Go with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 27. If somebody asked me to pick
my favorite verse or chapter or book in the Scripture, I couldn't
do it. Could not do it. If somebody
asked me to pick my favorite Psalm, There would be no way
I can do that, but I will tell you, I say this often and the
Lord willing, I'll continue to say it. Psalm 27 ranks very high
on my list. very high on my list. Sometimes
I'll look back to see when, when were we in that last? Has it
been long enough for me to go there again? And you know, it'll
be two months ago and then four months ago and that's long enough
for me. It's time to go back. But I love
Psalm 27. This Psalm right here is very
special to me. at a time in my life when I needed
the Word of the Lord. This psalm has blessed me. This
psalm has comforted me. This psalm has strengthened me.
It has encouraged me. And it has done that ever since
I remember reading this and hearing this with my heart. and not just my mind and my ears. There came a point, I remember,
I don't have many memories, you know, like people say, when did
the Lord save you? I don't know. I hope he saved me tonight. I
don't know. But I have a memory of this psalm. The first time my heart read
this psalm, I remember where I was and how much I needed it. And it has blessed me ever since. This is a special, special psalm
to me. This reaches my heart and I honestly
pray this will reach your heart tonight. I pray it'll reach your
heart. I really just want to use one
verse for our text. It's going to be verse 14. It
says, wait on the Lord. Be of good
courage. and he shall strengthen thine
heart. Wait, I say on the Lord." Now
that's a blessing. That's comfort and that's strength
right there. That is encouragement. Wait on
the Lord. Be of good courage. Be of good courage. Have courage. Have courage. He shall strengthen
thine heart. Wait, I say on the Lord. Wait
on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Waiting on the Lord is the most
hopeful thing that the spirit of a child of God can do. Waiting on the Lord is the most
difficult thing that the flesh of a child of God can do. Waiting
on the Lord is, is with man. It's impossible. It is the most
difficult thing for the flesh to do, but waiting on the Lord
is the most hopeful thing for the spirit of a child of God
to do. And it's because God's people
have been caused to know and to believe those two little words
right in the middle of the verse. He shall waiting on the Lord is something
that God has given to his people. And it's a, it's something that
they can latch hold of. It's something that when there's
nothing else that we can do, God has given us that it is a
moment of hope. It's a moment of relief. We can,
what are we going to do? Here it is. We can wait on the
Lord. Well, we got to do something.
We are, we're waiting on the Lord. We're looking to the Lord. He shall. He has and He shall. God's people know that. They've
been caused to know that. They've been caused to believe
that. I mean truly believe that. He
shall. He shall. That was the announcement of
the Old Testament concerning our Lord's coming to save His
people. Call His name Jesus, for He shall. Verse 5 right here in Psalm 27,
it says, For in the time of trouble, and I'll tell you when a man's
time of trouble really is. The moment he stands before the
judgment of God, that is a man and a woman's time of trouble.
And every child of God has already done that. You want to talk about
relieving? Every child of God has already
stood before the judgment throne of the Holy God. And do you know
when they did that? The moment Christ hung on the cross of Calvary. That moment in Gethsemane where
that sin was pressed into Him. And God sentenced Him to die
and hung Him on a tree. And He cried, My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me? That's the moment that every
child of God was standing before the judgment throne in Him. He
stood there in them, in their sin. And they stood there in
him. That is a believers time of trouble. And for those who are not believers
and not God's children, that moment is yet to come. But because
of that moment, every time of trouble, we have trouble, trouble. We just listed some brethren
who are going through trouble. And verse five says in the time
of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion. Just like he
hid us in the secret of his tabernacle. He hid us in himself, the secret
of his body. He'll hide us in him. It says
in the time of trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the
secret of his tabernacle, he shall. Shall he hide me? He shall set me up upon a rock."
Who's going to do that, David? Verse 1, he said, the Lord shall. The Lord shall. Don't turn to
these. Let me quote them to you. But
Isaiah 42 says, he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. And he shall not fail. Isaiah 53 says, He shall grow
up before Him as a root out of dry ground. Aren't you so thankful
for the fact that the Lord Jesus Christ grew up before the Holy
God as a root out of dry ground, the Son of Man. He shall grow up before Him as
a root out of dry ground in order for the Father to lay all that
iniquity of His people on Him. And it goes on to say, he shall
see the travail of his soul, the travail of Christ's soul.
And the father shall be satisfied. Jeremiah 23 says he shall be
called the Lord, our righteousness. He shall be called that the angel
announced to Mary in Luke chapter one. Speaking of our Lord, he
said, he shall be great and he shall be called the son of the
highest and he shall reign over the house of Jacob and of his
kingdom. There shall be no end. Just wait
on the Lord. Just wait on the Lord. He shall. He shall. He shall. Moses told the children of Israel
just before God parted the sea for them. And you know, the Lord
has parted the sea for us so many times. And until that moment
comes, we're just like all the children of Israel saying, what
are we going to do? We're in between a rock and a
hard place. And that's where they were. And
just before God literally parted the ocean for them, this is what
Moses said. He said, stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. He said, the Lord shall fight
for you. and you shall hold your peace.
Just wait on the Lord. Just wait on the Lord. Isn't
that so wonderful? That's pleasant to me. That's just so pleasant. Just
wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Whatever your
rock and hard place is, whatever trial you're being squeezed in,
wait on the Lord. Just wait on the Lord. Whether
we're talking about eternal things of salvation or whether we're
talking about the temporary things that concern life here on this
earth, our strength and our encouragement is in waiting on the Lord. That's where our strength is. And that's where all of our encouragement
is waiting on the Lord, looking to the Lord. The song says, look
to the Lamb of God for he alone is able to save you eternally, temporarily, whatever
it is. He alone is able to save you.
Verse 14, this, this verse says, wait on the Lord. And then the
punctuation after that is a colon. And then there's another colon
in this verse and it comes after it says, be of good courage and
he shall strengthen thine heart. It's as though those two colons
have divided that verse into three parts. And the first part
emphasizes the Lord. Wait on the Lord. And the second
part emphasizes He. Be of good courage and He shall
strengthen thine heart. And then the third part emphasizes
the Lord again. Wait, I say, on the Lord. The Lord, He, the Lord. He's the object, He's the doer,
He's the prize. Wait on the Lord. He'll do it. He'll do it. Wait on the Lord. He'll give
you courage and He'll give you strength. And He'll do that by
being your courage and being your strength. He will do that
for you. He shall, He shall do that for
you. If God gives us the ability to
wait on Him and to truly look to Him, then it means we belong
to Him because that is completely opposite of the flesh's natural
way. If we wait on Him, if we look
to Him, it means we belong to Him. God only gives that ability
to look to Christ to His people. He only gives that to His people.
You can declare this to the whole world, wait on the Lord, look
to the Lord, only God's people will. He only gives that to His
people and if we're His people then He shall In our looking
to Him and in our waiting on Him, He shall supply our every
need. Every single one. He shall, He
shall. Turn with me over to a scripture
that was very heavily on my mind yesterday. Go with me to number
six. Numbers 6 verse 24, it says, The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. The Lord make His face shine
upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. That is a prayer. from someone
to someone. That is a desire for someone. Who is praying that prayer? Who
said that? Verse 22 says, the Lord said
it. The Lord is the one praying that
prayer. Verse 22 says, and the Lord spake
unto Moses saying, Speak unto Aaron and unto his sons saying
on this wise, you shall bless the children of Israel saying
unto them. He said, I want you to tell my
people this. I want you to say this to them.
He said, you tell them the Lord is going to bless you. The Lord
is going to bless you. I think of these declarations
and in my weakness and in my flesh, I'm all the time thinking,
how do you know? How do you know that? So here's
how we know. The Lord said, the Lord is going to bless you.
He said, I want you to tell them the Lord is going to keep you. Do you ever worry if you're going
to fall away? The Lord is going to keep you. Who are you saying that to? God's
people. Every soul in Christ, the Lord
is going to keep you. But I just feel like I, you know,
I'm not keeping myself. No, you're not keeping yourself.
But the Lord is going to keep you. He said, I want you to tell
them the Lord is going to make his face shine on you. The Lord is going to be gracious
to you. He's going to be. He said, tell them the Lord is
going to lift up His countenance on you and the Lord is going
to give you peace. He is going to give you peace. How is He going to do that? Where
is He going to do that? in Christ, in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Don't turn to these. I wrote
a bunch of these down. Let me read them to you. Ephesians
1 verse 3 says, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly
places in Christ. We say, I just don't see the
blessings in all of my trials and all of my sufferings here
on this earth. That's okay. He has blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in the Lord
Jesus Christ. He said, surely, blessing, I
will bless thee. Surely. In John 17, our Lord
said, Father, all those that you've given to me, I've kept
them. I've kept every one of them.
I've kept them in me. They are in me. I am in you. And they'll never be taken out. Never. They are kept by the power
of God. Second Corinthians four verse
six says, for God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness,
hath shined in our hearts. to give the light of the knowledge
of the glory of God. Where? In the face of the Lord
Jesus Christ. The glory of God. John 1 17 says,
the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ. Acts 15 11 says, we believe that
through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we shall be saved.
Romans 3.24 says, being justified freely by His grace through the
redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Psalm 42.5 says, I shall
yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. I will praise
Him for the help of His countenance. It goes on to say because He
is the health of my countenance. His countenance changes my countenance. He is the health of my countenance
and He's my God. Ephesians 2 says, He is our peace
because He's the one who broke down that middle wall of partition.
And He did that in His own body on the tree, so making peace. Right here He said, the Lord
bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make His face shine
upon thee and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. He'll do it, He shall. Just wait
on the Lord. Be of good courage, He'll strengthen
your heart. If we need salvation, wait on
the Lord. That literally means look to
the Lord. That's what it means. Look to
the Lord. If we need provision, wait on
the Lord. Look to the Lord. If we need
direction, which way do we go? What do we do? Wait on the Lord. Look to the Lord. If we need
comfort, if we need hope, if we need strength just to make
it through one more day. Sometimes we all get into that
place where we think, I just need the strength. If I could
just get through today, I just need to get through one more
day. Maybe the Lord will come back tomorrow. Wait on the Lord. Look to the
Lord. He is going to encourage you.
He is going to strengthen you. He is going to bless you. He
is going to keep you. He's going to make his face shine
upon you. He's going to be gracious to
you. He is going to lift up his countenance
on you, and he's going to give you peace. He's gonna give you
peace. That's what every soul in this
room wants. Peace. Every soul in this room, He is
going to give you peace. In Christ, you shall have peace. Wait on the Lord. Go back to
Psalm 27. If we wait on the Lord, If God
gives us the ability to look to the Lord and to wait for His
encouragement and His strength, this will be the end of our waiting. This will be the encouragement
and the strength that comes to us. This is what we'll realize
right here. Psalm 27, verse 1 says, the Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? When the wicked,
even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh,
they stumbled and fell. Though in host should encamp
against me, my heart shall not fear. Though war should rise
against me, in this will I be confident. One thing have I desired
of the Lord, that will I seek after. that I may dwell in the
house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty
of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in the time of
trouble, he shall hide me in his pavilion. In the secret of
his tabernacle shall he hide me. He shall set me up upon a
rock. And now shall mine head be lifted
up above mine enemies, and Christ is our head. and he's gonna be
lifted up above all our enemies. Now shall mine head be lifted
up above mine enemies round about me, therefore will I offer in
his tabernacle sacrifices of joy. I will sing, yea, I will
sing praises unto the Lord. Hear, O Lord, when I cry with
my voice, have mercy also upon me and answer me. When thou saidst,
seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, thy face, Lord, will
I seek. Hide not thy face far from me. Put not thy servant
away in anger. Thou hast been my help. Leave
me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation. When my father
and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up. Teach
me thy way, O Lord, and lead me in a plain path because of
mine enemies. Deliver me not over unto the
will of mine enemies, for false witnesses are risen up against
me, and such as breathe out cruelty. I would have fainted unless I
had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the
living. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall
strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. I want to give you just a couple
of scriptures for us to think on, and then I'm going to close
this message. Turn with me over to Lamentations
chapter 3. Lamentations 3, verse 21, it says, This I recall to my mind, therefore
have I hope. It is of the Lord's mercies that
we are not consumed. because His compassions fail
not. They are new. Every morning great
is Thy faithfulness. The Lord is my portion, saith
my soul, therefore will I hope in Him." Now watch verse 25. The Lord is good unto them that
wait for Him. Let's think on this. Ponder this, ask the Lord to
give us the ability to do this. The Lord is good unto them that
wait for Him. To the soul that seeketh Him. Lord, I'm seeking You, I need
You on this. Verse 26 says, it is good that
a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the
Lord. Just wait on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. David said
in our text, wait on the Lord. And then he said, wait, I say
on the Lord, wait on the Lord and make sure you wait on the
Lord. Really wait on the Lord. Look to him, hope in him, wait
on him. Turn over to Isaiah 40. Isaiah 40 verse 28, it says, Hast thou not known,
hast thou not heard that the everlasting God, the Lord, the
creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? And I read that today and it
just encouraged me so much because that's all that we are is weary.
We're just so weary. He faints not and he's not weary. There is no searching of his
understanding. He giveth power to the faint. That's us. And to them that have
no might, he increases strength. Even the youths shall faint and
be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up
with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary,
and they shall walk and not faint." If you want to see a picture
of glory, there it is. Wait on the Lord. Wait on the
Lord. Last one, go to Isaiah 30. Isaiah 30, verse 15. For thus saith the Lord God,
the Holy One of Israel, in returning and rest you shall be saved in
quietness and in confidence shall be your strength and you would
not you would not but you said no
for we will flee upon horses therefore shall you flee that
sounds like us doesn't it and we will ride upon the swift. Therefore shall they that pursue
you be swift. 1,000 shall flee at the rebuke of one. At the rebuke of five shall you
flee till you be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain and
as an ensign on a hill. And therefore will the Lord wait,
because you won't, He will. You know, the commandment is
wait on the Lord, wait on the Lord. I tell you what we don't
do. We don't wait on the Lord. Therefore, because we don't,
He'll do it for us. He shall. Verse 18 says, therefore
will the Lord wait, that He may be gracious unto you. And therefore
will He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you. For the
Lord is a God of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait
for Him. For the people shall dwell in
Zion at Jerusalem. Thou shalt weep no more. He will be very gracious unto
thee at the voice of thy cry. When He shall hear it, He'll
answer you. Just wait on the Lord. Be of good courage. He'll strengthen
your heart. Wait, David said, and God says,
on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Wait on the
Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, our God. Wait on Him. All right,
let's all stand together.