Good evening. Let's open our
Bibles together to Revelation chapter 5. Revelation chapter
5. Some have wondered if the book
spoken of here is the Lamb's Book of Life, or it is of scriptures,
or is it the book of God's decrees? And my understanding is that
yes, yes. The point is that there's no
hope of salvation without these books being opened and the Lord's
the only one that can open them. And I saw the right hand of him
that sat on the throne, in the right hand of him that sat on
the throne, a book. written within and on the backside,
sealed with seven seals. And I saw a strong angel proclaiming
with a loud voice, Who is worthy to open the book and to loose
the seals thereof? And no man in heaven, nor in
earth, neither under the earth, was able to open the book, neither
to look thereon. And I wept much, because no man
was found worthy to open and to read the book, neither to
look thereon. And one of the elders saith unto
me, Weep not. Behold, the lion of the tribe
of Judah, the root of David, hath prevailed to open the book,
and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and lo,
in the midst of the throne of the four beasts, and in the midst
of the elders, stood a lamb, as it had been slain, having
seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits of God,
sent forth into all the earth. And he came and took the book
out of the hand of him that sat upon the throne. And when he
had taken the book, the four beasts and the four and 20 elders
fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps and golden
vials full of odors, which are the prayers of the saints. And
they sung a new song saying, thou art worthy to take the book
and to open the seals thereof, for thou was slain and has redeemed
us to God by thy blood out of every kindred and tongue and
people and nation and has made us unto our God kings and priests,
and we shall reign on the earth. And I beheld and I heard the
voice of many angels round about the throne and the beast and
the elders, and the number of them was ten thousand times ten
thousand and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, Worthy
is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and
wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing. And every
creature which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth
and such as are in the sea and all that are in them heard I
saying, blessing and honor and glory and power be unto him that
sitteth upon the throne and unto the lamb forever and ever. And
the four beasts said, amen. And the four and 20 elders fell
down and worshipped him that liveth forever and ever. Donnie Briggs had his surgery
yesterday and he's in ICU. They did multiple bypasses and
so far he's recovering. He'll be in the hospital probably
for a week, so let's pray together. Our merciful Heavenly Father, we pray that you would be pleased
to open this book and to reveal to us the glory of thy dear son. Send your spirit and power. Open
that which no man can shut. Open our hearts. Reveal to us
how the Lord Jesus Christ hath prevailed and is worthy. Lord, enable us by your spirit
to bow and worship to rest our hope in him, to believe on him,
to rejoice in him. Lord, we thank you for the surgery
that you gave to Donny yesterday, and we pray for your hand of
healing to be upon him. We ask, Lord, that you would
give him full recovery. We pray it in Christ's name.
Amen. Number 23 in the spiral hymn
book, number 23. Let's stand together once again. Gracious Mother, sinful, wretched
though I be, ♪ Let your mercy fall on me ♪ Love
of God so everlasting ♪ Blood of Christ so rich and free ♪
Grace of God so strong and standing ♪ Magnify now all in me ♪ Pass
me not, O blessèd hear your gracious call. I'm a guilty, helpless sinner,
save your Love of God so everlasting. Blood of Christ so rich and free. Grace of God so strong and saving. Almighty Spirit, you can cause
the dead to live. Speak a word of saving power,
give me faith, and make thee live. Love of God so everlasting,
blood of Christ so rich and free, grace of God so strong and saving, If you will, you can save me. Reach down with your hand of
mercy. Saving others, Lord, save me. Let's open our Bibles together
to Psalm 130. Psalm 130. I've titled this message, Wait
for the Lord. Wait for the Lord. We're going
to be looking at the subject of waiting from God's word. I hope that it'll be an encouragement
to us and that the Lord will work that grace in our hearts. To wait on the Lord is a grace.
that God has to give to us, just like he gives us faith and hope
and love. It's a work of grace. We're just
saying, Lord, magnify them all in me. This is one of those graces
that we are dependent upon the Lord for. And the means by which
he works this grace in us and out of us is by his word. And so That's my hope tonight,
that the Lord will take his word, make it effectual to our hearts
and give us the grace to wait, to wait. You have your Bibles
open to Psalm 130. Look at verse 5, I wait for the
Lord, my soul doth wait. We're not talking about just
sitting down and doing something, you know, tying your hands and,
you know, this is a work of the soul. This is a work of the heart.
That's why I say it's a work of grace. My soul doth wait.
God's going to have to do a work in me. to give me this grace. I wait for the Lord, my soul
doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth for the
Lord, more than they that watch for the morning, I say, more
than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope in the
Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous
redemption. And he shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. I looked up this word wait in
Bible dictionary and I want to read you some of the definitions
to this word wait. To hope strongly. Confident expectation. Confident expectation. To trust. To look for. In Philippians chapter
1, the scripture uses the word look for and it's the same word
that's translated wait in other parts of the scriptures. To expect eagerly. This is what it means to wait. To wait steadily and patiently
until it comes to pass. That's the believers locked in
life waiting on the Lord. Hebrews chapter 9 verse 28 says,
so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many and unto
them that wait for him or look for him as it's translated in
Hebrews, it's the word wait. They that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation. In 2 Thessalonians
3, the Lord direct your hearts unto the love of God and unto
the patient waiting for Christ. Oh, those that have been given
the gift of faith, are waiting. They're waiting for the redemption
of their bodies. They're waiting for the appearance
of the Lord Jesus Christ. They're waiting for the ultimate
fulfillment of all the promises of God. It is the grace that
God gives us to believe and to expect earnestly that He will
be faithful to fulfill all that He's promised. We're waiting. That's what That's what this
psalm is talking about. I wait for the Lord, my soul
doth wait, and in his word do I hope. What do we do while we're
waiting? Is waiting just a non-active thing? Let me answer
that question with scripture. Turn with me over to the book
of Lamentations. Lamentations. We've looked at
this chapter the last two Sundays and I've found much encouragement
to my own soul in Lamentations chapter 3. I hope that it will
be for you as well. I'm trying to answer the question,
what does the believer do while he's waiting? And Lamentations
chapter 3 beginning in verse 22 It is of the Lord's mercy
that we are not consumed because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning. Great
is thy faithfulness. What a blessed thing it is to
be reminded by the Holy Spirit that his mercies are renewed
every day. We come to him time and time
again to refresh his mercies. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul, therefore will I hope in him. And verse 20, well, verse
23. They are new every morning, great
is thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul, therefore will I hope in him. The Lord is good unto
them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. That's
what we do. While we're waiting, we're doing
what we're doing right now. We're seeking the Lord. We're
asking the Lord to make himself known and to increase our faith
and to give us more hope, more patience, more hope. to wait
on him or convincing evidence from his word and from his spirit
to our souls that would enable us to say, I'm waiting on the
Lord, waiting on him. Look at verse 26. It is good, it is good that a
man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the
Lord. So that's what we, God says it's
good, it's a good thing to quietly, to hope and quietly wait for
the full salvation of the Lord. It is good that a man wait patiently
for the Lord. The Lord told the disciples when
he ascended into glory from the Mount of Olives, he said, you
go back into Jerusalem and you wait You wait for the promise
of the Father. The Holy Spirit shall come upon
you and you shall receive power. And what did they do? Did they
just go back and sit around looking at each other? No, they gathered
together in the upper room and they prayed. They sought the
Lord while they waited. And in seeking the Lord on the
day of Pentecost, the Lord opened the windows of heaven and empowered
them with the spirit of God to preach the gospel. So, this matter of waiting involves
prayer, it involves preaching, It involves seeking the Lord
from the heart. These are all the means by which
the Lord works this grace in us and out through us. So while we wait, we patiently
seek the Lord. This scripture also answers the
question as to what authority do we have to wait. Go back with me to our text.
On what authority do we have for waiting? Verse five, I wait
for the Lord, my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. These are just, waiting on the
Lord is hoping. And in his word, the authority
that we have is the word of God. It's not an experience. It's not some event that we're
looking to. It's the word of God. When Peter spoke of handling
the living word, he said, we did not bring you cunningly devised
fables. We handled the word of God. And
we saw him on the mount when he was transfigured and when
the veil of his humanity was taken away and the radiance of
his glory was so bright that it drove Peter, James, and John
into the dirt. You remember Moses and Elijah
appeared, the law and the prophets, and they discussed with the Lord
Jesus what it was that he was going to accomplish in his death.
What did he accomplish? Well, he fulfilled the law and
he was the answer to all the prophecies. The Lord Jesus Christ
himself is the spirit of prophecy and everything that God promised
through all the prophets was fulfilled and is fulfilled in
Christ. And we're waiting, we're waiting
patiently for that to happen. And then Peter goes on in the
next verse, he says, but, We have a more sure word of prophecy. What's Peter saying? He's saying,
you know, that was a glorious experience and it wasn't just
a figment of my imagination. I was actually there and I heard
the voice of God speak from heaven that said, this is my beloved
son in whom I'm well pleased, hear ye him. And yet we have
a more sure word of prophecy. We have the word of God. That's
what the psalmist is saying. I wait for the Lord, my soul
doth wait, in his word do I hope. What else do we have to hope
in? We hope that maybe the politicians will speak the truth. We hope
that things might happen this way or that way, but we don't
know. Those are not secure hopes, but
hoping in God's word, we're sure, we've got a sure word of prophecy.
He goes on to say, it is be well for you to take heed unto a light
that shineth out of a dark place until the day dawn and the day
star arise in your heart. Who is that day? It's Christ.
See, while we're hoping in his word and while we're waiting
on him, we're looking for Christ. We're waiting for that day when
the fullness of his glory is going to be known, but in the
process, we're seeking to know him. Little by little, though
we look through a glass dimly, we wait each day for a fresh
measure of His mercy, for a fresh revelation of His glory, for
a fresh word of truth to our hearts, spoken by the Holy Spirit,
He says, knowing this, that no prophecy, no prophecy of scripture
is of any private interpretation, but prophecy came not by the
will of man, but by the will of God. And holy men of God wrote
as they were moved by the spirit of God. What greater evidence
do we need? What greater proof do we need?
When God gives faith to believe him, the believer believes everything
that the Lord has said. And we look to his word, here's
what we do while we're waiting. We're seeking the Lord. Where do we seek him? We seek
him in his word. Who is it that waits on the Lord? Well, Isaiah chapter 40 verse
31 says, all they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. That word renew is the word change. It's the word change. They that
wait upon the Lord shall change or exchange their strength for
his strength. So who waits on the Lord? Those who are weak. Let's go
to that passage a minute because I want you to see a few verses
in front of the last verse of Isaiah chapter 40. You're familiar
with Isaiah 40, 31. They that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength or exchange their strength. They
shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not
be weary, and they shall walk and not faint. Isaiah 40. Look with me, if you will, at
verse 28. Hast thou not known, hast thou
not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of
the ends of the earth, fainteth not? Neither is weary. There is none searching. There is no searching of his
understanding. He giveth power to the faint. Who are those that wait upon
the Lord? They're the weak and the weary. They're the ones that
fainting. over the circumstances of their
lives and over their sin and over their weakness. That's why Paul said, his strength
is made perfect in my weakness for when I'm weak, then I'm strong.
So who is it that waits on the Lord? The one who is too weak
to bear the burden of their sin or their circumstances in this
world, those that need the Lord. He giveth power to the faint,
verse 29, and to them that have no might. No might, in that while
we were yet without strength, Christ died for the ungodly.
Here's the one who waits, the weak, the feeble, the one who
has no strength. The one who can't bear the burden
of their own sin and their own unbelief. They're poor and they're
needy and they're driven to him. Look at verse 30. Even the youths
shall faint and be weary and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait upon the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall exchange their strength
for his strength. What a blessing it is to be weak. That's the problem that the unbeliever
has. He's not weak. He thinks that
he's got the strength of free will, or the strength of determination,
or the strength of commitment, or the strength of his own character. And the child of God said, Lord,
The young men shall utterly fail. Lord, I'm weak, I'm weary. They
that wait upon the Lord, Lord, I've got to have your strength.
I've got to have your strength. Look with me at Psalm 39. Who
is it? I'm trying to answer this question.
Who is it that waits on the Lord? The weak wait on him because
they have no strength of their own and they're dependent upon
him for all their strength. The anxious wait upon him. The ones who worry. The ones who are disquieted as
the scripture speaks. Look at Psalm 39 at verse six. Sacrifice and offerings thou
does not desire. I'm sorry, that's Psalm 40. Psalm
39. Beginning at verse six, surely, surely, every man walketh in
a vain show. Surely they are disquieted in
vain. He heapeth up riches and knoweth
not who shall gather them. And now Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. Oh, how disquieted we can get. How worried we get and how, How
futile our worries are. It never accomplishes anything.
It only makes things worse, doesn't it? And so, the Lord said, you're
being disquieted in vain. And what does David say there
in Psalm 37? What am I gonna do when I'm disquieted?
I'm gonna run to the Lord. I'm gonna wait on Him. I'm gonna
trust Him. He never gets Frazzled, he's
never fearful, he's never worried. He's in complete control. So
I'll wait on him. If you're there in Psalm 39,
turn back just a few pages to Psalm 27. Look at verse 14. Wait on the Lord, be of good
courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on
the Lord. Oh, Lord, what God commands,
God must provide. Let me remind you of that again,
brethren. You know that. Everything the Lord commands
us to do, we have to go to him and say, Lord, you're going to
have to work that grace in me. You want me to believe? You're
going to have to give me faith. You want me to hope? You're going
to have to give me hope. You want me to wait? You're going to have
to give me that grace. Lord, turn me and I shall be
turned. Give me repentance and I'll repent. And no one's ever come to thee. We read in the scriptures what
God requires and that's how we come. We say, Lord, that's the
work that I need you to do for me. Look over a couple pages to Psalm
42. Psalm 42. This is who waits. Those who are weak, those who
are weary, those who are disquieted, those that are fearful, those
are the ones who wait on the Lord because they're the only
ones that are gonna come before Him and say, Lord, I need you
to give me that grace to wait. Look at Psalm 42. Beginning at
verse 1, as the heart panteth after the water brook, so panteth
my soul after thee, O God. Now there's waiting, there's
waiting, panting after him. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? My tears have been my meat day and night while they
continually say unto me, where is thy God? When I remember these
things, I pour out my soul unto me, for I am gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house
of God and the voice of joy and praise were the multitude that
kept holiday. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted in me? Hope thou in God, and I shall
yet praise him for the help of his countenance. O my God, my
soul is cast down within me. Therefore will I remember thee
from the land of Jordan, and from the Hermonites, and from
the hill Mizar, deep calling unto deep at the noise of thy
waterspouts. All thy waves and thy billows
are gone over me, yet The Lord will command his loving kindness
in the daytime and in the night. His song shall be with me. My
prayer unto the God of my life. There's waiting. It's seeking
the Lord. It's it's coming before him as
a weak, disquieted, sinful, fearful. Lord, I've got you. You're going
to have to. You're going to have to give me that grace. Wait on the Lord, be of good
courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on
the Lord. Look at one more. Let's look
at Psalm 104. Psalm 104. Look at verse. Do you qualify for waiting? Do
you? The gospel's for the weak and
the weary. The gospel's for the sinful.
This is the qualifications for those that wait on the Lord. You have your Bibles open to
Psalm 104, look with me at verse 27. These wait all upon thee
that thou mayest give them their meat in due season. He's talking about the creatures
of nature that the Lord has created, but spiritually understood. The hungry wait on him. These are they that wait upon
the Lord. You give them their meat in their
due season. So we come, we wait, we pray,
we confess our weakness, our inability, our fears, our doubts. And in due season, in due season,
he blesses us with his presence by his word. What is the condition that we're
in while we're waiting? Go back with me to our text,
Psalm 140, 130. Verse six, my soul waiteth for the
Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say more than
they that watch for the morning. Here's a picture of a grieving
parent waiting over the illness of a child all night long, waiting
for the day. It's a picture of a soldier protecting
his place of battle, waiting for the morning to come. And
those nights can be long and painful and very stressful. But
you know what it's really a picture of? It's really a picture of
this world. When David said in Psalm 23,
yea, though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death,
I will fear no evil for thou art with me, thy rod and thy
staff, they do comfort me. He wasn't just talking about
dying grace in that day when we when we come to the end of
this life, he's talking about this world. We are right now
walking through the shadow of the valley of death. This world
is spiritually dead, and this world is spiritually dark, and
you and I are pilgrims and strangers in this world. And we're walking
through the shadow of the valley of death. And we fear no evil,
for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they do
comfort me. Thou hast prepared a table for
me in the presence of mine enemies. We live at enmity with this world. And the Lord has prepared for
us a table. That's what he's doing right
now. He's feeding us the hungry in their due season. He feeds
them with the bread of life. And he reveals to us once again,
the glory of Christ. And he encourages us to wait
a little longer, wait a little longer. And David concludes Psalm
23 by saying, mercy and truth. shall follow
me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of
the Lord forever." This is just a taste of what we have to look
forward to in glory when the Lord himself speaks and teaches
us and comforts us with his grace His goodness and his mercy, that's
what David said in Psalm 23, thy goodness and thy mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life. So all the days that we're
in this world, this is the condition of our weakness. We're completely dependent upon
him to be with us as we walk through the valley of the shadow
of this death. that his rod and his staff would comfort us, that
he would be with us, and that he would comfort us in our disquieted
unbelief, and in our sin, and in our weakness. And this is
the condition of every believer. This is our lot in life, brethren. You know, how often times we
think, well, you know, this is This is going to get better.
And it never does. We just go from one trial and
trouble to the next, don't we? That's the way the Lord designed
it. We're in the shadow of the valley of death. And we have
the promise of God. This is our hope. In thy word
will I hope. Isaiah 28 verse 16 says, Behold,
I lay in Zion a foundation, a tried stone, a precious stone, a sure
foundation, and he that believeth shall not make haste. Shall not make haste. You see,
when we feel like hiding and running and we feel our weakness
and the Spirit of God convicts us of our sin, we have a sure
stone, a tried stone, a foundation stone, and he that standeth on
that stone shall not make haste. We don't run anywhere else. We're
content when we find ourselves once again in Christ. We've waited,
patiently waited. with expectation. The believer
has no doubt about the fact that the Lord's going to keep his
promises. They know he's faithful and they
just keep waiting, keep waiting. Ultimately, what do we wait for?
While we're seeking the Lord, while we're looking to his word,
what are we waiting for? Well, Paul put it like this in
1 Thessalonians 1, he said, to wait for the son from heaven,
whom he raised from the dead, even Jesus, which delivered us
from the wrath to come. We're waiting for Christ. We're
waiting for him right now to reveal to us a little bit more
of his glory, a little bit more of his grace, to show us more
of his strength, to remove our fears and our disquietedness,
and to give us a sure foundation where we can stand while we wait.
And we know that the day is coming when the trump of God will sound,
and the dead in Christ will be raised, and those of us which
remain to be caught up together with them in the air, and so
shall we ever be with the Lord. We know that. We know that day
is coming. We're waiting patiently for that
day. Galatians chapter 5 verse 5 says,
for we through the Spirit wait for the righteousness of Christ. We have a perfect righteousness
in him right now before God. He's our righteousness before
the Father. He satisfied the demands of the
law. He put away the guilt and the
penalty of our sin by the sacrifice of himself. He covered them by
his precious blood. We have a perfect righteousness
in Christ right now, but we're waiting. We're waiting for the
redemption of our bodies, aren't we? that we might experience
that righteousness in its fullness. Turn with me to Romans chapter
eight. Romans chapter eight. Here's what we're waiting for. This is a sure expectation. This is a good hope. This is
founded on the word of God and And we become more and more needy
of this waiting as we grow in grace and in the knowledge of
Christ. You have your Bibles open to Romans chapter eight.
Look with me if you will to verse 22. For we know that the whole
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until now. This sin that entered into the
world has corrupted everything. has corrupted everything. Man
is corrupted, creation, nature is corrupted. Nothing is like
it was before sin entered into the world and all of creation
is groaning and travailing in pain. And not only they, verse
23, but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the
Spirit, even we ourselves, grown within ourselves, waiting for
the adoption to with the redemption of our bodies. For we are saved
by hope, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a man seeth,
why does he yet hope for it? For if we hope for that which
we see not, then do we patiently wait for it. That's what we're
doing. We're patiently waiting for that
which we hope. What gives us the ground and
the confidence to hope? The Word of God and the Spirit
of God. We're waiting. for the redemption
of our bodies. Look at verse 26. Likewise, the
spirit also helpeth our infirmities. Who is waiting for? It's for
the weak, it's for the disquieted, it's for the fearful, it's for
the hungry, it's for the sinner. That's who the waiting is for.
Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. We know not
what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself
maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.
Lord, I'm waiting. I don't know what to pray for
sometimes, lots of times. Lord, I have to say, Lord, if
your will be done, could it be this way? Could it be that way? And I trust that the Spirit of
God, who knows the will of God, is making those prayers acceptable
unto God. For he that searcheth the hearts
knoweth what is in the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh
intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know
that all things work together for good for them that love God
and those that are called according to his purpose. There's our comfort. It's like I said Sunday, there's
no more comforting truth than the fact that our God is absolutely
sovereign. And we're waiting for him to
finish all that he's purposed in our redemption, all for his
glory. I wait upon the Lord and in his
word do I hope. I want to close. With a couple of verses. That
show us how the Lord Jesus Christ waited. For his father, look
with me at Isaiah chapter 25. Isaiah chapter 25. We are waiting patiently expecting. the redemption of our bodies,
and the fulfillment of all of our God's promises. And we're
seeking Him while we wait. And we're walking through the
shadow of the valley of death. And we're confident, we're confident
that He will not leave us nor forsake us. Isaiah chapter 25. Look with
me at verse 8. He will swallow up death and
victory. This is the passage that Paul
referred to in 1 Corinthians chapter 15 when he was saying,
O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The string of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. And thanks be to God that Christ
Jesus has fulfilled the law and delivered us and gotten the victory.
He shall swallow up death and victory. And the Lord God will
wipe away tears from off all faces, and the rebuke of his
people shall he take away from off all the earth, for the Lord
hath spoken it. And it shall be said in that
day, lo, this is our God. We have waited for him and he
will save us. This is the Lord. We have waited
for him and we will be glad and rejoice in his salvation. There's waiting, there's waiting. Oh Lord, give us the grace to
wait. This is our God. Go back with me to Psalm 40.
This is this is a. Picture of what the Lord Jesus
did in waiting. No one. No one experienced the
valley of the shadow of death like he did. No one knew. The the evil and ugliness of
sin like he knew. And yet. The day dawned. When he went into the grave,
he knew that the Father was going to be faithful to raise him from
the dead, that he would not allow his Holy One to see corruption.
And so, what do we read in Psalm 130? As they that wait for the
morning, yea, as they that wait for the morning, the Lord Jesus
Christ waited for the morning. when the sun would rise, not
that picture of Christ that comes up in the east every morning,
but the son of God would rise from the dead. And that's when
the light of the gospel shined forth from death. Death was swallowed
up in victory. Look at Psalm 40. And we'll just
read the first few verses and then we'll close. Psalm 40 at
verse one. I waited patiently for the Lord
and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also
out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and he set my
feet upon a rock and established my going. He hath put a new song
in my mouth, even praise unto our God. Many shall see it and
fear and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is that man that maketh
the Lord his trust and respecteth not the proud nor turn aside
unto lies. Waiting for God to reward us
with the sacrifice that Christ made successfully putting away
our sins and satisfying God's justice and righteousness by
the sacrifice of himself. What's we're waiting for? You
remember when Samuel in 1 Samuel chapter 13, Samuel told Saul,
he said, you wait seven days, you wait and I'll come and I'll
have a word from God. And Samuel waited seven days,
and at the end of the seven days, he took it on himself to make
a sacrifice. It wasn't his place to make a
sacrifice. Saul, did I say Samuel? Saul.
Saul took it upon himself to make a sacrifice. Samuel told
Saul, he said, you wait. Saul wouldn't wait. He didn't
wait. When Samuel showed up, Samuel
said, what is this bleeding of these sheep that I hear in my
ears? And Saul made up an excuse. He said, well, you know, I forced
myself to make a sacrifice because I was afraid. Now there's an
example, and the kingdom was taken from him right then. There's
an example of one that did not wait. on the priest to make the
sacrifice. He thought he could make his
own sacrifice and satisfy God's blessings by something that he
did. We're waiting for Christ and waiting for him to do the
work of grace in our hearts, enabling us to wait, waiting
for that redemption of our bodies that he that he got for us on
Calvary's cross. We're just that's our that's
our lot in life, waiting, waiting on the Lord. And they that wait
upon the Lord. Shall renew their strength, they
shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not
be weary and they shall walk and not faint. Our Heavenly Father,
forgive us for not waiting on you as we
ought. Lord, so much unbelief remaining
in our old man. We pray that you would comfort us with that
work of Christ that satisfied your justice and put away our
sin. That you would increase our faith
and enable us, Lord, to wait more faithfully. We ask it in
Christ's name, amen. 239, let's stand together, 239.