Temple glories

‘They… praised the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.’ 2 Chronicles 5:13; 7:3

Suggested Further Reading: Psalm 136:1–26 (read earlier in the service)

The more Scriptural our hymns are the better. In fact there will never be found music which can excel old David’s Psalms. Let us interpret them in an evangelical spirit, let us fill them full of the gospel of Christ, of which they are, indeed, already full in prophecy, and we shall sing the very words of the Spirit, and shall surely edify each other and glorify our God. If, then, our music has been scriptural, if our praise has been hearty, if our song has been unanimous, if we have sung of that mercy which endureth for ever, we have good cause to expect that God will manifest himself to us, and faith will perceive the cloud. That is a grand old Calvinistic Psalm, ‘His mercy endureth for ever.’ What Arminian can sing that? Well, he will sing it, I dare say; but if he be a thoroughgoing Arminian he really cannot enjoy it and believe it. You can fall from grace, can you? Then how does his mercy endure for ever? Christ bought with his blood some that will be lost in hell, did he? Then how did his mercy endure for ever? There are some who resist the offers of divine grace, despite all that the Spirit of God can do for them, yet disappoint the Spirit and defeat God, are there? How then does his mercy endure for ever? No, no, this is no hymn for you, this is the Calvinist’s hymn. This is the hymn which you and I will sing as long as life shall last, and going through the dark valley of the shadow of death we will make the shades resound with the joyous strain—‘For his mercies shall endure ever faithful, ever sure.’

For meditation: Genuine Christians will persevere as the result of being united with Christ in the likeness of his resurrection (Romans 6:5); Christ will die no more and over him death has no more dominion; that is the nature of the eternal life Christians live with him (Romans 6:8–9). Rejoice in the one who said ‘Fear not; … I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore.’ (Revelation 1:17–18)

Sermon no. 375
31 March (Easter 1861)