The Works of the Lord

Psalm 111

As is the workman, so is the work.

Seven Attributes of the works of the Lord

They are—

THE WORKS OF THE LORD ARE GREAT (v. 1-2)

We start with a heart of Gratitude regarding the works of the Lord

Psalm 138:1 NASB95

1 I will give You thanks with all my heart; I will sing praises to You before the gods.

He is to be praised above all

Psalm 149:1 NASB95

1 Praise the Lord! Sing to the Lord a new song, And His praise in the congregation of the godly ones.

They are as unsearchable as Himself.

All His works praise Him, because they are a credit to the Worker.

This is evident in His work of Creation, Redemption, and Providence

His work is great in every sense as to quality, variety, utility, and Eternity.

Psalm 104:24 NASB95

24 O Lord, how many are Your works! In wisdom You have made them all; The earth is full of Your possessions.

THE WORKS OF THE LORD ARE DESIRABLE. “Sought out of all them that have pleasure therein” (v. 2)

His works are expressions of His thoughts, and such thoughts are very deep and precious

Psalm 92:5 NASB95

5 How great are Your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep.

What depth of thought there is in the Redemption by Jesus Christ.

Romans 8:35–39 NASB95

35 Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Just as it is written, “For Your sake we are being put to death all day long; We were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” 37 But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

How earnestly this work is sought out by all them that have pleasure therein.

It is a profitable search.

THE WORKS OF THE LORD ARE HONOURABLE.—“His work is honour and majesty” (v. 3, r.v.)

There is a becoming dignity about the work of Creation and Redemption that reflects great honour on the Worker.

The salvation of Jesus Christ by the Cross brings eternal glory to His Name.

Romans 5:8 NASB95

8 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.

“The Lord is holy in all His works,” and

notably in the work of the Cross.

Colossians 2:14 NASB95

14 having canceled out the certificate of debt consisting of decrees against us, which was hostile to us; and He has taken it out of the way, having nailed it to the cross.

THE WORKS OF THE LORD ARE MEMORABLE.—“He hath made His wonderful works to be remembered” (v. 4-5)

His works of grace and mercy in behalf of His people are to be held in everlasting remembrance.

Psalm 77:11–12 NKJV

11 I will remember the works of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. 12 I will also meditate on all Your work, And talk of Your deeds.

Who can forget the day of their conversion to God,

the day of deliverance from guilt and sin, and

the dawn of His light and peace in the soul?

1 Peter 2:24 NASB95

24 and He Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross, so that we might die to sin and live to righteousness; for by His wounds you were healed.

THE WORKS OF THE LORD ARE POWERFUL. “He shewed His people the power of His works” (v. 6)

Israel saw the mighty power of His working in their

salvation from Egypt,

in their passing through the Red Sea,

and across the opened Jordan,

and in the downfall of the walls of Jericho.

But what has God wrought for us, and in us?

Has He not showed us the power of His work by the Cross for us, and by the Holy Spirit in us?

Acts 4:12 ESV

12 And there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”

Romans 3:23–26 NASB95

23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.

THE WORKS OF THE LORD ARE TRUTHFUL. “The works of His hands are truth and judgment” (v. 7, r.v.)

They are in perfect truthfulness to the needs of the case.

His work of grace and of salvation is exactly what we need, and all we need.

Just and true are the ways of the King of saints (Rev. 15:3).

Revelation 15:3 NASB95

3 And they sang the song of Moses, the bond-servant of God, and the song of the Lamb, saying, “Great and marvelous are Your works, O Lord God, the Almighty; Righteous and true are Your ways, King of the nations!

He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.

John 14:6 NASB95

6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.

THE WORKS OF THE LORD ARE ETERNAL. “They stand fast for ever and ever” (v. 8-10)

Man’s works, like himself, will wither like the grass,

but the Word and work of the Lord shall stand for ever.

1 Corinthians 15:58 ESV

58 Therefore, my beloved brothers, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.

Our righteousnesses rot like filthy rags,

Isaiah 64:6 NKJV

6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.

but the work of His regenerating Spirit, the renewing of the Holy Ghost, stands fast for ever.

I give to My sheep eternal life, and they shall never perish.

John 10:28–30 NASB95

28 and I give eternal life to them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My hand. 29 “My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand. 30 “I and the Father are one.”

It is God who worketh in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure. “His work is perfect.”

Philippians 2:13 NASB95

13 for it is God who is at work in you, both to will and to work for His good pleasure.

Based on “The Works of the Lord” found in James Smith and Robert Lee, Handfuls on Purpose for Christian Workers and Bible Students, Series I–XIII, five-volume edition, vol. 8 (Grand Rapids, MI: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 1971), 248–250.