I'm back to Psalm 119, 65. I thought of several titles.
It is good for me that I've been afflicted, sanctified afflictions. How are afflictions good for
me? So by the end of this, we'll
probably come up with a title. Donna's getting ready to write
it down and doesn't know which one. Whichever one of those hits
you, write it down. But this psalm has to do with,
really, it has to do with a statement of faith. A statement of David's faith
is what it has to do with. And reading this, this past week,
I realized this, and I wrote a little article in the bulletin
about some of the things that I that I saw that was on my mind. If we could see the spiritual
benefits of God sent afflictions, we would count them as our dearest
friends. We would. If we could see the
spiritual benefit of the afflictions that God sends us, we would count
them as our dearest friends. They are spiritual medicines
sent from the throne of grace, sent from the throne of grace
for the spiritual healing of God's children. Our afflictions
are for our healing. All that our Lord gives to us
and takes from us is good for us. It really is. Psalm 84, 11, for the Lord God
is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and
glory. No good thing will he withhold from them that walk
uprightly. This being so, when affliction
is good for me, he'll give it to me. It's a good thing. It's
a good thing if it brings me to Christ and gives me spiritual
healing. Now David in verse 65 gives us
a statement of faith, and he acknowledges that the Lord's
dealing with him has been well. Thou hast dealt well with thy
servant. He didn't call himself the king,
he calls himself the servant, even as our Lord is called the
servant. We know that the Heavenly Father
dealt well with him, even in his sorrows. He dealt well with
him. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. But the Lord dealt well with
him. Thou hast dealt well with thy servant, O Lord, according
to thy word. God, listen. I thought about
this. God dealing well with me and
with you. You see, David is surveying his
life. He's looking over his life. As
a believer, he's contemplating, he's meditating over his life. And when we think how that the
Lord God has chosen us, he's not chosen everyone, all men
have not faith, but he's chosen us in Christ before the foundation
of the world. He has blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in the heavenly places in Christ. God has done that. He has called us by His grace.
He has revealed His Son in us. He has declared us righteous.
He has justified us, cleared us of all charges. Can we not
say, Thou hast dealt well with thy servant? Has God not done
well with us? If God has saved you in Christ,
He has dealt well with you. We have no complaints. If your
tears have run you to Christ, God has dealt well with you.
If those tears have ran you to Christ. As David reviews his life, he
says, God has kept his promises to me. I have no complaints. God has dealt well with me. I
have no complaints in all my sorrows and all my afflictions
and everything that concerns me. The Lord has dealt well with
me. Can we not say that? Absolutely. Even in afflictions, the Lord's
dealt has been good to me. The Lord gave me his word and
he has kept it. God is faithful to his word of
promise he is not one word has failed not one word of promise
has failed he's kept it Joshua said in Joshua 21 45 there failed
not art of any good thing which the Lord has spoken into the
house of Israel all came to pass not one promise failed all the
promises God in Christ are yea and amen every promise Will be
fulfilled by God to his children. He's dealt well with us He's
been faithful to his word One writer said this and when we
come to die We will see that we have not had one trial too
many We've not had one trial too many we've not had one affliction
too many Not even Job can say that. Job was tried more than
any man other than our Lord. But he was tried more than any
man that I believe has ever lived. And he cannot say, I have one
trial too many. Even he can't say that. And our
Lord is an example in how to handle affliction. When he was
afflicted, he was a man of sorrow and acquainted with grief. He
was despised and rejected of men. He never complained one
time. He never complained. Even when
he was reviled, he reviled not. He knew they were appointed for
him. He said the son of man must suffer, and he took them willingly. He took them willingly. Even
so, our afflictions are appointed of our Heavenly Father. It says
in Philippians 129, and we need to take these things to heart. Not only is it given to us to
believe on Christ, but also to suffer for His sake. There is
a measure of suffering for the body of Christ till He comes. And it's a measure of suffering
for every member of that body. There's still a measure of suffering.
That's what it says in 2 Corinthians 1.5 and Colossians 1.24. There's
still a measure of suffering that's given to us, the body
of Christ, to be afflicted and suffer for Christ's sake. And now these afflictions that
our Lord sends, they make us teachable. They
make us teachable. He says the Lord has dealt well
with me. He's kept his word, his promises.
And now he asks the Lord, and we should ask the Lord this every
day. We should be asking the Lord
this right now. As I'm standing here preaching
and the word is open in your lap, we should ask the Lord this,
teach me. Teach me good judgment and knowledge.
For I have believed thy commandments. seeing that all his judgments
are right there is no one better to ask for teaching teach me
teach me good judgment good judgment the word the word here judgment
means it has the meaning of taste taste as one writer said this
it means that the that power by which we determine the quality
of things as sweet bitter sour that we have such a keen taste
that we can taste what's sweet and what's sour. And here is
what we can taste what's good and what's evil. We can discern. It's also we can use the word
discern. We can discern between good and evil. Because there's
a lot of deceptions. It's hard to discern sometimes.
We need God to give us good judgment. Lord, enable me to make good
judgment. When I have to make judgment, guide me, give me wisdom
to make good judgments for my family, myself, the church. You know, every judgment or let
me say choice we have or we make has a consequence. Every one
of them. have a consequence some can last
a lifetime david wanted to be able to discern
between good and evil in doctrine and in practice and he also wanted
spiritual judgment and knowledge you see here he said teach me
good judgment and knowledge knowledge he wants to that which
promotes spiritual growth in grace and knowledge of Christ
give me that excellent knowledge that excellent knowledge that
Paul speaks of in Philippians chapter 3 teach me good judgment
and knowledge knowledge listen knowledge of the truth which
is Christ teach me Christ take Christ take my yoke upon you
and learn of me Lord reveal yourself to me make yourself known to
me You know, when I was studying today, I asked the Lord, I said,
Lord, make yourself real to me again. Make yourself real to me. I don't
want this to be a religion. I want this to be a relationship
with God. And I want that for you also. I want us to walk with
God as Enoch walked with God. That's what I want. And I want that spiritual judgment
and that knowledge, which leads me to Christ, which enables me
to grow in grace and in knowledge of Christ, that I can grow more
gracious, more kind, more loving. And you're only gonna, that's
only gonna come as you grow up in Christ. That's not gonna come
any other way. As you mature and grow up in
Christ, that's how that comes. Knowledge of the truth, knowledge
of thy will, knowledge of my duty. Knowledge of where the Lord has
put me to serve him in his vineyard. Lord, teach me what I'm to do.
Guide my steps, guide my thought, guide my mouth, my speech, my
tongue. Don't let me bring reproach on
your name. Guide me. For I have believed thy commandments. Apart from faith, there's no
teaching. There's nothing to put it in.
If you don't believe God, there's nothing to put it in. Henry said
to me once you can't counsel the ungodly. There's nothing
to work with You don't have anything to work with They don't have
a fountain. There's no foundation to start
with if God is not if God is not God If his word is not the
foundation What are you working with I Have believed our commandments
I believe your word I NOT ONLY CAN THERE NOT BE ANY TEACHING,
ANY LEARNING, THERE WILL BE NO OBEDIENCE. OBEDIENCE COMES FROM
FAITH. IT COMES FROM FAITH. WHATSOEVER,
THE SCRIPTURE SAYS, WHATSOEVER IS NOT OF FAITH IS SIN. IT'S
SIN. And it's through faith in Christ,
we will receive the things of God and walk before Him. We walk
before Him in faith, believing His Word, taking Him at His Word,
believing the gospel. Now, David says in verse 67,
we have the before affliction and after affliction in this
verse. Before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now have I
kept thy word. david confesses his wandering
from the path he confesses it he confesses that he's i don't
whether he grew lukewarm or or what it was david's confessing
i have wandered from the path like a sheep gone astray he says
that later on this on my in this psalm i'm like a sheep gone astray As it says in Isaiah 53, all
we like sheep have gone astray. We've all gone our own way. And
you know what's sad? Even after the Lord saves us,
we still go astray. We get caught up in other things,
grow cold. Prone to wonder, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. You ever feel that? Well, God sends afflictions to
bring us back. Like the prodigal son, afflictions
bring us to ourselves and then to our father. And he was dinnering
that old pen, he came to himself, and then he said, my father's
spouse. When God sends afflictions, they bring us to ourselves. They
put us in our right mind, and they bring us back to our father.
Because David says, before I was afflicted, I went astray. there's
nothing more dangerous now listen there's nothing more dangerous
than being at ease we do not pray when we are at
ease like we do when we're in trouble you know you go over
in the psalm there were there every time they were in trouble
they cried unto the lord and he delivered them but they didn't
we don't read of them crying unto the lord before that it's
when they were in trouble the lord has to send us afflictions
to bring us to bring us back. When we are at ease, when Zion
is at ease, she gets lazy, complacent, lukewarm, and the Lord has to
send affliction to bring us back. Now, he says here, before I was
afflicted, I went astray. The first affliction that God
sends us starts with conviction of sin it starts inward it's
in the heart we mourn over our sins he reveals to us our sins
he makes us to know our guilt david said before thee and thee
only have i sinned and done this evil in thy sight we've sinned
against god and even as his children After
believing on the Lord Jesus Christ, we still sin against God, and
He has to make us from time to time to know it. He makes us to know it. And here's
something else that I read this week. That word stray, it is
used of erring through ignorance. Leviticus 518. Turn over there,
Leviticus 518. Leviticus 5 verse 18 Well, let
me go to 17 if a soul sin and commit any of these things which
are forbidden to be done by the commandments of the Lord Though
he wished it not he didn't know it. It's a sin of ignorance Man
that hit me today Christ died for my sins when we think of
Christ died for our sins. We start thinking of things we've
done and You know, we think of sins we've committed and what
we are, but there are so many sins of ignorance that he also
put away. Though he wished it not, yet
he's guilty. Ignorance is no excuse. Ignorance
is no excuse. Even though he knew it not, yet
he's guilty and he shall bear his iniquity. He shall bring
a ram without blemish out of the flock with our estimation
for a trespass offering unto the priest, and the priest shall
make an atonement for him concerning his ignorance wherein he erred
and wished it not, and it shall be forgiven him. It shall be. Oh, Lord, forgive me. Forgive
me of my sins, my sins of commission, my sins of ignorance. Forgive
me. And you know, God the Father
can forgive me through the Lord Jesus Christ of all my sins,
even the ones I don't know about. Stray, going astray. Going astray,
now listen, going astray begins in the heart. You know, when
you start to, when David says here, before I was afflicted,
I went astray, it began in the heart. It begins with the affections. When we go astray, we go one
of three ways, lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, or the pride
of life. One of them will get us, if not all three, but they
get us. But afflictions are to bring
us back. It says in Revelation 3, 19, as many as I love, I rebuke. I rebuke and chasten, afflict. Be zealous therefore and repent
turn around Turn around come back And God knows listen God knows
He knows the afflictions that we need at the time God knows
Our affliction Afflictions are divinely ordered of God. You
know that they're just tailor-made for me the ones he sends me are
tailor-made for me and There's a real interesting chapter over
in Isaiah 28. Listen, go over to Isaiah 28. Look in verse 23. Give ye ear and hear my voice,
hearken and hear my speech. Doth a plowman plow all day to
sow? Doth he open and break the clods
of his ground? When he hath made plain the face
thereof, does he not cast abroad the fitches, and scatter the
cumin, and cast in the principal wheat, and the appointed barley,
and the rye in their place? For his God doeth instruct him
to discretion, and doeth teach him. For the fitches are not
threshed with a threshing instrument, Neither is a cart wheel turned
about upon the cooman, but the fitches are beaten out with a
staff and cooman with a rod." The right instrument is used
for the purpose of the bread, beating out the bread, the cooman,
and the fitches. I mean, he uses the right instrument.
God uses the right affliction. Bread corn is bruised because
he will not ever be threshing it. You know, he threshes it
to a point, but there's a point if you go too far, you bruise
it, you ruin it. Nor break it with the wheel of
the cart. He doesn't use that, nor bruise it with his horsemen.
This also comes forth from the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful
and counsel and excellent and working. Now, let me try to put
that in, in some language here. The only wise God will afflict
his people with moderation and discretion. He'll do so with
moderation and discretion. And I thought of this. It's like
a violin. If the strings are too loose,
it loses its sound. If too tight, they break. But
tuned just right, they sound a clear note of faith, hope,
and love. Such are the effects of sanctified afflictions." If
they're too loose, you can't get it. You can't get the sound.
But if it's too tight, they'll break them. But just right. you get the perfect pitch, you
get beautiful music out of it. That's the effect that God's,
God's sanctified afflictions has on every one of his children,
on every one of them. Among our greatest blessings,
what are your greatest blessings? What would you count as your
greatest blessings? there are afflictions they're
among them they are among them and the result of afflictions
is this but now have I kept thy word before I went astray but
not now no no use he said I was I was glad when they said let
us go to the house of God I was ready to go to the house of God
instead of getting up and and just fumbling through and getting
here he said I was ready to get here I was ready to go to the
house of God They produce obedience Obedience
to Christ obedience to gospel precepts They cause obedience now, I've
kept you word but in all God's dealings with us and All the
afflictions he sends us no matter how hard they are if he takes
your ten children He takes all your sheep and all your camels
and all your servants. He does all that yet. You know
what? I thou art good in verse 68 thou art good god's good and
do us good he can only that do good teach me thy statutes teach
me this lord so i can see more of your goodness in my afflictions
teach me the lord can do nothing but good his nature is good it's
impossible for him to do wrong he can only do good When he created
all things, he pronounced them very good. Adam didn't fall because
of a flaw in Adam. When God created him, he created
him perfect. There was no sin in Adam when
God created him. And because he's good, his word
is good, his statutes are good, therefore teach them to me that
I might learn more of your goodness that I would be able to see through
learning thy word, that I will be able to see your goodness
in everything that comes my way. This is far more than memorizing.
He's not trying to memorize the statutes. It's learning. It's
putting them into practice. It's literally learning them.
It's not memorizing. And here's part of our affliction. It's a conviction of sin, that's
an affliction. But also from this world we live
in. Afflictions come from this world we live in. The proud have forged a lie against
me. Let me say it this way, the false
preachers, the false preachers, have forged a lie against me."
Do they not stand up and lie on the Lord Jesus Christ every
week? This applies to our Lord also. They stand up and they
lie on Jesus Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ, week after week
after week. They just lie on Him. And David
says, they've forged a lie against me. They've slandered my character. They've lied on my character,
like even as they did our Lord. They called him a winebibber,
a gluttonous man. They forged their lives like
the blacksmith. When the blacksmith goes to forge
something, he puts it in a firebrand, puts a hammer on it, and he forges
an instrument that he's going to use. And their instrument
that they use is a lie. It's a lie. And the more you
and I are taught of God and taught from the word of God and learn
the commandments, the precepts, his judgments, the more we are
able to detect a lie. You're a lot more, you can give
me good judgment. Let me be able to detect these
things and discern between good and evil. You know, our Lord experienced
this. He, they forced a lie on him. They did. But David says here, he says,
but I will keep that precept with my whole heart. No matter
what they say, no matter what they do, their words have no
effect on me. No more than they had effect
on the Lord Jesus Christ. He never, he never stumbled one
time keeping the, the word, the law of God, not one time. He never quit. And believers
experienced this. Job did. Job said to his three
friends, Job 13, four, but you are forgers of lies. You are
physicians of no value. You're adding to my problem.
You're not helping me. You know what? I thought about
this today. You know, the, the, our greatest
refute of a lie, you know what that is? A godly life. They can lie on me, they can
say what they want, but they cannot deny the life I'm living,
my faith in Christ. Our greatest refute to a lie
is a godly life, a godly walk. And then we see the difference
here in an unregenerate heart and a regenerate heart, and it's
what it delights in. verse 70 their heart is as fat
as grease but i delight in thy law my delight is in the word of
god my delight is in christ the word of god he is my delight
but their heart fat is grease they they are prospering they're
healthy they're They have property, they have influence, they have
comforts of all kind, but their prosperity has blinded their
minds and clogged their senses. Their fat is greed. Isn't that
an image? That's a real image. Their heart. You know, there's a lot of open
heart surgeries done every day. And they open them up and they
have those clogged arteries. And for the most part, I'm not
a cardiologist, but for the most part, a lot of that comes from
diet. Diet. There are genetic issues
involved, but a lot of it comes from diet. And the world just feeds on the
lust of its flesh. And when you do heart surgery
on the world and it is fat as grease, but Davis said, I delight
in thy law. Here, I thought this, I thought
here is a heart healthy diet, the word of God. This is a heart
healthy diet, the word of God, spiritual heart. That new heart
that God gives. The word of God is what is fed.
And in verse 71, can I say Can I say it is good for me,
if I can look back over my life, can I say it's good for me that
I've been afflicted? You know, when I was a child,
I got my share of whippings. I got my share of them. And I
did not think, I did not believe one of them was good for me.
But now, all these years later, You know, all these years later,
I thank my mother here, not too long ago, I said, I thank you
for, I thank you for the discipline. She goes, she told me, she said,
it was hard to do that. It was hard to do that. Of course,
she loved me, she did it, her and dad. But I can say now, looking
back, they were good for me. I would have been in a lot of
trouble that I, they kept me out of a lot of trouble that
I would have been in if I could have. But they kept me out of
a lot of trouble. And God's afflictions are good
for us. It keeps us out of a lot of trouble. A lot of trouble
that you and I still get into. We still get into it. Sanctified afflictions are our
instructors. I read this to you last week
in Proverbs 6, 23. For the commandment is a lamp
And the laws like and reproofs of instruction are the way of
life. It's the way God brings his children along, reproofs
of instructions. And then verse 72, the law of thy mouth is better
unto me than thousands of gold and silver. He's rich. David's
rich. You know, this is one of the
richest, if not the richest man living. at that time. The preached word of the gospel
is better to me than silver and gold. I've known people who have
left the gospel, moved away from the gospel for a better job. For a better job, more money.
They can afford a better house. Of course, I don't know what
you call a better house. I mean, if a house is If it's 2,000 square feet
or 10,000 square feet, what's the difference in it? You only
need so much. To leave the gospel for silver
and gold, only a fool would do that. I'm telling you the truth.
Only a fool would do that. To take a promotion, you know,
not all promotions are promotions. Some are temptations. And some
have been promoted to where it takes them away from the gospel.
That's not a promotion. If it takes you away from the
gospel, it's not a promotion. It's a demotion. It's dangerous. It's dangerous. You know, when
we are faced with these things, weigh them out. Give me good
judgment. That's what he's saying. Now
as we go through life, we go day by day through life, we gotta
make choices, we're faced with things. We ought to look at them
and weigh them out on how they affect our relationship to Christ,
how they affect our attendance of hearing the gospel, how they
affect us that way. We ought to weigh them out. Henry
said one time, he said, we ought to make all decisions on the
lid of our casket. Because that's where you're going
to go. That's where they end up. How do they affect me? Lord,
that's why he says, give me good judgment. In the law of thy mouth,
the word of thy mouth is better than silver and gold.
Thousands, he said, thousands of gold and silver. You know, the Hebrew reading
of this is, good to me is the law of thy mouth above thousands
of gold and silver. It's more beneficial to me. More
beneficial. Job said it's better than my,
it's more important to me than my necessary food. Charles Spurgeon,
and I'm gonna close. Charles Spurgeon, in his sermon,
I believe it was on this one, he cited a man named John Mason. And here's what he wrote. The
Word of God must be nearer to us than our friends, dearer to
us than our lives, sweeter to us than our liberty, pleasanter
to us than all earthly comforts. That's a good statement. Charles
Spurgeon said this, and I think this is a really good statement. It is a certain mark of grace
when the precepts of Scripture are as precious as its promises. When the precepts are as precious
as the promises. And I leave you with a promise. Psalm 34, 19. Many are the afflictions
of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all. Not one thing will, not one affliction
will drown you. It will heal you. It'll heal
you. It'll bring you to Christ when
you and I drift away. We're like, you know, we're so
much like driftwood. We need to be brought back. All
right.