Sermon Text: Psalm 113:1–9
Speaker: Pastor Prabhudas Koshy
Date: 20th July 2025
Sermon Text: Psalm 113:1–9
Speaker: Pastor Prabhudas Koshy
Date: 20th July 2025
10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LORD will take me up.
It is possible that a Christian may be abandoned by his parents. Such tragic scenarios do happen in real life. In fact, Jesus had warned of such betrayals: “Now the brother shall betray the brother to death, and the father the son; and children shall rise up against their parents, and shall cause them to be put to death. And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved” (Mark 13:12-13).
David had, on occasion, felt forsaken by his own household. This we see in Psalm 69:8, “I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother’s children”; and in Psalm 31:11, “I was a reproach among all mine enemies, but especially among my neighbours, and a fear to mine acquaintance: they that did see me without fled from me.” Is it not also true that our Lord Jesus Christ “came unto his own, and his own received him not” (John 1:11)? Likewise, the apostle Paul lamented in 2 Timothy 4:16, “At my first answer no man stood with me, but all men forsook me”.
This shows how vain it is to put our trust in man, “for vain is the help of man” (Psalm 60:11; cf. Psalm 108:12). Indeed, “Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help” (Psalm 146:3). Even in times of need, it is best to wait upon the LORD. Craving for man’s help may not only end up in disappointment, but even peril at times.
Nonetheless, when men forsake us, be assured that “the LORD will take me up.” Men may hate us, but God shall show us His favour. We may be forsaken by all, but God shall have mercy upon us. “Forsaken by man, but favoured by God” has often been the experience of God’s children.
Let us not doubt the LORD’s favour upon all who trust in Him. The LORD declares in Isaiah 49:15, “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” Are you perplexed that none of your nearest and dearest is by your side to comfort and strengthen you? Are you dismayed that all have forsaken you? Like David, stand in the promise of God’s unchanging presence. He is our very present help in our trouble (Psalm 46:1). The LORD is sure to help us, even though our natural parents may fail to render their support. God is our succour when others fail us.
12 For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth; even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.
The Scriptures often ascribe a paternal relationship to the LORD’s dealings with His people. In the text for today’s devotion, the LORD’s corrective measures are depicted as those of a loving father. The idea of God’s paternal correction is evidently taken from Deuteronomy 8:5 – “Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee.”
Like a father, the LORD corrects us. The Hebrew word for “correcteth” has also been translated in the King James Bible as “reprove”, “rebuke”, “reason”, “chasten”, etc. It refers to verbal corrections, as well as the applying of physical disciplining, like “the rod of correction”. These are the providential interventions of the LORD in our lives to stop us from continuing in our errors and to turn us back to the path of righteousness.
Such “corrections” are the corrections of love. Certainly, corrections can be painful experiences. However, they are necessary actions of His love. They are not meant to repel us from God, but to draw us closer to Him. The LORD’s corrections are marks of His paternal love for us. Every son in whom the LORD delights, He will chastise.
The LORD’s chastisements are not irrational outbursts of an offended and angry heart. “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy. He will not always chide: neither will he keep his anger for ever. He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:8-10). He does not take pleasure in afflicting us. In Lamentations 3:33, it is said, “For he doth not afflict willingly nor grieve the children of men.” So when the LORD chastises, He does it out of the necessity for correction which His justice and holiness demands. He does so, not as one who takes pleasure in the miseries of men, but as one who yields to a painful necessity. Moreover, though the LORD may severely chastise us, He will not be cruel. When He chastens, He mitigates its severity with tenderness. He will not keep His anger forever against His people. The actual purposes of His chastening are to bring about the fruit of repentance, holiness and blessedness. God has many gracious and blessed purposes when He chastises us. So, like grateful sons, let us yield to His chastening willingly.
Psalm 103:13
13 Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him.
Our heavenly Father’s pity is briefly and yet eminently described here by comparing it with the pity of a human father. God is pleased to call our attention to His paternal character of pity, so that we may have the best conceptions of the character of God.
Pity is the tender love and mercy shown by the infinitely superior God to the undeserving, rebellious creatures as we are. Divine pity is God’s loving kindness. No other word brings home the truth of God’s paternal love, mercy, kindness, patience and benevolence better than “pity”. The pity of our God is His condescending love.
Though we are so utterly unworthy to receive any favour from the LORD, He is ever ready to extend His great compassion and forgiveness when we cry unto Him. James 5:11 declares, “the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy.”
Consider the following verses that declare the LORD’s amazing pity:
“Nevertheless for thy great mercies’ sake thou didst not utterly consume them, nor forsake them; for thou art a gracious and merciful God” (Nehemiah 9:31).
“But he, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath” (Psalm 78:38).
“Who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, and passeth by the transgression of the remnant of his heritage? he retaineth not his anger for ever, because he delighteth in mercy. He will turn again, he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea” (Micah 7:18-19).
When the LORD pities us, He does not condemn nor destroy us. In His pity, He not only ceases from His anger, but also moves to deliver us and restore us. His pity is not a passive feeling, but a bountiful expression of His mercy, love and goodness.
When we tremble at His presence in the fear of His great and holy name, He will have pity on us. “The LORD pitieth them that fear him.” Let us reverence and worship Him. Let us come, believing that He is full of pity.
24 The father of the righteous shall greatly rejoice: and he that begetteth a wise child shall have joy of him.
Most Christian parents seem to hinge their happiness on their children’s worldly achievements. They push their kids along the paths of academic and economic success at any cost. They fail to appreciate that their children’s spiritual growth and steadfastness are more significant than worldly success. Hence, they must be admonished of the great need to focus on their children’s conformity and faithfulness to Christ and His Word.
According to the next verse, “Thy father and thy mother shall be glad, and she that bare thee shall rejoice” (Proverbs 23:25). Thus, not only the father, but the mother also, shall rejoice over a righteous and wise son. Indeed, it must be assumed that the parents who sincerely appreciate their children’s commitment to righteousness and God’s wisdom are righteous and wise themselves. They must have placed great value on the things of God rather than the things of this world. Such parents would pay attention to bringing up their children in faith and obedience to the Lord and His Word.
On the contrary, parents who raise their children based on the values propagated by the television, movies, entertainment world and secular experts of child-rearing, would have great difficulty in appreciating the value of their children’s spiritual excellence. They would be more concerned with his academic, economic and other worldly advancement. Parents who focus primarily on earthly gains for their children would not be able to detect the ungodliness in their children.
But godly parents would rejoice when their children conduct themselves in sincere faith in Christ, loving and exalting Him, and bearing the fruit of the Spirit. Moreover, righteous and wise children would seek to bring joy to the hearts of their parents. They will honour their parents as the Lord has commanded in His Word (cf. Exodus 20:12; Deuteronomy 5:16; Ephesians 6:2).
Surely, as Proverbs 10:1 says, “A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother” (cf. Proverbs 15:20). Children who walk in righteousness and divine wisdom, are “monuments” that godly parents would truly love to leave behind in this world. Godly children carry forward the legacy of their godly parents into a new generation.
6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
This is the Christian parents’ God-given responsibility towards every one of their children. In Psalm 127, we are reminded that “Lo, children are an heritage of the LORD: and the fruit of the womb is his reward. As arrows are in the hand of a mighty man; so are children of the youth” (vv. 3-4). As with arrows, children ought to be accurately aimed and directed to get to their targets. God expects parents to guide their children to achieve spiritual goals in their lives.
The Hebrew word for “train” (ḥānaḵ) means to dedicate. It is used of dedicating a house (Deuteronomy 20:5), and the temple (1 Kings 8:63; 2 Chronicles 7:5). Only in Proverbs 22:6 is the verb translated as “train”. It means setting aside and limiting a thing for God’s glory and service. Child-training involves delimiting a child’s activities and conduct away from sin and guiding him towards godliness.
Training involves purposeful, consistent and diligent actions. It requires careful observation and analysis of a child’s life, and thorough implementation of divine truths in his life. It would require the parents to administer appropriate and timely rebuke, disciplinary actions, correction, instruction, encouragement, commendation, nurture, etc. Proverbs 13:24 says, “he that loveth him (the child) chasteneth him betimes.” Proverbs 29:15 further warns, “The rod and reproof give wisdom: but a child left to himself bringeth his mother to shame.”
Hence, there is a great necessity that parents remain dedicated to God to carry out their duty of training their children according to His will. First of all, parents ought to know the Word of God so that they may be able to teach their children the path that God has mapped out for His people. Secondly, the parents must be earnest in prayer for God’s grace, wisdom and strength for nurturing their children in the right path. They must pray on their own and also with the children. They must also walk in the way of the LORD in order to lead the children on the right path. If the parents’ attitude in training the child is “Don’t do as I do; do as I say”, the child will be without a godly pattern to follow. In such a family environment, the only model the child can emulate is a hypocritical life. So by your life, show your child how he should live all the days of his life for God’s glory.
8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.
The attributes of the LORD mentioned in this verse were once revealed by the LORD Himself to Moses on mount Sinai. In Exodus 34:6, Moses recorded the LORD proclaiming Himself as “The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth”. These attributes of the LORD had been wonderfully experienced by the people of Israel when He delivered them out of Egypt and guided them forward in spite of their murmuring and rebellion.
As in the days of old, God still shows Himself daily in our life today (as proclaimed in His Word) that He is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.” The fact that He engages with sinners like us shows that He is the same as He has proclaimed Himself to be. How could an infinitely holy God attend to a stubborn and disobedient people like us, if He is not merciful and gracious? Oh, let us praise Him for He is unto us what we need the most – a merciful and gracious God!
There appears a progression of thought in the enumeration of the Lord’s attributes in our text. Because the LORD is merciful and gracious, He is slow to anger. If not for His mercy and grace, we would have been long consumed in His hot displeasure. Does not His Word warn us that He is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 10:27)? We also read in Numbers 11:1, “And when the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the camp.” Again in Numbers 16:35, it is recorded that “there came out a fire from the LORD, and consumed the two hundred and fifty men that offered incense.”
If not for His merciful and gracious dealings with us, we would not be alive today to read about our most magnanimous LORD and enjoy His benevolence. He has been “slow to anger”; that means He has been patient with us despite the repeated provocations of our sinful ways. We are also told that He is “plenteous in mercy”. Though our lives have been sustained and nourished by immeasurable outpourings of His mercy, we can still look forward to many more experiences of the abundance of His mercy. His mercies, being new every morning, are not in small or stinted measure, but are rich, full, overflowing and freely lavished on us.
Sermon Text: Psalm 112:1–10
Speaker: Pastor Prabhudas Koshy
Date: 13th July 2025
1 The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Psalm 23 is a psalm in which David expresses his personal faith in the LORD. So he said with absolute conviction, “The LORD is my shepherd”. No doubt the LORD is the Shepherd of Israel (cf. Psalm 80:1). However, here David was affirming his own faith and conviction that the LORD is also his shepherd.
David trusted in the great name of his God with total assurance of heart. The name “the LORD” refers to the great Jehovah, the great I AM that I AM (Exodus 3:14). David’s faith in the LORD brought him into a personal relationship with God, so he could boldly say that “The LORD is my shepherd”.
Every genuine believer is given the conviction by the Holy Spirit to say such words of deep love, signifying a close relationship with the LORD. Believers are constrained to say, “O God, Thou art my God.” Let us make our confessions about our God and Redeemer with perfect joy and assurance. Affirming our faith in such a confession like that of David will be a means of great comfort and courage in the midst of life’s trials.
Oh, how wonderful it is to know that He who controls the affairs of the universe attends to our individual needs! Like the shepherd who knows and calls each sheep of the flock by its name, so the LORD knows each of us and gives Himself to lead us with His whole affection and power.
Oh, how wonderful it is to remember that there exists between the LORD and ourselves a distinct personal relationship! We may be weak, obscure and despised, but He thinks of us with special love and care, and devotes Himself to lead us all the way.
Because the LORD is our Shepherd, we can say, “I shall not want.” David’s contentment arose from discovering that his sufficiency was in God. The LORD was more to him than the manna or the stream in the wilderness. He is more than sufficient for all our needs.
The LORD will make all needful provision for His flock. He will provide everything we need, whether temporal or spiritual, whether pertaining to the body or to the soul. In Psalm 34:9, we are told that “there is no want to them that fear him.” The LORD, as the Shepherd of His people, will see to it that all their real wants shall be supplied.
Over the past thirty-eight years of our church, God has blessed us to witness a powerful truth continually. Our growth in both local and foreign Gospel work has been significantly advanced through the generous and sacrificial giving of our members and friends.
Time and again, when God opened doors for us to proclaim Christ, whether through church planting, missionary support, evangelism, or strengthening of our home ministries, it was your Spirit-led giving that made those efforts possible. Brethren, moved by a desire to see the church advance in her endeavours for the expansion of the Gospel, have consistently responded with open hearts and open hands, giving not only out of abundance, but often through personal sacrifice.
We saw this once again just two weeks ago. When we brought before you the urgent need to meet the deficit for the current financial year, your response was swift and gracious. Many gave cheerfully and promptly, and by God’s grace, the entire shortfall was fully covered.
This is no small matter. It is a clear mark of God’s hand upon our church, working mightily through us as we walk in faith and obedience, with hearts set on seeking first the kingdom of God. Such generosity not only strengthens the ministry, but also fosters unity, faith and joy within the body.
Let us continue in this spirit. This new fiscal year, we have much more to accomplish in the local and foreign Gospel endeavours. God has given us these opportunities, and we should not hesitate to undertake them. For as we give, we grow in grace, Gospel missions, and eternal fruit for the glory of God.
Giving in the church encompasses more than finances. While tithes and offerings are important, the New Testament calls the church to a wide-ranging generosity.
Giving Financially
Paul exhorted the Corinthian church to be intentional and cheerful in their giving: “Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver” (2 Corinthians 9:7).
Our giving should not be under compulsion, but it should flow from a grateful heart.
Giving Time and Service
The church must also give of her time and spiritual gifts in service. The apostle Peter exhorts: “As every man hath received the gift, even so minister the same one to another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God” (1 Peter 4:10).
Every believer has been uniquely gifted by the Holy Spirit, not for self-exaltation, but for the edification of the body and the advancement of the Gospel. When the members of Christ’s church offer their time and talents willingly and joyfully, the whole body thrives.
Whether one has the gift of teaching, serving, encouraging, leading, praying, showing mercy, or organising ministries, each has a role to play in building up the church. A giving church is a working, serving church. And a serving church is a growing church.
Spiritual gifts left unused are like lamps hidden under a bushel. But when offered to the Lord, they become instruments of divine grace, pointing others to Christ and strengthening the household of faith.
Likewise, time is also a sacred gift from God, woven with divine purpose. Each moment carries opportunities ordained by His providence—to serve, to grow, to bless, and to glorify Him. To value time rightly is to recognise that every hour holds a doorway to obey the will and purposes of the One who orders our steps. The stewardship of God-given time and gift is not optional; it is a sacred trust.
Giving Love and Forgiveness
Perhaps the most powerful gift a church can offer is genuine love and forgiveness. “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another” (John 13:35). The early church’s growth was fuelled by her passionate love and hospitality. They broke bread together with gladness and singleness of heart, bearing one another’s burdens, meeting one another’s needs, and welcoming strangers as family. Whether Jew or Gentile, rich or poor, male or female—all found equal footing at the foot of the cross. This Christlike love was the fragrance of the early church, drawing multitudes who longed for truth and hope. When the early church practised this kind of generosity, the results were astonishing: “And the multitude of them that believed were of one heart and of one soul: neither said any of them that ought of the things which he possessed was his own; but they had all things common” (Acts 4:32). Their giving created unity, eradicated need, and built mutual trust in the community.
In these days of selfishness and bitter quarrels, genuine love is very rare in this world. Even in churches and Christian families, many people cease to express genuine love and forgiveness. But the church that yields to the Holy Spirit, whom the Lord has abundantly supplied to His people, can produce the spiritual fruit of love (cf. Gal. 5:22-23).
Scripture consistently connects generosity with an increase in the church’s spiritual vitality and outreach effectiveness. 2 Corinthians 9:6-8 directly links generous giving to both spiritual abundance and fruitfulness in ministry. “But this I say, He which soweth sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which soweth bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work”. Those who give cheerfully are promised sufficiency and grace to abound in good works, including outreach and service.
A giving church attracts, not by marketing or manipulation, but by the compelling testimony of God’s love in action. Acts 2 presents this model: “And they continued stedfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship… And all that believed were together… And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:42, 44, 47). Notice the connection: They gave. They fellowshipped. They taught. And the Lord added. Gospel growth is God’s work, but He uses the faithful generosity of His people as His instrument.
When a church fails to give, her growth is severely curtailed. The Laodicean church in Revelation claimed to be rich, but Christ rebuked them: “Because thou sayest, I am rich… and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor…” (Revelation 3:17). They had ceased to give from the heart. Their spiritual stagnation came from misplaced trust in material wealth. A stingy spirit leads to spiritual starvation.
Hoarding, fear, distrust and selfishness will choke the life out of a church. But the spiritual increase promised will be enjoyed when biblical giving is maintained – freely, cheerfully, and faithfully.
The church of Jesus Christ is called to be a giving body because she represents the giving Saviour. The more she pours out in love, generosity, time and service, the more she will be blessed by God with spiritual vitality and numerical increase that God promised.