Alright, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me now to Lamentations. Lamentations chapter 3. Lamentations chapter 3. I know and am sure that I have
preached this message to you before. from this text, and I'm sure it might have been even
recently, I can't remember. But I know this. I need it. I need it. And I know that God's
saints are often plagued with this matter of murmuring and
complaining. Let's read this text together,
Lamentations. I've entitled this message, A Question for a Living
Man. A Question for a Living Man,
verse 39. Wherefore doth a living man complain? A man for the punishment of his
sins. Let us search and try our ways
and turn again to the Lord. Let us lift up our heart with
our hands unto God in the heavens. Now in this chapter of Lamentations,
the prophet Jeremiah is recounting his grief and suffering under
the hands of his brethren. You remember God sent this prophet
to declare unto the nation of Judah that they should repent.
that they should turn from their sins. He exposed unto them, according
to the Word of God, their guilt, their sin. And God's just punishment
of them was that they were carried into Babylon. They were to be
carried into Babylon, and for all of His love, This was a man
who loved the people of God. This was a man who had a heart
for the gospel of Christ, and he preached it to them faithfully
and for all of his love, for all of his labor. Instead of
repentance and turning to God, his reward was this. They put him in a pit, in a dungeon,
and sealed him up with stones. There the prophet stood, for
I don't know how long, in his own dung, in the darkness, hated by everyone. The prophet of God, this man
of God. In verse 52 to verse 54, even
though this evil was done by his enemies, the prophet knowing
this, that all things are done by the sovereign hand of God. He said, mine enemies chased
me sore like a bird without a cause. They have cut off my life in
the dungeon and cast a stone upon me. Waters flowed over my
head. Yet He knew this, that it was
all according to the sovereign will of God. Look at verse 1. He said, I am the man that has
seen affliction by the rod of His wrath. He recognized that this suffering
was of the hand of God. He says, if you look through
verses 1-17 later, He says, God turned against me. God has brought
me into darkness. Hedge me about that I cannot
escape. Verse 7. Verse 12. God breathed. God burned His bows. Let's see,
verse 12. He has set His bow against me
and has marked me as the mark of His arrow. Verse 15. God had filled me with bitterness
and made me drunk with wormwood. Verse 17. God removed me from
peace. I would that every suffering
mind, every mind of everyone that suffered, should say the
sovereign hand of God has purpose. The sovereign hand of God is
purpose. all our sorrows, all of our afflictions. The prophet is saying that God
had done this to him. Truly it was the hatred of his
brothers, but he recognized who was in charge. He recognized
whose will was being accomplished. It was God's will. It was God's
will. And so every suffering saint
should recognize that our suffering, our sorrows, are directly from the will of
God. Not for our destruction, but
we're going to see it's for your benefit. For your benefit. In this account of suffering
of Jeremiah, this suffering was intended of
the Holy Spirit for Jerusalem. And you know this, that all that
is in the Old Testament concerning Jerusalem is this, It's a picture
of God's church. God's church. But I want you
to see this. It's not just about the suffering
of the church that is intended here. I think we should see it
as a higher, in its full measure, as really the prophets speaking
in the stead of Christ. This is most surely the words
of Christ. I am the man that has seen affliction
and the rod of his wrath. Who else among the saints could
say that they have really seen the rod of God's wrath but Christ? The man that has seen affliction
is Christ. Awake, O sword, and smite the
shepherd, the man that is my fellow. saith the Lord, smite the shepherd,
and the sheep shall be scattered. Look now at Calvary's tree, and
behold the Son of God in human flesh, as He suffered. We do suffer, but in our suffering
let us consider first His suffering, and see that no man has suffered
like Him. On Calvary's tree He was suffering
the wrath of God as our substitute. For God hath made Him to be sin
for us who knew no sin. See how He was made then to bear
the sins of all of His elect? Behold how the billows and the
billions of our sins were placed upon Him? that vile corruption
as God made it to rest upon him who knew no sin? You and I know
only sin. Do you know what it feels like to
be righteous? We are made the righteousness
of God in Him, but the experience of it, truly, we have not yet
felt the measure of the experience of that. And we won't until this
body is laid in the grave. But He who knew no sin bore our sin in His own body
and suffered for it. Suffered. God has brought Him
into darkness. God has turned his hand of love
into a fist of vengeance. See how he crushed him under
our sins and the arrow of God's wrath struck deep into his soul? See that he was so far removed
from peace because God himself had forsaken
him. God forsook His Son. See then, the wormwood of our
sin He was made to drink. Verse 15, He filled me with bitterness. He hath made me drunken with
wormwood. The Scriptures testified of our
Lord in His coming that He should drink of the brook in the way.
I believe that's Psalm 110. He shall drink of the brook in
the way." That brook was the brook Kittron. If you remember,
that is where all of the sacrifices, the blood of the sacrifices,
the dung and the entrails were running down this brook from
the temple. It was the brook that David had
crossed. It was the brook where Josiah
had burned those idols and threw the ashes of those idols into
the brook Kittron. And the Scripture says that our
Lord should drink of this brook. Behold, our Lord did drink it
dry. He by Himself having suffered
the wrath of God for our sins. The scripture says he hath by
himself tread the winepress of the wrath of God alone. In his suffering, and I'm so
thankful for his suffering because his suffering has value. Isn't
that right? His suffering has true value. Our suffering does have some
value. God makes it so. But how much
more the value of His suffering. He purged us from our sins. He cleansed us. He redeemed us. He redeemed all those that the
Father had gave Him. Look now then, believer, at the
Lord's sufferings. For He asks in chapter 1 of this
book by the prophet, He asks this question in verse 12, Is
it nothing to you that pass by? Behold and see, is there any
sorrow like unto my sorrow which is done unto me? wherewith the
Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger." Is
there any sorrow, as we pass by the cross this evening, is
there any sorrow like unto his sorrow? Take your sorrow and
compare it to his. Is there anyone, is there any
of us who could dare compare our sorrows with his? There is no one that has sorrowed,
no one's been afflicted by the fierce anger of God. Consider
even all those in hell that are suffering right now under the
wrath of God. Consider this, they are suffering
eternally for their own sins. But our Lord Jesus Christ suffered
not for His sin, but for all of the sins of all of His people. He felt the wrath of God like
no other man. A man could suffer in hell for
eternity and never come close to the sufferings of our Lord
Jesus Christ. for the sins of His people. But
see the strength then of His suffering for the sins of millions
and millions of people. He endured the eternal wrath
of God in three hours. Consider the strength to endure
the wrath of God In three hours, Peter said this,
that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, the silver
and gold of your vain conversation, but with the precious blood,
the precious blood, the valuable blood of Jesus Christ. How valuable
was His blood? How valuable was His sorrow and
His suffering? It was so valuable that God accepted
it. It was so precious that it was
the only thing that could ever remove sin, ever pay for sin. He satisfied God. Scripture tells us in Isaiah
53, He shall see the travail of His soul and be satisfied. We take all of our suffering.
all the sufferings of all the saints of all time, and you put
them together, they could not pay for one sin. We could not
pay for sin. Our sufferings pay for nothing.
They pay for no sin. But His satisfied God's justice
forever. And see then, this is the hope
for sinners. That all who believe on Jesus
Christ He bore our sin and finished
our salvation. Therefore, he can say this in
verse 22 of our text. Look, because of this suffering,
because God has seen the affliction of God's wrath, because He had
been set in darkness, because He had been set as the mark of
God's arrow and His wrath, because He had drank in the wormwood
and gall of our sins, look, it is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed, because His compassion fails not. Behold, we all by nature are
sinners. We all by nature are sinners,
fallen, depraved, blind, dead in sin, worthy of the justice
of God, and yet see, it was the mercy of God It was because the
mercy of God that Adam was not consumed in the garden. Have you ever thought of that?
That when Adam sinned, why was he not consumed? Why did God
not... The angels, when they sinned,
immediately, they were in chains of darkness, waiting eternal
damnation. No hope. No salvation for them. But when Adam sinned, When Adam sinned, when he failed,
you remember who sought who. Had God turned his back, there
would have been no hope for this race. But God, in mercy, sought
Adam. He sought him in the garden.
even in His miserable and fallen and rebellious state. And not
only seeks Him, He didn't just seek Him. He didn't just want
to find Him to punish Him or to condemn Him. He found Him
and gave Him a message. He gave Him hope. The seed of
the woman shall crush the head of the serpent. He gave him a
message of Jesus Christ, a gospel message of salvation, of substitution,
that there would come one that should do away with his sin.
There would be one who would crush the head of the enemy. God declares Christ the seed
of the woman by His blood should crush Satan, restore righteousness,
save sinners, reconcile us to God. Now considering this, that this
is speaking of Christ and His suffering, in the very teeth then of our
sorrow, in the very grief of our pain, we have great cause
to praise God. No matter what happens, we have
cause to praise God. We have cause to praise His grace.
Had God not chosen us, had God not purposed our salvation, had
Christ not accomplished our redemption and reconciled us to God, had
not the Holy Spirit come to us in our dead condition, we never
would have believed. We would have been without hope.
But consider you that believe. He did choose you. He did redeem you. He did call
you. And He does keep you. Our Lord said, no man can come
to Me. And yet here you are. You come. Do you not come to Him? There is not a day that goes
by that I cannot not come to Him. I have to come to Him. I must come to Him. I need Him
constantly. How is it that I can come to
Him? When He said, no man can except the Father which has sent
Me draw him. You that have come is because
you've been drawn of the Father. God. God in love has joined us
to Christ. Christ in love has redeemed us
by His offering. And the Holy Spirit in love has
quickened us to faith in Christ. And so long as we walk in this
world, so long as we live in this body, it is the power then
of God that keeps us. Peter said that you are kept. Isn't that a good word? Kept. By the power of God. Unto salvation, ready to be revealed
at the last time. God keeps us. It's His constant,
perpetual grace of God that we are preserved and we shall persevere
unto the end, believing on Christ. Therefore, we praise God. It
is of His mercies we are not consumed. Daily does Christ intercede
for us. Daily does He forgive us. Daily
does He love us. Daily does He comfort us. So then, seeing then, you do
suffer. But now beholding the suffering
of Christ, beholding what God has done for you, This is the
question. You, in the midst of our suffering,
in the midst of our grief, seeing what great things He has done
for us, this question comes to you and me. To you who are saved
by the grace of God. Listen to the text. Go back to
the text and see it again. Wherefore doth the living man
complain? Wherefore Does the living man
complain? The man who is quickened by the
Holy Spirit and believes on Christ alone, how is it that we murmur
and complain? We who believe on Christ, made
sons of God, heirs of heaven, partakers of the divine nature,
elect of God, redeemed of Christ, precious in His sight, Yet why
are we so full of complaints? Why are we so full of murmuring? We often murmur against our lot. We complain against God's providence. How often do we make plans? You
make plans? There's nothing wrong with making
plans. I think it's wise that you should make plans. But how
often do we make these plans and scheme to have our way? We
work and we labor and we lay it out and then all of a sudden
it burns up. All of our dreams, all of our
thoughts, all of that we had planned for and worked for lays
in ashes at our feet. We like Israel, who were freed
from Pharaoh, yet because of a few days without bread, they
murmured. It didn't take them long to murmur,
did it? You remember when they got out and they were at the
Red Sea. The Lord had entrapped them there. The deserts were
on the right. The mountains were on the left.
Pharaoh was behind. The Red Sea before them. They
were trapped. And you remember they said this,
Oh that we would have died in Egypt. You brought us all the
way out here to die here. We could have died in Egypt.
That would have saved us a walk. Is this not a mirror? When you hold up these wicked
people in this book, can you not see yourself? God just redeemed them. He just
delivered them. And because they seemed to be
in an impossible place, they began to murmur and complain
against their law. Are you oppressed? Are you in great sorrow? Why does the living man complain? You remember what he said to
Moses? He said to you and me, Be still and see the salvation
of the Lord. Be still Are you perplexed? Are you cast down? Are your sorrows
too great? Are your enemies too strong?
Are you in distress in a narrow place? The question then comes
to us, Dost thou believe on the Son of God? Is His work sufficient to save
you? Is His work sufficient to redeem you? Hath He really quickened
you to life and faith? Is God not satisfied with His
righteousness? Well, of course He is. Cries
our hearts, yes, He is. He's sufficient. He's perfect. His work is successful. We believe this with all of our
souls. So how then do you complain?
How then do we complain? Stand still and behold the salvation of the
Lord. Look at verse 24 through 26.
It said, The Lord is my portion, saith my soul. Therefore will
I hope in Him. The Lord is good unto them that
wait for Him, to the soul that seeketh Him. It is good that
a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the
Lord. See, then, that faith in Christ
is always the best remedy for complaints. Faith in Christ is always the
best remedy for complaints. Tell me, you who have lost houses
and lands, you that have lost loved ones, your family, you
that have lost your wealth and your health, or even maybe you
lose your life. Let me ask you this, what have
you really lost? Did you not lose things that
you were going to lose anyway? Have we lost anything? Our Lord told us the cost of
following Him from the beginning, didn't He? If any man hate not
his father and mother and wife and children and brethren and
sisters and his own life also, what? He cannot be my disciple. Why? Because we let these things
go in love for Him, in honor of Him, to serve Him. Luke chapter
14 verse 33, So likewise whosoever of he be that forsaketh not all
that he hath, he cannot be my disciple. Surely we have abandoned
all our hopes of self-righteousness. Isn't that right? It's the first
thing a man, when he believes, he abandons. He abandons all
hope of self-righteousness. We abandon our old religion of
works, of salvation by works. We by faith have clinged to Christ
alone and by doing so we forfeit all things. We forfeit all things. We forfeit even our body and
soul, our mind, our heart, our will to the care of Christ Jesus. Our Lord said that. He said, He said, There is no man that
hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or fathers, or mothers,
or wife, or children, or lands for my sake in the gospel, but
he shall receive an hundredfold in this time houses, and brethren,
and sisters, and mothers, and children, and lands, pay attention,
with persecution. See what? With persecution. What we have forsaken for Christ,
He says He will restore a hundredfold. And along with that comes persecution. And in the world to come, eternal
life. Seeing then that God has given
us the greatest gift of His Son, seeing He has suffered and accomplished
our salvation and the Holy Ghost now dwells in us and has sealed
us, how then Shall we think so little of God's goodness and
love as to complain? We complain of His providence,
of our circumstances, of our lot. Do we suppose that any of this
is outside of God's power or will? Simply put, to complain of our
lot is nothing short of unbelief. concerning the promises of God. I've got a couple of things here
I want to go over with you concerning this. If God is sovereign, then
why do we complain? If God is sovereign, we believe
that, isn't that right? We believe God is sovereign.
We know God is sovereign. Without a doubt, was that somebody
come up and ask you, is God sovereign? Immediately, yes! You know this. He is sovereign. Remember, O living man, that
all that happens to us in time and eternity is according to
the sovereign will of God. Go to Isaiah chapter 46. Isaiah
chapter 46 and verse 10. And if you remember, this chapter
is God declaring the difference between a false God and the true
God. between all false gods and Himself. And this is the difference. Sovereign
will and power. Those are necessities. If anybody claims to be God and
he is not sovereign, he is not God. If any god claims to be
sovereign and has no power, he is not God. Look what God says
of Himself in chapter 46 and verse 10. Remember the former things of
old, for I am God, and there is none else." That's pretty narrow, isn't it?
People say, well, you guys are narrow-minded. Yes. Yes. There is only one God. And listen
how the one God describes Himself. There is none else. I am God
and there is none like me. Here it is 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. Father Don wrote this a long
time ago. There's absolutely no difference between the denial
of God's sovereignty and the denial of God's being. If you deny His sovereignty,
you deny His being. God says, I am sovereign. Not
just over a few things. I am sovereign over all things.
I declared the end of all things. at the beginning and everything
that takes place in between is according to my counsel, my will,
my pleasure. So what is taking place in the
lives of God's people is according only to the sovereign decree
and will of our God. We who are living men, we know
God is sovereign. We are the objects of His free
grace. And yet by grace, we are saved
through faith. And that faith even is not of
ourselves. That faith is a gift of God's
sovereign grace. We neither sought God nor came
to Christ except He drew us. He exercised His sovereign will
and power to save us. Yet why do we suppose that God
is sovereign over all matters of salvation, and yet in circumstance,
somehow He has failed. Now listen, if you're honest,
that's how you feel. When circumstances go awry, that's
how you feel, as though God has failed. This is why we murmur. This is
why we complain, as though some strange thing has happened to
us. I always remember, I believe it was Jacob Nesaw's mother. She had
those two sons in her warring. Now she knew the promise. She
knew the promise that in the Isaac Sea shall all the nations
of the earth be blessed. She knew that the Christ should
come from His Sea. And yet she said, why am I thus? Why is this happening to me? That's how we feel in these dark
providences. Why is this happening to me as
though God had failed in some way? Or messed up? As though He made a mistake.
There's no mistakes with God. O living man, listen. All is
well. You got that? All is well. say you to the righteous, it
is well, it is well. All things are moving
exactly according to the sovereign will of God, even when our ways
and lot seems to be crooked. Oh, living man, God is sovereign
and his will is always done. What is his will? If His will
is always done, what is His will? I don't want you to miss it.
Jeremiah, the same prophet. Go to Jeremiah chapter 32. Listen
to the sovereign will of God for you, living man. I don't want you to miss this.
Verse 38. Jeremiah 32 and verse 38. This is His will for His
living. elect, they shall be my people and I will be their God. I will
give them one heart and one way. What is your heart? Is it not one with my heart? One with Christ's heart? What
is our heart? It is the way. Our heart believes
that there is only one way. Jesus Christ is the way. And
why would He do that? That we may fear Him forever
for the good of them and to their children after them. And I will
make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn
away from them to do them good. Listen to me. Has God turned
away from doing you good? When has God turned away from
doing us good? Name one time He has turned away
from you to do you good. If you say, well, that was that,
then you deny what he just said. He said, I will not turn away
from them to do them good. It's an everlasting covenant,
isn't it? But listen what I'm gonna do.
I will put my fear in their hearts and they shall not depart from
me. Yea, I will rejoice over them
to do them good. I will plant them in this land
assuredly with my whole heart and with my whole soul." With
the whole heart and the whole soul of God, it is His good pleasure
to give you the kingdom. It's His good pleasure. This is the sovereign will of
God. To give you the kingdom. So what of your lot? Is it good
or evil? Did God intend to destroy you
by your afflictions? No. But by His dark providence,
He intends this, to put His fear in your heart. Is that not exactly
what it does? Our dark providence does
not prove our weakness. Does it not prove that this world
is corrupt? Is it not proved that the things
of this world are fleeting? So many times that my children
would take a toy or something and they would prize it so much
and they would hang on to it so much. And yet when you try
to take it away, you think you're killing them. But you know that they can't
hang on to that forever. You know it's for their good.
And what God does is He takes these things of earth. He takes
them out of our hands. And we feel as though God is
killing us. But actually, He said, no, I
will not turn away from you to do you good. To do you good. So if God means to work our woes
for our good, then why does the living man complain? Why do we complain? I have this over my desk at home. Somebody
wrote this. I don't know who wrote it. I
need constantly to remind myself that all things are of God. Let me not preach sovereignty
and then complain of my lot in life. Let me not talk of divine purpose
and then spend my days murmuring about my trials and troubles.
It is totally inconsistent with faith in a sovereign Christ for
me to question His good providence. Paul calls covetousness idolatry
and said, I have learned in whatsoever state I am therewith to be content. I pray for submission. For with
this comes peace and rest. Why does the living man complain?
You that have been chosen, you that have been redeemed by the
precious blood of Christ, you that have been called by the
Spirit and given life, you who God has purposed to give the
kingdom to, Knowing God is sovereign over all things and hath Himself
declared, I will not turn away from you to do you good. Why
does the living man complain? Why does the living man complain? But we don't only complain because
of our situation and our circumstance. Do we not also complain about
our chastisement? Why doth the living man complain
concerning the chastening hand of God? Look back at your text
real fast. Look at this. Why doth the living
man complain? A man for the punishment of his
sins. Now we know this, that it's not
speaking of us paying for our sins by our Suffering that's
not what it means at all. We know this that Christ as our
surety and high priest He has been punished for our sin. He
has been By his death he has purged our sin. That's what he
said Hebrews 1 he has by himself purged our sin and sat down on
the right hand of the majesty on high Scripture says, now once
at the end of the world he hath appeared to put away sin by the
sacrifice of himself. So we know this, that he has
paid the debt for our sins and no amount of chastisement or
suffering in this world pays for sin. That's a vain, religious,
evil thought. We know that's not what this
text is saying. Augustus Topley wrote this, It
said, Complete atonement thou hast made, and to the utmost
farthing thou hast paid whate'er thy people owed. How then can
the wrath of God on me take place, if sheltered in thy righteousness
and sprinkled with thy blood? Payment God cannot twice demand,
first at my bleeding surety's hand, and then again at mine.
We know that. So what is this? punishment that
is mentioned here. It is simply the chastening hand
of God. See then, to be a son of God
we must and should then expect chastisement. We must and should
expect. This chastening is necessary
because we still are in this old nature. We still have this
body of sin and we need chastisement. Suppose God did not chasten you.
What kind of person do you suppose you would be? We know this for a fact, that
God only chastens sons. He said, Have you forgotten?
Hebrews 12 verse 5, Have you forgotten the exhortation that
is spoken to us of the children? My son despised not the chastening
hand. of the Lord. Nor faint when thou
art rebuked, for whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth and scourgeth
every son. If you endure chastisement..."
By faith, we endure chastisement. "...He dealeth with you as with
sons." You know this. If you're not chastened of the
Lord, He said you're bastards and not sons. Think of chastisement. I think
of Pilgrim, Pilgrim's Progress. How often did he fail in his
travels? He was on that narrow way. And
it got rough. And he found a smoother path.
And he got off. And then he became a prisoner
in Doubting Castle. Got into all sorts of trouble
because he left the way. He fell asleep. But each time
in God's grace, by his suffering, he cried unto God. Isn't that
what he did? What do you do when you fall
asleep and you are chastened of the Lord? What is it that
you do? What is the purpose of this? That you should cry unto
God. That he should put his fear into
your heart. That you should seek him. That
you should love him. If he didn't, you wouldn't. But
he does. You know, the only person in
that book that didn't have any trouble was ignorance. Ignorance
went on his way. He never had any problems. When
he got to the river of death, he paid the boatman and went
across. Smooth. Everything was smooth. If your
religion is smooth, you're ignorant. You're not a child of God if
everything's smooth. God's children deal with the chastening hand
of the Lord. See then, living man, If thou art chastened of
the Lord, it is not to kill thee, but it is as a father to correct
thee. His chastening hand is for your
benefit and for your good. And so then lastly, seeing then
that God is sovereign over all things, seeing He has saved you,
redeemed you, called you, gave you life and faith, seeing He
rules all things for your good, seeing that even His chastening
hand, though hard at times, it seems as though it were to crush
you. Yet it is intended only to draw you to Himself. O living
man, why then complain? What then is the remedy for such
complaints? I need a remedy. God does not leave us without
a remedy. Go back to your text. Wherefore does the living man
complain? God is sovereign. Wherefore does the living man
complain for the punishment, the chasing of his sins? No. What does he recommend here?
Let us search and try our ways and turn again to the Lord. Let
us lift up our hearts with our hands unto God in the heaven. First of all, let us search and
try our ways. Instead of murmuring and complaining,
let us search for something that may support and comfort and teach
and instruct us. Is it more profitable to seek
God's will, God's purpose, rather than sitting and murmuring, pouting? I'm speaking to myself, I'm not
talking to you. Let us search for those things
that are comforting and not spend time on the things that are troubling. If we are tried and afflicted
and distressed, if we have complained against God's sovereign providence,
let not the living man complain, but see the remedy is searching.
and by faith beholding the love and grace of Christ. Have you
not noticed when he is present how troubles seem to fly? How comfort fills your heart
when he is near? When he takes his arms and wraps
them around your heart, my troubles melt away. Did I
not seek Him? Instead of complaining, seek
Christ. Search out the love of God. Would that not take up all of
our time? If we were to search out the love of God, would that
not remedy this idea of murmuring? Can you know the height, the
depth, the width, the breadth, the length of the love of God
by searching? How high is His love for you?
How great is His love for you? What to do with it? That's something
I was going to read to you. Oh, here it is right here. The Christian knows no change
with regard to God. He may be rich today and poor
tomorrow. He may be sickly today or well
tomorrow. He may be in happiness today
and tomorrow be in distress. But there is no change with regard
to his relationship with God. Is that not a remedy for murmuring? It doesn't matter what happens
to us. here, there is no change with
our relationship to God. Isn't that amazing? That is astounding. It is glorious. It brings comfort
if we search out these things. Searching out the love of God.
Searching out the covenant of His grace. How old is this covenant? How sure is it? that God said
He would save you. Is it sure? God said He would bring you to
Himself. Is that sure? Who then, or what
then, shall separate us from the love of God that is in Christ
Jesus? What? Not angels, not principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come. nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able, not that they
won't try, but they are not able to separate us from the love
of God that is in Christ Jesus. Search these things out. Search
out the righteousness of Christ. Search out the holiness that
he has given us in the new nature. Search it out. See it. Behold
it. Now look, you're not going to
look in the mirror and see it. Where are you going to find it? Where are you going to find it?
What are you going to believe? What you see and what you feel?
What God said. Living man, why then complain? Search out the offering of Christ. You search that out? Search out
the offering of Christ. Consider the suffering of our
Savior. And know this, that your suffering
endureth but for a while. All of it. Weeping endureth for a night. But what? Joy cometh in the morning. Why does a living man complain? It's astounding to me how often
and how much I complain, seeing what great things God has done
for us. God help us to search out the
things of Christ to remedy this complaint. Let's stand and be
dismissed in prayer.