Well I want to turn your attention
to Psalm 141 this week, the 141st Psalm. It's only 10 verses long,
but again we're finding that these Psalms are rich with what Our fathers used to call experimental
religion, it's what Cliff was alluding to in his prayer, the
fact that it's not just head knowledge, but that it's in the
heart, and it's real, and it's deep, and it's powerful. I want
every one of you, please, listen, listen carefully this morning.
What marks a true child of God? Are you a true child of God?
Are you one who is entitled to have a hope of resurrection,
of eternal glory? It's something that always perplexes
God's children. In the third hymn that we're
going to sing after this message, it's a hymn by John Newton, it
opens with this verse, "'Tis a point I long to know. Oft it causes anxious thought,
Do I love the Lord or no? Am I his or am I not? Think of it. He's questioning.
Am I really the Lord's? What marks a true child of God? Oh, you might say it's doctrinal
knowledge. A true child of God knows certain
doctrines. You know, I know of churches,
I've heard of churches where If they're going to, they're
very proud of their doctrinal stance. They're very proud that
they're not like, you know, these commoners all around them who
don't care about doctrine. They're very precise about doctrine.
And if you say, oh, I want to join the church, then they'll
probably give you a copy of Lois Birkhoff's systematic theology
and tell you to study it until you know it inside out and then
go back and be interviewed by the elders. And if they think
you know enough of it, then they'll let you into the church. doctrinal
knowledge. Is that what makes a true child
of God? I don't think so. There are those who make a verbal
profession. They say that they are believers. They even show it. If it's the
habit of the church place where they go to have public baptisms,
it's almost treated like a rite of passage into that particular
club. Or church attendance. It's the
fact that you come here and we gather in these surroundings,
Sunday by Sunday, is that what makes a true child of God? Or
is it the way you behave? Well yes, certainly the way you
behave is an indication of what your heart is. If you're living
settled and comfortable in a state of sin, it's a very good indication
that you're not a child of God, but it's not your behavior that
determines whether you're a child of God, it's your relationship
with Him. It's your relationship with Christ.
It's what marks that relationship out to show that you are a true
child of God. I might ask the same question
about human relationships. What marks out true love between
two people? Between a husband and wife, let's
say. What marks out true love between two people? What marks
it out if it's true love? from a relationship of convenience,
because there are plenty which are just relationships of convenience.
I'll tell you it's this. Separation causes yearning in
the heart. Have you ever experienced that?
Separation causes yearning in the heart. a longing to be with
that person. That's love. That's, that's,
do I love the Lord or no? Tis a point I long to know. Do
I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? Is there
a yearning in your heart for the things of the Spirit of God?
Is there a longing in your heart for the knowledge of God and
the presence of God? Do you long for Him? Do you long
to know Him? As Paul said, I want to know
Him. I don't just want to know about Him, I want to know Him.
Is there a longing in your heart to commune with Him? Is there
that spirit of prayer, I want to talk with Him, to love Him,
to long to be with Him? to know his favour, to know his
blessings, to know his peace, to know his assurance. As I say,
think on these things carefully. The scriptures say, let a man,
let a person examine himself whether he be in the faith. Think
on these things. Do I have that longing? for the
blessing and peace and assurance of the presence of the living
God in our Lord Jesus Christ. These Psalms, they often resonate
with the heart cry of the child of God. Look at verse 1 of Psalm
141, Lord, I cry unto thee, make haste unto me, give ear unto
my voice when I cry unto thee. People say, oh, I said a prayer. No, you don't say a prayer. True
believers don't say prayers. No, true believers pray from
the heart. Lord, I cry unto thee, make haste
unto me. Do you know anything of that
in your own soul? Do you know anything of going,
Lord, I cry unto thee? Make haste, please come to me
quickly. Give ear, listen to what I'm
saying when I cry unto you. Do you ever cry that? Have you
ever done that? You, personally? Let's just read
the psalm through. and the lifting up of my hands
as the evening sacrifice. Set a watch, O Lord, before my
mouth. Keep the door of my lips. Incline
not mine heart to any evil thing, to practice wicked works with
men that work iniquity. And let me not eat of their dainties."
He's recognizing how frail he is in himself. Let the righteous
smite me, it shall be a kindness, and let him reprove me, it shall
be an excellent oil which shall not break my head, for yet my
prayer also shall be in their calamities. When their judges
are overthrown in stony places, they shall hear my words, for
they are sweet. Our bones are scattered at the
grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth wood upon the earth.
But mine eyes are unto thee, O God, the Lord. In thee is my
trust. Leave not my soul destitute.
Keep me from the snares which they have laid for me, and the
jinns their traps, the jinns of the workers of iniquity. Let
the wicked fall into their own nets, whilst that I withal escape. I want to focus our attention
on verse 8. But mine eyes are unto thee,
O God the Lord. In thee is my trust. Leave not
my soul destitute. leave not my soul destitute.
This is the core of the believer's longing for God. And this is
why I'm really challenging you this morning, and myself, to
examine yourself. Is this the cry of your heart?
Mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord, in thee is my trust,
leave not my soul destitute. Only the true child of God can
say these words from the heart. Let's break it down into the
three sections. Mine eyes are unto thee, in thee
is my trust, leave not my soul destitute. Mine eyes are unto
thee, mine eyes are unto thee, O God the Lord. Who is it that
has eyes to look to God except those who have been made alive
by God's Spirit? You know, we have physical eyes,
and we can see things around us, but who is it that has eyes
unto God the Lord, other than the people, other than the people
that have been made alive by God's Spirit? You see, our own
light that we have in ourselves, our own understanding of things
is only darkness. The scriptures say this, Jesus
said when he was preaching to the crowd, he said, take heed
that the light in thee, that the understanding you think you
have of things be not darkness. How many people all around, oh
I think it's like this, the light that they have is but darkness.
Take heed that the light in thee be not darkness. The child of
God knows this, as the Psalmist said, Thou wilt light my candle,
the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. Who is it that brings
light, true spiritual light, into the darkened soul? It's
the Lord my God will enlighten my darkness. Do you have those
eyes of an enlightened soul to look to God? Ask yourself, do
you have eyes of an enlightened soul? My eyes are unto thee,
O God the Lord. Do you have those eyes to look
to God? Well if you do, what is it that
causes you to look to him? What are the things that drive
you to look to him? Is it not poverty? Is it not
need? Is it not want in your soul?
Is it not a feeling of barrenness? Is it not a feeling of destitution
in your soul that turns you to look to God? You look towards
where you feel that you're going to have some satisfaction, some
relief of that soul poverty. Trials come, distresses come,
Emptiness of self is what you come to. You find no hope in
yourself. And God puts his people there
to cause us to look with eyes to him. You know, as the unbeliever,
as the worldling is brought into difficulty, they cannot look
to God, they have no heart to look to God, they have no sense,
they have no eyes of understanding to look to God. But the child
of God, when brought into need, has eyes to look to Him. Mine
eyes are unto Thee, O God the Lord. He puts us there. The natural
man only has eyes to look on the physical state of things,
not on the things of God. the things, just the things around
him. So, what is it, what is meant by these eyes? Well, there
are eyes in the scripture of various sorts. There are eyes
of understanding, firstly. Ephesians chapter 1 and verse
18, Paul writes this, the eyes of your understanding My eyes
are unto thee, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. How? God, thou wilt light my
candle. The Lord my God will enlighten
my darkness. The eyes of your understanding
being enlightened. And the result that you may know,
the hope of his calling. And he goes on with other things.
to see God, understanding, with eyes of understanding, to see
God truly as He is, revealed in the Lord Jesus Christ, and
to know it personally, and experimentally, not just in the head, but in
the heart, to feel and to know what it is to know God in Christ. The eyes of understanding of
God in all of his glorious persons, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
to see him as Abba, Father, as the true child of God, sees God
the Father. And whereby we cry, it says,
Abba, Father. Do you know what that is? That's
Daddy. Daddy. That's a term of endearment. It's a term of affection. Has
your soul ever cried out to God the Father? Daddy. Abba, Father. Abba. And Christ, looking to
Him, in whom dwell all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, with
the eyes of understanding, enlightened by the Spirit of God, the eyes
of your understanding being enlightened, that you may know what is the
hope of His calling. Because with that understanding,
those enlightened eyes, you see in Christ all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge dwelling there, in His glorious person.
And that Spirit of God who is the teacher, who is the comforter.
You know why our Lord Jesus Christ said, I must go away? He said,
if I don't go away, I won't send the comforter, but if I do go
away, I will send him, and he will bring to your remembrance
all things. You say, oh, wouldn't it have
been good to have been there when Christ walked the earth?
Do you know Philip and Thomas and the other disciples who spent
three and a half years in his intimate company, and they looked
upon him and he was able to say to them, Philip, have I been
so long with you and yet you have not seen me? No, they hadn't
because they were looking still with physical eyes, but when
he went he sent the comforter and then On the day of Pentecost,
they came, the Holy Spirit came upon them, they were waiting
for Him, and they were enlightened. Even before that, the disciples
on the Emmaus road, they said, didn't our hearts burn within
us when He opened to us the Scriptures on the way and revealed in the
Scriptures those things concerning Himself. Holy Spirit comes and
reveals these things and shows us who Christ is in his glorious
person, Abba Father, Christ, our friend, our master, our brother,
our saviour, revealing salvation, revealing the power of his resurrection,
showing us in the heart of the true child of God we've been
thinking about resurrection. in 1 Corinthians 15, in the heart
of the true child of God, there is not the slightest doubt about
the resurrection from the dead. We know that we're going to rise
from the dead. We believe God's word. We know that Christ is
risen from the dead, as the first fruits of those that believe.
Revealing all of this to my soul, revealing Christ as fully God,
fully God. In him dwells the fullness of
the Godhead, bodily, but united with that man who was made of
a woman, made under the law to redeem those who are under the
law, that we might receive the adoption of sons, whereby we
cry, Abba, Father, to know these things and experience these things. Does music ever make you tingle. Does it ever make the hairs on
the back of your neck tingle? Well, if you're a child of God,
these thoughts, these sweet thoughts, the eyes of your understanding,
they make you spiritually tingle with the reality. and the experimental
reality of them. Experiencing these things, seeing
Christ, seeing him as the God-man, seeing that I am united with
him, that I'm married to him, I'm wed to him, everything he
is, I am. Everything he has done, I have
done in him. Everything that he has accomplished
for me is certain and sure. He's my mediator with a holy
God. It's a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God, but he is my mediator. He
is my high priest who represents me before the throne of God and
makes me and all his people a royal priesthood who are able to come
with boldness before the throne of grace. He is my advocate for
when I sin, for I'm still in this flesh. If we sin, says John,
we have an advocate with the Father. He is my advocate, my
advocate. He is my friend. He is Emmanuel,
God with us. and experiencing these things
in our souls. The eyes of the understanding.
My eyes are toward thee, are unto thee, O God the Lord. And
then of course, he gives eyes of faith. Eyes of faith. What is faith? What is faith?
Faith, says Hebrews 11 verse 1, faith is the substance of
things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. It's trusting things that you
don't see physically, but you see with eyes that are spiritual.
It's spiritual sight. It's soul sight, it's the eyes
of faith. Hebrews 11, 27, in that great
chapter of faith that begins with that verse 1, faith is the
substance of things hoped for. In verse 27, by faith he, that
is Moses, by faith, why did Moses forsake the life of luxury in
the palace of the king, raised as the son of Pharaoh's daughter?
Why did he do that? By faith, on the basis of what
he saw. By faith, with eyes unto God. By faith Moses forsook Egypt,
not fearing the wrath of the king, for the king for sure was
angry with him, for he endured as seeing him who is invisible. as seeing him that you cannot
see with physical eyes. Oh, if only he'd come and reveal
himself to my physical eyes, it would make no difference whatsoever.
But if the Holy Spirit comes and shows him to your soul, those
things that you cannot see physically, then you believe him. Seeing
what the natural man doesn't see, for as we know, the natural
man doesn't receive the things of the Spirit of God. They're
foolishness to him. Neither can he know them. My
eyes of faith are unto thee. My eyes of understanding are
unto thee. My eyes of faith are unto thee,
unto your person, unto the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and
its cleansing power, unto the righteousness of God, which is
made over to me because of what Christ has done in taking my
sin, in being made my sin. the redemption that He has accomplished,
the wisdom that is in Him. For He, of Him, of God, He is
made unto us. Wisdom from God, and righteousness,
and sanctification, and redemption. And how do you know these things?
You see them. How do you see them? With those
eyes that are towards the Lord, with the eye of faith. If I have
such eyes, If I see these things, my soul is passed from death
to life. In seeing him, my soul is passed
from death to life. And then thirdly, there are eyes
of love. Eyes of love. There was a song
that some of you might remember. I think it was Dusty Springfield
sang it. The look of love is in your eyes. There's a look
of love. that lovers truly know. The look
of love is in your eyes. There's eyes of love. We read
John chapter 21, the encounter of the risen Lord Jesus Christ
with those disciples and they're bored and wondering what's gone
on and what was all that that happened and they're thinking,
what are we supposed to do now? We don't know what to do. We've
met the risen Lord, but what do we do? And Peter thinks, well,
I know how to fish. I'm going fishing. I'm going
to do that which I know how to do. And so Peter goes fishing
with his colleagues, and he fishes all night long. And there was
probably no better fisherman on that sea of Tiberias. There
was probably no better fisherman. If anybody could catch fish on
that lake, he would be able to. And he fished all night long
and in the providence of God he caught nothing. And the next
morning when it was light, they saw a man on the beach who called
out to them. Children, have you caught anything?
No, not a thing. Put your net on the other side.
And of course, we know in the providential sovereignty of God,
he nearly broke the net with the weight of fish that was there.
And he came, and while they were having breakfast that Christ
had prepared for them, Peter, three times, Peter, do you love
me? Do you love me more than these?
Peter, do you love me? Do you really love me? The believer's
eyes of understanding and faith are also eyes of love. Do you love the Lord Jesus Christ?
Some of you will remember, if you've listened to it, Peter
Meany preached a lovely sermon at the conference. him whom my
soul lovest. This is the relationship of the
believer with his Lord. Him whom my soul loveth. I love him. Why do you love him? Because he first loved me. That's
why. There's no other reason. That's the only thing that distinguishes
me from others who don't love him. Why do you love him? For
he first loved me. When did he love you? In eternity. Before the world began. When
he put me in Christ. Before the foundation of the
world. Song of Solomon is all about this love story, this beautiful
love story. The bride, the Shulamite, representing
the people of God. He comes to her, but she says,
oh no, I've washed my hair, I've got ready for bed, I can't come
and open the door. And he goes, and then she's distressed
because he's gone. And she cries out to the daughters
of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, that ye tell him that
I am sick of love. Now that's in the old-fashioned
language, but we would say, I don't know if we still do say it these
days, I'm lovesick. I'm lovesick. I'm in danger of
embarrassing my wife, but I can remember as a young man being
lovesick. I can remember having that feeling in the stomach of
being lovesick. I remember the day I went away
to university, oh boy how that tore us apart. Lovesick, absolutely
lovesick, you know? Know anything of that in relationship
to God? Him whom my soul loveth. Tell him I am lovesick. Tell
him I am yearning for his presence. Tell him that I am lovesick.
Do you say you're God's child? Do you say you have a belief
and a trust in God? That you love Christ? That you're
one of his children? That you hope to be with him
in eternity? Do you know anything of the experience
of having such eyes, given by the Spirit of God to understand
the gospel, to believe and rest your soul on Christ, to love
him, to long for his presence and his fellowship? Mine eyes
are unto thee, O God the Lord. Secondly, in thee is my trust. In thee is my trust. What do
you trust in? You trust in certain things.
What do you trust in? Do you trust in the things of
this world? Do you trust in your bank balance? Your house? Your
career? Your family? Your self-ability? No, it's a very easy thing to
trust. I mean, it's good that you are
ambitious and have confidence that you can do certain things,
because without it you would do nothing. But people overwhelmingly
trust in these things. They trust in the institutions
of this world, the rule of law and the government and so on
and so on. They trust in these things. They trust in anything
physical. If we can look at physical things
and get hope from it, we will. I've got all sorts of worries,
but, oh, never mind, I've got that, and I've got that, and
then I've got that thing over there. We build our hopes on
physical things all around us. Look at verse 7. Our bones are
scattered at the grave's mouth, as when one cutteth and cleaveth
wood upon the earth. You know, imagine the picture.
You get a log of wood, and you've got a chopping block, and you
put a great chunk of the wood on there, and you're cutting
wood. And you hurl the axe at it. And it splits it, and you
have no idea where it's going. One bit will fly over there,
another bit will fly another place. Cut and scattered. He
says that it's a picture of all self-reliance being destroyed. All self-reliance being destroyed. What is the basis of trust? What
is the basis of trust? We find nothing in ourselves
to trust. But what will cause our trust? to be towards the
Lord. In thee, O Lord my God, in thee
is my trust. What causes that? Well, think
about how and why you trust people in this life. If you trust a
person, you must first know that person, mustn't you? You must
first know that person. Psalm 9 verse 10 says, they that
know thy name will put their trust in thee. What does it mean
to know the name of God? It's to know with eyes of understanding,
with eyes of faith, with eyes of love. It's to know what he
is. It's to know who he is. It's
to know what he has accomplished for his people. They that know
thy name will put their trust in thee. You trust those you
know well. You trust those of whom you've
got experience of their character. You don't just take it on hearsay.
You trust their honesty because you know they're honest people
and they've dealt honestly with others. You know this. You know,
you trust their record of fulfilling their promises. They've made
a promise and they've fulfilled it. They've made another one
and they've fulfilled it. They've made another one. You know, it's
something that happens in everyday life. If you go on eBay, you
know, one of the key things about eBay is the buyers and sellers
want to build up their record of trust. You can trust me. Look at all these people saying
that I deliver when I say I'm going to deliver. That's the
basis of trust. Trusting God is experimental
knowledge of who God is. of what he's done in saving his
people. Knowledge is the foundation of
gospel trust. It's the foundation of confidence. Yesterday, was it yesterday morning? Maybe the other day, but our
Our outside table, the canopy over it, one of the arms of it
got broken in the wind. You know, it was very windy a
few days ago and I didn't take it down and one of the arms got
broken. So I had to repair it. So I got a piece of aluminium
and it was a bit awkward to get to because it's kind of all fixed
together and it's very hard to take apart. And I was going to
have to stand on the glass top table. I tell you, I didn't trust
it. I didn't let it bear my weight.
Because I'm pretty sure that if I had stood on it, there was
a nine out of ten chance it would have borne my weight, but I couldn't
risk the one out of ten chance that I would have gone through
the table and probably ended up in hospital. So I didn't trust
it. I didn't trust it. But things that you trust, you're
sitting on chairs, aren't you? I took it that you all trusted
them before you sat down. I took it that you didn't sit
down thinking, oh, it might collapse under me. You trusted it, didn't
you? You trusted the chair to bear your weight. That's what
it is, to trust God. My trust is in thee. In thee
is my trust. Trust in whom? In God the Father. Why do we trust? Why do the children
of God trust the Father? Why do you trust him? Because
he is the one that made that covenant of grace. Ordered in
all things and sure. If God makes a covenant, and
he doesn't make a covenant with a faulty party, it's between
the persons of the Godhead. A covenant of grace, ordered
in all things. The sure mercies of David is
what that covenant is called. Not down to a decision or choice
by fallen man, the sure mercies of David. I trust him for his
election of his people. He chose his people. Is there
any doubt? Who's going to be saved? Everyone
that the Father chose in Christ before the foundation of the
world, for whom Christ came to live and die and represent before
the throne of grace, to represent before the justice of God, the
election of His people before the foundation of the world.
I trust Him. I trust Abba, Abba, Daddy, Daddy. You know, you children, you trust
Daddy, don't you? You trust Him. You trust Him,
because He's always got your best interests at heart. And
even when you don't think He has, He always has your best
interests at heart. You trust the Father, because
He's Abba, Father. You trust Him for the mercy that
He shows to His children. And where does He show that mercy?
In the face of Jesus Christ. The light of the knowledge of
the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ has shined in
the hearts of His people. We trust the Father, we trust
the Son the Son. Why do we trust Him? He's fulfilled
the law for us, in every respect. We, in Him, you know, we're required
to be those people who are holy, and He makes us the righteousness
of God in Him, on the basis of what He did on the cross of Calvary,
but be in no doubt, when He walked this earth, He was perfectly
obeying the law of God, and we were in Him. We were in Him. He redeemed us from its curse.
He's purchased us. He's paid the price. Christ has
redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for
us. I trust Him for that. Do you, children of God, do you
trust Him for that? He's redeemed us from the curse
of the law, being made a curse for us, for He has borne the
curse. He has satisfied the justice of God. Where justice would condemn,
He satisfied it. The anger of God is turned away.
It's a mercy seat. He's made propitiation in his
own blood. You know, in the Holy of Holies,
on the mercy seat, on the Ark of the Covenant, Moses was told,
you can come in with blood. the blood of an acceptable sacrifice,
and sprinkle it on the mercy seat. And he said, there I will
speak to you, face to face, as a man speaks with his friend.
He's satisfied that justice. He's bound Satan. Who would do
us harm? It's Satan, isn't it? He's bound
him. The strong man of the house has
been bound. He's been disarmed. He who is
the accuser of the brethren. Our Lord Jesus Christ has abolished
death. Do you trust him? Do you trust
him for that? He's abolished death. He's brought
life and immortality to light. He keeps His sheep safe, for
they're His sheep. And He is the Good Shepherd,
and He keeps them safe in His fold. He causes me to rest with
confidence in His finished work. I will both lay me down and sleep
in peace, for Thou, Lord, only, makest me to dwell in safety.
I trust the Son. I trust the Father. I trust the
Son. I trust the Spirit, the Triune God. Not the creature.
I trust the Spirit to teach me these things. Philippians chapter
3 verse 3, we are the true circumcision, the true people of God, who worship
God in the spirit, in spirit and in truth, who have no confidence
in the flesh and rejoice in Christ Jesus, to trust His righteousness,
not our own. This is what He teaches us, the
Spirit of God, teaches us to trust the righteousness of Christ,
teaches us to trust His wisdom and Him for wisdom, not ours.
It shows us our wisdom is but foolishness. teaches us to trust
his strength, which is made perfect in our weakness, teaches us to
trust his truth, not the idolatry of false religion. And anything
like this, he tests his trust. You know, you you trust something,
you put it to the test. Anything that gets made in the
world of work, you know, any software that gets developed
or a machine that gets made, what must you do with it? You
must test it. You must test it, sometimes to
the point of destruction, to find out what you need to do
to it to break it. You test it, you test it. And
God tests his children's trust in him. 1 Peter chapter 1 and
verse 7. The trial of your faith, being
much more precious than of gold that perisheth. Your faith is
more precious than gold. Though it be tried with fire.
He tests that faith. He tests that trust. Might be
found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus
Christ. James says, count it all joy.
The world says, count it terrible. Count it a cause of lamentation
when you encounter troubles, when things don't go right for
you. Count it great sadness and call
for your friends to come and mourn with you and seek for help.
James says to the children of God, count it all joy. Count
it all joy when you fall into diverse temptations, diverse,
different trials, because God's purpose in all of these things
is to turn us from the world to him, to turn us to look to
him. Abraham was tested. Think of
him. I won't go into it now. You remember
with Isaac. your son, your only son, whom
you love, take him and slay him on that altar. Testing him, testing
his trust, testing his faith. My trust is in thee. Leave not
my soul destitute. This is our third point. and
I'll be brief. Leave not my soul destitute. If you look in the margin, if
you've got a Bible with marginal reference, and against verse
8 it says, the Hebrew says, make not my soul bare. Make not my soul bare. Have you known barrenness of
soul? Have you known what it is to
come to an end of self? Have you known the warmth and
welcome of the Heavenly Father? I'm thinking of the prodigal
son, that picture of the one, the prodigal coming back, the
son of the father who went away, who despised the things of God,
who ended up in the pig's will, and when he comes back, hoping
to be given the status of a mere servant and the lowest one at
that, he's welcomed with open arms. and the best robe is brought
and the fatted calf is killed and there's a feast and rejoicing
and music, the warmth and welcome of the heavenly Father. I wonder
if he ever wanted to go back to that destitution that he knew. He'd experienced it. He'd wasted
all his goods and he ended up in the pigsty. He even ended
up eating the pig's soil. He was so hungry in that story. He didn't want to go back, did
he? Having experienced the father's warmth and welcome, did he want
to go back to that destitution of soul? You know, rich people,
today in the Times apparently, the Sunday Times, is the greatest,
the list of the richest people is published, you know, and apparently
about 500 people have got by far the majority of the wealth
in the country, something like that, huge amounts of money.
They know about poverty, they can see pictures of poverty,
but they've never experienced poverty, they never have, they
never have. If you've experienced poverty,
how much you value the comfort of riches, if you've experienced
it. So it is spiritually. So it is spiritually. What makes
a living soul feel destitute? What makes a living, breathing
soul feel destitute? Because he's praying, leave not
my soul destitute. Here's some things. that leave
the living soul destitute, it's the temptations of the flesh,
what John calls the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh,
the pride of life, that takes the eyes off God's spiritual
riches, because he's blessed his children with every spiritual
blessing in heavenly places in Christ. The love for Christ growing
cold, eyes of love, if that love grows cold, If that love goes
cold, that leaves your soul destitute. Oh leave not my soul destitute.
Christ in revelation to the church at Ephesus says you've done everything
right, but I've got one thing against you. You know what that
one thing was? You've left your first love.
You've left your first love. If you've left your first love,
it's like you've taken the engine out of the machine completely.
There's nothing left there to drive it. That makes the heart,
that makes the soul feel destitute. The flesh is so prone to unbelief,
isn't it? Isn't it? It's what the scriptures
call an evil heart of unbelief. Does it not well up again and
again as we backslide and slip and take our eyes off? As Peter
was walking on the water looking to Jesus and he took his eyes
off him and looked at the waves and he began to sing, Lord save
me. An evil heart of unbelief welling up inside. That leads
to destitution of soul. What about one another, the people
of God? When God gives us a love for
himself, he gives us a love for the brethren, for our people,
for his people. He gives us a love so it doesn't
matter if you've never met a fellow believer before, I tell you,
within minutes of being in one another's company. It will be
like you've never been separated. It will be so, so good. But that lack of love for God's
people, that can leave your soul destitute. What about a lack
of conformity to the image of Christ? We don't trust in what
we do to alter our standing with God, but there are marks. There
are gospel precepts. There are marks that show where
a soul is in conformity to the things of Christ. conformed to
his image, rather than being entangled with worldly thinking
and its desires. That can lead to destitution
of soul. He prays, leave not my soul destitute. I'll wrap this up. Have you by
grace known the experience of these things in some measure?
And by it I mean not in your head, I mean in your heart. To
know and to feel, to look with eyes of understanding and of
faith and of love, to trust, because you've got confidence
in him. If you've got those things, then Like when you look at a,
we keep thinking there's a plant outside our front door that's
dead. But you look and you think, oh no it's not. Why? Little green
shoots. Little green shoots. Like looking
at green shoots on a dead looking plant. If you've got some of
these marks, you have the marks of God's children. If not, if
not, let me plead with you. Let me plead with you, let me
persuade you. Like the scriptures do. Isaiah 55 verse 6 says this. It says it to you. Seek ye the
Lord while he may be found. Call upon him while he is near.