that hymn that we sang at the
beginning, how God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform.
I know many of you know the story behind that hymn, how William
Cowper was a man of great depression, great, what they called then
melancholy. And one night he attempted to
commit suicide and got in the carriage and a fog rolled in. The carriage driver drove around
and then stopped the carriage and he said, Sir, I have no idea
where I'm at. I can't take you to the bridge. And William Cowper got out of
the carriage and he was at his home. And he wrote that hymn. God moves
in a mysterious way, his wonders to perform. Plants his footsteps
in the sea and rides upon the storm. Amazing. That's exactly the truth about
our God, is that he is absolutely sovereign, in control of every
minute detail, time and eternity. God says, I will do all my pleasure. People ask, What's going on? What's happening? I don't understand. God swears that you won't ever
understand. He says his ways are past finding
out. Well, if he said my ways are
past finding out, why would you even seek to labor to try to
find them out? You're not going to. You're not
going to know how God works all things together for the good
of his people. We believe he does. We believe he is, because
God said he would, and because he controls all things, he will
work all things together for our good. Remember, Don wrote
an article one time about that, all things working together.
He used the idea of a chemist. You take one compound that's
by itself deadly, You take another compound that by itself doesn't
do anything, and yet the chemist puts them together and it's a
medicine. That's what God does. One thing by itself, deadly. But in the hand of God, working
all things together for His people, it's good. May God give us the faith to
trust that all is well. Say you to the righteous, it
shall be well with him. I'm so thankful we serve a sovereign
God. I wouldn't know what to do if we served a God that depended
on me. Would you? I would know I'd be beside myself
all the time. If God depended on me, God depended on me, we're all
in trouble. He doesn't. He doesn't. I depend
on Him. I rest on Him. Remember those that are sick.
Please remember those that suffer in the mind, in the body, weakness. The body is frail, isn't it? We are in God's hands and our
times are in His hands. Went over that last time, Lord,
teach me to number my days, that I may incline my heart unto what
wisdom? Unto Christ. Christ. I know that
many people will speak to this now. I think the message will
speak to it as well. Many people are mourning the
death of that young man today. And I'm sure that a lot of people
are in churches now. I mean, probably a lot of people.
I remember when 9-11 happened. Remember that? Churches were
full. A lot of people make many decisions
for Jesus, I'm sure, this week, next week, next month, and they'll
blend politics and religion together. You watch, they'll blend it together,
they'll put it together. It won't last. It never has,
and it won't this time. I'm not saying anything disparaging
about the man, the man who was Seem to be a good man, had good
intentions, but that's not what it's about. I'm sure though that
this may redound also to the glory of God and cause many,
some people to come and hear the gospel. So that he might
call his elect, that would be good. I know that's, he will
do that, he will use it for that. So pray for this man's family,
obviously, and for the country. This country is a vile country.
It's not an upright country. It's not an upright nation. This
is a vile nation. At its best, and I'm talking
about its religions, this country has been a vile nation for many
years before these things happened. And the vileness stems from its
vile religion, false religion. But you watch, they'll have a
kumbaya moment, and everybody needs to just come together. We just need to get along. Catholics, Protestants, Baptists,
Pentecostals, Mormons, Jews. They said, oh, we just need to
get along. We all worship the same God. Watch. It'll happen. We need to remain firm. The gospel
is still the gospel. And Paul said, if any man preach
to you another gospel, let him be accursed. That's how serious
this is. There's only one gospel. Why?
There's only one God. There's only one Christ. And so we should preach Christ,
declare Christ in love, compassion, but not in compromise. I didn't
compromise. Let's go to him in prayer. Our
gracious Father, again we bow before you. We thank you for
the grace and mercy that you've given us this time that you have
brought us together. Lord, that you would open our
hearts and minds to receive the word even as You have given it
by your spirit. I do ask you this morning to
apply it to the hearts of your people. Oh, Father, I confess
my need of you. Without you, I can do nothing. I pray, Father, that you would
give me the strength of your spirit to declare your word and
open the hearts of your people to receive it. I ask you this
morning, Father, if there be any outside of Christ that you
would this day call them to yourself by the power of your Spirit and
regeneration in the new birth. Give them life and faith that
they should flee to Christ. And those who have laid hold
of Him, let us continually give us the strength and faith to
lay hold on Him continually. I do pray for our country. I
do pray for those people who are suffering, this man's family,
and others who weep. And those in the church that
are sick, those that are struggling in the body, I ask you for healing. I beg you for it. But again, we lay ourselves down
and say, not my will, but thy will be done. forgive us our sins, and lead
us, we pray in Jesus' name, for His sake. Amen. All right, if
you take your Bibles and turn back with me to Psalm 42. Psalm
42. I'm entitled to this message, A Conversation
With My Soul. conversation with my soul. Our text is found in verse 11. This is mentioned twice in this
verse 5 and verse 11, but verse 11 is the conclusion of the matter,
so we'll go there. David asked, Why art thou cast
down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted? Why are you mourning? within
me. Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God."
As a believer, when God was pleased to quicken us from death to life,
God showed us the corruption of our nature, our lost and hopeless estate, And by His grace we saw the beauty
of our Lord Jesus Christ. We saw the greatness of His person,
that He is God manifest in the flesh. We saw the perfection
of His work, how He came to earth to provide righteousness for
His people. and by His death should make
atonement for the sins of His people. And we saw the proof
of that success by His resurrection from the dead, that God raised
Him from the dead and now, right now, our Lord Jesus Christ has
been seated on the throne of glory where He rules all things
after the counsel of His own sovereign will. This is what God revealed to
us who believe. You who believe on Christ, you
know these things. These are the most glorious things that
God has revealed to us. Why? He's given us a new nature,
a new heart. But how do we come to know these
things? Was it not by the hearing of
the Word? Somebody came and preached to
us. The Lord sent someone. Paul said, so then, faith cometh
by hearing, and hearing by what? The Word of God. The Word of
God. What great proof of the inspiration
and infallibility of Scripture is that one who is born again,
the word of God is to us a companion, a counselor, and a friend. Now
before we were saved, this word was meaningless to us. It had
no meaning. Usually it just sat on the shelf
somewhere. I'm sure your family had a big one with all the names
of the people written in it. And it just gathered dust on
the thing. And then sometimes you'd take it down on family
occasions. You'd take it out. You'd probably
read the names and not really what was in it. You may have went to church and
took your Bible with you and opened it on occasion, but it
had no meaning to you until God saved you. Why? Because this, the natural
man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they
are foolishness to him. Ask somebody who don't believe
what this book is, and he'll tell you how foolish it is. He'll
tell you how empty it is, how horrible it is. It's foolishness
unto him. Neither can he know it. You got
that? It's foolishness to him, but
even if he tried, he could not understand it because he is spiritually
judged. That's 1 Corinthians 2 and chapter
2 and verse 14. But once God gave us the power
believe scripture says of his own will
begat he us by the word of truth who whose will begat you yours
or his it says of his own will begat he you by the word of truth
Peter said, You were born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible. Now what does he mean? By the
Word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. By this Word, you trusted Christ. Could you do anything else? When
you were lost in sin, you knew it, and Christ was revealed.
Could you do anything else but believe on Him? That's the power
of the Spirit. Was it a choice? It was a necessity.
I had to have Him or I'd die. We believed on Him. Jeremiah
says it like this, Thy words were found. By the grace and power of God,
these words now have meaning. I found them. Jeremiah said,
I did eat them. As one starving to death, I began
to eat. Thy word unto me is the joy and
rejoicing of mine heart." So if you've been quickened by the
spirit of life, if you've been redeemed by Christ and robed
in His righteousness, isn't this word necessary to
you, the word of God? It's necessary for everything
in our life. Now then, does this mean that
we are free from trouble? I've asked this question so many
times before, because I'm always surprised when I get in trouble.
I don't know about you, but it seems like it takes me by surprise.
What happened? Believers are not free from trouble.
In fact, when the moment you believe, your troubles increase.
You know why? Because you're no longer just
dealing with common troubles. Everybody has common troubles.
But now your troubles have increased because your troubles are now
spiritual troubles, heart troubles, soul troubles. We're afflicted not only without
but within the afflictions of spiritual nature, the afflictions
of the soul. That's what we're going to deal
with this morning, the affliction of the soul. David here says this, ìWhy art
thou cast down, O my soul?î I believe the idea here of being
cast down is like a sheep cast. When David was a shepherd, he
dealt with this constantly. A sheep, when it come time to
either bear young or it was too full of wool, gets too top heavy,
it casts. It falls down, and it cannot
right itself. And if left there, it would die.
What a good picture of our spiritual troubles. How often are we cast
down, unable to recover ourselves. So David asked this question,
Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And to what then, when
we are cast, do we go? Where do you go when you are
cast and you can't get up? When you're pinned to the floor,
where do you go? I normally just go to somebody,
anybody that'll listen to us. Anybody listen to my complaints,
that's exactly who I'm going to go to first. We should come to the same place
where we heard the gospel to begin with. We should come to
the Word of God to quicken us. It was by the Word the Spirit
restores our souls, and by believing God's promises of pardon, forgiveness
of sins by Christ, believing that the grace of God heals our
backslidings, and by this our souls are restored. How precious is His Word to you? And you neglect it, it's to your
own peril. It's to your own peril. You see, we're drawn to this
Word, to Christ, by the promises of this Word. We are guided by
its precepts. We are reproved and rebuked By
its exposing our sins, we are upheld and supported by its power. We walk by its light. As it is given to us by the Holy
Spirit as an instrument for our souls. So believer, when all else fails,
the Word of God will never fail you. The Word of God will never fail
you. Its power will never be diminished,
and its promises are always yes and amen in Christ. J.C. Philpott said this about
the Word of God. He said, The Word of God, its
wisdom meets every case, suits every circumstance, fills every
aching void, and is adaptable to every condition
of life and every state of body and soul. The Word of God is useful, and
that's what I long for it to be today, by the power of the
Spirit. By this Word you believe, and it is by this Word we live.
Where do we receive all our instructions for faith and practice? The Word
of God. The Word of God. Today we're
going to see in our text that David suffered afflictions just
like you did. Just like you and I. These spiritual
afflictions. And this is applicable then to
us as it was to David. So I pray that God the Holy Spirit
would teach us concerning this when our souls are cast down. Now I'm going to take this verse
as it comes. There are three divisions in
this verse. First of all, David's inquiry.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted
within me? Secondly, David's encouragement
to his soul. He inquires of his soul, now
he's going to encourage his soul. Here it is, hope thou in God. There's encouragement. Thirdly,
David's confident expectation. He says, I shall yet praise Him. In other words, I'm not yet there,
but I'm going to. Why? He's the health of my countenance
and my God. That's why. So first of all,
David's inquiry. Let's see this. He said, Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? Have you considered the value
of your soul? How valuable is your soul? Those who do not know Christ
place little value on the soul because they have no life. Because
they have no life. They mentally assent that they
have one, but it's like a stillborn child in her mother's womb, dead. It has no life. It feels no pangs
of guilt. It needs not Christ, nor does it love him or his gospel. Therefore, that soul is easily
exchanged for the lust and the pleasures of this life. It is
easily forfeited for the pleasure of the flesh. Now think of Esau.
How easily Esau traded his birthright for a bowl of porridge. That's
what men do all the time. They easily give up the soul.
It has no value to them. Eternal life, heaven, Christ,
has no value to them. They'll exchange it for what?
Porridge of the world. Our Lord asked this question
in Matthew 16. You can look there. Matthew chapter 16 concerning
the soul. Matthew 16 and verse 26. This
is a profound question regarding the soul. I believe the most
profound question that was ever asked. What is a man profited if he
shall gain the whole world and lose his own soul? Or what will
a man give in exchange for his soul? Seeing that all things in this
world are temporal and the soul exists forever, what are you
profited if you gain every temporal thing and lose that which is
eternal? Is that not the most foolish
exchange that you'd ever known? Yet this is what man does, naturally. But we who are quickened, we
understand the value of the soul. We have life in our soul, and
it is most precious to us. Why? Christ purchased it. How
much value is my soul that He shed His blood for it? How valuable is my soul that
He has redeemed it and made it to be righteous, acceptable before
God, and given me faith to believe in Him. So we, like Jacob, desire the
birthright more than the porridge. Why? Because that which is dead
is now living. That's why? That's why I value
the soul because I know it is what Christ purchased, Christ
redeemed. And now my soul is tender. I
feel my sin. I feel my need of Christ. There's an intimacy that I have
with my own soul. It's closer than any earthly
tie. Believer, have you not often
communed with your own soul? It's a very intimate conversation,
isn't it? And hopefully a very honest one.
David's having an honest conversation here with himself. And he's inquiring,
he is down, he is low, he is cast, and he can't get up. And he's asking the question
to his own soul, why? His faith therefore reasons with
his fears and hopes and argues against his sorrows. You do that?
I do. How often talk with my own
soul? How often do you try to reason
with your own soul? Sometimes it listens, sometimes
it don't. Sometimes it heeds these words
of exhortation, and sometimes it refuses. Matter of fact, David
had this same problem in Psalm 77. He said, my soul refused
to be comforted. Have you ever had that? Where
you just know that you shouldn't be this way, and your soul just
crosses his arms and says, I will not be comforted. God's taken something from me
and I'm not going to be comforted no matter what you say to me.
Believers can do that. So no wonder David sought to
comfort his soul by questioning it. And so he asked, Why art
thou cast down? Now, quickly, I'm going to give
you six reasons as to why the soul is cast. And then, when
I talk about hoping in God, I want to convey the hope against those
six reasons why you're cast down. First of all, sin, the guilt
of sin. This is the first one that does
it. This is the one that most often does it, is the feeling
of guilt. Feeling of guilt. There's nothing
that casts a believer down more than the guilt of his own conscience. Oh my soul, why art thou cast
from the heights of joy and gladness to the depths of sin and sadness? Are you made to feel the filth? Sometimes I just can't stand
to look at myself. Oh, this throws my soul into
a downward spiral. Guilt, the second one. is do you find so much more sin
working in your mind and manifesting itself in your members? Not only
the feeling of guilt, but the actual commission of sin seems
to be increasing. Well, that will cast you down. We long to walk after our Lord. We long to be righteous. We long
to do those things that are pleasing unto God. And yet daily I'm disappointed. Are you disappointed? I'm not
talking about somebody else. I'm disappointed with this. And that brings me down. Casts
me. David said I go mourning all
the day long. I mourn because of how little
of the image of Christ I see stamped on my own heart. Thirdly,
temptations of Satan will bring the soul down. His fiery darts
of accusation and the fiery darts that stir up corruption. He wants to get you on both ends.
He'll tempt you to do something. When you do it, then he condemns
you for it. It's constant, it's steady. His
accusations are like fire in our souls. So that we say, how
can I be a child of God? Tis a point I long to know. Often
it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am
I His or am I not? If I am, why am I thus? Why this
dull and lifeless frame? Hardly could they be worse who
knew the Savior's name. when we pray for His presence
and we cannot feel it. Oh, that brings my soul to despair
when I can't feel Him. We ask for His presence and we
get no response. David says in this psalm in verse
9, he said, why have you forgotten me? We long to hear from His lips,
but He seems to be silent. Doesn't that bring your soul
down? Fifthly, troubles and providence. Boy, this is one. You have sin,
guilt of sin, commission of sin. You have Satan tempting you and
stirring you. You lack to feel His presence,
and now the troubles of providence. This is one that is constantly
Causing us difficulty and I know that that's happening even today
even right now. We don't understand. We don't
know why Heavy trials with family Troubles in business and friends
They all seem against you. You know when dark providence
has come what brings our souls down is It appears to be in opposition
with the promises of God. That's what brings our soul to
despair. God promised us joy. He promised
us peace. We often forget He promised us
trouble too. With providence. I don't know
what I was telling Terrence in the beginning. I've been more
inclined to read Ecclesiastes and I guess that just comes when
you get older. You're more inclined to read
about that, but one of the things that vexes men is that we don't
have any idea what's happening next. That vexes us, doesn't it? We
thought, we work, we labor, we think it's going to come, this
outcome, and it comes totally different. Doesn't that bring
your soul down? Ryder Ecclesiastes says it's
vexation of spirit. And sixthly, when the Word of
God and prayer are a burden. Doesn't this bring you down?
When you go to the Word of God and you seek to read and it becomes
a task. When you pray and it seems as
though the windows of heaven are closed. All of these things enter in
and if it's not just one, it's multiple of these. Or all of
these at once that bring us soul down. Notice this. He said, Why art thou disquieted? Why do I mourn aloud? You know,
there's times where you can just keep it in. And then there's
a point where you can't keep it in any longer. And they said,
That's where I'm at. He said, Why are you at this
point where you can't even keep your crying in? The heart and the mind without
peace, you feel no peace. Now we see the cause of this. Let us now speak to a word of
reason to our soul. If you are cast down, are you
cast down? Do these trouble you like they trouble me? And I'll tell you what, if they
last long, I'll tell you it won't be long, we'll be on our backs,
and we won't be able to get out of it. It'll be a spiral, and
it will spiral down, and down, and down, and down, and there's
no end to it. Unless the soul will listen to
the reason of the Word of God, it'll keep spiraling. Here's the reason, this is my
second point, David's admonition to his own soul, hope thou in
God. Hope thou in God. David is saying,
why art thou cast down? Here's the remedy. I know you're cast, but listen,
here's the remedy. Imagine if you're sick and I
put the medicine beside you. I say, here's the medicine. And
you go on. Oh, I'm so sick. I'm so sick. Sometimes I do that. I'm going
to get so sick. And I'll tell Cheryl, I'm so
sick. Oh, I'm so sick. Take your medicine. She's reasoning
with me. That's how you reason with your
soul. Take the medicine. Here it is.
Hope thou in God. Stop looking at how you think,
how you see, and how you feel, and hope in God. Hope in God. Set your eyes not upon your troubles,
but upon your hope. What hope do we have? What is
our hope? Is it not Christ? Is He not the rock-solid, bedrock
foundation of our souls? Is all your confidence upon Him? Or the reason you're so cast
is because your confidence is not on Him. So what's the remedy? Put your
confidence on Him. Hope in Him. Remember to be cast down is not
to be cast away. Isn't that a good... I'm sure
I copied that somewhere. To be cast down is not to be
cast away. Believers are often cast down,
but listen to me, they're never cast away. Hope thou in God.
He said be content with such things as you have. What do you
have? Always. Now you're not going to always
have money, you're not going to always have health, you're not going
to always have a residence or a home or anything like that.
That may all go away. Well be content with what you
have, what you always have. What is that? I will never leave
thee, nor forsake thee. You always got that. Well, I'm
cast down! So, hope thou in God, because He
said, You feel like that. Who cares?
I'm talking about my soul. I'm reasoning with my own soul.
Who cares what you think? Who cares what you feel? God
said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. The Lord will
not cast off His people, which He foreknew. So now to my downcast
soul, this is thy hope. I'm going to answer those objections,
those things that caused you to be cast down. Now listen to
this. Is it the guilt of sin that's cast you down? Listen
to this, Christ has removed your sin. He's removed your guilt. He's
removed your guilt. Why art thou cast down then?
If guilt is the cause of your being cast down, why? Christ
hath removed your guilt. He's removed it. Why? God hath made Him to be sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. Hebrews 10, 14, By His one offering
He hath perfected forever them that are sanctified. O my soul, how then could God
justly punish you, seeing He has already punished Christ?
Is that not a reason? Is that not a reason to be lifted
up instead of being cast down? That sin you feel so guilty about,
Christ, does that pay for anything, your feeling of guilt? It don't
pay for anything, does it? Does it make it go away just
because you feel guilty about it? No. The actual guilt has been born
by your Savior, and He suffered in your stead. Comfort ye, comfort
ye my people, sayeth the Lord, speak comfortably. Her warfare
is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned, for she hath received
of the Lord's hand double for all her sins. You didn't just
barely get by. You didn't just barely pay the
debt. Christ paid double. So what do you owe the justice
of God? Why do you feel so guilty about owing God? Christ paid
the debt. reason with your soul. The second
one, why art thou cast down, old man, because of the old man
of sin that still abides? You're made to feel more and
more the corruption, and it drags you to the depths? Well, hope
in God. Why? Because God said this, regardless
of this circumstance, there is therefore now no condemnation. to those who are in Christ Jesus.
And you can say that again right now. There is therefore now no
condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. Well, I feel
more sin, more sin. But there is therefore now no
condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. This is a perpetual
state that you're in. Are you cast down because of
Satan? Because of the darts of his accusation? Do you realize
that God cast Satan from his presence so he can no longer
accuse you? In Revelation chapter 12 and verse 10 he says, The
accuser of the brethren, he's cast down. Why are you cast down? He's cast down. Where he no longer
is able to accuse the brethren. Remember Joshua the high priest?
That's a good picture of that. Oh, Joshua's dressed in those
filthy garments as in Zechariah 13. He's dressed in these filthy
garments. He should be in the priestly garments, but he wasn't. And the scripture says, and Satan
at his right hand ready to accuse him. Now what did Satan say? He couldn't say anything. Why
the Lord Jesus Christ stepped in and said, is this not mine? Is this not a brand plug from
the burning? What could He say? That's mine. Are you cast down
because He tempts you, because He accuses you? What is His Word
over the Word of God? Are you cast down because of
the lack of His presence? Because you feel as though His
love has diminished. I tell you, when the windows
of heaven seem to be closed, it is a bad condition for my
soul. Oftentimes I'll come in here
and pray and it feels like it's bouncing off this ceiling, coming
right back to me. Well, that's just how it feels.
How it really is, is this. Listen to how the Lord Jesus
Christ views His people. Because I know how you view yourself.
Especially in a downcast position. I know how you view yourself.
Listen to what He says. Song of Solomon 1 in verse 15. Behold, thou art fair, My love. Behold, thou art fair. He doesn't
say it just once. He has to say it twice. He said,
Thou art fair. What do we say? Behold, I am
black, but comely. And he says, No, you're altogether
fair. Beautiful. He said in Solomon
4 in verse 9, he says, Listen how the Lord speaks about us
when we speak to Him. He said, Thou hast ravished my
heart, my sister, my spouse. Can you comprehend? that your
prayers ravish the heart of my Savior. How can you be cast down
when He says you've ravished my heart? My sister, my spouse,
thou hast ravished my heart with one of thine eyelids. Just one. It's astounding how He speaks
such wonderful things. concerning us. You know why? Because He's given me His righteousness. That's how He can say those things
to me. He's made me like Himself. This is the glory that He has
given to us, His love. Has providence cast you down?
This is a big one. Providence, dark providences.
Constant providences that seem in opposition to God's Word.
How then am I to be comforted in my soul when the providences
of God are dark? When I'm in sickness? When I've
suffered loss? How can my soul ever be lifted
up from the dunghill? How is it possible? Because our God is the God of
providence. The one who redeemed you, the
one who chose you, The one who called you, the one who keeps
you, the one who loves you, the one who forgives you. He is the
God in charge of all your providences. Why are you cast out? The Savior is in charge of your
providence. He said, remember the former
things of old. I am God and there is none else. There's none like me, declaring
the end from the beginning. from ancient times of things
that were not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I
will do all My pleasure. So what's happening to you? Is
it not His pleasure? Would it happen to you if it
was against His pleasure? Is it possible? No. Then why are you cast down? Why are you disquieted within
you? Hope thou in God. the God of Providence. Do your prayers and the Word
of God seem ineffectual to you? God says, I will hear when you
cry. Now you don't feel like he hears
you, but what does that have to do with it? My sole reason
with yourself, why would you, just because you feel like he
doesn't hear you, what does that mean? That means absolutely nothing. Why? Because God said I will
hear you. Go to Jeremiah chapter 29, look
at this. Real fast, we'll go here, go to my last point. Jeremiah
29. Look at verse 11. For I know the thoughts that
I think toward you, sayeth the Lord." How often do we try to
tell God what He thinks about us? I know what you're thinking. I know what you intend to do
with this. No, God says, I don't need your counsel on my own thoughts.
I know my thoughts toward you. What are they? Thoughts of peace
and not evil. to give you an expected end. Is there anything better than
an expected end? I don't know the middle, but I sure know the
end. I sure understand the end of
it. So what does it matter if I don't know so much about the
middle? His thoughts are thoughts of
peace. To give me an expected end, which is what? Eternal life.
Glory. Heaven. eternal praise and worship
of God, peace with God. May God help us to reason with
our souls. We have good cause not to be
cast out. You have a good cause not to be cast out. Christ took
your sin. It's gone, the guilt's gone.
Though you seem to grow worse, listen, there's no more condemnation
for you. You're kept by the power of the
Spirit. Though providence seems against you. Though Satan's accusations
are thrown at you. Though you don't feel his presence
or the power of his word or the power of prayer. What does that
matter? Hope thou in God. There is your remedy. Thirdly,
David's confident expectation. If we're quickened, in the Spirit. And we have received
Him, that is the evidence of it, that His blood pleads for
us constantly. His righteousness covered us
and His Spirit dwells in us. Therefore, here's the hope and
confidence that we have that holds our soul
fast to the rock of ages is this, He that's begun a good work in
you shall perform it. Here's the confidence. He that
hath begun a good work in you shall perform it. Now who's doing
all the work? He that begun the good work in you, he shall perform
it. So what is your expectation then?
Same as David's. I shall yet praise him. This has to do with future. David's
still there on his back. His soul's still out. He's still
laid out. What is he doing? He's hoping
in God to ride him. He's not just wishing God to
ride him, he is confident that God will come and stand him up. He's confident. Why? He's confident
like a sheep being cast. The sheep's confidence is what?
In the shepherd. He's dependent upon it. And we
have hope that Christ will come and establish us again. He said,
I will yet praise Him. I will yet praise Him. Though
now in the darkness, now we are cast down, if we hope in God
and set our faith upon Him, He will soon come and bring light. He will soon come. He will soon deliver us. This is the hope of my soul. That if we hear and believe His
Word over what we see and feel, His promise will come. Whether
it be forgiveness, you need forgiveness, it's come. Pardon, peace, joy,
it will come. When? In due time. The problem with us, we want
it now. What cast soul doesn't want to
be delivered now? Huh? We all want it now. Peter said, Humble thyself therefore
under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due
time. That's what David's hoping. He's
saying, look, I know it's coming. It may not come today, and it
may not come tomorrow. It may not come next year. It's
coming. I have confidence. Why? Not in
men. I have confidence in God that He
will come. Why? Because He's the health
of my countenance. The countenance of my soul, I
can't make it healthy. I'm hoping in Him to make it
healthy. He's the health of my countenance. He gave me life. Will He not
sustain it? He will. He will. And my God. Listen, He's my God. Oh soul, are you cast down? Listen
to this. God's my God. O cast down soul, hope in Christ. There's the remedy. Lay all your
confidence on Him and He will soon restore thee to health. O soul, are you weary and troubled? No light in the darkness you
see. There's light for a look at the
Savior, and life more abundant and free. Through death unto life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there. O'er us sin hath no more
dominion, for more than conquerors we are. His word shall not fail
you, He promised. Believe Him, and all shall be
well. Go to a world that's dying His
perfect salvation to tell. Turn your eyes upon Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will
grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. A lot of reasons to be cast out.
There's only one reason to hope. God in Christ has taken care
of all those other reasons. The whole reason you're cast
out has already been taken care of. Hope in God. And He will
soon. You will yet praise Him. It's
coming. It's coming. Why? He promised. He promised. I'm so thankful
He won't leave me there. I stand and be dismissed in prayer.
Hope the Lord will bless that to you. Holy Father, thank You for Your
Word. I'm thankful for these words that You've given us, that
You've left us. Father, we would surely have
despaired of life itself had You not given us words of comfort,
remedy, concerning the downcast soul. Oh, Father, for those that are
downcast, please show them Christ is the remedy for everything. Restore their souls to joy and
peace in Him. We ask these things in the name
of our blessed Savior and for His sake. Amen. Yeah. Yeah.