God's people face a daunting task in the world. We face many enemies without and within and therefore can often be brought to the point of despair. But the Christian, though recognizing the real difficulties and pain of this life, has a precious refuge for the soul. Christ not only offers forgiveness for sin but also help for the fight now and strength to persevere, for his glory and his kingdom.
Please stand with me in the Word of God to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. And while you're turning to that portion of God's Word, it is a great joy to be amongst you today to preach the Word of God and to minister to your souls. I do not know you, most of you, but God knows you and his word is for you. And it is our prayer that God would speak and transform lives.
Let us read the Word of God from verse 73. Psalm 119 and verse 73. The Psalmist says, Thy hands have made me and fashioned me. Give me understanding That I may learn thy commandments They that fear thee will be glad when they see me because I have hoped in thy word I know oh Lord that thy judgments are right and that thou in faithfulness has afflicted me let I pray thee thy tender mercy merciful kindness be for my comfort according to thy word unto thy servant let thy tender mercies come unto me that I may live for thy law is my delight let the proud be ashamed for they dealt perversely with me without a cause but I will meditate in thy precepts let those that fear thee turn unto me and those that have known thy testimonies. Let my heart be sound in thy statutes that I be not ashamed.
My soul faintheth for thy salvation, but I hope in thy word. Mine eyes fail for thy word, saying, When wilt thou comfort me? But for I am become like a bottle in the smoke Yet do I not forget thy statutes How many are the days of thy servant? When will thou execute judgment on them that persecute me? The proud have digged pits for me, which are not after thy law.
All thy commandments are faithful they persecute me wrongfully help thou me they had almost consumed me upon earth but I forsook not thy precepts quicken me after thy lovingkindness so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth amen may God bless his word to us let us bow before the Lord as we come to the hearing of God's Word let us pray Lord thou knowest us all together Thou knowest our down sitting and uprising Thou knowest our need and be blessed thee for that man at thy right hand who makes intercession for us and we pray that his word might come with power to our hearts cleansing us sanctifying us washing us building us causing us to grow. Even for some here, O Lord, bring thy salvation, we pray. May it be said that Jesus Christ was in this house. Blessed them, and may Christ be glorified. Amen.
The last week I brought to the Hope Baptist Church the first part of this section that we read together the verses 73 to verse 80 and We considered the words of the psalmist David who? Cried to God. It's a sum of prayer to God in dependence upon the Word of God Now we come to that next section verses 81 to 88 Now as I was praying this morning about this meeting this morning My thoughts went to the many sermons that we have heard in the past week. We have truly been fed and while the ministry of God's Word has gone forth to us in the past few days. We've been encouraged.
We've been challenged We've been given hope through the gospel and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ It's been wonderful Now the fight begins Now you go back You go back to the grind now the messages must come into practice Now the sermons actually begin to work Is the sermon finished no it has just begun You're going to face as you have before you came to this conference and before this day you have been living in and we are in the enemy land. You are not going to go out into a better land better life You will go back to the trenches And My friends our enemy and God's enemy Satan himself He is against you. He's he has not slacken and May I also say he has been here as well He has sought this week to snatch away the seed of the word He has sought to neutralize every sermon You have a wicked enemy a Enemy that sought to distract our Lord Jesus Christ, to turn him away from the cross, to nullify his work. He has desired to sift you as weak, and yet the Lord Jesus Christ says, but I pray for you.
He makes intercession for us in heaven above. But that enemy still is against you. He wants to destroy you. The scriptures give him 14 titles. I only looked them up this morning as I was considering this This the Bible gives him 14 different titles at least that I could see He's called Satan That means the adversary the enemy He's called a pollyon or Abaddon which means the destroyer.
He wants to destroy you He's called the abelis or the devil. He's the accuser the slanderer which we read in the word of God. He is called Beelzebub, the Lord of the flies, Prince of the demons. He's called Belial, which means worthlessness. He's called the deceiver of the whole world, the great dragon, the wicked one, the father of lies.
He's called the god of this world, the prince of the power of the air. He's called a murderer. He's called the old serpent and the tempter. You have to face him. You have to face him.
He's deceiving the world. The world has gone after him. But there are those amongst us, I believe, who are yet in his grasp. They have not gone from his kingdom of darkness yet. They are still there in his kingdom.
Maybe you are here and you are not converted. In whose kingdom are you? You're still under his control. You do his bidding. But has God implanted in your heart any desire for Jesus Christ?
Has he planted within your heart any longing that I must escape I must escape the city of destruction this murderer will kill me he will ruin my life what should I do to have eternal life what should you do go to Jesus Christ that's what you must do you will overcome him by Jesus Christ by his blood by his word by his gospel and Do you know my friends if you go to Jesus Christ he will receive you he will receive you So if you are not converted this message most of it will not mean anything to you Because you need to have God as your Savior Jesus Christ as your Lord the Holy Spirit to be your comforter you need to be saved Satan is your sworn enemy because he is God's sworn enemy and He hates God with a bitter hatred. God has cast him out of heaven as a sinful rebel. Satan lost the position of great authority and will one day be confined to hell forever. No possibility of salvation exists for him nor for his followers So escape escape today Seek Jesus Christ. Oh, may it be that you might look back and say today was the day of your salvation.
So I thought of that this morning. I thought that I have won against me, and you have won against you, that seeks to undo everything that has been said He seeks to simply let you continue on in those wrong ways that you were in before. So don't be surprised of the temptations that will come to you. Don't be surprised when you are being discouraged in the coming days, when you are being distracted with all kinds of concerns and worries. Remember, who is seeking to distract you in the coming days and months and year now let us come to this passage Spurgeon makes a comment regarding this He says this for those verses 81 to 88 He says this portion of the gigantic Psalm seems sees the psalmist in Extremis Extremis is a Latin phrase which means in the farthest reaches at the point of death.
He says he is in great need. His enemies have brought him to the lowest condition of anguish and depression yet he is faithful to the law and trustful in his God. Spurgeon goes on to say that this octave is the midnight of the psalm and very dark and black it is Stars, however shine out and the last verse gives promise of the dawn and Then he gives us is the word of devotional application. This passage of Psalm 119 should minister comfort to us to see so imminent a servant of God, so hardly or harshly used by the ungodly. Evidently in our own persecution, no strange thing has happened to us Now the Psalmist cries out to God again and again.
And what we see in the Psalms oftentimes as we see it here, God says to us, I have heard you, but not yet. Not yet. Now we can divide this passage into two parts. The first four verses, verses 81 to 84, we see how deep the persecuted servant of God may draw in his affection before God before God gives him comfort and In the last four verses we see how he should behave himself in that sad condition so that's what the psalmist says and What this psalm is about? It's about a believer in trials and in afflictions when he is being persecuted when he has gone from as If we apply to ourselves when he has gone from some meetings when he has gone from a conference to the real battle of life And his soul is longing for God his soul is longing for God's presence to be with him for the Lord to help him Lord help me he says he's waiting for deliverance but he's languishing and he feels dried up he is worn out you must have felt like that you must appreciate you must acknowledge that you also go through these seasons of life.
And once again, God in His word is speaking to you. This psalm and this section of the psalm is about submission to God. We've heard this throughout the past days. It's about submission to God in the time of trial and affliction and even persecution. We have many teachings in the Word of God about this in the New Testament the Apostle says in Hebrews 5 and verse 7 of The Lord Jesus Christ of our sympathetic Savior He understands what it means to submit to God He understands in the words of Hebrews 5 and 7 We read who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto God that was able to save him from death and was heard in that he Feared Think about those words Unto him that was able to save him from death.
We see something of Jesus's submission to God's will We see that submission to God's will in the Garden of Gethsemane and we see that submission to God's will on the cross itself in the Garden of Gethsemane he said He cried out father If it be possible let this come pass from me But they said it's on if it's only thy will and Of course the answer is no God says no to him on the cross he prays my god my god boy hasta forsaken me and there is no answer at all God does not answer him there is no voice from heaven to speak to his own son And in both of these things and in all those things the Lord Jesus Christ submitted himself to God So the messages that you have heard they've all been challenging you Submit to the Word of God obey God's voice That submission to God is one of the secrets of the Christian life. Now, you may be asking yourself, well, if it's one of the secrets of the Christian life, how do I do it? How do you submit yourself to God how do you submit when everything else is crumbling around you how do you submit yourself to God especially under trial and suffering and There are four things in particular that I want you to see from this Section of the psalm we will not be analyzing every verse, but I want to mention four things First of all we must look for deliverance to God's salvation only.
We must look to deliverance to God's salvation only. And secondly, we must hope in God's Word only. Then we must pray and trust in God's promises and Finally we must look for life in God's loving kindness These are some simple thoughts that I want to leave before you. So first of all, how are you going to persevere? How are you going to put the things that you have heard and these things that you hear today in practice in your life?
How will you be able to obey under such trials and temptations? First look for Deliverance to God's salvation verse 81 my soul fainted for thy salvation that's what he says if we are to submit ourselves to God in affliction in trials and even in persecution then we must look for deliverance to God for his salvation only my soul fainteth that is the word for longing that's the word for languishing my soul languishes for thy salvation faints for thy salvation what the psalmist wants is the deliverance thy salvation he says that's what I need Thy salvation that God has for him, that's what he needs. The psalmist is not trying to find some way or any way out of his fix, out of his predicament. You know, if you had said to the psalmist, I can get you out, I can get you out of this predicament if you'll sin, if you'll just compromise, if you obey God's Word only halfway he would have said to you well then I'd rather stay in this predicament I'd rather stay under such trials and temptations and persecutions. The psalmist isn't just looking for any way out of his predicament and situation.
He wants God's deliverance. That's why he says Thy salvation, not the salvation. Thy salvation. He wants God's deliverance. And my friends, that's one of the first great aspects of submission to God.
Haven't you encountered it before in your own heart or seen it in the hearts of friends? They're in a hard place you're in a hard place and They've come to the point or you have come to the point, where they've decided that the place that they are in is so hard that any escape will do. They are willing to do anything to get out of it. And sadly, some do that. They find themselves in a position that they never thought that they would find themselves in.
They are doing something that they never thought ten years ago they would ever do but they are in the midst of it and sometimes they they take faithful steps out of this frying pan into the fire things become worse for them because they have kept the Word of God but then there are others who do not obey the Word of God and they fall into all forms of traps and the psalmist anchors himself here so that he won't do that he says Lord what my soul longs for what my soul yearns for what my soul faints for is not any old deliverance, no, not my deliverance of myself, it's your deliverance, it's thy salvation, that's what I need, that's what I want Lord, that's what my soul longs for, I want the deliverance that you have for me not someone else However long I have to wait for it. I'm not going to Manufacture this I am NOT going to go in the way of sin to get it or compromise to get it I'm going to wait for thy salvation That's what he's saying. And of course, ultimately, ultimately, the salvation of every believer transcends anything and everything that we experience in this life.
The salvation that is waiting for us. There are some things that will never be delivered, we will never be delivered from in this life. If our ultimate goal Is the deliverance of ourselves from those things in this life. We will either be disappointed or Will sin to try and to get it? Get rid of them but fixing your eyes on God's salvation.
That's the way of submission to God. Fixing your eyes upon the captain of your salvation, Jesus Christ, and simply as a good soldier, follow him, obey him. Think of the Lord Jesus again. Let's think about the words of Hebrews 12 and verse 2 where we read looking unto Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith who For the joy that was set before him. He endured the cross despising the shame how for the joy that was set before him The salvation the Lord had for him the salvation the Lord was going to give through him the salvation of millions upon millions who believe in him who were given to him before the foundation of the world It was that joy That he set his eye upon His soul longed for fainted for that salvation and therefore he endured the cross Despising the shame John trapped the Puritan quotes an unknown unnamed commentator and he says this, Christ shamed shame as unworthy to be taken notice of in comparison of his design.
There's the first way of submission to God. Looking for deliverance and salvation in God's salvation only David Dixon the Scottish commentator says this a believer in God however sore afflicted he be seeks not to be delivered but in a way allowed by God. And this Psalmist says, Lord, deliver me, but only deliver me in your way. Give me your salvation. That's the first thing.
That's what you need. That's what I need The second thing is this hope hope in God's Word only Hoping God's Word only he says my soul fainted for thy salvation, but but this is what I'm going to do by hope in thy word so if we are to submit to God in the afflictions in the trials and the temptations when Satan comes to cause us to despair and to tell us of all the guilt within. We hope in the Word of God which says to us you must look upward to the man at God's right hand. We must hope in God's Word only. I soul fainted for thy salvation, but I hope in thy Word.
And I want you to see the contrast that the psalmist draws between God's Word and the words of his persecutors. You look at verse 85, the proud have digged pits for me which are not after thy law, he says in verse 86 the latter part it says they persecute me wrongfully help thou me But what is the word of God like in contrast to the insolent who persecute him with falsehood, without a cause? Look at the first part of verse 86. All thy commandments are faithful. That's what he says.
All thy commandments are faithful. Literally faithfulness, if you have margins in your Bible all thy commandments are faithfulness God's word is true and sure it is faithful speaks words of faithfulness and his persecutors words are not true they are falsehood they are wrong And he pins his flag to the mast in in verse 81. I hope in thy word Not in their words. I'm not being distracted by their words. No, I hope in thy word and if we are going to submit ourselves to God in affliction in your trials that you're going to face and even in persecutions that come because you're seeking to be faithful to the Word of God we must hope in God's Word only and it's not always easy to understand it's not always easy to know what the consequences will be It is not so easy to understand Why certain evil things hardships or problems take place in your lives, but God's Word gives you hope It's a word of comfort to you It is this word that is heavenly it gives you the picture of heaven it tells you of the things that shall be it completes the jigsaw of your life that's what it does that's what it gives us hope it tells us the Full picture you don't understand how you're going to get there it gives you the the picture of what shall be to see the good ends to which God is directing them.
You don't always understand. You don't always realize God's purpose behind distressing circumstances. You don't always know how you are to trust in God's leadings and this is so true when God's leading seems to contradict the way the world thinks and the Culture around us or things that are happening in your heart in your life in your family but God's Word gives you hope because it gives you the final picture a minister was once very distressed over several difficult and confusing circumstances No matter how he looked at these events. He couldn't see any reason or purpose for them in his life He was filled with spiritual doubts this this pastor was filled with all sorts of darkness in his life and While he was in this condition He visited one of his members. This was many years ago he visited many one of his members who worked in some sort of a rug factory.
And entering into that weaving room, he paused to see what was happening, what was taking place. A rug that was being woven was suspended above him. He could only see the underside. And that showed him all kinds of colored strands of yarn being strung here and there. All sorts of colors.
There seemed to be no apparent reason, order or pattern to these strings. And he also observed this, that the workers underneath, they did not question the director, the person who was calling for the various colours of the threats. That director was above the rug, and the workers were below. But the workers were immediately obeying. They were listening to the words and doing what they were told to do, to hand up whatever coloured strings or things that the man wanted.
But he needed to see the manager, so he went up the stairs. And then he looked. He looked to see this suspended carpet. He saw with amazement that the thing that looked nothing at all beautiful was glorious, wonderful. He saw those dark threads that were being passed up.
They're all woven together in a wonderful tapestry of wonderful picture, image, the wonderful pattern that was being woven together. But below it was all confusion. Is God asking for some dark-coloured strands for your life right now? I don't know you, but God knows you. Trust his word.
Trust his instructions. He's weaving a pattern that will only be seen when you are up. So my soul fainteth for thy salvation, but I hope in thy word. That's what we must do. We hope in God's Word.
We may not understand everything of the fact, the things that God is asking us to do, But we continue on, pressing on, looking unto Jesus. The third thing is prayer. Prayer. Pray and trust in God's promises, that's what we must do. In verse 18, two.
Pray and trust. If you are going to submit ourselves to God how are we going to do it if you are submit to him when things are not easy when trials come when afflictions come when we must actually put the sermons into practice and it is hard and painful We must pray and we must trust in God's promises Not just hope in them but trust in them verse 82 mine eyes fail for thy word saying when will thou comfort me mine eyes fail that is the word for longing It is failing because I'm looking with longing in my eyes His soul's eyes are fixed on one thing and and what are they? What is that one thing the promise of God and we can say as Christians the promises of God in Jesus Christ the promise of God his faith is on God's promise his prayers are pleading God's promises his trust is in God's promise and that's that word means mine eyes fail for thy word It's a special word that is translated here, which in other places is translated as promise. And God's Word is a promise of God and that's what his eyes long for that's what he prays for How do you submit yourself to God when circumstances are all wrong, when affliction and trial abounds?
You focus on his promise and promises. Some of us might use the Spurgeon's Check Book of the Bank of Faith, which is a collection of Bible promises to believers. You see it as a devotional and there are good things, But I would commend to you to build for yourself, to collect for yourselves. As you read the word of God, God's promises. Have your own checkbook of faith.
Don't just rely on Spurgeon's checkbook. And whatever your name is, you make your own. And pass it on to your children. Pass it on. These are the promises of God.
And go back to them frequently, and meditate upon them, and recite and memorize them, and then focus on believing them, and pray them back to God. When God says to you, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. And when you feel forsaken, when you sense God is not with you, you don't sense his presence, you can say, Lord, I read in reading thy word that you will not leave me, you will never leave me, nor forsake me. Lord, don't leave me now, don't forsake me now according to your word. You know every believer in the Christian life somewhere and sometime often has near escapes and in those times of near escapes you pray Lord don't leave me or forsake me and He will always hear that prayer Because he's made that promise to you.
That's why he's already made the promise to you. So he will hear his own promise So So how do you submit yourself to God when circumstances are filled with affliction and trial? By trusting in God's promises, by praying God's promise back to him. And the Psalmist says here, "'Mine eyes fail for thy word.'" This word of promise. This is what I long for.
This is what I'm grasping for saying When will thou comfort me? That's what he's saying Lord you have said you will comfort me but when is it going to happen so he's taking God's promise and taking it to God and says this is what you have said Lord do it said, Lord do it. The fourth thing is this, look for life in God's loving kindness and we see that in verse 88 how do you submit yourself to God in affliction in trials when The tempter will come when that wicked one will come when a Paulian will come to undermine things to Nullify the the Word of God in your heart when doubts come when you feel so dry and so lifeless. You know how it is that you must pray for those who are serving the Lord. You must pray for them.
You know, Pastor Brown and many ministers here, I would say you may have not thought about this. You expect them to come every Lord's Day and to preach God's Word you expect them to pray you expect them to be on fire for God but they are men I'm a man there's a danger in our position in the position of those who lead, when they are being tempted, when they feel weak, when they are cold, when they feel themselves dried up, And yet the expectation is that they should still preach the Word of God. They should still pray as one who is not called. The danger is for us ministers of the gospel to be professional, to deal with the things of God mechanically. We can't do that.
This is for us ministers too. This is for you servants of God. This is for you fathers and mothers. This is for you. We can't pretend before our children.
We can't pretend before our people that all is well all the time, even though they expect it. Imagine one time your minister comes to you and says, I just don't feel right. I don't think I'll preach this morning. Do you sometimes go to prayer meeting like that? You feel worn out, you feel cold, and you feel like a hypocrite if you prayed, so you don't pray.
What if the minister comes, I don't think I can pray this morning. Pray for the ministers of the gospel. Pray for pastors, pray for leaders. Be honest with one another. And you fathers and mothers, take these things that you are hearing and said Lord I need quickening I need life that's what I need quicken me give me life after thy loving kindness so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth quicken me I need life now he felt lifeless here is the psalmist He's inspired by the Spirit of God and yet he feels dead in his soul.
Don't you feel like that? You see what's happening to the psalmist and what he's doing. He's saying, Lord, your loving kindness is better than anything else in life, and I don't want to accept anything less than the experience of your loving kindness. Your loving kindness is the thing that gives me life that's what I need that's my goal that's what I want I want to know your loving kindness I don't want to have just life but I want to know your loving kindness. That's the source of my life.
And the loving kindness of God is displayed in the person of Jesus Christ. So the psalmist is saying, I want your son Jesus Christ the fairest among 10, 000 He is my love my fair one He understands that spiritually And here's what he understands There is nothing in this world that can compare to the love, to the friendship of God through his son. There is nothing in this world testify to that to the children, testify to that to the young people. They will be told by this world that there are thousands of delights that outstrip anything that they can find in the Bible in the person of Jesus Christ if They will just drink this world to the full That's what the world will tell them. That's what the world is telling us Testify to them speak to your own heart as well, that there is nothing like the love of the Lord Jesus, that there is nothing like the love and the friendship and the fellowship of God in the person of Jesus Christ, that in all of your life, you have never breathed life into your lungs like you've breathed it when you're tasting that God is good and gracious that the gospel is truly the good news to your soul there's nothing like it that's what the psalmist is saying He's saying in your steadfast love, in your loving kindness, Lord, give me life.
That's what I want. That's what I need. I don't want any trinkets in its place. I don't want any replacements. I don't want any substitute offer.
I don't want any temporary plaster or bandage or band-aid. That's not going to give what only your loving kindness gives what Jesus gives and he submits himself to God yes now he's in the hard spot we see that his soul is longing his eyes are longing. His eyes are tired with tears. Have you been tired with tears? Have you been worn out at the end of the day and you think, Is there any hope?
Is there any hope for my children? Is there any hope for my husband, for my wife? Is there any hope for this situation that we are in? The battle continues on. I'm tired of it.
Is this all true? You're ready to give up, maybe? You think all of these things are fair and good? This is what the psalmist felt, this inspired psalmist of Israel. In verse 83, he says, "'For I am become like a bottle in the smoke That's how he felt That's a graphic picture, isn't it?
Lord, I'm all dried up I've struggled there is nothing left in me he feels like he can't endure he can't go on anymore because verse 84 how many are the days of thy servant when will thou execute judgment on them that persecute me I just can't take another day of this I can't do it Lord look at verse 85 He feels like there are pits around him everywhere. He's going to fall one day in one of these things. It's only a matter of time, he thinks. It's only a matter of time. The proud have digged pits for me which are not after thy law do you see the concern in his heart don't you have these concerns He's almost gone to the end of his life.
He says in verse 87, they had almost consumed me, almost consumed me upon earth, but I forsook not thy precepts. But he looks into the deliverance of God's salvation and he hopes in God's word only and he prays and he trusts God's promises and he looks for life only in God's loving kindness and he hangs on somehow. Somehow. It's a miracle. It's a miracle that he hangs on.
How do you submit to God in the afflictions, in the trials of life? That's how. Make this Psalm your Psalm. Memorize it. I was encouraged to hear someone saying they've been memorizing this Psalm.
They've gone halfway. The Psalmist sought deliverance from his sins. He sought deliverance from his foes. He sought deliverance from his fears. Hope deferred made him faint.
His eyes failed by looking out for his expected salvation, but when the eyes fail, yet faith must not. Faith must not, because Jesus Christ is alive, because he sat on the throne. The Psalmist's afflictions were great. He was like a leather bottle But if it's hung up in the smoke, it is dried up, it's shriveled up, we must ever yet be mindful of God's statutes. He says, I have not given it up.
I have not forsaken it. The days of believers' mourning shall be ended, my friends. They are but for a moment, the scripture says, compared with eternal happiness. His enemies used craft as well as power for his ruin in contempt of the law of God. The commandments of God are true and faithful guides in the path of peace and safety.
Friends, we may best expect help from God when like our master we do well and suffer for it Look to Christ dear friends Look to Christ dear believer wicked men may almost consume you believers upon earth, but Believers would soon forsake all than forsake the word of the Lord, which brings salvation. We should depend upon the grace of God for strength to do every good work. The shortest token of God's goodwill toward us is his good work in us as the Holy Spirit applies the blood of Jesus Christ to our souls. You have someone who You have someone who has set his armies against you, seeks to sift you, seeks to destroy you. That's his end.
That's his chief end. And when this world all endeavors over and watching to devour us, We lay it not to heart so sore, Luther says. They cannot overpower us. And let the prince of ill look grim as ever he will. He harms us not a whit, for why?
His doom is writ. A word shall quickly slay him. Why? Because a mighty fortress is our God a strong a safe stronghold My friends Jesus Christ remains King and our defender His gospel is conquering and his power will keep you be encouraged Saints Fight the good fight of faith Look at the psalmist here. He says, Lord, quicken me.
And God does. God quickens his people. Why? Because he gives of the life of Jesus Christ to us. Make this your psalm then.
And may God write his word upon our hearts. Amen.