Psalms 95

DISCOURSE: 660
DEVOTION TO GOD RECOMMENDED AND ENFORCED

Psalms 95:6. O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. To-day if ye will hear his voice, harden not your heart, as in the provocation, and as in the day of temptation in the wilderness; when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my work. Forty years long was I grieved with this generation, and said, It is a people that do err in their heart, and they have not known my ways; unto whom I sware in my wrath, that they should not enter into my rest.

IN the former part of this psalm, the Jewish people, for whom it was composed, mutually exhorted each other: in the latter part, God himself is the speaker: and the manner in which this latter part is cited in the Epistle to the Hebrews, shews, that the whole psalm is as proper for the use of the Christian, as it was of the Jewish, Church. The peculiar circumstance of its consisting of a mutual exhortation is there expressly noticed: and noticed with particular approbation: “Exhort one another daily, while it is called To-day [Note: Hebrews 3:13.].” This hint the Compilers of our Liturgy attended to, when they appointed this psalm to be read constantly in the Morning Service, as introductory to the other psalms that should come in rotation: and, as being so appointed, it deserves from us a more than ordinary attention.

In discoursing upon it, we shall notice,

I. The exhortation—

[The proper object of our worship is here described. As addressed to the Jews, the terms here used would fix their attention on Jehovah, as contra-distinguished from all false gods: but, as addressed to Christians, they lead our minds to the Lord Jesus Christ, who is “God with us,” even “God over all, blessed for evermore.” He is our Maker; for “by him were all things created, both which are in heaven and in earth [Note: John 1:3.].” He is “the good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep,” and who watches over them, and preserves them day and night [Note: John 10:11.Hebrews 13:20; Ezekiel 34:11.]. — — — Him then we must worship with all humility of mind, “bowing down, and kneeling before him.” At his hands must we seek for mercy, even through his all-atoning sacrifice — — — and from him, as our living Head, must we look for all necessary supplies of grace and peace — — —

O come, let us thus approach him! let us do it not merely in the public services of our Church, but in our secret chambers; and not occasionally only, but constantly; having all our dependence upon him, and all our expectations from him.]
That this exhortation may not be in vain, we entreat you to consider,

II.

The warning with which it is enforced—

[The Jews who, in the wilderness, disobeyed the heavenly call, were never suffered to enter into the land of Canaan. In the judgments inflicted upon them, they are held forth as a warning to us [Note: 1 Corinthians 10:1.]. Like them, we have seen all the wonders of God’s love, in delivering us from a far sorer than Egyptian bondage. Like them, we have had spiritual food administered to us in rich abundance in the Gospel of Christ. And if, like them, we harden our hearts, and rebel against our God, like them, we must be excluded from the heavenly Canaan. They by their obstinacy provoked God to exclude them with an oath: O that we may never provoke him to “swear that we also shall never enter into his rest!” That we are in danger of bringing this awful judgment on ourselves is evident from the intimation given us by the Apostle Jude [Note: ver. 5.], and yet more plainly from the warnings which St. Paul founds on this very passage [Note: Hebrews 3:7; Hebrews 4:1.] — — — Let us then “hear the voice” of our good Shepherd, ere it be too late. Let us “grieve him” no longer — — — but let us turn to him with our whole hearts — — — Caleb and Joshua were admitted into Canaan, because “they followed the Lord fully:” let us follow him fully, and we shall certainly attain the promised rest.]

After the example of St. Paul, we would with all earnestness caution you against,

1. Unbelief—

[The Jews believed neither the promises nor the threatenings of God, and therefore they perished. Let us beware lest we fall after the same example of unbelief [Note: Hebrews 4:12.]. If we will not believe that we stand in need of mercy to the extent that God has declared, or that the service of God is so reasonable and blessed as he has represented it to be, or that the judgments of God shall infallibly come on all who refuse to serve him, there is no hope: we must perish, notwithstanding all the offers of mercy that are sent to us: for “the word preached cannot profit us, if it be not mixed with faith in them that hear it [Note: Hebrews 4:2.].”]

2. Hardness of heart—

[As Israel hardened themselves against God when his messages were sent them by Moses, so do many now harden themselves against the word preached by the ministers of Christ. They “puff at” all the judgments denounced against them [Note: Psalms 10:4.]. But “who ever hardened himself against God, and prospered?” O! “will your hearts be stout in the day that he shall deal with you? and will you thunder with a voice like his?” Be persuaded: humble yourselves before him, yea, “bow down and kneel before him,” and never cease to cry for mercy, till he has turned away his anger, and spoken peace to your souls.]

3. Delay—

[“To-day,” says the Psalmist: “To-day, while it is called To-day,”says the Apostle Paul: and “To-day,” would I say: yes, Brethren, “to-day” “harden not your hearts;” for you know not what a day may bring forth. Before another day, you may be taken into the eternal world; or, if not, you may provoke God to swear in his wrath, that you shall never enter into his rest; and then your remaining days will answer no other end, than to fill up the measure of your iniquities. But surely you have grieved him long enough already; some of you twenty, some thirty, some perhaps even “forty years.” Let there be an end of this rebellion against your Maker and your Redeemer; and let this, which is with him the day of grace, be to you “the day of salvation.”]