Psalms 9:10 - Homiletics

An appeal to experience, and its record.

"They that know thy Name," etc. Truth is given us in Scripture, not as bare doctrine, but clothed in living experience; not as an anatomical preparation for intellect to dissect and anatomize, but as food to nourish; nay, more—as a friend to talk with us. For the best reason—we are not merely to hold it intellectually, but to live by it. Hence the whole Bible, from end to end, is full of human life and history. But, above all, the Book of Psalms is a textbook and encyclopaedia of spiritual experience. The text is an appeal to experience, and a record of its testimony,

I. WHO ARE THEY WHOSE EXPERIENCE IS APPEALED TO ? Those who know God ' s Name. Names are more than bare signs of thought; they are instruments of thought; storehouses and treasuries of knowledge; vessels from which it can be poured; current coin, in which it passes from mind to mind. More than this. They are treasuries of feeling ; talismans to call it forth; ripe seeds from which its bloom and fragrance spring to new life. Our power of naming is the measure of our knowledge. Therefore in Scripture, the Name of God stands for all that we can know of him. It includes, not only knowledge of the intellect, but of the heart (comp. John 17:3 , John 17:6 with 1 John 4:8 ). "Canst thou by searching," etc.? ( Job 11:7 , Job 11:8 ). Surely not. This is a depth we cannot fathom; a breadth and height we cannot measure. But to say this is no concession to the mental indolence of agnosticism. Do not let us underrate what we can and do know of God.

1 . We know him as the Source and Foundation of all being but his own. Therefore eternal and infinite. It is mere idle ring of verbal logic to say that "from a finite universe you cannot prove an infinite Creator." For, though the universe is (we are compelled to think) in some sense finite, yet it is infinite in possibility, and in demand on knowledge, wisdom, power, love.

2 . We know him as the Father of our spirits , in whom we live and have our being. As a Personal Being ; i.e. one to whom we can speak, and who speaks to us. We can say "Thou" to him, and he says "Thou" to each of us.

3 . We know his character. Perfect righteousness, truth, holiness, love; and his will, as revealed in his Word.

4 . We know him as " the God and -Father of our Lord Jesus Christ " ( John 1:18 ). Who, then, are "they that know God's Name"? Those to whom all these truths are not words, but realities; who study his will, and obey it; study his Word, and believe it; live in fellowship with God by prayer and praise; know the power of his love ( 1 John 4:16 , 1 John 4:19 ); and see his glory in Christ Jesus ( 2 Corinthians 4:6 ). In one word, "the Name" of God is matter of revelation; but the knowledge of his Name is matter of experience.

II. WHAT IS THE TESTIMONY OF THEIR EXPERIENCE ? This—that God may safely be trusted—is infinitely worthy of unswerving absolute trust. Those who know him best trust him most; and those who have trusted him most bear witness to his faithfulness. We may say that the truth of the whole Bible is involved in the truth of this verse. For what is the Bible from end to end, but an invitation to trust God—with the reasons for so doing? A revelation, not so much to intellect as to heart and conscience. With this it is very largely a record of the personal experience of those who have trusted (and also of those who have distrusted) God ( Psalms 34:6 ). And, withal, it is a challenge to future experience. It invites practical personal test. "Taste and see" ( Psalms 34:8 ). If the answer were that, practically , faith in God is found to be a failure , then the Bible would have missed its mark. Then Christianity must be confessed a beautiful illusion. But the facts are the other way. Go to the Christian—learned or simple, poor or prosperous—who, through a busy life, has made the experiment of trusting God, and bringing everything to the Lord Jesus in prayer. Ask him, "Has it answered?" There is no doubt what his reply will be. If the evidence for the truth of Christianity were to be compressed into one word, that word is "experience.'' The contemptuous disregard of this immense mass of human experience and testimony by unbelievers is neither rational nor just