All right, if you would, let's
open our Bibles to Psalm 119. Psalm 119. I have some very encouraging
news for us this evening. Johnson, Sue's grandson, was
sitting up this morning in a chair of his own esteem, was off his
ventilator and off the oxygen and can't talk yet, but was trying
to talk. And we are so, so thankful. for
that good report. I know he's got a long way to
go, but this is very encouraging. We're very, very, very thankful.
All right, Psalm 119. We'll begin our reading in verse
65. Thou hast dealt well with thy
servant, O Lord, according unto thy word. Teach me good judgment
and knowledge, for I believe thy commandments. Before I was
afflicted, I went astray. But now have I kept thy word.
Thou art good and doest good. Teach me thy statutes. The proud
have forged a lie against me, but I will keep thy precepts
with my whole heart. Their heart is as fat as grease,
but I delight in thy law. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. The law of thy
mouth is better unto me than thousands of gold and silver. We'll end our reading there. If you would, find your old school
hymn. All the songs tonight are coming
from that book. Old school hymn. Looks like this. In case they got lost. Let's
start off with Number 523, 523. Of the way my Savior leads me,
what have I to ask beside? Can I doubt His tender mercy,
who through life has been my guide? Heavenly peace, divinest
comfort, that by faith in Him to dwell, For I know what e'er
befall me, Jesus doeth all things well. For I know what e'er befall
me, Jesus doeth all things well. doeth all things well. All the way my Savior leads me,
cheers each winding path I tread, gives me grace for every trial. These me with the living bread,
Though my weary steps may falter, And my soul a thirst may be,
Gushing from the rock before me, Lo, a spring of joy I see,
Gushing from the rock before me. Lo, a spring of joy I see, All the way my Savior leads me,
all the fullness of His love. Perfect rest to me is promised
in my Father's house above. When my spirit, clothed immortal,
Wings its flight to realms of day, This my song through endless
ages Jesus led me. Now let's turn back to the front
of the book. 130, 130. This song has good words and
it's to a familiar tune when I survey the Wanderer's Cross. Jesus, before Thy face I fall,
My Lord, my life, my hope, my all, For I have nowhere else
to flee. No sanctuary, Lord, but Thee. In Thee I every glory view, Of
safety, strength, and beauty too. Beloved Savior, ever be
a sanctuary unto me. Whatever woes and fears betide,
In thy dear bosom let me hide. And while I pour my soul to thee, Mary B. life and all its changing scenes,
and all the grief that intervenes. Is this support my fainting heart,
that Thou my sanctuary All right, if you would, open your Bibles
to Psalm 94. Psalm 94. We looked at the first half of
this psalm last week. We'll pick up in verse 12 and
go down through the end of the psalm this evening. Verse 12,
Psalm 94. Blessed is the man whom thou
chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law, that thou
mayest give him rest from the days of adversity until the pit
be digged for the wicked. For the Lord will not cast off
his people, Neither will he forsake his inheritance. But judgment
shall return unto righteousness and all the upright in heart
shall follow it. Who will rise up for me against the evildoers?
Or who will stand up for me against the workers of iniquity? Unless
the Lord had been my help, my soul had almost dwelt in silence.
When I said my foot slippeth, thy mercy, O Lord, held me up.
In the multitude of my thoughts within me, Thy comforts delight
my soul. Shall the throne of iniquity
have fellowship with thee, which frameth mischief by a law? They
gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous, and
condemn the innocent blood. But the Lord is my defense, and
my God is the rock of my refuge. And he shall bring upon them
their own iniquity, and shall cut them off in their own wickedness.
Yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off. Thank God for his word. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, which art in heaven,
holy and reverent, is your matchless name. Father, we've gathered here together
in your name, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, seeking
to worship thee, to worship you in spirit and in truth. Father,
I beg of you that you would enable us to do that this evening, to
worship you in spirit, in truth, not just to go through the motions
of religion, but Father, to worship you in spirit. Enable our hearts
to be lifted up in worship, in honor and praise and awe and
wonder and reverence at God our Savior. Let the name of our Lord
Jesus Christ be lifted up and magnified Father, let your people
see with the eye of faith and hear with the ear of faith and
believe with the heart that you've given and leave here rejoicing
in Christ our Savior. In this hour that we've gathered
here together, nothing will have changed in our world. The heartache,
the pain, the sorrow, the doubts, the fears will still all be there. But Father, enable us to leave
not looking at those things, not dwelling upon those things,
but rejoicing in Christ our Savior. Father, I'm so thankful that
you've given us a place we can meet together and worship. I
thank you for this family of believers that you've called
together. Father, I pray you'd bless each
one, bless each individual, bless each home with your presence,
your mercy, and your grace. And Father, cause us to be faithful,
to serve the Lord in our generation. We've known so many giants of
the faith in the past. But Father, make us faithful
not to look to the past, but to serve the Lord in our generation,
in our day. Father, would you use us in your
service, use us for your glory, in preaching the gospel, in telling
our friends and our loved ones who know not thee about the Savior,
inviting them to hear the gospel as it's preached. Get glory to
your name in this place, we beg, by calling out your sheep and
revealing yourself to them in mercy and grace. Father, for
those in a time of trouble, we pray for them. We know these
things have not come by random accident, but according to thy
divine purpose and will. Father, we pray that you'd comfort
the hearts of your people, that you'd heal, that you'd be with
those that need you especially. Father, we're so thankful for
this good report on young Johnson. Father, I pray you continue to
strengthen him and heal him, restore him back to health. Father,
we beg mercy for this young man, that you would, in your power,
cause him to seek the Lord that's given him life, that's preserved
his life. And Father, do that for us. Don't
make us go to the depths of the valley before we seek Thee. Give us a heart that seeks the
Lord who's given us life and preserved us and given us everything
that we have. Cause us to seek Him and to find
Him. All these things we ask and we
give thanks in that name which is above every name. In the name
of our Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior and our Lord and our Master. You would turn to 525. 525 in your old school hymn. I found this song for a special,
but I like to learn it, sing it for a congregation sometimes.
As a congregation. It's wonderful words. I'll sing it through the first
verse, and then whenever you can catch on to the tune, go
ahead and join me, okay? I flee to the cross to find relief
from every pain and tear. There Jesus Christ, my loving
Lord, grants peace and draws me near. I find in Him and in His death
the balm for every soul. The grace to banish all my fears,
A never failing soul. From Sinai's awful threatening
sight, My soul shrinks in despair. But to the cross I then do flee,
And find a refuge there. In Jesus Christ the loss fulfilled,
The wrath, the sin, My heart is warm with smiles
of love, Sweet tokens of His grace. From Satan's fiery darts I fly,
to truth of dying love. For there I see the thing removed
and stripped Rise above the malice great, the lethal darts could
be the end of me. Were Jesus not my hiding place,
who sets the captive free? The flesh is still my closest
foe, From me it ne'er departs. Its evil ploys oft grieve my
soul, Impair the steadfast heart. But then to Calvary's tree I
flee, And see my Savior there, And find in Him the strength
I need To thwart my carnal care. Every sorrow, every toil, Will
all afflictions hear. When storms invade and troubles
roll, When duty's path is drear, I'll gird my loins and take my
flight To Calvary's lonely wall. And here I'll shelter in His
love Until my day is done. Alright, let's open our Bibles
again to Psalm 94. I titled the message this evening,
Blessing and Chastening. Our text begins in verse 12,
Psalm 94. Blessed is the man whom thou
chastenest, O Lord. Now, no one here looks forward
to chastening of the Lord. The word chasten there means
to correct. or to teach with blows. Nobody
likes to be corrected that way. I remember many times as a child
being corrected with blows. I don't remember any of them
fondly. Wouldn't want that to happen again. Well, the same
thing is true for God's children, isn't it? Chastening is painful
and it's difficult for us to endure. But the psalmist here
says it's a blessing. Now, only our God could make
something that is so painful and so dreaded to be something
that's a blessing to us. God, in his word, says that the
blessed man is the man whom the Lord chastens. Now, that's not
what the world thinks, is it? That's not what our natural minds
think. I tell you the reason for that. The world's got everything
upside down and backwards. We saw that in our study of the
Beatitudes, didn't we? The world says blessed are the
rich, but the Lord said blessed are the poor in spirit. The world
says blessed are they that are happy. The Lord says blessed
are they that mourn over sin. The world says blessed are the
proud and the bold. They go out and get everything
they want. The Lord says blessed are the meek and the humble.
The world says blessed are the full, those who have everything.
Those who never hunger after they have everything their hearts
desire. But the Lord said, blessed are they to hunger and thirst
after righteousness. The world says, blessed are those
who never suffer hatred or trial. But our Lord says, blessed are
they who are persecuted for my name's sake. And the world certainly
has this one backwards. The world says, blessed are they
to whom the Lord gives lots of stuff. They never have to suffer
anything. But the Lord says, blessed is
the man whom he chastens. Now that one's just as true as
the Beatitudes. Blessed is the man whom the Lord
chastens. Now look over Hebrews chapter
12 for a moment. The blessing for God's children
is not the correction or the affliction itself. The blessing
is the results that come from the correction. When God corrects,
chastens his children. Hebrews chapter 12, verse 6. For whom the Lord loveth, he
chasteneth, and he scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.
If you endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons.
For what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if you be
without chastisement, we're of all our partakers, we're of all
children our partakers, then are you bastards and not sons. See, chastening from the Lord's
a blessing. Because you know that's an evidence that I'm a
child of God. I remember having to chasten
my girls when they were little. I never one time chastened somebody
else's child. Ever. They weren't mine. But
I loved my girls. So I chastened them. Well, chastening
from the Lord is the evidence that I'm a child of God. That's
a blessing. Knowing that's a blessing. Look
down at verse 11, Hebrews 12. Now, no chastening for the present
seemeth to be joyous, but grievous. Nevertheless, afterward, it yielded
the person, the peaceable fruit of righteousness under the in
which are exercised thereby. Now, chastening never feels like
a blessing when we're in the midst of it, when we're going
through it. The blessing is the results when the Lord chastens
us. Chastening or correction from
the Lord produces the peaceable fruit of righteousness. Now that's
a blessing. And I want to give you this evening
eight blessings that the Lord gives his children in times of
chastening that we find in our text. And the first one is this. The Lord chastens his children
to teach them. Verse 12 of Psalm 94, blessed
is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out
of thy law. Now look over at Psalm 119, the
passage we read to open the surface. The Lord uses chastening to teach
his children, to teach them important lessons that they could not learn
any other way. Psalm 119, verse 71. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. It's good for me
that I've been afflicted. Now that verse 71 is tied very
closely to verse 67. Look at that. Before I was afflicted,
I went astray, but now I've kept thy word. Now I've kept thy word
because when you afflicted me, I learned thy statutes. I learned
your word. And to our shame, every believer
here can identify with what the psalmist is writing there. To
our shame, we have to admit that when everything's going well,
we've got everything our heart could desire, it's just our nature
to forget the Lord, to somehow think we've become self-sufficient.
When everything's going well, For some unknown reason, I guess
I say unknown reason, I guess it's a known reason. It's our
dead nature. We tend to forget how dependent we are upon the
Lord. We tend to forget that our true
bread is the word of God. And then the Lord sends an affliction. Then he chastens us and corrects
us. And what's one of the first things
that happens? We're driven to the word of God. And when we
read it, we find comfort for our souls. We have the bread
of life. We have, we find comfort for
our souls by seeing Christ in his word and finding ourselves
relying upon him, relying upon his righteousness and upon his
grace, upon his generosity, upon his love and faithfulness. Aren't
you glad we're not dependent on our faithfulness? We're depending
on his faithfulness. And that's what we read in his
word. And you might think, I already know that. I know that. I've
been taught that a long time. Well, look at Proverbs chapter
9. That's true. I would imagine everybody here
would say that they think that that is true, that we are dependent
upon the Lord, that we need Him, that we need to rely upon Him.
But you know, we can learn that a whole lot better. And we will
if the Lord teaches us. Proverbs 9 verse 8. Reprove not
a scorner, lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man, and he'll
love thee. Now don't even, this is what
Solomon's telling you, don't bother wasting your time approving
a scorner. He'll hate you, he's not gonna
take your correction. This correction from the Lord
will drive the scorner, will drive the unbeliever away from
God. But affliction, correction from
the Lord, will drive a wise man even closer to the Lord. That'll
drive a believer to be closer to the Lord and love him more.
Verse nine, give instruction to a wise man and he will be
yet wiser. Teach a just man and he'll increase
in learning. The fear of the Lord is the beginning
of wisdom and the knowledge of the holy is understanding. Now,
when we learn the fear of the Lord, we learn respect for him
and we learn that in correction, when the Lord corrects us and
that makes a wise man wiser. It makes a learned man to learn
more. That's what the Lord uses affliction
for, to teach his children. Now I want you to look back at
Job chapter 1. I'm going to give you an old Henry T. outline here from Job chapter
1 on what Job learned in affliction. Job 1 verse 20. Then Job arose and rent his mantle
and shaved his head and fell down upon the ground and worshiped. And said, naked came I out of
my mother's womb and naked shall I return thither. The Lord gave
and the Lord hath taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Brother Henry said Job learned
four things in this affliction he tells us about here. Number
one, Job learned the brevity of life. He said, I came into
this world naked and I'm going to leave it naked. That's the
sum of every person's life. I came and I went back. And the
time in between was very short. The brevity of life. Job learned
that in this correction, this chastening of the Lord. Number
two, Job learned the frailty of human possessions. Job was
a wildly wealthy man. And he lost everything in one
afternoon. He lost everything. Well, the same thing could be
said of our possessions. We'd be wise not to hang on to
them too tightly. Because Lord, take them away
in a moment. If we get our life tied up in them, what does that
say about our life? The frailty of earthly possessions. Thirdly,
Brother Henry says this, Job learned The hand of God is in
everything. The Lord controls everything. Job said the Lord gave. I didn't
earn it. I didn't deserve it. The Lord
gave everything that I had freely. It was all a gift from God. And
the Lord took it away just as easily. It was his to give. It was his take back, wasn't
it? You know the story of how Job
lost everything. I'll tell you this, Satan, the
Sabians, the Chaldeans, a fire, a tornado, a wind, whatever it
was, none of those things took away anything from Job. The Lord
did. The Lord did. And the Lord directed
all those things to take away everything that he'd given. He
used them as instruments, but it was the Lord that did it.
And Job said, I can see God's hand in all of this. The Lord
gave it. The Lord took it away. And here's the fourth thing.
Oh, I want to know this. I want to learn this. I want
to be able to do this. Job learned that the Lord is
to be praised in all things. Job said, blessed be the name
of the Lord. He bowed down with his face to
the earth and he worshipped. He worshipped. The Lord is to
be worshipped. He's to be praised at all times. It doesn't matter what's going
on around me. It doesn't matter what's going
on with me and with mine. That changes constantly. One
thing never changes. Almighty God. And he's to be
worshipped. He's to be worshipped not for
what he's given me. He's to be worshipped for who he is. For
who he is. The Lord to be worshipped. And
we can only learn those lessons when the Lord chastens us and
teach, that's how he teaches us with this chastening. All
right, number two, the Lord gives rest to his people through chastening.
Psalm 94 verse 13, that thou mayest give him rest from the
days of adversity until the pit be digged for the wicked. Now
that word rest is quietness or to be still. Chastening teaches
God's children to be quiet. Boy, we are far too prone to
give our opinion about everything. Job learned this quietness. After
saying a lot of things, I bet you Job wished he could take
some of them back. Job said, I put my hand over my mouth and
I'm not saying anything else. Chastening teach God's children
to be quiet. Not to be like Job's friends.
and to be so quick to give our opinion about what God's doing
to somebody else and why He's doing it. Just be quiet. Just
be quiet. Chastening from the Lord teaches
God's children to be quiet and to not complain. Only the Lord through chastening
can teach us not to say, why is this happening to me and not
somebody else? Why not? Why not? I'll tell you why it's happening
to me, because this is the chastening that I need. This is the chastening
that the Lord is teaching me, using to teach me something that
I need to learn. That's why it's happening to
me. Maybe the chastening would end sooner if I'd be a better
student. Could be. Could be. I tell folks all the
time when I was a child, I got spanked at least an average of
six times a week. And you know what? That says
something, doesn't it? Could be, if I learned to be
a better student, I wouldn't have got chastened so much. Could
be. It could be if we'd be a better
student and try to find out what is the Lord teaching me here?
Instead of trying to find out why is the Lord doing this to
me? It could be He chastened me, what else? It could be. I
don't know. And when we find out, that I can't control this
trial. This trial has come up, this
correction from the Lord, and I can't do anything to make it
stop. Then and only then will I learn to be quiet and to rest
in the Lord and wait upon Him. When we see I can't do anything
to make this situation better, the only choice I've got is to
rest and to trust that the Lord will do best. And he'll end this
chastening when it's time. Now, knowing that and being able
to rest and to wait on the Lord, understanding like Job saw this,
I see God's hand in this, God's hands in everything. I see that.
I know it's God's will, but now it still hurts. I'm not saying
learning to rest and wait on the Lord will make the chastening
not hurt. It'll still hurt. But I also don't rest just because
I want the pain to quit. I don't rest in Christ just because
I don't have any choice, because I don't have any control over
the situation. I wish I had control over the situation. But I don't, so that's not why
I rest. God's people rest because we want to rest in Christ. I want it to be in His hands. I want this to be all of Him. And if I really do believe that
all things work together for good, to them who are called
of God, to them who are called according to God's purpose, then
why wouldn't I wait on God? If I really believe that, why
wouldn't I wait on God to bring about His purpose? See, I want
to be quiet and wait on the Lord because I'll mess everything
up, but He does all things well. And I learned that. I learned
to rest and be quiet through chastening. Thirdly, in chastening,
we learn this. The Lord will never cast off
his people. The Lord will chasten his children,
but that never means he's casting them off. Verse 14, for the Lord
will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. And the writer to the Hebrew
says the very same thing in Hebrews chapter 13. And I believe it's repeated because
it's always the believer's fear that this chastening of the Lord
means he's casting me off, he's forsaken me. We're afraid of
that because we think that's what we deserve. Hebrews 13 verse
5, let your conversation be without covetousness and be content with
such things as you have. For he has said, I will never
leave thee nor forsake thee. so that we may boldly say, the
Lord is my helper. I will not fear what man shall
do unto me. The Lord will not cast off his
people. That's his promise to his people. And just like we saw with Joe,
the Lord may use the wicked as an instrument to chastise his
people. But that doesn't mean the Lord's blessing the wicked
and casting off his people. Not at all. No, the Lord's using
the wicked as an instrument in his hand. But when he's done
with them, he's going to cast them off. But not you, his people. The Lord's dug an eternal pit
for the wicked. And when he's done using them
for his purpose, he's going to put them in that pit. He'll cast
them off, but he'll never cast off his people. He'll never cast
off. He'll never forsake his inheritance. The Lord Jesus Christ gave His
life's blood to purchase those people. You reckon He's going
to cast them off? No. He'll never forsake them. He has prepared eternal glory
for His people. And just like He'll end the chastening
when it's time, He'll bring His people to the full possession
of that glory in His time. All right, here's the fourth
thing. will cause a believer to follow after Christ even more. Verse 15, but judgment shall
return unto righteousness and all the upright in heart shall
follow it. Trials and afflictions, difficulties
in this life will always make the unbeliever eventually go
away from Christ. That's what our Lord told us
about the stony ground here in the heat of the day. Oh, that
it sprang up so quick, but in the heat of the day, and no root,
no substance. And he told his disciples, that's
the afflictions and the hatred of this world. Make them go away. But trials and afflictions will
make God's children follow after Him all the harder. See, God
won't forsake His people, and His people won't forsake Him
either. It's a two-way street. The Lord makes it so. I remember
Brother John Chapman saying, he's a little boy, he learned
that he's getting a whipping. If he ran away, the whipping
got worse. But if I hugged up close to my
mom's legs or my dad, whoever it was was switching, he said
they couldn't reach me, couldn't switch me. Near as well if I
was just hugging up to him and loving him, just getting as close
to him as I can. That's what the chastening of
the Lord does to God's people, doesn't it? It just makes us
hug up to him all the closer. Oh, I need to be closer to him.
And the psalmist says judgment shall return unto righteousness.
The Lord Jesus Christ is the righteous judge. Now he's going
to return and he will do what's right. He'll end this chastening
and not make it go on forever. Because we need to remember this
chastening of the Lord is not punishment for our sins. The
righteous judge, our Savior, already bore all the punishment
for our sins. He already bore all the punishment
the sin of his people deserves. The father will never forsake
his people because he forsook our substitute at Calvary. So
this is not punishment for our sin. This is chastening. And this chastening is done for
our learning, like we saw. It's done, Isaiah told us, to
refine us. The silver is refined in the
fire, in the furnace, the flame of the furnace of the trial and
affliction. Trials come our way to wean us
from this world. I remember being a very young
man and having the girls were little and trying to make our
way in the world, you know, raise our babies. And I'd hear, I'd
go into Henry's study on a Sunday night or Wednesday night, these
men sitting around his study. The men would meet and read scripture
and pray. I'd listen. I mean, to these
giants of the faith. I mean, just men I admired so
much, old men. And I'd hear them talking about
being ready to leave. I'm ready to leave this place. I'd just,
oh. And I'd feel so bad. I'd think,
I'm not. I'm not. Henry told me one night,
that's all right. You ought not, we ought to want
to raise your family. You ought to want to. But now time's gone on. Now I'm
starting to see what they meant. Starting to see what they meant.
Trials wean us from this world. Make this world, make this life
not quite so sweet. And make life with Christ even
more sweet. That's what, that's what we're learning in these
chastening. And our father, is the righteous judge. He's got
all wisdom. He won't do what's wrong. I'm afraid I would have to admit
that there are times I've chastened my girls and I was wrong. Our
Heavenly Father will never, never, ever, He'll never do what's wrong. He always and only does what
is best for His people. Isn't that a blessing? Isn't
that a blessing to have that in his hand? And he'll bring
the chastening to an end. And when he does, his children
are still going to be following Christ. They're going to follow
him even more fully than before, because the chastening taught
us to trust Christ and rest in him more fully. And if we can
learn that, that's a blessing, isn't it? All right. Fifthly, in times of chastening,
it's the Lord who will rise up for his people and defend them.
Verse 16. Who will rise up for me against
the evildoers? Who will stand up for me against
the workers of iniquity? Unless the Lord had been my help,
my soul would almost dwelt in silence. Now, who will rise up
and defend us? When our enemies who are greater
than us, they attack us, their instruments in God's hand to
chastise us, to chasten us, who will rise up and defend me? The Lord, our Savior. He will.
He already stood up for His people in eternity, didn't He? The Father
chose a people to save. They're sinful people. They'll
be ruined in Adam. And the Father said, I've chosen
these people. Who will redeem them? Who will pay the price? Christ our Savior, God the Son,
stood up. He said, I will. He stood up
for those people. He's always stood for His people.
Christ has always stood as the surety for His people. He told
His Father, I'll be surety for them. Require on my hand. And His people have always been
accepted in Him. Christ stands as our mediator
before the Father, enabling us to come to the Father by Him.
The only way we can do that is because Christ, our mediator,
stood for us. Christ stands as our advocate
when any man sins. We have an advocate with the
father, Jesus Christ, the righteous. He's always stood for his people
and God's elect stand in him, stand accepted in him. So when
the enemy that the Lord uses to chase in his people and that
enemy attacks, they're an instrument in the Lord's hand. But you know,
it's also the Lord who will stand up to defend us against them.
To defend us against their instrument, He's using to chasten us. He'll
stand up and defend us against them. See, He's using the wicked
for His purpose. And He's the one who will stand
up and defend His people against those who would persecute His
people. And God said it would have been better for that man
if he had not been born. They persecute my people. Now, if
God be for us, Who can be against us? No one. That lets us know we can rest
in Christ. Isn't that a blessing? Right
sixthly, in times of chastening, the Lord will hold his people
up. Verse 18, when I said my foot
slippeth, thy mercy, O Lord, held me up. In times of trouble
and chastening, The Lord will bring us to this point where
we will think, my foot slipped. I feel myself falling away from
Christ. I can't do this. I can't bear
this. It's too much. I can not bear
it. I'm going to fall away. And then,
you know, we realize God's mercy is arm of mercy. is holding me
up. I haven't slipped, because God's
mercy is holding me up. And then we realize this. It's
God's mercy, it's always been holding me up. When I thought
I was strong, thought I was standing on my own, no I wasn't. It's
God's mercy was holding me up. Brothers and sisters, we've never
stood on our own. And we desire to never stand
on our own. We've always been held up by God's mercies. And that's a good place to be,
isn't it? Because it's of the Lord's mercies we're not consumed. It's not because of our strength
we're not consumed. It's not because of our faithfulness
we're not consumed. It's because of the Lord's mercies
we're not consumed. And when the chastening seems
to overwhelm us in those dark, dark, dark moments, and we feel
ourselves slipping into unbelief, It's the arm of God's mercy that
holds us up. We feel ourselves slipping into
a spiritual stupor so that the word preached doesn't affect
me. I read the word, it doesn't affect me. I'm in a spiritual
fog. We feel ourselves slipping into
worldliness. We feel ourselves even slipping
into apostasy. It is the arm of God's mercy
that holds us up. The only reason anybody here
has not turned to false free will religion is the arm of God's
mercy has kept us from it and held us up. Oh, what a powerful
arm to be held here. The arm of God's mercy. Janet tells me men can't understand
this, but she said ladies can. When you feel, the wife, she
feels so down and so scared and so frightened and so hurt, she
said, there's nothing like being held in the strong arms of your
husband. She said, his arms are stronger,
his shoulders are wider, it just, it feels good, it feels safe,
she says. What a blessing to know we're
held in the arm of Almighty God's mercy. I only enjoy that in times of
chastening. That's a blessing, if that makes
me enjoy that, doesn't it? That blessing. All right, seventh,
in times of chastening, you can bank on this. The Lord will comfort
and he will be the delight of his people. Verse 19. In the
multitude of my thoughts within me, thy comforts delight my soul. Now, in the midst of a I would
imagine you're like me. We lay awake at night. I can't
sleep. And you've got a multitude of
thoughts just bouncing around inside your head. They're thoughts
of doubt and fear. They're thoughts of confidence
and rejoicing in Christ. But that multitude of thoughts
is just all jumbled up in there. You can hardly hear one over
the other. Just a jumbled multitude of thoughts. And the Lord brings a little
bit of order to our mind. And He brings thoughts of Him
to our mind that enables Him to drown out those thoughts of
doubt and fear. And we find His comforts. The
comforts of who He is. The comfort of hearing about
Him. His precious promises. We find
our soul rejoicing. We find delight for our soul.
And it would do all of us some good to spend some time, to spend
our time thinking about the Lord and meditating upon our Savior
and upon His Word rather than spending so much time thinking
about the chastening that we're enduring and how much I wish
it would end if we would meditate on Christ. Our soul would be comfort. How
could it not? If we meditate on Christ the
Savior, how could our soul not be delighted? He took my sin
away. Does that delight you? Does that
comfort you? He took my sin away. The Father
loved me enough to put me in His Son. Not to make me stand
on my own, but to put me in His Son. And God the Son loved me
enough to suffer and die for me. The father loved me enough
to make me righteous in Christ. He loved me enough to send his
spirit to me, to enable me to believe the gospel, to give me
life and faith in Christ. Now that's a delight for my soul.
That's a delight for my soul. And the Lord's given promises
along the way. He promised to never leave me
nor forsake me. Then why would I fear? Why would
I fear? If I'm truly persuaded that neither
life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth,
nor any other creature shall be able to separate me from the
love of God, which is in Christ Jesus my Lord, how can I fear? If I really believe that, how
can I not delight in the Lord Jesus Christ? Now that's a blessing,
isn't it? And then lastly, in times of
chastening, the Lord will defend his people. Verse 21, they gather
themselves together against the soul of the righteous and condemn
the innocent blood. But the Lord is my defense. And
my God is the rock of my refuge. And he shall bring upon them
their own iniquity and shall cut them off on their own wickedness.
Yea, the Lord our God shall cut them off. Now we touched on this
a minute ago. The Lord uses the wicked as an
instrument to chasten his people. But woe to those people who afflict
God's children. God uses them to accomplish his
purpose, and then he'll be the one to defend his people from
those very wicked ones. It's what David says often throughout
the Psalms, God's my shield and my buckler. He is my defense. Well, if God be for us, who can
be against us? Look over into Isaiah chapter
54. Isaiah 54. Verse 11. Oh, thou afflicted, tossed with
tempest and not comforted. Behold, I will lay thy stones
with fair colors and lay thy foundations with sapphires. I
will make thy windows of agates and thy gates of carbuncles and
all thy borders of pleasant stones. And all thy children should be
taught of the Lord and great should be the peace of thy children.
In righteousness shalt thou be established. Thou shalt be far
from oppression for thou shalt not fear and from terror for
it shall not come near thee. Behold, they shall surely gather
together, but not by me. Whosoever shall gather together
against thee shall fall for thy sake. Now the enemy is still
going to gather. You know, the Lord doesn't say
the enemy won't gather. No, the Lord, the enemy is going
to gather and there'll be used of the Lord to chase in his people.
But those people aren't going to prosper because look at verse
16. Behold, I've created the Smith that blow with the coals
and the fire and they bring it forth an instrument for his work.
And I've created the waster to destroy. I've done all this.
Just like Job said, the hand of God's in everything. No weapon
that is formed against thee shall prosper. And every tongue that
shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the
heritage. This is the end of the servants
of the Lord. And their righteousness is of
me, saith the Lord. The enemy is still going to gather.
But they're all in God's hand. They're just an instrument that
God's using. And when He's done with them,
He'll forsake them. He'll cut them off. But God's
going to take His people and gather them in His arms and gather
them to His bosom. Now, remember, the Lord didn't
say there's no weapon going to be formed against you. The weapon's
going to be formed, but it won't prosper against you. Because
God will protect. God will defend his children.
Christ is their righteousness. So they're going to be saved.
They're going to be delivered. They're going to be gathered
into the bosom of the father. And that's the blessing. That's
the blessing in God's chastening of his people. All right, let's
bow together in prayer. Our father, how we thank you
for the precious promises of your word, the precious promises
to your weak and your frail people. How we rejoice in these promises,
how we rejoice in your pity to your people, that you'd reassure
us with promise after promise after promise in your word of
your faithfulness and your goodness to your people, that you'll never
do anything that will cause harm to your people. That when you
chasten us, it's for our good, our learning. And Father, we're
thankful. We are thankful that thou art
God alone. We're thankful that everything
is in your hand, that your hand directs every event of our lives. And Father, we would have it
there knowing that you do all things well. Father, enable us
to find these blessings, show us these blessings in times of
of difficult chastening that we might learn, that we might
learn to trust you more, that we might learn that you always
keep your promise, that you always hold your people in your mighty
arm of mercy, that we're safe in your arm, safe in your hand.
Father, thank you. Use this message to bring glory
to your name and to comfort the hearts of your suffering people.
It's in the precious name of our Lord Jesus Christ. For His
glory, we pray and give thanks. Amen. Let's stand and sing in our old
school hymnal, 597. Five, nine, eight, seven. That's
our grade. Now in thy praise, eternal King,
be all my thoughts employed, While of this precious fruit
I sing, cast down, but not destroyed. Cast down, but not destroyed. Cast down, but not destroyed. While of this precious truth
I sing, Cast down, but not destroyed. Of the united powers of hell,
my soul hath sore annoyed, And yet I live this truth to tell,
cast down but not destroyed. Cast down, but not destroyed
Cast down, but not destroyed And yet I live this truth to
tell Cast down, but not destroyed In all the paths through which
I've passed What mercies I've enjoyed And this shall be my
song at last Cast down but not destroyed Cast down but not destroyed
Cast down but not destroyed And this shall be my song at last,
Passed down but not destroyed. When I with God in heaven appear,
There shall I Him adore. My strife shall be my sin and
fear, And I cast down no more. And I cast down no more. And I cast down no more. Destroyed shall be my sin and
fear, And I cast down no more.