All
eternity will not be long enough to explain the wonder of the atonement, which
redeemed fallen man from sin.
 
Our text begins with, “Behold”!  Nothing is mere filler in the Scriptures.  I
would like to deal with this text word by word without overlooking the
continuity of the sentence.  “Behold” is there to attract particular attention
to something significant that follows.  “Behold, I have graven thee upon the
palms of my hands.” 

 
The declaration “Behold, I” directs our attention to who that Divine Artist is
who did the engraving.  Jesus taught in JOH 15:16, “Ye have not chosen me, but I
have chosen you.”  The Lord Jesus Christ was the engraver.  He is drawing
special attention to this declaration: “I have graven thee upon the palms of my
hands.”
 
It is not through our merit, choosing, prayers, repentance, or faith that we are
engraved upon the palms of His hands.  The declaration is to behold that He is
the Engraver by His eternal, electing love.  This divine art of engraving
springs from the eternal love of the Father, whereby He chose His own and
engraved them in “the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the
world,” REV 13:8.  That engraving has been done from the foundation of the
world.  It did not happen because of something we have done.  If our hands were
on the door of heaven yet there was one thing still left for us to do, we would
perish eternally.  Salvation is of the Lord.
 
This engraving is not to be done upon any contingencies of our will or
acceptance, but has already been done. “Behold, Ihave graven thee upon the palms
of my hands.”  There is nothing that we must do before He will engrave our
names.  This was written many years before the coming of Christ, yet He says, “I
have graven thee” in the past tense!  1JO 4:10 says, “Herein is love, not that
we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for
our sins.” 

 
Our text says, “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands.”  This
means every individual person.  He has already personally engraved your name on
the palm of His hand, and not just your name, nor a mere sketch or outline, but
a full picture of you: all of your shortcomings, all of your failures, all of
your forgetfulness, and all that pertains to you.
 
On the palms of those crucified hands is engraved our every infirmity, not just
some letters of the alphabet.  HEB 4:15-16 says, “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.”  He ever remembers and understands our every infirmity because He
was there. 

 
You might know sheep, another might know cattle, and yet another might
understand farming.  You can intimately relate to someone of a similar
background.  The Lord Jesus Christ is familiar with our every infirmity because
He was there.  That is such an encouragement to us not to despair or think that
our case is something special, because He understands it all.  Every infirmity,
every need, and every want is engraved upon the palms of His hands.
 
Our spiritual death is one of those infirmities.  EPH 2:4-6 says, “But God, who
is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us [such that He
engraved us upon the palms of His hands], Even when we were dead in sins, hath
quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us
up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.”  If
our souls are dead and dark and we feel that there is no place for God in our
hearts, all we need to do is confess it to the Lord and ask Him to quicken us by
His grace, because He understands so well. 

 
Our love for sin is one of those infirmities that are engraved on the palms of
His hands.  Our love for sin led Him to pay the price for our sin.  He
understands it so well, because He was tempted with that love of sin.  There is
not one trick that Satan can pull on you and me that he did not try to pull on
Christ. 

 
In ACT 5:31 we read, “Him hath God exalted with his right hand to be a Prince
and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins.”  We
can preach repentance, but only Christ can give repentance.
 
Our hatred and enmity against God and His ordained way is another one of those
infirmities.  Do you know people who rebel against the Word of God?  They do not
want to follow the Lord because it leads to the cross; it is the way of
humility.  Rebellion is born in the heart of man as a result of the fall of
Adam.  This infirmity is written on the palms of His hands, because He died for
that rebellion. 

 
PSA 110:3 says, “Thy people shall be willing in the day of thy power, in the
beauties of holiness from the womb of the morning: thou hast the dew of thy
youth.”  By nature, we are not willing.  By nature, we have no desire to know
His ways.  By nature, we hate God, but He makes us willing in the day of His
power.  The Lord will never coerce us or compel us to serve Him.  His Spirit
makes us willing by convicting our hearts of sin.  We see the price that Christ
had to pay for sin and then we desire to serve Him.  As He works grace in our
hearts, we see the beauty of holiness and become willing.
 
A lack of faith is another one of the infirmities that God has ever before Him. 
Before our text was spoken, Zion (which is the church) said, “The LORD hath
forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me,” ISA 49:14.  Did the Lord forsake
Zion?  No, Zion forsook the Lord.  One of Satan’s key tricks is to twist the
truth 180 degrees.  He wants us to blame God instead of ourselves. 

 
“My Lord hath forgotten me” expresses a very solemn experience known only by a
child of God, because only a child of God knows His presence.  A person who has
never felt the Lord’s presence will never feel the Lord’s absence.  He cannot
feel forsaken or forgotten.  If the Lord withdraws His comfort, secret support,
heavenly light, and the nearness and fellowship of His Spirit, then His people
feel His absence, because they have experienced His presence.
 
God’s dear children often find their hearts crying out with David in PSA 28:1,
“Unto thee will I cry, O LORD my rock; be not silent to me: lest, if thou be
silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit.”  David knew that if
the Lord was silent and withdrew His presence, he would become a godless and
spiritually dead man. 

 
When a child of God feels that the Lord has withdrawn, he always has a sense of
sin as its cause.  PSA 106:4-6 says, “Remember me, O LORD, with the favour that
thou bearest unto thy people: O visit me with thy salvation; That I may see the
good of thy chosen, that I may rejoice in the gladness of thy nation, that I may
glory with thine inheritance.  We have sinned with our fathers, we have
committed iniquity, we have done wickedly.”  The psalmist understood that the
Lord had withdrawn because of his sin and he cried out for the Lord to come
again with His love and restore the salvation of his soul as he confessed his
sin.
 
The Lord withdraws Himself and does not answer prayer if we cherish sin in our
heart.  The psalmist said, “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not
hear me,” PSA 66:18.  That word regard in the Hebrew means “cherish.”  We read
in ISA 59:1-2, “Behold, the LORD’S hand is not shortened, that it cannot save;
neither his ear heavy, that it cannot hear: But your iniquities have separated
between you and your God, and your sins have hid his face from you, that he will
not hear.”  When the Lord has withdrawn, we need to search our hearts: wherein
have we forsaken the Lord?  The Lord does not forsake His people, but His people
forsake Him when they sin. 

 
When the Lord withdraws His presence, He returns unto His mercy seat and waits
until His people feel His absence, confess their sin, and return to Him, but by
nature, we will not feel His absence.  HOS 5:15 says, “I will go and return to
my place, till they acknowledge their offense, and seek my face: in their
affliction they will seek me early.”  The Lord will not restore His love and
nearness until we acknowledge our iniquity.  We will not even feel His absence
until He puts His finger upon us.  Then in our affliction we will seek Him.
 
This is what forces the cry out of a believer’s heart.  PSA 27:8-10 says, “When
thou saidst, Seek ye my face; my heart said unto thee, Thy face, LORD, will I
seek.  Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou
hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. 
When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.”  The
psalmist recognized that the Lord had been near and precious to him.  He knew
the presence and help of the Lord, but the Lord withdrew Himself because of
sin.  Yet he had faith to return and confess his iniquity, knowing that the Lord
was still faithful and would take him up.
 
The Lord asks in the verse before our text if it is possible for a father or
mother to forget.  ISA 49:15 asks, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that
she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet
will I not forget thee.”  The Lord is showing the beauty of the engravings upon
the palms of His hands that have been there from eternity.  He will never
forget!  Even though a woman may forget the baby at her breast, “yet will I not
forget.”
 
The Lord Jesus Christ expresses the impossibility of forgetting His dear bride,
whatever she is guilty of or wherever she may have strayed.  We may have
forsaken the Lord as the lost sheep.  I have not found a place in the Bible
where the Lord Jesus went out to seek the lost goat.  He went to seek and to
save His lost sheep, which are those within the fold.  They are not goats or
swine, but sheep who have strayed away and become lost because they have
forsaken the Lord. 

 
This gospel teaches us one of the most blessed assurances Christ’s church has
for its eternal security.  If it depended upon us following the Lord, then we
could fall away, but it is not possible because He has engraved us upon the
palms of His hands for eternity.
 
When Jesus departed from this world to return to His Father, He left His
disciples with the assurance of our text.  LUK 24:50-51 tells us, “And he led
them out as far as to Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them. 
And it came to pass, while he blessed them, he was parted from them, and carried
up into heaven.”  First, He blessed them; then as He was being parted from them
He “lifted up his hands.”  They saw themselves engraved upon His palms.  They
saw the scars.  They saw the wounds of the cross.  He placed their eternal
security before their physical eyes as He left.
 
Christ’s disciples were filled with amazement and doubt at the news of His
resurrection.  When they heard that He had risen from the grave, their hearts
were filled with anxiety, fear, and unbelief.  Peter’s faith made him so strong
that he could boldly say in LUK 22:33, “Lord, I am ready to go with thee, both
into prison, and to death.”  But we know the history!  Peter cursed and swore
and denied his Lord.  “And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter…And Peter went
out, and wept bitterly,” LUK 22:61-62.  That was the last time Peter saw the
Lord before He was crucified, and Peter was left for three days to mourn in
bitterness over his sin. 

 
Peter’s sin in denying his Lord very well qualified him to understand the words
of ISA 49:14; “But Zion said, The LORD hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath
forgotten me.”  His Lord was in the grave and he had turned his back upon Him,
cursing, swearing, and denying that he knew Him.  Look at the bitterness in his
soul.  When he heard that the Lord Jesus had come out of the grave, he was so
filled with anxiety that he could not believe it.
 
Yet Peter, in his pride, presumption, and the agony of his soul over his sin,
was engraved in the palms of Jesus’ hands and not forgotten.  The blessed,
tenderhearted Saviour remembered Peter’s agony.  The angel gave a specific
command to tell Peter that the Lord was risen.  We read in MAR 16:7, “But go
your way, tell his disciples and Peter that he goeth before you into Galilee:
there shall ye see him, as he said unto you.”  Peter was not forgotten, though
he had forgotten his Lord. 

 
As the disciples were gathered together, “Jesus himself stood in the midst of
them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you,” LUK 24:36.  They were frightened
and filled with doubt.  They believed not for joy when Jesus showed them that
their names were engraved in His hands, which He used to bring them out of their
distress and to give them security for eternity.  LUK 24:38-40 tells us, “And he
said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do thoughts arise in your hearts? 
Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a
spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.  And when he had thus
spoken, he shewed them his hands and his feet.”
 
He showed them.  He told them to put their fingers in the holes of His hands and
thrust their hands in His side.  Jesus showed His disciples those scars in His
hands and feet to strengthen their faith when they had thought they would never
see Him again.  Those scars in our Saviour’s hands are His pledge to His church
that He will not forget one of us. A woman may forget her suckling child, “yet
will I not forget thee.  Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;
thy walls are continually before me.” 

 
Oh, beloved, it was those crucified hands that Jesus lifted up before His
disciples to see once more while He was “carried up into heaven.”  Just before
He departed, Jesus promised His disciples that He would send them the Holy
Spirit because they would never again see with their physical eyes those
crucified hands.  But the Holy Spirit, by faith, reveals unto us those precious
things of Christ, in which we have security. 

 
We read in ACT 1:4-5, “And, being assembled together with them, commanded them
that they should not depart from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father, which, saith he, ye have heard of me.  For John truly baptized with
water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.”  They
had only a short time from when they physically saw with their eyes those
crucified hands to the time that they had the witness and the seal of the Holy
Spirit who came to show them the precious things of Christ and to reveal the
true meaning of His coming.
 
Jesus’ disciples had to return to Jerusalem, where their Saviour was crucified
and where persecution would surround them on every side while they waited for
the great commission to go forth with the trumpet of the gospel. 

 
Jesus gives us the consolation that we are covered under the shadow of His
crucified hands throughout our lives.  ISA 51:16 says, “And I have put my words
in thy mouth, and I have covered thee in the shadow of mine hand.”  Our names
are engraved – we are engraved – on His hands, and every trial and every
struggle is understood.  The scars on Jesus’ hands are reminders of His pledge
that He will never forget one for whom He has suffered. 

 
Jesus assures us that His crucified hands are His pleading ground as He stands
at the right hand of His Father, interceding for us.  He presents His hands to
show that He has fulfilled the law and paid the penalty of our debt.
 
“Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands; thy walls are
continually before me.”  The ever-watchful eye of our blessed Redeemer is on His
own continually.  We read in PSA 121:3-4, “He will not suffer thy foot to be
moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.  Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep.”  He never slumbers nor sleeps.  His eye is
always upon His church.
 
“Thy walls are continually before me” means “thy salvation is ever before me.” 
He has purchased our salvation with His blood, which is ever before Him.  ISA
26:1 says, “In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah; We have a
strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks.”  Those walls
are our salvation, which are continually before Him, because He purchased it and
engraved us upon the palms of His hands so that it cannot be forgotten. 

 
In the midst of His deepest agony, Jesus’ eyes were ever on the joy of our
salvation, which was continually before Him.  Now that He has ascended and taken
His place at the right hand of the Father, He certainly will not forget what He
did not forget in Gethsemane or on the cross. 

 
We read in HEB 12:2, “Who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross,
despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” 
That joy was in the marriage of the Lamb.  The salvation of His church was ever
before Him while He was in the deepest valley of humiliation, and He endured it
for the joy of having His bride joined to Him.  Jesus waited, “expecting till
his enemies be made his footstool,” HEB 10:13, but that was not the greatest joy
that was set before Him.  We see His greatest joy in REV 19:7-8; “Let us be glad
and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and
his wife hath made herself ready.  And to her was granted that she should be
arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness
of saints.”  The marriage of the Lamb, the salvation of His church, was ever
before Him.
 
God’s electing love, sovereign grace, almighty power, and divine compassion are
the foundation for these walls.  Nothing will melt a hard and stony heart like a
faith view of our blessed Redeemer’s work of engraving us on His hands.  If your
heart is not melted over the love and sacrifice of Christ, then no thunder of
the law of Mount Sinai will affect you.  His redeeming love, engraving us upon
the palms of His hands and seeking to save those who are lost, melts our hard
and stony hearts.
 
Amen.  

 
For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall
not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith
the LORD that hath mercy on thee (Isaiah 54:10). 

 
Our text speaks of the certainty God’s people have in the  uncertainties that
seem to surround us. We read in scripture how that in the last days that men’s
hearts shall fail them for fear of seeing the things that are coming on the face
of the earth. Among all these fears, and among all these anxieties that the
world is going through, God’s people have a certainty. They have a foundation,
and they have a covenant of His peace that shall not be removed.
 
The circumstances do not alter, but we have perfect tranquility and peace in the
circumstances. In these tribulations, God’s people will have perfect peace.
 
Change and decay seem to be closing in on the uncertain times in which we live.
Satan seems to be turned loose, and we see those who used to have secret sins
such as sodomy boldly proclaiming that they are sodomites.

 
Those who murder the innocent seed of their womb proclaim that they have rights
to do these things. They are no longer ashamed. We see so many things coming on
the face of the earth that cause our hearts to fear.
 
I want you to see what we read here in Luke 17:26-27: “And as it was in the days
of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. They did eat, they
drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe
entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.”
 
This is what we see in our day as we see Satan going out as a roaring lion.
Where have you ever seen a greater craving for entertainment? When man lost the
image of God, it created a vacuum in the heart that will never again be
satisfied except by the renewing of the image of God. 

 
People try to fill this vacuum by heaping up riches. By nature we will try to
fill it with the things of this life. They try to constantly occupy their minds
with television even if it is the most vain things that could pass before their
eyes. People turn it on to kill time and try to kill that vacuum that can only
be filled rightly by the image of God.

 
There is no sure foundation nor security in the entertainment of this world. We
can fill the vacuum temporarily it seems, and then when the entertainment is
over the vacuum appears to have become greater. People try to fill this vacuum
with the vanities of this life by acquiring things they have absolutely no use
for. It is all an attempt to fill that empty place.
 
To those who fear the Lord our text says: “For the mountains shall depart, and
the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall
the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee”
(Isaiah 54:10). That peace is the only thing that will ever satisfy and will
ever fill that vacuum.
 
This reference to mercy denotes undeserved favor as we see in the context of our
text. This peace, this love, this oneness that we again have with the Lord, is
undeserved. It is something we have no right nor title to, nor can we merit it
by anything we do.
 
It is so important if we want to unfold a scripture that we see the context in
which it lies. Let us take a look at verses 7 and 8: “For a small moment have I
forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I
hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.”
 
We deserve to be forsaken. We could rightly and justly be forsaken for all
eternity. We get a glimpse of what we have done and the gulf we have made with
sin, yet the Lord will not forget His covenant of peace. 

 
We may think that God is really pouring out His wrath upon us because we have
certain trials and afflictions, but it is just a little wrath. It is just a
glimpse of what we deserve.

 
This is speaking of the blessed, redeeming love of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
is where we have that covenant of peace. This redeeming love is a forgiving love
as we see in Genesis 8:21: “And the LORD smelled a sweet savour; and the LORD
said in his heart, I will not again curse the ground any more for man’s sake;
for the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; neither will I again
smite any more every thing living, as I have done.” 

 
Will we understand the forgiveness of sin until we understand the sinfulness of
sin, until we acknowledge that we have forfeited all?
 
The sweet savour is the burnt offering of Noah after he came out of the ark. The
Lord smelled that sweet savour that pointed to the Lord Jesus Christ. That
blessed atonement of Christ is such a sweet savour in the nostrils of the Lord.
 
The Lord has a tender and loving heart for His people. He understands our frame.
He understands that we have a wicked imagination because of the fall. Now He
grants pardon. Now we are talking about the redeeming love of Christ. Now we are
talking about mercy, and wherever we find mercy it is in that sweet-smelling
savour. It is in that precious atonement of His dear Son.
 
That is what God was referring to when He said in the verse preceding our text.
We read in verse 9: “For this is as the waters of Noah unto me: for as I have
sworn that the waters of Noah should no more go over the earth; so have I sworn
that I would not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee.”
 
The Lord sent justice and destroyed the entire earth with water, but now He says
that He will never do that again. What did we see in the waters of Noah? We saw
the just condemnation of God upon all sin, but in His mercy He spared Noah and
His children.

 
When we see the context of our text we see that this certainty is for those who
fear the Lord and keep His holy will. It is for those who tremble at His Word
and hate sin. This certainty and covenant of peace is not for the unclean. 

 
I want you to see this with me in Psalm 103:13: “Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.” We do not see this loving
pity on those who walk in unbelief, who walk in rebellion against God’s will.
 
Continuing in verse 14 we read: “For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that
we are dust.” He remembers that we have these evil imaginations in our hearts.
He forgives us because He sees our fallen nature. He looks on the desire of
hearts. Is it our heart’s desire to do His will? We fall so far short. No man on
the face of the earth is going to keep His will with perfection.
 
The Apostle Paul said that he loved the law after the inner man. The things I
would I do not, and the things would not, those I do (Romans 7:15). In the inner
man, he said, I love your law. The Lord is looking at what we cherish.  

 
Verse 15 says: “As for man, his days are as grass [there is no certainty in the
flesh]: as a flower of the field, so he flourisheth.”
 
Nothing in us gives us any foundation for security. 
 
Continuing in verses 16 to 18 we read: “For the wind passeth over it, and it is
gone; and the place thereof shall know it no more. But the mercy of the LORD is
from everlasting to everlasting upon them that fear him, and his righteousness
unto children’s children; To such as keep his covenant, and to those that
remember his commandments to do them.”
 
These verses sort out and identify and isolate those who have these eternal
blessings.

 
To those who fear the Lord, He does display His displeasure upon their sin, but
He never forgets His covenant of peace with them. Even those who fear the Lord
are weak and prone to evil. Hatred and bitterness want to stick up their ugly
heads. Have you ever had to battle pride? If you understand the ways of the Lord
then you know that that ugly monster I is your worst enemy. That is what
happened in Paradise—I became exalted.
 
Now we are told to take up our cross daily and follow Him. We must daily crucify
that ugly monster I. God’s dear people also have to fight this internal sin, and
they do things that displease Him, yet He never forgets His covenant of peace
with them. That is what we see in Isaiah 54:7-8: “For a small moment have I
forsaken thee; but with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I
hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have
mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.”
 
He comes with His chastening hand. You and I are to walk in the fear of God, and
it is to be our whole heart’s desire to do His will, yet in our weakness we do
things that are against His will. Then for a small moment He forsakes us. He
does this because if we have truly the fear of God in our hearts, then it will
cause us to cry out as Job did: I looked to the right hand and to the left, and
I could not find Him (Job 23:9).

Then our hearts and souls begin hungering and thirsting after God. With His
chastening hand, He brings us back to Him. It was not an eternal separation, but
the Lord withheld Himself for a moment.

 
It is the Lord thy Redeemer. Note the personal pronoun. It is a personal
salvation.
 
Our Redeemer did not come only to save us from hell. What is salvation to you
and me? Is it just to be saved from the consequences of sin? No, that is the
salvation of Satan’s gospel. Churches today tell you how to get justified so you
can go to heaven, but salvation is from sin.
 
I want to read to you in Titus 2:11: “For the grace of God that bringeth
salvation hath appeared to all men.” I want you to listen carefully to the next
verse to see what salvation is. Is it to escape hell? Is Christ no more than a
fire escape for us? That is no salvation at all. “Teaching us that, denying
ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly,
in this present world.” That is salvation.

 
Continuing in verses 13 and 14 we read: “Looking for that blessed hope, and the
glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ; Who gave
himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto
himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.”
 
What does He redeem us from? It does not say He came to redeem us from hell. I
want you to see what the Bible says. He redeems us from all iniquity. Salvation
is to be saved and redeemed from the power of sin. This is what the Bible calls
salvation.
 
How many people today want to be purified in their hearts? How many people want
to be saved from their worldly lusts? Identify a worldly lust to someone and
tell them, You should be saved from that, and watch your friendship disappear.
 
It is grace when you and I can come before the Lord like David and say, Lord,
search my heart and try my reins and see if there is an evil way in me because I
want to have it identified that I can have it purged away (Psalm 26:2).
 
We read in John 3:19-21: “And this is the condemnation, that light is come into
the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were
evil. For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the
light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth cometh to the
light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God.”
 
If you have the work of grace in your heart, then you come to the light. You
want the light to shine on your heart, and you want to identify every sin of
your heart that you might bring it to the light and be cleansed from it. You do
this that you might be redeemed from that iniquity.

 
Is this a duty religion? This is the Bible. I am quoting this from the
Scriptures. That is salvation.

 
God ever has been and will forever be wroth with sin, but the certainty we have
assured in our text is that He will redeem us from all iniquity. That is the
covenant He made with us.
 
We see the new covenant in Hebrews 8:10: “For this is the covenant that I will
make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord; I will put my
laws into their mind, and write them in their hearts: and I will be to them a
God, and they shall be to me a people.”


The covenant of peace is when the law of God is written in our hearts, and it
becomes the thought process and traffic of our heart.
 
We read in Hebrews 12:5: “And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh
unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord,
nor faint when thou art rebuked of him.”
 
Little children, do we understand that when our parents punish us, that they
love us? They chasten us because they love us. We read in Proverbs 13:24: “He
that spareth his rod hateth his son: but he that loveth him chasteneth him
betimes.”
 
The Lord loves us, and we are the children of God. The Lord is talking to us in
this verse as unto little children.
 
When the Lord says, “In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment
[this does not shake our foundation of security, this was in love for our soul
to chasten us for our waywardness, because He goes on to say]; but with
everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.”
 
When we realize we have strayed from the Lord, and that He is chastening us out
of love, that does not shake our security, but it makes us start pleading His
mercy.

 
The Lord so blessedly reveals the fruit He is looking for from His chastening in
Hebrews 12:11: “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.”
 
If we as parents punish a child, what are we trying to accomplish? We want
rebellion broken, and we want the child in submission. That is what we are
after. The fruit of chastening should be submission. The Lord says not to forget
that He is treating us as a Father treats His child. He chastens us because we
need correction, and He corrects us because He loves us.
 
I have seen my mother weep grievously while she was correcting me. It hurt her
more than it did me, but the purpose of it was to break my rebellion. Then we
see those peaceable fruits of righteousness, and I could sit on my mother’s lap
and embrace her because I love her. Her heart and my heart could then join
together in the love that results from chastening.
 
The Lord takes those who are rebellious, and those who are walking wayward, and
He chastens them until their hearts come in total surrender to Him. Then they
have those peaceable fruits of righteousness, which is that the hearts become
reconciled. 

 
Is it not true that sometimes we begin to wonder if we will live to see that
“afterward”? The Lord knows what we can bear. The Lord knows what we need, and
the Lord knows how far it has to go because He will not stop until there is an
unconditional surrender.
 
Sometimes we have to realize that the Lord’s ways are higher than our ways, yet
our text is for those who despair of ever reaping that blessed harvest that
yields “the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby.” 

 
In the first instance, we must look at the meaning of “the mountains shall
depart, and the hills be removed” literally as we read in 2 Peter 3:10: “But the
day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens
shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up.”
 
Even when this happens, the covenant of peace is everlasting, and so is His
mercy. When time ends, this covenant of peace endures. 

 
In the second place, these mountains are the symbol of our places of false
security, and they will depart. I want you to take notice with me what we read
in Psalm 30:6-7: “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.”
 
In his prosperity he began to be strong in himself, and that was going to be
removed. Sometimes we do not understand why it seems as if the Lord has come
against us, but He is removing that false security. He is removing all sense of
security that we have in anything outside of Christ.

 
Peter had his mountain also that made him stand strong as we see in Matthew
26:33: “Peter answered and said unto him, Though all men shall be offended
because of thee, yet will I never be offended.”
 
See how strong Peter was in himself. The Lord loves His children, and when we
begin to have a mountain we have strength in outside of Christ that becomes our
sense of security, then the Lord puts His finger on it, and those mountains are
removed.
 
Sometimes we wonder what happened to our prosperity. Sometimes we wonder what
happened to these things we felt so secure in, and they just disappeared. 

 
When Peter’s mountain was removed he found the truth of our text, “My kindness
shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.”
 
That mountain will be removed, but we will learn to see that it was in God’s
love that He did it. It was in His everlasting love that He removed that sure
mountain of Peter, and brought him down to where he became as a little child.  

 
I want you to see where Peter was when he had his mountain removed. We read in
Matthew 26:74-75: “Then began he to curse and to swear, saying, I know not the
man. And immediately the cock crew. And Peter remembered the word of Jesus,
which said unto him, Before the cock crow, thou shalt deny me thrice. And he
went out, and wept bitterly.”
 
Peter was so strong in himself, but the Lord was so faithful to Peter. He did
not forget to let that cock crow. While Peter cursed and swore and denied that
he ever knew Him, the Lord Jesus told His messenger, Now, send him the message.
The cock crowed, and Peter remembered the word of Jesus.
 
The Lord forsook Peter for a little while and allowed him to fall because
Peter’s mountain had to be removed. Peter stood so firm in his own strength.
 
Do we not see David’s security in God’s faithfulness when his mountain was
removed? We see that in 2 Samuel 12:13: “And David said unto Nathan, I have
sinned against the LORD. And Nathan said unto David, The LORD also hath put away
thy sin; thou shalt not die.” The covenant of God’s peace did not alter.
 
David had just told Nathan: Who is the man? He shall surely die. He pronounced
judgment upon himself. Nathan replied, You are the man. Even though David
deserved to be slain or to be rejected, God’s kindness was not removed. His
mountain was removed. His security in himself was removed, but the tender love
and mercy of God was not removed.
 
God will remove all our mountains and then show His love to us as He works
repentance after a godly sort. The Lord brought Peter down to become as a little
child where he could strengthen his brothers. That is what the Lord does this
for. He wants us to know what it is to sorrow over sin. We have bitterness in
our hearts because of sin because our mountains have been removed and we have
received the tender love and mercy of God.
 
We read in 2 Corinthians 7:10: “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation
not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.”
 
There is a repentance not to salvation. Cain repented. He had much remorse over
his sin, but it was only because of the consequences of his sin. Godly sorrow,
however, is remorse over having sinned against the love of God. The world has
sorrow too, but it works death.
 
When God has shaken us out of every refuge outside of Christ’s blood and
righteousness, then we will understand the words of our text: “For the mountains
shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from
thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that
hath mercy on thee.”
 
These strongholds and places of false security are everything we build upon that
is not the blood and righteousness of Christ, and they can include our most
blessed experiences. Sometimes the Lord will even remove those because we start
building upon them, and they become our mountains of security.

 
The Lord is jealous, and the next thing you know, it is the gift instead of the
Giver that becomes the object of our affections and of our security. I have seen
many a time that people will say, If you have experienced thus and such, you
know you are saved. No, then we are building on experiences. Those experiences
can be so blessed, but they are not the mountain that we build upon. We build
upon the Rock, the Lord Jesus Christ, and these experiences may not come in
between because the Lord is jealous even of His own gifts.  

 
This covenant of peace is not a covenant with the flesh. It does not mean we
will not have trials and struggles in the flesh, but that we shall have peace in
those trials. We will be at peace with God. We will be able to see that the Lord
sent the trial for our good.
 
The account of the woman whom the Lord granted a son at the word of Elisha, and
then the son died, gives a beautiful account of such peace. We read in 2 Kings
4:25-26: “So she went and came unto the man of God to mount Carmel. And it came
to pass, when the man of God saw her afar off, that he said to Gehazi his
servant, Behold, yonder is that Shunammite: Run now, I pray thee, to meet her,
and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well
with the child? And she answered, It is well.”
 
The child was dead. Did that change the circumstances? No. Did that take away
the grief? No, but that tells us she was at peace with God in the circumstances.
She was not complaining. She was not murmuring against God. She was yet within
the covenant of peace.

 
To human reason, everything was wrong. How could she say it was well when her
son just died? The exercise of saving faith laid hold on the words of our text:
“For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall
not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith
the LORD that hath mercy on thee.”
 
In those circumstances she was still at peace with God. Can you say in the midst
of your trial today, “It is well”? Can we say we are at peace in the
circumstances and that we are in total surrender to the will of God? 

 
Can we say with Job in Job 13:15, “Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him”?
That is the work of grace. Can we say this as everything upon which we have any
foundation that we can trust in is being removed? We have the consolation that
God’s kindness and covenant of peace will not depart from us.
 
Job’s peace of mind and security were in the faithfulness of the God he served,
not in his present circumstances. Job did not find his security in the flesh. We
read in Job 23:8-10: “Behold, I go forward, but he is not there; and backward,
but I cannot perceive him: On the left hand, where he doth work, but I cannot
behold him: he hideth himself on the right hand, that I cannot see him: But he
knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.”
 
Job by faith lays hold on that covenant of peace even when the Lord had
seemingly forsaken him.  

 
Unbelief would tell you there will be no afterward, but faith realizes as we see
in Hebrews 12:11: “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.”
 
Job understood this. Job had lost his children, his property and his animals. He
has lost everything, and his wife said, Curse God and die. The God he loved and
the God he served had withdrawn Himself, but by faith Job was able to look
beyond the present circumstances and lay hold on that blessed covenant of
peace. 

 
The peace spoken of in our text, which comes after those mountains of
self-security have been removed, is like that which we read of in Isaiah 66:12:
“For thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river.”
 
I am not a stranger to this. When such peace comes to us like a river it comes
to us from the mountains and through the valleys and it goes into the sea. Peace
does not go in the other direction. Peace flows to us like a river. As we enter
into and go through the valley of humiliation, then we understand what that
peace is.

 
Isaiah 66:12-13 goes on to say, “Then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her
sides, and be dandled upon her knees. As one whom his mother comforteth, so will
I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem.”
 
This is how God comforts us. This is the covenant of peace, but this is
afterward, after we have been chastened and that rebellion has been broken, when
submission has been obtained, when the humiliation has been obtained.
 
The Lord Jesus Christ humbled Himself and became obedient. When the Holy Father
works His grace in our hearts, and when He comes with His chastening hand, and
He humbles us, we become obedient. Then afterward we have the peaceable fruits
of righteousness, and He comforts us in that holy Jerusalem.  

 
After those mountains of rebellion, pride and self-security are removed, we
begin to understand “the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are
exercised thereby.” 

 
When we go through these exercises, we understand the humiliating work of grace,
following Him daily in the way of the cross.

 
We may become concerned over one who seems so wayward, a Manasseh who has
departed from the Lord, maybe someone in our family. Is that a hindrance to the
Lord’s mercy? No, because if the Lord loves him, He will chasten him.
 
See what God says to His people who have forsaken Him. See how He will chasten
them, but He has thoughts of peace. We read in Jeremiah 29:10: “For thus saith
the LORD, That after seventy years be accomplished at Babylon I will visit you,
and perform my good word toward you, in causing you to return to this place.” 

 
Israel had forsaken the Lord. Israel had sinned grievously, and the Lord sent
them into captivity, but He did not forget them there. He never forsook the
covenant of His peace.
 
Continuing in verse 11 we read: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward
you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected
end.”
 
This end is reconciliation with God, that we can come back into oneness with
God. The road He brings us through is sometimes much different than we would
ever expect. 

 
We read in verses 12 and 13: “Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and
pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall seek me, and find me,
when ye shall search for me with all your heart.” 

 
This is after our hearts have been reconciled. The Lord will never accept a
divided heart. He does not want us to serve the flesh and to serve Him at the
same time.
 
Verse 14 says: “And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away
your captivity, and I will gather you from all the nations, and from all the
places whither I have driven you, saith the LORD; and I will bring you again
into the place whence I caused you to be carried away captive.” 

 
All of their mountains and all of their hills were removed, and they were
carried away captive into Babylon, but the Lord did not forget His covenant of
peace.
 
Oh bless His Holy Name, that peace is a covenant peace, that is, peace through
the blood and righteousness of our blessed Redeemer. That is the fountain of
this peace. That is the only source of peace. We not only need the blood to
satisfy and atone for our sins, but we need His righteousness. We need His
perfect obedience imparted to us that we might be able to stand righteous before
God in the perfect righteousness of Christ.

 
We read in Colossians 1:19-20: “For it pleased the Father that in him should all
fulness dwell; And, having made peace through the blood of his cross, by him to
reconcile all things unto himself; by him, I say, whether they be things in
earth, or things in heaven.”
 
That peace runs to us as a river, but do not forget that those rivers run from
Emmanuel’s veins. That peace, that covenant of peace, all flow from His veins.
It is all from that precious atonement and sanctification by the blood of
Christ. 

 
Our text says in Isaiah 54:10: “For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be
removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the covenant
of my peace be removed, saith the LORD that hath mercy on thee.”
 
What a blessing that we might believe and that we have been brought into that
covenant of peace. As we see all the insecurities of this life and sin
multiplying around us and that it seems that Satan is literally turned loose,
yet our hearts do not fear.

 
What a consolation that it is all in the Lord’s hands, and that He has made with
us that everlasting covenant.

 
Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes (Psalm 119:68). 
 
Psalm 106 begins: “Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is
good: for his mercy endureth for ever.” The first 12 verses of this psalm recall
the goodness of the Lord as we look upon His deeds.
 
As wesurvey the context of our text, we find the same blessed principle taught
in Philippians 4:6-7: “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and
supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the
peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus.”
 
I want you to see the harmonious rhythm in those who serve the Lord.
 
The threeverses preceding our text are a blessed harmony of prayer and
thanksgiving. Look at Psalm 119:65-67: “Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O
LORD, according unto thy word [which harmonizes with the prayer]. Teach me good
judgment and knowledge: for I have believed thy commandments [this leads to a
confession of his wayward nature]. Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now
have I kept thy word.”
 
In our text David bursts forth with praises to God for His faithfulness in
dealing with him as a son, with a chastening hand. The Lord chastens those He
loves. “Thou art good, and doest good; teach me thy statutes” (Psalm 119:68).
Our tendency is to go astray, but God with His afflicting hand brings us back
into His service.
 
David sees the tender love of God in His chastening hand.
 
Our textraises three distinct issues for consideration.
 
The first is the nature of God: “Thou art good.”
 
The second ishow His goodness is made manifest: “and doest good.”
 
The third is the effect of God’s goodness on a quickened soul: “Teach me thy
statutes.”
 
When you learn the goodness of God, His love in His afflicting hand, the fruit
is a desire to know His will.

 
In the firstplace, David bursts forth to praise the blessedness of God’s nature:
“Thou art good.”
 
See howthe scriptural record reveals how God’s people find their wills in
perfect harmony in their extreme trials. Many times, as the trial begins, as the
Lord begins to bring affliction, we squirm a little, but when the trial reaches
its extremity, we come to ourselves and realize that our wills must be in
harmony with God’s will and that we must come into His service. We desire to be
purged.

 
It was in his affliction that David exclaimed in Psalm 31:19-21: “Oh how great
is thy goodness, which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; which thou
hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the sons of men! Thou shalt hide
them in the secret of thy presence from the pride of man: thou shalt keep them
secretly in a pavilion from the strife of tongues. Blessed be the LORD: for he
hath shewed me his marvellous kindness in a strong city.”
 
Do you realize what an outgoing battle it is to suffer from the strife of
tongues? People contended with Christ for what He said. After defending myself
for 30 years in a corrupt court system, I understand the strife of tongues. I
understand how Satan will take truths out of context and make a lie. It is a
continual striving against words.

 
During this strife of tongues, we can only find refuge in Christ. In these times
of trial, we find refuge in the Lord. In these times of trial, we learn to
understand that the Lord is good. Even the trial He brings about to purge us and
bring us into perfect submission to His will is of His goodness. It is a token
of His love.

 
Howevermuch it comes against our flesh, we will find as David did, that when God
sanctifies our afflictions unto us, it is a far greater mercy than to merely be
delivered out of it. When the Lord begins to bring a trial upon us, our first
desire is to be delivered from it, thinking that it would be quite merciful for
the Lord to deliver us from the trial.

 
Yet, when we have profited from this trial, we can say with David that it was
good for me to have been afflicted. The trial sanctifies us in a way that we
profit by it. We see much more mercy in that than in the mere act of being
delivered from the trial.
 
I have seen many times when the Lord leads me into a trial that when the trial
is sanctified, when I have come to the point where I can see that it was of the
Lord’s sending the trial and the purpose of the trial, then immediately the
trial is over. The mercy is that we see Jesus in the trial and that He becomes
the captain of our salvation.
 
When the Lord sanctifies our afflictions, no matter how much it comes against
our flesh, it is a far greater mercy than the fact of being delivered itself. 

 
Look what we read in Psalm 31:22-24: “For I said in my haste, I am cut off from
before thine eyes: nevertheless thou heardest the voice of my supplications when
I cried unto thee. O love the LORD, all ye his saints: for the LORD preserveth
the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be of good courage, and
he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the LORD.”
 
Now the issue is not so much of the trial being taken away but being
strengthened in the trial.

 
Have we not found that God is good to those who fear His Name, if they will ask?
The Lord wants us to come to Him with prayer and supplication with thanksgiving.
We read in Matthew 7:7-8: “Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall
find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you: For every one that asketh
receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be
opened.” Our problem is that we do not ask, but then the Lord brings a set of
circumstances against our flesh that causes us to ask.

 
If the prodigal son had prospered in his riotous living, would he have ever
desired to come back into His Father’s service? If we can go on serving the
flesh, and if the flesh serves us well, would we ever ask?
 
The problem does not lay in the fact that we knock and it does not open. The
problem lies with the fact that we are not willing to knock. We are not willing
to ask. We do not seek by nature, and that is why David could say in Psalm
119:67, “Before I was afflicted I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.”
 
David thanked the Lord for bringing the means whereby he became an asker. David
began asking and knocking, and found that the door opened to him. Through
afflictions, he began to ask.

 
The verynature of God is love. Notice 1 John 4:7: “Beloved, let us love one
another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and
knoweth God.”
 
The natureof God is goodness itself. Our Saviour made this plain to the rich
young ruler in Mark 10:18: “And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good?
there is none good but one, that is, God.”
 
It is only as we become conformed to that blessed image of Christ that there is
any good in us. I want you to notice 2 Peter 1:4: “Whereby are given unto us
exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of
the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust.” That divine nature cannot have any part of our corrupt nature.

 
It isonly as we begin to partake of His blessed divine nature, that is, as
Christ is formed in us, that we escape “the corruption that is in the world
through lust.”
 
We read in Psalm 25:8-10: “Good and upright is the LORD: therefore will he teach
sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he
teach his way. All the paths of the LORD are mercy and truth unto such as keep
his covenant and his testimonies.”
 
The Lord teaches us by the example and teaching of Jesus Christ, who reveals to
us the true character of God. If you are going to teach anybody anything, you
must begin with your example. Jesus teaches us with His self-sacrificial love.

 
Jesus said in Matthew 11:29: “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am
meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls.”
 
How do we know true meekness except by the example of the Lord Jesus Christ, His
condescension from His throne to become a servant? He came to show us what
service we owe to the Father.
 
Where is the evidence that we have God’s grace in our hearts, that He has given
us the grace to keep His covenant and His testimonies, in other words, to keep
His Word, to walk in the ways He has taught?
 
When Moseswas in a great strait after the children of Israel had so grievously
sinned against the Lord, Moses pleaded to see God’s glory. What did the Lord
answer him? How did He reveal His glory? Look at Exodus 33:18-19: “And he said,
I beseech thee, shew me thy glory. And he said, I will make all my goodness pass
before thee, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before thee; and will be
gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will shew mercy on whom I will shew
mercy.” Here we see the glory of God revealed in His goodness.

 
Yesterday we had one of our little grandchildren with us, and she came to me and
said, “Grandpa, come downstairs with me.” So, I took her hand, and we went
downstairs. We got to the foot of the stairs, and I drew a circle on the floor,
and asked her, “Did you know that years ago you were sitting right there, and
the Lord miraculously saved your life?” She asked, “How was that Grandpa?”

 
I explained to her when we moved into the house she was 2 years old. I had a
four by eight table tennis table with metal all around it. I was bringing it
downstairs, and as I set it on the stairway, it slipped out of my hands and slid
down the stairs. When the wood was about two feet from her, the toy she had
slipped out of her hand, and she leaned forward and stood up to reach it. That
board did not miss her by half an inch. It tore a hole in the rug where she was
sitting.

 
I told her I was going to preach about the goodness of God, and told her the
Lord was very good to her. He spared your life at that point. She said,
“Grandpa, that was not the only time” and went on to explain that maybe a year
or so ago, she was floating in a tube down a river. She was wearing a life
jacket, but when the tube got close to a tree, the current was so strong it
pulled the tube through the tree and she lost the tube. Her father came running,
and saw her one hand sticking up out of the water. If he had been two seconds
later, she would have been caught in an under current and drowned.

 
She went on to explain that on another occasion they were crossing a railroad
track. They heard the train whistle blow, and she saw the train, and her mom
stepped on the gas, and the train barely missed their car. If she had not seen
the train and hollered to her mother, they would have been hit by the train.
 
It is a tremendous thing for a little child to recognize the Lord’s goodness.
 
Once when I was sick, the Lord reminded me how that when I was a child, He had
spared me at various times and in various circumstances, and told me, Now you
will see my great salvation. His goodness passes before us. Do we see the Lord’s
glory in these things and how good He is?
 
Can you imagine how grieved I would have been if that wood had killed that
child? The Lord spared her and me. The goodness of God leads us to repentance.
We see it in His nature and in His character. Sometimes it is such a humbling
thing as we start to understand how good He is. Let us not forget how important
God’s goodness is. The Lord spares us in many circumstances.

 
Second,our text declares how God’s goodness is made manifest. He “doest good.”
By His actions, God reveals His goodness.

 
In thefirst instance, we must never slight God’s goodness in what He has done
for us in our creation. Have you ever really marveled over what God did for man
in His creation?
 
Look at Genesis 1:26: “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our
likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl
of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping
thing that creepeth upon the earth.” Think of God’s goodness in how He put Adam
in such a station that he had dominion over all these things.

 
Even afterman’s rebellion, who can refrain from blessing and praising His
wonderful name for what He has done in giving His only begotten Son to redeem us
from all iniquity?
 
We read in Titus 3:3-6: “For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish,
disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and
envy, hateful, and hating one another. But after that the kindness and love of
God our Saviour toward man appeared, Not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration,
and renewing of the Holy Ghost; Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus
Christ our Saviour.”
 
Look what God has done. He is good and does good. See what love the Father has.
While we were yet sinners, He gave His Son, and He instills a new nature in us.

 
Think ofthe goodness of God in what He has done in sending His only begotten Son
to reveal godliness in the flesh. You and I are fallen creatures, and we are
subject to sin, yet Christ revealed perfection in the flesh.

 
Look at what we see in 1 Timothy 3:16: “And without controversy great is the
mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit,
seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received
up into glory.”
 
If we have a glimpse of the goodness of God, how could we respond with a heart
of unbelief?
 
Our wonder-working God does good also in providence. He is mindful of all His
works. Look at Psalm 145:8-10: “The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion;
slow to anger, and of great mercy. The LORD is good to all: and his tender
mercies are over all his works. All thy works shall praise thee, O LORD; and thy
saints shall bless thee.”
 
Our Godis not only good to His saints, or even just to mankind. He is good to
those who have forfeited His goodness, those who have sinned against Him, those
who have rebelled against Him. He has not dealt with any of us according to our
sins.
 
We read in Psalm 147:7-9: “Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise
upon the harp unto our God: Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth
rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to
the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.” The Lord feeds the
unclean birds, which gives us encouragement if we feel that by our uncleanness
we have forfeited all His blessings.
 
These commonmercies portray a good God who gives them, though it is not always a
good people who receive them. What basis is there for rebellion against God?
There is none. He is not only a good God, but He is a good-giving God.

 
We read in Matthew 5:44-45: “But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them
that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you, and persecute you; That ye may be the children of your
Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the
good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.”
 
We are not just to do good to the household of faith, but also to our enemies.
We are to follow God’s example. He gives rain to the evil and to the good.
 
However thereare special areas where those who fear Him and walk in His favor
find special reason to say, “Thou art good, and doest good.”
 
There are common graces and common mercies that God sends upon the evil and on
the good, but He sends special mercies and graces to those who fear Him. Look at
Lamentations 3:25: “The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul
that seeketh him.” This is more than just common mercy. He will honor those who
honor Him.
 
We read in Psalm 86:5: “For thou, Lord, art good, and ready to forgive; and
plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.”
 
For thiskind of goodness, there is a necessary qualification in the receiver. We
are getting into special graces and special mercies. Satan would tell you God is
good, but he never includes the contingencies, that is, God is good to those who
fear and love His name, and wait upon Him. These arethe recipients of spiritual
blessings, that is, pardoning grace. These are for God’s children only.
 
Look at Isaiah 55:7: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man
his thoughts: and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him;
and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon.” We cannot continue in sin that
grace may abound. The Lord pardons those who return to Him and walk in His ways.
 
This principlebrings us to our third consideration, that is, the effect of God’s
goodness on a quickened soul, “Teach me thy statutes.”
 
The effectof God’s goodness on a quickened soul is a holy reverence for His
will. We read in 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12: “Wherefore also we pray always for
you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the
good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power: That the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to
the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
 
Those who are counted worthy of this calling are those who return to the Lord
with their whole hearts. Those who turn back to the Lord as the giver of all
good and perfect gifts see that the goodness of God leads them to a change of
mind, a change of attitude. Their rebellion is broken.

 
The quickenedsoul soon learns to see how contingent God’s special graces are
upon their attitude toward His law of love. Look at Psalm 84:10-12: “For a day
in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the
house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness. For the LORD God is a
sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he
withhold from them that walk uprightly. O LORD of hosts, blessed is the man that
trusteth in thee.”
 
He is not talking about those who continue to walk in sin. The quickenedsouls
who have learned the sweetness of their Bridegroom’s blessed nearness will be
always meditating upon His blessed will, that they may not interrupt His visits
of love. If you understand the nearness of Christ, and to have His love revealed
in your soul, you will find time in bed, when your loved ones are asleep, that
you will meditate upon His will.

 
If you have experienced this like I have, you will find that many times you will
meditate on how often you have offended Him. Many times you will marvel that He
comes to show such love to one who has so often offended against such love. We
meditate on His will so we will not interrupt His visits of love.

 
Look with me at Ephesians 3:17-21: “That Christ may dwell in your hearts by
faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend
with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to
know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with
all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, Unto
him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without
end. Amen.”
 
If we have experienced such love poured into our hearts, then our hearts will
meditate on His will.
 
See theconnection the Apostle Paul makes between such special nearness of our
blessed Saviour, and our attitude toward God’s will, which reveals itself in our
walk of life. Notice what we read in the next chapter, in Ephesians 4:1-3: “I
therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you that ye walk worthy of the
vocation wherewith ye are called, With all lowliness and meekness, with
longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace.”
 
Paul had become a bondservant of the Lord. That meekness, longsuffering and
forbearance reflects the law of love. The love of Christ must be reflected in
how we treat our fellow man.

 
Davidwas no stranger to the connection between holiness and his blessed
fellowship with God. This is why he says in our text, “Thou art good, and doest
good; teach me thy statutes” (Psalm 119:68).
 
When you and I learn to understand the harmony between knowing the will of God
and experiencing His nearness and love, then we will understand why David
repeatedly asks the Lord to teach him His will. He does not want any
interruption in the love of Christ being shed abroad in his heart.

 
It isby the knowledge of His statutes that we learn to understand our
iniquities, which need to be pardoned. I can talk to you about the letter of the
law. I can tell you which actions are sin, and we can make a big checklist—all
under the letter of the law—but there is no conviction in it. However, when we
have experienced the blessed nearness of Christ, and our conscience begins
making a checklist showing us how we have sinned against His love, we respond,
Oh, what a wonder that He still loves me.

 
Through the experiencing of His love, we start to understand His precepts. We
understand the sinful nature of sin. We get a glimpse of how displeasing our sin
is before the Lord. He shows us His precious love, and our response should be:
Show me your statutes. Help me to understand your perfect will so I may not
offend against it.
 
Then webecome proper candidates to show forth His praises for the wonder of His
goodness in the gift of His only begotten Son. Now our hearts are in tune to
sing in harmony with the saints in light.

 
Look at what we read in Psalm 65:1-4: “Praise waiteth for thee, O God, in Sion:
and unto thee shall the vow be performed. O thou that hearest prayer, unto thee
shall all flesh come. Iniquities prevail against me: as for our transgressions,
thou shalt purge them away. Blessed is the man whom thou choosest, and causest
to approach unto thee, that he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied
with the goodness of thy house, even of thy holy temple.”
 
We learn to understand our iniquities, and then we learn to understand what true
praise is. When we learn to understand the nature of sin, and how grievous it is
in the eyes of the Lord, then we can sing forth His praises. Then the goodness
of the Father in giving His Son becomes such an unspeakable gift. Then the love
of the Son that is shed abroad in our hearts becomes past understanding. How can
we understand the love of Christ that He would love such a person who has
committed such grievous violations of His law?
 
It is only as we grow in the knowledge of God’s precepts that we learn to know
the goodness of God in His longsuffering mercy toward us.
 
We read in Micah 7:18-19: “Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity,
and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth
not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he
will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast
all their sins into the depths of the sea.”
 
One time the Lord really laid on my heart that I had violated a principle.  The
sermon that really charged my heart concluded with the words, “but I have
forgiven him.” The next day or two I was laying this before the Lord, and it was
just as if He rebuked me like never before. He stopped me cold. He said: “I have
put your sins in the depth of the sea. Do not reach behind my back and put them
back in my face.” It is quite a thought, is it not? He said: I forgave you. Do
not ever mention it again.
 
Have you ever had a quarrel with someone, and then get together and put it
behind you? Do not ever mention it again. When the Lord has taken His blood and
covered your sin, He does not want those sins laid back in His face.

 
When welearn through growing in the knowledge of God’s precepts how justly we
have deserved His wrath, then we can learn what it means for mercy to rejoice
against judgment.
 
We read in Psalm 34:7-10: “The angel of the LORD encampeth round about them that
fear him, and delivereth them. O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is
the man that trusteth in him. O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no
want to them that fear him. The young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they
that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing.”
 
What a blessed promise it is when we learn to feast on that heavenly manna, when
we learn to feast on His love that is beyond all understanding, when we learn to
feast on that precious bread of life, that meat that endures forever.