All right, if you take your Bibles
and turn with me to Psalm 39. Psalm 39. I've entitled this
message, Three Lessons for Chastened Children. Three Lessons for Chastened
Children. And I've divided this message
into two distinct parts. And the first part is dealing
with chastisement. chastisement and we're going
to be looking at specifically David's chastisement and how
it relates to us and the comfort in our chastisement. What is
the comfort that we have though we are chastened? And then I
want to give us three lessons that every chastened child should
understand, that every chastened child learns at the end of their
chastisement. So first of all, let's look at
this chastisement of David. In order to see this, you'll
have to go back to the previous psalm in Psalm 38. And during this time, David was
persecuted. It was a time of great sickness
or a time of great conviction of sin before God. And the hand
of God was heavy on David. And he felt this in that Psalm. Look at verse one of chapter
38. He said, Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath, neither chasten
me in thy hot displeasure. For thine arrows stick fast in
me and thy hand presseth me sore. There is no soundness in my flesh
because of thine anger. Neither is there any rest in
my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquity is gone over
my head. As a heavy burden they are too
heavy for me." Now every believer in Christ should quickly see
and identify this experience. Every believer in Christ understands
exactly what David is experiencing in the chastening of God. Though
we've been given a new nature, a new man that is created after
God in true holiness, a nature which desires to be righteous
and to do those things which please God, yet we find another
nature. We find another law warring in
our members. This principle wars in the law
of my mind, Paul said. And that law of Christ, wars
against the law of Christ, which is faith and love to Him. And
then we are brought to see the old vile nature of our flesh. And as Paul, as David said here,
mine iniquities are gone over my head. Like a wave, like an
ocean wave. How many times have our iniquities
so overwhelmed us, so consumed us, that we had no ability, no
power against our own flesh. They've gone over our head and
we are exposed again to see the grotesque and hideous nature
of our flesh. So when God in love chastens
us because of our sin, we feel the arrows. David said his arrows
stick fast in my heart. We are made again to see by chastisement
and remember the stench of our sins. Look at that in verse five.
He said, my wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I am troubled. I am bowed down
greatly. I go mourning all the day long. My loins are filled with a loathsome
disease and there is no soundness. in my flesh." Can you not identify?
Have you not seen that about your own self? When sin overwhelms
and overtakes us, the burden of that sin is too heavy for
us to bear. We find that our flesh, it stinks
in our nostrils. Isn't that what the covenant
told us? In the covenant of grace, God said, you shall loathe yourselves. And truly we do. When we sin,
we loathe ourselves. Are you troubled about sin? I
mean, I know that's a rhetorical question for believers. The unbelievers
are not troubled about their sin. They're only troubled about
the consequence of their sin. They're not troubled about their
sin. We're troubled about our sin. Does God shoot His arrows
of His Word so that it presses down on you and He crushes you? You see, David said, He's pressed
me sore. He's pressed me sore. And look at verse 15. This is
always the conclusion of one who is chastened of God. Eventually,
God brings us for this purpose. Verse 15, he said, for in thee,
O Lord, do I hope. Thou will hear me, O Lord, my
God. This is always the conclusion
of chastisement. You know that? This is always
the end and purpose of chastisement, to cause us to flee unto God. So when we find our souls so
chastened and afflicted because We are so prone to sin. Am I
speaking to anybody besides myself? I am so prone to it. Prone to
wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. What is my hope? Take my heart
and seal it for thy courts above. We're prone to murmur and complain
of God's providence, but remember, Set your soul first on this immutable
truth that all things are in the hands of God. Everything
that happens in this life is according to the providence of
God. Remember that, I believe it's in the Proverbs, he says,
the casting of the lot. You cast that lot, but the falling
out thereof is what? Of the Lord. You throw a dice
and when it lands on double six or double four, who did that?
Seriously, who did it? You know who did it. God did
it. And He did it for His own glory and purpose. This truth
should hold us fast concerning our circumstance, our providence,
even in the providence of chastisement. Who's doing this, friend? Who's
chastening us? It is God. One man wrote this,
we are so prone to look at the stick that hits us rather than
the loving hand that wields it. Isn't that true? When you're
being hit by God and chastened, you look at the providence, you
look at the circumstance, you look at the pain, you look at
the sorrow, and you forget to look at the one who's doing it. You know, he had an ax. What
would that axe be able to do without a hand? Nothing. So it is that no one can do anything
toward God's elect except God purposely. You got that? No one can do anything to you
except God purposely. No one. And whatever is happening
to us is according to the purpose of our God. Shall not there be evil in the
city and hath not the Lord, what done it? Brethren, you, if you're convicted
of the Lord, let not your hearts despise his chastisement. I know
that your first, your and my first instinct is to despise
the chastening of the Lord. But what does the scripture say?
It says, My son, despise not the chastening of the Lord, nor
faint when thou rebuke of him. For the Lord, whom the Lord loveth,
he what? Chasteneth and scourgeth every
son. Only sons are chastened. Only
sons are scourged. And when you are chastened of
the Lord's hand, is it well or ill? Now, these are rhetorical questions.
Scott's smiling back there. He knows it's rhetorical. You
understand that, yes, it's for my best. It's for my good. It doesn't feel best. It doesn't
feel good. It don't appear best, and it
don't appear good, but it is. It is for our good. Now, no chastening, the scripture
says, at the present time seems pleasant, does it? But grievous. While we are chastened, then
let us remember for the comfort of our souls, for the joy in
the midst of our chastisement, this truth, only sons are chastened. If you be without chastisement,
then are you bastards and not sons. And so then children of
God, when the arrows of grace pierce your heart, Remember this,
only sons are pierced. Only sons are pressed down. Only
sons are made to bow down greatly and mourn over their sins. The
dead feel nothing. They feel it in the flesh, but
they feel nothing in their heart. No love for God, no desire for
righteousness. but the instrument that God uses,
these arrows the Lord uses to pierce our soul, the things that
bring us low is not the law. That's not what brings us low,
is it? The law does not bring us low. What brings the believer
low concerning his sin? Is it not the greatness of God's
love? Is it not the greatness of God's love in Christ? Well,
this alone moves God's saints to faith and repentance. It is
the love of God that leadeth us to repentance. Isn't that
what happened to Peter? Remember when Peter denied the
Lord? On that third time, the Lord
said, before the cock crow, you will deny me three times. And
Peter said, there's no way. There is no way that's going
to happen. I'll die first. And he was sincere. He determined in himself. We'll
get determination in just a minute. He determined he wasn't going
to do that. How far did his determination
take him? It took him right up until the
point he denied the Lord. And he did it the third time.
You remember the cock crow? And listen what the scripture
said. And the Lord turned and looked upon Peter. It is only
then when the Lord's eyes look upon us in love, do we like Peter
weep bitterly because of our sins. It is only when we are
chastened, it's only the look of Christ that melts our hearts. It's only seeing him die in our
stead that causes us to weep for our sin and causes us to
repent and turn to Him. The love of God is only seen
in the eyes of Christ as He bore our sins in His own body. Oh,
you chastened saints of God, are you made to feel and know
the stench of your sin? Behold you who are made to bow
before the Lord. Let us see our hope is not in
our sorrow. You know, men hope in their sorrow.
They say, well, I'm weeping, so I must be a believer. That's
not my hope. I'm not hoping because I weep.
My hope is not in my tears. My hope is in Christ, in Christ,
who accomplished my salvation. It's not in my repentance. Or
my faith, am I accepted with God? Which surely are necessary,
you must have faith and repentance, but it's not my faith and repentance
I have faith in, or I repent to. I don't repent toward my
repentance and I don't believe in my faith. I believe and repent
toward Christ, in Christ. It is His work alone that we
are to trust in, His redemption. It is in his suffering under
the wrath of God, our hope is found. David said, I hope, my
hope. I hope in thee, O Lord, in thee
do I hope. What is he saying? In Christ,
I hope. I have sinned, but in Christ is my hope. And listen,
now that you take chapter 38 again, and I want you to see
this not in the eyes of David, but as it is intended, Christ. We are chastened of God, is that
not right? You and I are chastened. Have
you ever been chastened in the wrath of God? No. Look what the text says in 38.
Lord, rebuke me not in thy wrath. Who alone was rebuked in the
wrath of God and chastened in his sore displeasure? It was
Christ. Christ alone bore the wrath and
displeasure of God as he was made sin for us. He bore the
wrath in that He bare our sins in His own body. Listen what the Lord says, this
is Christ, verse four, for mine iniquities are gone over my head.
What is this talking about? But the sheer number of sin,
the sheer power of sin had covered Him like He was in the ocean. An ocean of sin covered him. And the waves of God's wrath
overflowed him. So he said, it's too heavy for
me to bear. And he bore it in his own body.
And his desire before the Lord was to glorify God. His desire was to glorify God.
Verse 9 of 38, Lord, all my desires before Thee, and my groaning
is not hid from Thee. What was his desire? It was to
glorify God and save his people. And that's what he did. So in
your chastisement, knowing he was forsaken of God, and knowing he had put away your
sin, you who are chasing hope in him, Look to Him. Because He, by His grace, has
saved you. You know, there's no power in
us to overcome our sins. There's no power in us. The power
is in Christ. The hope is in Christ. The joy
is in Christ. The peace is in Christ. And so
when you're chastened because of your sin, know this, your
hope should be in him and not in yourselves to endure this
chastisement. And so the last thing you see
in verses seven through 13 is the declaration of David. He
said this, when a chastened person comes to the end, look at verse
18. This is what a chastened person learns. For I declare
mine iniquity and I am sorry for my sin. Is that right? When you are chasing sword, isn't
this the result? You sorrow over sin. You sorrow
and you come to God. And now then look at this in
chapter 39. Now I want to take you here because
that when a man comes to the end of himself and he's he's
been chastened of the Lord, we're going to find out now what David
in this chapter. It is it is the psalm of of the
one who has been chastened and now has come to the end of it. Notice that there are three things
here, three lessons that every chastened son should learn. Every
chastened son should learn from David. First of all, the determination
of every chastened son. Second of all, the revelation
of God to every chastened son. And third is the declaration
of every chastened son. Now let's go in order. What is
the determination of everyone who has been chaste of the Lord?
You that when your sin has overwhelmed you, when you've been overcome
by your sin and the arrows of God's chastisement have pierced
your heart, you have been made to bow before God, hope only
in Christ, look only to Christ, confess and declare your sins,
what is your determination? Not to do it again. That's exactly what David said.
Look what he said in verse one. I said, I will take heed to my
ways, that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth
with a bridle while the wicked is before me." A determination. And I want you to first of all
see the goodness of this. I'm not going to knock David
for this because it is a good determination, isn't it? Can
you find anything wrong with that? I will not sin. I'll take care of my way. I'll
watch my path this time. That I won't slip, that I won't
fall. I determine not to sin. It's a good determination. Surely
the believer, especially one who's been recently afflicted
because of his sin, mourning because of his sin, surely it's
a good thing for us to keep from sin. Jesus told that woman that was
taken in adultery, what was His command after He saved her? He
said, go and what? Sin no more. Sin no more? I know it is the longing and
desire of every true believer to cease from sin. It is our
desire. And we may be confident it is
also the revealed will of God that we should flee from sin.
Listen to what David talks to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2 in verse
21. It says, if a man therefore purge
himself from these, and he's talking about vain babblers and
false preachers. Purge yourself from, get away
from. He shall be a vessel unto honor,
sanctified meat for the master's use, prepared unto every good
work. Listen to this. Flee also, not just false preachers,
but that thing inside of your chest. Flee youthful lusts. Flee. Follow after righteousness,
faith, love, peace with them that call on the name of the
Lord. In other words, not only flee from these things, follow
these things. And how we do that, except among
ourselves in the congregation of the righteous. Fellowshiping
with one another, communing over the Lord, our Savior. This is
what we're to be doing. But foolish and unlearned questions
avoid which gender strife. And Colossians chapter three
and verse five, mortify therefore the members which are upon the
earth, fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence,
covetousness, which is idolatry. Don't you see that's the revealed
will of God? That's plain, isn't it? Don't
play with sin. It's not something to toy with. It's something we flee from.
You remember when Joseph was caught by Potiphar's wife. He didn't negotiate with her,
did he? He ran. Why? Because if he didn't
run, he was a man. And so he ran, he fled, he said,
how can I do this before the eyes of my God? And he ran, he
ran. It's a revealed will. Now what's
wrong here? Look at verse two, something
goes wrong with David's determination. He said, I was dumb, so far so
good and silent. I held my peace, even from good. Something occurs here, he said,
my sorrow was stirred. Now why would he be sorrowful? This is why, because he determined
to do it in his own strength. I will keep my word. I will do
this. He determined in himself to do
this. Notice this, he didn't say anything
about God helping him. He said, I will bridle my tongue.
That's his problem. Listen, believer, no matter if
you pluck out both eyes, cut off both arms and both legs,
you still, in your mind, will see sin, you'll touch sin, and
you'll run to sin. And so David, in verse 2, he's
not able to keep quiet for long, but shouts. But in a short time,
he was only able to keep the outward appearances of piety.
And so we may keep silent, whether or not open our mouth. I like
what Abraham Lincoln said about that. He said, it's better for
a man to think you a fool by keeping your mouth shut than
to open it and remove all doubt. So silence is good. Silence is
good. But let us not try to keep this
determination that's so good We will find it impossible in
our own strength. My sorrow was stirred. Verse
three, my heart was hot within me while I was musing the fire
burn. Then what? I did it. I spake
with my, I couldn't keep it in any longer. I couldn't. Are you
so grieved and sorrowful for your sin? Is the Lord's hand
heavy that you cannot keep yourself? It's not wise to hide your grief. And I'll tell you this, a believer
can't hide his grief for long. You can keep up appearances for
only so long, you know that? You may look like the strongest
believer in the world, but I'll tell you what, if sin is plaguing
your heart, it won't be long until you cry. Why? It's like
a pressure pot. That's what this thing is burning
inside of. And that's what the word here
intends, is that it was in a pressure cooker. And you know, the pressure
builds and there's no longer an ability to hold it. It explodes. And this is what David does here.
He explodes, explodes. If you try to take to cure yourself
and comfort yourself by resolutions and self-will, it won't be long
until you explode in pain and sorrow. So let me tell you, it's
good to determine to keep from sin. You should. You must. It is the will of God. Little
children, I write these things unto you that you what? Sin not. So sinning, we should avoid it. But this idea of self-determination
to do it always ends in failure. Always. Have you noticed that?
Matter of fact, it usually ends in worse sin. Worse sin. That's the experience of your
pastor. That's the experience of this man. And I know it's
the experience of David. When he thought himself safest,
he was most in danger. Well, the scripture said, if
any man thinketh he stand, take heed, you ready to fall. The
moment you think you are safe in yourself, get ready, you're
falling. The next thing, David, every
child of Jason, child of God, there comes also a revelation. a revelation, a prayer. This
is what David in sorrow burst out in verses four through six. He said, Lord, make me to know
my end and the measure of my days. What it is that I may know
how frail I am. When David cried out in sorrow,
what is the first thing he desired to know? He desired to know his
frailty. I desire to know how frail I
am. Surely we could not make such
a foolish resolution and keep ourselves from sin and our own
strength. A better understanding of our
own human frailty is the only thing that would help us to keep
us from sin. The only way that God is going
to keep you from sin is understanding your frailty. Because only then
would you turn to Him and His strength. So that's what David
desires to know. Two things David desires to know.
Verse 5, Behold, thou hast made my days as a hand breath, and
mine age is as nothing before thee. What does he want to know? The brevity of his life. Teach
me how short life really is. Look at your hand. From here
to here, how far is it? Not from here to here, that's
long, but from side to side, hand breath. It's nothing, friends. Teach
me the shortness and brevity of my life, and secondly, the
vanity of my nature. Look at the end of that. Verily,
every man is at his best state altogether vanity. Teach me the vanity of my nature. First of all, the brevity of
life. Brevity is short. Think of a man who is, him and
his friend are walking together, they're believers together, and
his friend dies at a young age. And now say this man lives to
be 100 years old. Do you suppose when he gets to
be 100, he's gonna look back and say, man, that's been a long
time? I know some of you watching are
in your latter days. Some of you know this. You're
in your 80s. Possibly 90s, and you know that
you, you know, another decade or two decades and it's it's
it's over. How how fast has your life gone?
It's been fast. Lord, teach me the brevity of
life, that it's a vapor, that it's here today and it's gone
tomorrow. What does the apostle say about
this? All flesh is grass and the glory of man. What is that?
That's your looks, your job, your position, your power, your
wealth, the glory of man. The thing that robes the grass
and makes it look beautiful. You know what's gonna happen
to that? The grass wither and the flower faded away. It's going,
you that are beautiful now, you won't be long. It won't be long
until you are old. and your beauty fades. What good
is your beauty? Your power, your money. You know,
that rich man, when he died, the Lord said, then who shall
these things be that you've worked so hard for? The brevity of life. What is the brevity of life do?
It teaches us to look to those things that are eternal. What
is eternal? Well, Peter said it, the word
of God endureth forever. The word which is preached unto
you, the gospel of Jesus Christ. The gospel of Jesus Christ is
the only thing of value. The only thing of value in this
world is that which endures time and eternity. That is the word
of God. This is the only thing of value
in this world. You hold it in your hand. It's
only valuable if God makes it effectual in your heart. And
to us who believe, it is valuable. What makes this more valuable
to us is to know the shortness of this existence. That we should
look to things eternal. Eternal things. Look to Christ. Look to His offering for sin.
That we are made righteous by His righteousness, not by our
determination. You know, my determining not
to sin doesn't make me any more righteous than I already am.
My keeping myself from sin does not make me any more sanctified
than I am in Christ already. Because his righteousness robes
us, it covers us, his blood washes us, and our life is nothing.
What is our life? It's a vapor. Second of all, let us know our
vanity, the vanity of our nature. Paul wants this revelation, he
said that every man is at his best state, altogether vanity. Every believer understands this,
isn't that right? At the moment of our conversion, of our regeneration,
this is the first thing we are made aware of, is the depravity
of our nature. Now listen, if any man is not
depraved by nature, he is not saved. because that man still
thinks he has something to contribute and give to Christ, like circumcision. If any man be circumcised, Christ
profit him nothing. If you have anything to add to
Christ and you are not depraved, then you are not saved by Christ
because Christ saves sinners, not partial sinners, not good
sinners, sinners. Those from the top of their head
to the crown of their foot are nothing but wounds and bruises
and putrefying sword. Those are the ones God saves
and we know this who believe on Him. We know who we are. We
are depraved. We know that salvation is completely
of God. For by grace you are saved through
faith and that faith even is not of yourself. Salvation, faith,
none of it's of myself. It is a gift of God, not of works,
lest any man should boast. We are His workmanship, His skilled
craftsmanship. He made us, created us in holiness
and righteousness. We are His workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus, in union with Christ Jesus. Unto what? Good works. Now, does good works
have anything to do with all that went before? No, it's unto
good works, which God, even those have been ordained of God. So
everything is of God. We know this. Yet still, can
you tell me that you fully understand how depraved you are? Do we know the fullness of our
depravity? I know this with all my soul.
If God were to reveal the fullness of our depravity, we would kill
ourselves. I don't have any doubt whatsoever. If at once God were
to not restrain us, that he would show us who we really are, there
would be nothing less for us to do but just kill ourselves.
It would just be too much. So what does God do in grace?
He reveals it as we grow in grace. He reveals more of our depravity
to us. So when we grow in grace, we
find that the old man has not gotten better. That's religion
tells you that, doesn't it? God's Word doesn't. The old man
doesn't get better, but rather he seems to get worse. Let me
let you in on a little reality. He really doesn't get worse. You just now see it. He was always that bad. But now light has come in and
I imagine it like a room full of garbage, a dark room full
of garbage, and you have a little flashlight. And you look around
at that little bitty light, and you see that this room's got
garbage in it. But then somebody hands you a lantern, and you
see more garbage. Now, did the garbage just appear?
No, it was already there. You just see it. And then somebody
comes in and cuts on the light, and you see the garbage is stacked
to the ceiling. You see the garbage was always
stacked to the ceiling. You just now, because of the
light, see it. That's what happens when we grow in grace. You who are saved by grace, is
it not clearer now after our failure? After we have been chastened
of God, is it not a revelation of our vanity? The vanity of
this nature. That we at our best state are
altogether vanity. Here, take a believer who's doing
it right. Now you take a believer, and
I don't know one, but if you find one who's doing everything
well, and he's obeying God as best as a man can, he's morally
righteous, he's always seeking Christ, he's always doing the
best that a believer can do. You know what? He's no better
than the worst believer. You know why? Because man at
his best state by himself is altogether bad. What does his
goodness have to do with his salvation? Nothing. His salvation's in Christ. Does
the worst believer, is his salvation hindered because he's the worst?
No. Because his salvation's in Christ.
We are all to get... Teach me that. Would that not
be a burden off our shoulders if we would learn that? That
my salvation is not in any way dependent upon me, but always
dependent upon Him? Would that not then move me to
do better? Yes. That doesn't make me want
to go back to sin. That makes me want to not sin
because my salvation's secure. And even when I keep myself from
sin, I know this, I didn't do it perfectly. And so my hope
is in him, my hope. That's what we learn by this
vanity. That's what we learn by brevity. We look to eternal
things. We look to Christ, our eternal
security, our eternal salvation. And we understand the vanity
of our nature to keep ourselves. And so then who's keeping us?
It's Christ. It's Christ that's keeping us.
This is what believers learn by revelation after we are chastened. And so when there is chastisement,
when we weep for our sins and our determinations fail us, where
shall we turn for comfort? Where will we turn for hope? Remember when David sinned, he
said this, against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this
evil in thy sight. Where did he go? He bowed himself before God.
When he found out the brevity of his life, when he found out
the vanity of his nature, where did he turn? He turned to God
in confession that this I have sinned against thee. Behold,
I was shapen in iniquity and then sinned and my mother conceived
me. Is that not just what I said? He learned again by revelation
of his vanity, of his depravity. Behold, thou desires truth in
the inward parts and the hidden part thou shalt make to know
wisdom. What is this? Look, you desired
a righteousness. And guess what? You put that
in me. You created what you desired
in me, in the inner man, the new nature to seek wisdom, which
is Christ. That's who we seek. Purge me
with hyssop and I shall be clean. What is this but the blood of
Christ? They used to do that in the Old Testament. He dipped
that hyssop, a little plant in blood and they sprinkled. That's
what happened is that he purged me by the blood of Jesus Christ. Teach me to know that I've been
purged. Teach me to know I've been purged. And I listen, I
will be clean. If you purge me, I'm clean. Wash me. and I shall be whiter
than snow. Make me to hear of joy and gladness,
that the bones thou has broken may rejoice. When you are chasing,
your bones are broken. What makes you rejoice? It is
the word of God you hear. It is when God speaks to you
in divine revelation of Jesus Christ and him crucified. Hide thy face from my sins and
blot out my iniquities. What is this but the intercessory
work of Christ? Is this not what we desire? The
intercessory work of Christ. Restore the joy of my salvation. Is this not what chastened believers
desire? This is what the revelation of God does. It restores our
hope. It restores our joy and our peace. Why? Because it takes our eyes
off of us. Teach me to know my days. Teach
me to know the vanity of my flesh. Verse six, surely every man walketh
in a vain show. Surely they are disquieted in
vain. He heapeth up riches and knoweth not who shall gather
them. Look, I don't want to be one of these people. It's a vain
show, do you? How many people, when Christ
comes, are going to be disappointed, thinking all the while they were
His and they weren't? Why? They walked in a vain show.
I don't want to walk in a vain show. Do you? Friends, this is serious. We
should be honest with ourselves. If you're not in Christ, you
have no hope. If you're in Christ, you have all the hope you need. This is the revelation that God
teaches every sane of God. Yes, determine not to sin, but
not in your own strength. Why? Lord, reveal to me the vanity
of my nature and the brevity of life so that I should look
to Christ, my eternal surety. Now, thirdly, this last thing
here is the declaration of every chastened child of God, and that
begins in verse seven. And David asked this question,
and now Lord, what wait I for? Seeing the brevity of my life,
seeing life as short and seeing the vanity of my nature and seeing
Christ as my only hope, what am I waiting for? He says this,
this is his determination, his declaration, my hope is in thee. My hope is in thee. Now, is this not what we should
have done first? I mean, after all that determination
and failure, after all that chastisement and all that we depended on ourselves,
is this not what we should do first? This should be the first
verse. My hope is in thee. No, we have
to learn the other so that we might learn this. My hope is
in Christ. We should, all who are chastened
of the Father, we should have already loathed our sin and long to be holy. We as believers should
flee and avoid sin, but not in our power, but by faith in Christ.
by considering his great love and his great offering and the
great weakness of their flesh, what then am I waiting for? If
you are in sorrow about the brevity of life and the vanity of your
nature, if this has brought you low, then what are you waiting
for? Hope thou in Christ now. Well, you say, I haven't been.
Well, of course you haven't been. Hope now. Have confidence in
Him now. Trust in Him now. Believe Him
now. Remember, faith is only good
in the present tense, isn't it? What good is it if I hoped in
Him yesterday? I need to hope in Him today. I
need to trust in Him today, now. Let us hope and have confidence
in His strength, in His love, and His power to deliver us from
our transgressions. And so then, if we're to hope
in God, there are three things that you've got to know that
give us hope. First of all, you that have been
chastened know this. Christ has delivered you from
the penalty of sin. That sin that so overwhelmed
you, That sin that covered you, that sin that was too heavy for
you, that sin you confessed, that sin you are sorry for, that
sin that brought this chastisement upon you, that sin that now haunts
you. Listen, the penalty of that sin
is forever removed from you. You will never pay for that sin. Why? It is already been paid
for. Hebrews 9, 12, neither by the
blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood he entered in,
listen to this word, once. Not twice, not three times. How many times you sin? How many
times you sin a day? Can you count? Let's just be
conservative and say a million. Let's just be conservative. Because
everything we do, touch, feel, is all contaminated with sin.
So, how many times would you need to make an offering? Well,
you can make a million offerings for a million sins and none of
them be effectual. But this man, after he had offered
himself once, listen, he obtained eternal redemption. Spin it around and chew on it
a minute. Eternal redemption. Now how long is eternal redemption?
How long is it? How old are you? Do you realize
this redemption was already purchased before you were born? So then what does it matter what
you do in this body if redemption has already been purchased? ALL OF YOUR SIN HAS BEEN TAKEN
INTO ACCOUNT. IT'S BEEN REDEEMED BY THE BLOOD
OF CHRIST ONCE. THIS MAN AFTER HE HAD OFFERED
ONE SACRIFICE TO GOD FOR SINS SAT DOWN FOREVER. He has perfected forever them
that are sanctified. Don't you see you've been freed
from the penalty of sin. God says that the iniquity of
Israel shall be sought for and there shall be none. God's searching
for your sin. Right now His holy eyes are looking
for your sin. You know what He finds? None. How many do you find? Is God blind? Is he pretending that you don't
have any sin? No. Matter of fact, he chastens
us still for our sin. He's not blind to this, but his
justice has already accounted, payment rendered. You will never
suffer the wrath of God. Never. So when you are chastened
and then you fail, and God reveals to you the frailty of your nature,
then this is my declaration. I hope in this, my penalty has
been paid. That's my faith. My faith is
in Christ who paid the penalty. Not only this, you are delivered
from the power of sin. How do you know you're delivered
from the power of sin? Do you believe on the Son of God? Faith in Christ is evidence you
have been delivered from the power of sin. But power of sin,
that binds men so that they cannot believe. But once they are delivered
from the power of sin, guess what? They're able to believe. And not only able to believe,
they're able to love. They're able to serve. They're
able to walk by faith in Christ all the days of their life. I know I'm free from the power
of sin simply because I'm not walking after the law. The scripture says this, the
sting of death is sin and the strength of sin is what? The
law. Sin has no power over me because I'm not under the law,
but under grace. For Christ is the end of the
law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. I like this hymn, Jesus, my Lord
will love me forever. From him, no power of evil can
sever. He gave his life to ransom my
soul. Listen, I belong to him. And because I belong to him,
the power of sin hath no more power over me. It cannot condemn
me. Who is he that condemneth? Who
can accuse you? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
He's risen again and ever liveth to make intercession for us.
So sin has no power to condemn me. It has no power over me,
even though at times it overwhelms me. And over time I do sin. Yet it has no power to condemn
me. Not before God. And thirdly, we're going to one
day be free from the presence of sin. This is something every
chastened believer should look forward to. If the Lord teaches
us the brevity of our lives, shouldn't that make us happy? Because whenever this life ends,
that's when life begins. Real life begins. As long as we are in this body,
we have sin. As long as in this body, we will
sorrow. As long as in this body, we will
be chastened. But our hope in God is this. One day we will be delivered
from the body of sin and death. One day we will not sin. John
says, Beloved, now are we the sons of God. It does not yet
appear what we shall be. I'm thankful for that. You can't
look in the mirror and see what you're going to be. That's good,
isn't it? So I don't see anything good
when I look in the mirror. But I know this, when he shall
appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. What does this do? When God reveals
to us Christ and our hope is in Christ, what does that do?
Look again at your text quickly. David says, I was dumb and opened
not my mouth because thou did it. Doesn't it shut us up? David was boastful at the beginning,
I will. But now he says, I'm sorry. Now what happened to Job? Job
was defending himself all through his chastisement. He was saying,
I was righteous. I didn't do anything wrong. And
look at all this bad stuff that's happened to me. Woe is me. Woe
is me. Until when? Until God came and
revealed himself. And when God revealed himself,
what did Job say? He said, behold, I will not say another word.
I am vile. And undone. I'm vile. That's
what he said. Behold, I am vile. You know, that's what God teaches
us at the end of our chastisement when he reveals his grace and
power, it shuts us up. Why? Because he did it. Is that not the most wonderful
words? All my salvation, you did it. My determination is nothing to
do with your salvation. You did it. You saved me. You redeemed me. You chose me.
You keep me. You chastened me. You love me. You did it. You did it. And what
is our prayer? Oh, remove that stroke from me.
I am consumed by the blow of thy hand. When God chastens you,
what happens to your goodness and comeliness and religious
piety, what happens? He says it consumes away. This
is the idea of a moth eating a garment. Isn't that what happens
when we are chastened? Lord, please, God doesn't mess
around with chastisement, does he? It's a necessary work so
that Christ may be all. And then it leads this to this
prayer. When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity,
thou makest his beauty to consume away as a moth, surely every
man is vanity. Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give
ear to my cry. Hold not thy peace from my tears. For I am a stranger with thee,
a sojourner as all my fathers were. O spare me that I may recover
strength and go hence and be before I go hence and be no more."
What is David saying? He's saying, Lord, behold my
tears. You know God beholds your tears?
He counts them. And it's only when he's finished
his work of chastisement, listen, he won't go any further. It's
only what is necessary. The length of our chastisement
is only what is necessary. And when it is done, beholding
our tears, He will come and He'll deliver
you and you'll despise sin. He'll teach you about your nature
so that you might hope only in Him and cry only to Him. Listen, friends, we are strangers
and pilgrims here, aren't we? Aren't we? We're just sojourners.
We're passing through. I have my children and my wife
here. You know what? I am not going to be a husband and father
very long. I'm not. This is just for the
span of my life. And after that, what? I'm not
gonna own a house for very long. I'm not gonna own cars or property
very long. I'm not gonna have money very
long. I'm just walking through, just passing through, as my fathers
did before me. What is my cry? As long as I'm
here, spare me, save me, keep me. This is the cry of every
chastened child of God. Our determination is not to sin,
not in our own strength, but his. Our revelation is the depravity
of our nature, the brevity of life, and Christ is our hope.
And what is our determination? I will hope in thee. I will cry
to thee. As long as I have breath, I will
trust in thee. That's the lesson of every chastened
child of God. I pray God will bless it to you.
Be dismissed in prayer.