I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the 27th chapter of Psalms. Psalm 27. Before we begin this
evening, let's ask our Lord's blessing. Our Father is so good. to call upon you
and to know that for Christ's sake, in His name, by His intercession,
blessed by the Spirit of God, you hear. Lord, I ask you to
bless the Word tonight. Bless it to the comfort and salvation
of your people. For Christ's sake we pray. Amen. Just hold your hand right there
and let me just remind you of a story, something that happened
in the book of Mark chapter 5. There was a demoniac there in
the Gadarenes. And the Lord Jesus Christ came
to that place. You remember when the demons
within that man said there was a legion of them. And they spoke
to the Lord. And they asked Him, said, Have
you come to torment us before our time? And He cast those demons
out of that man, cast them into some swine. The swine jumped
into the sea were drowned. And that former demon-possessed
man came to the Lord and asked Him if He could go with him. And the Lord said in Mark 5,
verse 19, Howbeit Jesus suffered him not, but saith unto him,
Go home to thy friends, and tell them how great things the Lord
hath done for thee. and hath had compassion on thee."
This evening I want us to read Psalm 27. And then I'm going to make some
comments on the last verse of Psalm 27. Wait on the Lord. That's what the last verse says.
Be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart. I say
on the Lord. Let's read the 27th chapter of
Psalms. The Lord, that is Jehovah Himself,
Father, Son, and Spirit. The Lord is my light. He gives light, that's true.
But He is. my light, David said. I who was formerly in darkness,
spiritual darkness, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? I'll tell
you the answer to that question. The Lord. The fear of the Lord. The respect of Almighty God. is the beginning of wisdom. Who
shall I fear? The Lord. The Lord is the strength
of my life. Of whom shall I be afraid? No
one else. I'm not afraid of anybody else. The Lord is my life. When the
wicked, even my enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up
my flesh, they stumbled and fell. Though an host should encamp
against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise
against me, in this will I be confident." In what? That the Lord is my light. I'm confident in this. The Lord
is my salvation. The Lord is the strength of my
life. That's my confidence. One thing
have I desired of the Lord. And that will I seek after. Here's David's one desire, one
thing. This is what I desire. That I
may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life. I don't doubt for one second
that that means eternal days. I don't doubt that at all. But I know it means two, the
days right now. that He would give me a heart
to desire, to dwell where His gospel is preached. It's like
fleeting. It's like just a vapor. One thing I've desired, that
I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life
to behold the beauty of the Lord, the grace, that I might be able
to behold the grace of God, that I might be able to see that which
Almighty God has been pleased to do, that the Lord would have
mercy and compassion on sinners, that I might behold the beauty
of the Lord and to inquire in His temple. Teach me that I might
inquire, that I might ask. Lord, teach me of Yourself. Lord,
open my eyes. Lord, show me of Yourself. For
in the time of trouble, He shall hide me in His pavilion." That
word means in His hut. In His hut. Whenever the nation
of Israel would be encamped. The king was in the middle. Right in the middle. Everybody
was around him. In His hut. That's where He was. That's what that word means right
there. For in the time of trouble, He'll hide me in His hut. In His pavilion. That's where
He stays. In the secret of His tabernacle.
Not the tabernacle that was out in the wilderness. Not in the
outer court. Not even in the holy place. but
in the Holy of Holies, in His tabernacle." That's where He
is. He shall set me upon a rock.
The rock Himself. In the time of trouble, He'll
hide me in His pavilion in the secret of His tabernacle. Shall
He hide me? He shall set me upon a rock.
And now shall my head be lifted up above my enemies round about
me. Therefore will I offer in His tabernacle sacrifices of
joy, I will sing, yea, I will sing praises unto the Lord. Here,
O Lord, when I cry with my voice, have mercy also upon me and answer
me. When Thou saidest, Seek ye my
face, my heart said unto Thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek."
Notice who started that? The Lord when You said. Seek my faith. That's when my
heart says, Lord, I'll seek you. Hide not thy face far from me. Put not thy servant away in anger. Thou hast been my help. Leave
me not, neither forsake me, O Lord, O God of my salvation. When my
father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me
up. Let me tell you what the heart of those last two verses
was, 9 and 10. when we were all growing up in
the house. Mom and Dad took care of us. They clothed us, fed us, gave
us some shelter. And we were there. We were at
home. And then in time, we'd grow up. We'd become of age. After a while, it's time. Move
on. You know, you move out of the
house and you go on and you make your own life and you go to work,
go to college, go whatever you do. You just, you know, you don't
stay at home all the time. You just, you know. This is what
David was saying. He said, when my father and my
mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. Here was what David's
request was. Humanly speaking, I come to a
point where I'm not to be dependent on mom and dad anymore. I make
it my own self, make my own way. That's not what it is for the
Lord. We're never going to make it on our own way. We never leave. Hide not thy face far from me. Put not thy servant away in anger.
Thou hast been my help. Leave me not, neither forsake
me, O God, of my salvation. Verse 11, teach me thy way, O
Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of my enemies. Lord, teach me of Christ. Teach
me thy way. Lord, teach me your way of salvation. Teach me your way, Lord, to lead
and guide and direct. Lead me in a plain path. Straight, simple. Everybody's
trying to just make it, you know, go for all the gusto you can. Lord, settle my heart. I've got enemies. Because of
my enemies, I've got my own worst enemy. I've got a nature in me
that just resists my new man. I know it. I've got a nature
in me that struggles and strives. Lord, teach me. Deliver me not
over into the will of mine enemies, for false witnesses are risen
up against me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I had fainted unless
I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living. Now, David has given a good explanation
of what the Lord had done for him. What the Lord meant to him. Who the Lord was to him. Just
like that demoniac, when the Lord told him, he said, no, you
go home and you tell your friends what great things the Lord has
done for you. This is what David's done. He's
told, he's set forth, this is who the Lord is to me. He's my
salvation. He's my strength. He doesn't
cast me out. I never leave His habitation
like I had to leave the house. Lord, You teach me. You help
me. This is what the Lord's done for me. And now, in this last
verse, this is what the Spirit of God has blessed to the giving
of instruction to those that hear The psalmist of Israel had
to say, through the inspiration of God's Spirit, he said, this
is what the Lord's done for me. Now he said, now this is what
I encourage you. Wait on the Lord. You wait on
the Lord. Be of good courage and He shall
strengthen thy heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. This is the continual position
of a believer. We never go beyond this. Why
is it? Waiting on the Lord is to trust
Him, to believe Him, to hope in Him, to ask and not to seek,
waiting on Almighty God. Why? Why? Well, Jeremiah 10.23 says, O
Lord, I know that the way of man is not in himself. It's not
in man that walketh to direct his ways. We don't know the end from the
beginning. We cannot work all things after the counsel of our
own will. We're impotent. What are we going
to do? This is the way we received Him.
Waiting on Him. Asking. Seeking. Colossians 2
says, as you therefore receive Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk
in Him. We never get away from waiting
on God. Waiting on Him, that is the totality. That's the whole of our life. Waiting is not doing nothing. Waiting is active. Waiting is
real. Waiting is one of the most trying
things that we do because we are just not able to make a phone
call or do this or do that. I told the folks a couple of
weeks ago in Cottageville, my dad had that saying I've told
you before, it didn't matter What I had on the agenda, it
didn't matter what, I'd come in from college on Saturday morning
and he'd wake me up at 6 o'clock and he'd say, Boy, we're going
to do something today if it's wrong. And that meant that I
was up and I'm going to move and we're going to do something.
Not so waiting on the Lord. Waiting on the Lord is active. It's trying on this old flesh. The flesh hates it, despises
it. And the new man has one desire,
to wait on Almighty God. Think how respectful it is when
we wait on the Lord until He reveals His will. What are we going to do? Where
are we going to go? waiting, trusting, hoping in
Him is the admittance of my need. We're just beggars. That's what we are, beggars at
the total disposal of Him who is able, who is our strength. How long? How long do we wait? How long do we knock? How long
do we seek? How long do we ask? This is what
the psalmist says in Psalm 25. Lead me in thy truth and teach
me that thou art the God of my salvation. On thee do I wait
all the day. I wait continually. I wait. What's the Lord going to do with
Katie? Wait on the Lord. What's He going
to do with my family? Wait on the Lord. I can ask Him. I can seek. I can knock. Who
knows? He might show mercy. But you
rest assured of this, He's not going to mock His people. I know
that. Do we suppose that He who has
everlastingly loved us, that He who gave us to His Son, do
we suppose that the Lord Jesus Christ who came into this world
made under the law made of a woman, He who was made flesh to live
and to die in the redemption of His people, do you think that
He is not honored? when we wait upon Him? Do we
not suppose that He will surely do us good? This is the most
comfortable and peaceful and settling thought that we can
have. What are you folks going to do? We're going to wait on God. Boy, I tell you, that thought
just rubs the natural man in a wrong way. Ah, that's just
a little bit too open-ended. Well, it's comfortable to me. It's the right thing. When questions
arise and the answer seems to be hidden, wait on the Lord. When temptations come, the Scripture
says, resist the devil. Wait on the Lord. How will I
know? How will I know? Well, that's
been a question that's been answered. How do you know? And you know
what? The most consistent answer that
I've ever heard was, you'll know. You'll know. Lead me, Psalm 25. It's what we just read. Lead
me in thy truth. Teach me. For thou art the God
of my salvation on thee. Do I wait all the day? Another
thing I'll tell you is we've got God's Word that He is going
to lead. Do you know why the Lord has
given you a heart to wait on Him? Because He will answer. Had He not given you a heart,
if He had no purpose whatsoever, no desire whatsoever to speak,
He wouldn't have given you a heart to wait. A miracle of God's grace
that a man can settle down and wait on the Lord. Trust in the
Lord, Proverbs 3, 5 and 6, with all thine heart, and lean not
unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him,
and He shall direct thy path. Do you think He will? Let me
ask you this. Has He led you to this moment?
How did you get here? How did you get to this spot?
By grace? By power? By purpose? The problem is not
God's faithfulness. The problem is our impatience.
He is going to teach us to wait. Waiting on the Lord. That's to
have confidence in Him. Believe in Him. His ability,
His will, His timing. I'm telling you, I'll start out on a trip. We're
going to make a pretty good trip. Go to Franklin. That's nine and a half hours.
That's a long trip to me. It didn't used to be that long,
but nine and a half hours is getting longer and longer. This
will be what I'll say after about an hour. I want to be there.
I want to be there. That's where we are. I want this
to happen right now. But look how honorable it is
when we wait upon Him. In due season, when the Lord
is pleased, He will make His will and purpose known. Providentially, His answer will
come. Whatever you thought it might
have been, providentially, His will is going to be done. If
I know that He works, or since I know that He works all things
after the counsel of His own will, if I've asked Him, I've
sought His will. I've cried unto Him in my time
of trial, whatever comes to pass. He answered. That was His will. If He works all things after
the counsel of His own will, wait on the Lord. It's the Lord. Let Him do what seemeth Him good.
And I'll tell you this, He'll confirm it to your heart. His
spirit, Romans 8, 16, bears witness to our spirit that we're the
sons of God. He'll teach. Wait on the Lord. That's the only position we've
got. We don't have another one. Secondly, waiting on the Lord
is our confidence. Be of good courage. That's where
Psalm 27, 14, wait on the Lord, be of good courage. We do have
a lot of enemies. this flesh, this world, Satan,
be of good courage. Here's what the Scripture says. Ephesians 6, 11-13, put on the
whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the
wiles of the devil. For wrestle not against flesh
and blood, against powers, against the rulers of darkness of this
world, against spiritual wickedness in high places, things that you
by your flesh cannot handle. If it was a fleshly thing, you
might be a little bit bigger, a little bit more crafty. You might have learned some moves,
you know what I'm talking about, but we wrestle not against flesh
and blood. We're wrestling against that
which is spiritual, not fleshly. Wherefore, taken to you the whole
armor of God." It's not something that you came up with that you
may be able to withstand in the day of evil. And having done
all, stand. Wait. Wait on God. We stand in Him courageously. Wait on the Lord. Be of good
courage. Not in ourselves. What am I going
to do? How am I going to handle this?
Wait on the Lord. We wait with confidence. Paul
says, having our loins girt about with truth, the truth of God's
Scriptures, the truth who is Christ. having the breastplate of righteousness. Not ours, His. Here's the weapons of our warfare.
His righteousness. He who is truth. And our feet
shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace. We walk believing that God has
taught us according to His gospel. Above all, taking the shield
of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery
darts of the wicked." According to the Lord's word of Job, the
Lord asked Satan, he said, Have you considered my servant Job
a righteous man? One that escheweth evil. Hates
it. Satan said, well, yeah, you've
got a hedge about him. But I'll tell you what. You take
and remove that hedge from him. And he said, I'll tell you, he'll
curse you to your face. The Lord gave him some leeway. He said, you do certain things.
Can't kill him. And you know the story. He took
his kids. He took his servants. He took
his land. He took his money. He took his
health. And the Scripture says that this
was what Job said. The Lord gave it to me. And the
Lord took it away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
By faith. By faith. Against all the fiery
darts of Satan. When his wife told him, she said,
look at you. Why don't you just cuss God and
die? Why don't you just get over it? And Scripture says that Job
did not sin against the Lord with his mouth. No. No. All of this is His. Now, let me ask you this. You
know, you turn on the television and the way that false religion
sets forth being prosperous in the Lord. You've got to have
gold chairs. I mean, you're just going to
be healthy, wealthy, and wise. God's got a perfect plan for
me. I'll be honest with you. Believers that I know are struggling
people. And they're being taught by the
Spirit of God, this world is not our home. We're just sojourners
here. And we're not here long. Lord,
teach us to number our days. Only in the whole armor of God
can a believer wrestle. They don't wrestle with flesh
and blood. Oh, the precious grace of faith that believes. I stand in Him holy, robed in
His righteousness, covered by His blood, and take the helmet
of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word
of God, praying always with all prayer and supplication of the
Spirit and watching there Unto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints be of good courage. We are more than conquerors through
Him who loved us. That's what the Scripture says.
Thirdly, waiting on the Lord is our support. The Scripture
says, and He shall strengthen thine heart. He is our support. By nature, we're fearful and we doubt. David had said, the Lord is my
light, my salvation, my strength. Wait on the Lord. By the grace
of God, that's what He is to me. Wait on Him. Isaiah 40, 31,
They that wait. upon the Lord. They that look
to and expect patiently shall renew their strength, have
their strength revived and restored. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk
and not faint. Every time we are forced by the
good providence of God to wait on the Lord. We're strengthened. Boy experience, what a teacher.
The only thing you really know is what you've experienced. I've
told you before, somebody may say something to me and they
say, well, we're going through a real trial. Well, if I've never
gone through it, I really can't tell you that I know how you
feel. But you let somebody come up and say that they're experiencing
something that you've experienced. You can tell them, say, I know
how you feel. You lose a loved one, I know how you feel. The
doctor gave you some news that you didn't want to hear today,
I know how you feel. Waiting on the Lord is our support. The Lord shall strengthen thine
heart. And then lastly, waiting on the
Lord That is a blessed reward. That is a blessed miracle of
God's grace that a man would wait on the Lord. David ended
this and he said, Wait, I say, on the Lord. Who else can you
wait on? Hope. Who else can you trust in? Where
else are you going to find any peace? Let me ask you something. Has anything in this world ever
truly given you? Anything that came out of this
world ever truly given you any satisfaction? Really? Really? Many that follow the Lord, there
in John 6, They had seen His miracles. They watched Him. They
watched Him healed. John 6 was that chapter that
followed in chapter 5 of John. It's when that fellow that had
been sick for 38 years. He was by the pool of Bethesda.
And the Lord healed him. And I'm telling you, all of chapter
5 and chapter 6, they were still. It went right in chapter 7 too.
They were still, some of them were still mad at Him for healing
that man on the side. And they followed Him for a while. They saw that miracle. They kept
following Him for a while, and the Lord took five loaves and
two fish, fed them. They heard Him, saw Him, and
one day He made a statement. He told them this. He said, no
man can come to Me except it were given unto him of My Father.
And whenever He set forth His sovereignty in all things, sovereign
in creation, sovereign in providence, sovereign in salvation, from
that time many of His disciples went back and walked no more
with Him than said, Jesus, unto the twelve, will you go away?
Will you also go away? Then Simon Peter answers him,
Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ,
the Son of the living God. Where else are we going to go?
Wait on the Lord. I know that it's the right thing.
While we're waiting on God, let me tell you how we wait on the
Lord. Waiting on the Lord? We're doing
that right now. Assembling ourselves together.
Hearing His Gospel preached. This is where we learn. This
is where the Spirit of God teaches God's people. We study His Scriptures. And that's waiting on the Lord.
Studying, making much of God's Scriptures. praying, asking,
seeking. Lord, have mercy. Lord, have mercy. Lord, direct. Order my steps today. Lord, help
me. Direct my thoughts. Lord, I'm
so wishy-washy. Help me. But there is something
that is absolutely marvelous about meeting together waiting
on the Lord, hearing His Gospel preached, seeking His counsel. This is where He speaks right
here. The words that set forth the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ.
God speaks to those that are waiting, listening, inclining
their ear. Lord, speak to my heart. Help
me for Christ's sake. Amen.