The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the purposes of His heart to all generations. Sermons
I. AN ENRAPTURING VIEW OF THE GLORY OF OUR REVEALED GOD. We use this word "revealed," as indicated By this psalm, advisedly on two grounds. For (1) the name "Jehovah" (ver. 1) is the name by which God revealed himself to Israel (Exodus 6:3). The name "I am that I am" at once removes the God of the Hebrews far above all anthropomorphism. Then (2) in ver. 4 we are told, "The Word of the Lord is right;" so that, as the word is the expression of thought, and as expressed thought indicates will, it is here declared that God had made known his will (see Psalm 103:7; Hebrews 1:1). How far God's early disclosures of himself went, our Lord Jesus Christ tells us (Matthew 22:31, 32). And it is by the light from words of God that we read his natural works. Having, then, God revealed by name and by word, what are the contents of that revelation which are here pointed out? 1. Right. (Ver. 4.) The Word of God, as given under the Old Testament, was preeminently right. As being such, the whole of the hundred and nineteenth psalm extols it. And now no nobler ethical code does the world possess than that given to Moses and the prophets, and confirmed by Christ. 2. Truth. (Ver. 4.) I.e. faithfulness. As righteousness marks the Word, so fidelity to the Word marks the works of God. 3. Goodness. (ver. 5.) I.e. loving-kindness. The earth is full of it. The sound eye rejoices in the sunshine; and the pure heart reads the goodness of God everywhere. 4. Power. (Vers. 6, 7, 9.) We cannot rejoice in bare power; but when infinite power is in alliance with perfect goodness and with loving-kindness, then we can. 5. Wisdom. (Ver. 10.) There is not only a power that sways matter, but a wisdom which controls mind, so that among the nations there can never be any plotting which can frustrate or intercept his plans. 6. Omniscience. (Vers. 14, 15.) He espies from afar the hidden thought of every soul (Proverbs 15:3; Psalm 139.). He knows men's hearts, as having created them (ver. 15) "alike," i.e. altogether, in one. There are variations in mind, but yet all minds act responsively to some necessary laws of thought inlaid in their original structure. 7. Steadfast counsels. (Ver. 11.) This is true of the plans of providence; but it is most gloriously true of the hidden mysteries and triumphs of his grace (1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 3:9; Acts 15:18). 8. All his counsels are in alliance with a holiness which warrants and invites confidence. (Ver. 21.) He cannot do wrong; he cannot be unfaithful or unkind (Psalm 92:15). 9. On some he looks with special favour and love. (Vers. 18, 19; see Psalm 18:25, 26.) Those who trust God most fully and follow him most faithfully will find that their lot is as beautifully ordered for them as if God had no one else to occupy his care. They will be guarded in peril, supplied in need, and comforted in sorrow; the loving glances of a gracious eye and the cheering words from a loving heart will give to such many a song in the night. Let all these nine features of God's glory be put together and looked at in blended sweetness, and see if they will not raise to an ecstasy of delight. II. THE JOY WHICH UPRIGHT SOULS HAVE IN SUCH A GOD IS UNBOUNDED. Yes. 1. The joy has uprightness for its condition. Upright souls! Only such. But this does not mean absolutely perfect men, but men who mourn over the wrong, who have confessed it before God, who have received his pardoning mercy, and who loyally conform their lives to God's holy will and Word, who would not knowingly harbour any sin or aught that would grieve their God - men who have gone, in fact, through the experiences of Psalm 32. (of which, indeed, this may possibly be a continuation). 2. This joy has grace for its resting-place. (Vers. 18, 22.) "Mercy." The joy would have no ground stable enough if it were settled on any other basis than God himself, nor unless that basis were "mercy." "O God, be merciful to me I" is the cry which goes up from the penitent's lips more and more pleadingly as he moves forward in the pardoned life. 3. This joy has all that God is, has, and does for its contents. So the whole psalm teaches us; for the pardoning mercy of God has brought us so near to him that we know there is for us such an outpouring of love Divine as makes us infinitely rich for time and eternity. 4. This joy has boundless hope for its outlook. (Ver. 22.) As Bishop Perowne well remarks, "hope" indicates the perpetual attitude of a trusting and waiting Church. Believers know that God will do exceeding abundantly for them above all they can ask or think. As the rich disclosures of God under the prophets have advanced to their unveiling in the unsearchable riches of Christ, so will the wonders of Christ in grace move forward to those of Christ in his glory. We yet seek a Fatherland. "God is not ashamed to be called our God, for he bath prepared for us a city." 5. This joy has prayer for its upward expression. (Ver. 22, "Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us," etc.) Not that this is its only form of expression (for see below), but it is a joy which must and will find outlet in prayer for the constant supply of that mercy which feeds and sustains it. III. THE JOY IS SUCH THAT IT MAY WELL RIPEN INTO A HOLY FELLOWSHIP OF MUSIC AND SONG. Here in vers. 1-3 the psalmist calls on all upright souls to join him in sounding forth the praises of the Lord. 1. God having taken off all our burdens of guilt and care, the tongue is set free for praise. 2. A common joy in God may wall suggest a grand concert of song. Fellowship in trouble is soothing; fellowship in peril is uniting; fellowship in need touches common sympathy; fellowship in gladness creates a grand inspiration and a mighty burst of praise. 3. In giving vent to our joy musical instruments may be "skilfully made subservient thereto. (Ver. 3.) To plead against this verse that we live in another dispensation, is not in place; for musical instruments in the hands of sanctified men are the servants of the Spirit, and we do but utilize God's own world of harmony when we press them into the service of celebrating redeeming love. 4. The right use and ample enjoyment in hallowed mirth, as we celebrate the praises of the Lord, may be made a holy and blessed means of grace. It is of no mean importance to recruit the bodily powers for God by means of the enjoyment of sacred music and song. And if, indeed, Christian people of musical tastes would seek to sanctify their special powers for God and his Church, many an abuse of their talents might be prevented, and many a holy outlet for their use secured. Well might Frances R. Havergal write - Take my voice, and let me sing 5. The largest scope for the noblest music is opened up by the wonders of redeeming love. Poetry, painting, sculpture, music, - all are grandest when inspired by the Cross. - C. I. UPON THE DIVINE COUNSELS GENERALLY. There are such, and they show — 1. That God concerns Himself with our world. 2. They are of deliberation and wise purpose. Of the works of God in the material world we may indeed say, "In wisdom hast Thou made them all." How vast and orderly is the frame of the world! But in Nature, wonderful as are these operations, there is nothing to resist, to repel, to dispute. All are His servants, and every thing fulfils His word. He saith to one, Go, and it goeth; to another, Come, and it cometh. But in His moral kingdom we see a world in rebellion. There is not a principle naturally in our hearts, but it is a rebel principle also. Every affection, every will, is ready to start up in defiance, wrestling with His authority, and pursuing a course contrary to His commands. If His government were one of rigid justice only, there would be no difficulty here. But judgment is "His strange work," and mercy the delight of His administration. The counsel, in this case, is to make good triumph over evil, and evil itself the occasion of good. How adorable is that wisdom which, influenced by goodness, wins back a rebellious heart to love and obedience without violence to its freedom! which makes our very "wickedness to correct us, and our backslidings to reprove us!" and which, finally, although by the mysterious permission of evil, sin hath abounded, yet makes grace much more abound; so that, "as sin hath reigned unto death, even so doth grace reign, through righteousness, unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord!" Well may we say, with St. Paul, when one branch of this great subject was before him, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and His ways past finding out!" 3. They are supreme and uncontrollable. This it is which gives to good men so entire and joyful a confidence: "There is no wisdom, nor under. standing, nor counsel against the Lord." II. But our text calls us to consider THE STABILITY OF THE DIVINE COUNSELS. "They shall stand for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations." We may illustrate this — 1. By ancient instances of the fulfilment of delayed purposes. See the birth of Isaac, long promised, given at last. The promised seed of the woman — how long before that appeared. 2. The steadfastness of His holy law. He never swerves from it. Go to the right hand or to the left, and you fall not only into a sin, but into a peril or a misery. Other maxims deceive: His never. 3. The constant connection of painful fear and misery with sin. 4. The established order of human salvation. I see man in all ages a sinner and miserable. But there is hope for him. He was forgiven, and assured, and became both a justified and a holy man. Ages have since elapsed, but every pardoned and accepted sinner has been saved in the same way. (R. Watson.) II. No KNOWLEDGE IS SO IMPORTANT AND SO PRACTICAL AS THAT OF GOD'S PLAN. None so personally, universally and eternally affects us. In this plan happiness is made to correspond with piety, sorrow with sin, and the plan works with certainty; inexorable, yet simple. The force that binds the moon to the earth and the earth to Sirius is simple but sure. So in the sweep of the ages, God's truth standeth for ever and the thoughts of His heart to all generations. Eternity itself shall emphasize and illustrate it. III. IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF THIS PLAN WE MAY EXPECT SURPRISES TO US. The plan is eternal. We are of yesterday. You admire mosaic painting for the beauty of its tint, the free, flowing majesty and grace, the delicacy and beauty of its delineations. But should a child in the artist's studio take up a bit of ruby, turquoise, agate or pearl, and ask you what its relation was to the scene depicted — the Crucifixion or Resurrection perhaps — it might not be easy for you to explain its use, or mark its place till the master's work was complete. When Jerusalem was razed, the early Christians were surprised and alarmed. But that event led to the spread of the Gospel, just as the Jewish act of homicide end decide instrumentally led to man's salvation. So each event in God's plan has its place as each capital and gargoyle has its fitting location in the cathedral. (R. H. Storrs.) The thoughts of His heart to all generations. God thinks of us, and He intends that we in return should think of Him. And for us to do this rightly is true religion. What condescension and kindness are shown in God's thinking of us. "I know the thoughts that I have toward you that they are good and not evil."I. THE NATURE OF GOD'S THOUGHTS. All existence is the embodiment of God's thought, but it is only as He reveals His thoughts to us that we can form any conception of them. And He has done this. The Bible is the unfolding of God's thoughts to us as they bear on our recovery from bondage and sin. And every one desires to know what are God's thoughts upon our sin. The sense of guilt is universal. Now God tells us that His thoughts are set on our salvation. None but He could have introduced a plan of restoration like that which the Gospel brings. And His thought includes our regeneration and renewal as well as our forgiveness. For they include the promise of the Holy Ghost. How precious, then, are God's thoughts unto us. II. THE PERMANENCE OF GOD'S COVENANT. It "standeth for ever." (John Glanville.) Homilist. I. GOD HAS THOUGHTS.1. Independent — in their origin, character, manifestation. 2. Complete: they grasp the whole of a thing, and the whole of all things. 3. Unsuccessive: one thought does not start another, as in our ease. 4. Harmonious. II. GOD HAS THOUGHTS FOR HUMANITY. Three things are necessary before humanity can get any benefit from his thoughts — 1. God must reveal them. Unless He express them we shall never know them. 2. There must be a capacity to appreciate them. Without this capacity the revelation is useless. 3. There must be meditation. We cannot reach the great thoughts of a great man without study; how, then, can we expect to attain the thoughts of God without it? III. GOD'S THOUGHTS FOR HUMANITY ARE PERMANENT. 1. Because they embody absolute truths. They will always be what they are; they never can change. 2. Because they will ever be congruous with the moral nature. They are to the moral nature what air and water are to the body, fitted for it, and necessary to it, Without them it will die. (Homilist.) People David, PsalmistPlaces JerusalemTopics Age, Counsel, Designs, Eternal, Fast, Firm, Forever, Generation, Generations, Heart, Lord's, Plans, Purpose, Purposes, Stand, Standeth, Stands, ThoughtsOutline 1. God is to be praised for his goodness6. for his power 12. and for his providence 20. Confidence is to be placed in God Dictionary of Bible Themes Psalm 33:11 1115 God, purpose of 1175 God, will of Library The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Material Universe. There are many who think of the work of the Holy Spirit as limited to man. But God reveals to us in His Word that the Holy Spirit's work has a far wider scope than this. We are taught in the Bible that the Holy Spirit has a threefold work in the material universe. I. The creation of the material universe and of man is effected through the agency of the Holy Spirit. We read in Ps. xxxiii. 6, "By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of His mouth." We … R. A. Torrey—The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit Two Standpoints. The Indwelling and Outgoing Works of God. The Mercy of God Excursus on the Worship of the Early Church. "Nunc Dimittis" The Principle of Life in the Creature. They all Hold Swords, Being Expert in War; Every Man Hath his Sword Upon his Thigh Because of Fear in the Night. The Creation The Holy Spirit in Relation to the Father and the Son. ... The Host of Heaven and of Earth. Easter Tuesday How the Whole and the Sick are to be Admonished. The Providence of God The Power of God Notes on the Third Century Covenanting According to the Purposes of God. Psalms Links Psalm 33:11 NIVPsalm 33:11 NLT Psalm 33:11 ESV Psalm 33:11 NASB Psalm 33:11 KJV Psalm 33:11 Bible Apps Psalm 33:11 Parallel Psalm 33:11 Biblia Paralela Psalm 33:11 Chinese Bible Psalm 33:11 French Bible Psalm 33:11 German Bible Psalm 33:11 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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