Prayers for, I guess I'm being selfish first
of all, me. Pray for me and do it selfishly. Pray for you and
pray for me for you. That God would give me the words
that I need. Again, brought to the fact that
I need Him. I need Him. I need His grace,
I need His power, I need His strength. I pray that the word
would go forth and feed your souls, comfort you in your darkest
hours, strengthen you in your weakest moments. Our commission is simple. Comfort
ye, comfort ye my people, Sayeth the Lord. Speak comfortably to
them. Cry unto them that our warfare
is accomplished. It's finished. Paul says it another way, preach
the word. Preach the word. My desire is to preach the word
to you this morning and may God use it. Pray for those that are
sick. Joanne, She's still feeling the
pain of that fall, so pray for her. Remember Angela in your
prayers. And pray for those that are not with
us. Are the kids okay? Okay. Pray for them. And you're sick. Okay. Okay. My kids are grown. They're still in vacation mode,
so I don't think that's gonna change. So I don't think they're
gonna pop out of it. Pray that God be with us this
morning. Let's go to him and pray. Gracious Father in heaven, we
bow before you. and lay our souls before the
mercy seat, pleading the blood and the righteousness of Jesus
Christ in order to be heard. You will understand this morning
by your spirit, we cannot be heard except through him. And our confidence is in his
victory. Our confidence that you hear
us this morning is in the victory of our Lord Jesus Christ, our
mediator, our high priest, our author. We present our bodies, our souls,
our minds before you this morning pleading for grace, for strength, for wisdom, understanding, faith
in every grace, needed to worship this morning. We plead that you
grant these things to us today. Surely, Father, we come empty. We come empty of righteousness
in ourselves, come empty of strength in ourselves. We come to be filled,
Father, this morning. And we are confident that your
grace is an eternal supply. Your mercy endureth forever. And I pray, Father, that you'd
be gracious to give me liberty and unction of your spirit, that
you would take the word as it is written, pour it out by your
spirit into the hearts of every person. We plead for those that are absent.
We pray that you would instill in their hearts the necessity
of this gospel. And those who are unable, we
pray that you would give them ability. Those that have desire
and are not capable, we pray that you would restore them to
health and strength. Father, I pray for your gospel
wherever it is preached today. that you would be pleased to
pour out your spirit, and everything I pray for here, I pray for them
the same. Forgive us our sins. Cleanse us of our unrighteousness. Strengthen us. Comfort us by
your word. I ask you to do this in the name
of Jesus, we plead, and for his sake. Take your Bibles and turn with
me to Psalm 102. Psalm 102. I've entitled this
message, The Afflicted Man's Prayer. The Afflicted Man's Prayer. Now, Wednesday, we read Psalm
119, I think it's 71, that says, it is good that I have been afflicted. And we looked at the purpose
of affliction. Why is it that God's people are
afflicted? Surely the wicked prosper and
the righteous are afflicted, but there is purpose. And we
remember the purpose. It is the trial of our faith
that Peter says is much more precious than gold. So we see
the purpose of affliction and after it's accomplished, that's
only after it was done. David said this, it is good that
I've been afflicted. We don't say it is good that
I'm in the midst of affliction. But after it's done, We understand
that affliction has a good purpose. It tries our faith and proves
it. Is there anything more precious
than that? Peter said there's nothing. It's more precious than
gold that perishes. If your faith is real, if it
is a gift of God, it will endure every affliction because it is
given of God. It won't fail. You think it will. You feel it will in the affliction. But when the affliction's done,
guess what remains? Your faith. That should give
you joy. Now, in this psalm, it's not
after the affliction. This psalm is written in the
affliction. So this morning, I want us to
see what is the prayer of the afflicted. Look at the title
of this psalm. It gives a title for us. A Prayer
of the Afflicted. When he is overwhelmed and poureth
out his complaint before the Lord. Now the word complaint
here does not mean fault finding or disapproval. That's not what
he's talking about. He's not pouring out his complaint
against God as though God were at fault. That's not what it
means. It means great sorrow. When he poureth out great sorrow. The cry. Is this not the cry
of the child of God in affliction? When we are distressed, depressed,
humbled, and brought low. When we are overwhelmed with
darkness. And we're covered with troubles
and cares. When we seem to be tossed constantly
back and forth by the waves of circumstance and providence,
everything seems to be going one way, and it turns and goes
the other way. We're tossed about. We're not
alone. The Word of God gives plenty
examples of believers who have experienced affliction. Remember
Rebecca, Isaac's wife, when she was promised that the seed would
come from her. And you remember, she had great
trouble in her womb. She was in great pain. And she
cried out, Lord, why am I thus? If you promised, if your promise
is in this child, why then do I suffer? Isn't this the cry of the afflicted? You know why she suffered? She
had two nations in her womb. You know why you suffer? You
have two natures in one man. Struggling, two kingdoms, battling
the flesh against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh.
And in that moment, what do you do? Let us do what David does,
cry out unto the Lord. Pour out your complaint, your
sorrow, your grief, your mourning. Expend all your troubles. Isn't this what Peter said? Cast
all your care on the Lord. Here's why you should
do it. He careth for you. He careth
for you. That word, the word pour out, poureth out,
it means to gush. Gush out, as though it was like
a balloon full of water balloons. We used to have those as kids,
and they'd just burst. That's what it means. So cast
all your care. Is this your soul? Have you found your sin too heavy? Have you found the consequences
of your sin too great? Believer in Christ, are the pangs
of life too painful, the circumstances of your lot so overwhelming that
your soul is crushed. You know the word tribulation
means weight? That's what it does. Tribulation puts weight
on the soul. And the soul feels crushed under
its weight. Is that your condition? Are you
afflicted? Then listen. This is what the
psalm is for. It is for the afflicted. The Holy Spirit put it here.
Now I want you to understand, this psalm is not for everyone
who's afflicted. People automatically assume these
words are for everyone. If I wrote a letter to Cheryl
and told her how much I loved her, could you take that? Could
you take that to be your own? No, it was written for her. This
is written for a very specific group. Look at verse 18. It'll
tell you who it's written for. I like the Word of God because
it explains itself. If you just read it, it will
explain itself. Verse 18, look at this. This shall be written
for, who the generation which shall be created, which shall be created shall
praise The Lord. This is speaking to believers.
Isn't this you who believe? You have been created. You have
been born again of the Spirit of God. You are, as Paul says,
a new creation. Created in Christ Jesus. You are a new creation. This
psalm of affliction is for the believer in Christ only. And so then, if you are a believer
in Christ, and you are in affliction, this psalm is for you. If you're
not, listen, you believe. This psalm is for everyone who
believes, without exception. Everyone who believes on the
Son of God, everyone who is born again of the Spirit of God believes.
And everyone who has believed, listen, you have the right to
this hymn, to this psalm. What is the first thing the psalmist
does in this affliction? Look at verse 1. He cries to
the Lord. He says, Hear my prayer, O Lord, and let my cry come unto thee." Friend, let me be as plain as
I can in your moment of despair. If there is to be any true relief
for your soul, it will only come to you by God through Christ. There is no relief for you except
by God through Christ. And I'll tell you, a lot of times
when we are brought into despair, we consult friends. This is usually
the first thing, isn't it? You've got something on your
mind, you call somebody immediately. You say, ah, I'm having difficulty.
You call your friends, you call your family. And that does bring some relief. Unburdening yourself to someone
else bring some relief. But isn't it just temporary?
You unburden yourself and then you get alone with yourself again
and that doesn't do away with it. Your psychiatrist tell you what
you do is you take your thoughts and troubles, you write them
down, you put them in a little box and then you go bury it in the
backyard and it's done. What a load of stuff that is. You know why? Because wherever
you go, there you are. You can't bury that unless you're
buried. Your affliction follows you.
Your troubles follow you. So they can only be a temporary
relief. The psalmist writes, my flesh
and my heart faileth. Have you found that to be true
about yourself and affliction? You can only grin and bear it
so long. But he says, but God is the strength
of my heart. The reason this happens is because
no man can deliver us from sin. The reason our friends can't
help us, the reason our families can't help us, is because they
cannot deliver us from sin. And you think, well, man, sin
is not my problem. This thing is my problem, or
that thing is my problem. What's the root of all your problems?
What brought all the problems into the world? It was sin. Sin brought problems into the
world. Sin brought afflictions and trials
and troubles. It is the root of all our maladies
is sin. Especially the sin of unbelief.
Now imagine, what if you had perfect faith? To where in every
affliction you trusted God. Now the pains would still hurt.
But you sure would be able to endure it. So what's the problem? Isn't
it unbelief? Isn't that the root sin of all
of our maladies? We don't believe it's good for
us. We don't believe God is sovereign. We say we do. I have that in my office. Let
me not speak of the sovereignty of God and then complain of my
lot in life. Isn't that inconsistent? And
yet, what do we do? In affliction, the first thing
we do is complain, murmur. I think I'm very good at that.
I'm so good that I probably need to quit because I'm just too
perfect at it. So if sin is the root cause,
then what is the root remedy? Is it not the forgiveness of
God? Is it not the mercy of God in
the forgiveness of our sins? Therefore, sinful man, cry unto
the Lord in prayer and listen, never be satisfied until he's
heard. You remember those things the
Lord says? He encourages us to pray and keep on praying. He
said that man that came to his friend's house, he had a visitor
and he comes to his friend's house and it's in the middle
of the night and he knocks on the door and the guy won't get
up. And the guy keeps knocking and
knocking. And he says, man, it's not because
this guy's my friend, it's because he just won't shut up. He gets
up and he answers the door. He says, that's the way you should
pray. Pray and keep on praying. Don't stop. But listen, prayer
to the wind is vanity, isn't it? Remember that Pharisee that
prayed thus with himself? That was empty, wasn't it? Prayer
to men and to saints are useless and will never comfort the soul
because all men are powerless to forgive sin. They cannot forgive
you. They cannot pardon you. cannot
make you acceptable with God. So how then shall a sinner be
heard? This is the problem. I am a sinner. God is holy. How may I, as a
sinner, be heard? The scripture says, who shall
ascend unto the hill of the Lord? And who shall be accepted in
the holy place? He that hath clean hands and
a pure heart." Is that you? Do you have clean hands? Do you
have a pure heart? Every believer looks within himself
and what do you see? You don't see clean hands. You
don't see a pure heart. How then shall we cry unto God
who are filthy? The answer of the Word of God
is this, only through a mediator. You can only be heard of God
through a mediator, one to intercede for you. And that one we know
is Jesus Christ, the God-man. This is necessary for him to
be a man, wasn't it? By sin, how did sin come? How
did these afflictions come? How did these maladies come?
They came by a man. One who mediated for you. One
who represented you. Wherefore, as by one man sin
entered in the world, and death by sin, so death passed upon
all men. By the disobedience of one, many
were made sinners. How then shall a man be made
righteous to be heard? Only by a representative man. Only by a mediator, by someone
who can represent me before God. That man is Jesus Christ. Without
controversy, Paul said to Timothy, without controversy, great is
the mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh. Now why would he become a man
for this purpose? To mediate between us and God. To stand between us and God. So Paul says in another place
in Timothy, he says there is one mediator. Between God and man, the man,
Christ Jesus. then you afflicted believer,
that you may cry unto God, and your prayers will come to the
ears of the Almighty because of the Mediator. This is my hope
in my affliction, in my desperation when I pour out my complaint
before the Lord. This is my hope to be heard.
Now I can't be satisfied until I know I'm heard, and this is
my hope. that I have one mediator. Jesus
Christ is the mediator between me and God. When I come to God
in affliction, I often think of the high priest Joshua. You remember how he came before
the Lord and he was dressed in those filthy garments. Isn't
this how you feel when you're afflicted? You come before God
and you feel the affliction, the distress of my sin. Just like Joshua came before
the Lord and Satan was ready to accuse him. He was, I like
that, he's standing on his right hand, ready to accuse him. But before he could utter one
accusation, the Lord Jesus Christ interceded between him and God
and the Lord said, is this not a brand but from the burnt? Is
this not mine? He was not able to make one accusation. Why? He had a mediator. So when
I come before God with all the guilt of my conscience, all the
guilt of my sin, all the evilness of my thoughts and fears and
doubts and unbelief, I come in the filthy garments of my flesh
and pour out my soul. My Savior mediates between me
and God. Therefore, I am assured to be
heard by the Almighty. In the Old Testament, remember
in the law, there was only one place on the face of the earth
where God would meet with Israel. It's kind of narrow, isn't it? There
was a man named Jeroboam, who thought that was just too narrow.
He said, why can't we just worship God anywhere? Isn't God everywhere? Can't we
just worship God anywhere? Can't we just worship God any
old way? God said, no. I'll meet with
you in one place. God said, I'm going to dwell
on the mercy seat in the temple And there was only one way, only
one means by which they could have sin atoned. They needed a high priest and
an offering. And that offering and that high
priest were chosen of God and not men. So what was that high priest?
He was a mediator. He was the one that represented
Israel. The only one. And you'd call
yourself a high priest. You could offer a sacrifice,
but it wouldn't be accepted. It was only one place and one
man and one offering. But listen, that was just a picture
of something. That was just a picture. Oh, that was a picture to show
us who are sinners, saved by grace, that we may be accepted
and heard of God only by one high priest, only by one offering. It is the only way we are made
acceptable to God to be heard. So if you are afflicted and you
cry unto God, you must by faith behold Christ. If you don't,
you'll doubt as to being heard. If you're basing being heard
on anything you've done or are doing, that just breeds doubt. There's no confidence in that. So we have to behold Christ.
Why? Because He was afflicted. The
only way the afflicted can be heard by God was because of this. He was afflicted. He was afflicted. Because he was overwhelmed. Consider this, that there was
no man more afflicted than Christ. Can you find anyone who has ever
been more afflicted than Christ? More hated than Christ? Somebody said this, there's a
name for every type of persecution of every type of people. If you're against Islam, you're
Islamophobic. Or if you're against Jews, you're
anti-Semitic. You know there's no word for
anti-Christian? There's no phrase for it. Why? Because that's just natural.
natural. But I tell you this, no one was
more persecuted than him. And so that it would be good
for us who are afflicted to see that he who is above all men
was a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief more than anyone else. Can you compare your affliction
to his? I'll tell you what, you were
never hated like he was hated. You were never mocked or ridiculed
more than he was mocked and ridiculed. You remember him in the garden,
when he was about to bear our sins, it was so much agony, as
Victor said, he sweat as it were great drops of blood. You ever
sweat blood? Has your agony been so great
that you ever sweat blood? How great was His agony? How
great was His sorrow? He who was righteous, spotless,
was yet soon to be made sin for us and suffer on Calvary more
than any man on earth or any man ever suffered in hell. Christ
suffered more. Our mediator. was made of God to bear our sins
in his own body. And as such, God poured out the
vengeance of holy wrath against him. He said, the reproaches
of them that reproach thee fell on me. The sin that causes you so much
grief How much more grief did it cause
him who did not commit it? He bore the wrath of God as the
Lamb of God. I always desire to set Christ
crucified among you. I always want you to look, if
you're afflicted, I want you to see Him. so as to take your eye off of
you and your affliction, look to Him and His affliction. He said this in Lamentation,
Is it nothing to you that pass by? See if there be any sorrow like
unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath
afflicted me in the day of His fierce anger. Has that ever happened
to you? Has the Lord afflicted you in
his fierce anger? Well, you've been afflicted with
his displeasure. You've been afflicted and chastened.
But you've never suffered the vengeance of God. Christ did. Your mediator suffered
the affliction of God's wrath alone. He said in Lamentation
3, He said, I am a man that has seen affliction. You think you've
been afflicted? I'm a man that's seen affliction
by the rod of His wrath. Yet Jesus, being our mediator,
the God-man, endured such affliction and the wrath of God for our
sins with the undimming eye of faith.
in His death-trusted God. Are you cast down? Behold, the
sorrow of our sorrow can never compare to His. And see that
His sorrow, unlike our sorrow, has done something. What does
your sorrow accomplish? Really, what does it accomplish?
What does your sorrow have to do with the saving of your soul? Nothing. Nothing. Sorrow, as
I said before, proves your salvation, but it doesn't have anything
to do with it. Unlike his sorrow. Listen to this. The sorrow of
my mediator actually is what saved me. The sorrow of my mediator has
saved me. His death forever put away my
sins. How do I know? When he died,
he said, it is finished. And when he said that, God rent
that temple veil from the top to the bottom telling me this,
that the way is open. So in your affliction, I say
cry unto the Lord. Now what's your hope of being
heard? The way is open. It's open. Therefore you who sorrow over
your sin, who are troubled by sin and the circumstances caused
by sin and oppression caused by sin, either within or without,
listen to this. Come now, afflicted, afflicted. Come now, don't wait. You know, David begins this psalm
with crying out. He don't prepare himself to cry
out. You know, I just gotta get in
the right frame of mind. I just have to have the right setting.
He didn't wait. If you're afflicted, you won't
wait. You'll cry. And listen, you're welcome. God
says you're welcome. You that believe, regardless
of your affliction, come by faith, by God's mediator, come by faith
in His blood. If His blood really removed your
sin, then what's going to keep you from being accepted? You doubt to be accepted because
you still doubt His death. You doubt His blood's enough. His blood is sufficient. Come,
His righteousness has pleased God in our stead, and you are
assured to be heard. You are assured to be heard.
I don't feel like I heard. It doesn't matter how you feel.
I can't tell you how many times
I lay and pray and pour out my heart. I don't feel like it's
reaching the ceiling. Oh, it's going past that. Why? Because my mediator intercedes
for me. He pleads for me. Paul says, let us therefore come
boldly. There is no grief that the Lord
cannot soothe or cheer. There is no trouble too great
that His power cannot deliver. Therefore, we who come by God
through Christ will not be content until our prayer comes to the
ears of our Father. And this is my hope that I have
a mediator to intercede with. When I pray, my prayers are heard
because of Christ. That's the only reason. I don't
have any other reason. This scripture came to me, kind
of codifies what I've been saying, Psalm 22, 24. He hath not despised
the affliction of the afflicted. He's talking about Christ. Psalm
22 is all about Christ's death. And you know what my hope is?
Listen, that God has not despised His affliction. God has accepted His affliction. Therefore, listen, I'm accepted. I am accepted. And so as you cry, as you, you are afflicted and overwhelmed
and you pour out your heart and you say as the psalmist, hear
my prayer, oh Lord, let my cry come unto thee. Be sure of this,
it will. It will. Because of Christ. Secondly, look at this. Everyone
who is afflicted who seeks the Lord in trouble will and must
abase himself. Look at verse 2. Hide not thy
face from me in the day when I am in trouble. Incline thine
ear to me in the day when I call. Answer me speedily. Can you think of any greater
trouble when God hides His face? You the believer. Is there any
sorrow that you feel greater as when God hides His face? Does
not not magnify every sorrow. Now every believer might gladly
and patiently endure the sufferings of the martyrs so long as Christ
is near. so long as His presence may be
felt and His face clearly seen by faith, there would not be
a bed of sickness, not a rack or a stake, not any death would
cause us any trouble so long as I could read my title clear,
so long as I know that I have Him. Every affliction, though
painful, can be endured. But listen, let God hide His
face and the smallest trouble becomes greatest. When God hides His face, when
you don't feel His presence, when you don't have a sense that
your faith is low and your grace is low, when sin overwhelms you
and causes you to doubt even your prospect of salvation. Well, I know God is good. I know Christ is a mediator for
His people. But as for me, is He mediating
for me? Has that thought come to you?
To believe? Does He mediate for me? I know
He mediates for you. But does He mediate for me? When God hides His face, troubles
become grave. You know, John Bunyan, when he
was put into prison, he said for at least a year or
more, he did not feel the presence of God. He was daily accosted in his
mind to think that he was outside the realm of forgiveness. You
believe that, John Bunyan? The man who spent his life in
jail because he wouldn't stop preaching. And this man thought
he had, for a year, he thought he was outside the pale of forgiveness.
Is that not the greatest affliction? Surely we can see our hope in Christ. We would be able to endure much,
but if we're If we can't see it, if God hides His face, then
surely our troubles are magnified. Therefore, at such times, we
surely need His urgent answer. That's what the psalmist said,
look, don't hide your face from me anymore. I need you to answer
me today. I need you to answer me quickly. Look at this in verse 3, and
he gives reasons why. He said, for my days are consumed
like smoke. My bones are burned as a heart. My heart is smitten and withered
like grass, so I forget to eat my bread. By reason of the voice
of my groanings, my bones cleave to my skin. He said, I'm walking
around as though I'm in a fog, in a haze. My days are as smoke. They're moving so fast. Lord,
I need you now. Are your days consumed with uncertainty? Ignorant as to what to do? Ignorant even of your standing
and union with Christ? Are your days fleeting as a puff
of smoke so that there is no substance, no foundation to stand
on? Is your soul dim and useless
as smoke from a wood hearth, that's what he said. He said,
my days are consumed like smoke, my bones are burned as a hearth. In other words, what good is
a smoking hearth with no flame? That's how I feel. I feel that
there's no fire. There's no life that seems like
it's dead. He said, I need your answer now.
I can't wait. Hear the answer of God to the
cry of those in such a place. Isaiah 42 in verse 3 says, a
bruised reed shall he not break. Listen, smoking flax, he will
not quench. Why? He cannot fail. He will
not fail nor be discouraged. Don't you feel like a bruised
reed? Shaken in the wind. Ready to fall off. You feel as though there's no
fire of love or light of grace. When God hides His face, that's
exactly how we feel. In the haze and darkness, hear
the voice of God. Here it is. Christ is victorious. Here's your hope. Christ is victorious. Christ has triumphed over your
sin. Christ has prevailed over your afflictions. And you have prevailed in Him. And we shall yet persevere. Why?
Because salvation is not dependent in any measure upon how you feel
or what you think. Isn't this a glorious relief?
It is a relief that salvation does not depend on my circumstance.
If everything's going bad, if I'm sick, if I'm dying, or if
there's good, if everything's going well and I'm healthy, none
of those things have anything to do with my acceptance with
God. Nothing. All our acceptance is dependent
upon Christ alone. And so when you're afflicted,
when God hides His face, when you feel as though your life
is but a puff of smoke, is nothing, here's your hope. Your salvation
doesn't depend on you. It depends on Christ. And listen
to what He says in verse 7. He said, I watch and am a sparrow
alone upon the housetop. When a sparrow loses its mate,
It's not cheerful, but mourns in solitary places. And this
is what happens when we do not feel the presence of Christ.
We feel alone. You be surrounded by everybody
and be the most alone person in the world. If you don't feel
His presence, if you don't know, if your faith is low, but behold, Lord, we are without
thee, are completely alone. We're helpless as a sparrow.
And so we cry, Lord, answer me speedily. Come quickly. Until then, all we eat are ashes
mingled with tears. And I know this, there is nothing
that will suffice the soul or strengthen the soul than to know
this, I'm in Christ. If he would come quickly and
reveal that, then I am able to endure any affliction, if I know
I am in Christ. Because being in Christ is what?
Safety. I'm safe. I'm as safe as Noah
in the ark. He's my refuge. I'm as safe as
the firstborn in the house of Passover with the blood. Safe. Was there any chance that God
would break through that house with the blood and kill that
firstborn? Was there any chance of that?
No. Was there any chance Noah wasn't
going to make it? No. Is there any chance that you
who believe will not endure? No. There's no chance. God doesn't leave anything to
chance. So in our affliction and humility,
we cry, if I have his blood, God smiles on me. If I have his
righteousness, the law can do nothing but embrace me and demand
my acceptance. If I have Christ as my foundation,
hell will never swallow me up. If I have Christ as my fortress,
then no foe can prevail over me or conquer my soul. Do you have Christ? Having Christ does not exempt
you from affliction. Matter of fact, having Christ
guarantees affliction. But it also guarantees this,
that no affliction will ever overcome His salvation. None. If I have Christ, I have
it all. And lastly, I want you to consider
now one, the one who will hear our prayers. Look at verse 12. He said, but thou. Now look,
my days are like smoke. I'm all alone as a sparrow. I've
eaten my ashes, mingled with tears. Now look, but you. That's me. Weak. Helpless. Afflicted. Overwhelmed. Overcome. Unbelieving. Fearful. Doubtful. That's me. But here's you. But thou, O Lord,
shalt endure forever. Thy remembrance unto all generations. Thou shalt arise and have mercy
on Zion for the time to favor her. Yea, the set time is come. In your affliction, remember
this, come to God by your mediator. Though you feel outcast, listen
to this, this is your hope. God is sovereign. God is sovereign. My days are like a shadow, but
your days are not like that. Your days endure forever. Our
affliction, child of God, He who has suffered for our sins
and satisfied the wrath of God for you, he has been raised from
the dead and sits now upon the throne of God, ruling all things
after the counsel of his own will. And what is his will? His
will is that you should be saved. That's his will. That's his will. And this temptation, this trial
has is nothing but common. Isn't it? Your afflictions, have
you, are you the only one that have faced these afflictions
you're going through? Is that true? No. Scripture says
that there are no temptation taken you but as such is common
to man but here's your hope that he will with this temptation
make a way of escape. You know what that way of escape
is? It's Christ. It's faith in Christ. That's
the way of escape. That's the way you're able to
endure it and bear it. Believers, see that our troubles,
all that our troubles that we endure now have been before and
they will happen again. But one thing is true. God is
faithful. God is faithful who will not
suffer you to be tempted above that which you're able. And so remember that God, who
is sovereign, knows what is best for us. Look at this. Here's
his hope. Here's the hope of the afflicted.
Look at verse 13. Thou shalt arise. Is there any doubt in that? Was the psalmist wavering now? He said no. You will arise. You will have mercy on Zion. And notice this, it's important. For the time to favor her, yea,
the set time is coming. God says, I'm going to arise.
You and your affliction poured out to me. Come boldly to me. You have a perfect mediator by
which you shall be heard. Even though you feel distressed,
you feel as though I have abandoned you. I have not left you. He said, I will never leave you
nor forsake you. I will arise and have mercy. And I'm gonna
do it when it is good. I'll tell you this,
we often think we know what the best time is. We don't. We do not know what
is best for us. I just don't. Could you imagine
what life would be like if you had your way? Where would you
be if you had your way? God knows what's there for His
children. And at the appointed time, He
will deliver us from all our afflictions. He does this constantly,
doesn't He? He takes us out of these afflictions,
and then what? If we're still breathing, we
go right into another one. Tribulation worketh patience.
Patience experience. Experience hope. Hope maketh
not ashamed. And the love of God is shed abroad
in our hearts. Tribulation worketh patience. Patience experience.
Experience hope. Hope maketh not ashamed. And
the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts. Start over. This
is a constant theme in our life, isn't it? Tribulation, affliction
is constant. What is my hope? What is my,
in the affliction? I know what it does, but in the
affliction, what am I to do? Pour it out! Pour it out! Lay it out! Remember that's what
Hezekiah did with those letters sent by the Assyrian army? He sent a letter to it, saying,
we're going to kill you all! They were all afraid. He took
those letters, laid them out before the Lord. I have no strength. It's what
you do with your afflictions. You lay them out. And you have
hope. You know why? You have a mediator. A perfect
mediator. And because God has accepted
him, God has accepted you. Your prayers are accepted, regardless
of how you feel or what you think. If you're in Christ, God will
arise. He will deliver you. When? Set time. What if he doesn't deliver me? What if he kills me? Well, isn't that deliverance?
You that believe. Is that not real deliverance? Paul said, it's better. It's better to be with the Lord. But until then, God will deliver
you until that time He sees fit to take you to Himself. He'll
deliver you out of every affliction. And what's a deliverance? A deliverance
is this, my faith remains. Whatever the affliction, my faith
remains. That's a miracle. It's a miracle
I'm still here. It's a miracle that I still believe
after all the afflictions that have come on me time and time
again. The Lord has risen in every one
of them and I still believe on Christ. Isn't that what He promised?
I'm surprised He does it. I don't know why I'm surprised.
I am. But He still does it and He will.
That's your comfort in the affliction. Prior to him, you have a mediator,
and he will, regardless of how you feel, arise and deliver you. That's his promise. Pray God will help this, help
you. Let's stand and be dismissed in prayer. Glenn, dismiss us in prayer,
please.