May God be pleased to bless us
together this evening as we meditate in his word. Let's turn to the
book of Psalms and Psalm 34 and we'll read verse 19. Psalm 34
and we'll read verse 19. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." This is
a very true statement that David writes in this psalm. It's a
very wonderful statement because that which David had experienced
he was able to spell out in the psalms which we are thankful
to have And so he tells us that many are the afflictions of the
righteous, and of course every true child of God is righteous,
not in their own doing, but receiving that righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And therefore, amazing as it
sounds, it is true that the whole Church of God are among the righteous,
or are indeed the righteous, and therefore this word applies
to them, to everyone really, many are the afflictions of the
righteous. I suppose we don't like to consider
afflictions in whatever form they may come into our natural
life or into our spiritual life, and we perhaps often desire that
we will not have to face them and endure them, and yet the
Word of God is very true and very firm. Many are the afflictions
of the righteous, but there is a glorious blessing in it, because
this is what David tells us under the wonderful influence of the
Holy Spirit, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. So if there were no afflictions,
there will be no deliverance and therefore there will be no
glory to God. But the Lord sees fit that His
name shall be lifted up and His name shall be honoured and glorified
and therefore He sees fit to afflict the Church of God. It's a mercy therefore to have
statements like this which is so true and directed so very
wonderfully. Now there are many cases in the
Word of God from the beginning to end speaking to us about those
who have been afflicted and in all those cases they were delivered. And so it's true today in our
little lives. The Lord brings us into afflictions,
brings us into afflictions to cause us to pray unto Him. If
there were no afflictions, if life was all one smooth path,
we wouldn't pray, or we might pretend to pray, but there wouldn't
be any prayer with a need. But as the Lord brings us which
he does, it's his work to bring us into these times of affliction
so they are indeed for our benefit to draw us to the Saviour perhaps
we might say to drive us sometimes to the Saviour because we have nowhere else
to go we come to that situation where we find that we have nothing
of any virtue, nothing, no good thing. As the Apostle says, in
me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Well the Apostle
knew what it was, didn't he, to endure a life of afflictions
and he pointed out very clearly when he wrote to his son Timothy
what good instruction that was because Timothy of course was
a servant of God and Timothy was to walk not an easy path
and therefore the apostle was to instruct him and to tell him
about this situation. So in the second epistle of Timothy,
towards the end of that epistle in the third chapter and the
eleventh verse he tells us a little of his life. In the tenth verse
he says, but thou hast fully known my doctrine, manner of
life, purpose, faith, long-suffering, charity, patience. And then he
says, persecutions afflictions which came unto me at Antioch,
at Iconium, at Lystra, what persecutions I endured, just like David, but
he ends up the same as David, but out of them all the Lord
delivered me. That was an encouraging word
surely to Timothy. It may indeed be an encouraging
word to us tonight, to realise that the Lord deals with us,
remember, in love. He deals with us in love to our
soul, so that we won't be left in an unconcerned condition.
The Lord makes us aware of where we're going, of what our true
position is before a holy, righteous God. what a mercy it is then
to have a God who does correct us, a God who does chasten us
because of His love and as the Apostle goes on to tell us, yea
and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer
persecution all he says, no excuse, nobody exempted sometimes we
think that we'll somehow be exempted from some of these afflictions
and some of these difficulties but you see the Lord knows what
is good for us and the Lord himself when he wrote to the sorry when
he was speaking to his disciples in the upper room in that wonderful
sermon and as he came right to the end or that sermon. This is what he says, Behold,
the hour cometh yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered every
man to his own, and shall leave me alone, and yet I am not alone,
because the Father is with me. These things I have spoken unto
you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall
have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
So again it's very clear isn't it that the Lord Jesus here leaves
his disciples in no doubt about what they will face and yet to
leave them in no doubt there will be a good end and the good
end is because of the Saviour. The good end is because the Lord
Jesus Christ says, I have overcome the world. Yes, blessed be God,
He conquered sin, death, hell and the grave. This is our glorious
Saviour who has fought the fight, has won the battle on our behalf. Surely we have a God here to
be worshipped, a God here to be adored. We read that 63rd
chapter in Isaiah because it was really very appropriate and
very wonderful as we find how the Lord draws alongside us in
our life. What a mercy it is to have a
Saviour who understands us, who understands the path that you
and I are being led into, because the Lord does lead us into these
paths for our souls' eternal good. It's not the path that
you and I would want naturally, but it's a path that we would
desire spiritually, because we realise the benefit of it, it
brings us closer to the Saviour. And in the 63rd chapter of Isaiah,
in the 9th verse we read this, in all their affliction, He was
afflicted. Of course, that doesn't mean
that He was afflicted in exactly the same way that we are, but
what it means is He understands what we are passing through.
We have in the Saviour someone who understands, and the angel
in His presence saves them. In His love and in His pity,
He redeemed them and He bared them and carried them all the
days of old. Well that's the gracious words
of the Saviour. And then He just goes on to warn
us because Israel were sinners indeed and we're no better left
to ourselves but they rebelled. Rebelled against God, rebelled
against His path. rebelled against His dealings
with them. They rebelled and vexed His Holy Spirit. Therefore
He was turned to be their enemy, and He fought against them. Then
He remembered the days of old, Moses and his people, saying,
Where is He that brought them up out of the sea with the shepherd
of His flock? Where is He that put His Holy
Spirit with them? that led them by the right hand
of Moses with his glorious arm, dividing the water before them,
to make himself an everlasting name, that led them through the
deep as a horse in the wilderness, that they should not stumble."
Well, what a blessing it is that we have words like this Words
recorded by Isaiah directing us back to Moses and Israel and
the Lord's goodness to them in their affliction. He was with
them. He didn't leave them. He didn't
forsake them, although they deserved so to be. And that's true today
to the whole Church of God. What a blessing and what a favour
to think that we have a Saviour like this, a Saviour who understands
us. He knows exactly the path that
we are walking. It's not a path which is haphazard,
it's a path ordained by the blessed Spirit of God for our soul's
health and for our soul's eternal good. What a mercy then. to recognize and realize that
in our afflictions and remember there will be there will be we
might say more or less continually in our little life many are the
afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivereth him out
of them all and in that deliverance the wonderful blessing is to
be found walking with the Saviour. How condescending of our God,
how gracious of our Lord to look upon us and to not deal with
us as our sins deserve. You know we have so many examples,
we have Isaiah, we have Jeremiah. Jeremiah was a man of God, a
man wonderfully blessed of God, but a man who had many afflictions. We should never think that God's
people are exempt. No, Jeremiah, he had much opposition. And in the end of the first chapter,
we read, and they shall fight against thee, that's the enemy.
You might say that's the enemy of our souls, Satan, continually
fighting against us. And they shall fight against
thee, but they shall not prevail against thee the devil won't
conquer at last he may perhaps overcome but we shall overcome
because we are more than conquerors through him that loved us but
they shall not prevail against thee for I am with thee saith
the Lord to deliver thee well Jeremiah needed a word like that,
didn't he? To encourage him. As he journeyed
on, preaching very often against rebellious Judah and against
rebellious Israel, warning them of what would occur, what would
happen. They didn't want to know. In fact, they took poor old Jeremiah
and put him in a dungeon on more than one occasion. It wasn't
an easy experience. Jeremiah had to bear these things. But God was with him and God
did deliver him from those situations. So we can be thankful to know
that God's prophets of old were watched over and were favoured
to have the Lord with them and the Lord who came and delivered
them for I am with thee. The Lord was with Jeremiah. It's
a mercy, isn't it? To think that in the path that
you and I walk, the Lord is with us. However bad we may be, however
sinful we may be, if we're amongst those who are righteous, who've
been blessed with the righteousness of Christ, then you see it's
well with our soul. The Lord sees fit to bring us
into these times of affliction to drive us to Himself. I often think that's very true,
you see, left to ourselves, well, we just wander on. But the Lord
graciously comes and drives us on, drives us on. We have the case, don't we, of
Job. See how many cases we have that
direct us to the truth of His Word. Job was a godly man, a
very godly man, but the Lord allowed him to be so sadly afflicted. It wasn't something trivial was
it? It was something very serious and we can read of it in the
first chapter of Job, what the Lord did, what the Lord allowed
Satan to do for him, and we're told that Job was a perfect and
upright man, one that feared God, and he steered evil. I suppose we couldn't really
ask for a better description, could we? If that description
was given to us, we'd be very thankful, I hope we would be,
the wonderful mercy of it. And yet you see, The Lord allowed
Satan to come, destroy his family, take away his goods, and leave
him virtually nothing, so that he came down to this position
and said, naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall
I return nither. The Lord gave, and the Lord hath
taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Well, there was no complaining
there, was there? And what affliction! That man
had just passed through. And so we're told, in all this,
Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly. It must be exceedingly
hard not to rebel or charge God. against situations like this
which came into Job's life. But we have to realize the whole
purpose of this affliction in Job's life was to bring him to
realize that the Lord delivered him out of all those troubles. It isn't really until we come
right to the the end of the book of Job that we have a view of
how Job was brought down and how Job acknowledged who God
was because he had his three friends and then he had another
friend speak to him but at last the Lord spoke and that's what
makes the difference when God comes and speaks to us and God
comes and humbles us. Then you see we recognize that
what God has brought us into is for our good and is for our
benefit. And so he tells us. Then Job
answered the Lord and said, Behold, I am vile. Didn't have a very
high opinion of himself, did he? Although God has spoken so
well of him. Behold, I am vile. What shall
I answer thee? I will lay my hand upon my mouth.
Once have I spoken But I will not answer, yea, twice, but I
will proceed no further." And then the Lord continued to speak
to Job until we come to the 42nd chapter, the last chapter. And
this is what we read, then Job answered the Lord and said, I
know that thou canst do everything, confidence in his God. That's
a good thing, isn't it? If we are brought low to still
have confidence in our God. I know, Jehov knew, and He told
us a number of things. He told us, I know that my Redeemer
liveth. He told us some wonderful truths.
And now He says, I know that thou canst do everything, and
that no thought can be withholden from me. Who is He that hideth
counsel without knowledge? Therefore have I uttered that
I understood not. Things too wonderful for me,
which I knew not." He confesses the foolish words that he'd spoken
because now he's in the presence of God. What a blessing that
the Lord brings us to that position and afflicts us to realize we
stand before a holy, righteous God and we need to be blessed
with the spirit of repentance, the spirit of contrition and
the spirit to cast all our care upon our Lord. And so He says,
Here I beseech thee, and I will speak, I will demand of thee,
and declare thou unto me. I have heard of thee by the hearing
of the ear, but now mine eye seeth thee. Wherefore I abhor
myself, and repent in dust and ashes. It's a great blessing
when the Holy Spirit deals with us to show us a real condition
before a holy God to bring us to be able to say yes I've heard
of thee but now mine eye seeth thee the eye of faith a holy
righteous God wherefore I abhor myself and repent in dust and
ashes that's the gift of God many are the afflictions of the
righteous but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Well, it's a great blessing,
isn't it, to be delivered unto them all as you and I travel
on through this wilderness journey. And it's a wilderness journey
where if we're under the blessed influence and work of the Holy
Spirit of God, we'll find sometimes we groan. We groan because of
that which is within us. People may not see anything wrong
at all. When the Holy Spirit comes and
reveals himself unto us, it is then that we groan. Yes, what a mercy it is then,
for in this, as the Apostle says, in this we groan, earnestly desiring
to be delivered from this body of sin and death. Affliction
takes possession of us, our own sins. We can't blame anybody
else. We can't turn and say, well,
that was because so-and-so brought me into that position. No, you
and I will stand guilty before a holy God, and we will recognize
the truth of this. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Well, how merciful it is that
the word of God refers us to these great truths and the Apostle
Paul when he wrote to the Romans that wonderful epistle again
he directs us so very clearly and he says this in 22nd verse
for we know that the whole creation groaneth and traveleth in pain
together unto now well he was able to say O wretched man that
I am Who shall deliver me from this death? He knew what it was. And so he says, And not only
they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit,
even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption,
to wit, the redemption of our body. See when we're in this
condition of affliction, And generally the worst afflictions
are because of our departure from God, because of our sinful
propensities. It makes us cry out, can ever
God dwell here? Well here we have then this example
written by a godly apostle who knew very much what it was to
endure afflictions. As we I'm sure know in the second
of Chronicles we have that long list of all the afflictions that
the Apostle had to endure. A whole list of afflictions.
And it wasn't easy. But you know, he passed through
those afflictions. And then also the Lord gave him
a thorn in the flesh. an affliction we're not told
what it was but it was an affliction and he desired the Lord obviously
very sincerely on three times the Lord would take it away the
Lord didn't see fit to sometimes in our little lives the Lord
doesn't see fit to free us perhaps from some situation but what
the Lord did was this He blessed him. And how did he bless him? He told him, My grace is sufficient
for thee. Yes, the unmerited favour of
God. Oh, that was sufficient for Paul. He says, Most gladly, therefore,
I endure. Most gladly. Because God was
with him. Because God was blessing him. And that surely is the wonderful
mark of the work of God in our hearts, in our souls. Not dealing
with us as our sins deserve, but blessing us with His presence
and blessing us with His favour. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. The Lord
has various ways of delivering us, as we're delivered through
the things of time, but we should just think that there will one
day be that final deliverance when we shall be delivered from
the body of sin and death, and we shall go by the grace of God
and to be with Christ, which is far better. And that is an
eternal deliverance. And that is a tremendous blessing
that the Church of God can look forward to, as the Lord sees
fit, as you and I travel through this life, to endure those afflictions,
the many afflictions, and to look forward to that final deliverance,
when, by the grace of God, when through the glorious work of
the Saviour, we shall be amongst the redeemed of the Lord, with
all our sins forever washed away, however bad or as Job said, however
vile they are, they are all removed, because we are complete in Him,
we are cleansed through the precious blood of Christ, the blood of
the Lamb, the blood of the Lamb of God, that taketh away the
sin of the world, that is deliverance, isn't it? His free deliverance. What a blessing if you and I
receive it. And all God's people will receive
it. Everyone who arrives safe home
in heaven will have been brought home through being delivered. The Lord delivereth him out of
them all. Well, may we truly come tonight
and thank God that we have a God who is indeed very gracious and
very merciful, this Saviour who has redeemed us from all our
sin, that is the deliverance that you and I so need so much.
Bless God, all those who are righteous, all those for whom
Christ died will be amongst the redeemed of the Lord and will
one day be found safe at home in glory. Well may God bless
his word and may we be numbered indeed amongst these people and
join with David and join with Paul and join with Jeremiah and
Isaiah and there's others as well we can think of Moses and
we can think of Daniel all those you see had to endure afflictions
but they were all delivered and that applies to every child of
God and may we rejoice in it may we tonight go on away rejoicing
to know that this Word is true. It's true for every child of
God, and to have the application that it's true of you and me.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers
him out of them all.