Turn this evening to Psalm 144
again. Psalm 144 is a psalm of a king. A king wrote this psalm. The
mightiest man in all the world at that time. And King David
writes of his thanks to his God. He credits the Lord God for and
with all his strength, acknowledges that all his protection is because
of the sovereign almighty power of the Lord God he serves. He
proclaims that every victory and every deliverance from his
enemies and adversaries should be credited to the true and living
God. And pick it up here in verse
10, where we see, it is he, it is this Lord God that giveth
salvation unto kings. Even kings must be saved from
their sin. It is he who delivereth David,
his servant, from the hurtful sword. And then David, King David,
makes a series of requests of God concerning his kingdom and
his people. Now listen here, which will lead
to their happiness. David asked God to do some things
so his people would be happy. And the first of these requests
has to do with children. David mentions two categories
of children here. The first of which he calls in
verse 11, strange children. Now this verse is, this is said
twice. You notice it was when Stan read
this, that in verse seven, he said, mentioned strange children. And strange here means rebellious
or foreign children. And it's a great heartache to
have rebellious children. I hope no one here, if you don't
know about it already, I hope you never do. I don't want to
know about this. But David knew something about
rebellious children. He had a son named Absalom and
he was a strapping strong young man. And you know what Absalom
did? He tried to overthrow his father,
tried to take the kingdom for himself, claimed the throne of
Israel for himself and deposed his dad. That ended in the death
of Absalom. and terrible heartache for David.
David grieved over that. You notice that he says here
in verse 11, he said, rid me, rid me, prevent it from happening
to my people. He said, if they're going to
be happy, don't let this happen to them. Don't let one of their
children rise up against them. Rid me of that. And then he said,
deliver me. Preserve the kingdom if it does
happen. Absalom rose up and he nearly
took it, but God protected David and the kingdom. He preserved
him. Now, how do we recognize these
strange children? And I don't mean this... You
ever meet a family and one of their children, you go, that
one's a little strange. That's not what this is talking
about. We all, if we can, any one of us or our children can
ever be seen in a proper private moment, everybody will go, that
one's strange. That's not what this is talking
about. No, this is talking about children They speak vanity, it
says. You see that there? They speak
vanity. You know what that means? They talk about themselves all
the time. They think right much of themselves.
And it's all about them, rather than being all about Christ.
And God preserve our children from that, that they think more
of themselves than they do the Lord Jesus Christ. And they're
also identified, these strange children, it says, they are the
right hand of falsehood. Who is the right hand? Who sits
at the right hand of the true and living God? The Lord Jesus
Christ. He's the truth, he's the right hand. And strange children
will take up a false gospel. And please, oh God, prevent our
children from becoming strange in that way. But then verse 12. David tells us there are other
children. In addition to these strange
children, there are other children who are not strange. And look
at this. He said, give us these kinds
of children in verse 12. He says that our sons may be
as plants grown up in their youth and that our daughters may be
as cornerstones polished after the similitude of a palace. Here's
what he's saying about sons who are not strange. He says, they're
matured in their youth. How is that? What will mature
our children better and quicker than anything? I'll tell you
two things, Will. Number one is discipline. Discipline,
being taught to mind, being taught to obey. What did Adam get in
trouble for? He disobeyed God. You children
wanna get in trouble? Disobey, disobey, trouble will
follow. But the second thing is that
these sons are taught the gospel from a child that has known the
Holy scriptures, which were able to make the wise, not rebellious,
not strange, but make the wise unto salvation through faith,
which is where in Christ Jesus is so important to teach our
children. And I'm grateful that our pastor is mindful of that.
And then it talks about the daughters who are not strange. You know
what makes daughters not strange? They adorn the gospel. They're
like cornerstones. Have we figured out yet that
it is the women, the daughters, they were all daughters at one
point that hold things together. They're cornerstones here. You
know what keeps the foundation of the whole building from collapsing?
The cornerstones. All right. And we need to appreciate
that cornerstones hold the foundation of the house together. And it
says they are like jewels in a crown. You know, you just gotta,
I mean, you just make a crown out of anything. It's just a
crown, but boy, when you put those rubies and, and emeralds
and diamonds in now that's what daughters are to our family,
to the family of God. And then the second request. The first one is concerning children
that our children not be strange, but they, they be strong young
men and wise young women. The second request David makes
regarding the happiness. Let's not forget what this is
about. Our happiness of a King's people is regard to prosperity. Look at verse 13. He said that
our garners, our barns, our buildings may be full. affording all manner
of store, and that our sheep may bring forth thousands and
ten thousands in our streets, and that our oxen may be strong
to labor. I'm gonna say something important
here, I think. Prosperity, prosperity is rarely appreciated as it should
be until we no longer have it. Need to think about that a minute?
Boy, we take it for granted, don't we, when we're prosperous,
but let it go away. It is rarely appreciated as it
should be until we no longer have it. And David says there's
two types of prosperity that are needful for a happy people
of God. Turn over to 1 Timothy 6. 1 Timothy
6. David mentions the crops and
the sheep that will provide food and clothing. And God's people
need a certain prosperity in these ways to be happy and content. Scripture says, having food and
raiment, let us be there with content. The Lord will always
give us enough. Apostle said, I've never seen
God's people begging bread. But in 1 Timothy 6 here, look
at verse 8. And having food and raiment,
let us be there with content. And that means happy. But they
that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare and unto many foolish
and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
For the love of money is the root of all evil, which while
some coveted after, they have erred from the faith and pierced
themselves through with many sorrows. I know that we think
our happiness is tied to the dollar and to an extent that's
so, but it says here, if you want real sorrow, fall in love
with money. That'll get you sorrow. I don't
know who it was Spurgeon, or I think I've heard it quoted
so many times, forgot who first said it, but for every one person
they said they'd seen fall away from the gospel because of poverty,
they'd seen 10 fall away because of prosperity. So David is praying,
give us prosperity, but not so much, not too much. And the second
thing about prosperity, it is necessary for happiness, but
what's really, really important to prosperity is the faithful
and consistent preaching of the gospel. Verse 14 says that our
oxen may be strong to labor. Now we don't have any oxen anymore
than I know of. Somebody might have some, but
this is a picture of, there's a lot of animals. You can take
a horse or some other animals and plow a field, but if you
want it really done, get you an oxen. He can drag any plow
through any field. And this is a picture of those
who preach the gospel. Pastors, preachers, and teachers
of the gospel, they need to be strong to labor, capable, faithful,
gifted men to proclaim who our King is, Christ and Him crucified. And a strong pastor who labors,
you know what it leads to? Happy people, happy people. I tell you, we need to be more
thankful for Gabe, don't we? I'm telling you what, and I don't
suppose, I may know more about this than some, because being
the son-in-law to Henry Mahan, I saw what the labor was like
in that regard. And we need to pray for Gabe,
that the Lord will make him strong to preach the gospel. It is so
key to our happiness, we may have no idea. But then David's
third request, is for the safety of his people. Look at verse
14, the next part of it, that there be no breaking in, no breaking
in. And while we do desire protection
from robbers and thieves who might take our goods, Lord, don't
let false professors or false prophets break into this place. If we want trouble, let somebody
come in here. pretending to love Christ and
start sowing seeds of discord and making trouble and questioning
the pastor and what's being preached and who's being preached or protects
us from that. David knew that would lead to
sorrow and not happiness. But then it says also protect
us from those who are nor going out, he said. And that means,
Lord, don't let a false prophet draw away our children, our grandchildren,
our loved ones, our friends. Talk about unhappy. If someone
here gets snatched out, gets led astray and they go away from
you, that's heartbreaking. That's sorrowful. That's a terrible
thing. And David said, Lord, don't let
that happen. Don't let that happen. And then
David makes his final plea regarding the happiness of a people in
the last part of verse 14. And I've said all that to get
to this place. He says that there be no complaining in our streets. Now, stay with me here a little
bit. I'm gonna tell you what that means, but first I'm gonna
tell you what it doesn't mean. I wonder if any of you are like
me and that it's been a couple of weeks ago I saw this verse
and I was in my study downstairs and looking through it. Let me
tell you what I thought. I thought, you know, I need to
really stop complaining about things. If I wanna be happy,
I need to stop complaining. And therefore I thought, you
know, I wonder if I could go a whole month without complaining. And about 10 seconds later, I
thought, maybe I ought to try for a week. And about 10 seconds after that,
I thought, wisdom might be to try this one
day at a time. That's what I'm going to do.
Today, I'm going to see if I can not whine or carry on about anything. I'm going to just stop it. Well, a little time later I went
upstairs and Rebecca's out on the porch and I went out there
and I threw the door open and stepped out and said, hey. And
she said, hi. And I went, man, it is so muggy out here. I couldn't make it 30 minutes. And then she said, has the mail
run yet? And I said, no, no, you know, you never know when
that guy's gonna get here anymore. All right. We can no more stop complaining
than we can stop sinning. That's not what this means. It's
not at all what this means. So what did David mean? What
David meant here If my happiness is dependent upon my quitting,
my whining around and complaining about everyone and everything
I have to do with, if it means I gotta stop finding fault with
all these things, if that's the case, I'm not gonna be very happy
very often. And sure, we ought to try not
to be complainers and finding fault with God's providence,
but that's not what he meant here. You know what this word
means, complaining here? It means literally to cry out,
to screech or scream with anguish. So David is saying, I want my
people to be happy. And in order for them to be happy,
I don't want them to have anything happen that makes them just scream
with agony to break their hearts Turn over to Job 7. You see, this is not whining
or petty discontent or even unfair or unjust treatment. This is
soul-wrenching anguish, sorrow and heartache. David knew of this cry of anguish
and desired that there be none for his subjects. that needlessly
he didn't want it to happen. After the death of his son Absalom
and the death of his newborn child Bathsheba, David wrote
in the Psalms, trouble and anguish have taken hold on me. They got
me. Can you just imagine the anguish,
the scream of unhappiness in his heart? And Job, Job, we know what Job
lost. Lost all his goods. Lost all
his houses and lands. Lost all his children. All of
them died. And he was compelled to speak
of it. And here's what he said in Job 7, 11. Therefore, I will not refrain
my mouth. I will speak in the anguish of
my spirit. I will complain, there it is,
in the bitterness of my soul. So David is saying here, I don't
want this to have to happen to my people. I'd rather they be
happy. These things are unhappiness
on a scale that's possibly indescribable. But I'm gonna tell you something
now that I hope will be an encouragement. No believer who has ever experienced
this anguish desires another believer to unnecessarily endure
the same. But if we do, if we do experience
extreme unhappiness, our God is able to succor or to comfort
us. Only he can to overcome these
things that happen, not just to kings, And not, you know,
David was the greatest king on the earth. And Job was the greatest
man of the East. Do you remember that? So does
it just happen to these big fellas? No, no, it happens to ordinary
believers as well. It happens to folks like us.
Let me tell you about a pretty ordinary fellow. His wife had cancer, and she
was dying. And she was on pain medication,
and a lot of it. And he went to go to bed one
evening, and as he sat on the side of the bed, he heard her
groan with pain just from that little movement on the bed. And he thought, well, what if
I toss and turn? So he got up and walked and wound
up in a little bedroom on a half bed, what do they call it, twin
bed, and laid there, couldn't sleep. Well, it started raining,
and the rain was so soothing to him. It sounded so pleasant,
and sure enough, in a minute, he was asleep. And then a short
time later, here's what happened. And through the light coming
through the shade, he could see the roof was leaking. And he sat up and wanted to scream
in anguish, but could not for fear of waking his children.
He's an ordinary guy. It happens to ordinary people.
Another man, actually it was the same man, after his wife
died, one evening he was asleep and his daughter came and woke
him up. My stomach hurts so much. Oh,
it's so much pain. And he said, well, let's get
back in the bed. And if you need to go to the
ER, we will. And she laid there and he sat
in a chair in the corner and began to pray. And as he prayed,
he realized or thought, God is going to take my daughter too. He's gonna kill her too. And in anguish, he cried to himself,
Lord, this is more than I can bear. And as soon as that thought left
his, or came into his brain, he said his daughter rolled over
and said, Daddy, I'm all right, my tummy's all better, I'm fine. He still experienced the anguish
as if she died. Or close there unto. So you see,
this is just an ordinary believer. These things come to God's people. And David said, Lord, don't let
this come to us if it doesn't have to. And our God is able to comfort
us. Those who deny the sovereign God, or any God for that matter,
who ask what sort of God would allow a king like David to go
through what David did with Absalom, or allow David's child Bathsheba
to die? You know the answer to that question
is? The God who would not have his people
be unhappy eternally, but would let his son go through the anguish
and the pain and the death. The righteous God of heaven,
he allowed indeed ordained that his son endure the cross so his
children might not have to. So his children will go to a
place where there isn't always happiness, where there is always
joy and peace and prosperity, no coming in or going out and
no complaining in the streets of any kind. Turn to Revelation
21. As we're finding that, I wanna read to you what was
recorded in John 17. Our Lord said, father, I will
that they also whom thou has given me be with me where I am,
that they may behold my glory, which thou has given me. For
thou lovest me before the foundation of the world. You know, it's
not always gonna be this way, where our happiness is so fragile. It's not always gonna be this
way. Do we, are we, y'all like me? I get up some mornings and
I'm going, I'm so happy, I feel so good, can't wait to do this
or do that and the other. Wham, it doesn't take much. And
all of a sudden I'm going. It's just, y'all like that too? What's wrong with us? Sin is
still alive, it's just screaming inside of us. But it's not always
gonna be that way. One day, this prayer will be
answered. Father, I will that they also
whom you give me, that they be with me. I tell you, when we're
with him, not gonna be any more of that, no more of that. Why does Christ desire us, his
children, to be with him? Because we will finally be happy. Finally, we will be happy, truly
happy, eternally happy. Why? All the causes of unhappiness
will be gone. You know what won't be in glory?
Not a single strange child. Not one. Only strong, beautiful,
perfect sons and daughters of God. There will be eternal prosperity. All the heart can desire, even
Christ. There will be safety. No one's
gonna break in. No one's gonna take any of us
out. And who would wanna leave? and there'll be no complaining
anymore. The cause of all anguish is put
away. Revelation 21, have you got it?
Look at verse four. And God said, wipe away all tears
from their eyes and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain for the former
things are passed away. All this anguish and crying and
sorrow and unhappiness, it's gone. It's gone. Look what else
it says in verse five. And he that sat upon the throne
said, behold, I'll make it that way. I'll make it all new. And he said unto me, right, for
these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, it's done. It's already done. We're not
sitting around going, I hope I hit the lottery, I hope I hit
the lottery. No, no, we already hit it, folks. That's probably
a terrible illustration, but it says it's already done. I'm
Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, I'll give unto them
that is a thirst the fountain of water of life freely. It's
already done. These things are passed away,
and then turn back to the Psalm one more time. You see what verse
15 says? Happy, happy is that people that
is in such a case. Yea, happy is that people whose
God is the Lord. The condition upon which happiness
rests is not all this stuff and all these things. It's who's
your Lord? Who's my Lord? Our happiness
is very often dependent upon the happiness of others. It is
not just a silly saying. Y'all hear this all the time. I hear it all the time now. It
is, if mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy. That's true, isn't
it? Pretty much. I mean, it's a lot
true. But I tell you what, if our children
aren't happy, we're not so happy either. Our parents, it can be,
Spurgeon wrote this, Matthew 27, one last scripture, Matthew
27. Spurgeon wrote this and I'll
say it twice. He said, we can scarcely judge
how much happiness may hinge upon the Lord's favor to just
one man. What's he mean by that? What
about Israel and Egypt? What did their happiness depend
upon? God sent Moses to bring them
out. David, how much did Israel's
happiness depend upon David? Well, as long as he kept the
heathens at bay and the Amalekites and the other Hittites and the
Aliites, he kept them away. Their happiness was dependent
upon one man, Paul. Boy, are we thankful for Paul.
Our happiness is dependent upon the fact that one man brought
the gospel to us Gentiles. One man. And of course the logical
and final thing to say is our salvation is dependent upon one
man, the Lord Jesus Christ. Who he is, what he did, why he
did it, where he is now. We can scarcely judge how much
happiness may hinge upon the Lord's favor to just one man. We need to pray continually for
our pastor. Our happiness, our contentment
and peace in this life is greatly hinged to the Lord's favor to
him. Ask the folks to whom Henry Mahan
preached 58 years. Weren't for that man, I know
the Lord could have done it another way. All my happiness in the
gospel is dependent upon that one man. And so many others can
say the same. And I believe the Lord's about
to do that here. We need to pray for Gabe that his favor be upon
him. Unhappiness to the believer is
not being able to hear and be blessed to hear Christ preach. Even more to the point, every
believer's happiness is dependent upon God's favor to just one
man, the man Christ Jesus. We as God's children may experience
heartache and even real cries of anguish in this life, but
I'll tell you what we will not experience, never, not ever,
and that's what we deserve. Do you know what we are? We're
the strange children I'm telling us about. We're the strange ones. We're just like the rest of them.
The only reason we're not still strange is God has reached down
and plucked us out and said, you're mine. I'm gonna make you
happy. I'm gonna reveal the Lord Jesus
Christ to you and you won't be strange anymore. We as God's children may experience
heartache and even real cries of anguish in this life. but
we will not experience what we deserve and never what the strange
children will experience one day. We too once were strange
children, but God has changed us by the gospel. When it says
being born again, that's what that means. We stop being a strange
child and we become a strong child. The men, you become, I
wanna do what the Lord would have me do. You ladies, I wanna
be a cornerstone. I wanna be a jewel. God changed us by the gospel.
Our Lord Jesus Christ experienced for us everything that the strange
children will one day experience. And here's the evidence of it. Have you got Matthew 27, verse
45? He is hanging on a cross. Verse 45 says, now from the sixth
hour, there was darkness over all the land until the ninth
hour. And about the ninth hour, Jesus
cried with a loud voice saying, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. You know what that says? My God,
my God. Why hast thou forsaken me? Folks,
that's the complaint. That's the cry of anguish. That's
the scream of agony that all those in Christ will never know
that. We will never know that. We may
know some stuff in this life. The Lord may make us weep and
cry and complain, but not like this. The Lord Jesus Christ took
it for us. And why has God not forsaken
us? Why are we happy even though
we may experience some heartache and anguish? The last line of
Psalm 144 says, happy is that people whose God is the
Lord, whose God took it for us, and it's gone. Well, may the
Lord bless His Word. Okay, Brother Dwight.