Sinners Jesus will receive, sound
this word of grace to all, who the heavenly pathway lead, all
who linger, all who fall. Sing it o'er and o'er again,
Christ receive the sinful man. Make the message clear and plain,
Christ receive Come and He will give you rest. Trust Him, for His word is plain. He will take the sinful list. Christ receiveth sinful men. Sing it o'er and o'er again. Christ receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain
Christ receiveth sinful men Now my heart condemns me not Pure
before the law I stand, He who cleansed me from all spot, Satisfied
its lasting man. Sing it o'er and o'er again,
Christ receiveth sinful men. Make the message clear and plain,
Christ receiveth ? Christ receiveth sinful men ?
Even me with all my sin ? Purged from every spot and stain ? Heaven
with Him I enter in ? Sing it o'er and o'er again ? Christ
receiveth sinful men Make the message clear and plain. Christ receiveth sinful men. Our second hymn will be number
225. 225, I Heard the Voice of Jesus Say. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
come unto me and rest. Lay down, thou weary one, lay
down thy head upon my breast. I came to Jesus as I was, weary
and worn and sad. I found in Him a resting place,
and He has made me glad. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
behold, I freely give the living water. stoop down and drink and
live. I came to Jesus and I drank of
that life-giving stream. My thirst was quenched, my soul
revived, and now I live in Him. I heard the voice of Jesus say,
I am this dark world's light. Look unto me, thy morn shall
rise, and all thy day be bright. I looked to Jesus and I found
in Him my star, my sun. And in that light of life I'll
walk till traveling days are done. Thank you. You may be seated. I'm going to be reading this
morning out of Psalm 46. Psalm 46. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help in trouble. Therefore, will we not fear? though the earth be removed and
though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though
the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains
shake with the swelling thereof, Sela, there is a river, the streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place of the
tapernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. She
shall not be moved. God shall help her, and that
right early. The heathen raged. The kingdoms
were moved. He uttered his voice. The earth
melted. The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge,
Selah. Come, behold the works of the
Lord. What desolations he hath made
in the earth! He maketh wars to cease unto
the end of the earth. He breaketh the bow, cutteth
the spear in sunder. He burneth the chariot in fire. The weapons of our warfare aren't
carnal. That's what that's saying. Be still and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the heathen. I will be exalted in the earth.
The Lord of hosts is with us. The God of Jacob is our refuge. Jacob was the deceiver, the sinner. God receives sinful men. Let's pray. Lord, we come before you. We're
thankful that you've brought us where we can hear the gospel,
hear your Word. We ask that you'd give us your
Spirit. you'd help us to hear and help
us in speaking, help our brother to preach the Gospel. We ask that you'd be with our
brethren that couldn't be here today. We think of Scott in the
hospital and Johnny. We pray that you'd be with them,
comfort their hearts. We pray that you'd just be with
us in this hour. and give us ears to hear, give
us hearts to understand. We pray this all in Christ's
name, amen. All right, good morning, brethren.
All right, we're going to be in Psalm 102. Psalm 102. And I want to look with you at the
first 11 verses because there's a natural division in this psalm
between the first 11 verses and then the rest of the psalm. And these 11, they cover, they
give us the account of the cry of one who is in sorrow, one
who is greatly afflicted. And while the latter half of
the Psalm does speak of better things to come by the grace of
our Lord's hand, by his gracious gifts and kindness to us, there
is a treasure here in these first 11 verses. And we do see tokens
of the Lord's love and grace and kindness to the soul of the
afflicted and the one who is poor and suffering and even hurting. And yet we see here in these
verses these blessings that the Lord does for that child. And
that's what I want to cover with you this morning. Now, we know
that everyone in the world has afflictions, right? Everybody,
as far as we know, suffers to some degree. They have trials
and they have troubles and afflictions, but they either cause bitterness
and anger in them towards God, their understanding of God, right?
And they get angry with God and therefore find every excuse not
to believe God because they think, well, how can an angry, I mean,
how can a loving God do something like this or allow this to happen?
And having no light or understanding by the spirit of God, they just
assume that they know what's what, and they accuse God and
become angry and bitter by it. And others, they speak of learning
things, but it's just how to be more fleshly in the world. All their focus is on fleshly
things, right? And they become motivational
speakers for others because of what they learned in their affliction,
but it never leads to the praise and glory of the true and living
God. But when the child of God has
an affliction, goes through a time of affliction and trying, they're
drawn to the Lord. They're brought near to the Lord
and they seek the Lord in the affliction. The affliction doesn't
turn them away from God. The affliction rather draws them
nearer to the Lord. And so they look to God for an
answer. And the scriptures tell us that
those who seek the Lord for an answer, they shall receive an
answer from the Lord and they shall hear from him and he shall
bless them even in the midst of their trial. So I've titled
this, Hope in the Affliction. Hope in the Affliction. All right,
the prayer here, it's the prayer of of the psalmist, it actually
says even before verse 1, it reads, "...a prayer of the afflicted
when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the
Lord." Verse one, we begin here with this prayer that the psalmist
has, this one. It's not attributed to David.
They're not exactly sure because it speaks of one who's looking
at their whole people, their whole land, their whole nation
being destroyed and wasted away. It's called the Patriot's Plain
is how the theologians remember it. It's the cry of the patriot,
the one who loves their people, and seeing them being destroyed.
And that happened quite a lot in Judah and in Israel, so they're
not exactly sure who wrote it or when. But the psalmist here
certainly hits a mark that we all that believe in hope in the
Lord can identify with, because every one of us has been afflicted
and been tried and tested and gone through trials, and felt
sorrow, and felt hurt, and suffering, and loss to various degrees,
every one of us. So it's appropriate for us all.
Now verse one, he begins, hear my prayer, oh Lord, and let my
cry come unto thee. Now the first thing we should
understand is that it's fitting for us to cry this, right? It's fitting for us to pray and
cry out to the Lord, hear my cry, Lord, hear my prayer. Hear
me, Lord, right? The Syrophoenician woman said,
help me, Lord. And we cry asking him to hear
our prayer because we're being afflicted. And when we're afflicted,
what usually goes through our mind when we're afflicted. We
usually begin to go through the history of our sins, right? And the catalog of sins that
really stand out to us and we often wonder, is this it? Is the Lord dealing with me now
because of that thing I said or did a week ago? Or that thing
I said or did 20 years ago, or that thing I said or did 40 years
ago, right? We have things that really sting
us, and we think, this is it, God's going to get me. I knew
it. I knew he was going to get me.
And so, thinking that, we're wondering, is the Lord even going
to hear my prayer to him now? Is he even going to hear? Does
he want to hear from me? Is he angry with me? And so,
We do supplicate the Lord. We do ask, Lord, hear my prayer,
hear me. And then he prays and let my
cry come unto thee, which is also fitting for us to cry out
and to pray because the reality is there's no one that can help
us. Oftentimes in those afflictions,
there's a few that once in a while someone can help us, but oftentimes
in those afflictions, no one can help us. We'll speak, we'll
pour out our heart to a friend, to someone that's near to us,
people that we know care for us, and we'll tell them what's
on our heart, but we know that all they can do is listen. They can't lift the burden, they
can't do anything to make it go away, to clear it up, right? And so it's fitting that we should
cry out to him and ask him to hear us because who is going
to help us? There's only one that can hear
us and there's only one that truly can heal our hearts and
help us and lift that burden from us and provide any hope
for us. And so These things, that first
verse there, it is fitting for the child of God who is desperate,
who doesn't know what's going on or why this has suddenly come
upon them. And they're searching and scrambling,
right? We usually fall to fleshly things
wondering, is this because of that thing I did? And often it's
not. The Lord deals with us in grace
and in mercy and in love and tenderness. And so it's not because
he's getting us, right? He doesn't punish his children. He may chasten his children for
their good, but he never punishes his children. Christ bore the
punishment of his children, and you're not bearing that punishment.
You may be being taught or grown, but you're not being punished
in the Lord. And so we may have comfort in
this. I bring it up because I want
you who are afflicted and crying out to the Lord to be comforted
because there's something there. That very prayer which is formed
in your heart wasn't put there by your flesh. It was put there
by the Spirit who made you tender. You didn't become bitter and
angry with God and turn away from Him, but rather you were
made soft to turn to the Lord. And I'm not saying that we never
feel or think a bitter thought, right? For which we think, what
am I, what's going on, Lord? Why do I think these thoughts?
We do, but the Lord delivers us from them and keeps us ever
looking to him and confessing, Lord, you're just, you're right,
and I'm wrong in those times. But we may take comfort because
even if there is some sin that you think that you're thinking
of and you think this is happening for that, the very reality is
the Lord is drawing you to himself. tenderness and he's giving you
that prayer to to seek him and you're requesting his help and
that's grace right if you're turned to the Lord that's that's
a work of his kindness and love and grace those are turned away
from the Lord that's that's a mark that they never knew the Lord
that they're reprobate and have no part in the Lord at all And
the Lord, the reason why it's so encouraging that you're praying
is because the Lord will be sought. He will be sought by His people
and those that seek Him will find Him, He says. They will
find Him. you know even even you that think
it's of sin just just think of Israel right how often did Israel
rebel against God and seeing the things they saw and hearing
the things they heard and participating in the worship of God, in spite
of all that, they were rebellious and people with a lot of sin
that the Lord dealt with among them. And when Moses was finishing
up the books, the first five books, in Deuteronomy there,
that last book, and he's recounting to Israel. He's speaking to them
and starts cataloging or outlining all the sins that they're going
to come into as a nation. They're going to fall into idolatry.
They're going to worship the works of men's hands. They're
going to do that which is wicked and just a breaking of the Lord's
law And he says in Deuteronomy 4.29, but if from thence. If
from your lowest part of your life. the worst you've ever seen yourself
and the most horrible thoughts that you've descended down into. If from thence, from that deep,
deep valley of that which you're disturbed by in yourself and
think how could such a thing be, if from thence thou shalt
seek the Lord thy God, Thou shalt find him if thou seek him with
all thy heart and with all thy soul. And the Lord adds to these
words. He repeats these words in the
gospel. And he says to us in Luke 11,
10, he that seeketh findeth, and to him that knocketh the
door shall be open to them. And he encourages us that if
you ask, You'll receive an answer. The Lord will hear you. And it's
because the child of God has none that can help them. We are
dependent utterly upon the Lord. And it's these afflictions and
troubles and sorrows and weaknesses that we see in ourselves. That's
how we see that we're weak. That's how we come to know our
dependence upon the Lord. He brings these things that we
see I'm not going to let you go off in the flesh and perish
in your sin and be dealt with under wrath like the children
of wrath are going to come into. I'm going to stop you, the Lord
says. I'm going to make you to see your need of me and you're
never going to depart from me. And I'm gonna make sure that
you know who your God is and who it is that saves you. He promises that, to do that
for his children. And so we may think he doesn't
wanna hear us, but the very good that we see in the affliction
reveals to us that, Lord, I need you. I can't go anywhere, but
you save me and deliver me and help me. in this very trial,
and so he helps us in that. So hear my prayer, O Lord, and
let my cry come unto thee. It's a very fitting prayer for
one who is afflicted. Be encouraged if you're praying
to the Lord and crying out to him. That's different than this
world, right? And then verse two says, Hide
not thy face from me in the day when I am in trouble. Incline
thine ear unto me in the day when I call. Answer me speedily. Now, the comfort we're going
to find is actually in the very one who appears to be hidden
from us, right? He's withdrawn, it appears he's
withdrawn himself from us and why we've come into this this
time, and so that first comfort that we receive is knowing, Lord,
I'm only seeking you and crying out to you. You've done this,
and it's for my good. You're causing me to seek you. And we seek the Lord Jehovah
in the one in whom he reveals himself to us. It says, hide
not thy face. Well, the very face that we need
to see of God is going to be revealed to us in His Son, Jesus
Christ. He said, well, Paul wrote in
2 Corinthians 4, 6, he said, for God who commanded the light
to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. And so, we're going to hear of
the Lord and know what our God is saying to us in his son Jesus
Christ. And I, you know, having experienced
many painful times in my life, being afflicted with sin or just
various troubles that I came into, one of the, you know, I
used to always think, well, how do I How do I know that I'm not
being dealt with like the wicked where he says, I'll mock you
in the day of your calamity, right? The wicked. How am I supposed
to have any comfort that I'm not the wicked being mocked now
like the wicked are mocked, right? Because that usually is what
enters into our heart. We think this is it. I must be
one of the castaways. The difference is that when the
Lord cried out, meaning when the Lord declared His gospel,
you heard His gospel. You believed His gospel. You believed God, what He says
concerning your salvation. You heard that word and said,
Lord, that's it. That is the hope, my hope. That's the hope of the sinner
and that's my hope. Because I'm a sinner and I can't
save myself and I believe you Lord. I know that it's only by
Christ and that's hearing the Lord. So he says you that hear
me and believe my word. I'll hear you. You may not feel
like the greatest Saint at all, but you've heard his word. And
you didn't say, no, that's not it. It's my works, right? Those
are the wicked, those who reject what the Lord's declared in his
gospel, who've rejected the Son, and those who say, that's not
salvation. It's gotta be something I do,
right? But no, the Lord's taught you. He's declared and preached
and proclaimed his word in your hearing, and by the work of the
Spirit, giving you faith and heart, you've heard and said,
Lord, That's true. You're true. Your son is true. He is the Savior. Save me, Lord. Have mercy upon me. And so when
you come into trouble, he says, you that cry out to me, who know
that I am salvation, I'll hear you. I won't deal with you the
way I deal with the wicked. I won't cast you off and cut
you out. Your affliction will be for your
good. your affliction I'm drawing you
near to myself and that's the difference that's how you can
know right you don't you didn't mock the Lord right you may not
you still some like some of you I think wonder still am I the
Lord did he die for me but you didn't mock him you didn't say
I don't think you're the Savior you said you're the Savior save
me Lord have mercy on me help me Lord don't don't leave me
behind and so you heard him And you that hear him, when you cry
out, he says, I will hear you. And I'll give you an answer to
them that cry unto him. And he listens for that. He looks
for that in the earth. Look down at verses 19 and 20.
Psalm 102, 19 and 20 says, for he hath looked down from the
height of the sanctuary from heaven did the Lord behold the
earth to hear the groaning of the prisoner to loose those that
are appointed to death. And so he hears those that, and
answers them that have heard him, right? He brings that affliction
to teach them and to draw them, to answer them, to know, Lord,
am I yours? He's answering you even in the
affliction and bringing you to see, Lord, you're my God, and
you're my hope, and I have nothing apart from you, and so look for
your Lord in the day when you are in trouble, and in the day
when you call, look for Him to answer you speedily. It doesn't
mean that He's going to resolve it in an instant, right? It doesn't
mean that necessarily that it's gonna be resolved and everything's
taken care of, but know that you are heard. When you're broken
and crying out to Him, He's heard you already. That's why you're
broken and crying out to Him and are brought to your knees
and brought to sorrow and have turned to Him. He's already answered
you before you even ask. So it may not be resolved right
away, but He's already answered you and shown you, I'm doing
this. My hand is in it and it's for
my purpose and will in your life. So trust Him. In that regard,
you know, I remember when the Lord was dealing with me, even
in my youth, even before I understood the gospel. And I'm not saying
I was saved at this time, but the Lord was very, very merciful
to me as an undeserving sinner. And there were times where I
prayed and I know the Lord answered that prayer that very day, sometimes
within an hour. And I saw those things answered.
I knew the Lord has done this. But as I grew in grace, as I
came to know the truth and believed that Christ is all my salvation,
all my hope, some of those prayers weren't answered so quickly.
And a lot of those prayers weren't answered so quickly. In fact,
they went on and I was taught patience. And then I was taught
experience, waiting upon the Lord and waiting upon Him. And that lengthened in time and
where I can look back and say, the Lord has, He proves His people. He gives them that patience.
He works that out where we see the Lord is in us and we're patient,
right? We learn patience through that
experience, right? And there's a few articles in
the, the bulletin I think that speak of that. You think of Joseph
when he knew that the Lord had revealed to him that he would, many people would bow down to
him one day and he would be a ruler over many and yet here he was
in prison for years and he even interpreted the baker's dream
and yet he was forgotten for two years, forgotten, right?
And so Joseph learned patience and was a slave for many years
and he learned patience and experience through that and so the Lord
does do that but he answers his people we know that the Lord
has heard us because he's turned us to him in the first place
all right then he says verse 3 for my days are consumed like
smoke and my bones are burned as in hearth Well, afflictions
we know make us to know something about ourselves, right? That
we're mortal. We're gonna die and there's hardships
and there's trouble and sorrow in this life, right? They teach
us that and they have a way of drying up the sap of our youth,
right? And making us to know I'm not
invincible and I answer to another and we come to know that things
don't go our way in the way that we thought they did when we were
young and full of zeal and, you know, cockiness and confidence
about things, right? The Lord, over time, we all get
stripped of that to more or less to a degree of it, but through
the word of our God's power, he does strip us down of our
glory and he does humble us and show us our pride and show us
how we have nothing to be proud of. And he does that work. He makes us to feel the feeling
of our infirmity. He makes us to know what we are
in ourself and humbles us as needed, right? The language Here,
look at verse four, the language of the psalmist. Verse four says,
my heart is smitten and withered like grass so that I forget to
eat my bread. Look at verse 11. For my days
are like a shadow that declineth and I am withered like grass. Where have we heard that before? Withered like grass, right? Go
over to Isaiah 40. You see it there in Isaiah 40,
verses seven and eight. We're told right here that this
is the Spirit's work, to wither the flesh, which is grass. He says there, verse seven, the
grass withereth, the flower fadeth, because the Spirit of the Lord
bloweth upon it, surely the people is grass. The grass withereth,
the flower fadeth, but the word of our God shall stand forever. And Peter adds, and this is the
word which by the gospel is preached unto you. And so through this
gospel word, the spirit ministers that word, blowing upon this
flesh, which is but grass, and it withers down, it withers away. We all know that we're gonna
one day die, but only the child of God is comforted in knowing
that Lord, my life is hid with God in Christ. What I am is with
you in Christ, and you're my all, and my confidence, and we
commit our lives to Him. We commit all our hope and all
our confidence to Him, being taught of the Spirit, knowing
that, what am I gonna do? What's the best I'm gonna do
here in this life, which is quickly ending, and what am I gonna mount
up in my flesh? What kind of kingdom? And who
cares if when I'm 80, it's all over anyway? All right? his people
that. And so we rejoice in his revelation
of Christ and his gospel word. And so the old man does fade
and does perish, right, and does wither away, but not that new
creation of Christ. That new creation of Christ does
not wither and fade away, but is strengthened. Paul said in
2 Corinthians 1.9, I'll read it, He says, as an apostle with
brethren laboring fervently for the Lord, he says, but we had
the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God, which raises the dead. You see, so there's many
types of afflictions and troubles and trials and tribulations and
sorrows. that come for many reasons all
to work that sentence of death in ourselves that we should not
trust in ourselves but in God who raiseth the dead and knowing
Lord I have life with you in that day and I'm so thankful
because I see how this is going nowhere but all my hope is in
Christ and what you've promised me in him. And so the old man
is perishing under that affliction, but the old man is renewed and
strengthened. And so the next thing we see
is that when we're afflicted, we're sick at heart, right? And
what happens a lot of times when you're sick? I know when I was
speaking to both Johnny and Scott recently, they both said separately,
I haven't eaten in days. I have no appetite whatsoever
to eat. And the Psalmist here says that
in verse four, I forget to eat my bread. Well, natural bread
is really easy to forget when you're full of something else.
And he tells us there in verse nine, what he's full of. He says,
for I've eaten ashes like bread and mingled my drink with weeping. Your cup's never running out
of liquid because it keeps filling up with your tears and you're
drinking that and you're feasting upon that which ails you and
is troubling you. You're just eating that all day.
You're just consuming what's really bothering you and the
affliction you're under. You're eating it. Your whole
life is burning down like ashes, as it were, and that's what you're
eating. And so you're full up on that,
and so like a sickness in the flesh, you're not hungry for
anything else. And, you know, healthy bread
Well, it's not healthy when you're eating the burnt up ashes of
what you had your hope in and had your comfort and joy in and
what you were resting upon. When that's all burned up, that's
not healthy bread to be feeding upon that, right? But the psalmist
continues. Look at verse five. He says,
but by reason of the voice of my groaning, my bones, cleave
to my skin." Well, this I found to be a tender thought, right?
Though it can be hard to believe when you're in the midst of the
affliction, but there's a reason for our hope and our comfort.
Well, we've been seeing this theme throughout, but it's here
even in this verse when it speaks of the voice of my groaning,
because it's got a spiritual meaning, right? That voice which
attends us. That groaning voice that's attending
this affliction by which we groan in the Spirit is the voice of
the Spirit, really. It's the voice of the Spirit.
And Paul said of this voice that we know of, which is the Spirit's
voice that helps us, he wrote of this in Romans 8, 26, when
he said, we know not what we should pray for as we are, but
the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered." And so there's a hope there that we are groaning, and
that we are crying out to the Lord, that we are turned to Him.
And there is hope in that, and there is comfort in the very
fact, right? Because as we cry out to the
Lord, and weep before Him and ask Him for His mercy and His
help for us in that hour when we need Him most. The hope is
that we're there because the Spirit has brought us there.
And even though we don't know how to get our words straight
and our thoughts straight and we're just there's just a groan
right we don't even know what to ask for to say but we're there
just before the lord groaning in the spirit there in that voice
It's a comfort and I don't mean to make it sound, I don't want
it to sound like I'm making light of our afflictions. I know that
there are sorrows and afflictions that are heavy and hard to bear
and not easy at all. I mean, where we feel real despair
and sorrow in our hearts, when it's all hitting us and coming
upon us and we don't know what we're doing or how to get our
thoughts straight about it. You know, even the, it's painful. If you look down, look at verse
10, Psalm 102 10. The psalmist says, because of
thine indignation and thy wrath, for thou hast lifted me up and
cast me down. And Think about that comparison
that the psalmist is saying there. You've lifted me up, I had a
little hope that it was all going to turn around for good, and
then SLAM! Back down again I go. And then
I get lifted up, and then BAM! Back down again. And lifted up,
and BAM! Back down again. And that's hard. Right? I was thinking about this
the other day. I was out in the garden, digging
up the sweet potatoes. My soil isn't fully amended yet
there. It's very clumpy and clay like
still and so when I pick up a big, big wad that would come off the
hill. I didn't know if there were sweet potatoes in there,
so I'd take that big clod up and I'd BAM! Slam it down on
the ground, and then if it didn't break up fully, I'd pick it up
again, and I'd slam it down again, and then I'd pick it up and slam
it down three, four times. Because you don't just stick
a shovel in there, you might cut through a potato. But, you
know, it did reveal that fruit. And there are times where we go through very hard afflictions
where we just feel like we're being pummeled and slammed down
up and down and up and down and it doesn't seem to go away and
every time we had a hope it got dashed away, but the Lord's in
it, and the voice of our groaning there is witnessed in the Spirit
who attends that prayer and keeps us ever looking, not going astray,
but keeps us looking to the Lord. And it says there, we see the
effect here, by reason of the voice of my groaning, verse 5,
my bones cleave to my skin. Because I'm groaning, this voice
by which I'm groaning, not even knowing how to pray, my skin
cleaves to my bones. And I was reading that there's
a man named Joseph Carroll, I don't know who he is, but he said,
when the bones cleave to the skin, both are near cleaving
to the dust. And that's really a good picture. That physical starvation and
wasting away is a very good picture of what the Lord works in His
children through the affliction, right? In the wasting away of
this flesh, right? It's near to death, and that's
exactly what the Lord is doing in slaying that old man and wasting
it away. And it's spiritual that I'm speaking
of. I am speaking spiritually of
what the Spirit does for us. He kills this old man of flesh
and lays him in the dust. Brings him to nothing in himself
and lays him there in the dust. But there's that The comfort
there, the next comfort scene there is what Christ has done
for us in salvation. That's the very thing that he's
purposed to do for us in salvation, right? He was crucified, and
we were crucified with him. And this old man is meant to
perish and to be laid down, and it's already done by our Savior,
Jesus Christ, right? First in conversion, He slays
this old man, and then through various trials and afflictions
and hardships, this old man is wasted away. We don't serve the
Lord in all our power and might and glory. We serve the Lord
in weakness in ourselves, and in not the brightest of people,
and not the strongest of people, and not the wealthiest or the
greatest or the strongest. we're brought low that we would
see clearly that this is the work of our God and not our work
and that we have nothing to glory and in there Paul wrote in Romans
6 verse 5 and 6 he said for if we have been planted together
in the likeness of his death we shall be also in the likeness
of his resurrection knowing this, that our old man is crucified
with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth
we should not serve sin." And so, you know, we that are afflicted,
we fill up on those burnt up ashes, and it's not healthy,
it does nothing for us, and we waste away, this flesh wastes
away in those afflictions. But the Lord gives us an appetite
in that affliction for that spiritual heavenly bread. And so we trust
that that's that bread from heaven. We look to Christ and we trust
him. He says in John 6, 15 and 51,
this is the bread which cometh down from heaven that a man may
eat thereof and not die. We can eat the bread of affliction
and we will die, but you that eat the bread from heaven, that
new man won't die. That new man is strengthened.
The old man wastes away under the affliction and the new man
is fed, trusting in and looking to Christ. He said, I am the
living bread which came down from heaven. If any man eat of
this bread, he shall live forever. And the bread that I will give
is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world, all
right? The wicked, when they heard that
word, they were angry with Christ. They didn't understand it, and
they were angry with him. But do you believe? Do you believe
that Christ is the bread of life, that he is your life and light
and hope? All right, that's what he's teaching
his people. So to you that believe, he says
in Colossians 2, verses 10 through 12, were told ye are complete
in him which is the head of all principality and power in whom
also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without
hands in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the
circumcision of Christ. He did that in salvation, and
he continues to circumcise this heart. He makes us to hear it. We are circumcised, so that we
do respond and do groan by the voice of the Spirit in those
afflictions, looking to him alone, buried with him in baptism, wherein
also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of
God, who hath raised him from the dead. Afflictions, they are
painful, but the Lord, he brings the morning of hope to his children.
You that have been afflicted, especially more than once, you
know that the Lord brings his morning of hope and joy and peace. Turn over to Lamentations 3. Lamentations 3, I heard a A thing
I think is a good word that's appropriate here, you know, the
preachers were compared to stars in the heavens, right? The stars there in Revelation,
they're a picture of the preacher, the gospel preacher preaching
the word. And we preach that word, and you come and you hear
that word until the day star arise in your hearts. Meaning,
we preach that word, we're just a star there in the night sky,
But when the Son of Righteousness rises up, the Lord Jesus Christ,
all those stars disappear in the sky. They're there, but you
don't see them anymore, and you see Christ. And so you that suffer
affliction, the Lord's brought you here to hear His gospel word,
to comfort you, to teach you, instruct you through the affliction,
and to be comforted because you are still looking to Him. And
so I'm declaring that as a star, but we until the the sun of righteousness
rise in your hearts and your comfort in that in that morning
sun and so lamentations there this is jeremiah if you didn't
find it's between jeremiah and ezekiel that little book written
by jeremiah and he's you know the weeping prophet there who
saw his nation wiped out who saw people friends neighbors
and his kinsmen being destroyed by the enemy and he prays this
In Lamentations 319, remembering mine affliction and my misery,
the wormwood and the gall. It sounds like afflictions. My
soul hath them still in remembrance and is humbled in me. This I
recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. I've been brought
to see that this is of the Lord and therefore I have hope. It's
of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because his
compassions fail not." All right? The new man isn't consumed. The
old flesh is consumed and wasted away, but not the new man. They
are new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness. And so that one who's consumed,
they don't pray, right? They're no more. They have no
part in Christ. But you that are praying and
groaning that's a good thing that the Lord has done for you.
So this salvation, it's a spiritual birth of which the carnal mind
knows nothing of. The carnal mind can't enter into
it and they don't understand what the Lord's doing, but the
child of God discovers that there is a gift in the affliction. He's showing us his tokens of
mercy and love and sustaining us and keeping our hearts ever
looking to him. That's the hope that we have
in the affliction, right? That we're seeing and looking
to the power of his resurrection that we should, you know, we
have the sentence of death in ourselves that we should not
trust in ourselves, but in God, which raises the dead. So be encouraged brethren and
trust the Lord in the affliction, hope in the affliction. So I
pray that he comfort your heart, you that, either are going through
affliction or have experienced affliction or shall soon experience
affliction, but that we remember the Lord in it. Amen. Our gracious
Lord, we thank you, Father, for your word and how you comfort
your people, even in the midst of the affliction, before we
come to that deliverance from it. Lord, we may take hope, we
may have hope, and comfort of you, even while we're suffering. And Lord, we pray for those who
are suffering and those who are afflicted. Lord, that you would
have mercy upon our brethren, that you would help us, strengthen
us to remember that we've heard your word. And Lord, though our
faith is weak, Though we are weak in ourselves, Lord, we have
heard your word and do confess that salvation is of the Lord
and not of us, and we have no hope but you. And so, Lord, we
ask that when we are afflicted, we would be comforted knowing
that you shall hear our cry, for we have heard your cry, and
that was your work in us. And therefore, you hear the cry
of your people. We pray, Lord, that you Bless
your people now. Comfort us and teach us and grow
us in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior, Jesus
Christ. It's in his name we pray, amen. Our closing hymn will be number
272, The Solid Rock, 272. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When darkness veils His lovely
face, I rest on His unchanging grace. In every high and stormy
gale, My anchor holds within the veil. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. His oath is covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood. When all around my soul gives
way, He then is all my hope and stay. On Christ the solid rock
I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. When he shall come with trumpet
sound, O may I then in him be found, Dressed in his righteousness
alone, Faultless to stand before the throne. On Christ the solid
rock I stand, All other ground is sinking sand. All other ground
is sinking sand. Despite walking around, Yeah, but it actually got to
get help because it stopped him from progressing. He stayed there. Every spider is good now, except
the brown recluses. I leave all the other spiders.
Of course, I've got to figure out which ones eat the brown
recluses and they kill all the other ones, because the brown
recluses, they feed off the weaker ones. But the daddy longlegs,
they do kill. Because their venom is more powerful,
I guess. So I always leave daddy longlegs. But he doesn't have an ability
then. Well, he has a way, I guess.
But even though they stay on the ground, that could hurt. The dialogue is usually down
on the ground. They're only watching the little
ones. They go in the corners of the big closets. They have
trouble climbing in. But they can climb on the walls. Yeah, I've seen them, and even
sprayed them in the closets. And then spray, and then I brought
the exterminator out. About six weeks later, he came
and there was none that we found with the spray. Oh, like the
spray foam stuff? Yeah. Yeah, they can probably come
in, I know they're in the garage. Water. They had little ones up on the
ceiling, the popcorn ceiling. So we went around and struck
them all up with this vacuum cleaner. We found like three
of them. Like you had to use a flashlight
because you didn't even quite see them, but then you could
see their shadows. It was, yeah, it was a little
tight, yeah. But they were just little guys. I don't know what
they were. They could have grown up to be something. I'll be by myself this evening.
Eric is driving back with everybody. I'm going to spray everything,
my doorways, garage door. That's good. All around my garage,
so it doesn't stain. Yeah. Through all the corners. Yeah, indeed. I should do that,
too. I love you so much, Eric. So
I'm trying. As soon as I see mine, I'll get
in the car. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll
go around the whole house. So since he's in his seat, it's
actually not going to hurt anybody. I do usually like when I'm done
spraying, I'll like hit a certain area of the house, but I never
do the whole thing. I never dedicate a whole thing
of it to that. That's what she said. Right,
right. I'm going to go crazy if there's stuff all over the
house. There usually was nothing in
those but it was always I think it's dry tomorrow. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Not muddy and not
excessively dry. Yeah. in there, I'm going to be mulching
that stuff in and re-putting every, any and everything So after you do your final tilling
for a fall, you just throw the ash all over and the rain will
take it down. So what we do is allow that.
She's a mess. My kid's just a mess. green peppers, and it was in
clay soil, just right on the ground. I didn't know what I
was doing, and those things gave me an abundance. I was warming
up in years. I don't even know if I ate one
of them that year, maybe two short-term. I should've been
giving away, I don't know what happened. This was up in Quakertown,
PA, and it just abundant. Then I was like, all right, now
I'm gonna get some peppers, never again. Now, and even to this
day, this year was okay, but then, The first year, yeah. Yeah, it
was in the ninth grade. Oh, okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I
mean, all they ever had was never even a garden. It was like, boo-boo!
I'd never seen so many gardens. I had a giant, just non-stop
draw. Six, almost six points. 15, 20
covers each point. We had a nice, large round, and
then we got down to a giant square. It's like, you're smaller, and
you get up there, we get a full draw, and you're waiting for
them to turn orange. We got our own green, and we're
waiting to see the orange or red. And that was maybe half
of that. And they didn't know what we were up to. I helped
Gary wax kids. Phenomenal. Yeah, and they, I
believe them as yellow, orange, and red, right? It's delicious. If you want a little kick in
your sauce, you just cut them up fine, put them in a pan, and
then chop them up and throw them in your sauce. It's just a nice,
easy sauce to make. Four sauces for the menu. I think
it's good. It's a good one to have. Yeah,
I'm still learning. I'll take srirachas, or serranos,
or some garam mass. I just have it laying on the
table. I'll just grab it. I'm doing a spaghetti sauce.
I'm doing some canning. Get that, and one can of tomato
paste, thicken it up, and then those little peppers. But I like
to do a little kick to my sauce. I'm not a spice guy. I like a
little hint. Now it's funny, I thought a supreme
pizza, if you put it on the end of the shell, crunchy, and I
can eat it, but not if it's been cooked. I'm not a big... It gives
it a balance. The hot peppers aren't like the
green peppers. It's very different. Yeah, the more sweeter the peppers,
the later ones, because they're sweet. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I don't think she loves peppers,
does not love onions. I love onions, and I do not love
peppers. But I'm learning. I like peppers a little more.
I've learned how to use them to make use of them. Yeah, wheat. Man, these leeks that we got
from this guy, I don't think I'll have them again. I actually
bought some seeds for leeks because I didn't realize how much I liked
the taste of the chewing leek. You just chew it, and you're
like, wow, this is tender. It's like candy to me. Yeah,
well, you're right. It was good. It was good. It's like that roasted garlic. Yeah, yeah. It's amazing how you can eat
roasted garlic straight. I was hoping to get a lot. I
do actually have a lot of clothes. I don't know what I'm going to
do, but I have to do that. But they're all about this big. I mean, the whole head got like
that big. I didn't get like any giant ones
this year. I just got something like this
big. Yeah. I did hybrid, and then
I did a seed one from a triceratops, like an actual seed. I've got
two kinds now. I'm going to take them on this
year and I'm going to start them in November. What do you think,
yours is in November, right? I'm going to do, yeah, I'm going
to do that last year. So I'm going to do November this
year. I have two kinds. I'm going to
see how it goes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
yeah, yeah, yeah, I had one carrot that was good
and all the other ones were like... and put the light in it, and
it's really good. I've never seen a big carrot
like they did in Marshall State. We made one meal of a carrot,
and it's just, well, everybody's a carrot. My goodness. I think
of Washington as being just loads of, all that debris that comes
down from the rain, and it's probably just beautiful soil.
I don't think it's beautiful soil. Well, they say after this,
they say, oh, I don't know, I haven't been here in like more than a
year. And not only that, it actually
did the world. It refurlished and changed the
world. That cloud went all the way around
the world, all the way to Asia. I used to wait digging a hole
there because I didn't have no water. Yeah, I remember I switched
when I went there. I was going to redo my drain
line on my subway. When I happened to dig, I used
John's stockboat. I happened to dig and I hit a
pretty old one. So I took it back to where I
went down. As far as I would go, it won't be a sandy top zone. It's beautiful. So I mean, it
must just be, yeah, it's probably from like volcanic eruptions
over hundreds of years before, and then like all the foliage
just became down there and died off. Yeah, it's true. Maybe you
just got it the right way. Because you only got six inches
in the window Right, yeah, exactly. Because
you can dig this deep. Maybe the lake was just bigger
back two billion years ago. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, the blue zone? But, yeah,
you're saying you're going to get me starved every day. And
David kept in touch. Obviously, he had an interaction,
but she said, you're not interested in sure, so. It's not bad if
you have one. Captain's touching everything.
Yes, yes, so it's all good. Oh, that was a weird one. No,
she's known him for a long time, and finally, he's like, Are you going to, are you leaving
on like Friday? I'm leaving Thursday actually. I'll leave right after on Thursday
and then I have to run some errands that morning. Help them pack
some, see where they are. Get the truck on Friday. It's been a couple of days. but they extended me for one
month. I said, all right, but you've
got to leave before we know. But he seems like a nice guy. Yeah. Yeah. I just want him out
of there. I don't like seeing him driving
on the road again. So I was like, this is the last
day. I didn't want it to be over the
weekend. I didn't want it to be then.
It's like, I remember a new picture. You might get there, you might
not. I think that was helpful. I left
another one. Yeah. So 10 to the T and more
next Sunday. Yeah, in my classroom, if somebody
coughed or sneezed, everyone would be able to see. I never even realized that when
I got out of the plastic factory. The guys carried it up to my
truck. But he had the other one in the
office so I never saw it. They're special orders, they
come from the warehouse. I mean, this was like a big deal.
The other one's perfect, you know, so. I was like, how random
is this? You should have a QC or something
like that somewhere. Yeah, well it's probably from
shipping, you know. It's probably from the factory, actually. Big hole in the car and nobody
looks at it. They ran into a job over four weeks. Open the box
and here's a porcelain from right through the tub. So at least
now we got away in those four weeks. Oh yeah. Here is just a number. That's what I told Blake. I said,
you know, we didn't see it. I was working the other day and
I seen him dropping the camera off. Me? No. Oh, yeah, Cooper. Is he still
with Cooper? Yeah. Is he in the neighborhood
by you or not? He's, uh, You know where they're
building new houses over there and crossing us? Across the highway,
you know where that discount store is? Yeah, yeah. On that
road that runs behind, like, where it tracks the road? Yep.
Isn't that new development where they're building a whole new
home? He lives in there. It's a brand new home. Great. Him and his
father. Oh. And mother-in-law. Oh. But that's, I mean, that's
not too far, is it? My point was that- She, I don't
know what happened. It might be helpful because we
might have to unload it. Depends on how I have to pack
it. We're gonna bring some things to storage. I thought my grandkids might
be able to do the pogo boxes. Well some of it too, we're going
to have to think about what we're actually bringing in. It's going
to be crab. I wouldn't feed them too good, otherwise they're going
to stay a lot longer. be in the vicinity, just not
in the same house. I think I put it on heat. We're going to have to do the
waste paper baskets. I noticed there's a mention of
Biden. Oh, really? Oh, good. Yeah. Is that still
there?