Good evening. Good to be with
you. It's always a joy. I always look
forward to when I'm going to be here with you. As Brother
Mark said Sunday morning, I was here 20 years. But Don and Shelby
and I go back longer than that. I met them a few years before
they came here when Don pastored a little church in Alabama. Would you turn with me back to
Psalm 39? I asked Mark if he would read
that. tonight and I appreciate that he did. Psalm 39, our text
shall be verse 7, oh lest I forget, my wife's looking at me, I forgot. The Lord willing after service,
immediately after service We're going to drive to West Virginia,
have Thanksgiving with my mother. She's 95 years old. So we'll
only be able to stay a couple of days. So we're going to drive
tonight. And it's about four and a half, five hours. So as
soon as I'm through preaching, we're going to beeline out the
side door here. So I don't think I'm rude or
anything. But the sooner we get there, the sooner she can go
to bed. She'll be up waiting until we
get there. Okay, Psalm 39, our text, verse 7. First we have
a question. And now Lord, David asked, what
wait I for? And then David answered that
question. My hope is in thee." The title of the message is,
Waiting and Hoping. David seems as it was so much
for him and for every child of God. At the time he penned this
psalm, it was during a time of some sort of trial. Just exactly
what the particulars were of David's trouble were not told.
In another psalm, Psalm 34, David said this about afflictions and
trials of the believer. He said, Many are the afflictions
of the righteous, not just a few, not just rarely. but many and
often. Someone once said a believer
is either going into a trial or coming out of a trial. But
the verse didn't stop there. That is verse 19 of Psalm 34. David wrote, many are the afflictions
of the righteous, but There's another blessed, gracious intervention. But the Lord delivereth him out
of them all. Perhaps it was the death of a
dear friend of David's, a companion, or a relative that was the cause
of his trial that suggested these meditations of his own mortality. Look again, if you will, at verse
four. We know that all flesh is grass. But that includes me. I'm not exempt from that. David
said, Lord, make me. The emphasis, notice the personal
pronouns. Lord, make me to know mine end. Don't let me forget. And the
measure of my days, what it is that I may know how frail I am. The old Puritan John Flavel wrote
this concerning the brevity of life. James says it's like a
vapor. The Bible describes our existence
here, our time on this earth, in the very briefest of terms,
doesn't it? Uses metaphors that shows forth
how brief it really is. And the older we get, the faster
it goes, doesn't it, Sam? Oh my, so how fast it goes by. But Mr. Flavel wrote, the candle
of your life is almost burnt down. Thank you. The hourglass
of time is almost run out, yet a very few days and nights more,
and in time, nights and days shall be no more." Perhaps the
occasion of David's temptation and trial here was his enemies.
They were always watching David like they would the son of David
after him, David's son and David's God, the Lord Jesus Christ, always
trying to catch him in his words that they might have something
to accuse him of. David, as you noticed in the
song, after having looked below and finding that there was no
sure hope in this world. Nothing really solid, nothing
really substantial, nothing really lasting. He turns his eyes away
from that and looks above where his real hope is in God himself. When David answered his own question
as to what he hoped for, he said simply, oh, but did he not say
a mouthful, my hope is in thee. My hope is in thee. Again, in
another Psalm, he expressed the same truth when he said in Psalm
121, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills. I'll look up
away from this world below, away from these trials, away from
these vanities. I will lift up my eyes unto the
hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord,
which made heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. A dear saint one night worried
about something or other read that and said, well now, if God
is staying awake, why should I? Let me just lay down and sleep
and trust him. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. Every believer's hope is in an
unchanging God. A God that cannot change. Yes,
we live in uncertain times. I used to say, now I've seen
it all. Then I'll watch the news and
I'll think, oh no, I guess I haven't. I mean, how more insane can things
become? Oh, we live rather in an uncertain
world, but our trust is in our God who has a certain purpose. for a certain people with a certain
outcome. There's no question about that.
Our great high priest in John 17, before he went to the garden
where he was betrayed, said, Father, among other things, it
seems he put the icing on the cake, as we would say, in his
last will and testament. Father, I will. This is my will.
that of all those you've given me, be with me. Be with me where
I am that they may behold my glory." Yes, God changes not. I am the Lord. I change not. A child of God is waiting for
Jesus Christ himself to appear either at the hour of death That'll
be okay when he comes in the air to take all those living
believers to be with him forever. We're waiting for that blessed
call of that one who redeemed us with his own precious blood. We've been bought with a price.
We're paid for. He'll have what he paid for to
take us home to be with him forever. This Thursday, in a couple of
days, we'll sit down and eat more than we should. Have so
much to be thankful for but all thanks be unto God for his unspeakable
gift. How thankful should a sinner
be? How thankful should a believing
sinner be that God Almighty called him out of darkness into his
marvelous light, that sinner who is watching and waiting and
hoping for Christ himself to come to take him home. The hymn
writer said, change and decay all around I see. Isn't it amazing,
David, that we'll come across an acquaintance that we hadn't
seen for a long time? And oh, how are you doing? You're
looking great. Then we'll say, man, life's been tough on him. But we don't say the same thing
when we're looking to marry, do we? I give up on plucking
the grave because that's all that's left now. Oh, change and
decay all around I see. Oh, thou that changes not. That's who David trusted in.
Thou who changes not, abide with me. If ye then be risen with
Christ, Seek those things which are above, where Christ setteth
on the right hand of God. Set your affection, your hope,
your heart on things above, not on things on the earth. For you're
dead, and your life is here with Christ in God. When Christ, who
is our life, shall appear, then should he also appear with him. That's what heaven is. It's to
be with him. It's to be where Christ is. I
sometimes try to imagine what it's like. I think of those dear
ones, so many that's gone before that are now in glory. We could
just name so many. And I try to think, what will
it be like? What will it be like, that first
moment in glory? When we step into the presence
of Jesus Christ, when we're ushered into His presence and we see
Him as He is, we view Him with an unsinning heart, no longer
through a veil, darkly, but face to face. What will that be like?
And my imagination just can't reach that high. Like he told
two of John's disciples, two of the last remaining disciples
of John the Baptist. Christ walked by one time and
John said, to them, behold the Lamb of God. And they followed
him. And he turned and said, what
seek ye? And they said, Master, where
do you dwell? And he said, just come and see. Come and see. What will heaven be? It will
be where Christ is. Again, the question of our text.
And now, Lord, what wait I for? What do I look for? What do I
expect? In the view of the things that
David said, the vanity of this life, the brevity of this life,
his age is as nothing before God, no help for a man, he's
altogether vanity, not in riches, they're too poor, too fleeting,
too perishing to put our trust in, but the glories of another
world, the enjoyment of Jesus Christ himself, both in this
life and that which is to come. Lord, what wait I for? What is
there in these shadows to entice me? Don't want me to linger here
any longer in this present life. The psalmist therefore turns
his eyes to God. He has thoughts now on the world
and all things in it and says, Oh, I'll be relieved knowing
my hope is in him. Lord, what wait I for? What is
my expectation? Where is my confidence? To whom
shall I look? I am nothing. The world is nothing. All earthly sources of confidence
and consolation shall fail sooner or later. What wait I for in
life? in death, in a dying world, in
a coming judgment, in an eternity at hand, what is it that I need
most? What do I need most? What is it that I absolutely
can't do without? What is essential? What can prepare
me to stand before God Almighty? God by the prophet said, prepare,
prepare. Tell them, go tell them to prepare
to meet their God. How can any sinner, how can any
fallen son of Adam be prepared to meet the just and the holy
God? Lord, what wait I for? Am I standing, or rather, am
I waiting to stand before God, trusting in the labors of my
own hands? Many people do. Am I waiting
like those poor souls that were standing before God that Paul
spoke of? And they're still around. Their
descendants are still around. Having a zeal for God, but not
according to knowledge. They were ignorant of God's righteousness.
That's why they went about to try to establish their own. Is
that what I'm waiting for? No, now Lord, what wait I for? Oh, God forbid that I be like
that rich fool thought the Lord spoke about. In Luke 16, I believe
it was, am I like that man who was waiting to build a bigger
barns, to store all of his goods, and then he was just going to
kick back, Mark? Just kick back and say, oh, now
I've got it made. I've got it made. I've got much
goods laid up in store for many years. Take thy ease, eat, drink,
and be merry. But one thing he forgot, God. That very hour, God spoke to
God with whom we have to do. The God that holds our lives,
our souls in his hands. He said, you are a fool. You
prepare for everything. but that which is the most important.
This night thy soul shall be required of thee, then who shall
those things be which thou hast prepared?" But our Lord didn't
stop there, did he? He made application of that parable. He said, so is everyone, everyone
that stores up things in this life and is not rich toward God. Oh, to be rich toward God. John
Chapman wrote an article I ran across the other day called,
One Day Everyone Will Be Penniless. A rich man dies, a celebrity
dies, someone well done dies. How much did he leave behind?
Well, he left it all. He left it all. John wrote, We
live in a very wealthy country. Many kings have not the riches
that we have. However, someday every person,
even the richest in the world, will be penniless the second
they die. However, when the day comes for
believers to die, the only thing that will matter is their relationship
to the Lord Jesus Christ. If we have him, we have true
riches, durable riches. The wise man said, Riches and
honor are with me, yea, durable riches and righteousness. I would
rather be rich in grace with you. have the riches of the Lord
Jesus Christ than to have any earthly possessions?" Here's
the answer. Here's the answer to David's
question. Now, Lord, what wait I for? He
says, My hope is in thee. Now he's back on the right track,
isn't he? He returns to himself. He's now
in his right mind again. Now he turns to the only true
and living God as the object of his hope and trust, and he
expects all good, all grace and glory from him. This is his hope,
of which he'll never be ashamed. Here the psalmist steps off the
sand and puts his feet upon the rock of ages. Oh, on Christ a
solid rock I stand. Does that mean for a believer?
Resting on that foundation that God himself has laid, the foundation
of the church that Christ told Peter, the gates of hell shall
not prevail against. Does that mean that a believer
built upon that foundation will have no storms? Of course not. The storms will come. The storms
will come. The wind will blow. Oh, but it
will not blow the child of God off that foundation that rests
upon Jesus Christ. My hope is in thee. In thee. the mighty God, the God that
has His way in the world when, the God who is in the heavens
doing whatsoever He has to please, that God who has all power, that
God who is from everlasting to everlasting, that God who says
what I purpose I also shall bring to pass, that God who has His
way all the time with everyone everywhere, the self-existing
and true God, worthy of the confidence of His children. He will live
when all earthly things are gone. When all creatures die, His fullness
will abide when all second causes are exhausted. To Him, therefore,
let us direct our expectation. and rest our confidence on him,
away from the sand that this rock of ages cleft for me. Oh, let us hide ourselves in
him. David had but one hope, and that hope entered within
the veil, didn't it? Hence he brought his vessel to
a safe anchorage now, because it's fastened to that rock which
cannot be moved." Robert Hawker made this observation. He said,
Oh, how blessed is it to set loose and detached from all things
here below that we may have our conversation in heaven. that
while going home to our Father's house we may use the world as
not abusing it, knowing that the fashion of it passeth away.
And like the patriarchs of old, may we always be on the lookout
for that city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. How thankful to the God of all
grace that center must be! who is waiting and watching for
Christ because his hope is in him. Several things I want to
consider, and I'll be brief in each, about this hope that David
describes. Look, if you will, or you maybe
probably know it by heart, in 2 Thessalonians 2, I think, where
we referred to it Sunday morning, about this hope. If our hope
is in him, in God our Savior, Our Redeemer,
the Lord Jesus Christ, if our hope's in Him, then it's a good
hope. There's none any better. Verse
16 of 2 Thessalonians 2. Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself,
and God even our Father, which have loved us and have given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace. Good hope, because it's the hope
that rests on God's free grace and not man's so-called free
will. On God's purpose and not man's
merit. Grace that reigns. Grace that
abounds over my sin. Grace that reaches deeper, as
Ruth just sang, deeper than the stain has gone. Grace that is
able to keep me from falling. How much grace does that take?
And not only that, but grace that will present me flawless
before the throne of God himself. Wow! That's amazing grace. That's sufficient grace. That's
effectual grace, isn't it? Grace that saves the day, tomorrow,
and forever. The hymn writer said, it was
grace that wrote my name in God's eternal book. It was grace that
gave me to the Lamb who all my sorrows took. Grace taught my
soul to pray and made my eyes overflow, this grace that's kept
me to this day and will not let me go. Grace, all the work shall
crown, all of it. Through everlasting days it lays
in heaven the topmost stone and well deserves the praise. If
my hope is in Him, then it's a blessed hope. That's what Paul
called it in Titus chapter 2. Titus chapter 2 verse 11. Paul wrote, for the grace of
God that bringeth salvation. that doesn't offer salvation
brings salvation, had appeared to all men, teaching us that
denying ungodliness and worldly lust, we should live soberly
and righteously and godly in this present world, looking for
that blessed hope. I hear people talk about the
second coming of Christ, and they talk about when, and talk
about where, and talk about why, and talk about what, and never
say anything about who, about who shall come. Who is it that's
coming back for his people, looking for that blessed hope? and the
glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ."
Oh, my soul, think about that, blessed hope. There's a better
day coming. Oh, there's a better day coming.
John wrote, Behold what manner of love the Father hath bestowed
upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. Therefore the
world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now
are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall
be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like
him, for we shall see him as he is. If my hope is in him,
then it's a living hope. It's not a dead, lifeless thing.
Oh no, it's not something that just lies dormant. Oh no, it's
a living hope. This is what Peter called it
in his first epistle, chapter one, verse Peter one and three. Blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy
have begotten us again into a lively or living hope. by the resurrection
of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for
you, who are kept in the meantime until we reach that heavenly
reservation who are kept by the power of God through faith unto
salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time. The hope of
a child of God is a living hope. It has life in itself, and it
looks for life in its object, the Lord himself. From the very
first moment that God opens our eyes saying, look unto me and
be ye saved. Look and live. From then till
now we've been kept by that same power and that same unfailing
grace. We have his word for it, do we
not? The promise of the captain of
our salvation that we shall never perish or ever be snatched from
his hand. Because I live, ye shall live
also. Christ said, he that lives and
believes in me, He shall never die. Even the temporary separation
at death of the soul from the body doesn't interrupt this everlasting
life. It continues, it goes on because
Christ, his head lives forever, so shall every member of his
body. Then it's a hope that will never make those who have it
to be ashamed. Is that not so? There is a people,
listen to this article, I like this, this is by Eric Lutter,
pastors there in Ozarks, Missouri. Eric wrote, there is a people
who know the last day, the judgment day is coming. And they have
no fear of its coming. I read an article today, it might
be in this Sunday's bulletin, shall we, by Don, about the Judgment
Day. It's not something for a believer to fear. It's not nothing for
them to dread. Oh, no, no, no. And they have
no fear of its coming. It's not because of foolishness
or of a lack of care that they are not worried. They are not
afraid because their sin has all been put away by Christ. We've been redeemed. Their sin
is covered with the blood of Christ. And they now rest in
the Savior's perfect righteousness made for them. He has given us
his word. My people shall never be ashamed. Wherefore also is it contained
in the Scripture, Behold, this is God speaking, Behold, I lay
in Zion a chief cornerstone, a lect precious, and he that
believeth on him shall not be confounded or ashamed. His name,
his honor, and his blood are pledged to bring them home to
God, and all his church shall come and prove Jehovah's free,
unchanging love. Israel shall be saved in the
Lord with an everlasting salvation. Ye shall not be ashamed nor confounded,
world without end. Jesus, thy blood and righteousness,
my beauty are, my glorious dress. Misflaming worlds and these arrayed,
with joy shall I lift up my head. I've heard people who profess
to know the Lord. Talk about, oh, what if we get
to heaven and we find out we didn't make it after all? Or
what if we stand before God? I had a dear saint late dying.
I'm not sure. I said saint. I probably shouldn't
have. But she said, oh, Larry, I'm
so afraid. What are you afraid of? Oh, what
if there's a sin I forgot to repent of? Isn't that horrible? Such legalism. No wonder they
were without hope. And talk about Christians just
barely squeezing in. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. If I'm
there because I'm with Jesus Christ, the captain of my salvation
is going to lead me through glory and all of his sheep are going
to follow him gloriously, without a doubt. The hymn writer went
on to say, Here's another one, Hebrews 6 and 19. which hope we have as an anchor
of the soul, both sure and steadfast, which entereth into that within
the veil. And what a sure and steadfast
anchor the hope of a believer is, as the old hymn said, Oh,
when the storms of life are raging, stand by me. And they do rage
sometimes, don't they? Oh, we feel like we're going
down. Oh, but the storms of life are raging, stand by me. When
the world is tossing me like a ship upon the sea, oh, thou
who rulest wind and water, stand by me. Remember, in the storm,
God incarnate is with you in the vessel, and he will bear
you up. He'll deliver you. He'll come
to you like He did the disciples, the fearful disciples on that
stormy sea and say, it's I. You don't need to be afraid.
He will rebuke the wind and the seas and then He will produce
a great calm. Storms of fear and storms of
temptation must all subsided to command of Jesus Christ when
he speaks because no man ever spake like him He's the master
of the sea Billows his will they must obey the captain of our
salvation is promised. I will never leave you nor forsake
you I remember years ago, Shelby, you remember this, so you remember
the fellas I'm going to mention, Pastor Little Church. for a couple
of years in Anstead, West Virginia. Don, when he was still there
in that area, introduced me to this congregation before he moved
here to Danville. But I became the pastor, and
a couple of the older brethren in the church, they were actually
brothers in the flesh, Sherman and Harold Cole. They told me
one time, Pastor, I think since you're a pastor, we ought to
get out here and visit the people, let them know we have a pastor,
and invite them to the services. I said, sure, we could do that.
So we went out. one evening, one summer evening,
and invited folks. And we came to one house, wasn't
even, the door was open, but it wasn't even a light on, it
was dark. And they said, now, the meanest man in town lives
here. He threatens to shoot anybody
that comes on his property. He just sits there and drinks
and just cusses anybody that comes around. But we think he
ought to be invited. He needs to hear the gospel too."
And I said, oh, exactly. And they said, okay, you go up
and talk to him. We're going to stay back here and wait for
you. Oh, the Lord Jesus Christ never says that, does he? He
says, let us pass over into the other side. I'm going with you. I'm going with you. If that ship
goes down, Christ will go down with it. He never says every
man to himself. For himself, an abandoned ship,
oh no. He looks over the sea of life.
to the everlasting home on the other side, and he says, let
us pass over unto the other side. And there was a fierce storm
before they got there. But all without a surprise, we
read soon after that, and they passed over unto the other side. Who's going to stop them? Who's
going to stop them? One of the elders answered John
saying, who are these that are arrayed in white robes, John,
and where did they come from? How did they get here? John said,
sir, thou knowest. These are they which came out. They came out. Glory to His name,
they came out. They all came out. None of them
ever perished. They all endured tribulation,
but they all came out. They passed over into the other
side and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood
of the Lamb. Isaiah 43 in one. But now thus
saith the Lord thy God that created thee, O Jacob, And he that formed
thee, O Israel, fear not, I have redeemed thee. Redemption must
mean something, does it? It must be worth something, it
must have accomplished something. Fear not, I have redeemed thee,
I have called thee by thy name, thou art mine. When thou passest
through the waters, I will be with thee, and through the rivers,
they shall not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou shall not be burned, neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. I love these lines from a dear
lady, an invalid actually wrote this. She said, when thou passest
through the waters, deep the waves may be in cold, but Jehovah
is our refuge and his promise is our hold. For the Lord himself
has said it, He the faithful God and true, when thou comest
to the waters, thou shalt not go down, but through. Those that
have been given grace shall also be given glory. They are before
the throne of God, enjoying the presence of Jesus Christ forever. Oh, what wait I for? Job said,
I will wait till my change comes. Thank God, we shall be changed. Paul said that not just as physical,
oh, we shall be changed. We shall be like him. We're waiting
until we awaken his likeness. We're waiting to go to that heavenly
city whose builder and maker is God. We're waiting to enter
that place where there's no sorrow. No crying, no weeping, no tears,
no pain, no death. We're waiting to go to that place
where there is no more sin. We're waiting to see Him who
loved us and gave Himself for us. We're waiting to see His
face. Wow. And the ransom of the Lord
shall return and come to Zion with songs and everlasting joy
upon their heads. they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away. Through the gates
to the city, in a robe of spotless white, he will lead me where
no tears will ever fall. In the glad song of ages, I shall
mingle with the light. Oh, but I long to meet my Savior,
first of all. First of all. Until that time,
we'll keep on, as your faithful pastor used to say, we'll just
keep standing on the tiptoe of faith. I like how Donnie Bell
put it, we'll just keep looking out the window. Keep looking
out the window. He which testifieth these things
saith, surely I come quickly. Amen, so be it. Even so, come
Lord Jesus, the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you
all. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ
be with you all. God bless each of you. It's been
a delight. Thank you for having me. God bless you.