Um, Good morning. Good morning. Let's
open this morning's service with hymn number 73. From your heart
back to the Lord. Number 73. Let's all stand together. May Jesus Christ be praised. When morning lifts the skies,
My heart awaking cries, May Jesus Christ be praised! Alike at work and prayer, To
Jesus I repair, May Jesus Christ be praised! A sadness still now mine A solace
here I find May Jesus Christ be praised For faith's my earthly
bliss My comfort still is this May Jesus Christ be praised In
heaven's eternal bliss, At love's bliss strain insists, May Jesus
Christ be praised. The power of darkness fear, When
this we chant they hear, May Jesus Christ be praised. May Jesus Christ be praised,
be this the eternal song through all the ages long. May Jesus Christ be praised. Good morning. We're going to be in Psalm 119
this morning, if you'd like to turn with me there in your Bibles. We've moved all of the recording
equipment over to the new building this week. So we'll have to make do with what
we have. Seems very odd. I couldn't hear before I stuck
these things in my ear, and now I can't hear anything. Let's ask the Lord's blessings
on our time together. Our merciful Heavenly Father, what great hope we have in knowing
that we can come into thy holy presence, looking in faith to the Lord
Jesus Christ as all our righteousness, our advocate, our substitute,
our sin bearer, and all our satisfaction before thee. We ask, Lord, that
you would open the eyes of our understanding. Pray, Lord, that
you would open that which no man can shut. Open your word.
Open the windows of heaven. Reveal to our hearts through
faith more of the glory of thy dear son. And increase our faith,
Lord, enabling us to rest all our hope in him. We thank you,
Father, for the afflictions that you send our way, cause us to
acknowledge our weakness and our dependence and bring us to
rest and rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ for all our strength.
For truly, your strength is made perfect in our weakness. We ask
your blessings on your word We prayed in Christ's name. Amen. You have your Bibles open to
Psalm 119. If you'll look with me to three verses, I've titled
this message, The Blessing of Affliction. The Blessing of Affliction. Only the people of God understand
the blessings that he sends by way of afflictions. Look at verse 67. Before I was
afflicted, I went astray, but now I have kept thy word. Afflictions turn us, turn us
away from our confidence in the flesh and cause us to rely upon
the Lord. Look at verse 71. It is good
for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. Not only does the Lord use afflictions
in the lives of his children to turn them from their dependence
on themselves and turn them to Christ, but he uses affliction
to teach us. It's good that I've been afflicted
for I've learned thy statutes. Now look at verse 75. I know,
O Lord, that thy judgments are right
and that thou in faithfulness hath afflicted me. David says, I know. That's what
you and I are in need of. In all the uncertainties of this
world, we're in need of confidence. We're in need of being able to
say, I know that our God reigns. I know that he does all things
for his glory and for my good, that he has sovereignly ordained
all the events of my life to that end. I know that. What great hope we have when
the Lord gives us that confidence. So afflictions, the blessings
of affliction is that they turn us, they teach us, and they give
us confidence. Now, all men experience afflictions,
whether they be financial, whether they be family, whether they
be sickness, some sort of physical problem. This world is full of
trials and troubles, but these blessings only come to the believer. When an unbeliever is afflicted,
they may, they may become religious. They
may reform their lives. But when the affliction goes
away, they generally go back to the way things were before.
Or they might become dedicated to their religious life and realize
that, you know, this life is better than my old life. And
they might get they might get stuck in their new reformed behavior. But that's not what Dave is talking
about. Dave is talking about being turned,
being taught, and having confidence. And that only happens through
faith in the heart of God's people. Turn with me, if you will, to
Jeremiah chapter 31. Jeremiah chapter 31. Here's what
the Lord says about the afflictions that He has sent. And there's another way, there's
another thing about afflictions that are different for the believer
than the unbeliever. The believer knows that they've
been son of God. He knows that. Paul said in Romans
8, 28, we know, we know that all things work together for
good for them that are called, those that love God and are called
according to his purpose. Look what the Lord tells us in
Jeremiah chapter 31, beginning of verse 18. I have surely heard
Ephraim bemoaning himself. Thus, thou hast chastened me. Now, Ephraim is being used as
a word or a title or a description of all of God's people, all of
God's people, all the elect of God, all believers. They bemoan
themselves and they cry, Lord, thou hast chastened me. I was
chastened as a bullock, unaccustomed to the yoke. There's a benefit
of chastening. We become, without these chastenings,
we become as a bullock, unaccustomed to the yoke. The Lord said in
Matthew chapter 11, all you that labor and are heavy laden, come
unto me, come unto me, I'll give you rest. My yoke is easy. My
burden is light. These chastenings cause us to
get in the yoke with Christ. And without them, we become an
independent bullock out in defiance against God. And so what does
Ephraim say? What does the child of God say?
Turn thou me and I shall be turned. Turn thou me. Lord, if you turn
me, if you make these afflictions effectual, then I'll be turned. And I won't be like that bullock
who's unaccustomed to the yoke, but I will willingly submit to
the yoke of Christ. For thou art the Lord my God. Here's the blessing benefit of
affliction. When God sends affliction into
the lives of his children, whatever it might be, whatever it might
be. And we're gonna talk about that
in a moment, but as the Lord sends afflictions, Look at verse
19. Surely after that, I was returned. After I was turned, God turned
me. God turned me. I repented. My mind was changed. And after that, I was instructed. I was taught. I smote upon my
thigh. I was ashamed, yea, even confounded,
because I did bear the reproach of my youth. And what Ephraim's
saying is, most of these afflictions that we experience in life are
self-afflicted. Lord, you've made me to see the
consequences of my own sin. And that's the affliction that
never goes away. The financial afflictions, the
family afflictions, the oftentimes the physical afflictions that
we experience in this world, In time, they change. But when
God sends his Holy Spirit and afflicts us for our sin, that's
what Ephraim's talking about here. I've been afflicted by
the Spirit of God. What did the Lord say? We quote
this passage of scripture often, but the Lord said, it is expedient
for you that I go away, for if I go not away, the comforter
will not come. But when he comes, what's he
gonna do? He's gonna convict the world
of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment, of sin, because
they believe not on me. That's the sin that doth so easily
beset us, the sin of unbelief. And that's when the Spirit of
God causes us to be afflicted over our sin. and we beat ourselves
upon the thigh and we repent and we are turned and we say,
Lord, yes, this is all my fault. This is all my fault. Thank you
for the afflicting grace of your Holy Spirit that has exposed
me for what I am and caused me to depend upon Christ for the
forgiveness of my sin and for all my righteousness before God
of sin because they believe not on me." The world thinks, the
religious world in particular, thinks that the affliction of
sin is to be sorry for a particular act of sin. But when the Holy
Spirit convicts us of sin, He gets to the root of the problem.
And the heart of the problem is unbelief. And so When the
Holy Spirit does that, we just have to confess, Lord, I don't
believe you as I ought. I'm not trusting you as I ought.
And that's what David said in our text. Before I was afflicted,
I went astray. I went astray, depending on myself,
relying like a bullock out of the yoke, relying upon my own
strength and my own abilities And now Lord, you have caused
me to see that the problem, all my problems are caused by my
own belief. They're caused by my own sin.
When the Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the world. And that
word, by the way, that word world is used in the same sense that
it's used in John 3, 16. For God so loved the world that
he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believeth on him
should not perish, but have everlasting life. And the religious world
takes that one verse out of its context and they say, well, God
loves everybody and wants everybody to be saved and Christ died for
everybody. That's not what that verse means.
It means exactly the same thing that it means when the Lord said,
he will convict the world of sin. Has the whole world been
convicted of sin? No, no. But those he's chosen
out of the world have been, and he's made them to see that their
sin is rooted in their unbelief of righteousness because I go
to my father. Only the believer convicted by
the Holy Spirit understands that the only righteousness they have
is in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, who's seated at
the right hand of the majesty on high. He's all my, I have
no righteousness outside of him. I have no claim on God. I have
no reason for God to be merciful towards me or to save me apart
from the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I have an
advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one. And of judgment, because the
prince of this world is judged. Only the Holy Spirit convicts
God's people that the work that Christ performed on Calvary's
cross was successful. It was an accomplished work of
redemption. He delivered from the jaws of
hell and from the paws of Satan, he delivered all of his elect. The prince of this world has
been judged. When the Lord Jesus Christ bowed
his mighty head on Calvary's cross and said, it is finished. Father into thy hands, I commend
my spirit. The salvation of his people was
made successful. It was successful. It was accomplished. So this affliction that the Lord
sends is First and foremost, the affliction of our own sin
and all that that brings into our lives. And David said, before
I was afflicted, I'd went astray. What biblical examples do we
have of that? The most clear one that I can
think of is Peter. What did Peter say? When the
Lord said, you're all gonna be scattered and I'm gonna be forsaken,
And Peter looked at the Lord and said, Lord, they might leave
you, but not me. Not me. I'm right here through
thick and thin. You can count on me, Lord. What
was Peter doing? He was relying upon the strength
of his own flesh, wasn't he? And what did the Lord say? Peter,
before the cock crows, you're going to deny me three times.
And that's exactly what Peter did. denied the Lord Jesus Christ
that very night with cursing. And Peter had to be made to see
that his strength was not sufficient, that he had to be afflicted with
that sin, didn't he? And Peter was able to say, before
I was afflicted, I went astray. I was like that bullock out of
the yoke. I was independent. I was self-sufficient. I thought
I had it all worked out. And now, now what has my sin
done? My sin has caused me to keep
thy word. You see that? Go back with me
to our text. Look at verse 67. What is it to keep God's word? is to rely wholly on the Lord
Jesus Christ. That's what it is to keep God's
word, is to bow before Him, is to believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ, is to rest all your hope in Him, is to confess your own
inability and to trust Him for all your salvation. And so Peter
had that experience. Afflictions are good. They reveal
our weakness. They reveal our lack of knowledge
and understanding, our inability, our lack of righteousness. And when we become self-sufficient,
the Lord is merciful. He's merciful to afflict us with
our own sin and cause us to see our own weakness. That's exactly
what happened to Job. You read through the book of
Job and what does Job say? This isn't fair. Here's the summary
of the book of Job. Lord, this is not fair. I haven't
done anything to deserve this. I've been serving you all my
life. You let me bring my case before you and I'll prove to
you that I'm innocent. That's the summary of Job's arguments
as he's suffering the afflictions that God sent. And then Elihu
preaches the gospel. And then God speaks. And what
does Job say? Surely I had spoken without knowledge,
for I had heard of thee by the hearing of mine ear, but now
mine eyes do see thee. and I repent in dust and ashes.
For behold, behold, I am vile." Job was brought to the end of
himself. He no longer claimed his righteousness. He no longer
accused God of wrongdoing. And he could say with David,
before I was afflicted, I went astray. I went astray. I blamed God. I relied upon my own strength,
but now, now through the merciful, gracious afflictions, the loving
afflictions of my God, I have kept thy word. I've been turned
to rely upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Look at verse 71 in our text. It is good for me that I've been
afflicted. It's good for me. Oh, it is a
good thing. Yes, the afflictions and trials
of life are good when they result in exposing our weakness and
turning us to faith in Christ. But the affliction of sin is,
I mean, that's a blessing. You show me a sinner and I'll
show you a miracle of grace. miracle of grace. Men don't acknowledge
themselves as sinners. They will acknowledge certain
bad behavior as being sinful, but they've not had the experience
of the Holy Spirit convicting them of their sin and causing
them to see that their whole problem is their own unbelief. What a blessing that is when
the Lord does that. And here David says, oh, it's
been good for me. What a blessing. No goodness like that. It's good
for me that I've been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes,
that I might be taught of God. And what does he teach us? What
does he teach us? Well, he teaches us that we're
sinners. He teaches us that Christ is all our righteousness. He teaches us to rely upon the
Lord Jesus Christ, to rest our hope in Him. He reveals Christ
to us in His holiness and in His glory and in His omnipotence
and in His work of redemption. He teaches us from His Word. and reveals to us more and more
of the glory of Christ. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted. That I might learn thy statutes. Look with me to Psalm 18, if
you will. Turn back with me to Psalm 18. Unbelief will resent God for
afflictions. Unbelief might even resign itself
to afflictions. But unbelief will never roar
for afflictions. It will never, the scripture
says that my heart was roaring all the day long, crying out
to God for his mercy. And that's what the afflictions
that are sent by God to his people result in. So that we're able
to say with Paul, rejoice. I'm able, Hebrews makes it clear
that no chastening is pleasant for the season. It's hard, it's
difficult. When God convicts us of sin,
it's a difficult thing. When he afflicts us with trials
and troubles, it's a difficult thing. But what does it do? It
produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Now, what is
the peaceable fruit of righteousness? Well, it's resting in Christ
who is our righteousness and experiencing the peace of God,
which passes or is better than understanding. So there's the
blessing of affliction. Look at Psalm 18 at verse 27. For thou wilt save the afflicted
people, but thou wilt bring down high looks. God gives grace to
the humble and he resists the proud. the effects of affliction
in the child of God is that it humbles him before God. And there's
no salvation apart from that. There's no salvation apart from
falling in the presence of God and taking full responsibility
for all your sin and crying out, roaring out in your heart to
the Lord Jesus Christ to save you. That's the blessing of affliction. And David said, before I was
afflicted, I went astray. I was like a bullock out of the
yoke. I was independent. I was self-sufficient. I didn't see my need for Christ.
I was like Peter. I was like Job, accusing God
and standing in my own strength. But now that I've been afflicted,
I've been turned. I've been turned. And it's good
for me that I've been afflicted. For now, I've been taught. I
was turned and I was taught. What have I been taught? I've
been taught the gospel. The Lord has taught me who Christ
is and what He's done. He's taught me who I am. He's
humbled me in His presence and He has saved me. Go back with me to our text in
Psalm 119. I know, verse 75, I know. Isn't it a blessing to be able
to say, I know. Yeah, I just, I know this. There's
a lot of things we can't know, but we can know what God says
is true and we can rest there. We can know that our God reigns.
We can know that he does all things. He works all things together
for his glory and for the salvation of his people. We can know without
any shadow of a doubt that the Lord Jesus Christ was successful
in saving His people on Calvary's cross. We can know that. We can
know that God is satisfied with Christ. He's not satisfied with
you, He's not satisfied with me, but He's satisfied with Christ. And when the Lord sends the affliction
of His Spirit through whatever circumstances to expose our sin,
You see, whether the affliction is financial or relational or
physical, the real problem for the child of God is not the circumstances,
it's the sin behind the circumstances. It's our inability to believe
God in those times of trials and troubles, isn't it? That's
the real problem. And so the end of affliction,
the end of affliction is for the child of God to say, I know. Look at verse 75. I know, oh
Lord, that thy judgments are right. Lord, I know that everything
you do is right. It's true. It's perfect. Everything's right on schedule.
You've never made a mistake. You've never had a second thought
about anything. You've never had to learn anything.
You've never had a plan B. Your judgments, everything that
you judge to be right is right. That's especially true when it
comes to the judgment of sin, isn't it? I know that when you
judged sin in your son, that you poured out the full fury
of your wrath and you were satisfied with the sacrifice that Christ
made to put away the sins of his people once and for all.
I know that. I know that. And let me say this, knowing
that is not knowing that he did it for you. No, it's not. Faith is not believing
that Christ died for you. Faith is believing that Christ
died and satisfied all the demands of God's holy justice and the
only hope that you have in being saved is for Christ to be your
substitute. You know, believers are always, There's not a day that goes by
I don't wonder, did Christ die for me? Christ died for me. What about Peter? You see, faith
is not believing that you're saved. This is what I'm trying
to say. Faith is believing that Christ
is the only savior. That's what faith is. If you would have asked Peter,
After he denied the Lord, Peter, are you saved? Peter would have
said, I don't believe so. What I did was so heinous. I
believe all hope has been lost. That's why the Lord said to Mary
at the tomb, tell Peter and the disciples that I've risen. And
the Lord came to Peter and, uh, But now at the same time, had
you asked Peter, Peter, do you believe that Jesus Christ is
the son of God and that he is the successful savior of sinners? He would have without hesitation
said, absolutely. Absolutely do I believe that. Can you say I know? Not that
I'm saved, because you don't know that all the time. One thing that every believer
knows all the time is that Jesus Christ is God's savior for sinners. And that he was successful in
saving his people on Calvary's cross, whoever they are. That's
what faith is. Faith is knowing that the only
hope that you have to be saved is bound up wholly in Christ. And faith never questions that,
never questions it. Through whatever afflictions
might come, whatever trials, whatever accusations might come
against him from Satan, faith always believes that Jesus Christ
is the successful savior of sinners. He is the sovereign son of God,
always believes that. So back to our verse, look at
verse 75. I know, I know, oh Lord, that
thy judgments are right. That's the result of affliction,
it's confidence. It's confidence, Lord, I know
that what you do is right. And I know that what Christ did
in putting away the sins of his people is the righteous judgment
of God. And it's the only hope that I
have and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Turn with me to Deuteronomy chapter
26. Deuteronomy chapter 26. We'll begin reading at verse
six. And the Egyptians evil entreated
us and afflicted us and laid upon us hard bondage. Now the children of Israel spent
over 400 years in Egypt as slaves to the Egyptians. And there's
a picture of our bondage by nature in sin. The taskmasters of sin
and of the law are always requiring what we cannot produce, and we're
held in bondage. And when, look at verse seven,
and when we cried unto the Lord God of our fathers, the Lord
heard our voice and looked on our affliction and our labor
and our oppression, and the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt
with a mighty hand and with an outstretched arm and with great
terribleness and with signs and with wonders. And he hath brought
us into this place and hath given us this land, even a land flowing
with milk and honey. This place, what is this place? It's the promised land. It's
the place of grace, which is what honey is a picture of, the
sweetness of his grace, the forgiveness of our sin. And what is milk
a picture of? Well, the scripture says as newborn
babes crave after or desire the sincere milk of God's word. So he's taken us out of the bondage
of sin and he's given us hope and faith in his word to rest
in the sweetness of his grace through the accomplished work
of the Lord Jesus Christ. To rest in him. And what does
David say? Lord, before, before I was afflicted,
before your spirit came and convicted me of my sin, I went astray. I was like a bullock out of the
yoke. I was independent. I was self-sufficient. I was
relying upon my own righteousness. But now, but now that I've been
afflicted, I've kept my word. I've believed now on the Lord
Jesus Christ. Secondly, verse 71, it is good
for me that I've been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Lord, you turned me by affliction
and you taught me by affliction. And now I have confidence. I have confidence that the Lord
Jesus Christ, he is the son of God. He is the
savior of sinners. He is sufficient for all that
God requires of me. And he has brought me into the
land of milk and honey. He has delivered me from the
bondage of the taskmasters of Egypt and set my feet in the promised land, resting
my hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. The blessings of affliction. There are no blessings apart
from affliction. There aren't. You see, these
afflictions, Paul called them necessities. Apart from these afflictions
sent by God, we'll not be turned, we'll not be taught, and we'll
not have confidence in Christ, apart from the Lord's merciful,
loving hand of affliction. What a blessing. All right, let's
take a break.