Good? Psalms 68. Psalms 68. I hope this little morsel is precious to
you as it has been to me this week Very rarely does the Lord give
me direction in the middle of the week. It's usually later.
This is not the case with this message. This first just kept
coming back, coming back. And I pray that this does bless
you as it did me. Psalm 68, verses seven through
10. And we're going to look at one
verse in this section only. This section or section of verses
that we're going to look at today is said to be regarding the children
of Israel in their wilderness wanderings. And you'll see what
I mean when we begin to read. Verse seven, Oh God, when thou
wentest forth before thy people, when thou didst march through
the wilderness. So we know what the context is.
The earth shook. The heavens also dropped at the
presence of God. Even Sinai itself was moved at
the presence of God, the God of Israel. Thou, O God, did send
a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance
when it or they were weary. Thy congregation hath dwelt therein. Thou, O God, hast prepared of
thy goodness for the poor. Now what drew my attention to
this passage, and I don't know why, maybe it was this morning,
what Bruce talked about getting discouraged or depressed or whatever.
But what got my attention was the last part of verse 9. We're
going to look at verse 9 in its entirety. And this, to be honest
with you, this one verse is, you know, as I say often times,
if there was only one verse in the Bible to his people, this
would be a comfort and a help and an encouragement. when it
was weary." And I said, what does he mean, when is it? Well,
he's talking about his inheritance. Who's his inheritance? It's the
church. It's the elect. It's the bride. It's every single
elect person who makes up the church when it is weary. And
I was talking to several pastors this week and I just said, you
know, I just, I get weary. I get discouraged. I get, you
know, just whatever. And the answer came back, it's
the same answer my wife gave to me, be not weary in well doing. Well I know that, but I still
get weary, I still get discouraged. But look at the passage before
us, this one verse. Any situation given, happy, sad,
joyful, concerned, upset, encouraged, this is it, this could be it.
Thou, O God, freely, without being asked for, perhaps,
when we needed it, He sent a plentiful, not just
a rain, a plentiful, and that word is, in the Hebrew, is liberal,
liberal, liberality. Thou, O God, Now remember, they're
in the wilderness, and they're living like we should, day to
day, we don't. We got plenty of stuff in the
fridge, we got plenty of stuff in the cupboard, we got, if the
electricity goes out, that's, it's not living by faith. When they needed it, he sent
the rain. He sent quail. The rock followed
them. in the wilderness. Now I'd like
to take this verse and let's get personal for our own use
and edification, specifically verse nine. As we sojourn here in this world,
which is the believer's wilderness, we need the encouragement this
one verse gives to all his church, or as he says in the passage,
Conferred by an inheritance. We are the inheritance of God
He's given us to Christ Christ purchased us with his blood and
we are his why? Well, I got Always a simple message
to two thoughts Because we're knee-deep in this world. We are
whether we want to or not. We are knee-deep in this world. We're all about Uh, taxes were
all about our lives. We're all about our home, our
family, and there's nothing wrong with that. However, Paul said,
if, you know, if it was, if, if it could be possible, he says,
you know, be like me, don't be married, you know, just take
that burden. But on the other hand, a woman from the Lord is
a precious thing to help her, a help mate, but we have one
another. That's the inherit. We have one
another. Again, this shows the value of
gathering together, this shows the value of the church, the
local church. We're knee-deep in this world,
we struggle hard, we have trials, difficulties, or sometimes we
enjoy this world too much that we're knee-deep in it. And secondly,
we get weary. We get weary. Let's look at this
step-by-step. Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful
rain. That's by his free favor, his
free pardon, his free grace, he sends plentiful rain. Now, what is this rain? It could be, and I believe it
is, three things, and three things specifically. Turn to Psalms
72. First of all, he sends a plentiful
rain. I believe this rain, according
to scripture, is the Lord Jesus Christ. This is one verse. We'll look at one verse, many
verses, but we'll look at this one. Psalm 72, verse six. Psalm 72, verse six. He shall come down like rain
upon the mown grass, as showers that water the earth. He, that's
speaking of a person, just like, Zacchaeus, when he held up that
person, that human being, he said, let your servant depart
in peace. I've seen thy salvation. He called that person Christ. Not a doctor, not a, he called
that person, God incarnate in the flesh, salvation. And that's
why we preach him. That's why we talk about him
all the time. So this reign, according to scriptures, first
and foremost, preeminently is Christ. So you read the scriptures,
you're bummed out, you're discouraged, you got trials, you got such,
you read the scriptures and the Lord gives you a promise. Well,
can you lay hold of that promise? If you're a believer, yes, but
all the promises in Christ are yea and amen. Amen. Secondly, the reign could be
also and is the gospel or his word, Isaiah 55. Well, I thought that the scriptures
were crystal centric, they are. The word's about Christ. Christ
is about, you know, so, and then this third portion of who the
rain is, is also centers in among the Lord Jesus Christ. Isaiah
55, verse 10 and 11. Isaiah 55, verse 10 and 11. For
as the rain comes down and the snow from heaven and returns
not thither, but watereth the earth and makes it bring forth
and bud, that it may give seed to the sower and bread to the
eater. So shall my word be that goeth
forth out of my mouth. It shall not return unto me void,
but it shall accomplish that which I, God, who gives it freely,
without money, without price, please, and it, that is this
word, this shower, shall prosper in the thing whereunto I sent
it. So this plenteous reign given
by God freely to rebels undeserving as us is the Lord Jesus Christ. He shall descend. He. And secondly,
it's the gospel. It's his word. And thirdly, it's
the Holy Spirit. Joel chapter two, that great
passage Talking about the Pentecost, the day of Pentecost, Joel chapter
2, we'll start in verse 23. Joel chapter 2, right in front
of Amos. Joel chapter 2, verse 23, be
glad then, you children of Zion, that's the church. and rejoice
in the Lord your God for he hath given you the former rain moderately
and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former
rain and the latter rain in the first month. The floors shall
be full of wheat and the fats shall overflow with wine and
oil. And then you go further down and this is what's quoted
in Acts when he's talking about Pentecost, the Holy Spirit. So
this rain, back to our text, this rain that God on his own,
for his own glory, for his own honor, for his own purpose, he
sends a plentiful rain. He sends the Lord Jesus Christ.
He sends the word, the word plows, plows the ground. The Holy Spirit
plants the seed. And then Christ says, I'll, he
says, I'll send the Holy Spirit. What's he gonna do? He's gonna
testify of me, of me. So these three essence of this
rain, this is exactly what we need daily. I can't emphasize
this enough for you and for me. Instead of sitting there, stewing
on what we can't fix or what we can't control, like somebody
talking bad about you or whatever, we can't control it. We want
to. This is exactly what we need. Give us this day, says our Lord,
this, our daily bread. He's the bread from heaven and
the word is the bread. See, it's all, it's all crystal
centric, but it's, It's beautiful because it applies to everything
in our lives. Give us minute by minute assurance. Well, that's what he's saying
in the second part. Why did he send this rain? Why did he give
Christ? Why did the Holy Spirit descend
on Pentecost and it rains and rules on every believer? Why
do we read the word? Why is the word so important?
Confirm his inheritance. Minute by minute, give us this
assurance that we are forgiven, that the covenant is and has
been sealed and we are free, that we can go boldly to his
throne of grace and find help in time of need, that the Father
is completely satisfied with the offering made on our behalf,
the offering being Christ Jesus, that the captives are set free,
the law no longer condemns us, that we are right now in full
possession of Christ's imputed righteousness, and glory is secure. Confirm that to us. Because I
didn't think, I didn't say assurance, but that's a thing,
you know, when you sin horribly, or you think you sin horribly,
or the accuser of the brethren is accusing you, and doing a
good job, and got your ear. We're safe in the shepherd's
fold. reign so we must have all three
Christ the gospel truth the holy spirit of grace and supplication
why then and the second part is this rain given well as i
said look at our text thou oh god did send he weren't he wasn't
coerced sovereignly independently sent plentiful rain whereby because
for the confirmation of his inheritance, the confirmation. And don't we
need confirmation sometimes, maybe a lot more than we... This word confirm is to establish. And didn't Paul say something
about establish your hearts in the truth, in the truth? Why? Because it points us to Christ.
If it's preached correctly, we are his inheritance. Turn to
Deuteronomy 32. Deuteronomy 32 and verse 9, we are his inheritance. Verse
9, Deuteronomy 32, for the Lord's portion is his people. Jacob
is the lot of his inheritance. Confirm thy inheritance. Confirm
us that we are the sons and daughters of Jacob, and Jacob's God is
our God. Nothing God does is for outward
show or momentary glory, but it is for his majestic honor
and exaltation, and this assists his dear tried folk. It assists
us. When we stop, and that's what
this verse did, this verse in Psalm 68 verse 9, it stopped
me, it arrested me. When we stop and consider all
his benefits to usward, it's too high and we can't contemplate.
It's too wide, as wide as the ocean and deeper than the sea.
It's like comparing a candle to the glory of the sun. What
we do consider this because he's confirmed us turn with me to
Psalms 139 Psalms 139 verses 17 and 18 Psalms 39 I'm sorry
139 Psalms 139 Psalm 139 verse 17 and and eighteen how precious this
is a this is a believer saying this how precious also are thy
thoughts unto me oh god so we know who's speaking and we know
who he's speaking about how great is the sum of them if i should
count them they are more in number than the sand when i awake i
am still With thee the fact that he is still with us. He's confirmed
us that we're in christ and we're not in flesh And doesn't annihilate
us or destroy us even after Salvation I put it that way after the lord
drew us and called us and claimed us Which he did before eternity,
but even in time after we realize that how often do we sin? And and maybe that could be one
reason why we're weary weary of our sin and the consequences. Well, you can turn back to our
text, but in Psalms, and I just bring this to your attention,
Psalms 136, every verse ends this way. Oh, give thanks unto
the Lord for he is good, for his mercy endures forever. Every verse, which would be 26, He says something and he says,
for his mercy endures forever. And I was like, that's kind of
redundant. That's confirming to you and to me. lest we forget. Well, we wouldn't forget. Why
do we take the Lord's Supper? Do this in remembrance of me.
Why do we gather together Sunday, Wednesday? Why do we do that?
In remembrance of him. It's the rain. It's gathering
together. We open the word. We don't have
responsive readings. We don't have a, like my old
pastor, You know, when I was a Methodist growing up, he had
a book, a book of sermons that was sent to him by the Missouri
Synod or whatever. That's what he preached on. We
didn't open the Bible. We didn't bring the Bible. This
Word of God is rain. The Holy Spirit is rain. Christ
is summum bonum. He's the zenith of the rain.
Thirdly, also, he gives us sweet communion. He gives us perfect
truth and his darling son because we get weary. We get weary just working for
him because the flesh, I tried to explain this to my brother
years ago, the battle between, and he could not understand.
That's because I was going out the back way. Should have showed
him Christ. Instead, he said, well, I don't understand. Well,
he didn't have that conflict. If you're a believer, you've
got that internal conflict. We get weary through working
for Christ. We get weary through sickness.
We get sick. Everybody, everybody is not immune
to this. We get weary through non-success. Preach, you preach, you preach.
Is anybody listening? Who hath believed our report?
I still remember that message, Jack Shanks. He said he was bummed
out. He was so discouraged. He stood
up there and who hath believed our report? And then I guess
he took his glasses off. And then the Lord just rejoiced.
You have believed my report. It's not about number and Nathan
keeps telling me that, but I keep coming back with weary. No, it's not about never is about
number. It's about Quality? It's about Christ. It's about Christ and Him crucified.
We get weary through the daily grind and the accuser of the
brethren. He doesn't rest. He's not omnipresent. Our God is. But He doesn't rest. And anytime you give Him opportunity
to accuse, whether it's whatever it may be, He will accuse. And we get weary. So let me reread this, star this
passage, circle this verse. Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful,
a liberal reign, Christ, the Word, the Holy Spirit, whereby
thou didst confirm thine inheritance. He doesn't do this just to do
something. He does it on purpose, and that
is to confirm his, thine, we're not our own, his inheritance.
Win, win, it's weary. Star it, lay hold of it as an
enduring and an endearing promise. Take it up and spend it as leisure,
as Spurgeon would say, God's checks never bounce. There's
always ample supply. He sends his refreshing rain,
which was his word, his kinsman redeemer, the Holy Spirit. He
does so without money, without price. You can't buy it, you
can't earn it. You can't work for it. You can ask for it. You can seek it. He promises
if you're genuinely seeking, you'll find. But he will have
us be in much appreciation and ever thankful for these, his
dynamic and mighty graces. May we never take this place
or one another for granted. May we bless our father, for
he knows when and where to send this rain, and he even knows
how much as to the time, place, manner, and measure. We don't
think about that often, but he knows. We think, I need it now. No, let patience have her perfect
work, and then he'll send exactly what we need. Well, what my mind
thought after I talked to a few pastors about this, which nobody
brought up, but I love this passage. I thought about it because the
Lord has used this. I can't say I know it very well,
but I think it's good for us to come back here. Hebrews chapter
12, Hebrews chapter 12, verses one, two, and three. Are we weary? Am I weary? Hebrews chapter 12 verses 1,
2, and 3, wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with
so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which does so easily beset us, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us. Looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was
set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. And just look
at this verse. For consider him that endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your
minds. We still have not suffered. like
our Redeemer did. We still have not been lied about
like our Redeemer was. We still have not been mocked
and spit upon and all these things like our Redeemer. Consider Him.
I've got this circled. It seemed like several past jobs.
Really be tried. The Lord would bring me back
to this. Consider Him. Don't consider. Don't look so
much inward. Look outward. And know this in
closing, I don't even know if this applies, but I thought it
did, so I wrote it down. In closing, the lot is cast into the lap,
but the whole disposing is of the Lord. He is the first
cause. And we get weary, we get worn
out, we struggle with one another, with the world. But the believer in his heart
of hearts would have it no other way than the Lord being disposing
everything for our good and for his glory. That one verse, he
sends rain. Why? He didn't have to give an
explanation. That's another, he didn't have
to, he doesn't explain, but he does in his word. There's the
open book of Christ to us, for us, that book to confirm that
we are his people, even when we're weary. But let us consider
him if we get weary and just keep on. I can't remember if that's Old
Testament. Spurgeon has a wonderful message. where they were the
children of Israel were to dig ditches, dig ditches and prepare
for water. Why? That doesn't matter. Why
do you keep preaching? Just keep preaching. Just keep
inviting. Keep talking to people. And the
thing is, if I remember the story right, those ditches, they didn't
get filled with rain. They just, the next day they
were full of water. but he prepares his people. It's
like the rustling in the mulberries. Let us pray for that, for this
meeting and beyond, for our children, for our neighbors, for our parents,
for our friends. Didn't we sing, he's able, our
God is able. Nathan, would you close us?