Wouldn't it be much better than
that? Well, if you would, open your
Bibles with me to Psalm 31. As you're turning, let me talk
to you for a minute, repeat some of the things that I said Thursday
night. It's been a long time. I can't even tell you, I can't
even begin to tell you how delighted I am to see all of you. I've
missed you so much. I miss being here in the services. Thursday night was my first in-person service in
almost three months, and I just can't tell you what a blessing
it was to me. I'm thankful to be back, thankful to the Lord's
enabled me to one more time to preach the glorious gospel of
our Lord Jesus Christ. That was my constant prayer in
these last three months. Just, Lord, give me one more
time, one more time to preach the gospel to your sheep here.
The last three months have been a great deal of pain. For me,
I ended up having three surgeries in three weeks, and it's left
me quite weak, hence I'm sitting down. While I try to preach,
it's improving slowly. It's just going to take some
time. This was not my trial alone.
Janet had to put up with so much worry and anxiety and a very
heavy burden of the daily, hourly care of me. And we certainly
appreciate your cards and your texts and your calls and especially
your prayers. We thank you so much. And I'd
especially like to thank Eric and Jonathan. They carried a
great, great burden while I've been gone. And I've heard from
people in this congregation and around the country that you all
heard some good preaching. And we're very thankful. I thank
God for you, for both of you. Thank you. And I pray that good preaching will
continue this morning. Maybe the Lord will bless us.
Enough about me. I do have some news I want to
pass along to you from our sister, Peggy Wooten. She had a biopsy
a little bit over a week ago and they found some abnormal
cells and they want her to have a hysterectomy as soon as possible. And let's be sure we remember
her and Earl in prayer. Also, Wednesday night, Lord willing,
we will be observing the Lord's table. And I wanted to assure
you I found a COVID safe way for us to observe the Lord's
table. individually pre-packaged bread and wine. And it's going
to be distributed before everybody gets here. And we'll go over
how to do that. But it'll be a it'll be COVID
safe. I think it'll be a great blessing to us. It's been a long
time since we've worshipped around the Lord's table. We'll do that,
Lord willing, on Wednesday night. All right. Psalm 31. In thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver
me in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me and
deliver me speedily. Be thou my strong rock for a
house of defense to save me. For thou art my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for thy name's sake,
lead me and guide me. Pull me out of the net that they
have laid privilege for me. For thou art my strength. Into
thine hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord
God of truth. I have hated them that regard
lying vanities, but I trust in the Lord. I will be glad and
rejoice in Thy mercy, for Thou hast considered my trouble. Thou
hast known my soul in adversities, and hast not shut me up into
the hand of the enemy. Thou hast set my feet in a large
room. Have mercy upon me, O Lord, for I am in trouble. Mine eye
is consumed with grief, yea, my life is spent with sign. My
strength faileth, because of mine iniquity, and my bones are
consumed. I was of reproach among all mine
enemies, but especially among my neighbors, in fear to mine
acquaintance. They that did see me without
fled from me. I am forgotten as a dead man
out of mind. I am like a broken vessel. For I have heard the
slander of many, fear was on every side, while they took counsel
together against me. They devised to take away my
life, but I trusted in Thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my God. My times are in Thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies, and from them that persecute me. Make Thy face to shine upon
Thy servant. Save me for thy mercy's sake.
Let me not be ashamed, O Lord, for I have called upon thee.
Let the wicked be ashamed, and let them be silent in the grave. Let the lying lips be put to
silence, which speak grievous things proudly and contemptuously
against the righteous. Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast
wrought for them that trust in thee, before the sons of men.
Thou shalt hide them in the secret of thy presence from the pride
of man. Thou shalt keep them secretly in a pavilion from the
strife of tongues. Blessed be the Lord, for he has
shown me his marvelous kindness in a strong city. For I said
in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes. Nevertheless,
thou heardest the voice of my supplications when I cried unto
thee. O love the Lord, all ye his saints, for the Lord preserveth
the faithful, and plentifully rewardeth the proud doer. Be
of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye
that hope in the Lord. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, we bow in your presence
this morning, thankful that we can come into thy presence and
bow before the throne of grace. In and because of our Lord Jesus
Christ, we do not have to appear before your throne of justice,
but we can appear before the throne of grace, crying unto
thee that we may find mercy and grace to help in time of need. And Father, we beg of thee this
morning that you bless us as we attempt to worship thee Bless
us for thy great namesake. We've met here in the name of
our Lord Jesus Christ. We've come together to hear a
word from thee, to hear a word, a message from thy word of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And Father, we beg of thee that
you bless us. Bless the word as it's preached. Father, I beg
of thee that you uphold me with thy spirit. Strengthen me physically
and especially spiritually. Open my mouth and enable me to
declare one more time the glorious riches of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And Father, give your people an ear to hear, a heart to believe. Father, call out your sheep.
We beg of thee that this morning, if there is one here who has
not yet believed on you, that you might call them to repentance
and faith, that you might call them to Christ. And Father, bless
the hearts of your sheep. Bless us one more time with the
gospel. Give us comfort and confidence
and assurance in hearing one more time of who our Savior is,
that he can not fail nor be discouraged and cause us to rest in him.
And Father, we thank you for your your hand of mercy and grace
on those who've been in difficult times and in deep waters. We
pray your continued blessing. We pray a special blessing at
this time for our sister, Peggy, brother Earl. Father, bless in
a special way. Give the surgeons and nurses,
those who would treat our dear sister, give them wisdom and
understanding. Give them compassion that you
might use them to heal her body and strengthen her. Father, we
beg grace for the hour. Be with our sister in a very
special way at this time. Father, all these things we ask,
and we give thanks in that name which is above every name, the
name of Christ our Savior. Amen. To God be the glory, great things
He hath done. So loved He the world that He
gave us His Son. Build in His life an atonement
for sin, And open the life-gate that all may go in. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice. Come to the Father through Jesus
the Son, And give Him the glory, great things He hath done. O perfect redemption, the purchase
of blood, To every believer the promise of God The vilest offender
who truly believes That moment from Jesus a pardon receives
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, through
Jesus the Son. And give Him the glory Great
things He hath done Great things He hath taught us Great things
He hath done And great are rejoicing Through Jesus the Son But purer
and higher and greater will be our wonder, our transport when
Jesus we see. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! Let the earth hear His voice. Praise the Lord! Praise the Lord,
let the people rejoice. O come to the Father, through
Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory, great things He hath done. Alright, look with me again if
you would at Psalm 31. My text this morning is verse
15. My times are in thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies and from them that persecute me. Over the last three months,
this verse has become a great blessing to me. I've read it
over and over and over again. I found it to be a security blanket,
something that I can hang on to, something that I can draw
comfort from. Particularly this phrase, I wrote
it over and over and over and over in my head. My times are
in thy hand. This is the Lord Jesus Christ,
our Savior, speaking from the cross. I'll show you that here
in just a minute. But every believer can confidently say this very
same thing. My times are in thy hand. I want to give you some
comforting thoughts for those of you who believe Christ. None,
none, none of our times here below have been left to chance
or to luck. Not one of them. None of our
times have been left to our own abilities or our own decisions. None, none of our times are controlled
by the whims of our enemies, by the whims of Satan, none.
All, all, all of our times are in the hand of God Almighty.
All of them are, every last one of them. Every joy, every sorrow,
every event, Whether we see it or not, and whether we see it
or not, is in the hand of God Almighty. Every event in our life, every
time of our life, is accomplishing the purpose of God. Not our purpose,
but God's purpose. God's purpose that he decreed
in eternity. Not one time, not one event in
our lives has been left in our hands. They're in the hand of
Almighty God. Everything that ever happens
to us. You know why it happens? Because
that's what God purposed in eternity. And that ought to comfort our
heart. It's what our Father purposed for us in eternity. Our Father,
who is proven, is love for us. Everything that our Father does
for us in all of our times is done in His great love for His
people. And I thought of two times in
particular that I'm thankful these times are in God's hands. Number one is this, the time
of salvation. I'm thankful salvation is in
the hand of God, aren't you? God's too wise to put the salvation
of sinners into the hands of sinners. God's far too wise for
that. God knows much better than we
do that we cannot save ourselves by the works of our hands. He
told us that in Romans 3 20. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law shall no flesh, no flesh be justified in God's sight. No. God's too wise for that. God's too wise to leave the salvation
of sinners up to them to decide whether or not they want to accept
Jesus as their personal savior. God's far too wise for that.
God knows, God knows far better than we do, that our sinful nature
will never choose Christ, will never choose salvation by grace.
Our Lord told us in John 5 verse 40, you will not, you will not
come unto me that you might have life. That's our nature. That's
our sin nature, which will always choose death and sin and rebellion. exactly like our father at. That's
where we got this nature from. So you know what the father did?
Him knowing this, that he cannot leave the salvation of sinners
up to their decision. You know what the father did?
He put the salvation of his people into the hand of his son, our
Lord Jesus Christ. Now we talk about salvation.
There's no time in salvation. Salvation in Christ is eternal.
It has no beginning. It has no ending. This word time
that David uses means the occurrence of a thing or the experience
of a thing. Salvation of a sinner includes
several occurrences or experiences that are all in the hand of God. Number one in salvation, there
is the occurrence of election. Salvation of a dead sinner absolutely
must begin. with God's election of a commander.
It has to. God in his electing life chose
to save some out of Adam's fallen race. God chose to redeem those
who could not redeem themselves. He chose to redeem some, those
who couldn't even help God redeem them. God chose sinners. Sinners
who God knew would do nothing but sin against Him. Yet God chose to save them anyway.
That's God's electing love. Aren't you thankful that our
times are in His hands? According to His divine election,
that's God's love for His people, that He would choose to save
sinners. The Father chose a people to save, and He chose, He elected
the one to save them too. Let me show you that. Look in
Isaiah chapter 42. The Father chose a Savior to
save His people. And I'm telling you, he couldn't
have chosen a better person for the job. We talk about election. Election always has to do with
the person, the Lord Jesus Christ. Here it is, Isaiah 42, verse
1. Behold, my servant, whom I uphold, mine elect. Here's God's elect,
God's son, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him
and he shall bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. And verse 4
says, he shall not fail nor be discouraged. He shall not. The
father couldn't have chosen a better savior for his people, could
he? The father chose the people to save and he put those people
in his darling son to save him. And scripture says, God Almighty
says, he shall not fail. And those people are secure,
aren't they? Aren't you glad our times? Aren't you glad the
salvation of God's people is guaranteed because of who our
Savior is and whose hand we've been put? Oh, I'm glad. I've thought about this so often,
laying in a hospital bed with so much pain, I couldn't hardly
even talk, thinking my times are in God's hands. It left to
myself, Isaac, I never would have chosen God, ever. But God
chose to save of all people this rebel, this sinner. The only
thing I ever could have done is sin against God. But God chose
to be merciful to the likes of me and to you. Oh, I'm glad. I'm glad my times are in God's
hands. I'm glad that salvation is left to God's decision, not
my decision. If salvation were left to my
decision, Maybe somebody could talk me into deciding for Jesus.
Maybe they could. I'm glad that's not so, because
this is what I know about myself. I'd change my mind. I know I
would, because how often I change my mind about other things, you
know? But God will never change his mind, ever. So the salvation
of God's elect is sure. You know why? Because our times
are in this one. All of God's elect, they were
saved. They were justified, they were
redeemed when God put them, when the Father put them in Christ.
When Christ agreed to pay their sin debt, God's people were redeemed. We were justified eternally in
the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. That's a promise,
the promise of God, the purpose of God that cannot be broken. That's why the salvation of God's
people is secure, because our times are in His hands. And secondly,
in salvation, there is a moment in human time when the redemption
price must be paid. The salvation of God's people,
like I said a minute ago, it was determined before time began.
It was determined when only God existed, when the Father chose
a people and put them in his Son. And God has always seen
his people in his Son. Always. He's never seen us in
ourselves. He's always seen his people in
Christ. The lamb slain from the foundation
of the world. He's always seen his people under
the blood of Christ. But there had to be a moment
in human time when the redemption price was paid. God purposed
it. God ordained it. But there had
to be a moment in human time when the redemption price was
paid. And you know when the redemption price was paid? When Christ cried,
it is finished. He gave up the goat. That's the
moment in human time when the redemption that God purposed
was accomplished. And that's exactly, look back
at Psalm 31, that is exactly what the psalmist is speaking
of here. See, this is Christ speaking
from the cross. He's suffering and dying for
the sins of his people. Look at verse 10. He says, for
my life is spent with grief, and my years with sorrow. My
strength faileth because of mine iniquity. Whose iniquity? Well,
it's the sin of his people, isn't it? But here he calls it mine
iniquity, because he made the sin of his people his. And he
says, my bones are consumed. I was a reproach among all my
enemies, but especially among my neighbors. Oh, and a fear
to mine acquaintance, those who were close to me. They that did
see me without fled from me. I'm forgotten as a dead man out
of mine. I'm like a broken vessel. Well,
I've heard the slander of many. Fear was on every side while
they took counsel together against me. They devised to take away
my life. Now that can't be anybody but
Christ speaking, can it? Oh, how the Jews, how those Pharisees
and Sadducees, those rulers, how they took counsel together
against Christ. How they despised Him and hated
Him without a cause. They slandered Him. They brought
false charges against Him. Oh, the contempt that they had
for Him and His friends. His enemies hated him without
a cause. And what did his friends do? His friends deserted him
without a cause too, didn't they? Yet, the Savior didn't cast him
away. He didn't cast him away. He suffered
the slander. We say they brought false charges. And they did. They found people
who would lie and say things the Lord did and said things
He didn't say. That is slandering. But yet, you know what really
happened at Calvary Street? People say, oh, the cross is
the greatest miscarriage of justice ever was. No, sir. The cross
is the greatest act of justice ever happened in human history.
The Lord Jesus Christ took the sin of his people and made it
his. It's our sin, but he called it
mine iniquity. He became guilty of the sin of
his people. Now, can I explain that? No,
I cannot. Do I believe it? I'll hang my
whole salvation upon it. He took the sin of His people
away from them and He made it His. And as the great substitute
for His people, He suffered the full penalty of that sin for
His people. Like Brother Nyberg told us Thursday
night, He purged it away. He purged it away by His sacrifice.
The Lord Jesus Christ paid the sin debt of His people in full. And He satisfied God's justice. And you know when he did it?
At God's appointed time. All through his earthly ministry,
what did the Lord say? My hour's not yet come. But when
his hour was come, the time, the time, appointed by God from
all eternity, he suffered and died. Aren't you glad our time's
in his hands? In God's time, he put away the
sin of his people. Oh, how thankful I am. My times
are in God's hands, not mine. but God's hand. You see, I could
never pay the price for my sin, even by suffering eternally in
hell. I could never pay for one sin. You know why? Because I'm worthless. I've got nothing to offer. My
suffering means nothing. I'm glad it's not up to me to
get to the day of judgment and now I'm going to settle up with
God. I'm going to count out all my good works and God's going
to count all my bad works and my good works. I'm going to use
them to kind of, you know, settle up with God. Oh, I'm glad that's
not so. That never worked. I've got nothing
but evil, sinful works to bring before God. If the time to pay
for my sin debt was left up to me, was left up to you, we'd
surely be damned. But the time to pay for my sin
debt is in the hands Christ my Savior, for death's paid in full,
and I'm accepted, saved, and ultimately will be glorified
because my time is in God's hands. Thirdly, in salvation there is
a time when we're made righteous. Now if a sinner would be saved, salvation's a complicated thing.
It's so simple a little child can understand it. This is something
only God can accomplish. In order for a sinner to be saved,
our sin debt must be paid. It has to be paid by the blood
of Christ, by the blood of God's own Son. But we also, secondly,
have to be made righteous. Not just given a legal standing
before God. Brother Walter Gruber calls that
the diplomatic immunity. He said we can't just have diplomatic
immunity. We must be made righteous. We must be given a righteous
nature. And our problem is we don't have
a righteous nature. We can't produce anything that's
righteous. We have a sinful nature. The
only nature we receive from our father Adam is a sinful nature. That's all Adam had to pass on
to us. And that which is born of the flesh is flesh. There will never be anything
but flesh. We can't make ourselves righteous. If the time to establish
righteousness, to make ourselves righteous was left in our hand,
every one of us would be damned. because we cannot produce righteousness. But here's the righteousness
of God's elect. Look at verse 14, Psalm 31. But I trusted in
Thee, O Lord. I said, Thou art my God. Now
again, this is not you and me speaking. It's not David speaking. We can't say, I trusted in Thee. We can't say, I've always perfectly
trusted in the Lord. No, we can't say that. This is
the Lord Jesus Christ speaking. Only the Lord Jesus Christ could
obey God's law. He's the only one that had the
capacity to do it. Only the Lord Jesus Christ could
trust the Father perfectly. And he did. That's a good doctrine. The sinlessness, the perfect
righteousness, the perfect obedience of Christ. That's good doctrine.
Here's some good news. When the Lord Jesus Christ obeyed
God's law, You know who else did? All of God's elect. We obeyed in Christ, just as
surely as we disobeyed in Adam. All of God's elect obeyed God's
law in the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ our Savior, when
he trusted the Father perfectly, so did everyone who believed.
We trusted in Christ, in Christ our representative. Oh, I'm glad. I am so glad our times, my times,
are in God's hands. I could never obey God. I could
never establish righteousness. But Christ, my representative,
did. And in Him, in Him, I am perfectly righteous. When you
look at me, all you see is a sinner. I mean, look at the weakness
that sin has caused. I mean, just besides the vileness
of it, the filthiness of it, Is there words to say how horrible
sin is? You can't even see the blackness
of the heart, but you see the effect of it in the body, don't
you? Oh, I could never produce a righteousness
that Christ, my representative, did. And in him, I am perfectly
righteous. All of God's elect are made righteous
in Christ. And God, the Holy Spirit, comes
in the new birth and gives them a new nature, a second nature
that's perfectly righteous. And the only way that could happen
is if our righteousness is in the hand of God, not in our hands.
I'm thankful, aren't you? There's the fourth thing. In
salvation, there is a time when salvation is applied to my heart. Verse 15, David says, my times
are in thy hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies and from them that persecute. Make thy face to shine upon me. upon thy servant, save me for
thy mercy's sake. Now the Lord Jesus Christ has
delivered his people from all their enemies, every one of them.
The law is our enemy. Scripture says the law is against
us. The handwriting of the ordinance is against us. You know what
Christ did to that enemy? He took it out of the way, nailing
it to the tree by obeying the law for us. Sin's our enemy. Sin's gonna do, sin when it's
finished bring forth death. Sin's our enemy. Oh, but Christ
took that enemy away by bearing the sin of his people in his
own body on the tree. Deaths are imminent, all our
lifetime subject to bondage, subject to fear of death. But Christ has taken that enemy
out of the way. He took it away by dying for his people and their
place and rising again the third day. He took that enemy away.
There's no reason for the believer to fear death, not whatsoever.
All death's going to do is take us from this place of wretchedness
in His very presence. There's no reason for the believer
to pretend. Satan's our enemy. He's that roaring lion going
about seeking whom he may devour. He's never going to devour one
of God's elect. You know why? Christ crushed his head. A cow,
he crushed his head. All those are real enemies. Real
enemies. I'm thankful Christ has delivered
me from my biggest enemy. My own heart. My own nature.
My sin nature used to control me, but no more, no more. Now, my sin nature doesn't control
me, because Christ dwells in my heart. And where Christ dwells,
He rules. God's given me now a new righteous
nature that cannot sin, and that nature rules. Now, how can I
tell? How can you tell? If I've been
given this righteous nature, I want to know, don't I? I mean,
I want to know right now. Has God given me this righteous
nature? Does God, does He smile upon me in mercy? It's important
to know. I want to know right now. How
can I know? How can you know if God's given
you His new righteous nature? One way. So simple. Faith in
Christ. Faith in Christ. Do you believe
on Christ? Do you believe Him as all of
your salvation? Are you so sinful? Are you so
needy? Are you so lost? Are you so dead
that the only way you could ever be saved is if Christ died for
you? He put your sin away. He purged your sin. He's given
you a new righteousness. Is that the only way you can
be saved? Can you have any other hope but
Christ? Can you? If not, you've been born again. God's been merciful to you. See,
before we're born again, our old nature controls us. And you
know how it controls us? It makes it so we cannot believe
on Christ. We hear the gospel, but we can't
hear it. We can't believe it. And then God, the Holy Spirit,
moves in power. The wind bloweth where it listeth.
You don't know where it's come from, where it's gone. You don't
know what happened. All you know is, wait a minute, now I love
a message that I used to hate. Now a message that just didn't
mean much to me. I'm just thinking, how much longer is he going to
preach so I can go get something to eat? Now you love it. Now you
need it. Now you say, oh, oh, God's people
are meeting me. God's servants preaching the
gospel. I've got to be there. I need it. What happened? God called you to be born again.
Oh, and power and mercy. And now you can't not believe.
I remember Brother Fortner saying one time, somebody asked him,
do you ever not believe God? He said, I try to every day,
but I can't, I can't not believe Him. What happened? God's giving
you new nature and that nature rules. So you can't not believe
Christ. Oh, I'm thankful my time's in
God's hands. I'm thankful that this time the
salvation is applied to my heart. It's not left up to me, but it's
in God's hands. I could never make myself believe
on Christ. I tried for years to make myself
believe and I couldn't. Couldn't do it. Can't be done.
And one day I just did. And could not. That's because
my times are in God's name. He applied salvation in my heart.
And I'll tell you when God's likely going to believe. I know
they will. I know they will. They're going
to believe the gospel when they hear it. They might hear it hundreds
and hundreds and hundreds of times and not believe it. Leave
seemingly unaffected, but one day they're going to believe
it. I know they will, because God promised they will. Our times
are in God's hands, and He's going to give them faith to believe,
so they can't not believe. I don't have to worry about trying
to talk to somebody and making a profession for Christ. If God
saves them, it'll leak out of them. It'll leak out. That's
a work that's in the hands of God, the Holy Spirit. I'm thankful.
I never, ever could have seen Christ unless the Holy Spirit
revealed Him to me. He gave me eyes to see Him, gave
me a heart to believe Him, to make me, make me believe on Him. That's what God does for His
people. He makes us, makes us believe on Christ by giving us
faith that can believe no one but Christ. I'm thankful my times
are in God's hands. Those are the times, the occurrence,
the experience of salvation. Here's the second thing. Let
me give this to you quickly. All the times of our life here
below are in the hand of our God. All of them. Now we often
can't see it. We often think we go through
our life and one day it's just like the next and the day before.
We think our days are passing without purpose, without meaning,
without nothing. Nothing's happening, nothing
important. Oh, but there's a purpose. There's a purpose. Not our purpose
now. It's not our purpose. It's God's purpose. All of our
days, every person here, all of your times, every single day,
you know what it's doing? It's fulfilling the eternal purpose
of God. That's right. Our days are not filled with
random events. Our days are filled with God's
purpose for us. You know, we think we often look
like a leaf blowing in the wind, just going every which way. It
just seems like, I mean, there's just, you couldn't arrange that
flight if you wanted to. But that flight of that leaf
in the wind, it's the exact flight, God's purpose for that leaf.
That's up. So are the days of our lives. You know, we're coming into the
fall of the year. We're coming here this morning.
I noticed the leaves blowing around on the road, falling from
the trees. Not one of those leaves is ever
going to fall from the tree randomly. Not one. And every one of those
leaves are going to land on the ground exactly where God purposed
for it to land. That's right. That is the detail
by which God rules His creation. Even the leaf falling from the
tree is under His direct control. Well, if that's true of a leaf,
how is it for you? How is it for you who God loves? How is it for you that God's
given faith in your son? Every event, every time in our
lives has been ordained by God from all of eternity. Our Lord
appoints all. of our days and all of our times. He appoints the time of our birth. When's that baby going to be
born? I don't know. But the time God appointed. And He appoints
the time of our death. And He appoints every time, all
the changing times of our lives. God's appointed. God appoints
the day of blessing. Aren't we thankful those days,
God bless us. There are times God blesses us
so richly. I'm not talking even about, I'm
not talking now about material things. Haven't you been in those
times when you're utterly afraid to miss a service? Because God's
speaking to every, see like every service, the preacher's got a
message just for you, just right for your heart. God's blessing
you so richly, you're just afraid to miss a service. Those times
of blessing. That comes from God. And listen to me. God's appointed
the time of our troubles and our trials too. God's appointed
the time that that trial will begin. And they're coming. Some of you are young and they
haven't come yet, but they will. They will. God's appointed the
time. He's appointed the heat of the trial. He's appointed
the length of the trial. He's appointed a time that the
trial will end. He's appointed it. All those
times are in the hand of our God. And I'm thankful. I'm thankful. I thought about
this in this time that I've gone through. I'm thankful that the
trial does not start, that the time of the trial's beginning
doesn't come because of our weak faith. Aren't you glad? If that were so, we'd always
be in the furnace, wouldn't we? Always. No, our times are in
cause. He's appointed the time that
that trial will start. And I'm thankful that the trial
doesn't end when my faith finally gets strong enough. Aren't you
glad? If that were so, it'd never end,
would it? Never, ever. And all those times are in the
hand of our God who loves His people. I have a dear friend
who during this time would text Janet often and he would remind
her, God loves you. Remember this now, God loves
you. And she'd read that text to me as a good reminder. This
has come from the hand of our Father who loves us. Now, it's
frightening, it hurts, But it's from the hand of our Father who
loves us, who will only do good for His people. Only. See, God does not bring His people
into the time of trouble and trial because He's mad at them,
because He hates them. God brings His people into the
time of trial and trouble because He loves them. Only because He
loves them. God teaches His children lessons
in the in the furnace of trial, lessons that could not be learned
any other way other than the affliction, the furnace of affliction. One thing that always comes from
trial for God's people is we learn to trust our Lord. Learn to trust Him more. That's
a lesson that can only be, that can't be learned on a mountaintop.
It can only be learned in the time of trouble. But listen to
this now. Listen to this. You remember
this the next time the Lord appoints a time for you of trouble and
trial. God appoints the time of trial. Oh, thank God. He appoints grace
for every time. Grace for every time. Our God appoints the exact grace
that we need in every time of life. That's been my constant
prayer throughout this time of suffering that we've endured.
I prayed that the trial would end. I prayed for it. I did.
But you know, I don't have one promise in scripture, not one,
that that trial, that pain, that suffering, that disease would
be taken away. No, I don't have a single promise to that. Matter
of fact, I have a promise that one of them eventually is going
to end the life of this flesh. But you know what I have a promise
in scripture of? God said, my grace is sufficient for thee. And I always pray God's promise,
you know, promised, grace, sufficient. That's what I'm asking for. There's too many examples. You
don't need my examples to know that this is true. All you need
to know this is true. God said it. My grace is sufficient
for you. I can tell you this, for what
my personal experience is worth to you, not one time did that
prayer go unanswered. Not one. Not one. Oh, aren't you thankful that
our times are in God's hands? We don't have to earn grace for
the trial. God gives it to His people freely. He can do that with our time
for anything. He opens His hand and gives grace to His people
freely. And the only thing that does for me is make me bow and
beg God for grace sufficiently and give me the grace to wait
on Him. Our God appoints the times of our trial. He appoints
grace for the trial. And he appoints the refuge for
his people, too. Look here at verse 1, Psalm 31. In thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness,
not mine, in thy righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver
me speedily. Be thou my strong rock, for in
house of defense to save me, for thou art my rock and my fortress. Therefore, for thy name's sake,
lead me in guidance. Pull me out from that that they
have laid privilege for me, for Thou art my strength. Into Thy
hand I commit my spirit. All my times are in His hand.
May He as well commit all my spirit to Him. Thou hast redeemed
me, O Lord God of truth. The Father has appointed, He
has appointed Christ our Savior, His darling Son, to be our rock. to be our refuge in time of trouble. And I want to ask you, what happened to you this week?
What happened to you this week? Did you get some good news? Thrilled
to hear? You know what, that wasn't an
accident. That was God's time for you, purpose from all of
eternity. Everybody likes that, don't they? Oh, God blesses you,
all those good things You like any bad news this week?
You know, bad news just like good news. It was what the Father
ordained for us for this time from all of eternity. That calms
me down a little bit, doesn't it? Some of you might be thinking,
nothing happened to me this week. God purposed that from all of
eternity too. That was God's time for you. He preserved you
from evil. You don't know you're that close
to evil, you're that close to destruction a hundred times,
but God preserves you. Because it's time for you, the
time of tranquility, peace. Whatever the time, every time
that we go through has been ordained by our God. It's not an accident,
it's not good luck, it's not bad luck. It was ordained by
God because all of our times are in His hands. And the only thing that can do
for God's people is make us look to Him for everything. Make us look to Christ for salvation. Make us look to Christ for righteousness.
Make us look to the Lord for forgiveness. Make us look to
Christ for our peace. I tell you, look to Christ for
your comfort. There's not none to be found
anywhere else. Look to Christ for assurance to comfort your
heart. Look to Christ sufficient to give grace sufficient for
every trial. every heartache and every fear.
Look to Christ all our times in the world and look to Him.
I want to close by asking you to turn with me to Romans chapter
8. Romans chapter 8. If God saved you, this is going
to thrill your heart. If all of the time of our salvation
is in God's hand, and all the time of our life here below is
in God's hand, then our salvation, our ultimate glorification, is
already accomplished. Look here, Romans 8, verse 28.
And we know that all things work together for good. To them that
love God, to them we are called according to his purpose. Now
that, all things, all things, that includes what we call good. That includes every joy, It includes
every heartache and sorrow. It includes every smile. It includes
every tear. All those things that seemingly
are opposite, God works them together for good. I read on
here, verse 29. This is what is true of all of
our times during God's time. For whom he did foreknow, he
also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son. that
he might be the firstborn among many brethren. For over whom
he did predestinate, then he also called. And whom he called,
then he also justified. And whom he justified, then he
also glorified. What shall we then say to these
things? If God be for us, who can be
against us? Who can be against us? Not one
thing, not one person can ever be against us. that all of our
times are in God's hands. I'm so thankful. Let's bow together. Our Father, oh, how we thank
you that all of our times are in thy hand. We're so thankful
that you've not left one thing of our salvation, our security,
our preservation in our hands. but it's all in Thy great hand.
Oh, how thankful we are. And Father, we beg of Thee that
this morning, as we've heard this great truth that all of
our times are in Thy hands, we beg of Thee that You'd open that
mighty hand in mercy and grace to Your people. Make this a time
of mercy. Make this a time of grace. Make this a time where You move
in power. and reveal yourself to your sheep
and call your sheep to your Son. Father, make this a time when
you speak especially clearly, especially powerfully to the
hearts of your people to comfort us, to encourage us, to remind
us to rest in Christ, to not get
so bent out of shape about the things of this life because they're
all in thy hand. They're all happening according
to thy eternal will and purpose. Cause us to rest in Christ. Speak
to the hearts of your people. Make this a time, while the world
seemingly spun off its axis around us, make this a time that your
people can rest in Christ our Savior. Oh, how we thank you. Thank you
for your mercy and grace. And forgive us for our much asking But Father, could you give more,
give more grace, give more mercy, continue to bless and edify,
comfort and save your people, we pray. All these things we
ask for the glory of and the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen.