Psalms No.1 A Refreshing Thought

Psalm 18 and commencing to read at verse 24. Therefore hath the Lord recompensed me according to my righteousness, according to the cleanness of my hands in his eyesight. With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful, with an upright man thou wilt show thyself upright, with the pure thou wilt show thyself pure, and with the froward thou wilt show thyself froward.

For thou wilt save the afflicted people, but will bring down high looks. For thou would light my candle, the Lord my God would enlighten my darkness. For by thee I have run through a troop, and by my God have I leapt over a wall.

As for God, his way is perfect. The word of the Lord is tried. He is a buckler to all those that trust in him.

For who is God save the Lord? Or who is a rock save our God? It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect. He maketh my feet like hinds feet, and setteth me upon my high places. He teacheth my hands to war, so that a bow of steel is broken by mine arms.

Thou hast also given me the shield of thy salvation, and thy right hand hath holden me up, and thy gentleness hath made me great. Thou hast enlarged my steps under me, that my feet did not slip. I have pursued mine enemies and overtaken them, neither did I turn again till they were consumed.

I have wounded them that they were not able to rise. They are fallen under my feet. For thou hast girded me with strength unto the battle.

Thou hast subdued unto me those that rose up against me. Thou hast also given me the necks of mine enemies, that I might destroy them that hate me. They cried, but there was none to save them, even unto the Lord, but he answered them not.

Then did I beat them small as the dust before the wind. I did cast them out as the dirt in the streets. Thou hast delivered me from the strivings of the people, and thou hast made me the head of the heathen.

A people whom I have known shall serve me. As soon as they hear of me, they shall obey me. The strangers shall submit themselves unto me.

The strangers shall fade away and be afraid out of their close places. The Lord liveth, and blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. It is God that avengeth me and subdueth the people under me.

He delivereth me from mine enemies. Yea, thou liftest me up above those that rise up against me, that thou hast delivered me from the violent man. Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O Lord, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.

Great deliverance giveth he to his king, and showeth mercy to his anointed, to David, and to his seed for evermore. Amen. Can I direct your attention to a verse in the psalm that Mr. Land read a few moments ago? The psalm, you recall, was the 18th, and I particularly want you to look at the 35th verse, and a little statement tucked in at the end of that scripture.

Thy gentleness hath made me great. Thy gentleness hath made me great. Sometimes, as I've said before from this pulpit, and you've concurred at least by the smiles that have come on your face, that when one reads the Word of God, on occasions the scripture is just illuminated in front of you.

And there's a verse that you may have read many, many times, and yet you never appreciated its significance until that particular moment the Spirit arrested you, and you stayed your attention upon it. Well, that was my experience earlier on in this week, as reading through a commentary, my mind turned to this verse of scripture, and I looked it up in its context, and I've been meditating upon it for these last few hours. And what I have this morning, I bring to you in the name of the Lord, trusting that God in his providence shall apply it to your own heart, and make it as much a blessing to your soul as what it's been to mine.

I'm reminded of the old prospector in the days of the Wild West in America, who looking away to the hills of Dakota would say, there's gold in them there hills. Well, as far as this text is concerned, there's gold in it. Thy gentleness hath made me great.

Here is a man, a Hebrew poet, and he's speaking about God, and he's saying that one of the outstanding characteristics of God which has benefited him, is the gentleness of the Lord. Now, so often I bring before you, and my heart thrills so to do, the concept of the sovereignty of God, and the omnipotence of God. The fact that God is a holy God, a righteous God, and a God of judgment.

But here is another essential ingredient in the character of our Lord, the gentleness of God, the gentleness of God. I've been trying to find a definition that was acceptable to me in my meditation on this scripture, and I wanted a very, very particular and a precise definition of what gentleness is. It had to rule out the concept of weakness, because it would be absurd to suggest that God is weak.

He's omnipotent, he's almighty, so suddenly to smuggle in the thought of the weakness of God, well it means that those other definitions concerning the Lord have to be put on one side. And then I came across this, gentleness is power under perfect control, power under perfect control. Some years ago I was sailing from Africa to this country, and the ship was the, of the Union Castle line, known as the Windsor Castle, and on this voyage it had to call in at Las Palmas.

It was evening, in fact it was midnight when the ship had to berth. Now that ship is capable of great speeds, but very delicately and very gingerly the helmsman steered the ship into the harbour. As I say, it was capable of many knots per hour, but now it was just moving yard by yard and foot by foot in the darkness, and tenderly it kissed the quayside.

There was hardly a judder to be felt down the whole of the ship. Here was power under perfect control, here is gentleness, and the gentleness of God is like that, and it's to this gentleness that the psalmist is referring in my verse, thy gentleness has made me great. Now my objective this morning is just to be simple and as brief as I can as we meditate together upon this passage, with my definition now in our minds to the forefront.

I want to talk to you about the fact of it, the fact of God's gentleness, and then I want to speak to you concerning the consequences of it, and then finally by directing you to a New Testament scripture, just a moment or so, on the resultant responsibility of it. So first of all, the fact of it, then the consequence of it, then on your part and my part, our resultant responsibility because of it. The fact of God's gentleness.

You remember the verse that I quoted in my prayer a moment or so ago, like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth those that fear him. In the Old Testament as well as in the New Testament, references are found that underpin our concept of God as the gentle God, the gracious God. You come to the New Testament and we hear of the meekness of our Lord Jesus Christ, and again I reiterate meekness and weakness are not synonyms, they're not to be mixed together.

You may have found those people who have criticized the children's prayer, gentle Jesus, meek and mild, because it gives you a wrong impression of Jesus. I say their criticism is wrong. There is nothing inadequate or illogical about the prayer.

He is gentle Jesus. He is meek, and he is mild. The Lord God in the Old Testament dispensation is depicted, yes, as an omnipotent God, one who has all power, one who judges the world, one who condemns Assyria and Babylon for its twin barbarity, but he's also the gentle God who invades the domestic situations of ordinary people like you and me.

You remember, and I always refer to her with fondness in my heart, she appeals to me, the au pair girl of Sarah and Abraham, Hagar, who was so badly treated by her mistress and was twice turned out of the camp, and one day God, in an act of indescribable grace and love, stops this young woman who's filled with depression and sadness, and he ministers to her, and in astonishment she says, thou, Lord, seest me. Yes, this is the gentleness of God, concerned with such a great man as Abraham, with whom he enters into a covenant that affects the whole of human history, but notice this, when God is dealing with Abraham, he's still concerned about the maid in Abraham's camp. I find that a very refreshing thought.

God's bigness is such that he relates to people who are insignificant. Turn over in Scripture to the Prophet Elijah. Remember how one occasion he plummeted down into the depths of despondency.

He'd worked too hard, and he got things completely out of proportion, and he asked that the Lord would take his life from him. Do you remember what God did? Well, he, he realized that what the Prophet really needed was a good meal. So on wheels, on meals on wheels sent from heaven, with loaves cooked in the kitchens of glory itself, the Lord fed the Prophet.

Then he sent him to sleep, and as a result of this, Elijah was able to continue his ministry. The gentleness of God. Our God is so warm in the way that he deals with his people.

Remember Jonah. Jonah too wants to quit the ministry. He's fed up, and he's exposed to the rays of the sunshine.

He's, he's been engaging, you remember, in an evangelistic enterprise, and he was reluctant so to do in the first instance, and now the response to his ministry has been tremendous, and by a peculiar quirk in, in Jonah's thinking at this time, he's displeased about the success. He wants to die. So here he is under the burning rays of the eastern sun.

What does God do? Well, he protects his servant. How? By causing a gird to grow, and to give a little bit of shade for Jonah. I say God is gentle in the dealing, in his dealings with, with his people.

So very often at the tabernacle, I find myself during the week having to write references for people, or asking for, who've applied for jobs, particularly our young folks, and maybe those who are going on to college. The authorities write to me, and they say, can you answer these questions about such and such a person? And of course, I do my best to fulfill my, the requirement. Now, it seems to me very significant, and very lovely, when the Apostle Paul reflects upon the characteristics of Jesus, that particularly have captured his imagination.

As he writes to the Corinthians in the second letter, and the tenth chapter, and the first verse, he refers to the meekness, and the gentleness of Christ. I pour myself beseech you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am based among you, but being absent, am bold toward you. The context here doesn't concern us.

What is important at this moment is this, that as the Apostle reflects upon the Lord Jesus, the dominant characteristics that mull over in his mind, are the meekness, and the gentleness of the Savior. This quality that we find in the Old Testament, on the part of God the Father, is illustrated in the New Testament, by our Lord Jesus. And you hardly need me to expound that quote from Corinthians, do you? You think of our Lord Jesus in the way that he deals with ordinary people.

A tender Savior. He takes little children into his arms, and and he blesses them. With what expertise does he engage the lady by the well of some, the well of Sychar, in conversation? He knows the life from which she has emerged.

He's aware of her background, but with the art of a craftsman. He wins her confidence, and then he begins to ask penetrating questions, and he illustrates to her what is a severe condition before God. But what I'm angling for at the moment, is to show you the gentleness of the Savior, in the way that he copes with that situation.

Whenever he confronts the womenfolk, or the menfolk who are in need, he never rebuffs them. He never deals with them in a crude fashion. He is never rude.

Our Lord Jesus Christ remains what he always has been throughout eternity, a gentle person. We read in Scripture of the Savior, a bruised reed he will not break. Smoking flax he will not quench.

That's a lovely Eastern proverb, which speaks again, I say, of the tender-hearted attitude of our Lord Jesus Christ. And what he was yesterday, my friend, he is today. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today and forever.

There is an exquisite gentleness which our Savior has, a gentleness which he illustrates throughout his human life, and which even now, he shows towards his own. The Shepherd of Israel gently leads the young. So it is to this gentleness of God that the psalmist is referring in this delightful little text, which contains, I say, so much gold.

Thy gentleness, the fact of it. But what about the consequences of it? Well, thy gentleness hath made me great, hath made me great. Now, you remember, the man who wrote this poem is none other than David.

How did God deal with David? In a loving fashion, in a kindly way. David became great, didn't he? Literally. He was the greatest man in the world at that time.

The kingdom of Israel was the dominant kingdom in the whole political theater in that day. David had been made great. But look at his background.

Would you ever expect that God would relate to such an ordinary little boy as David? Here he is in the backwoods of Bethlehem looking after his father's sheep. Who would feel that this young lad had within him those qualities that in the, that in the providence of God could be used so that he might fulfill the role of the greatest king of Israel. But God did relate to David.

And in gentleness he helped him, not just as a boy, but during his years before the monarchy became his. You remember the situation that arose between Saul and David. Saul had murderous intentions towards this lad.

He saw him as a rival to the throne. And there were times when David was nothing less than a Hebrew Robin Hood, if you please, in the wilderness of Judea hiding from Saul. And David didn't like the experience at all.

The 19th verse refers to it. He refers to God's deliverance in this situation. He brought me forth also into a large place.

He delivered me because he delighted in me. You see references to David's terrible situation from the 16th verse onwards. And then down in the 21st verse another reference is made to the way that the Lord dealt with David.

Says David, I have kept the ways of the Lord and have not wickedly departed from my God. And we come down to the 29th verse where David says, it is by my God that I've been able to run through a troop. I've escaped from the army of Saul.

By my God have I leapt over a wall. God has made me great. He has preserved my life.

He has given me a future as the King of Israel. Now there's a greatness, I say, which you and I enjoy because we belong to God. I'm not suggesting that we're going to be future monarchs of this country or any other country.

And yet we are kings. We've been made priests and kings to our God, have we not? So often we say these things and we don't really understand the significance, the privilege that really is ours. The Apostle Paul, when he's writing to the Christians at Ephesus, he reminds them of what they were before God encountered them.

And then he tells them once again as to the position that is now theirs because they belong to the Lord Jesus Christ. The first verse of the second chapter, you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins. There you were in your sinful days.

You didn't know God. You had no relationship with God at all. Spiritually speaking, you were dead.

But God in his gentleness came along. The gospel message was applied to your situation. What was the result? Well you were quickened.

You were brought to life. The Apostle develops the theme in the 11th verse. He speaks about them being outside the Commonwealth of Israel.

Strangers from the covenants of promise. You had no hopes as the Apostle. You were without God in the world.

This was your situation. And my dear friends here in the tabernacle, that was ours. Outside of the Commonwealth of Israel, the promises of God, they didn't apply to us.

We looked towards the horizon of our lives and there was only darkness. There was no salvation at all. Because in our natural state, we were enemies of God.

We were not inheritors of his promise. But in an act of extraordinary grace and gentleness, he sent the Lord Jesus Christ into the world. And he died on the cross of Calvary to save us from our sins.

And now says the Apostle, having put your trust in him, what is the result? What is the consequence? Well now in Christ Jesus, ye who sometimes were afar off are made nigh by the blood of Christ. For he is our peace, who hath made both one and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us. You see the point.

We were dead. We were without God and without hope in the world. But God in his gentleness has made us great.

He's related to us on the line of salvation. The Apostle John is mesmerized at this thought. He said, beloved now are we the sons of God and it does not appear what we shall be.

But when he shall appear, we shall be like him. For we shall see him as he is. Now are we the sons of God? But there's something even greater than that in store for us.

For one day we shall be with our Lord. One day we shall be in the heavenly dimension. Christian friends, let's look up this morning.

Let's remember what we were. Remember what we have become. And remember all that God has got in front of us.

And then we will take that verse of scripture upon our own lips. And we will own it as being our own sentiments. And we will say, as did the Psalmist, thy gentleness, the gentleness of my God, it hath made me great.

How did God make me great? How is the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated? Let me take you to the scene of our Savior in front of the high priests. Remember I gave you a definition of gentleness a little while ago. Power under perfect control.

Now see the Lord Jesus Christ receiving the rebukes and the insults of Caiaphas and Annas, who have illegally called a meeting of the Sanhedrin. Watch our Savior as he is from there propelled in front of Pilate. And he has to suffer the false accusations of witnesses who've been paid to tell a story that is untrue.

See our Savior as he's taken from Pilate to Herod, and watch him as that man with an unacceptable curiosity endeavours to get the Savior to perform some trick to satisfy his whims. Power under perfect control. See this man, this Jesus, amongst the Praetorian guard in their barracks in the fortress of Antonia in Jerusalem.

And watch him if your eyes can bear the sight as the guards rain their blows upon his lovely face, and place the whip across his back. Power under perfect control. You're watching one who spoke, and the world was created.

The man, the God-man, who has all omnipotence, all authority, is invested in him by him king's reign. And yet in front of Annas and Caiaphas, in front of Pilate and Herod, in front of the Praetorian guard, he offers not a word in his own defense. Yet one syllable from his lips would have caused a legion of angels to have come and unleashed judgment upon this world, and wiped the slate clean of Caiaphas and Annas and all those who perpetrated this folly.

But you see, it was because of his gentleness in that situation that it's been possible for us to be made great. Stay your eyes upon the Savior on the cross, and see him there accepting your sin and granting to you his purity and his righteousness. And once again I say you're looking at a picture of the gentleness of Jesus and without that gentleness, without that kindness, without that concern for you and me, we could never have become the sons of God.

We could never have become great. And let us face it, we are great because we're the children of God. But that greatness is a mediated greatness.

It comes from him. It's not anything to do with ourselves. Once we were dead, we reminded ourselves of that.

Once we were sinners without hope, without God in the world, but now he, Jesus, has made us great by an extraordinary display of his gentleness. The fact of his gentleness, the consequences of his gentleness. Now I want to address you for my last five minutes or so on the resultant responsibility of that gentleness.

And perhaps you'd like to turn to a scripture in the New Testament. It's 2 Timothy and it's in the second chapter. But before I come to it, perhaps I can relate a story which has a sense of humor attached to it and yet it enshrines a point that I think is of interest.

I remember some years ago, about 14 I think to be precise, I was taking a campaign with some other young fellows in South London. It was an evangelistic outreach amongst young people and it was centered on one particular church in Battersea. And the pastor of the church, one early evening, came back to the manse.

He'd been to the prayer meeting and I hadn't been. The prayer meeting that was held in conjunction with the campaign and he was quivering with laughter. And I said to him, you know, what's the joke? So he said, well my good friends who were at the prayer meeting have really got this campaign on their hearts.

And there's one lady and she's so concerned as to the impact that's being made in this area of London on young people. And she realizes that when, when God's spirit comes upon a young person, he or she is improved and they become good-mannered. And she wants good-mannered people in London.

And in a prayer, rather unfortunately, she had said, Lord, you know, there are places in this world for ladies and for gentlemen. Well, that's got a double meaning to it, but there is a point, is there not, that there is a place in this world for gentle people, for gentle people. Now come to this scripture and you'll see why I say there's a resultant responsibility that is ours, because we have received the gentleness of Jesus, which is made as great.

The 24th verse, the servant of the Lord, this is 2nd Timothy incidentally, chapter 2, the servant of the Lord must not strive, but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient. The servant of the Lord must be gentle. As the Lord Jesus, as God Almighty has shown His gentleness to us, so in turn we're to show gentleness to others.

We're to have that power which is under perfect control. You say, how does one become gentle like the Lord Jesus Christ is gentle? Well, by being exposed to Him. This is what we've been discovering in our Bible studies on the, on the adoption of the Holy Spirit.

It is the Spirit's role, the Spirit's prerogative to make real in us all that is real in the Lord Jesus Christ. He was a gentle person and as you have an association with the Lord Jesus, then something of what He is is bound to rub off in you. Now, have you ever noticed the transformation in character that came about on the part of the Apostle John? Do you remember what John's nickname was? John was called the Son of Thunder.

Why was he the Son of Thunder? Well, he was quick-tempered. He was almost as impetuous as Peter. In certain circumstances, he was quite willing to offer the Lord advice and when some cities of the Samaritans would not respond to what the Lord had to say, he said, Lord commands, command judgment, fire to come down from heaven and consume these people.

The Son of Thunder, you see. Remember how his mother and the mother of his brother, James, also came to the Lord and asked that her two sons could have the premier place in the kingdom. Again, it illustrates the volatile nature of this man, John.

But later on, what is John's nickname changed to? From the Son of Thunder to what? The Apostle of Love. Where did he get this love? Where did he get this meekness, this gentleness? By being exposed to the original, by being exposed to the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour was gentle and John kept company with the Saviour. So he, in turn, became gentle.

There is a place in this world for gentle people and the servant of God is to be gentle. Says the Apostle when he was writing to the church at Thessalonica, in those early days when you became Christians, we were gentle. We were gentle with you.

We took you in our arms as a nurse takes a child and we cherished you. Oh, let me plead on the part of all of us here who are members of the Tabernacle Order, associated in some way with its ministry. May there be a gentleness in our relationship one to another.

His gentleness has made me great and because he is gentle and I keep companionship with him, I too become gentle. There's nothing more wonderful, I feel, than the sight of a big burly six-foot man taking in his arms his little infant son. A man who has power, a man who has strength, yet that power is under control.

There's no weakness there but there is a gentleness, there is a meekness. Now that's how you and I are not only to expect God to deal with us but how we are to treat one another. There are those who are immature in the faith and they'll need special care and consideration and some are immature in the faith and they're old and they're old physically and yet they will need this care and this attention, says the Apostle.

We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and not to please ourselves. We are to be gentle, gentle in our dealings with one another, kind. Ella Wheeler Wilcox said, so many gods, so many creeds, so many paths that wind and wind while just the art of being kind is all this sad world needs.

I wouldn't endorse every aspect of that little verse but there is an art in being kind, there is an art in being gentle, it's the art of the craftsman, illustrated in perfection by our Lord Jesus. You say that I am being extravagant in my language? Listen to the 17th verse of James chapter 3, but the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits without partiality and without hypocrisy. The wisdom that is from above is first pure, then peaceable, then gentle.

That's the illustration of the craftsman dealing in personal relationships. Our God is gentle, He's dealt gently with us and made us great. My dear friends, we too are to deal gently with one another.

You see what I mean? There's gold in this verse. Thy gentleness hath made me great. The fact of it, the consequence of it, the resultant responsibility from it.

May our meditation have been of help to each one of us. Amen. And Father, may we spend our days in company with our Lord Jesus, and may His gentleness and kindliness rub off in our lives.

And as He was the master craftsman, relating to and dealing with other people, so may we copy His art. Father, we thank you that it is your gentleness which has made us great, and we praise you for the gold in that verse of scripture. Amen.