Bow with me in prayer. Our Heavenly Father, We ask your blessings upon this
gathering. We believe and are sure that
thou art the Christ, the Lord, our Shepherd. And you have gathered
us, this people, that we are the sheep of your pasture. And
you have gathered us into your fold, this fold, You brought
us here, O Lord, and we hope, we pray, that you will make us
to lie down in green pastures and beside the still waters and
restore our souls. Use your word, O Lord, upon us
tonight. Send thy word and heal us. Your word is your power. You
uphold all things by your word. You save by your word, you begat,
you give birth by your word, you comfort, you console, you
promise, you approve, you rebuke, you correct, you instruct, you
lead us, you guide us, you speak to us by your word. This is your
voice when you are pleased to speak. We ask that you would,
Lord, For your glory, for your honor, we've gathered. You've
gathered us. We pray it will be for your glory
and honor and for our good that you might edify your people and
build us up on this most holy faith, on that firm foundation
which is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Thank you
for your word. May we esteem it more than our
necessary food. May we find it and eat it. May
we hunger and thirst for it and eat it. It may be sweeter than
the honeycomb. We thank you for it and ask your
blessings upon it, here and everywhere your people meet. Lord, bless
your word. You have promised that it would not return void,
that it would accomplish that whereunto you sent it. Let it
be a savor of life. and those that hear it tonight.
Use the means. Use Mixler and the recorded Word
and all of these means you've given us, Lord. Use the radio
program, sermon audio, these means, Lord. Let us all have
a burden for your Word. Let it go forth, not only for
the salvation of our own, but for others. and for thy glory. Lord, forgive us, forgive us
of our sins. Wash us and we shall be whiter
than snow. Make us like the Lord Jesus Christ.
It is in his name we pray and ask these things and give thanks.
Amen. Go with me to Psalm 107. There's a change in the text
for tonight. I told you we would deal with
1 Thessalonians 4, but that, Lord willing, will be next Wednesday
night. I received a text from someone
who was worried about their lost child. And they asked me to pray
for them and use these three words, or these four words. They are in trouble. This is a psalm for those in
trouble. Four times it talks about His
people calling unto Him in their trouble. And the Lord delivered
them every time. All of God's people go through
trouble. A man that is born of woman is
a few days and full of trouble. Troubles without and troubles
within. But before we dwell on our troubles,
look at how this psalm begins. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good. For his mercy endureth forever.
One of the surest ways to be delivered from our troubles is
to count our blessings. To not think so much on our troubles,
but rather our blessings. Because it's of the Lord's mercies
that we're not concerned. So he says in Psalm 106, the
whole Psalm 106, as you may know, is a psalm of how the people
of God provoked him over and over again with their sin and
unbelief. And they forgot his mercies and
went on their way. But nevertheless, do you remember
that? Nevertheless, he remembered for
them his covenant, and he heard their cry and regarded their
affliction, and he had mercy upon them. So, our Lord is good. Verse 2 says, Let the redeemed
of the Lord say so, that is, that the Lord is good, and his
mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so, that he is good, and his mercy endureth forever. I'm
not hearing you. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so, that He is good and His mercy endureth forever. Are you
redeemed? Say so. He is good and His mercy
endureth forever. Are you with me? The Lord is
good and His mercy endureth forever. Keep that in mind. He's good.
Everything He does is right. Everything He does for us is
good. Everything works together for
what? Good, because the Lord is good. Even the trials are for our good. Sorrows, troubles are for our
good. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say, Son, this is for my good. Those he hath redeemed from the
hand of the enemy, you are in the hand of the Lord. Your times
are in his hand. You're not of this world. You're not in captivity? Go on
in verse 3. "...and He gathered them out
of the lands from the east, from the west, from the north, and
from the south." That's what He said. Gather My people unto
Me. I made covenant with Him. Gather them. He's chosen. He's called. He's gathered. Blessed
is the man or the woman whom the Lord gathers, whom the Lord
chooses and causes to approach unto Him. Brethren, we have gathered
together here tonight because the Lord has gathered us. I hope he's preparing our hearts
right now. Like Jehoshaphat prayed, the
good Lord pardoned everyone that had prepared his heart to worship. So remember this, before we dwell
on our troubles, we too often dwell too much on our troubles
and forget our blessings. Alright, look at where he found
them. Look at where he found us. Verse 4, they wandered in
the wilderness in a solitary way. That is, their own way.
In the wilderness. Scripture says of Jacob, the
Lord found him in a waste, howling wilderness. Found him howling. Wandering. Prone to wander. That's where he found us, the
prodigal son, the prodigal daughter. That's where he found all of
us, wandering through this world aimlessly in a solitary way. All we like sheep have gone our
own way. What's the next word? But the
Lord laid on him the iniquity of his own. He found us in a
solitary way and found no city to dwell there. David in Psalm
119. You love that Psalm? Oh, David,
he loved God's Word, and he blessed the Lord for his blessings, his
goodness, and his mercy all through Psalm 119. But he ended that
Psalm, the last verse, by saying, I've gone astray like a lost
sheep again. Lord, come and find me. Hungry
and thirsty. Verse 5, their soul painted in
them like the woman at the well. That's where the Lord found her. She was thirsty and didn't know
it. He came to the well. He came to her. A certain woman. Sat on the well, waiting to be
gracious to her. And she came. It was her time. Time of love. Time when He said
live to her. And she didn't know what she
wanted. She didn't know what she needed. And the Lord created
in her a thirst, didn't He? He told her that the water of
this world and this well will leave you thirsty. But the water
I give unto you will be like a well springing up unto you,
an everlasting life. And He said, if you knew the
gift of God and who it is, you would ask and He would give.
Well, bless God, she did. He created the thirst in her,
first sick, then they cried. Blessed are they that hunger
and thirst, after righteousness they will be filled. Then they
cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He delivered them
out of their distresses. His ear is open to their cry
always. And He delivered them out of
their distresses. And look at this, they were going
their own way, but He led them forth by the right way. What's
that? Who is that? Christ. Caused them
to walk in paths of righteousness. That is, walk by faith in the
Lord Jesus Christ. To follow Him. To drop their
water pot and follow Him. The right way. They were going
the wrong way. Every one of us. Our own way. But He led us to Christ the way. That we might go to a city of
habitation. A city of habitation. That's
His church. That's where His people dwell.
Oh, that man would praise the Lord for His goodness and for
His wonderful works to the children of men. It is the goodness of
God that leads us to repent. It is the goodness of God that
leads us to come to Christ. It is the goodness of God that
gives us faith to believe Christ. It is the goodness of God that
causes us to call on Him. It is the goodness of God that
makes us hungry and thirsty. It is the goodness of God. Oh,
that man would praise the Lord for his goodness. It's his worth. It's his worth. He's satisfied, verse 9, the
longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness. Our
Lord said, I'll make all my goodness pass before you. What is that? Christ. Not a what. There's no
goodness in things, but only in Christ. So He satisfies the
longing soul. Fill the hungry soul with goodness.
Now here's where He finds us. Such as sit in darkness, in the
shadow of death, bound in affliction and iron. In darkness. We were
in darkness even as a woman. You know, light came into this
world and here is condemnation. Men loved darkness better than
light. That was me. That's you. Men love darkness,
our Lord said, because their deeds are evil. Men don't come
to the light unless their deeds should be reproved. Men love
darkness. I did. Brother Todd Niber's mother was a teacher. And when Mindy was just a young
girl, nine years old, when they first started attending the church
there in Ashland. And Brother Todd's mother was
a faithful teacher. And she's the very first one
that Mindy heard any words of truth out of their mouth. The
very first person, even before my father, before her pastor.
She went in that little classroom with all the other little children
in that class. And Miss Nybert promptly, she
was preaching, she was teaching Christ the light. And Mindy said,
I'll never forget it. I'll never forget it. lesson in light. She said she
promptly turned the light out in that room. And they were all
sitting in darkness. And she said, do you like that?
Do you like the darkness? Or would you rather have the
light? She said Christ is the light. And she began to teach
those children about the light. Well, that scene was planned,
wasn't it? That scene was planned. That's where he found the lovers
of darkness. rather than light, in the shadow
of death, all our lifetime, subject to the fear of death, the one
thing that men fear the most, death, bound in affliction and
iron, that is, captives to strong passions like iron chains. Read on. Why? Why? Come on in. Go on in. Why were
they like this? Look at verse 11. Because they were bailed against
the words of God. People, most of our afflictions
and troubles, are you with me? Most of our afflictions and troubles
are our own making. He doesn't get into the troubles
sent by God until much later. But the first thing is, he finds
us Go in our own way. And the end is destruction. And
unless God turns us, we won't be turned. Unless God causes
us to repent or turn, we'll destroy ourselves. It's our own fault.
That's where He found us. That's why we get into trouble.
Most of it's our own because we rebel against the words of
God and contend, verse 11, the counsel of the Most High. Hold
it in contempt. Listen to man instead of God,
who is wisdom. The Counselor, the Most High,
the great, wonderful Counselor. We paid Him no heed. Verse 12. We brought down their heart with
labor. They fell down. None to help. None to help. Then they cried. I tell you,
being brought low is really a good place. A broken and a contrite heart,
oh God, thou wilt not despise. The first thing God's got to
do is bring us down. And it's a good thing. And sometimes
he has to bring someone to the very, very lowest point of their
life so that they'll look up, so that they'll cry for help.
And there's only one source of help. God is a very present help. They brought down their labor,
they fell down none to help, no, but yes there is. Then they
cried unto the Lord in their trouble, Lord save me, my parent. God be merciful unto me, the
sinner. Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy loving kindness,
according to thy tender mercy. Blot out my transgressions. Wash
me throughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sins. Against
thee and thee only am I sinning. And he's saved. You'll save. Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved out of their distresses. Whatever they may be. Whatever
they may be. Whatever distress you're going
through now. It's not just sin. But any distress. Distress of
your own making. Distress of others making. Distress
you have for others. The Lord will save you out of
those distresses. And look at this. Here's what
he does. He brings us out of darkness and the shadow of death
and breaks those bands in sunder. He said sin shall not, shall
no longer have dominion over you. I am breaking the power
of cancelled sin and setting the prisoner free. Brings him
out of darkness. You know, it says they wandered
in a solitary way We, you know, we get young people,
we reach a point where we say, I don't need any help. I don't
need anybody. I want to go my own way. And we often do that, don't we? I do. But as adults, we should
know better. But there are times when we get
so self-centered and so sinful and so whatever that we say,
I don't need anybody. Just leave me alone. Anybody?
Anybody ever reach that point? Just leave me alone. And so God,
He does. But bless God, He won't leave
you alone. He won't leave you alone. Someone once said years
ago that people often take refuge in themselves alone to try to
get away from their troubles. separate themselves from God's
people and so on and so forth, when that's the very place where
they need to be. They need to be where their health
is, where the Word of God will speak to them, where the people
of God who are going through the same thing can exhort them
and encourage them. Oh no, don't get along unless
it's along with God. But if you're not just along
with God, then go where God's people are. That's what they're doing. That's
why we're here. We're coming here to cry to the Lord. Call
upon the Lord. And He hears them. He hears them
and saves. How does He save? What you're
going through right now. What you're hearing. He brought
them out of darkness, the shadow of death. Brethren, we're not
under a dark cloud. The believers aren't under a
dark cloud. Do you remember when our Lord
took His three disciples up on the mountain and it says, a bright
cloud overshadowed them? Do you remember that? A bright
cloud overshadowed them. There is no dark cloud hanging
over the head of God's people. It's a bright cloud. Just peel
back that thin vapor and you'll see the Son of God at the right
hand of God standing like Stephen getting stoned. He lifted his
eyes up and he saw Christ standing. It cheered him. He walked right
on into glory. Be not faithless, but believe
Him. You fearful saints, fresh courage take. The clouds you
so much dread are filled with blessings and shall break with
mercy upon your head. He brought them out, the shadow
of death. We need not fear death. Did you read the article in Sunday's
Bulletin? Our Brother Sims? Death is not our enemy, it's
a friend. For as our Lord said, They that
believe on Me shall never die." Never die. You don't fear going
to sleep, do you? Well, He giveth His beloved sleep. He brings them out from under
the shadow of the fear of death and breaks those bands in sundown. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the children
of men. He hath broken the gates of Bram, cut the bars of iron
in sundown. things that held us so captive
that we didn't think. Brethren, I'm glad you didn't
know me when I was a prodigal son, but I'm here to tell you,
I'm here to tell you, I'm living proof that there are no hopeless
cases. Though there were many that looked
at me and said, oh my, Lord have mercy on him, they
called unto the Lord on my behalf. And you know what? He heard them. I wouldn't call him. I wouldn't
call him. But they were. And I did call him. He brought
me, gathered me, and I started calling him. In no hopeless cases. Verse 16, verse 17. Now here's where he found us.
Fools. Fools. Because of their transgression,
because of their iniquities. Fools. Because of these things,
they're afflicted. See that? Fools. Now, we're fools because we're easily
fooled. You know that? We're fools. We're not to call each other
fools, but we're certainly to call ourselves fools. We blindly
follow fools. We suffer fools gladly. We follow
fools. We go after folly. That makes
us foolish, doesn't it? We act foolishly. So foolish. Even David. Now, God's people
are not foolish. Regenerated children of God are
not foolish. They have the wisdom from above.
Christ is made under their wisdom. They have Christ in them. They've
been given wisdom. But they often act foolishly,
don't they? Like David said, oh, so foolish was I. I was like
a dumb beast. What's wrong with that? David
played the madman like he'd lost his mind one time. We do that,
don't we? We do. There are times we lose
our mind. And we act foolishly. We fall into sin and folly, don't
we? We fool ourselves. How foolish
can a man be when he fools himself? Fools. You take your place? Fools. Reflecting. Verse 18,
when we fall into folly, then we get so down and we have a
whore, any manner of meat, that is, the Word is not precious
to us. We draw near unto the gates of
death. We think, it's over for me. Because
of our folly. Because we fall into folly and
sin. And we think, it's over. God's
going to kill me. Like Manoah. But Manoah's wife,
another woman, came to him and said, no, he's not going to kill
us. He wouldn't have told us this
time. He wouldn't have shown us this time. And he wouldn't
have accepted the sacrifice. That's who Christ came for, fools. Save the foolish, the silly. The Lord preserveth the simple,
that's the stupid. The Lord preserveth. Then they
cry, isn't it a shame that we Most of the time we don't really
cry unto the Lord unless we're in trouble. Isn't that a shame? Oh, but we do, I do, you do,
don't we? All day, every day, some way
or another we cry unto the Lord, but we cry mostly from the depth
of our heart, out of the depths of our troubles. That's when
we cry unto Him. It looks like the Lord would
say, you take my mercy for granted? You take my grace for granted?
You only call unto me, unto me, really call unto me when you
get in trouble. It looks like the Lord will say, I'm not going
to hear you this time. But that's not our Lord. He says,
He's not like us. He's not like us. And they cry in their trouble. And
He's saved with them out of their distresses. How? How does He
save us out of our distresses? Brethren, this is it. What you're
doing right now, verse 20, He sent His Word and healed them. It's the balm of Gilead, the
Word. It's the Good Samaritan's ointment. He heals, delivers us. It's deliverance
for the captive. It's pardon for the guilty. It's comfort for the despairing. from their destruction. The Word of God sets our feet
in the right path. We turn and we go the wrong way,
and bless God, He turns us half by His Word and sets our feet
in the right path. Keeps us from destroying ourselves. Then they say to Israel, you've
destroyed yourself, but in me is thy help. My Word. It's in His Word. Oh, that man would praise the
Lord. for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. He says that four times, doesn't
he, in his psalm? We ought to say it 400 times
a day. Oh, that we would praise the
Lord for his goodness, for his wonderful works to the children
of men. This is the Lord's oftentimes
work at these things with man. That was Elihu's message. to
Job. So verse 13, let them sacrifice
the sacrifices of thanksgiving and declare his works with rejoicing. David said, sacrifice an offering
thou wouldest not, or I would give them. Oh, but the sacrifice
of God is a broken and a contrite heart. He said, let us offer
the sacrifice of our lips, that God want us by. And he calls
it a sacrifice, but is it any sacrifice? Is it a sacrifice
to come here? Have we sacrificed anything?
Our time? Have we sacrificed? Oh, we have
redeemed the time. All right. This is good. I was
glad when they said unto me, come out of that slime pit and
come sit among princes. Come off of that dung heap and
come sit in the heavenly place. No sacrifice at all. This is
the greatest proof of depravity, is that the hardest thing for
a human being to do, the thing he despises the most, is to come
and worship God. But God, in His goodness, and
this is a sure sign that He's done a work in you. It's God's
work, alright, to make you love what you once hated, to make
you come to where you despise and There's nothing to you. It
is a proof of God's work in you when this is the sweetest, the
best, the most wonderful thing on earth to you. And it's no
sacrifice at all. In fact, you'll sacrifice anything
to do it. Sacrificing with thanksgiving. That's all we come for in thanksgiving. Declare His works with rejoicing.
Singing. Alright. Now, here are the troubles that God
puts us through. As I said, much of our trouble,
if not most, we bring upon ourselves because of our folly, because
of our unbelief, because of our not following God's wisdom. But now here are troubles deep
waters that the Lord causes his people to go through. Why? Because
he's good. And it's for his glory. And it's
for our faith in him. Verse 23. They that go down to
the sea in ships, they that do business in great waters, deep
waters, these, and only these, see the works of the Lord, his
wonders in the deep. Four, he commandeth and raiseth
the stormy wind, and lifteth up the waves thereof. The Lord
is the one that does this, that brings us through deep, deep
trouble, deep sorrow, deep affliction. It's time that we go through
deep, deep waters. And we say, like David, who was
cast down, he said, deep calleth unto deep, that the noise of
thy waters pass. All thy waves and thy billows
are gone over man. Sorrow after sorrow. Trouble
after trouble. Trial after trial. And yet he
said, the Lord will command His lovingkindness in the daytime,
Somehow or another in the night His song will be with me, my
prayer unto the God of my life. Why art thou cast down, O my
son?" Hope in God. But we do, don't we? We go down.
He brings us down for purposes that He does not reveal at the
time, that someday we'll know, even as we've been known. He's
the one that commanded and raises the stormy wind. The billows
and the waves that go over us of trouble and sorrow. He's the
one. Verse 26, we mount up to heaven and go down into the depths. Up and down. That's the life
of a believer, isn't it? Up and down. Our soul is melted
because of trouble. Every child of God goes through
deep waters like this and feels at times like their heart is going to melt.
In verse 27, they reel to and fro and stagger like a drunken
man. They're at their wits end. And then they cry. Where? Unto whom? Unto the one that
can help. They cry unto the Lord in their
trouble. They look at Him. He brings them out. He always
brings them out of their distresses. He always. I was talking to a
dear brother. A while back, he was going through
trouble after trouble, trial after trial. And it was mostly
over his children. And I remind you that David had
seven or nine sons. I forget how many. And only one
or two of them were believers. Job, it's unclear whether or
not Job had any saved children. Now David's the one that wrote
this, didn't he? Oh, he said about Absalom,
oh Absalom my son, Absalom, Absalom my son, would the God I had died for
David. That's troubling. But the Lord
brought him out, didn't He? The Lord brought him out. One
time it says He refused to be comforted. Nobody, nothing and
no one could comfort Him. But you know what? God did. The Word did. God's Word did. That's how He brings us out.
This is how He brings us out. What you're gathered here to
do is to hear from Him. He sends His Word and heals us.
And it says then, He makes a storm a calm, verse 29. So that the
waves thereof are still. Then they're so glad because
it's quiet. He brings them unto their desired
haven. Go to Mark chapter 4. We've got
to look at that. Mark chapter 4. Good preaching
is, if it's from the New Testament, good preaching will go back to
the old. And good preaching, if it's from the Old Testament,
will go to the new. I don't know who it was recently,
but Brother Bruce said, You can't really understand the old apart
from the new, and you can't really understand the new apart from
the old. It's all together. It's one Bible. Look at this. Here it is in an actual story
of the disciples. Listen to this. This is wonderful.
I love this story. You'll love this too. The disciples
who had forsaken everything to follow the Lord. Sacrificed everything.
Didn't they sacrifice? Oh, no. They receive a hundredfold. But, verse 35, chapter 4 of Mark,
same day when the evening was come, the sun was going down.
Starting to get dark. He said unto them, let us pass
over unto the other side. Brethren, you know what we're
doing? You know what we're here to do?
You know what I'm here to tell you? The Lord has sent me to
tell you? We're passing over to the other side. Do you remember
that story of the people going through the raging Jordan? Huh? Well, the ones that went through
first called back to the ones that were last and said, it's
okay. The ones that crossed over Jordan
hollered back and said, not a thing to worry about. Read on. We're passing over to the other
side, verse 36. When they sent away the multitude. You see, you're going to be alone
with the Lord and His disciples. So He was in the ship. Didn't He say, I'll never leave
you, He said. He was in the ship. Brethren,
He is with us. He is in this ship. He is in
this church. He is in the midst of us. God
is in the midst of her. The church. One time he was on
the shore and they were in a ship and they thought, why has he
left us? He hasn't left yet. Look, here he comes, walking
on the water. Well, there arose a great storm
of wind. Who raised this storm of wind?
He just told us. The Lord did. And beat into the
ship so that it was now full. He, now, he who lived by faith, He who rested under the shadow
of the Almighty, the Lord, was in the hinder part of the ship,
asleep on a pillar. But the ship is filling full
of water, but the ship can't possibly go down. They can't
possibly perish. Why? The Lord is with them. Alright, but they awoke. They
awoke Him. And they said unto him, listen
there, Master, carest thou not that we perish? Surely you've never said that.
Surely no one in here has been in such deep waters and such
trials and trouble that you've said to the Lord. Surely you've
never said, Lord, don't you care for me? Why don't you do something? Don't you care? I have many times. But you know what he did? He
calmly got up, went out there, look, and rebuked the wind and
the sea, and said, peace, be still. And the wind, sea. And
it was a great calm. And he said unto them, And I
know he said it in such a calm and such a sweet and kind and
tender and compassionate and understanding way. He knew they're
afraid. He knows they're afraid. He knows
they're afraid of the winds and the waves. He knows that. But
he sent them to try them. Well, they failed, didn't they?
They failed miserably. He will not fail them. And this
is to strengthen their faith. The deepest trouble they've gone
through to date, And he said unto them, why are you so fearful?
Fear not. How is it that you have no faith? So then they feared him. Go back to our text. It says,
Oh, they were so glad, and they brought to their desired haven.
David said, All my desire is before thee, Lord. What do you
desire, David? What is it you desire? Tell me,
I'll give it to you. Didn't he tell that to Solomon?
Ask me, I'll give it to you. What is your desire? David, what
do you desire? Ask yourself that. Ask yourself
the deep recesses of your heart and your mind, deep down, dig
down deep and ask what it is that you want from the Lord.
What is the one thing you want from the Lord? Right now. David said, one thing have I
desired of the Lord, and that will I seek after. Well, then
the Lord said, you have it. He'll give you the desires of
your heart. He'll give it to you. If it's Him, you have Him
forever. Do you hear that? Forever. And He'll never take you away
from Him. Oh, my. That's our desired haven, to
be with the Lord in His house and behold the beauty of the
Lord and inquire into His temple and be gathered with the saints
at the river. Verse 31, Oh, that men would
praise the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works to the
children of men. Let them exalt Him also in the
congregation of the people, and praise Him in the assembly of
the elders. Recently a man asked me, what
is worship? I said, it's a grateful sinner coming
to thank God for mercy. That's what it is. Oh, that men
would Praise the Lord for His goodness, for His wonderful works,
the salvation of their soul. Brother Kelly read from Psalm
8, What is man that thou art mindful of him, the son of man,
that ye would visit him? Oh, but the Lord does it often
in mercy. He delights to show mercy. It's
His work. That's why He came. Let them exalt Him. Our reasonable
service, and it's the desire of our heart to praise Him in
the assembly of the elder. Now, read these next several
verses with me, and then I'll make a brief comment. He turneth
rivers into a wilderness, the water springs into dry ground,
a fruitful land into barrenness, because of the wickedness of
them that dwell therein. This Word. He's talking about
this Word. He turned up the wilderness, verse 35, and He does the opposite. He turns the wilderness into
a standing water. Dry ground into water springs. And there He makes the hungry
to dwell, that they may prepare a city for habitation. He sowed
the fields and planted vineyards, and they yielded fruits of increase. He blessed them also, so that
they are multiplied greatly, and suffereth not their cattle
to decrease again. They are minished and brought
low through oppression, affliction, and sorrow. He poureth contempt
on princes, gathereth them to wander in the wilderness where
there is no way. Yet setteth he the poor on high
from affliction, and maketh them families like a flood." What's
he saying? What he's saying is that this
world and everything in it is constantly up and down, up and
down, And the Lord is the one that
does it. Prosperity, affliction. Prosperity, adversity. To show
us, now here's what Ecclesiastes said. In the day of prosperity,
be joyful. Be joyful. Enjoy. God giveth
us all things richly to enjoy. It's the Lord that does this.
He doesn't withhold good things from His people any more than
you do for your children. You delight to give good things
for your children, and what do you acquire of them but just
thanks, and not be taken with it. If riches increase, set not
your heart upon them. Set your affection on things
above. Let not your heart go after these things. That's idolatry.
That's idolatry. And so if it starts to happen,
he takes it away. In the day of prosperity, it
can be joyful. But in the day of adversity,
consider that the Lord has sent the one over against the other
to this end, for this purpose. And only God's people will understand
that we're not going to find anything here. Job saw that and he started out
in great prosperity, didn't he? On the mountain. And he got down
as low as he could go. The Lord did it. The Lord gave
and here's what Job did. He praised the Lord and he worshipped
the Lord. He sinned not with his lips or charged God foolishly.
He said the Lord gave it and the Lord had taken it away. Blessed
be the name of the Lord. That's faith. But then he started questioning
the Lord, didn't he? Why are you doing this to me?
Don't you care? Where is your faith? And the
Lord had to rebuke him then. How? How did he straighten Job
out? He sent a preacher named Elihu. And Job said, Oh, where did I
grow up? Am I so foolish? I was a fool. What was wrong with me? The Lord
did this for my good. You know what the Lord did after
it was all over? Gave him double. Double! He hath not dealt with
us, I trust you. We received in the Lord's hand
double for all our iniquity. Verse 42, the righteous are going
to see this. They see this and they rejoice. And all iniquity
shall stop her mouth. Who is wise? and will observe
these things. Didn't Moses say the same thing?
Oh, that they were wise and will consider their latter end. The
end. So whoso is wise and will observe
these things, even they shall understand. If God gives us wisdom
from above, if he makes Christ to be wisdom unto us, We trust
him, I think. Someday we're going to see, we're
going to understand, we're going to know, even as we've been known,
the loving kindness of the Lord. And we're going to say with Brother
David, it was good for me to be afflicted that I might learn
his statutes. The Lord in his mercy has afflicted
me. Or like Brother Scott said, And
he knows now, Brother Scott knows now, that the Lord ordered everything
exactly the way it should be and he wouldn't change a thing.
Stand with me. Our God and our Father, we ask
for your mercy and your grace and your salvation that you would
do a work of salvation in our hearts, in the hearts of our
children. Oh Lord, it is your work. It
is your mercy to show. It is your grace to be bestowed. You said you'd like to show mercy. You said you're a present help
in time of trouble. You said before they call, you'll
answer. And dear Lord God, we beg you, have mercy. Save that prodigal child. Save
that husband, wife, father, mother, brother or sister. Oh Lord, have
mercy on us and we'll give you all the praise and honor and
glory because it is indeed your work. With man it is impossible. Oh, but our God, all things are possible. Our hope is in thee. Our help
is in thee. We call upon thee in this day
of trouble. Oh Lord, hear us. Oh Lord, save
us, we pray. for Christ's sake. Amen. You're
dismissed. I'm sorry, I'm late. I'm sorry. I didn't even notice. I'm sorry. I'm late. I'm late. But I apologize. All right. I missed it. But you preach,
you preach the psalm more than I do. You know, you make time
for me.