Sunday Night Meditations 23 Message and Song - 1950's — Welcome Detweiler

Greetings to our radio friends. Our gospel program opens today by the Gospel Centre Choir singing, Is My Name Written There?

Now to bring to you a message from God's precious word, it's my pleasure to introduce to you.

Mr. G. C. D. Howley from London, England. Mr. Howley. The psalms have always been amongst the most popular books in the Bible. Christian people can turn to a psalm when they're tired and get something for their soul quickly.

The Psalms Reflect Every Phase of Human Life

We may come to the psalms and find a perfect reflection of almost every phase of human life. We find joy and sorrow there, the great high occasions of life and those days of frustration and despair. They're all reflected in the psalms.

David's Inner Spiritual History in the Psalms

Some of the psalms were written by David, not by any means all of them, but as you read David's psalms you can trace a good deal of the inner spiritual history of David as you read his psalms. Read the story of David in the historical books of the Bible and you get his external history, but the inner history of the man is found in the psalms he wrote.

Just as if you want to read the life of somebody, you may read the record of his life, the things that he did, but sometimes it's equally or even more interesting to read the letters of a man, because his letters show him off duty, they show him when he's engaged in something informal.

So when you come to David's psalms, you learn something of the true spirit of that man of God. In one of his psalms, written in the later part of his life, David said these words,. But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself.

The Lord will hear when I call unto him. Those words were spoken, or written, in a day of great anxiety and sorrow. David's own son had turned against him, had conspired to take his throne, and when Absalom's revolt rose up, David and a few faithful followers left the city of Jerusalem, and he went into exile.

Nobody was to know how long he would be away, or they couldn't tell for certain if ever he would get back to Jerusalem, back to his home and back to his throne. It was on an occasion like that, when David might have been embittered and sour, that he wrote the fourth psalm, and in that psalm you have the words that I've already quoted to you, But know that the Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself.

God Sets Apart the Godly for Himself

It's a psalm of David's sorrow, but it's a psalm of David's solace as well. He found comfort in his day of sorrow. Now those words that David spoke meant a great deal to David at the time, but they also express something that is true of all the children of God, in David's time and in every age or generation since then right up to the time in which we live.

The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself. It means that God has taken hold of the lives of all of his people, he's taken hold of each one of us individually, and he's set us apart. He's sanctified us for himself with his own special property for his pleasure.

Now sometimes in life people don't take much pleasure in us, and yet there may be a small number of people who are always delighted to see us. They welcome us, they smile when we arrive, and they seem to get a benefit from our company, and how it warms us and draws the best out from us when we're in such company.

But now you can't go into the presence of God ever and get a cold welcome. Always it's a warm welcome. Always you're greeted as one in whom he has a special delight. The Lord hath set apart him that is godly for himself.

Conversion Makes Believers God's Property

You may think of that as something that happens initially when you become a Christian. And when a soul turns away from himself and from sin, and puts his trust in the Lord Jesus Christ on the ground of his finished work at Calvary's Cross, from that moment they're set apart for God.

They're his property. It's as though God says now, You're mine. I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. I have a fountain pen, which amongst different pens and pencils I have, is a very special sentimental value to me.

It's got an inscription on it. It says when it was given to me and where. It came to me from a group of young Christians in a camp in Queensland, Australia, where I'd been ministering the Word of God to them over a weekend.

And at the end of that weekend they made this presentation of this lovely pen with my name and the date and the occasion inscribed on the side of the pen. You can imagine that that pen means something very special to me.

It's set apart for me. It's my own property. Well, all my other pens and pencils are too. But here is something that's got my name on it. It's got an inscription on it. In a special sense, it's set apart for my pleasure.

God takes the lives of his people and he says, You're my people. You're my special treasure. I take a delight in you. Now that should be a comfort in all days of sorrow or tragedy to a Christian. When something happens that we hadn't expected, some dark shadow creeps into the life, we may always flee away and find our refuge in the Lord, because we belong to him.

He sets us apart for himself. And if I belong to him, well then he is going to make me aware of his pleasure and of his comfort when I need it. But the words mean more than this. Not only are we set apart for God's pleasure, but we're set apart for the fulfilment of his purposes.

Christians Are Set Apart to Serve God's Purposes

When God saves a soul, he doesn't just save us to take us to heaven, that everything may be happy and bright and wonderful for us. He saves us that we may begin to serve him. That we may be his representatives in this world.

That we may play our little part in the working out of the divine purposes. And isn't that really rather wonderful? That God is marching forward in the fulfilment of his great plan. It's a worldwide plan.

It's a plan for the blessing of multitudes of men and women. And yet he condescends to come to you and to me and say, now I'm going to use you. You're going to play your little part in the furtherance of my plan.

And he takes each Christian up who's ready to be taken, he prepares us, moulds us according to his will, and then lodges us forth that we may play our part in fulfilling his purpose. Scattered all over the world today, there are multitudes of Christian people set by God in strategic places.

Witnessing for Christ in Every Occupation

You will find them amongst almost all nationalities of the world, and you will find them in almost all occupations and walks of life in the world. I met a man once who thought that every Christian ought to be a full-time preacher, going out into the streets and trying to win souls for Christ.

I said to him, but wouldn't that frustrate instead of help the purpose of God? One of God's great ways of leading people to himself is by setting his people amongst other communities of people, so that in shops, in business houses, in factories, and in all places where men and women congregate or assemble for their work, there are Christian people, and they're able to bear their witness in their place of work, and thus they're able to spread the light of the gospel and lead others to the Saviour.

How Workplace Witness Leads People to Christ

And in point of fact, that has been a most effective way of winning souls. Many a person has found Christ at their place of business. Some colleagues, some fellow workmen witnessed to them. They saw the evidence of a changed life.

They gave serious attention to the words of witness, and then perhaps one day they said, well, I'd like to know more about these things. Or perhaps they didn't say that. Perhaps it was quiet conversation that gradually opened their mind, and all at once God gave them the light.

But today, that is what's happening. God is sending his servants out, and they go out in the various occupations that they follow, and they're spreading the light of the gospel wherever they go. But know that the Lord has set apart him that is godly for himself.

Living as Those Set Apart for God

That is you, and I trust me. But mind you, we want to qualify for it. We really want to be amongst the godly, don't we? And the godly person is the person who is centered in God, whose interests are God's interests, whose life revolves around God's will.

And when I'm aware of God's wonderful action in sanctifying me, in setting me apart for himself, and then I respond, then of course the rest of the verse will be true in a wonderful way. The Lord will hear when I call unto him.

David knew that God would hear when he called, because David was set apart for God, and he did call, and God answered his prayer. And perhaps now you may be on the verge of calling, calling to him for salvation perhaps, calling to him for succor in trial, calling to him for blessing and help and enlightenment in your spirit.

Call upon the Lord. The Lord will hear when you call unto him, because you see, he's taken that little life of yours and he's made it his own property, and through you and me he wants to work out his sovereign purposes amongst men.