Within thy holy words, when toil
and trouble meeting, Care to take from a father's hand? One by one thy faithful moments
greeting, Did I reach the promised land? Now go back to Psalm 56 with
me. I'll read the first three verses
again. Psalm 56. David says, Be merciful unto
me, O God, for man would swallow me up. He fighting daily oppresseth
me, and enemies would daily swallow me up. For they be many that
fight against me, O Thou Most High. And then he says, What
time I am afraid, I will trust in thee. David was one of the
most courageous men in all Scripture. One of the boldest men in all
Scripture. One who had as much or more faith
than any man in Scripture. You know that. You read of his
boldness facing Goliath when he was just like an 18-year-old
boy. He wasn't afraid, was he? And then all through his life,
David faced many insurmountable obstacles and foes without fear. But now he's afraid. He's afraid. As we all are at that time. And
that gives me comfort. If a man as strong as David is
afraid, That gives me some comfort. And he says, what time I'm afraid,
whenever I'm afraid, I will trust in Him. Now, to be afraid sometimes
is a childish thing. It's an immature thing. It reveals
very little faith at all, very little wisdom to have fears like
children are afraid of the dark, afraid of monsters. And you know,
we imagine things even as adults. We are afraid. We listen to too
many voices for one thing. We listen to what the world is
saying and we get afraid. Modern talk shows and all that,
we hear them and we start getting afraid about everything. No,
that's childish. Don't do that. That's childish
to be afraid like that. Courage is... It shows some faith in the Lord.
Courage is manly too. Scripture says, quit yourself
like men or women. Act like you believe the Lord. But being afraid is not always
childish. Because there are some real and
present dangers that make the boldest man or woman on earth,
like David, afraid. Someone that is never afraid
I thought about this, someone who's never afraid is either
asleep or ignorant, like a little child, you know, it's not trust
per se, they're just unaware of the danger. They're not afraid. Presumptuous, somebody can be
presumptuous, careless, not watching. I thought about this, you know,
somebody that's on the front lines, Men back in the war, there
would be men on the front lines. Brother Henry was down in the
foxhole over in Korea. You reckon he was afraid? Bullets
would fly over his head. So he heard a real enemy. He
saw a real enemy. He was exposed and facing real
warfare. He was afraid. And I'm afraid
maybe we're not on the front lines and not watching. But to be afraid is a very real
thing, a very real danger. And it's distressing. Fear, being afraid of whatever,
will fill you full of stress. And it literally will make your
heart go bad. You know, it's a very real thing. I was looking over there for
you, Bob. Heart disease is related to stress. It's a fact. It's a fact. And I thought about the reality
of that, that this world, there's more incidents of heart disease
now than ever because people are under such stress for fear
and being afraid. And I don't think it's misusing
the word when it says, in the end, men's hearts will fail them. for fear, literally. It's a distressing
thing. Fear, being afraid, can be dangerous
too. David was so afraid that he ran
into worse danger. Being too afraid will make you
run and do what you ought not to do when the Lord says, stand
still. David ran to Gath. He was afraid of Saul. He said,
Saul's going to kill me. Where'd he go? To the Philistines. What would make a man do something
like that? Fear. Abram. Remember, when we looked at Abram,
famine, a real famine came, and he was afraid. Where'd he go?
He shouldn't have gone anywhere, but he ran to Egypt. And you
know the mess he got in. So fear will make us do rash
things. But all of us get afraid. The
strongest and the weakest, we all get afraid. We're afraid
of many things. I jotted down some things that
we're all afraid of. Everybody in here. We're afraid
for the temporal troubles that we have. The provisions that
we need for everyday life. We sometimes get afraid that
they're not going to be there. Food, raiment, that the Lord,
these things that we need to sustain our lives are not going
to be there. A husband, especially, who is
concerned about caring for his wife. A father, a young father. I think of Gabe, you know, taking
a great cut in salary and going down there, and he still has
two young girls and a wife, and now he's making less money and
he's afraid. And that's very real. Very real. So what do you do? Well, you
trust the Lord, don't you? That's what he asks you and you
do. He says, cast your care on me. He careth for you. A woman alone. Be it a single
woman, a widow woman, those fears are even greater.
You lose a husband who was your support. Or a single woman, you know,
living in a man's world, trying to get by. It's tough. It's tough. How can you make it? How are
you going to make it? Well, your maker is your husband. That's
how. He's your father too. Old people,
you get old and get feeble. And I can't imagine reaching
the point where I can't work and earn some money if I need
it. Can you? I can't imagine getting to that
point. John, you were just saying the
other day, what little work you're doing now, where are you at?
Where's your bum at? And you work, you try to make
a little extra income, but who's going to take care of you? What
time I'm afraid, I'll trust in Him. David said. The same One
that cared for you when you were a babe is going to care for you
to the end. And when you're old, He said
to your old age, I am He, to your hoary head, and you're there. He said, I will carry you. He
said, I've carried you from the cradle. I've been carrying you
all along. He said, I'll carry you to the
old age. I'll never put you down. And so, what time I'm afraid. You who work out there in the
work world, you have a job. And you need that job, don't
you? You're afraid of losing that job. Anybody afraid of losing
their job? Is anybody not afraid of losing
their job? Everybody has been afraid of it. Some in here have
lost their job. How long did you work at J.P.
Stevens? How long? Thirty-six years. You were ready to retire, weren't
you? And they cut your job. Are you doing alright? At what time I'm afraid, I'll
trust the Lord. We forget who gave us that job.
We forget who gave it. The Lord takes it away, but He
giveth more grace. People in business. You're afraid. How am I going to get by? I'm
afraid of failure. Anybody? Afraid of failure. Afraid I can't make the payments.
I'm going to lose my business. Again, I'm going to use gave.
It just came to mind. You know when the economy got
real bad? Now, about the last thing people need is to take
guitar lessons. Right? When the economy gets
bad, you'd think that's the first thing people are going to drop
in it. Not so. Not so. About the last thing
people need is to board a horse and trust in the Lord. One time I'm
afraid. Do all you can. Try your best. Whatever your hand finds to do,
do it with all your might. But throw yourself on the mercy
of the Lord. Say this, I believe my Father
feeds the ravens, and I know He'll feed me. Is that presumption? No, it's not. It's just believing
Him. He said that, didn't He? Consider the ravens. They don't
toil. They don't reap. But your heavenly
Father feedeth them. He says there's not a sparrow
that's sold. And whatever they sold sparrows
for, whether it be like a songbird you put in a cage or whatever
they did with them, sacrificed, they were sold for a farthing,
about a dime. He said, are you not worth more
than many sparrows? Trust Him. He said, how much
more will your Heavenly Father feed you? Oh, ye of little faith. Didn't he say that? There's a
robin building a nest on our front porch. We've got a wisteria
vine climbing up our post on our front porch. A robin building
a nest right there. I believe it's the exact same
robin that built the nest the year before in the tree right
there in front. I took it out. Out of that tree. And I'm just quite sure it's
the same robin building a nest now even closer to our front
door. Now that's a busy thoroughfare
going in and out of there. But apparently she trusts us. Apparently she has no fear of
us. In fact, today I was outside washing the car. It rained. I was outside washing the car
and I was just ten feet from her. She had three babies in
that day. And she didn't move. She's not afraid. She trusts
me. She trusts me. She knows that
I'm not going to harm her. She knows from experience that
I'm not going to harm her. Now, she's just a robin. You know how many robins are?
A pretty useless bird. And I'm just a man. I'm just
a man. Yet I'm not going to harm that
plain old rock. Well, if you are a child of God,
you're not just a man or a woman. You're a child of God. How much
do your children mean to you? They're just not anybody's child.
They're yours. And God is not just a man. He's
the God man. So Robin, you're not just any
old Robin. You're the Lord's Robin. Okay?
He's going to take care of you and everybody in there. So trust
Him. Who's He taking care of? Who's He going to take care of?
What's the condition? What's the requirement? Trust
Him. Trust Him. Believe Him. Not to
the best person, not to the boldest person, not to the one who quits
this or quits that or does better, trust me. That's good news. He said that
none of them that trust me, he said, will be found guilty. That's not one of them. There's
not one person who's ever trusted the Lord, really trusted the
Lord. with their soul, with their everything, that he's abandoned
or forsaken. Not one. It'll never happen. He's more trustworthy than anyone. Trust him. What time I'm afraid,
David said, I will trust him. Every morning, here's what we
all need to do. Every morning, commit thy way unto the Lord.
That psalm says, roll thy way unto the Lord. Every morning,
commit your way. Lord, here's what I've got to
do. Lord, I'm worried. I'm afraid. Here it is. Commit thy way unto the Lord.
Trust also in Him. The Scripture says, He shall
bring it to pass. He shall bring it to pass. Start
the day like the birds do, singing, This is my Father's world. It's still His world. The earth
is the Lord's and the fullness thereof. The world and they that
dwell therein, even our enemy, belong to Him and He controls
them. That's good news. What times I'm afraid, David
said, I will trust it. We have family trouble, very
real trouble, very real heart rending trouble, personal troubles,
family trouble, a wayward child. We fear for their soul. I've never had one. I've been
one. I've never had one. I don't know
how I would have reacted to that. that I had a rebellious son.
I don't know. I've talked to some men who have, and I've told
them, the Lord didn't give me a son, a rebellious son, because
I don't know if I could have handled it. I could have. He would have given me grace,
just like he does everybody. And I'm thankful I didn't have
one. That's got to be one of the toughest trials you can go
through. A sick child, that's a very real worry. A grandchild. I worried more over some things
of my grandchildren that came on then than I did my own daughter.
I think it was just ignorance. My daughter, you know, had all
the typical ailments and so forth and dangers, but I worried. Plus, now I've got a nurse living.
A nurse as a daughter, and she tells me what all could be wrong. And I believe it. And I worry. I've lost many a night's sleep
over those grandbabies. What time I'm afraid, I trust
in Him. He gave us those babies. He gave
them. We worry. Sick. We get sick. We all get sick. You get old. Your spouse gets sick. I get old. And you worry about
losing them. And you're going to. It's got
to happen. And you think, I don't think
I can live without Him. Don't you? Can you? Will the Lord gird you up? We've
got two ladies in here, two witnesses who will testify that what time
I'm afraid, I'll trust in thee. And the Lord will gird you up.
He promised, as thy days, so shall thy strength be. His strength. See, His strength is made perfect
in our weakness. He said, though everyone, you
will lose everyone. If you don't go first, you'll
lose everyone and everything. But He said, I will never leave
there or forsake there. Marriages. We commit ourselves
to someone, and later on they turn out, they change or whatever,
and we lose that mate. We've committed ourselves. You
ladies, you've taken their name. You've trusted that person. And
the end of that is not being trustworthy. That's a tough thing,
isn't it? A tough thing. Well, the Lord
said this, your maker, who's your husband? He says, try to
find your bill of divorce. Just try to find it. Your father
and your mother may forsake you, but the Lord won't forsake you."
He said, I've graven you on the palms of My hand. So what time
I'm afraid, don't be afraid of the Lord leaving you. Don't do
it. He can't. He can't. It's not possible. It's not possible
for anyone to trust in Him and Him to let them down. It's not. possible. Is that good news or
what? Well, then we're afraid of our
guilt and our past sin or even our present sin. We're afraid
of this sin that's within us that is going to finally prove
us to be lost. That's our greatest fear. Greatest fear. Now, when the
Lord When the Lord begins to deal with us, the first thing
He does is convict us of our sin. Our conscience, we didn't have
one before. Our heart was hard and He softens
it, breaks it, makes it feel guilt. We begin to feel our sin. That is what we are. We hate ourselves. We begin to
feel guilty over what we've done and not done. Our past, just, ah, ever before. Can't undo it. Can't undo it. And we get afraid.
We get afraid of dying. And that fear, though, drives
us to it. I'm hoping and praying that the
Lord will make us some more afraid, because the fear of the Lord
will cause a person to cry out for mercy. I'm hoping and praying
that the Lord will make some of our children or our spouses
or whoever afraid to face God. Because when they are, they'll
cry for mercy. Only a guilty person will cry
for mercy. I think of my sister. My sister and I were opposites.
I was a prodigal son. She was like the son who never
did anything wrong. Stayed home. Weren't we, Mom? I'm ashamed to admit it, but
it's just a fact. She was a model child. A role
model. A good girl. I wasn't. I was a bad egg. A bad apple. A prodigal son. A rebel. A rebel. Well, thankfully, the Lord, like
that prodigal, brought me to myself, showed me the pit I was
in, showed me the hog pen that I was in, brought me to myself,
convicted me of my sin, brought me back to Him where I heard
the gospel, repented of my sin, heard the gospel, fell in love
with the Lord Jesus Christ, and laid hold of that hope that sat
before me in Christ. Well, my sister now, she's not
a sinner. She's just a good girl. No, she's
a sinner. If anything, it seems a lot harder
to convince a good little girl or a good older woman that they're
a sinner than one that's lawless. It takes the same word, the same
gospel. to do that. That's what's got
to happen. We've got to convict them of their sin. And that's
what we're waiting for. That's what we're hoping for.
That they'll cry out for mercy, forgiveness of sin, and then
we'll all start singing, won't we, of that mercy. And we hear that Gospel, and
we get afraid. And when we hear the Gospel that
Christ came into the world to save sinners, and we believe, and then we're
not afraid. Briefly, we're not afraid. We have peace. Oh, that I could
have the peace and the comfort and the gladness and the joy
that I had when I first heard the gospel. I wasn't afraid anymore. In fact, I took that gospel out
like a sword and tried to cut heads off. Got real self-righteous
too. And it always happens. I don't
know why it happens, but it does. And then what happened? Then your past comes back to
haunt you. Then you start finding out, hey,
you're no better than you were before. In fact, you feel worse. And you find yourself thinking
the same thoughts, maybe even committing the same sins. And then you start worrying again.
Maybe I'm not saved after all. Anybody? Then you start thinking,
maybe I'm deceived. Maybe I'm not one of the elect.
I'm afraid I'm a hypocrite. I'm afraid I've just got head
knowledge and not heart knowledge. I may be a reprobate. Anybody?
Now, some fears are good. Some fears like that are Holy
Spirit conviction. And that's good. Spurgeon said,
it's better to go to heaven doubting than go to hell presuming. Better go to heaven doubting
than go to hell presuming. A presumptuous person is not
afraid. David said, what time I'm afraid,
I'll trust him then. Here's the thing, at our most
sinful, we need to trust the Lord, just like we did in the
beginning. See, that's what we did in the
beginning. When we first heard the gospel, we were as low as
we could get, and we trusted the Lord, we trusted in His mercy,
and we heard the gospel, and we believed, and we got peace,
and we got comfort and assurance, didn't we? Well, I belong to
the Lord, that Christ died for me, and that gave us peace. Well,
what do we do now when we find out we're no better than we were?
Same thing. That's the beginning of your
confidence. What was the beginning of your confidence, John? That
Christ died for sin. That gave you hope and assurance
and confidence that you're a child of God. That's it. Christ died
for sin. There was no confidence in your
flesh. You didn't trust yourself, you didn't trust the man, you
trusted the Lord Jesus Christ. You trusted in God's mercy, didn't
you? You trusted in his word. He said that. That this is a
faithful, safe, and worthy of all acceptation. Christ Jesus
came into the world to save sinners, even the chief. He said, that's
me, I believe him. And you got peace from that.
What are you going to do now? Same thing. Hold the beginning
of your confidence steadfast to the end. The only cure for
these fears. None of them that trust Him shall
be guilty. Listen to this Scripture. Well,
look at the next line. David said this, In God I will
praise His Word. In God I put my trust. I will
not fear what flesh can do unto me. When he starts looking at
God's Word, when he believes the promises, then he says, What
am I afraid of? What am I afraid of? He talked
about his enemies, didn't he? He said they're powerful foe. In Psalm 38, we love that Psalm.
My enemies are lively and I'm just barely alive. My enemies
are strong and I'm weak. My enemies are many and it's
just me. Well, no, because it's God before you. Look down there in verse 9, he
said, This I know, God is for me. How do you know that, David?
He said so. He said so. This is what you
trust. This is what David was trusting,
that God said so. He can't lie. Listen to these
verses. Here's the word of Asherah. Him that cometh to me I will
no wise cast out. God doesn't qualify that. He
doesn't say him that turns over a new leaf. He that tries better.
He that done all he can do. He that, you know, never... Him that cometh to me. What if
he's gone off and run off and wandered off a thousand times? Listen to this. Okay, that's
a backslider, isn't it? And I believe in that. I believe
they're backsliders. Scripture says too much about
it. And I know too much about it. Listen to this. Go proclaim
this word. And Jeremiah, proclaim this word,
return thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord, and I will not
cause my anger to fall upon you, for I am merciful. Hymn that
comes from that. There it goes again. Isn't that
what David said in verse 8? You tell my wandering. You see
my wandering. Prone to wander, Lord, I fear.
That's the nature of sheep, isn't it? Psalm 119 is the psalm of
God's Word. That's the psalm where all the
way through, in every single verse, David says something about
God's Word being his hope, being his trust, being his peace, being
his assurance. Every psalm, every verse, 176
verses. In every verse, he says something
about God's Word. That's his hope. That's our hope.
Okay? In the very last verse, The very
last verse, after all that David says about God's Word being his
trust, being his hope, being his light, being his confidence
and all that, in the very last verse he says, I've gone astray
like a lost sheep. Seek your servant. Really? Every time. The shepherd has never lost a
sheep. Every single time that sheep
wanders off. Not one time, but 1,000 times. Every single time. He will not
lose that sheep. His name. His mercy is at stake. His love is at stake. You have His Word on it. My,
my. Listen to this. Here's another
one. Well, turn with me. Psalm 62.
This is what made me think of this. Psalm 62. We almost looked
at this tonight. Psalm 62, verse 8. I want you to look at this and
mark this well. Verse 8 says, Trust in Him at
all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before Him.
God is a refuge for us. Trust in Him at all times. Good times? Now, it's easy to
trust the Lord in good times. It's easy. In fact, there's really
no trust involved at all, is it? He says at all times. Bad times. When times are really
bad. That's when real fear is the only thing that will try
you fast. Trust in Him at all times. Happy
times. It's easy to trust the Lord when everything is going
well. But you're really not trusting. In sad times, trust Him. Trust His wisdom. Trust His goodness. Trust His love. Trust His purpose. Prosperity. It's easy to trust
the Lord, isn't it? Well, the Lord's blessing me.
Well, trust Him in adversity too. Scripture says this, doesn't
it? He said one over against another
to the end. Someone said this. You know,
like that robin building a nest? I said, we build our nests, but
the Lord puts thorns in them to keep them from being too comfortable.
They're not going to stay there long. Not going to stay there
long. There's another robin that built
a nest in my grape arbor, and she worked real hard at it. Okay? I think it's the same one that
built one last year that ate all my grapes. I was just loaded
with grapes. And I didn't have the heart.
She had babies. I didn't have the heart to do anything about
it. And she ate all my grapes. Well, this year she built another
nest right in the same spot. And I was sitting on my porch
and I thought, oh no. I want those grapes this year.
I'm going to make some jam out of them. Anyway, I went down
there and I crawled up there to see if there were any eggs
in it. No eggs. And what did I do? It's a shame to say, but
I grabbed that nest, took it out of there. She worked real
hard at it. She spent a lot of time with
it. But I threw it away. I said, you can't nest here.
I'm sorry. I don't want you nesting here.
I said, Lord, I like that, don't you? He puts thorns in our nest.
He takes away things according to His purpose. Because we have
here no continuing sickness at all times. All times. Listen
to this. You're going to like this. John
Newton said this. He said, The times when we feel
the farthest from God, we might be the closest. Because when do you need Him?
The time when we feel the farthest
from God, we may be the nearest. The thief on the cross is hanging
there, and he's about to go into eternity. He knows it. And he's
getting what he deserves. And he's getting his just due. And he's going to die any minute
now. And he thinks it's all hopeless. Right beside him. On that particular day that he
was being crucified, they crucified the Lord Jesus Christ, his only
hope. At the time when he was most
hopeless, He was closer to the Lord than he had ever been. The woman at the Lord's feet,
weeping uncontrollably over her sin, at her lowest time, she
was at her safest at His feet. Right? Do you think for one minute
that the Lord is going to cast her out? She's the most guilty
person in that room. Do you think for one minute that
the Lord could cast her out? It's not possible. He's too good. He's not like us. At what times I'm afraid, I'll
trust in death. Oh my. We fear that we won't
hold out to the end. We're afraid we're not going
to hold out to the end. And we won't if we're holding
ourselves. We won't if it's up to us to
hold on. We won't. But listen to what
the Scripture says. David said this, Hold thou me
up, and I shall be safe. What times I'm afraid, I'll trust
in Him who holds me. Didn't he say? No man shall pluck them out of
my hand." Didn't he? My Father that's greater than
me, no man will pluck them out of my Father's hand. No man.
You see, if we're in Christ, if we're in Christ, and what
that means simply is to trust Him, is to believe Him, to cast
all your care on Him. If you're in Christ, you're just
like Noah and everyone in that ark. That flood cannot come near
you, and you will be provided for. And it's going to be a long,
trying journey, but you will reach the other shore. The weakest
child in that family, the weakest son or daughter-in-law, and you've
got Noah, who's the strongest, I'm sure. You reckon Noah was
afraid? You know he was. He's a man. You reckon Moses
was afraid when he heard that death angel coming through? You
know he was. The weakest was just as safe
under that blood as the strongest, right? I've told you this story
before. It was a true story that it was
a sailing vessel, one of the tall ships, a big wooden ship,
years ago. Passengers on board, many passengers,
and they ran into a fierce storm. And most of the people who were
on board had never been on one before. And they were going through
this fierce storm and they were just scared to death. They thought
the ship was going to go down. And on board that ship was a
small boy sitting there just playing and seemed totally unconcerned.
Though the winds were howling and the rain was lashing and
the boat was listing and this boy was sitting there seemingly
totally unconcerned by it all. And somebody asked him, son,
aren't you afraid? Why aren't you afraid? And he
said, my dad is captain of this ship. And he won't let anything happen
to me. My father rules this world. And if something does happen
to him, it's according to his purpose. And it's for my good.
But he's too good to do evil. He's too kind to do wrong. He's
too wise to err. And he said, it's all for good.
What time I'm afraid, I'll trust him. And then we're afraid that
we might fall away, aren't we? We're all afraid we might fall.
Well, the scripture says we need to trust him that's able to keep
us from falling and present us faultless before his presence.
Psalm 37 says this about the righteous man. It says, though
he fall, the Lord will hold him up. He shall not be utterly cast
down, for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand. Faithful is
he that calleth you, also do it. He that hath begun a good
work in you will perform it. You remember that Psalm 57? I'll
cry unto God Most High that performeth all things for me. One more fear, and it's our worst
one. And I want you to turn to Hebrews
2 in closing. Hebrews 2. The thing we all fear
the most, what is it? What do you think it is? Death. Isn't it? We all fear it. Gabe,
I like his honesty. Don't you? What he said, he said,
I don't want to die. And I don't either. Do you? Do you? Unless you've got really,
really, really strong assurance, or unless you're really, really,
really old. You don't want to die. We're
afraid of dying. Well, what time I'm afraid, David
said, I'll trust in thee. And look at Hebrews 2. It says this. I love these verses.
Christ said, well, we got to go on back here. Verse 12. The
Lord said, I'll declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst
of the church when I sing praise unto thee, the Lord Jesus Christ
who went through everything we face. You know, we were he was
touched with the feeling of our infirmities. Tempted in all points,
like as we are without sin, he's able to succor them that are
tempted and tested like we have a. a merciful and faithful high
priest, don't we? He says, I'll declare thy name
unto my brethren in the midst of the church while I sing praise
unto thee. He's about to go to the cross
and suffer his... Was the Lord afraid of going
to the cross? It just occurred to him. Did he not pray to the Father
and sweat blood and say, if it be possible? Let this pass from
me. Nevertheless, what time I'm afraid. That just occurred to me. The
one time, I suppose, there's only one man who ever lived who
was totally without fear, and it's the Lord Jesus Christ. But
when he was about to be forsaken by God, when he was about to
be made sin, which his holy nature could not take, he was afraid.
Wasn't he? You can read this. You can read
every psalm as if it were coming from the mouth of our Lord Himself.
What time He was afraid, He trusted in the Lord, and the Lord undergirded
Him. And He endured the death, even the death of the cross.
He said, I'll sing. What I was going to point out
was right before He went to the cross, and He was telling them
what He was going to go through, and they ate that bread and drank
that wine, and it says they sang a hymn. Right before He was going
to go endure such agony, Keep going. And he said, again, I'll
put my trust in him. See that? And again, behold,
I and the children which God hath given me, for the joy set
before him. For as much then as the children
are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took
part of the same, that through death he might destroy him that
had the power of death, that is, the devil, and deliver them,
who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to
bondage. Fear of death. We fear it. We
don't want to face it. Well, our Lord said, He giveth
His beloved slave. He said, He that believeth in
Me shall never die. You don't need to fear death. You have the Lord's Word on it.
And He proved it. He died. He said, We'll never
die. He died under the wrath and judgment
of God. His soul was made an offering
for that's death. He poured out His soul unto death.
He died under the wrath of God, the penalty of sin. But he died
that we might live. And he said, whoever believes
me will never die. It won't be like death to you.
When it comes time to faith, if you fear it, you must not
be dying. You understand? If you're really
afraid of it, it must not be your time. I told you about that
time. I was waiting on some tests.
That's hard, waiting on tests. I think the hospital is sometimes
so cruel, aren't they? They're not giving you those
tests right away and you've got to wait to see the results of
it. When I was waiting, I just knew, and you start fearing,
you know, Bonnie, you know better than anybody in your life. You
know, you think, it's the worst, it's the worst. And I did too.
I was looking, I was going to leave my grandchild. It wasn't
my time. It wasn't my time. In fact, that
woman said Spurgeon was afraid of dying. He said, well, are
you dying? He said, well, I don't think so. He said, you don't
need the faith, do you? But when it comes time, He'll
give you that peace. He'll give you that assurance.
Spurgeon said this, when it comes time, it's going to be like a
pen prick. And it's over. Like a shot. It's over. And when I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil." And we've seen
believers die, haven't we? And He's true to His Word. We
have, haven't we, Dad? We've seen believers die, and
they die in peace. The Lord said that. You've marked
the perfect man. That man is peace. The Lord gave
them His Word, and that's how they die. They die in peace.
Your mother did, didn't she? Your mother did, didn't she?
That's how they died. Your mother did. Your father
did. He's promised that. So we're
afraid of dying, but we need not be afraid. What time I'm
afraid, I'll trust in Thee, David said. Trust in Thee. Look at the next verses and I'll
quit in our text, in Psalm 56. Remember thee. He said, In God
I'll praise His Word. In God I put my trust. I will
not fear what flesh can do unto me. This is a psalm. Sherry,
this is a psalm. That means the psalm. Every one
of these were sung by David. David was the sweet harpist.
The sweet psalmist of Israel. He composed most of these. Moses
was a singer too. Solomon was a singer. And they
composed these and they sang them and played them on a harp,
okay? Every psalm has a chorus. Nearly every psalm has a chorus,
a hook or whatever you call it. A chorus, doesn't it? This is
the chorus. All right? Verse 4, In God I
will praise His Word, in God I put my trust, I will not fear
what flesh can do unto me. He sings a little bit more, and
then now in verse 10 he says, In God will I praise His Word,
in the Lord will I praise His Word, in God have I put my trust,
I will not be afraid what flesh can do unto me. And again I say,
second verse, same as the first. Sing the chorus again. We do
that all the time, don't we? Songs we like to sing. Let's
sing it again. Sing it again. What time I'm
afraid of, I'll trust and do. Okay. Stand with me. Our Lord, we thank You again. We hope and pray we thank You
even more for Your Word. Now that we've heard it again,
you said that your sheep hear your voice, and we do hear your
voice again and again. What mercy it is that you call
wandering sheep who forget your Word, who are fearful and afraid,
and run off, run to Egypt, who trust in other things, and run
into danger, and that you call us back, and we come back and
we hear it again, and You give us peace again. What a merciful
God we have. What a gracious Lord we have. You are true to Your Word. Thou
art true and faithful. Faithful and true art Thou, O
Lord. You send Your mercy and Your
truth and it saves us. And we thank You. Thank You for
Your Word. Recall it to our minds again and again. Tomorrow, when
we are afraid of something, bring this back to mind. It calls us
in the morning to cast our care upon You, to roll our way upon
the Lord. And we know and believe and trust
that You will be true to Your Word, that You will bring it
to pass, that You care for us. So it's in Christ's name we've
met here tonight in honor and glory of Thy Son and the Father
and Your Gospel, Lord, we thank You for it. In His name, amen.
You're dismissed. Thank you.