I'd like to give you all a warm
welcome to our worship here this evening. Let us pray and ask
the Lord his blessing upon our gathering. O Lord God of heaven
and of earth, we ask thy blessing upon our worship here this evening. O Lord, bless us here in the
house of God and those that join with us online. and do be pleased
to make thy word effectual to the promised end, that sinners
might hear of a precious Jesus and believe on him, who feed
and strengthen thy people, who help thy people tonight. We ask
through thy name, Lord Jesus. Amen. Hymn, 717. Tune, Credence 586. Let us read together from the
Holy Word of God. We'll read from the second book
of Chronicles and chapter 20. 2 Chronicles and chapter 20, if
you have one of our free Bibles, that is page 465. 2 Chronicles chapter 20. It came to pass after this also
that the children of Moab and the children of Ammon and with
them other beside the Ammonites came against Jehoshaphat to battle. Then there came some that told
Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee
from beyond the sea on this side Syria, and behold, they be in
Hazon Tamar, which is in Gedi. And Jehoshaphat feared and set
himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout
all Judah. And Judah gathered themselves
together to ask help of the Lord. Even out of all the cities of
Judah, they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in
the congregation of Judah and Jerusalem in the house of the
Lord before the new court, and said, O Lord God of our fathers,
art not thou God in heaven? And rulest not thou over all
the kingdoms of the heathen? And in thine hand is there not
power and might, so that none is able to withstand thee? Art not thou our God? who didst
drive out the inhabitants of this land before thy people Israel,
and gavest it to the seed of Abraham thy friend for ever. And they dwelt therein, and have
built thee a sanctuary therein for thy name, saying, If, when
evil cometh upon us, as the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine,
We stand before this house and in thy presence, for thy name
is in this house, and cry unto thee in our affliction, then
thou wilt hear and help. And now behold the children of
Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom thou wouldst not let Israel
invade when they came out of the land of Egypt, But they turned
from them and destroyed them not. Behold, I say, how they
reward us to come to cast us out of thy possession, which
thou hast given us to inherit. O our God, wilt thou not judge
them? For we have no might against
this great company that cometh against us, neither know we what
to do, but our eyes are upon thee. And all Judah stood before
the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. Then upon Jehaziel, the son of
Zechariah, the son of Benaiah, the son of Jeel, the son of Mattaniah,
a Levite of the sons of Asaph, came the Spirit of the Lord in
the midst of the congregation. And he said, hearken ye all Judah
and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem, and thou King Jehoshaphat. Thus
saith the Lord unto you, be not afraid nor dismayed by reason
of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but
God's. Tomorrow go ye down against them. Behold, they come up by the cliff
of Ziz, and ye shall find them at the end of the brook, before
the wilderness of Jeruel. Ye shall not need to fight in
this battle. Set yourselves stand ye still,
and see the salvation of the Lord with you, O Judah and Jerusalem. Fear not, nor be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them,
for the Lord will be with you.' And Jehoshaphat bowed his head
with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants
of Jerusalem fell before the Lord, worshipping the Lord. And
the Levites of the children of the Kohathites, and of the children
of the Korhides stood up to praise the Lord God of Israel with a
loud voice on high. And they rose early in the morning
and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa. And as they went, Jehoshaphat
stood and said, Hear me, O Judah, an inhabitant of Jerusalem. Believe in the Lord your God,
so shall he be established. Believe his prophets, so shall
ye prosper. And when he had consulted with
the people, he appointed singers unto the Lord, and that should
praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army,
and to say, Praise the Lord, for his mercy endureth forever. And when they began to sing and
to praise, The Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon,
Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come against Judah, and they
were smitten. For the children of Ammon and
Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, utterly to slay
and destroy them. And when they had made an end
of the inhabitants of Seir, every one helped to destroy another. And when Judah came toward the
Watchtower in the wilderness, they looked unto the multitude,
and behold, they were dead bodies fallen to the earth, and none
escaped. And when Jehoshaphat and his
people came to take away the spoil of them, they found among
them in abundance both riches with the dead bodies, and precious
jewels, which they stripped off for themselves, more than they
could carry away. And they were three days in gathering
of the spoil, it was so much. And on the fourth day they assembled
themselves in the valley of Baraka, for there they blessed the Lord. Therefore the name of the same
place was called the Valley of Baraka unto this day." Marjan,
that is blessing. Then they returned every man
of Judah and Jerusalem and Jehoshaphat in the forefront of them to go
again to Jerusalem with joy, for the Lord had made them to
rejoice over their enemies. And they came to Jerusalem with
psalteries and harps and trumpets unto the house of the Lord. And
the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries,
when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies
of Israel. So the realm of Jehoshaphat was
quiet, for his God gave him rest round about. And Jehoshaphat
reigned over Judah. He was thirty and five years
old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty and five years
in Jerusalem, and his mother's name was Azubah, the daughter
of Shulhaim. And he walked in the way of Asa
his father, and departed not from him, doing that which was
right in the sight of the Lord. Albeit the high places were not
taken away, for as yet the people had not prepared their hearts
unto the God of their fathers. Now the rest of the Acts of Jehoshaphat,
first and last, Behold, they are written in the book of Jehu,
the son of Hanani, who is mentioned in the book of the kings of Israel. And after this did Jehoshaphat,
king of Judah, join himself with Ahaziah, king of Israel, who
did very wickedly. And he joined himself with him
to make ships to go to Tarshish, and they made the ships in Ezra
and Geba. Then Eliezer, the son of Dodovah
of Moreshia, prophesied against Jehoshaphat, saying, Because
thou hast joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken
thy works, and the ships were broken, that they were not able
to go to Tarshish. Lord bless to us that reading
of his holy word, and help us now in prayer. Let us pray. O Lord God of heaven and of earth,
Lord Thou who art the same, God today as Thou was to Jehoshaphat
and all Israel and Jerusalem, we do thank Thee for the record
of Thy Word, of prayer and answers to prayer, deliverances wrought,
O Lord, we do seek for thy same like precious faith and that
we might be much in prayer and seek unto thee in all our distresses
and in all our trials. Lord, we thank thee for the hour
of worship to grant that we might be of those upon this land that
do worship thee, that bow before thy throne, that show forth thy
praise. O Lord, do remember Zion, remember
the Church of God, both in this land and in other lands. Bless
each that join with us and hear the ministry here. Lord, we do
pray for our dear brethren in Australia, in Holland, in Canada,
in America. Lord, those who are in this land,
we do seek thy blessing upon each one. Do remember those that
are unwell at this time. We pray for those servants who
are unwell and cannot preach tonight. We do pray that those
be with those that would be here but are unable to. Do grant,
Lord, thy kind healing hand. And do be pleased to remember
each one, those receiving treatment for serious illnesses, to bless
that treatment, to keep them safe, especially when they are
vulnerable, when they are open to infections, They lengthen
their days, favour them, Lord, with thy presence passing through
these deep valleys. Do remember those in bereavement
and do comfort them and support and help them in that path of
loneliness. Lord, do remember those that
are in effect as orphans, those that do not have their parents
alive, that do not have even siblings, we commit them unto
thee. We do pray that thou'd remember
the lonely ones, remember those who have not any to worship with
and cannot join a church near to them. We do commit unto thee,
ourselves here as a church and people, oh bless us, build us
up and strengthen us. Hear prayer for thy day, hear
prayer for other services later this week, especially in the
installation of new pastors, we commit them unto thee. And O Lord, do be pleased to
remember each that have this week laid loved ones' mortal
remains in the grave, and do comfort them, and Lord, do bless
thy word preached on such occasions. Lord, we pray for that generation
following, that there might be a realisation of thy promise,
which is unto you and your children, even as many as the Lord thy
God shall call. O Lord, do sanctify to us tribulation. Thou hast said, in the world
you shall have tribulation. we know we must. Thou hast said
also in me, ye shall have peace. O Lord, do remember that thou
hast also said that we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them that are the called according
to his purpose. And Lord, we do seek that faith
and help to commit our way unto thee, who in our troubles call
upon thee. and that thou hast be pleased
to hear in thy time and in thy way, and may we see and realise
that thou hast hearkened unto us, regarded the prayer of the
destitute, and not despised their prayer. Do forgive our many,
many sins in all our needs and trials, how oft it is, as the
widow of Zarephath, our sin is brought to remembrance. O Lord,
who grant that as oft as it is, that thou hast helped us to bring
it to thee, to confess it, to bring it to Calvary, to bring
it to where that precious blood was shed. O Lord, wash and cleanse
us, renew the spirit of our minds, help us to go on, help us to
fight, to resist, to carry on in spite of all that discourages. We do thank Thee for the gospel
that encourages. We thank Thee for the realisation
that the one that discourages is the adversary of our souls. And Lord, do save us from him
that all the time pulls Thee down from Thine excellency, does
as at the first question Thy word hath God said. So, O Lord,
do establish Thy word with us. Remember Thy precious promises. Personally, and as a church and
people, thou make us as a vineyard of red wine. Keep open to us
a open door. Do bless us, Lord, with the afterwards
to know the end of the matter. O Lord, help us, Lord, in preaching
the gospel and bring forth thy word. Bless the Bibles as they
are sent out through this land and do incline the hearts of
thy people and those that Thou wilt bless to ask for one and
to seek for Thy word and to read Thy word and to have a hope that
Thou hast given them Thy word for this purpose, that they are
Thine and that Thou wilt through that save them and bless them
with a good hope through Thy grace, a hope of heaven. O Lord,
we do pray that Thou hast blessed then these that gather with us
and remember the people of Cranbrook in whose midst we are placed. And Lord, remember the prayers
of those who have gone before us, who prayed for children and
grandchildren. We're pleased to hear and answer
those petitions, and that there might yet be seen the children
in the place of the fathers, and that there might be those
that come and testify what thou hast done for their souls. So Lord, help us now in the ministry
of the word, both in speaking and in hearing. And Lord, do
command thy blessing. We seek to worship thee, to bless
thee, to give thee thanks for thy salvation, for our Lord Jesus
Christ, and for his precious blood shed at Calvary. We thank
thee for that hope beyond the grave. And we pray, Lord, that
thou deliver us from those things that mar that and cloud it, so
that we cannot see clearly our interest. Oh, help us, Lord,
to walk with heaven, our journeys end in view, to run the race
set before us looking unto Jesus. Lord, we ask thee these things
now, through our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Amen. Hymn, 396. Tune, Salvator 652. Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Psalm 107. Psalm 107, and we read for our
text, verse 13. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. Psalm 107, verse 13, and this
is the same as a couple of other verses in this same psalm, Very
similar. Verse 6, then they cried unto
the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their
distresses. And then verse 19, then they
cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he saved them out of their
distresses. And so it's very evident that
through this psalm, though once delivered, they come into fresh
trials and need to be delivered again. And that the turning point,
as they are brought down, there's none to help. The turning point
in each time is prayer. They cried unto the Lord. That is what is upon my spirit. They cried unto the Lord. And I want, with the Lord's help,
firstly to sat before us what this verse teaches us. There's several things that we
can draw from this verse and the surrounding verses as real
lessons to us to remember. And then I'd like to bring six
examples, three from the Old Testament, three from the New,
of those that walk this path before us. We have them here
in this psalm, they've walked this path, they cried unto the
Lord and he heard them. But it's a good thing where we
can see it's not just an isolated case, an isolated psalm. There's countless numbers right
the way through the scriptures that have walked this path and
it's a blessed thing if we are numbered with them, if we join
with them. and have that same experience
as set forth here. And then in the third place,
I want to remember our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, especially
in how he is set forth in Hebrews 5 and verse 7. I want to look
first then at what this verse teaches us, and there is seven
things that I bring before you this evening. The first is this,
that the Lord uses trouble to bring us to prayer. It's not always so, of course,
but often it is. And when we think of our Lord's
words, in the world you shall have tribulation, And when we
think of the Apostle's words, and that ye must, through much
tribulation, enter the kingdom, when we think of Peter's words,
that if need be, now through much heaviness, the trial of
your faith, which is much more precious than of gold or silver
that perisheth. And faith must be tried, grace
must be tried, It must be tested, and it is in those troubles that
the Lord brings his people to pray. And whatever is your trouble,
my trouble this evening, may we remember this, that these
troubles are numbered amongst those things that the Lord will
be entreated of in them, and that he uses them for good. May it be then that we see just
this fact this evening, and it lighten in some way our trouble
with a ray of hope. Who can tell? The Lord has given
me this trouble and this trial to bring me to pray. And let's
be honest, often when everything goes well, when everything is
smooth and easy, we don't pray, do we? Or we might pray. but
they're very different prayers than when we are in trouble. The second thing, it is their
trouble. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble. It's personal, isn't it? You
might look at your trouble and you think, I don't know why I'm
so burdened about this because there's nothing like my brother
in faith. There's nothing like others have
at all. But those troubles are their
troubles. This is your trouble. And the
Lord sends just what is needed to bring us to prayer. Don't
think, oh, it must be a great, great trial for it to be the
Lord's work and to bring me to prayer. It's a blessed thing
as if a small trial is enough to bring us to our knees and
bring us to prayer. And the Lord is suiting exactly
to our case. There's the aspect of the trouble
that is not another's. All of the providences, all of
the situations, it is ours. That is why it is in their trouble. And you say, but what happens
if it is a loved one? And we look at one of those cases
in the New Testament. What if it's someone else's trial?
But if we are a parent and it is the child that's walking in
a trial and trouble, isn't that a trial for the parent? is not
when the child is touched, when a loved one is touched, when
a wife is touched, when a husband is touched, is not that a trial
to those that love that person, though themselves feel no pain,
though they, ourselves, we might be healthy and strong, but our
loved one is not, whether physically or mentally. And we feel that
is a trial to us, a burden to us, and it may be added in that
we cannot share it with the afflicted one, Because we'll add to their
burden to think that what they are doing is causing us pain. And what they're going through,
their sickness, causing us pain. But it is their trouble. So this evening, what is the
trouble that you have that's got your name on it, as it were? It's not someone else's. tailored
by the Lord, who knows all things, who knows all every heart, who
knows just exactly where to touch, how much to touch, and has made
it to be as in our text here, then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble. The third thing to notice that
even God's dear people are backward to praise. Throughout this psalm,
we read that they fell down and there was none to help. That's
before the verse of our text and before the other instances
as well. Where were they seeking for help?
Where were they looking to? How often it is we go to prayer
last. It's right to use means. right to use them, but use them
with prayer, and that our eyes are upon the Lord. Why is it
God's people are so backward to pray? Well, we're fallen,
aren't we? But he is the Lord's kindness
and goodness. He knows how to bring us to prayer. So if you feel this is part of
your trial, how backward you are, how poor in prayer, you're
numbered with the Lord's dear people here. That's why the Lord
sends these trials. The fourth thing is that prayer
is to be made in the trouble. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble. It wasn't waiting until it was
starting to abate or to get better. And this is especially relevant
where that trouble is our own sin, the evils of our hearts. Those things, the temptation
is we want to get better first. I remember an illustration of
a dear brother in faith who was a farmer. And he was waiting
for an appointment with his doctor. And he was driving his tractor
one day in all his dirty clothes, and he had a phone call on his
mobile phone to say there was a vacancy, a cancellation. Could he come straight away to
the doctors? And his first thought was, well,
I've got to go home and get a shower and get cleaned up. And the doctor
said, come just as you are. So he got off his track with
all his dirty clothes, and he went just as he was. But we're
like that often. We think, well, we've got to
make ourselves somewhat better. We've got to do our bit first,
and then we'll come and ask the Lord to help. No, come just as
we are, in, in the trouble, while the billows roll, while the waves
are high, while the trouble is at its highest. That's when we
are to come. Well, the fifth thing is no fancy
prayers. Our text says that they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble. You know, sometimes we might
think, well, we've got to make very elaborate prayers, and it's
right to think how we approach the Almighty and to order our
prayers before Him. But it's often when it is a real
pressing trouble, those prayers are very different. They are
from the heart, they're heartfelt, they're urgent. Lord save me,
they cried unto the Lord. And may it be then that we notice
this, the short prayers, urgent prayers, heartfelt prayers, prayers
that are addressing the very trouble that we're going through,
not prayers that we think we ought to be praying all the time,
but one really, the Lord has given us the prayer because of
what we are going through. We wouldn't be using those words,
we wouldn't have the fervency, the urgency, we wouldn't have
the felt need, we wouldn't be looking for the answers if it
wasn't for that particular trouble and our prayers then are shaped
very much by what we are going through. Is that true with you?
Is that true with me? Are our prayers shaped by what
we are going through, by our trials? Well the sixth one is this, the
Lord delivered in answer to prayer and he saved them out of their
distresses. We're not told of the time frame
here, we're told of how he wrote, he brought them out of darkness
and the shadow of death break their bones in sunder. We know
the Apostle Paul, he prayed for the thorn in the flesh to be
removed and it wasn't, but grace was given sufficient. So sometimes
the Lord will answer in a different way than we thought, but the
Apostle Paul was very pleased with the answer the Lord gave
him. And we can be sure of this, the answer that the Lord gives,
it delivers out of distress, it delivers out of that trouble,
it takes away the trouble. Though in one sense, the trouble
outwardly might be there, especially in Providence, but where the
Lord fulfills his word in John 16, verse 33, in me you shall
have peace, in the world you shall have tribulation. And where
the Lord gives peace, can make trouble. And so we're not to
dictate. The Lord is a sovereign God.
We come before him in supplication, in crying, and we leave the outcome
with him. It's like dear Martha and Mary. They sent to the Lord in their
trouble, he whom their lovest is sick. They left it with the
Lord. Well, at first, it seems the
Lord completely forgot them. He stayed where he was and Lazarus
died. But the Lord had a greater thing
in view. He's going to raise him from
the dead. If thou hadst been here, said Martha, my brother
had not died, but the Lord knew what he would do. And here we
have in this psalm again and again, he did hear prayer. He did answer. He did deliver. He is a prayer hearing. and a
prayer answering God in his time and in his way. And the last point I just want
us to consider. Consider why does the Lord want
us to pray? Why does he just deliver us out
of trouble without prayer? Why does he use trouble at all?
if it is just to bring us to prayer. Let me think of the fall
brought about a separation between God and man. That fellowship,
that union was broken. And yet in our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ, God and sinners reconciled. And what the Lord
Jesus Christ has done at Calvary in putting away the sins of his
people with his shed blood, what he has done in making the law
honourable, fulfilling it on our behalf, making a way that
he can show mercy and give grace and yet be holy and just and
righteous still, that the Lord Jesus Christ has done this, that
he might deliver, that he might save, But what he desires is
this, that fellowship and communion with his people. The end result
is it not in heaven? Father, I will that they whom
thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold
my glory. The desire of the Lord is that
his people are drawn to him. No man cometh unto me, except
the Father which sent me draw him. And one of the ways of drawing
is through these troubles and trials. And the ways of coming
to the Lord is in prayer, is coming before the Lord in that
attitude of prayer and praise and devotion, communion and fellowship
with Him. That's why the Lord has ordained
prayer as the means of deliverance from trouble. And that's why
sometimes, dear soul, the Lord doesn't answer those prayers
quickly. Why should he? If he answered
quickly and the trouble is gone, and then his child, his blood-bought
child, goes away and enjoys the peace and the quiet, and the
Lord doesn't hear from them anymore. But when the Lord lengthens the
trial somewhat, and he hears from his child again and again. Elijah go again seven times. The widow woman kept on going
and going, and the Lord said, Shall not God avenge his own
elect, which cry day and night unto him? Yea, I say unto you,
he shall avenge them speedily. But just think of this, how much
the Lord loves to hear from his people And when he brings that
trouble, he hears from them. And maybe we've gone months,
maybe longer than that, where the Lord said nothing from us.
We didn't desire him. We didn't want him. We didn't
call upon him. Who are we to say then? As soon
as we start calling, the Lord is going to answer. Is not the
Lord rather going to say, Now I'm hearing their voice, now
they're praying unto me, now they're coming unto me. He may
be giving some tokens, some little drawings and some helps to cause
us to still pray, but the trial is still there and so we pray
again. May we really think of this,
consider this, why does the Lord want us to pray, he's ordained,
I will for this be inquired of, who, by, by the house of Israel
to do it for them. God's spiritual Israel, his dear
people, and he's ordained this. Are we like Daniel? Daniel, when
he understood by books, He said himself, prayer and supplication
three weeks, fasting and prayer. We struggle sometimes just for
a few minutes in prayer, don't we? Really, it's a blessed thing
if the Lord keeps us on praying ground and keeps us coming to
him and in fellowship and union. with him. So may we think, and
there's no doubt other lessons throughout this psalm and from
this verse of our text, that those seven points may they be
an encouragement and a help to us. They cried, they cried unto
the Lord. On to look then secondly at six
examples from the Word of God. I want to go first to David, King
David. A thousand years before our Lord
Jesus Christ came of the seed of David. And this instance is
where we find ourselves in great danger. David had been fleeing
from Saul. And he felt one day he would
perish at Saul's hand. So he fled to the Philistines,
to Achish, the king of Gath. And he actually fled to him with
Goliath's sword in his hand. You might think, what a foolish
thing to do. to go to the enemy of Israel
and with the sword of the one that was of their own warriors,
that David had slain. But that's what he did. And of
course they recognised him. They said, it's not this David. David that they sung in songs,
Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands, And
we read that David, he feared for his life, and he made out
that he was mad. He scrabbled on the walls, and
he let spittle run down his mouth, and Acre said, what need I of
madmen? Take him away. And he escaped,
and he escaped out of their hand. But we have a psalm that David
wrote at that particular time, and it's barely telling as to
what was going on inside. You find this with a lot of psalms,
that you have written over them, or you're told in some other
part, or perhaps in the psalm itself, on what occasion it was
written. The psalms speak of what goes
on inside. With David's case, you can read
in 1 Samuel 21 about that account I've just named to you. But in
Psalm 34, you read of what was going on inside. And he says,
I magnify the Lord with me. Let us exalt his name together.
I sought the Lord and he heard me and delivered me from all
my fears. They looked unto him and were
lightened. Their faces were not ashamed.
And then this beautiful word. I wonder how many of us have
felt this described to us. This poor man cried, or poor
woman, poor girl, cried. And the Lord heard him and saved
him out of all his troubles. Not just some, all of them. It might be that we're saved
out of a temporal trouble, But the Lord's dear people have soul
troubles too, don't they? And here, save not only from
Abimelech, from Achish, from Gath, but all his troubles. So that was Dear David. Then
we had the account that we read together of Jehoshaphat. Jehoshaphat, a godly king, a
good king of Judah. And we read there in 2 Chronicles
20 how that he heard that the children of Moab, the children
of Ammon, they came against Jehoshaphat and those with Mount Seir as
well. And they were nations that when the children of Israel were
going into the Promised Land, the Lord forbade them to attack
them because they were relatives, they were through lots children. And so Jehoshaphat, he feared. And we read there how that he
set himself to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout
all Judah And Judah gathered themselves together to ask help
of the Lord. They came to seek the Lord. What an assembly, because of
this trouble, because of this adversary, because of this enemy. And as he reminds the Lord, and
as we read it, I thought, you know, this would mean the same
place that Solomon stood as he dedicated that temple, and as
he prayed the same as what here Jehoshaphat was putting him in
remembrance of. And he prays in the same way. And as he comes to the end of
that prayer, he says in verse 12, O our God, wilt thou not
judge them? For we have no mind against this
great company that cometh against us, neither know we what to do,
but our eyes are upon thee." And there is Jehoshaphat as the
king of Judah, an enemy is attacking, and he is crying unto the Lord,
and really on behalf of all those under him. You can think of a
parent, a mother, a father, a pastor calling on behalf of all of those
under their care. And the Lord heard. The Lord
answered through his prophets. And you know, before they saw
the deliverance, they gave praise. There's such faith in this account. They went forth, not, we'll wait
and see if it works out, we'll wait and see and then we'll come
and praise the Lord. They praised him first, like
Hannah really. For this child I prayed, when
Eli said, go in peace, the Lord give thee thy request that thou
ask of him. But he went away and was no more
sad. That's great faith, given by
God, to believe just on the Word. and healed them, their deliverance
through the Word of God. But the third one in the Old
Testament, I know we've mentioned just others in passing as well,
but the third main one is that of Jonah. Jehoshaphat, he lived
about 870 years before Christ, and Jonah possibly about 780. Jonah had fled from the Lord. The Lord had told him to go and
preach to the Ninevites, to tell them, to warn them, that their
city would be destroyed in 40 days time. Jonah knew the Lord
was a gracious God. We read to this in Jonah chapter
4, And that if he sent a minister, if he sent warning, and if he
gave them time, it was because he meant to deliver them. And
he didn't want that to happen to an enemy of Israel, a Gentile
nation, a city of those who are abomination to the Israelites. So he ran away. He wouldn't do
God's bidding. Meant to go a long way away,
Tarshish. But the Lord sent out. And there's
a warning here too, really. He had a fare, and there was
a ship going where he wanted to go. Sometimes we can take
tokens for good that are really not, you know. We think they
are, and we take them, and we go along. But Jonah would have
known in his heart. He would have known he was running
away from the Lord. In fact, the Lord sent the wind.
He sent the trouble. He sent the sea. He sent it in
such a way that Jonah could not escape. He had to tell the mariners
what had happened, who he was, a preacher, and what he was doing,
running away from delivering this message to those of Nineveh. And the only way that they could
save themselves and the ship was to cast Jonah into the sea. And they did. And the Lord prepared
a fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of
the fish three days and three nights. Now, the Lord spoke of
this as the sign that was given to his generation. No sign would be given it except
the sign of Jonas the prophet. that as Jonah was three days
and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man
be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. The
Lord even brought a sign to give to the generation when our Lord
was on earth through this disobedient, running away prophet. The Lord
knows how to turn everything for good, doesn't he? We know
that all things work together for good. We should never sin
that grace might abound, but we should always take courage
that the Lord knows how to turn our backslidings, our disobedience,
to turn that for good. The way of transgressors is hard. We'll never want to willingly
walk in that way. We won't want to be like Jacob,
who deceived his father once and then ended up, he was deceived
10 times by Laban and then deceived by his sons regarding Joseph,
who lied to him, said that he'd been killed for 20 years, he
thought that he was dead. Jacob had to prove a hard way
for being a liar and a deceiver. that the Lord brought good out
of it. And we may indeed suffer for the things that we've done,
especially after call by grace, but the Lord will bring good.
May we be helped to humble ourselves before the Lord. Well, Jonah
did that in the whale's belly. We read that In chapter 2 of
Jonah, then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fisher's
belly and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord
and he heard, he heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried
I and thou heardest my voice. I said, I am cast out of thy
sight. Do you feel that? Cast out of
the sight of the Lord. Dear Joanie said, yet I will
look again toward thy holy temple. There's much in that second chapter. Lord help you, help me to read
it, ponder over it. Jonah was praying in that dark,
smelly, tossing, impossible case, far from any help of man. And the Lord heard him. What a reminder,
there's no place we can go. The Lord does not hear. The Lord spake unto the fish,
it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land, not in the sea. Jonah says, salvation is of the
Lord, but he made them avow, and he did go, and he did preach,
and his preaching was effectual. The Lord did give repentance.
Poor Jonah, he's still finding it very, very hard, though, to
submit to the Lord's mercy. shown to those Gentiles. But I think, dear friends, when
we read such a count like that, we'll be glad of a God that shows
mercy. Walking in disobedience, trouble
ensued, deliverance still. And the Lord still used Jonah.
You might think, well, the Lord will never accept my praise,
my thanks, never use me as salt of the earth or as one of those
that show forth his praise. The Lord knows how to humble
us and cause that we give all the glory and honour unto him. I want to look then to three
examples in the New Testament. And the first one is blind Bartimaeus. There he is by the wayside, the
affliction that he's had is from his birth, and he hears the commotion,
he is sitting there begging, and he understands that Jesus
of Nazareth is passing by. And he cries out, you can read
this, account in Mark, in Mark chapter 10. And the Lord is coming
to Jericho. And suddenly he hears this crying,
Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And there were many
that were telling him to hold his peace. But he cries out,
the more thou son of David, have mercy on me. There was a lot
of faith to believe this. There were many that never linked
Jesus of Nazareth to the son of David. He was saying he was
acknowledging him as the Christ, as the one that should come.
You know, he keeps crying. What an encouragement for us
to keep crying. What an encouragement as well.
You might say this has been from birth. Our trouble, our tribulation
have been of such long duration. It's part of my nature. It's
bound up with me. It identifies me, who I am, this
trouble, this trial. This man would have been known
by all those round about. As this beggar, blind beggar,
you might be known, like the woman at the well of Samaria,
by all, as a person who had many, many husbands, had done many
sinful things. You know, when the Lord dealt
with Zacchaeus, when the woman was washing his feet with her
hair, You know, you have those roundabout, if he was a prophet,
he would know who this was that is touching him. And these publicans,
these tax collectors, those roundabout knew of the open sins and way
of life of those that the Lord was coming and healing because
they were crying unto him. The devil might be saying, yeah,
I know about your life too. I know all your sins and all
your evils and all what you've done. And just like the Pharisees
and the scribes, as it were, blackening the Lord's name for
ever having anything to do with you. What an encouragement the
Lord does have something to do with sinners that cry unto him.
It's a common thing with them all, isn't it? Their trouble
is causing them to cry unto the Lord. They cried unto the Lord. They did. And we numbered amongst
that multitude that do so. The dear Lord, he stood still,
commanded him to be called. They called the blind man, saying
unto him, Be of good comfort, rise, he calleth thee. And he,
casting away his garment, nothing to hinder him, he came to Jesus. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, What wilt thou that I should do unto thee, you might think?
Surely the Lord would know. Yes, He knows what we need. But again, there's this same
aspect with prayer. The Lord wants to hear from us.
He wants us to tell Him. How many of Jacob's prayers the
servant of Abraham. They tell the Lord where they
are. They tell him their fears. They
tell him what they need doing. And it's the same here. The blind man said unto him,
Lord, that I might receive my sight. And the Lord said unto
him, Go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole. And immediately
he received his sign, followed Jesus in the way. Miracle deliverance. An immediate disciple. One that
followed the Lord. The next one I want to bring
before you is that of the woman of Canaan. Going back to Matthew,
And to see there, in chapter 15, we have this woman, a Syrophoenician
woman, or woman of Canaan, on the coast of Tyre and Sidon.
And the reason why she's coming is not because of an affliction
personally for her, But it is because she has a daughter, grievously
vexed with a devil. Matthew 15 verse 22. She came to him and said, Have
mercy on me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil. Think of what I said about clearly
stating what the trial is, what the trouble is. And this is what
she did. But he didn't answer a word.
And you might think, I've done this, and the Lord hasn't answered. I have no, no idea that the Lord
has heard my prayer at all. And then we find the disciples,
they're coming, they're besieging him, sending Sandra away, for
she crieth after us. Because the Lord didn't answer,
she was then crying to the disciples. This matter was too hard for
them. They couldn't do it. You might have gone to pastors,
to ministers. It's too hard for them. They
can't handle it. They don't know what to do. It's
a sad thing, isn't it, when the disciples said probably what
they thought was the Lord didn't answer her. He was never going
to answer her. That's a lesson for us too, isn't
it? The Lord was just trying her.
Trying her faith by not answering. Unanswered prayer, trial of faith,
isn't it? And then he answers them, the
disciples. But she's listening. And said,
I am not sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel.
What a word. She wasn't of Israel. As it were,
it's a... leaving her out. Have you heard
that whisper? You are not elect. You're not
one of God's people. That's why he's not answering
you. You're not one of the chosen. You're not one of his spiritual
Israel. And this is the Lord himself
has said this. Then she came, or came she, and
worshipped him, saying, Lord, help me. I had a short, urgent
prayer. Lord, help me. Does that suit
you? Does that suit me? Lord, help
me. He answered and said, it's not
meat to take the children's bread to give it to dogs. Dogs is another
word, derogatory word used against the Gentiles. She had an answer for that too.
Truth, Lord. Yet the dogs eat of the crumbs
which fall from the master's table. Then Jesus answered and
said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith. Be it unto thee
even as thou wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour." It is so good to read an account like
that, where the Lord is so trying this woman's faith. Some of the
things that he said, you'd think, Well, she'd give up now, and
maybe things you've thought or said have been said to you or
suggested to you. You thought, I give up too. Don't
give up, dear soul. Don't give up. Press like this
woman. Keep pressing your case. And
really, in one sense, she got lower and lower, lower and lower. And the Lord blessed her. And
it was faith that kept her coming. With all the discouragements
that she had, it was faith that kept her coming. And we got the afflicted ones.
We got those cases that we can't deal with ourselves. They're
loved ones. And we bring them to the Lord.
And we can't let him go. We beg of him a blessing. The last one is that of the publican. The Lord told it in a parable. And his case was because of sin. And this parable is a contrast
of two praying in the house of God or in the temple. We have the publican and we have
the Pharisee. And we have the publican standing
afar off. He can't lift up so much as his
head. He's smiting a bow on his breast. He's saying, God be merciful
to me a sinner. The publican, he'd been standing
and praying thus with himself. Just the way the inspired Word
of God sets in, prayer is to God, not praying to ourselves,
not even praying in a way that entertains a congregation, not
a sermon in our prayer. Prayers are supplication, thanksgiving,
worship, praise, those things that are set before God. And yes, the congregation listen
on And prayer is made on their behalf, but the one praying shouldn't
be speaking to or giving information or making announcements. No,
it is all unto God. And there's dear publican, sin
was his problem. Is that our problem? Is that
our trial, that our burden? These troubles and trials may
not be outward at all, just inward. Here on my heart, says the hymn
writer, the burden lies. Past offences pain my eyes. Sins. Remember not the sins of
my youth, says the psalmist. Psalm 25. You can be sure with the people
of God, sin will be one of those great troubles, sometimes brought
like the widow of Zarephath, brought to her head, as thou
brought my sin to remembrance in slaying my son. How many times
the trials that we go through, they make us search and try our
ways, they shine upon the sins, they make us remember them. You
think of Joseph and his brothers, when Joseph started to deal hardly
with his brothers, and his brothers didn't know that Joseph could
understand them, but they brought to remembrance all what they'd
done to their brother. They remembered his anguish,
they remembered his entreaties. They're remembering back 20 or
so years, but those sins are just as if they'd done them yesterday.
And it's because of the present trials and how they are being
treated, they're remembering how they treated their brother.
and their viewing God has brought these things upon them because
of what they had done. We know the end and the mercy
and kindness Joseph showed them and how clearly Joseph told them
that God sent him before them to save their lives by great
deliverance. But here is this publican and
he feels his sin. May we be like him. God be merciful. to me a sinner. May our prayer
be in the same urgent way unto the Lord, who is exalted to give
repentance and remission of sins unto Israel, unto his people. Sinners can say of none but they,
how precious is the Saviour. The Lord will not turn away a
poor, broken-hearted sinner, but one that feels that burden.
No, he won't. He will send that deliverance.
You send his word, you point that soul to Calvary, point them
to Christ, or want to come there then in our last point. Remembering our Lord Jesus Christ. And I don't want to make much
comment here, but really to read to you that verse in Hebrews
5 and verse 7. In verse 6, we're told of Christ,
that he was a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek. And then we read this, who in
the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save
him from death, was heard in that he feared. If we were not
told, we'd hardly think that these things are being said of
the eternal Son of God, of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ
in the days of his flesh, when the sins of his people were laid
upon him, when he endured such contradiction of sinners against
himself. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered, and being made perfect,
complete, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all
them that obey him, called of God and high priest after the
order of Melchizedek. Our Lord Jesus Christ is he that
appears in the presence of God for us. He is our advocate with
the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He has gone before
us. He has prayed. He has cried. He has been heard. The tomb is
empty. He has risen again. He's ascended
up into heaven. Because I live, he said, ye shall
live also. And he lives to carry on his
people's cause above. He lives to safely bring us there. He has been through this veil
of tribulation and trial, and he has triumphed. And he will
keep his people. Father, keep through my name,
thy name, those whom thou hast given me. The Lord is the keeper
of his saints and he is the one that shall make those troubles
and trials work for good, turn it, turn it to good. And part of that is bringing
us to that place where we do as in our text, they cried unto
the Lord and he heard them and he delivered them he saved them. Then they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he saved them out of their distresses. The Lord at his blessing. Amen. Hymn, 397. Tune, Pentonville 488. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the love of God the Father, and the communion of the Holy Spirit,
be with you all now and evermore. Amen.