Text: “All nations whom Thou hast made shall come and worship before Thee, O Lord; and shall glorify Thy Name. For Thou art great, and doest wondrous things: Thou art God alone.”
Psalm 86:9.
Good
morning, thankful Christian! When
another mere mortal is asked by you to do some task, and they do it – it is
customary and reasonably good manners for you and I to thank that person for
their service to us.
Praying
to the Living Lord God Almighty, the Creator of Heaven and earth and all
things, and receiving our petitions from His Omnipotent and Holy hand really
should be inspiration to give Him all the praise, and all the thanksgiving we
can possibly give. This is what makes us
truly ‘thankful Christians’. Praise be
to the Lord!
“Bless
the Lord, O my soul: and all that is within me, bless His Holy Name. Bless the
Lord, O may soul, and forget not all (or any) of His benefits: Who forgiveth
all thine iniquities; Who healeth all thy diseases; Who redeemeth thy life from
destruction; Who crowneth thee with lovingkindness and tender mercies; Who
satisfieth thy mouth with good things; so that thy youth is renewed like the
eagles.” (Psalm 103:1-5)
Verse 9. “All nations…shall come and worship before Thee, O
Lord; and glorify Thy Name. When
nations worship and obey the great and only Lord God, Jehovah: all is well with
that nation. When nations decline from
Christian faith, and not only allow dust to gather on its Bibles, but actively
seek to pervert and disobey the Law of the Lord God – they cannot be blessed by
that same Lord God Almighty. Observable fact!
The
Western nations have abandoned the Commandments of the Lord God Jehovah – and
are, therefore, under His fiery judgement.
A Holy Lord God cannot bless sin!
Verse 10. “Thou art God alone. Alone wast Thou God before Thy creatures were; alone in
Godhead still art Thou now that Thou hast given life to throngs of beings;
alone forever shalt Thou be, for none can ever rival Thee. True religion makes no compromises; it does
not admit Baal or Dagon to be a god; it is exclusive and monopolizing, claiming
for Jehovah nothing less than all. The vaunted liberality of certain professors
of modern thought is not to be cultivated by believers in truth. “Philosophic breadth” aims at building a
Pantheon and piles a Pandemonium; it is not for us to be helpers in such an
evil work.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 364)
The
First Commandment is: “Thou shalt have no other gods before Me.”
(Exodus 20:3)
“Jesus
saith unto him (Thomas), I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh
unto the Father, but by Me.” (John 14:6)
Truly
thankful Christians seek at all times to worship the Lord God in the revealed
truth of His own God-breathed Word.
There is no such liberty given of God to worship Him in any other
manner. God’s truth is a pure joy to all those whom the Spirit of God has
quickened to know Christ in a ‘born again’ Spiritual experience. Taking God at His own Word is a number one
necessity for all who are elect of the Father, given to the Son; and quickened
by God the Holy Ghost. Faith, God’s gift to His elect souls, enables true
believers to receive the purity of God’s truth, and to be at all times truly
thankful to Him for such an Eternal blessing.
“Sanctify
them (the elect, genuine Christians) through Thy truth: Thy Word is
truth.” (John 17:17)
“The
entrance of Thy Words giveth light; it giveth understanding unto the simple.”
(Psalm 119:130)
“The
law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul: the testimony of the Lord is
sure, making wise the simple. The statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the
heart: the commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening the eyes.” (Psalm
19:7-8)
There
is nothing as satisfying to the Spiritually regenerated heart than seeking to
teach others the Bible truths which God the Spirit teaches us. If there exists no real soul’s desire to read
and study and hear God’s truths revealed in our written KJV Bibles – it is wise
to doubt one’s very Salvation. God’s Word brings Spiritual life to us, as we
lie in Spiritual death, like the ‘valley of dried bones’ in Ezekiel’s vision.
(Ezekiel 37:1-10)
“So
I prophesied (spoke God’s Word) as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there
was a noise, and behold a shaking, and the bones came together, bone to his
bone…”(Ezekiel 37:7)
You
and I receive faith to believe, God’s gift to ‘His people’, when we hear/read
the inspired Word of the Lord God Jehovah.
We cannot ever be saved without hearing the Gospel of Christ, and Him
Crucified for our sins.
We
can never be Eternally found, if we never realise that we are, in fact,
Eternally lost in sin and guilt before our Holy Lord God.
“So
then faith cometh by hearing (reading), and hearing by the Word of God.” (Romans 10:17)
After
being so graciously delivered from the guilt, shame, and Eternal punishment for
our vile sins against the Lord God – should it be any wonder that our
profoundly thankful hearts continue to love God’s Word, and study to show
ourselves approved in its teachings?
Verse 11. “Teach me Thy way, O Lord; I will walk in Thy
truth. If the Lord God has saved us by Spiritual
regeneration (born again); we shall always thereafter seek to know how He would
have us live our lives for Christ Jesus – we are thankful to be taught how to
walk in God’s truth. When we seek to walk in His truth, we are assured of God’s
constant Presence, and "…in His Presence is fulness of joy, at His right hand
there are pleasures for ever more." (Psalm 16:11)
Verse 12. “I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with ALL my
heart. When my
heart is one, I will give Thee all of it.
Praise should never be rendered with less than all our heart, and soul,
and strength, or it will be both unreal and unacceptable.” (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 364)
Verse 13. “And Thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest
Hell. There
are some alive now who can use this language unfeignedly, and he who pens these
lines most humbly confesses that he is one.
Left to myself to indulge my passions, to rush onward with my natural
vehemence, and defy the Lord with recklessness of levity, what a candidate for
the lowest abyss should I have made myself by this time.” (C.H. Spurgeon,
Treasury of David, page 365.)
Thought:
The author of this Bible Lesson was saved in cell nine, H Block 6, of the maximum-security
Maze Prison, Northern Ireland, in 1979 – believe me, I am a most grateful and thankful
Christian. “Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound…”