Why wait? That's my subject tonight. Why
wait? We're admonished over and over
again in the book of God to wait on the Lord. In the midst of
trouble, when things seem utterly unbearable, when trials and troubles
press you down, when your heart breaks within you, when the Lord
seems to have forsaken you, we're admonished to wait. Wait on the
Lord. Why wait? We ignore those admonitions
to our own soul's greater trouble. Why wait? Sweet the tokens of
His grace When my savior shows his face, when my soul his presence
feels, raging storms he bids me still. Oft repeat such visits,
and by your wise unerring hand, conquer comfort, wound, or heal. Let me but your presence feel. Here, I wait and pray and sigh. Raise my lankward heart on high. Precious Jesus, Savior, bless
with your mercy, love, and grace. Will you hear God's word to you
in this regard? Wait on the Lord. Oh, my soul. Will you hear God's word? Wait
on the Lord. Be of good courage. And he shall
strengthen thine heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord. Evil doers shall be cut off.
But those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the
earth. Wait on the Lord. keep his way,
and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land when the wicked are
cut off, thou shalt see it. Say not thou, I will recompense
evil, but wait on the Lord, and he shall save thee. And therefore
will the Lord wait, the Lord will wait that he may be gracious
unto you. Therefore will he be exalted,
that he may have mercy upon you. For the Lord is a God of judgment. Blessed are all they that wait
for him. And kings shall be thy nursing
fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers. They shall bow
down to thee with their faces toward the earth. and lick up
the dust of thy feet. And thou shalt know that I am
the Lord for thou, for they shall not be ashamed that wait for
me. For since the beginning of the
world, men have not heard nor perceived by the ear, neither
hath the eye seen, O God, beside thee what he hath prepared for
him that waiteth him. No wonder Isaiah said, I will
wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Israel
and I will look for him. Turn to the book of Lamentations
if you will. We'll get to my text in a moment. Excuse me. God's prophet Jeremiah tells
us that it is good that a man should both hope and quietly
wait upon the Lord. Look at Lamentations 3 verse
25. The Lord is good unto them that
wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that
a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the
Lord. The Lord is good. In all his being, in all his
attributes, in all that he does, God is good. The Lord is good. Things often seem totally contrary
to that declaration. It often appears that that which
comes to pass is not good. And things that we experience
and cause our hearts to break within us and our eyes to run
with tears, we do not call good. But what God does is good. It's good. The Lord's good and
is good in all his works and in all his ways. And then the
prophet tells us the Lord is good to those that wait for Him. To those that wait for Him. To
wait for Him is to calmly trust Him. To calmly, patiently trust Him. To wait for Him is to calmly,
patiently trust Him to do good. Trust Him to deliver you. Trust Him to bring you out of
trouble. Trust Him to bring you to your
desired rest and haven. The Lord is good to the soul
that seeketh Him. The prophet seems to put these
two things together, waiting for the Lord and seeking the
Lord. seeking the Lord, waiting for
Him. What is that? Those who wait for the Lord,
who seek Him, know their need of Him. They sense their need of Him.
They feel their need of Him. They wait for Him because they
know they can't do without Him. They seek Him for they know they
must have Him. They wait for Him and seek Him
sincerely. When thou saidst, Seek ye my
face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.
We seek Him in His Word, in His house, among His people with
prayer and supplication. Those who wait for the Lord,
who seek Him, have faith in Him. They believe Him. They believe
Him. To wait for Him, to seek Him, is to believe Him. They
seek Him continually. Paul said, I count not myself
to have apprehended, but forgetting those things which are behind,
and reaching forth to those things which are before, I press toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. So that God's people never pretend
to have arrived at that which they seek. Never pretend to have
arrived at the goals they have. Never pretend to have arrived
at that perfection which awaits us in Christ Jesus, but rather
we always continually wait on the Lord and seek Him. We spend
our lives seeking Him, reading His Word, seeking to hear from
Him, seeking His face, seeking His presence, seeking His guidance,
His direction, His blessings. We bring our lives, our families,
our sons, our daughters, our circumstances to Him. We seek
Him and we wait. Wait. I'll tell you something
else. Those who wait for Him, who seek
Him, they are a people who are sought by Him. You see, it is
the goodness of God that leads us to repentance. We seek Him
because He seeks us. We wait for Him because He waits
to be gracious to us. And those who seek Him, find
Him. Those who wait for Him will soon
have Him. I know the thoughts that I think
toward you, the Lord says, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to
give you an expected end. I will hearken unto you. And
you shall seek me and find me when you shall search for me
with all your heart. It is good for a man that he
should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the
Lord. Now be sure you understand this.
Salvation is God's. You who are without Christ, salvation
is God's. It is his to give to whom he
will. He has mercy on whom he will,
and whom he will he hardens. Salvation is the Lord's. It's
not yours, you have no right to it. Salvation is the Lord's. The same thing is true to you
who are God's people in this world. To you who are God's saints. To you who are believers. Deliverance
from any danger, any hardship, Any trial, any foe is God's work
and only God's work. God's work. Only God's. I can't perform it for you and
you can't perform it for yourself. Salvation is God's work. The
sooner you learn in God's providence in the midst of trials. And I'm
talking to Don Fortner now more than I'm talking to anybody else.
The sooner you learn in the midst of trials that you can't extricate
yourself. You can't work it out yourself.
You can't deliver yourself. You can't open your own prison
door. Only God can do it. The sooner
you'll learn to wait for God to work, to wait on the Lord
and wait on him because he's able to deliver and he surely
will. Are you hearing lamentations?
Look at verse 31. The Lord will not cast off forever,
but though he cause grief, yet will he have compassion according
to the multitude of his mercies. It's good for you. You who are
without Christ, to cast yourself in the dust before the throne
of grace, like that leper in Matthew chapter 8 who came to
the Lord Jesus and cried, Lord, if you will, you can make me
whole. It's all up to you. It's all
up to you. If you will, you can make me
whole. I have folks I care about deeply
come to me. Some of you have. Want to know
what to do. Concerned about your soul. Concerned
about faith in Christ. The commandment of the gospel
is plain. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But having preached the gospel
to you, Lindsay, that's all I can do. I'm not going to pretend to be
a priest. I cannot absolve your sins and I cannot bring you to
the Savior. I can't do it. I can't believe
God for you and I won't try to convince you that you believe
God. What do you do? You get alone with God and wait.
You get alone with God and seek the Lord. The same is true for you who
endure trouble. It's good for troubled saints
to quietly wait for God's salvation. Stand still. and see the salvation
of the Lord. Stand still and watch God work.
Stand still and watch God perform his deeds. Jesus said to Martha,
said I not unto thee that if thou wouldst believe, thou shouldest
see the glory of God. Now turn to our text, Micah chapter
7. In this seventh chapter of his
prophecy, God's prophet Micah is in great heaviness. God's church is going through
a time of great darkness. Evil abounds everywhere. In the
state house and in the church house, in the prophet's house
and in the houses of the wicked, And in the houses of God's saints,
evil abounds everywhere. Everywhere. Micah lived in a time of obvious
judgment. Judgment upon the land. Judgment
upon people. Judgment brought upon many women
for their ungodliness. Judgment brought upon the world
for the departure of God's own people from his worship. Judgment
brought upon the ungodly around them, not because of what the
ungodly had done, but because of what the godly had done. Horrible
days of judgment and darkness. Much like the days in which we
live, where sin abounded, trouble abounded. Where wickedness ran
rampant in the streets, woes flooded and overflowed everything. Where transgressions were multiplied,
troubles were multiplied. Where depravity defied God, darkness
engulfed the hearts. Let's see if that's the way you
read Micah chapter 7. Woe is me. For I am as when they have
gathered the summer fruits, as the great greenings of the vintage.
There is no cluster to eat. My soul desired the first ripe
fruit. Perhaps he's talking about physical
famine, perhaps. But he clearly is talking about
something far worse. He's talking about famine in his soul. He
said, I have nothing upon which to feed. God seems to ravish
my very soul with emptiness. The good man is perished out
of the earth. He said, I can't find anybody
who can help me along the way. I don't find anybody. I don't
find anyone with whom to speak with gladness about the things
of God. I don't have anyone with whom I can sing the songs of
Zion and give worship and praise to God. The good man is perished
out of the earth. There is none upright among men.
They all lie in wait for blood. So surely he's exaggerating this.
No question he's talking like Elijah and Desperate times but
Adam when we're in desperation our souls exaggerate everything
When you're when you're in trouble everything's exaggerated and
Micah speaking here exactly how he sees things He says they hunt
every man his brother with a net That they may do evil with both
hands earnestly the Prince asketh And the judge asketh for reward.
Everybody lives for what they can get. Everybody's ready to
take a bribe. And the great man, he uttereth
his mischievous desire. So they wrap it up. The best
of them, the best of them. The best neighbor of God. The
best man I know. The best of them is as a briar. Can you imagine? It's like a thorn sticking in
my finger. The most upright, sharper than
a thorn hedge, the day of thy watchman and thy visitation cometh,
now shall be their perplexity. And he goes on and says, trust
ye not in a friend, put ye not confidence in a guide, Keep the
doors of thy mouth from her that lieth in thy bosom. For the son
dishonoreth the father, and the daughter riseth up against her
mother, the daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies
are the men of his own house. Now watch this. Look at verse
7. The prophet's next words seem
to be to the natural mind. If you just look at this thing
in natural reason and logic, the prophet's next words seem
to be totally out of place. Micah says, all right, since
things are so bad, since I'm in such terrible straits, since
I see no way out of the mess we're in, since it appears that
all hope is lost, therefore, I will look unto the Lord. Therefore, I will look unto the
Lord. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. My God will hear me. When you are like those who were
on board that doomed ship with the Apostle Paul in Acts chapter
27, when neither the sun nor the stars have in many days appeared,
When a great tempest lays upon you, when all hope that you should
be saved has been taken away, what do you do? Brother PJ, that's the best circumstances
you'll ever find yourself in. When you can't do anything. When
God fixes it so that you know, you can do nothing. Oh, now you're
in store for blessedness. Therefore, I will look unto the
Lord. I will wait for the God of my
salvation. My God will hear me. Why wait? Why wait? Keep your Bibles open
on your lap here at Micah chapter 7. And I want you to see 10 reasons
Micah gives us for waiting. All I'm going to do is just state
them. 10 reasons why we will be wise
to wait on God. I remember reading years ago
about a young pastor going to visit an old lady in the congregation.
And as he started to leave, he picked up her Bible and going
to read a portion of scripture and have prayer with her. As
he was thumbing through the scriptures, looking for a portion to read,
he kept noticing little notations in the margin of a Bible. He'd
just run across verses here and there on every page, a well-used
Bible, T.P. T.P. In curiosity, he got the
best of them. He said, I can't help but ask,
sister, said, all through your Bible, you've got these two letters
marked down there. T.P. What's that stand for? She
said, honey, she said, those are the promises, promises God
made in his word, tried and proved. Tried and proved. I've got nothing
for you tonight except that which is tried and proved. Ten reasons
we will be wise to wait on the Lord in all our circumstances. Verse 7, number 1, because my
God will hear me. I will look unto the Lord. I'll
look to him. That's where salvation is. It's
looking to Christ. I'll wait on him because he will
hear me. Let us therefore come boldly
to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy. and find grace
to help in time of need. God will hear us. God will hear
us. He hears our prayers. But I have some difficulty there
because I have to acknowledge I have great difficulty praying. I just don't know much about
it. I try. Probably not more than a few
minutes in every hour that I don't quickly offer a supplication
to God, but I don't know anything about praying. I just don't know. I can't express what my heart
longs for. I can't put into words what my
soul desires. make arguments to plead my cause
with God. And when I try, I repeat the
words, and repeat the words, and repeat the words. My heart breaks for the vain
repetition of the words. But this I know, my God will
hear me. He hears our prayers, and He
hears our groans, and our cries, and our tears, as we seek him
and wait for him. Number two, therefore, while
I look unto the Lord, I will wait for the God of my salvation,
because when I fall, I will arise. Look at verse eight. Rejoice
not against me, O mine enemy. When I fall, I shall arise. when I fall by Satan's temptation,
by divine appointment into adversity and difficulty, into iniquity,
transgression and sin, when I fall. Not if, when, when I fall. The righteous fall seven times
in a day. would just constantly fall. And
the Lord raises him up. When I fall, I shall arise because
I am in his hands. Because I am saved by his grace. Because I am the object of his
mercy. I am chosen, redeemed, and called
and kept by him. And when I fall, I shall arise. I cannot, if I am his, fall from
his love, from his hands of mercy, from his tender care, from his
infinite goodness. Number three, when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto
me. The light of grace is in my heart.
The light of his word is in my hand. I read it and meditate on it
and study it. I walk in the light as he is
in the light. And yet I'm often in darkness
because the Lord hides his face. The son of righteousness is covered
with a cloud of darkness. And if I'm in darkness, he has brought me into darkness. Lamentations chapter 3, verse
2. He hath brought me into darkness. Providential darkness, spiritual
darkness, mental darkness, confusion. You see, I recognize and I hope
you do, Merle, whatever our state, whatever
our situation, whatever our experience, Our Father did this. God did this, not a man, not
the devil. They may have been instruments,
but our God sends us what he sends us, does with us what he
does with us, puts us where we are for our good. He hath brought
me into darkness and not into light. But blessed be his holy
name, though I sit in darkness, The Lord shall be light unto
me. Jehovah Jesus is my light. The son of righteousness will
arise and the clouds will be dispersed and he will by his
spirit illuminate and comfort and refresh and guide my soul
with his word. Number four, I will wait for
the God of my salvation because we read in verse nine, He will
plead my cause. He will undertake for me. He will plead for me before the
Father's throne, plead His blood and His righteousness for me,
plead for my everlasting benefit and my present benefit, and He
will undertake for me. So that he pleads for me against
the sons of Ham. So that he pleads for Israel
against her opposers. He pleads for his church against
their persecutors. He pleads for us in the midst
of satanic temptations and earthly troubles and wicked men opposing
us and our evil hearts opposing us. He undertakes in all these
things to care for his own. Number five. I will wait for
the God of my salvation because he will execute judgment for
me. What? God executes judgment for
his people? You mean God, God judges men and sends judgment
in the earth for his people? Yes. All the judgments of God
upon men and women in this world. I chose my words deliberately.
All the judgments of God upon men and women in this world.
And if a hurricane comes, that's divine judgment. If a flood sweeps
away a city, that's divine judgment. It's not an accident. It's not
a freak of nature. It is the direct hand of God. If God sends an earthquake and
swallows up a hundred thousand people right now, that's divine
judgment. That's divine judgment. If God
sends a whirlwind and drops down and takes one person in a city
and leaves everybody else perfectly safe, that's divine judgment.
If God does it, that's judgment. And the judgment is for his people,
his church, the saving of his elect and the avenging of his
people. That means I don't have to defend
myself. And you don't have to defend
yourself. God defends his own. God defends his own. Dearly beloved,
avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath. For it
is written, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. I wish I could learn this talk.
I wish I could learn this. First thing I want to do when
somebody wrongs me, man, I want to retaliate. I mean, that's
just my nature. If folks weren't looking, I'd
pop the fellow in the jaw. That's my nature. That's just
my nature. And it's wrong. It's wrong. I
can't tell you how many nasty letters I've written to folks,
just nasty letters. And I lay them on my desk for
two or three days and throw them away. Give me time to get cool
off a little bit. Why? I should never defend myself. Don't have any reason to defend
myself. And when I do, I make a mess
of it. What do you do if folks speak bad of you? Ignore them.
Ignore them. Don't reply to them. How come?
Shall not God avenge His own elect? He will. Our Heavenly Father takes care
of His own. That means you don't have to take care of yourself.
I recall back years ago, Faith was in high school. Some rough
girls threatened to whip her, two sisters. And she talked about
it a little bit. I don't remember if she was talking
directly to me or talking to her mom, and I overheard her.
I said, I'll take care of that. She said, what do you mean? You're
not going to fight. You're a lady. You don't fight. I'll go find her daddy. And I'll whip him. I'll just
tell him. I'll just tell him, your girl
touched my daughter. I'll take it out on you. Daddy,
don't do that. I said, I'm telling you. You
just let me know what's going on. I'll take care of it. Oh,
you wouldn't do that, would you? She's my daughter. She's my,
I'll guarantee you, if I couldn't whip him, I'd get somebody to
help me. That's my daughter. God takes care of his own. God teach me that. Teach me that. I will wait for the God of my
salvation because he will bring me forth to the light. Verse
nine, John Gill made this observation. I think it's exactly right. He
will openly espouse the calls of his church. He will openly show Himself on
the side of His people. He will openly show His approval
of His own. He will cause them to have glory
and honor publicly given to them before men and by men. He will bring forth the righteousness
of His saints to the light. Her judgment shall be as the
noon day. And he will make her innocence and righteousness appear
clearly before all. The Apostle Paul writes to the
Corinthians in first Corinthians four. He said these fellows accused
me of this and accused me that say he's not really an apostle.
He's he's he's not really a true preacher of God. He said. It's
a small thing to me what you think about me. I couldn't care
less what you say. And I'm not about to respond
to it. I'll wait for another day when God sets everything
in its true light. He will bring me forth to light.
He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, the psalmist said,
and thy judgment as the noonday. Now look at verse nine again. Therefore, will I look unto the
Lord and I will wait for the God of my salvation. Here's the
seventh reason, because I shall behold His righteousness. I'll behold His righteousness,
the righteousness of Christ revealed in the gospel, of course. His
righteousness, the righteousness of God in the exercise of His
grace, of course. But more than that, as we wait and all things over, and honestly
consider things, weighing them in the light of divine revelation,
we will see God's righteousness in the fulfillment of all his
promises. We will see God's faithfulness in the execution of all judgments.
We will see the equity of God in all the providential judgments
that he pursues in this world, the goodness of God and the benefit
he gives in all his works of providence. who will see his
wisdom and his goodness even in our chastisements, the righteousness
of his everlasting judgments, and the righteousness of his
everlasting salvation. Number eight, look at verse 10.
I wait for the Lord God, the God of my salvation, because
he will take away all my shame and my reproach. These days, people who believe
God are laughed at. Most of the time in our society,
people are too polite to just laugh in your face when you talk
to them about believing this word, believing God's revelation. But as soon as you leave the
room, they're laughing. They're laughing. What an imbecile. He believes
in creation. What an imbecile. Why, he believes
in a real hell. He says that's the very word
of God. And all society, both religious
and secular, press hard against God's church, laughing up their
sleeve at folks like us. Just laugh up their sleeve. but
it won't always be that way. Look at verse 10. Then she that
is mine enemy shall see it and shame shall cover her which said
unto me where is the Lord thy God? Mine eyes shall behold her
now shall she be trodden down as the mire of the streets. Christ took away all my reproach
when he made my reproach his reproach and died under the wrath
of God as my substitute at Calvary. Christ came in his grace speaking
peace to my heart sprinkling my conscience with his precious
blood and took away my conscious awareness of reproach and guilt
before God when he saved me by his grace and soon The reproach
that men cast upon me and upon you, upon his church and his
people, he will take away and the wicked shall be put to open
public shame forever. Forever. He will cause all men
to look upon his people washed in his blood and robed in his
righteousness and saved by his grace. with astonishment, with astonishment. Number nine,
I will wait for the God of my salvation because he will build
his church. He will save his people. Verse
11, in that day, in the day that thy walls are built, in that
day shall the decree be far removed. In that day also he will come
even to thee from Assyria and from the fortified cities and
from the fortress even to the river and from sea to sea and
from mountain to mountain notwithstanding the land shall be desolate because
of them that dwell therein for the fruit of their doings. What's
that talking about? In the midst of this judgment
God brought upon Babylon and brought upon the land of Israel
by Babylon's hand. The Lord yet was performing redemption
for Israel by which he typified, Bobby, what he's doing now in
gathering out his elect. And in the midst of this desolate
society, in the midst of this desolate society, I don't have any Hesitancy, speaking
to you concerning my views, concerning things politically. As long as
I have a choice, I'm not going to vote for anybody in any kind
of office, not from dog catching a president who's in favor of
homosexuality, murdering babies, or anything of that kind. Not
going to do it. Just not going to do it. Anybody promotes it,
I'm opposed to them. That means our president right
now. I'm opposed to him. Are you for a Mormon? No. No. Now, just for less black devil,
that's all. And I mean that. I mean that.
If I could get everybody in every political office that's running
for office that I would like to see in office, it wouldn't
change anything in society. Because the conservatives have
no more regard for God than the liberals. Don't fool yourself
into thinking they do. Moral decadence hasn't improved
one iota In all the years I've been walking on this earth, has
it been immoral? Doesn't matter whether liberals
in office or conservatives in office. Doesn't matter whether
we live in Danville, Kentucky or New York City. Moral decadence
and depravity only shows itself worse, never improves. Why? Because this world cannot be
improved. Cannot be improved. It cannot
be improved. But I'll tell you what God's
doing. In the midst of the decadence, in the midst of the desolation,
He's gathering out His elect from sea to sea, from one corner
of the earth to the other corner of the earth, and He brings them
each daily, such as should be saved, into the captivity of
His grace and delivers them from the bondage and corruption and
vileness of their own iniquity. He gathers them, every one, from
each part of the world. And then 10th. Therefore will
I look unto the Lord. I will wait for the God of my
salvation because he will yet show his Israel and Egypt marvelous
things. Skip down to verse 15. According
to the days of thy coming out of the land of Egypt, will I
show unto him marvelous things. He speaks of this hymn in the
plural in verse 17. He says, they shall lick the
dust like a serpent. They shall move out of their
holes like worms of the earth. They shall be afraid of the Lord,
our God, and shall fear because of thee. Who is this him to whom
God will show these marvelous things? Is it Christ? Is it his
chosen? Is it Satan who was represented
by Pharaoh in Egypt? Is it the world spoken out by
Egypt? What marvelous things our God
will yet show this world. He will show the wonders of his
providence in the saving of his elect He will show how He graciously,
wisely uses all things at last to overthrow Babylon and trample
her in the streets. And He will show marvelous things
in the ultimate resurrection glory of His saints. He will
come and raise us from... I show you a mystery. We shall not all sleep. The dead
in Christ will rise first. The trump shall sound and the
dead in Christ will rise and then they which are alive and
remain shall be caught up together and meet the Lord in the air
and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Raised in glory. Raised in incorruption. Raised in immortality. I'll show
marvelous things to Watch what God has done. Watch what God is doing. Watch what God shall do and wait. Wait. I will wait upon the Lord
that hideth his face from the house of Jacob and I will look
for him. For they that wait on the Lord
shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings
as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. God teach me to wait. Teach me
to wait. Amen.