Psalm

[0:00] Seeking the Lord's help, I direct your attention this evening to the Psalm 119, reading verses 73 and 74.

[0:14] The Psalm 119, reading verses 73 and 74. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me.

[0:27] Give me understanding that I may learn thy commandments. Thy that hear thee will be glad when they see me because I have hoped in thy word.

[0:44] Thy hands have made me and fashioned me. Give me understanding that I may learn thy commandments. Thy that hear thee will be glad when they see me because I have hoped in thy word.

[1:05] It is clear that the Lord had worked in the heart of the psalmist.

[1:24] His prayer here, direct this psalm is indicted by his God.

[1:39] We can see that he asks for good things.

[1:50] We can see that the path the Lord has brought him in has been profitable.

[2:02] The psalm is clearly the writing of a man who has been taught of the Lord.

[2:17] There are clear indications of the work of sanctification.

[2:34] He can see, as we have read this evening, It is good for me that I have been afflicted. And he asks in our text here for blessed things.

[2:53] He, first of all, speaks here in confession. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me.

[3:08] And we look at his confession here and see lying in it, teaching. The work of God's Spirit in his soul.

[3:23] The clay in the hands of the heavenly potter. Words of the prophet Isaiah. We are all. The work of thy hands.

[3:38] The work of the, the words of the Lord's servant, the apostle Paul. Hear his workmanship. And the psalmist in the 138th, I think it is psalm.

[3:52] Thou art perfect that which concernest me. Oh, what a blessed mercy if we can come in with the psalmist here in the hand of his God upon him.

[4:06] The teaching of the Spirit in his heart. And enter into the truth that lies here not only naturally, physically, but spiritually, providentially in the path.

[4:24] Thy hands have made me and fashioned me. He could speak here of his natural body. But I don't believe he was speaking of that.

[4:36] Although it was possibly in his mind. But the work of God in the soul. A work of grace in his heart. Oh, that new creature in Christ Jesus.

[4:54] You, Hath he quickened, said the dear apostle in his letter to the church at Ephesus. He could see the good hand of his God upon him.

[5:13] And he could trace not only the work of grace, but the work of sanctification. Now, he has us passionately.

[5:24] What lies in that? The work of God in the soul of his dear church to conform them to the image of Christ.

[5:37] The working of those all things that work together for good. Those who love God to those who are the call according to his purpose.

[5:53] The psalmist was given by his God-blessed view of his pathway, his life, his soul, the work of grace in his heart.

[6:09] And there is this divine hallmark about it. He traced everything to the hand of his God. The good hand of his God upon him.

[6:22] And we see here the truths that lie within the text. Made me and fashioned me.

[6:34] He could look back in eternity past to that everlasting loving kindness. Before I formed thee in the womb, said the Lord to his dear servant Jeremiah, I knew thee and ordained thee a prophet.

[6:56] And this dear man of God, this psalmist, could see this. The Lord had shown him. Blindness, ignorance had been taken from him.

[7:12] And he had a sight of the hand of God in his life, in his path, in his soul, in his circumstances. Eternal. O the mighty hand of his God that he could see here.

[7:29] And he could speak of it lovingly, affectionately. He could trace the good hand of his God with him. And I come to this tonight, can we, can you, can I, can we see the hand of our God in the pathway?

[7:53] Can we come in with the psalmist here? Can we see and feel the hand of our God in the pathway shaping us, fashioning us?

[8:06] Can we trace his work of grace in our soul? Can we see this divine hand and will and purposes, thy hands have made me and fashioned me?

[8:20] And oh, what has he done? Has he brought us out of nature's darkness into his marvellous life?

[8:34] Has he brought us into the paths of obedience? Has he separated us from this world that lies in wickedness? Can we trace it? Thy hands have made me.

[8:47] Can we look back as the apostle Paul did to see the hand of his God upon him? Separating him from that false hope that he had rested in, that religion that he later described as dung and dross.

[9:11] Oh, the grace, the wisdom, the light that shone in his heart, the mighty work of God in his soul that quickened him, that opened his ears to hear the voice of his God, that brought him into the paths of obedience, to follow the glorious precepts of the gospel, and to follow his Lord and Master in humble submission, and in faith, and in hope.

[9:40] Thy hands have made me and fashioned me. It is a glorious confession. You know, the redeemed in glory as we read of them in the opening chapter of the book of the Revelation, confess this same confession, and their confession is this, unto him that loved us and washed us from our sins in his own blood.

[10:13] There is a separation from the things of time and sense. There is a looking unto Jesus.

[10:27] Oh, the mighty work of God that opens the eyes of the blind, and the ears of the death, to follow the Lord Jesus Christ and to obey him, to hear his voice, to know his commandments, and to be given grace to walk in his precepts, and to be conformed to the image of his dear son.

[10:55] Here, the psalmist speaks out of the depths of his heart, in love to his God, thy hand, the mighty hand of his God upon him, hath made me and fashioned me.

[11:16] He could see it not only in the miracle of his body in creation, but he could see it in the mighty work of grace in his soul, and he could trace it out in that verse which has rested with us in the past two years, thou art our father, we're the cloy, thou art potter, we're all the work at thy hands.

[11:50] oh, how blessedly the Lord moves in the lives and hearts of his dear people, in the fiery furnaces of sorrow and tribulation and affliction, as the psalmist knew it here.

[12:06] It's good for me that I've been afflicted. Where is the soul of the dear sinner conformed to the image of Christ, except in the work of the Spirit, in sanctification, in the fiery trials of affliction.

[12:24] And here the psalmist could see it fashioned me. Conformed to the image of his dear son. This is the purpose of God whom he did foreknow, then he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his dear son.

[12:47] For what a mighty work of God this is to fashion his dear people. And we look at some of the dear saints in scripture. I think at this moment of Naomi.

[13:00] How the Lord fashioned her. Three open graves and a bitter cup of sorrow. He fashioned her.

[13:12] And she knew it and felt it. The almighty has dealt bitterly with me. What was he doing? He was conforming her to the image of his dear son.

[13:23] He was separating her from an arm of flesh. He was bringing her to dependence upon himself. And he was bringing her to obedience. He was making her as clay in the hands of heavenly potter.

[13:36] She needed the fiery furnace. It was given in love and glorious wisdom that she should pass that way so that the grace of God in her heart would bring her one day to that blessed place where she could speak as she did to Ruth.

[13:59] She said, sit still my daughter. She hadn't done it. She'd gone in her own strength. She'd gone in her own wisdom.

[14:11] And the Lord had stripped her and brought her down. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me.

[14:22] And the Lord will in the paths of his dear people strip them of self and pride and self-sufficiency and humble them.

[14:35] Bring them down in the fiery furnaces. Why did he bring his dear servant Elijah and leave him to fall before Jezebel? Why bring him to that place after all the blessings he'd had on Carmel?

[14:53] Well, it was a thorn in the flesh just as the apostle had after the sacred revelation he had. The Lord gave him a thorn in the flesh. He was to be brought down.

[15:04] Humbled, fashioned. And the Lord gives crosses and sufferings and sorrows. Deep, bitter, crucifying sorrows. All be certain of this when the Lord works.

[15:18] He works effectually. When he fashions and conforms and brings us to himself, brings us to the mercy scene, to cry unto him in our sorrows.

[15:32] when he sends afflictions as he did upon Hezekiah and so many of his dear people, it is to bring them to himself humbled as clay in the hands of the heavenly potter.

[15:48] The Lord is well conversant with us each. We're all different. And he gives different crosses and different thorns in the flesh and different sorrows to different ones.

[15:59] But he's fashioning. And from the very moment of his work, it is to fashion his dear people. And the apostle on his knees in the street called Straight, when the Lord said to Ananias, behold he prayed, was being fashioned.

[16:20] The Lord was working in his heart. Ask yourself this, are my sorrows being used of God to bring me to himself?

[16:32] Is my cup being used of God to bring me to his mercy seat, to seek his help? Have I a pathway in which I can get no help except from God?

[16:47] I can take my cup to no one else except to him. Nobody understands it, he alone understands it. Oh, when the Lord is fashioning his dear people, he is bringing them to that place where there is communion between themselves and him and they are being brought to speak to him at the mercy seat, to tell him their sorrows and to seek his grace and his help.

[17:18] And here we see the psalmist as he goes through this psalm in faithfulness thou hast he says afflicted me.

[17:31] And I am afflicted very much and it is good for me that I have been afflicted. What a blessed place the Lord brought him to.

[17:42] And now he goes on to the second part of this text. And this was a part that rested in our minds in the beauty and simplicity of it. Into his heart is put a prayer.

[17:57] A simple prayer. You know this prayer is as simple as the prayer we read of in the scripture Lord help me.

[18:11] Give me understanding. Give me understanding. Oh to have understanding what a blessed thing that is.

[18:26] An understanding of what we are as fallen creatures before our God. An understanding of what we are capable of as fallen creatures and what is in our heart.

[18:41] An understanding like the apostle Paul had in the 7th of Romans when he groaned over his heart. Oh wretched man that I am. Give me understanding.

[18:54] All understanding of the deceitfulness of my own heart. The prophet had that understanding when he said this the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.

[19:07] Who can know it? Give me understanding. And you know as we go on in this blessed understanding oh to be given by God understanding in the way of salvation.

[19:25] To be brought and led and taken and shown what Bunyan's pilgrim sought. That way everlasting that cross of Calvary.

[19:41] Dear evangelist said to the pilgrim seest thou yonder shining light. I think I do. Give me understanding. Understanding in the way of salvation.

[19:55] To be brought to go to Christ. To flee for refuge. To Calvary's cross. To come as a sinner to God's mercy seat.

[20:10] The dear hymn writer said this the way I see give me understanding and I'll pursue the narrow way till him I view.

[20:21] What a mercy if this prayer is answered. Thy hands have made me and fashioned me says the psalmist and then he comes to this prayer give me understanding.

[20:35] Oh what a blessed prayer this is. that the Lord would teach us and lead us in the way everlasting.

[20:48] Open our eyes to behold as the scriptures say wondrous things out of his law. Show us the way of salvation.

[21:02] The disciples said to Jesus and how can we know the way? and he said unto them I am the way the truth and the life.

[21:19] Oh the sacred nature of that word of Christ give me understanding. He led them in that way everlasting. And when on the road to Emmaus they could not comprehend what had happened at Calvary's cross and they walked in sadness then he opened to their understanding the scriptures.

[21:44] Oh have the Lord uses the foolishness of preaching to open to poor sinners hearts an understanding of the way of salvation and leads them and shows them that pathway to come to him and gives them the grace to obey that heavenly injunction come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.

[22:15] Have you ever come to your God and said to him give me understanding understanding in the pathway I am now walking why through dark some paths we go we may know no reason give me understanding oh show me when we look at the case of Job what a understanding he was given he said at the end of that book I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear but now mine eyes see thee wherever I abhor myself and repent in dust and ashes all how he had an understanding of what the Lord was doing with him he was brought to this at the end of the book behold I'm far and he put his hand on his mouth and said no more he saw what the

[23:16] Lord was doing with him bringing him down giving him understanding showing him the depths of the fall in his own nature his own solemn pathway and bringing him to poverty behold I'm vile oh the work of sanctification thy hands have made me and fashioned me give me understanding and you know it's as though the psalmist is saying Lord show me all thy deedings and what thou art doing and give me grace to be still in thy hand oh to be brought to this place I see it again and again the depths of the work of God in the soul of a sinner that in the pathway in all its crucifying sorrow he will with his all sufficient grace bring that child to be still in his hand to accept the cross to take up the thorn in the flesh to come like the dear apostle

[24:30] Paul did most gladly therefore when I glory in my infirmities understanding why that the power of Christ may rest upon me the work is to conform to the image of his dear son to bring them to bow beneath the cross oh how we see the Lord in the judgment hall spat upon marked crowned with thorns what did he do as a lamb done before its shearer so openly not his man oh how the Lord would give his dear people understanding that they might be still in his dear hands and have a sacred sight think it not strange concerning the fiery trial that is to try you as though some strange thing had happened don't you but rejoice in as much as ye are made partakers of the sufferings of

[25:37] Christ all to have understanding in the way of salvation understanding in the path of sanctification understanding of what the Lord is doing the Lord brought Job to a precious understanding and he brought his dear servant Elijah to the side brisantly said the Lord to his dear servant the journey is too great for thee you can't go in your own strength my grace is sufficient for you forget it not seek my help in your pathway you won't walk alone you'll fall and give me understanding in the way to heaven that we think it not strange our master stood the fiery test he was hated they hated him without a cause he was despised and rejected of men then think it not strange if he calls his dear church into the same footstep if we are called to follow him then we may expect to enter in to his footstep and to enter into his pathway to be despised and mocked of this world and to walk alone thy hands have made me and fashioned me give me understanding that

[27:13] I may learn thy commandments this you know is the path of obedience to learn his commandments I think of the apostle Peter he learnt the commandments and learnt what it was to follow his lord in the solemn path that the lord permitted him to walk in he thought I'll go with him to death he thought in his own strength he would obey the lord's commands and he would follow him and he would do everything all what he learnt in that judgment hall what the lord taught him in that hour when thou art converted strength and thy brethren he had learnt there that he could do nothing without the help of his

[28:20] God he learnt there the poverty of his own self sufficiency he learnt there the solemn nature of what it was to be left satan has desired to have he may sift thee as wheat but I have prayed for thee he was to learn what it was to rest upon his God what a past the lord calls his dear people in to learn his commandment and to have them indelibly written in his heart and to learn what it is to obey them oh how they need grace divine grace to be brought to follow him in the sweet commandment if ye love me he said in his day keep my commandment but there is a beauty and blessedness in the words of the psalmist here give me understanding that I may learn thy commandment when I was in the hospital 18 months ago in Bristol and I was praying in the night and I was in my heart just saying these words

[29:41] Lord Lord and it came as an echo from the other side of the ward and I shall never forget why callest thou me Lord and doest not the things that I say we have to go into some deep deep waters to be brought to listen to the voice of our God to be sifted as we and to hear and to be shown those paths that we are walking in which are not in accordance with his holy mind and will and doest not the things that I say all the blessed mercy of being brought into paths of obedience to his heavenly mind and will to be truly as clay in the hands of the heavenly potter to be still no resistance to his will in any way but

[30:47] I do always those things that please him to walk in the footsteps of Christ not to complain no murmuring here this is what I may learn thy command then there is submission to the will of Christ obedience abowing beneath his will and then we come to the second verse they that fear thee will be glad when they see me there is between God's dear church as taught by his spirit as apostle john says if we walk in the spirit we have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ his son cleanses us from all sin and we see here they that see me will be glad the work of

[31:52] God in the hearts of his dear people is clearly manifested and seen by his own people the things that are spiritual are spiritually discerned and when we see the work of grace be it in the heart of the young and see them wrought upon by God and perhaps hear them as they come before the church of God to speak of what the Lord has done for their soul then we see there is not a human gladness it is a spiritual joy that is spoken of here a union of heart we can see in them the good hand of their God upon them if they have passed through dark paths of sorrows we can see the fruits of it sanctified they that see that is that have spiritual eyes they that fear thee will be glad when they see me see the work of

[33:06] God these that fear God have discerning eyes to detect the word of God and the psalmist has this blessed understanding he realizes that the work of grace in his heart will not be hidden be manifested will be seen by others it will be known oh this divine work of God in the hearts of his dear people is like a sacred fire that gives out the warmth of love and it's felt by those around the grace of God in the soul of a sinner is not hidden sinner may think it is but the work of God in the soul and when there is an opening of the lips and a communion have fellowship one with another and the blood of Jesus Christ is spoken of and known in the soul and the rejoicing ah this is the deep rejoicing that the men on the road to

[34:17] Emmaus knew their hearts were glad did not our heart burn within us there was a union with Christ a union with one another blessed fellowship in the bonds of the gospel the Lord had been with them and they rejoiced and here we see the psalmist having a sweet realization of the fellowship in the gospel between his dear people who can see the work of God in his heart dear Jeremiah and all the midst of his suffering sorrows had but two friends in the book of Jeremiah Beiruch and Ebed Milah but what a bond existed between them there was a sweet union of heart one to another Jeremiah's life was unmitigated sorrows he was despised ignored rejected like his master and died unknown in

[35:24] Egypt and yet he was a child of God and between him and Ebed Milah who loved him there was a sweet bond precious union and with Beirut and they that see me they that fear the Lord they will understand and they will enter into the work of God and the blessedness of it and they that fear thee will be glad when they see me because I have hoped in thy word simple isn't it but oh how blessed I say simple in this respect so clear as Christ teaching was the psalmist puts the blessed mighty work of God in the heart of a sinner into a few simple words

[36:28] I have hoped in thy word and you know the scriptures speak and if you look at this 119th psalm you will see the use of the word it is spoken of again and again but we can go back in this respect to the writings of John in his gospel and in his epistles and you know in his epistle he says this that which was from the beginning which we have heard which we have seen with our eyes which we have looked upon and our hands have handled what of the word of life for the word was made flesh and dwelt among us and we beheld his glory the glory is of the only begotten of the father full of grace and truth and here in this psalm the psalmist

[37:31] I have hoped where was his hope in the word of Christ to his soul what the Lord had spoken to him in his heart his hope was in Christ which hope we have as an anchor of the soul both sure and steadfast which enters into that within the veil whither the forerunner is for us entered even Jesus made forever a high priest after the order of Melchizedek and the blessed hope that the apostle spoke of in the fifth of Romans tribulation he says work is patience and patience experience and experience hope and hope make it not ashamed because love of Christ is shed abroad in our heart all this blessed hope that is spoken of here the psalmist knew it in his own soul

[38:39] I have hoped in thy word throughout this psalm we constantly read and we preached recently from it of the testimonies of God the word spoken by God into our own soul a divine testimony indelibly written there forever the precious promises given all this word that God has spoken into the souls of his dear church here was the hope of the psalmist in these simple words he knows the foundation of the work of God in his heart he knows the divine teaching of God in his soul he knows the understanding which the Lord gives the entrance of thy word giveth light giveth understanding to the simple there had been an entrance of the word of

[39:44] God into his heart and the Lord had opened his eyes and his understanding and he brought him down in a knowledge of himself and he brought him to Calvary's cross and given him understanding and led him to his footstool of mercy oh has the Lord taught you in this same way brought you to his footstool brought you to prayer real prayer earnest prayer sanctified your sorrows and brought you to cry to him it doesn't matter how old we are in the way whether we are nearing the end of the journey as some of us indeed are or whether you're at the beginning of the way when we look at the seed and see the fruit that it produces it is the same wheat that is sown in the field that produces the fruit that is now being harvested all in different stages of development it is the identical it has life within it it springs up and brings fruit it is as much a seed of wheat when it is sown in the ground as when it produces its fruit and so whether it be at the beginning of the way or when the sickle is put in and there is the harvest it is the work of God thy hands have made me and fashioned me give me understanding oh the divine teaching that brought him to ask that blessed prayer that I may learn thy commandments they that fear thee will be glad when they see me because

[41:44] I have hoped in thy word blessed sight when there is a work of God in the hearts of his dear children whether it be in old age at the end of the journey whether it be at the beginning of the journey there is a rejoicing in the hearts of God's dear children when they discern the work of God and see it here then is the simple work of God but if you read this sweet psalm it is full of the heart of the psalmist he opens his heart again and again and he asks for sweet sacred blessings he has been well taught in the truth this is a most precious psalm and it shines like the facets of a diamond it shines on the different facets of the work of grace in the heart of a sinner

[42:51] Amen