Good evening. It's good to see
you all again this evening. You take your Bibles and turn
with me to Psalm 126. I'm entitled to this message, Past Deliverance. Now, the psalm begins with this
title, A Song of Degrees. Song of Degrees. This is the
seventh of the series of the Songs of Degrees in the Book
of Psalms. Now, these Songs of Degrees were
sang by the Israelites as they were marching up to Zion to worship
God. And since this is the seventh
step of that progression, we might surely expect something
wonderful from this psalm. This psalm has been delivered,
I believe, by the Holy Spirit to comfort God's people, to comfort
them as they journey through this barren wilderness. As we attempt and desire to worship
God, we often become weary in our travels. We often get bogged
down and we need comfort. And the way the psalmist comforts
God's people is to stir up their memory, to stir up our remembrance
of God's past deliverance. And this remembrance of his deliverance
gives us hope of our present deliverance and our future deliverance. These saints here in this psalm
were under the dark providences of God, the assaults of Satan,
And to those whose conscience are troubled, who feel the weight
of their sins, this psalm is given to you. Now I've got three
things in this psalm. First, I want us to see the remembrance
of past deliverance. Second, the hope of present deliverance. And then thirdly, I want us to
see the deliverer. The deliverer is in the last
verse of this psalm. And I want you to see that this
hope that we have of our deliverance is not based upon our sorrow,
or our tears, or our troubles, or our merits. It is based on
Christ's suffering, Christ's sorrows, Christ's tears, His
offering. So first of all, I want to see
the remembrance of our deliverance. This song begins with this. When
the Lord turned again the captivity of Zion, we were like them that
dreamed. Then was our mouth filled with
laughter, our tongue was singing. Then said they among the heathen,
the Lord hath done great things for them. The Lord hath done
great things for us. whereof we are glad. Now, these pilgriming children
of God being in trouble, burdened by their travels, are given this
psalm to stir the memory of God's glorious past deliverances. They were compelled by the Holy
Spirit to look back at times of national darkness and bondage. They were to remember how that
they were kept in chains, how they were made slaves of wicked,
godless men. They were to remember how they
were powerless, how they were weak and helpless to free themselves
from this captivity. But now in remembering the darkness
and the chains, God was not to have them to remain in this melancholy
state. He was not to have them remain
in this black and painful memory, but rather look immediately to
the time when Jehovah delivered them. when Jehovah freed them
from this captivity. Look what it says, when the Lord
turned again the captivity of Zion. Now remember how God delivered
Israel from Egypt. He delivered them with a strong
hand, a mighty display of his omnipotent power to deliver his
people. And how did he do it? How did
he deliver Israel? When they were to remember when
the Lord delivered us, when the Lord turned again our captivity,
what is the first thing they remember? They remember the Passover. They remember the lamb. It was
by the blood of the lamb that they were freed. And secondly,
they were to remember it was by the waters of the Red Sea
that they were ultimately delivered from their enemies. And the same
judgment that night, when God swore that night, He said, I
will pass through and smite the firstborn of Egypt. I know this,
that the Lord went through all of Egypt. All of Egypt was under
the judgment of God. but only those who had the blood
lived. Remember that all passed through
the Red Sea. Isn't that right? The Israelites
went through the Red Sea and Pharaoh was going through the
Red Sea. But you remember that only Israel
was delivered to the other side. Now this surely is intended of
the Holy Spirit not to give us a history lesson of the Jewish
nation, but rather to cause every believer in Christ to remember
our great deliverance. Our great deliverance from the
bondage of sin, from the dominion of Satan, we were delivered. We were delivered. And so tonight,
I pray the Spirit of God would stir your mind and set your affection
on this. Remember when you were delivered
of the Lord. Remember how you were captive. Remember how he delivered you
from this captivity. We were in bonds of sin, were
we not? By nature, we were born servants
of our own lusts and under the dominion and power of Satan. And this is what God has delivered
us from. Now, in 2 Timothy, in 2 Timothy
2, 2 Timothy 2, And in verse 25, now Paul is
speaking to this young preacher on how he is to preach the word.
He's giving them this, that he is to preach, but this is how
he is, verse 25, preaching in meekness. In meekness. Instructing those that oppose
themselves. Did I say check in chapter two?
Chapter two, verse 25. I'm gonna make sure I got through
the right place. He says, preach in meekness, instructing those
that oppose themselves. You realize that, that men oppose
deliverance by nature? They're against it. They're against
it. if God peradventure will give
them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth that they may recover
themselves out of the snare of the devil who have been taken
captive by him at his will. This is true of all of us. We
are taken captive. We are taken captive at his will
simply because of this. We by nature are dead in sins. You ever see a dead fish floating
down the river? How easy is the river to take that fish and carry
it along? That's how easily Satan carries
us along because we are dead. The only thing that obstructs
him or moves him so as not to take us as far as he will is
God. And so it is, we are dead in
sins and we can do nothing but sin. You know, I can't believe
this is so obvious. It's so obvious to us who believe
concerning our nature, isn't it? Sin is not just what we do,
it is who we are. I like the way Todd put it one
time, you cannot not sin. Just not possible. By nature,
that's all we are. We are born dead, and therefore,
we are powerless to deliver ourselves, just as the dead fish is powerless
to swim upstream. So we, too, being dead, can do
nothing but float. We go with the current. We go
with the way the world goes. That's our nature. We are in
chains of bondage. We cannot deliver ourselves.
In fact, those who are now even in chains cannot break free. And listen, they don't want to. It's not like man wants to break
free from his chains. It's not like man wants to serve
God, but God won't let him. Man has no desire after the things
of God. There is none righteous, no,
not one. There's none that understand. Listen, there is none that seeketh
after God. They are all together become
unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. In fact, we were children, not
neutral children, You think of someone who's dead as kind of
neutral, but that's not the case. We being dead in sins does not
make us neutral. Paul says this, that we were
children of wrath. You know what that means? It means you hated God. By nature, we are haters of God. But I want the Lord to stir our
minds and hearts and remember the grace of God who came to
us in our captivity. God came to us in our captivity. Remember the grace of God. Remember
that He did not wait for us to come to Him. He did not wait
until we got better. He did not wait till we freed
ourselves. God came to us in the very T
of our iniquity, in the very heart of our hatred and rebellion
toward God. That's when God came to us. And
I always liked that hymn, if you tarry till you're better,
you will never come at all. You know, men, are you trying
to get better to come to Christ? I'll tell you this, you ain't
coming. You ain't coming. I tell you this, when God comes
to you, you most surely will come to Him. You will. Now, I
want you to see that you and I who are in change, I want to,
now that God has delivered us, stir up your mind to remember
this. Your deliverance was on purpose. Purpose. It was not accidental. He came
to us in sovereign love and free grace and remember that our God
purposed our deliverance even before our captivity. You know,
Israel, when they had to stir up their minds to remember this,
this was written in Scripture. Abraham, God told Abraham this. He said, your children will be
held captive 400 years, and then I will deliver them. So God had
purposed to deliver Israel even before their captivity. So it
is true of the type, it is true of the real Israel of God, you
and me. Before our captivity, God had
already purposed your deliverance. He had already purposed it. Before the just sentence of death
fell upon our father Adam, God had purposed your deliverance. The scripture says, wherefore,
as by one man, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. So death passed upon all men
for all have sinned. Yet before that sin, God had
already perfectly ordained your deliverance. It was by the grace of the Father,
by the love of the Father, he gave us to Christ. Scripture says, according as
he had chosen us in Christ before the foundation of the world. that we should be holy and without
blame before him in love having predestinated us under the adoption
of children have by Jesus Christ. All of this was determined before
that Christ should bear the full responsibility of our salvation. You know who's responsible to
bring you to glory? Christ. Not you, Christ. Why? God hath made him. God put us in Christ. Isn't that what Paul says in
1 Corinthians 1, verse 30? But of God are you in Christ
Jesus. Who put you there? God did. When did he do it? Before there
was ever sin. Before there was ever a created
being at all, God had already put you in Christ, purposed your
deliverance. And he purposed this, that Christ
should be made your wisdom. You have any wisdom? What is
wisdom? It's this, Christ. Isn't he the
wisdom of God? How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? You know that? You understand
how that can be? Christ, he's the wisdom of God. God made him to be our wisdom.
Righteousness, you have righteousness? Who made that? Christ did, all
by himself. God purposed he should. Sanctification,
holiness, who made you holy? Isn't that what I just read in
Ephesians chapter one, that you should be holy and without blame?
Christ is our sanctification. Christ is our redemption, who
paid for our sins. It was Christ. Therefore, as you now remember
the chains of your depravity, look now and see that Jesus Christ,
who was purposed of God, purposed of God, has now accomplished
and purchased your freedom. What God purposed, Christ accomplished. That's the second thing you should
remember about your deliverance. It was not only purposed, it
was purchased. Purchased. Christ came and purchased
our freedom. He purchased us from the justice
of God, from the snares of the devil, from the rule of our sins. How'd he do this? By coming into
this world as a man, as a representative man. That's what Adam was, wasn't
he? He was a representative man.
And what was the result of his representation? When he died,
when he sinned, All his posterity died and sinned in the representative. Paul says, even so, even so. In Romans 5, he says, just like
that, just like that. Christ is a representative. And
so all that Christ earned, all that Christ purchased, all that
Christ merited belongs to those he represented, all that the
Father gave him. This is why Christ should say
this. This is how confident Christ was of his victory. He said this,
all that the Father giveth me. What is that? All I represent,
every one of them shall come to me. Every one of them. And him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. This is the Father's will which
is sent me, that of all he had given me, I should lose nothing,
but raise it up again at the last day. Behold how our God has sent our
Passover lamb. Just as he determined Israel's
deliverance from Egypt, So it came to pass. How? The same way
it came to pass with us. He sent a lamb to deliver Israel. And it was by the blood of the
lamb that Israel was recovered from their captivity. Even so
it is with us. Christ Jesus is our Passover
lamb. John says this, that the word
that was with God, the Word that was God. The Word was made flesh
and dwelt among us. He was made one with our nature
so as to be both our priest and offering. You got the Passover
lamb. Well, who killed the Passover
lamb? It was a priest, was a representative of that household. He's the one
that slain the lamb. He is the one that applied the
blood. So it is with Christ. He is our representative. You imagine the beauty of those
ceremonies that they had in Israel concerning the sacrifices. You
know, that man that stood up there and offered those sacrifices
There was only one high priest. There was only one person that
could offer the sacrifice. And he did it for all of Israel. He did it for all of them. He
was their representative man being their high priest. And
that sacrifice that he's offered, it was for himself and all Israel. How much more now that the true
high priest Remember our high priest. Remember your deliverance
came by the offering of a high priest. This is Hebrews 5. In Hebrews
chapter 5, he says, for every high priest taken from among
men is ordained for men in things pertaining to God. that we may
offer both gifts and sacrifices, he may offer both gifts and sacrifices
for sin. And we know this, that he's talking
in this text about Christ, who is the high priest after the
order of Melchizedek. Those high priests in Israel,
they didn't last very long. They just lived and they died,
and you had to get another one. But our high priest is an eternal
one. He's had no beginning. He has
no end. He is our high priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek. Therefore, he is our representative
man so that he should fulfill and satisfy the perfect law of
God by his obedience and then offer himself as a sacrifice. Remember, Israel could not go
out from Egypt. except through the Passover lamb.
Except through the Passover. Neither can we be delivered except
Christ offer himself a sacrifice for sin. And that's exactly what
happened. Remember that. Remember, he offered
himself to God for our sins. And over there, I didn't mention
this, but in Hebrews chapter five, I forget which verse it
is, he said that this high priest, after he'd offered that sacrifice,
obtained eternal salvation. Eternal salvation. In Romans
chapter nine and verse 12, he says that his offering obtained
eternal redemption. In Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
12, he said, those high priests, they offer sacrifices year after
year, could never take away sin. But this man, but this man, after
he had offered one sacrifice for sins, sat down. After his work was done, he didn't
do it anymore. It was perfect. It was done. It was accomplished. This man,
after he offered one sacrifice for sin, sat down forever, expecting
something, expecting his enemies to be made his footstool. For
by his one offering, he hath perfected forever them that are
sanctified. Behold his offering in righteousness
then. has delivered us. He, by himself,
purchased our salvation. And the next thing you see in
Israel's deliverance is them coming to the Red Sea, right?
You see them. They're at the Red Sea. They're
trapped on all sides. Pharaoh now is pursuing them.
And what does God do? He says, go forward into the
sea. But God does something first
before they go forward. He parts it. He separates his
people from the Egyptians. Remember, he put that big storm
in between both of them. On the one side of Egypt, it
was dark and they couldn't see. On the side of Israel, it was
light. Again, another picture of God's election, God's separation,
God's division of his people. And he parts the Red Sea, and
they go forth into the Red Sea on what? on dry ground. That's vitally important because
this picture testifies that Christ's offering, Christ's offering for
sin, has parted the sea of God's justice. God refused to allow us to be
held captive by our enemies. And by the blood of Christ, the
sea of God's justice is now parted. And as we walk through this world,
we walk on what? Dry ground. Firm ground. Don't you know we have a firm
standing before God? We have this promise that not
a drop of God's justice will touch us. Behold, there is nothing that
will ever hinder us or keep us from God. Who shall separate us from the
love of God that is in Christ Jesus? I like that song, if I can remember
it. Who, who shall in thy presence stand and match omnipotence,
unfold the grasp of thy right hand, and pluck the sinner thence?
Who? There's none. Why? God purposed your deliverance.
Christ purchased your redemption. He purchased it. Remember what
happened when Pharaoh tried to come the same way? What happened
to them? Did they come through on dry
ground? No. Scripture says that the wheel
began to fall off and sink it in the mud. To them it was quicksand. Isn't that a picture of false
religion, quicksand? Just can't ever get a hold, can't
ever get a footing. Always striving for heaven. Always plugging along, trying. Are you going to get to heaven?
Are you going to go there? Well, I'm trying. That's because
you bogged down in religion. See, when I walk down a religion,
we're walking on dry ground. You know how I know I'm getting
to heaven? Because Christ, His offering was perfect. His righteousness
was perfect. That's my standing. That's my
hope. That's my deliverance. Remember
that. Your deliverance was based on
God's purpose, God's will, and Christ's purchase. Nothing else. Nothing else. And I want you
to see this purchased possession. What does the Redeemer say about
it? What does Christ, who was sent to purchase your redemption,
what does he declare to you? What were his words on Calvary's
tree before he exhaled his spirit before God? What were they? It is finished. It's done. It's done. Don't you see your
salvation's done? It's done. Nothing left to do. God was not willing to impute
your sins to you. God was not willing that any
of his children should perish. God could not and would not accept
anything but he is the blood of his own dear son. In 2 Corinthians chapter 5, you
know this well. 2 Corinthians 5 is exactly what
I just said. 2 Corinthians chapter 5, look at
verse 17. It says, therefore, if any man
be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold,
all things are become new. That new nature you have, that
holy nature, that's of God. What he says, all things are
of God. who hath reconciled us unto himself
by Jesus Christ, and hath given us the ministry of reconciliation
to which God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not imputing
their trespasses to them, and hath committed to us the word
of reconciliation. For we are ambassadors of Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's
dead be reconciled to God. What's your standing? How can
I call you sinners to be reconciled to God? Four, God hath made Christ to
be sin for us. Who knew no sin? for this purpose
that we should be made the righteousness of God in Him. So in remembering
our captivity, in remembering God's purposed grace of our deliverance
in Christ's purchase, remember this, that it is fully paid. How do we know it's fully paid?
How do we know Christ's work is sufficient? He said it's finished,
but how do we know? Scripture plainly tells us this,
because God raised him from the dead. Scripture says to God,
having raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because. Here's why God raised Christ.
Because it was not possible that death should hold him. Why does
death hold men? Sin. Sin. And because Christ had put away
our sin forever, God says, what's keeping him? Nothing. God raised him up and God made
him both Lord and Christ. He is now exalted in heaven. Therefore, all of the sins of
his people are removed from them. All of the justice of God that
was against our sin is right now forever satisfied. You know what I love about the
justice of God? That he cannot demand twice payment for sin. Isn't that true? He would be
unjust if he demanded it of Christ and then of me. He won't. Why? Because that's what he willed.
That's what he purposed. Christ removed our sins. And
thirdly, I want you to remember this, your experience of this.
What was your experience of this? Everyone that God purposed to
save, everyone that Christ purchased will experience deliverance. Now, when we were born in this
world, our deliverance was not known. In truth, we were in captivity,
though the price had been paid. Our deliverance was purposed
of God, yet we were born captives. You know, I like 2 Timothy 2,
I believe it's 9. It says, God who hath saved us
and called us with a holy calling. Which one was first? Did God's Savior call you first?
He saved you first. And then because he saved you,
what did he do? He called you with an effectual
holy calling, a holy calling. Not according to our works, but
according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us
in Christ Jesus before the world began. I wanna give you, I'm
not gonna finish. I'm just sure I'm not going to
finish, but I'll give you as much as I can. Look at Ezekiel
chapter 16. Again, we're remembering our
experience of this. Now, Ezekiel chapter 16. See
if this is not your experience. Ezekiel said, remember when the
Lord turned our captivity. And this is a good picture of
our experience. Ezekiel chapter 16, verse 2.
He said, son of man, caused Jerusalem to know her abominations. Isn't that what you first knew
about yourself when he delivered you? You knew your abomination. You knew your captivity. He says, say, thus saith the
Lord unto Jerusalem, thy birth and thy nativity is as the land
of Canaan. Thy father was an Amorite, thy
mother was a Hittite. You were a bastard. What he was
saying. You were a heathen bastard. And
you were so hated that your mom and dad threw you out at your
birth. We were an abomination to God
and an outcast among men. This is what we were in Adam
before our birth, but now we are born again, born in this
world. We see our nature, verse four,
and as for thy nativity in the day that thou was born, thy navel
was not cut, neither was thou washed with water to supple thee. Thou wast not salted, nor swaddled
at all. None eye pitied thee to do any
of these, to have compassion upon thee. But thou wast cast
out in the open field to the loathing of thy person in the
day that thou wast born. By birth, by birth we were still
attached and feeding on the dead navel cord of sin. We were unwashed. There was no offering for our
sins. We were unpitied by the law of
God. We could never be saved by our
own power or obedience. We were like all men cast out
and left to die under the sentence of God's justice, but God, who
purposed our deliverance, But Christ, who has satisfied the
justice of God so as He is able to wash us, He washed us in His
own blood. This same God of grace came to
us in our blood. He said in verse 6, When I passed
by thee, I saw thee polluted in thine own blood. How did He
find you? Did he find you well? Did he
find you clean? Did he find you washed? Did he
find you supple? No, he found you an outcast,
a bastard son, worthless, vile, and loathsome. Yet he said,
I said unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Yea, I said
unto thee, when thou wast in thy blood, live. Again, we see
that God did not wait for us, did not depend upon our will
to come to Him or religious works, but He came to us in our own
polluted blood. He came to deliver us while we
were in our chains. He comes to set free those who
are born captives. And then he says in verse 7,
I have caused thee to multiply as the bud of the field. Thou
hast increased and waxen great. Thou art come to excellent ornaments. Thy breast are fashioned. Thine
hair is grown, whereas thou wast naked and bare. What does this
mean? He gave us life. All that speaks of life. In verse 8, he said, when I passed
by thee to look upon thee, behold, thy time was a time of love. I spread my skirt over thee,
and cover thy nakedness. Yea, I swear unto thee, and entered
into a covenant with thee, saith the Lord God, and thou becamest
mine. What is this skirt but the righteousness
of Christ to cover our nakedness? What is this covenant but the
covenant of grace wherewith we are made heirs, sons of God. In verse nine, he said, then
washed I thee with water, yea, I thoroughly washed away thy
blood from thee. And I anointed thee with oil,
and I clothed thee with broader work, which shod thee with the
badger's skin. I girded thee about with fine
linen, I covered thee with silk. In other words, he cleanses us
from all our unrighteousness with his blood. I deck thee with
ornaments, I put bracelets upon thine hands and thine neck, I
put a jewel in thy forehead, earrings in thine ears, and a
beautiful crown upon thine head. This speaks of our sonship, our
being children of God. Who wears such things but princes
and kings? Thou wast decked with gold and
silver, and thy raiment was fine linen, silk, embroidered work.
Thou didst eat fine flour and honey and oil, and was exceeding
beautiful. And thou didst prosper into a
kingdom." Oh, how we are made heirs and joint heirs with Christ. Have you been set free? Have you been delivered? Has
God come to you in your nakedness and robed you in the righteousness
of Christ? Has he washed you in the blood
of his Son every whit clean? Has he put the crown of life
upon your head and made you to eat of the body and blood of
Christ by faith? Are you the sons of God? Listen,
as many as receive him, how may I know am I delivered or not? as many as received him, to them
gave he the right to be called the sons of God,
which were born." How were you born? By blood? No. By the will of the flesh? No. By the will of man? No. By the will of God? Yes. We were
born by the will of God. I'll go back to your text and
see this. When the Lord turned again the
captivity of Zion. Purposed deliverance, purchased,
experienced deliverance. Look at this. What happened when
you experienced this deliverance? We were like them that dreamed.
Is this possible? Is it possible that God should
save a man like me, a sinner, vile and unclean? How is it possible? We were like them that dreamed. You look into the prison house
from which we have been set free. I like this in Psalm 113. It
says, You take the poor out of the dust and lift up the needy
out of the dunghill. Is that where it got you? That's
where it got me. Prisoner. Prisoner in the dust. A beggar in the dungheel. And
what did he do? He said he made them to be princes. Kings. Isn't that what Scripture said?
We were kings and priests unto our God? Go look in the mirror. What do you see? Do you see a
king? You see a priest? No, you won't see that. You only
see that by faith. You only see it by what God gives
us in our heart. It is faith in Christ. Yes, he
hath done this. And we are like them that dream.
How could we be? We sing that song, and can it
be that I should gain an interest in the Savior's blood? Died he
for me who caused his pain? For me, for him who him to death
pursued amazing love, how can it be that thou, my God, would
die for me? Long my imprisoned spirit lay
fast bound in nature's night. Thine eyes diffused the quickening
ray. I awoke the dungeon flame with
light. My chains fell off. My heart is free. And what did
I do? What did you do when your chains
fell off? Did you run back to the chains?
My chains fell off, my heart is free. I rose, went forth and
followed Thee. That is the experience of our
captivity being delivered. We were like them that dreamed.
He said, then was our mouth filled with laughter and our tongue
was singing and they that are among the heathen, they said,
the Lord had done great things for them. And you know what we said? The
Lord had done great things for us. You're right. You're right. The Lord had done great things
for us. You know, when a person is saved,
you don't have to really worry about it. It's going to get out
on him. It's going to get out on you.
If you're free, it's going to get out on you. Why? Because the Lord had done great
things for us. The Lord had done great things
for us. Now then, in remembering this, I'm going to leave you
with this. Hope of present deliverance. Now, when we first were converted,
there was joy. There was peace. We thought for
sure that every mountain would be made low, every valley would
be raised up. We would walk on flat ground
all the way to glory. No trouble, no trouble. You know, that's what Israel
thought when they crossed the Red Sea. They thought it was smooth sailing
from there. Why do you think they murmured so much when they
had trouble? because they thought it should be smooth. And that's
how we think when we begin this walk with Christ. We begin walking
by faith. We think that everything should
go our way. Surely, we're sons of God. Surely,
the world knows this. Surely, they'll just get out
of our way. The flesh now is made subservient, and I won't
have to deal with him no more. Satan is conquered. Surely, I
won't have to deal with him. The world is under God's control.
Surely, I won't have any trouble. Now, is that your experience?
Of course not. Look at Israel again in your
text. Look at this. Look at verse 5. I'm in verse 4. Turn, what's that word? Again, our captivity. Children of God, I want you to
take heed. And I want you to Bear this as
a warning. Every believer in Christ is capable
of any sin except believing Christ. You and I are capable of any
sin. Has this not been borne out in
Scripture? David killed a man after he committed adultery with
his wife. Lot was delivered twice. The first time he was delivered,
he left Abraham and the Word of God and dwelt among Sodomites. And then when he was delivered
of Abraham again, he went right back to the Sodomites. And when
God delivered him again, where did he go? He went to a cave
and committed incest with his own daughters. Yet this was a
man justified before God. And so when we walk through this
world and we do fall into sin, what then is our cry? Lord, turn
again my captivity. O wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Why does God allow
such afflictions? Why does God allow us to fall
into such grievous and hurtful sins? Listen, you and I would be so
self-righteous we couldn't stand ourselves. How often do our brethren fall
into sin and we look at them and say, man, how in the world
could you do that? What? Obviously, you don't know
yourself well. You don't know yourself. God allows these things so as
we would should be sober. That's what
Peter said, be sober, vigilant, because your adversary, the devil,
walketh about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. You
know, Peter, he knew that by experience. When he wrote that,
he knew that experimentally well. Our Lord said Satan had the desire
to sift thee as wheat. You know what he did? He did. How easy was it for him to tempt
Peter into denying the Lord three times? How easy do you suppose you would
deny the Lord if left to yourself? And yet, what was the only difference
between Peter and Judas? Christ said, but I have prayed
for thee. And so in the teeth of our iniquity,
when we are cast down by dark providence, when we are made
to and exposed to be sinners of the vilest sort, what then
is our hope that he will deliver us again? Remember how he has
already delivered you. And if you remember that, then
there sure is confidence that he'll do it again. He'll do it
again. I like that in John when he says
here, the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin. You know what
that means? It means this, he has cleansed
us from all sin. He is right now cleansing us
from all sin. And he shall forever, as long
as we exist in this body, cleanse us from all our sins. That's
how powerful the blood of Christ is. But we know this, that all our
weeping, all our striving, all our crying unto God, and when
we cry, we have this promise that he is faithful and just
to forgive us our sins. Why is this? What's your confidence
of this? That last verse, I'm going to
read it to you, I'm going to read it to you, because this
speaks of the why you have hope for deliverance. In verse 6,
it says this, He that goeth forth weeping, Bearing precious seeds
shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves
with him." I want you to notice the pronoun change. First it
begins with, he turned our captivity. We were like them that dreamed.
It says the Lord has done great things for them, the Lord has
done great things for us, but now it's talking about He, singular,
person, by Himself. This is Christ. Listen, the reason
you and I have hope of present deliverance is because, not because
of our weeping, not because of our lamenting sin, but because
He that goeth forth weeping, Christ, who went forth weeping,
bearing precious seed. You and I are the precious seed. He bore us as he walked through
this world. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. And as he bore our sins on Calvary's
tree, the scripture says, shall doubtless come again rejoicing. Do you think Christ is ever discouraged?
Scripture says He isn't. He shall not fail nor be discouraged. Why? Because He that went forth
weeping, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again, rejoicing,
bringing His full-grown sheaves with Him. That's us. How many will he lose? You that
have been delivered, you suppose he'll lose you? You suppose you'll slip through
the cracks, unnoticed? No, he shall doubtless come again. And I'll tell you this, when
he comes again, when he comes again, what rejoicing shall there
be? when he comes again and brings
us to a place where there is no more sin. You know, I've had to think about
that sometimes, and it just baffles my mind. I don't know a place
without sin. I've never experienced a place without sin. A place
without tears. A place without sorrow. A place
without grief. But when he comes, He will doubtless
come again and bring us to Himself. When a believer dies, do you
ever think about the joy he experiences the moment he enters into glory?
Do you ever think about that? Do you think about the sheer joy
of seeing the One that has saved him? beholding His face, feeling His embrace. How many
times have you wanted to feel that? Sometimes I just wanted
to hold my hand. Just hold my hand. Not going to do that. Not until I get there. When He
comes again and brings us to Himself, what a state of joy
there is for the believer that's been delivered. I pray God will
help you in this to remember your deliverance. And by remembering,
you have confidence that he will constantly deliver you from sin
and bring you to himself.