Let's take our Bibles, turn with
me to the book of Proverbs chapter 13. Proverbs chapter 13. I would like to read one verse
of scripture this morning, verse 12. Proverbs 13, 12, it says, maketh the heart sick, but when
the desire cometh, it is a tree of life." Let's pray together. Our Father, we ask that you bless
this Word to our hearts, cause us to hear and to rejoice in
our blessed Savior. Amen. You know, when a believer hears
this word, hope, his mind is going to go to the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's hope. 1 Timothy 1.1 says
this, Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of
God our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ, our hope, our confidence,
our staying. Colossians 127, to whom God would
make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery
among the Gentiles, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. My prayer this morning is that
God's people might be comforted. I have a divine commission from
Almighty God. This is what it says, Isaiah
40, verse 1. Comfort ye, comfort ye my people,
Savior God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem,
and cry unto her that her warfare, her appointed time, is accomplished. that her iniquity is pardoned,
for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her
sins." This is the message that comforts God's people. Here it is. The battle is over. The battle is over. It's finished. The battle is
over. God Almighty has given us victory.
That's what the scripture said, we're more than conquerors through
him who loved us, gave himself for us. Don't you wish you could
really, truly, fully enter into that? Now think about it. Think about what we just heard.
We're more than conquerors. Battle's over. It's finished. I'm telling you, we struggle
so much with that. Not believing it, we just wish
we believed it as we ought. Our liquid is pardoned. God Almighty
has put away our guilt. There upon that cross, Christ
was actually made sin. And God dealt with the guilt
of this old man. He was dealing with the guilt
of this old man. And now this old man is still
here. The presence of that defeated
foe of sin is still raises its ugly head and strives against
new man. I'm so thankful that I can know
that God Almighty has put away the power of sin to put me in
hell. I'm so thankful that the law
looks at me now in Christ and says, no condemnation, no guilt,
no guilt. There's no condemnation then
to be in Christ Jesus. They've received double for all
their sins, large and abundant. That's what double means. Large
and abundant. Almighty God, everlastingly merciful,
compassionate, justly in Christ, granted salvation, all of our need in Him. Think about that prodigal son. Give me what's coming to me.
I'm out of here. Scripture says after he's out
there eating the husk of the hogs and just trying to grab
satisfaction out of this world. He came to himself. Not by himself. He came to himself
by the mercy of God Almighty. I'm going to go home. I'm going
to go back and I'm going to... It's all about me. In the mercy of God Almighty
and time, I came to myself by God Himself, by His Holy Spirit,
causing me to cross the path of the gospel of God's grace.
This boy came back to his dad and said, I'm not worthy. I'm not worthy to be called your
son. Just make me one of the hired servants. He said, you
take it and you put the robe on that boy, put some shoes on
his feet, you put my ring on his hand, you kill Fatty Cat,
that's my son. He lost him to him. Oh, the wonder of God Almighty
revealed to his people the battle is over. For those that he's everlastingly
loved, he's going to have them He's going to have them taught. He's going to draw them to Himself. And here's an amazing passage
of Scripture right here. And let me tell you what this
whole passage of Scripture is about. This passage of Scripture
is how God Almighty causes His people to long to come to Him. how God Almighty draws affectionately,
sweetly draws them to himself. The Scripture says, for whom
the Lord loved him, he chastened and scourged every son of whom
he received him. Those that he loves he is going
to educate, And he's going to tenderly, the word right there,
just whip him. Don't get no whipping. And they're
going to be thankful for it. I told you what Gabe told me
years ago. He's about 18 years old. He said,
Dad, best thing you ever did for me was whip me. I said, I
thought so. Our passage today. is going to
speak of the tenderness of our Lord to His people. Precious,
precious passage of Scripture. Here's what Scripture says, hope
deferred maketh the heart sick. Hope deferred. The Lord wisely
defers that which we have desire. presence of the realization. He's always there. He said, I'll
never leave you. I'm never going to forsake you.
Like I said one time, old brother Maurice Montgomery told me, he
said, God, you said time's going to put one of his own out on
a limb somewhere and make him think he's going to leave them
there. And he does that for a good reason. God knows how to draw
his own to himself. If you be without chastisement,
Scripture says you're not His. Let me tell you what He's going
to do for His people. He's going to make them think
at times that He's going to forsake them. He'll make them think. They think. They think. Where
is He? Where is He? Song of Solomon 3.1 says, By
night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth. I sought
him, but I found him not. The best thing in the world that
Almighty God will do for His people is cause them to realize,
you need me. Oh, we say we believe that, and
we do. We do believe that. We know that. I need you every
hour. I know that. The Lord said, I'm
going to show you that. Oh, I'll tell you this. There's
times when I think, Lord, if you don't, if you don't help
me. What am I going to do? I think
about this. I'm doing some reading right
now. I may have mentioned this to
you the other day. That's okay. I'll tell you again. Exodus 33. I'm just trying to
prepare a couple of messages on this. This is what the Lord
said to Moses. Exodus 33, verse 1. The Lord
said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people
which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt into the
land which I swear unto Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Sam, unto thy seed,
will I give it." He said, I'm going to give it to you. I'm
going to give you it. I promised. I'll send an angel
before thee. And I will drive out the Canaanite,
Amorite, Kittite, Perizzite, Hybrite, Jebusite, unto a land
flowing with milk and honey. I'm going to send an angel with
you. For I will not go up in the midst of you. I'm telling
you, just reading those words right there, you think, oh, Lord, if you don't
go, what are we going to do? If you truly, in your heart,
are made to realize, without Him, I can do nothing, you are blessed must, without Him. When the Lord
wisely hides His face from His people, it is always with the
purpose of causing them to more earnestly prize His presence. There is no joy, there is no
peace, there is no comfort save when I am made by the grace of
God to know He's here. Let me tell
you something. You say, well, I don't know whether
or not I really feel that or not. Let me tell you this. He
withdraws His presence, the obvious presence. Though He didn't make
you think He did, A Syrophoenician woman came to
the Lord one day and cried unto him. She said, Have mercy on
me, O Lord, thou son of David. My daughter is grievously vexed
with the devil. Here he was right there. And
he appeared to her to hide his face. First thing, he answered her
not a word. He's an insane man. You'd think. Here she is, this woman. This
woman's broken. And let me tell you what he's
doing. He's going to show her mercy. And you know he is. But this woman is appealing to
the only one that has any hope for her. My daughter is grievously
backstabbed to the death. His disciples, the scripture
says, besought her to send her away. And she hears what they're saying.
She's not going anywhere. Why? Because she doesn't have
any other place to go. Then he says that he was not
sent but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And the scripture says that she
worshipped him. She said, Lord, help me. What am I going to do? What am
I going to do? Her request was answered by our
Lord. He said this, it's not meat to
take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. She said,
truth Lord, yet the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their
master's table. This woman was hurting. She was hurting. And you say,
how could the Lord have been so insensitive? He wasn't. He said, my ways are not your
ways. We just think that we're able
to keep ourselves. that were able to fellowship
with him freely. Oh, I'm a Calvinist. I just, I believe five points
of Calvinism. I grew up in this church. I grew
up listening to Brother Scott Richardson. Did you need him? That's my question. Did you need him? I'm telling you, the Lord said
of this woman, He granted what she asked. He said, I've seen
so great faith in you. Great is thy faith. Great is
thy faith. Be it unto you. When all is well, how quickly
we forget. They that say it's good I know just a little bit, just
a little bit about physical affliction, just a little, not much. I know
just a little bit about things in this life that are
removed or changed or altered, just a little bit. But I can enter in just a little
bit when David said it's good that I've been afflicted that
I might learn about statutes. How wisely does God Almighty cause His people to be drawn
to Himself, and He does it through chastisement, affliction, and
it's of the heart. The heart. Everybody gets sick.
Everybody has money problems. That's what I've said before.
But only a believer begins to see something of the miracle
of God's grace to draw His people. Affliction often proves to be
our greatest blessing as the means of turning our hearts from
ourselves and toward Him. Paul said in Hebrews 12, 11,
I know chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous. It's not. It's not. But it is grievous. Nevertheless, afterward it yielded
the peaceable fruit of righteousness unto them which are exercised
thereby. Hope, deferred, maketh the heart
sick. It's deferred, but it's still
hope. It's hope. Believers know that
the thoughts that the Lord has toward his people or thoughts
of peace and not evil. He said that. Lord, I believe
You. Lord, I thank You that You can
give me a heart to long to stay where You are. I know that He's
going to give them the expected end. He will surely do me good. This world is not our home. We
long to be with our Lord and see Him face to face. And he's
seen fit to leave us here for the time being. This has been
a time whereby we've been made to long after him. God's people desire him more.
I'm going to read a passage of scripture right now. Psalmist Solomon 5.8, I charge
you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that
you tell him that I am sick of love. I'm sick of love. If you see him, would you tell
him that my heart truly longs for Him. I love Him because He
first loved me. I found Him because He first
found me. I sought Him because He first
sought me. Same word, I am sick of love. There is no tenderness known
like a believer that loves Hope deferred maketh the heart
sick with love. He knows how to draw his people
to himself. It is a sickness, I'm sick, I'm
sick with love, a heart that grows more longing after him
But one that you love is not there. Your heart is sick. You miss them. I'd like to see you. I'd like
to talk to you. I'd like to just hug you. I'd
like to just be there with you. Maybe we could just talk. That
sickness, it grows sweeter. As the years go by, it's a drawing
of a believer's heart toward the one who is their hope. My heart grieves because of the
frailty of my flesh in dwelling sin. Oh, but when I behold the
tender mercy of my Savior, hope deferred, Make the heart
sick. He knows how. He knows how. I go through this life and you
do too. And we struggle. Chasing. Why? Because the Lord
loves His own. He knows how. He knows how to
draw to Himself. But when the desire comes, it's
a tree of life. It is the merciful deliverance
in this life when You cause me to rejoice in Your kindness and
Your mercy. Would You allow me the privilege
just to know something of Your grace and mercy and compassion
to me? Lord, thank You. Thank You. Lord, the frailties of this life
life. Oh how good you've been to me.
You taught me of yourself. Gave me life. When that desire comes, I told
you this, I went through it. It was not very long before I
came here. I'll just share this real quickly
with you. It was not before I came here. Not long before I came
here. And I went through a period, about a year and a half, and
it was absolutely, I think back on it, I mean it's just as real
to me. I went through about a year and
a half where I just didn't know where the lines were. I just
struggled. It wasn't that I doubted him.
I mean just, the only way I can describe it, I went through about
a year and a half with a black cloud hanging over me. My kids
tell me, I don't mean my kids. My kids tell me, they say, Dad,
you're not the same. You're not the same person that
we know. And I said, I know. I know. Struggling. Struggling.
I know. Crying unto the Lord, Lord help
me. Lord help me. Trying to pastor
a church. Trying to study. Trying to seek
God. Trying to know, Lord help me. Every day, the same thing. Year
and a half. That's when Maurice told me what
he did. I talked to him about it. That's when he told me, he
said, Lord may I put you out of the way, I'm going to stay
there. I thought, oh, that's not what I wanted to hear. And when it pleased God, when
it pleased God, The Lord settled my heart. I came here. I'm so glad He knew
exactly how to get my attention. He knew exactly where to put
me. And I'm telling you, when somebody
tells me, I'm telling you, I'm just going through some real
tough times. I said, I understand. I understand. He's going to teach
His people. Hope deferred maketh the heart
sick with love toward him. But when the desire cometh, it
is a tree of life. Psalm 1715, As for me, I will
behold thy face in righteousness. I will be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. Oh, the mercy of God Almighty!
that God would deal with His people in tenderness, while chastening
them, drawing them to Himself. Can you imagine how that Syrophoenician
woman felt when the Lord said, We love you? May the Lord bless
these words to our hearts. And when He does send chastisement,
And believe me, if you know Him, it's coming. You might be in
it now. Might have just got out of something,
I don't know. But whom the Lord loves, He chastens. He knows how to draw His own
to Himself. That they might behold the wonder
of His mercy and grace to keep them for Christ's sake.