Wait Hope Watch

Q: What does the Bible say about waiting on the Lord?

The Bible emphasizes the importance of waiting on the Lord with hope and expectation, as seen in Psalm 130. Waiting on the Lord is a posture of faith where believers depend on God's timing and provision for their needs. In Psalm 130, David expresses his soul's longing and hope in the Lord, illustrating that waiting is not passive but an active trust in God's promise to deliver. Throughout the Scriptures, God's people are repeatedly called to wait, demonstrating that true hope is rooted in the anticipation of His faithful actions. This waiting reflects a deep relationship with God, grounded in faith and an understanding of His character.

Q: Why is hope important for Christians?

Hope is essential for Christians as it undergirds waiting on God, fueling perseverance through trials. For Christians, hope is intrinsically tied to their faith and sustains them during periods of waiting or uncertainty. Romans 8:24-25 clarifies that hope refers to expecting what is not yet seen and thus motivates believers to wait patiently for God's promises to be fulfilled. It transforms the experience of waiting into an active engagement with God's Word, encouraging believers to look beyond their present circumstances. This hope reassures believers of God's goodness and His plans for their ultimate redemption, whether in this life or in eternity, thereby anchoring their souls amid trials and challenges.

Q: What does the Bible say about forgiveness?

The Bible teaches that there is forgiveness with God, offering hope and restoration to repentant sinners. Forgiveness is a central theme throughout Scripture, revealing God's character as a merciful and gracious Redeemer. In Psalm 130:4, David declares, 'But there is forgiveness with thee that thou mayest be feared.' This emphasizes that God's forgiveness is not simply an act of mercy but is deeply tied to a right relationship with Him. It is through His forgiveness that believers are restored, allowing them to stand before Him despite their iniquities. This truth is further demonstrated in the New Testament through Christ's atonement, offering comprehensive redemption for all who repent and believe. Understanding forgiveness motivates believers to seek companionship with God, instilling awe and reverence towards Him.

Q: How do we know God's promises are true?

God's promises are true because they are grounded in His unchanging nature and faithfulness. The assurance that God’s promises are true is rooted in His eternal character and faithfulness to His people. Scripture affirms that God is not a man that He should lie (Numbers 23:19), and His Word is trustworthy because it flows from His nature. In Psalm 130, David expresses confidence in God's redemptive plan, reinforcing that God’s promises are sure and His timing perfect. Believers can cling to the promises outlined in the Bible, such as those of salvation, provision, and eternal life, as they await their fulfillment. Relying on the unchangeable nature of God provides believers with strength in their faith journey.

Q: Why do Christians experience trials and depths?

Christians experience trials and depths as part of their spiritual journey, meant for growth and reliance on God. Trials are a common experience for Christians, serving various purposes in God's sovereign plan. As noted in Psalm 130, David cries from the depths, illustrating that believers often endure difficult seasons that test their faith. These trials are not without purpose; they can lead to refinement of character, increased reliance on God, and a deeper understanding of His grace. The Bible teaches that through much tribulation, believers will enter the Kingdom of God (Acts 14:22), reminding them that trials are part of their sanctification process. Ultimately, these experiences foster a greater appreciation for God's mercy and the comforts He provides in times of need.

Psalm 130, Psalm 130, and I'd
like to read this short Psalm to you. This message was impressed
upon my heart. I have a considerable amount
of trouble getting away from it. I thought about preaching
on something else but it seems that this has been impressed
upon me and I'm shut up to this and so I'll preach on this this
morning, God willing, so you be in prayer for me as I attempt
to find the mind of the Lord here and to deliver what I believe
would be his message today. We'll read beginning with verse
one. Out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear
my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplications. If thou, Lord, shouldest mark
iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? But there is forgiveness
with thee that thou mayest be feared. I wait for the Lord,
my soul doth wait, and in his word do I hope. My soul waiteth
for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning. I say
more than they that watch for the morning. Let Israel hope
in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy. And with him
is plenteous redemption, and he shall redeem Israel from all
his iniquities. Now I read this psalm to you,
and it's a very short psalm, but I want to speak primarily
this morning on verse 5 and verse 6. But as we read the psalm,
we notice from the opening verses of it that David was in the depths. He said, Out of the depths have
I cried unto thee, O Lord. Now, I want to make haste to
say that he's not the only one of God's people who has been
there. All the Lord's people at one
time or another, if we imagine that the experience of a true
believer is always a very happy experience, or an experience
of a high level of peace, then we're wrong. All believers at
one time or another, they will have their days and their nights.
They will have their summers and their winters, their risings
and their fallings. Where there is life, there are
pretty sure to be changes. And we're not always going to
be up on the mountaintop. Sometimes we're going to be in
the depths. Now the statues in the park,
I suppose, are normally just coal. But living men are sometimes
they're ready to faint in the heat, and sometimes they're well
nigh frozen with the cold. I'm talking about the experience
of God's people, how that it rises and falls, how that one
day you'll be in the depths, and the next day you'll have
victory and peace and joy in your heart. So David found himself
at the time of the writing of this psalm in the depths. Now
if you're a member of the living family of God, expect that you're
going to have many variations in your experience, and that
sometimes you'll be even in the depths as others have been. Was not our Lord there on several
occasions in His ministry here on earth? I'm sure that our Lord,
though He is now in the very heights, seated at the right
hand of the Divine Majesty, while He was on earth, He could say
out of the depths, have I cried unto thee, O Lord." He was indeed
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He was stricken,
smitten, the Bible says, and afflicted. He was numbered with
the transgressors. He was made to be sin for us.
He was forsaken of God. Do you not suppose that our Lord
felt all this? Our Lord felt it keenly. He experienced
all of this. Remember Gethsemane? How could
we have fellowship with Him in His suffering if we were not
sometimes in the depths too? How are we going to fellowship
with our Master if we don't have some times of agony, some times
of misery, some times of bereavement, some times of suffering? sometimes
of parking in our lives. How are we going to ever experience
what our Lord did? Well, and too, the best of godly
men will often be found in the depths of temporal trouble. David, you remember, was hunted
by Saul. King Saul was out to kill him.
David was hated by the Philistines, and he was grieved by his son
Absalom. All of you remember that story. He was chastened by God. David
said, I'm chastened every day. Every day God lays the rod on
my back. He had many trials and inward
conflicts, and the best of God's children are going to have their
trials and their tests too in this life. The Word of God teaches
that through much tribulation, and that word means trouble,
through much trouble we will enter into the Kingdom of God. And though faith comforts and
cheers and lifts us up, there are times when the iron enters
in to our soul, when for a season, if need be, we're in heaviness
through many trials and many difficulties. Surely God's people
are a mourning people. They're a mourning people. We
read over in Matthew chapter 5, I think it's verse 4, blessed
are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted. now that's
a wonderful verse you notice that says blessed are they that
mourn not they that mourn and mourn and mourn and mourn and
mourn on and on and on but blessed are they that mourn for they
shall be comforted and God's people need to expect that yes
there'll be days when I'm in the depths but there will be
comfort and there will be a lifting up. And I'm not appointed to
stay there all of my Christian life and all of my Christian
experience. There is and shall be lifting
up. There shall be a time of comfort
and cheer. And there will be a time when
the Lord lifts up and removes the trials and the difficulties
in our life. God's people, they have not only
temporal trouble, Not only do they have times when they feel
very much like that about their whole lot is just a lot of problem
and a lot of trouble, but they will also have times of great
blessing and times of encouragement. and they'll have times when they
have a spiritual sorrow as well as temporal sorrow and temporal
pain. They do not always live upon
the mountain, as we said, but they come into the valley where
they're made to feel the power of inbred sin and are made to
mourn over their foolishness. And I'm sure that about every
believer here who's been in the way of the Lord for any length
of time knows something about what it is to be made absolutely
foolish through the flesh and through their actions when they
tried to or attempted to deal with some of the problems of
life, the spiritual problems that they have, how that they've
just made so many blunders and so many foolish mistakes in their
life. We have a nature that is contrary
to God. We have a nature that is a sinful
nature. And oftentimes we're absolutely
amazed. And I've heard young people say
this, I'm amazed. I could not believe the thoughts
that were in my mind. I could not believe what came
out of my heart. Well, beloved, we all have this
inbred corruption that causes spiritual problems and difficulties
in our life, and we have to deal with that. There are depths of
soul agony which some Christians have never known. I know that
there are some believers, and they don't testify, they don't
talk about their problems, and maybe they've never had any.
But with many of us, we've been plunged again and again into
spiritual problems and spiritual troubles. There have been times
we were so in the depths that we could hardly call God our
own, for our very faith seemed to tremble under the pressure
of affliction and the depression that was brought on our spirit.
by the problems that we felt so overwhelmed with. Well, this
psalm ought to comfort us, those of us who are in the depths,
if we be there this morning, as we see that others have had
to go there too. Maybe we see we're in good company. We're in company with David.
David was in the depths. And so if you're there, brother,
sister, keep in mind to follow the example of the psalmist when
he was in the depths, We see where that he never left off
praying. He prayed unto his God because
he says, Lord, hear my voice. And in the first verse he says,
out of the depths have I cried unto thee, O Lord. So he did
not leave off praying. Whatever else you do, never neglect
this one means of deliverance. You pray, you cry to God. May we be able to say with David
out of the depths of our pride unto thee, O Lord. Lord, hear
my voice. Let thine ears be attentive to
the voice of my supplication. Now one of the designs of Satan
is that when he finds a saint in the depths, he wants to keep
him there. But I've already told you, there
shall be comfort. There shall be comfort. The Lord's
not gonna leave you there. Pray and seek the Lord's face,
and he'll lift you up. If we follow the example of David
and cry to God, we will not be there long. He who cries out
of the depths will soon be out of the depths. You will come
up out of the depths, and if you can but cry to God, I don't
want you to despair. I want you to cry unto God. There's something marvelous about
the power of prayer. You remember when Jonah, he prayed
out of the belly of the fish? And, brother, sister, you remember
that he was in the depths? Was he not really in the depths?
He really was. In Jonah chapter 2, he says that,
out of the belly of hell, he said, cried I, and thou heardest
my voice. Jonah was down about as far as
anybody could possibly go. Somebody said, it's like being
in a wagon wheel rut, in the rut so bad that a snake couldn't
crawl under you. That's getting low, very low.
Well, he was down in the midst, the scripture said, He was cast
into the midst of the sea, and the waters compassed him about,
even to the soul. And the depths closed round about,
and the weeds were wrapped about his head. And then he said, when
my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came
unto thee, into thine holy temple. And the Lord spake to the fish,
and vomited out Jonah on the dry ground. So cry then if you're
in the depths. Cry if you're down like old Jonah
was. Cry if you don't think there's
any deliverance. Cry unto God. If you never cried
before, you cry now. If you're in the depths, you
cry to God. But notice something else here
in verse three and four. He felt that he could not stand
before God on the footing of his own personal character. In
verse three, if thou, Lord, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who
shall stand? How many times have you went
to prayer and the first thing you thought about when you thought
about crying to God was your own failings and your own sin
and the blackness of your own guilt and sin? Well, David said,
Lord, if you would mark iniquity Who shall stand? We could not
stand before you. If you were to mark down every
one of our iniquities, if you were to write them down in your
book, there's not a one of us that could stand before you. Surely, listen to me now, he
says, child of God, if a sin is dark, and if that sin is dark
as a cloud and it hides the Lord's face from you, he goes on to
say in verse four, there is forgiveness. There is forgiveness. So if your
sin is troubling you and you feel that your sin is between
you and God, that He's not going to hear you and hear your cry,
remember there is forgiveness with God. God will forgive and
surely your sin is no greater than David's. It may be that
you've sinned many times and very grievously at that, but
there's forgiveness with God. there's forgiveness with him.
And isn't it wonderful that our God has made a way whereby he
can pardon iniquity, whereby he can blot out our sin. I like
Psalm chapter 32 and verse one and two. It says, blessed is
he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed
is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in
whose spirit there is no guile. I like those verses. because
it tells us that the man is blessed whose transgression is forgiven,
whose sin has been covered by the atoning work of our blessed
God. And so surely this morning as
we think upon our situation, whether we be in the depths or
whether we just now are out of the depths, Surely we have remembered
our sins and our failures, and we must be reminded that, as
somebody reminded Martin Luther one time, and he was all cast
down and very, very dreary in mind, melancholy, and somebody
said, there's forgiveness with God. What's ailing you? there's
forgiveness with God that he may be feared and those words
lifted up his heart and he was encouraged to go on with the
Lord and every once in a while there's something you know Satan
is a master at bringing before us our sins and our failures
and making us to feel them in our souls to the point where
that we just feel like giving up But my brother, my sister,
remember there is forgiveness with God. Now you may have backslidden
sadly and horribly, and you might have gone astray from the Lord,
but remember this, there is forgiveness with the Lord. The devil comes
and tell you, your doom is sealed, and your damnation is sure, but
you tell him that there's forgiveness with the Lord. And this is a
blessed sentence that we have here. There is forgiveness with
thee that thou mayest be feared. Now then, I want us to get into
verse 5 and verse 6. There are three words that I
want to talk about a little bit this morning in verse 5 and 6.
And the first word that I want to talk about is the word waiting.
the word waiting I wait for the Lord in verse 5 my soul doth
wait and in his word do I hope and in verse 6 my soul waiteth
for the Lord so there's three words here and let me talk about
them a little bit with you this morning David is talking about
his posture and he says I wait for the Lord my soul doth wait
My first observation then on this word is that this is the
constant posture of all the saints of God. I've heard the comment
made by some believers that it seems like that they are always
waiting on the Lord to do something. They're always waiting on God
to deliver them. Always waiting. They're waiting
before the Lord. Well, I believe that this is
the posture that we ought to have. And this is what David
is saying here in this verse. Before our Lord Jesus Christ
came, all the spiritual people among the twelve tribes of Israel
were waiting for His appearing. Over the door of the great mausoleum
of Old Testament saints was this epitaph. These all died in faith,
not having received the promises, but having seen them aforeoff,
and were persuaded of them, and embraced them. And Abraham is
a prime example. He saw Christ's day and he was
glad. You see, they were all waiters.
They were waiting on the Messiah to come. Waiting until the rod
should come forth out of the stem of Jesse and the branch
should grow out of his roots. There were some of these waiters
in the temple when the Lord appeared. You remember when he was brought
in when he was eight days old and Simeon and Anna, the prophetess,
You remember a Simeon who was waiting for the consolation of
Israel? Anna gave thanks to the Lord and spake of Him to all
them that looked for redemption in Jerusalem, because they were
waiting on the Lord, and the Lord revealed Himself in that
baby. Christ is here. God's salvation is there. And
they had grown gray in waiting, but they were not disappointed.
God did manifest unto them His salvation, and their waiting
was rewarded in that that Christ was revealed to them. And old
Simeon said, Mine eyes have seen thy salvation. I'm ready now
to depart. I'm ready to leave this life
and go off yonder into eternity. This expression, waiting for
the Lord, describes all the saints from righteous, able, down to
the faithful old Simeon and Anna. But what about the saints since
then? They also are or should be waiting
for the Lord. We're waiting for the second
advent of our Lord. We're looking for that blessed
hope and that glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior
Jesus Christ. Are you looking for the coming
of the Lord? You know the Bible says, He that
shall come, will come, and will not tarry. And in 1 Thessalonians
4, verse 16 and 17, Paul said, The Lord himself shall descend
from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and
with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together. with them in the clouds to meet
the Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord." And
in verse 18 Paul said, comfort one another with these words.
You see we're looking for that glorious hope. We're waiting
for its blessed realization. Do you believe that Christ could
come back anytime? Do you believe that he could?
Well, I certainly believe that he could. I don't know anything
about God's timetable, but I know the trump could blow any time. The last trump could blow and
our Lord could come back. One fellow said, I'm not looking
for a hole in the ground, I'm looking for one in the heavens.
And God's people need to be looking up and looking for that blessed
hope. We're waiting on the Lord to
come. And John said many, many years
ago, even so, come quickly, Lord Jesus. And that's the cry of
our hearts. We see so many problems and so
few solutions that one, one event could solve them all as far as
every believer on the face of the earth is concerned. And that
would be the coming of our blessed Lord Jesus Christ. His coming
back to this earth. We're waiting on the Lord to
come back. And we're waiting for Him to
come from heaven with a shout and with the voice of the archangel
and the trump of God. And too, brother and sister,
those who have gone on to be with the Lord Jesus and are now
in heaven, those who have died and whose bodies have been buried
in the earth and their souls have gone on to be with the Lord. They're waiting also until the
Lord shall again manifest Himself, for in the day of His appearing,
those who have fallen asleep in Jesus will come with Him. They'll put on their resurrection
bodies. And these bodies changed and
made like unto the glorious body of our Redeemer, the Lord Jesus
Christ. And we shall then be with our Lord forever. And so
we're waiting. We're content to be waiters,
even as I'm sure they are content to be waiters there, waiting
for the Lord to say, it's time for me to go back. It's time
for me to go, and it's time for you to have the redemption of
your body, and for you to have again a body in which you can
serve and worship me throughout eternity. So then, for all God's
saints, it has just been a time of waiting. We're waiting on
the Lord. Also, the saints of God as individuals
are in the posture of waiting on God. Now each one of you here
this morning, if you're a true believer, I believe that there's
something that you're waiting on God for. Now it may be that
there's one of you here this morning and you're waiting on
full assurance. You're waiting on God to speak
to your heart and say unto you, I am by salvation. You're waiting
for God to say to you that your sin is forgiven. You're waiting
for God to say unto you that truly He is Yours and that you're
his you're waiting to know in your heart of a certainty that
you're a child of God You're waiting for that and then there
are others here that maybe are waiting for a victory over sin
You might have overcome some things, but there are other things
that are plaguing you right now dear soul, and you're waiting
for for the Lord to overcome in you. You're waiting for Him
to overcome and subdue all of your iniquities in you. You're
waiting for Him to deliver you from those things that are plugging
you and dragging you down. There are some that Satan is
harassing. Some right here in this building
that have been harassed by Satan even this past week. And there
are troubles and there are trials that you're dealing with and
there's sin that you want to overcome and that you know you
must overcome. And you're waiting before God
that he would deliver you. and make that promise true that
sin shall not have dominion over you, but that the grace of God
will prevail, and where sin abounds, grace will much more abound,
and you will have the victory. But you're waiting now before
God. And then there are those who
are waiting on the Lord to answer prayer, prayer about their families. Prayer about their children,
their loved ones. Prayer about matters in their
life, those things that they just feel that God must deal
with, that God must undertake for them in. Situations that
they must have God's help, that they cannot deliver themselves,
and they must have the Lord's help. Well, you're waiting. You're
waiting on the Lord, and that's what you ought to do. Prayer
will be answered, true prayer that is, in God's time will be
answered. Wait before Him. Now it would
be difficult to say how long a Christian may have to wait
for God to answer their prayers. I know that there have been,
I've heard testimony about parents that prayed for their children
and their children were never converted while their parents
lived. But after they died and left
this world, Eventually their children were converted to the
Lord. They were brought to Christ,
but their prayers were never answered before their departure
from this world. But just because God does not
answer your prayer while you're here doesn't mean that he cannot
answer it after you're gone. Pray on, old soul, and wait Before
the Lord and trust God that in his time He will deliver God
is keeping you waiting, and he has a good reason for it It is
ours to wait his time hoping and expecting the blessing that
we've asked of the Lord We're also waiting on God to bless
this work here We're waiting on God, and we pray. We pray
earnestly that God will bless this work, that God will own
this work, and we believe He has, and that He will bless it,
and we're asking Him to do it, and waiting on Him to do it. Now, some of us have waited longer
than others for God's hand to be visible in our midst, for
God to appear, and for God to shake up each one of our hearts
and to stir us up to seek Him. We're waiting on God to pour
water upon him that's thirsty and floods upon the dry ground. We're waiting on God to do that. I want to see revival in my day.
It don't make any difference to me whether I see prosperity
or whatever that we could have. materially or physically, but
I want to see God pour out His Spirit in our day. I would love
to see God move upon the souls of men and women and for there
to be a time of harvest when God would reveal Himself, break
men's hearts like a hammer with the Word of God, breaking their
hearts and bringing them to surrender and full submission and faith
unto the Lord. And then we're waiting also that
we might be able to serve God better. Is there anyone here
this morning and you say in your heart, I would love to be able
to serve God? I'd like to serve Him all of
my days. I love the Lord. I want to serve
God. I wish I could serve the Lord. But God will use those that bow
their knee, and the Lord is looking, searching to and fro throughout
the earth to find one in and through whom He can show Himself
strong. God is looking for somebody that
He can empty out in order that He might fill them so they can
serve Him. But God will indeed bring us
down. You know, it's like a fellow,
if he's going to build a tall building, he'll dig a deep hole
and put in a foundation down deep. And if God's going to use
you, and if you're going to be able to serve Him, He'll undoubtedly
Dig deep in your life. He'll empty you out. You'll be
brought to the end of yourself. Where that you'll be able to
look up to God and ask Him. You say, Lord, I'm empty. And
the Lord fills empty people. And He enables those that are
weak to serve Him in His strength in order that He might have all
the glory. You see, He fixes it up so that
you won't be anything in yourself. so that He'll be all in all.
And when He enables you to serve Him, it'll be indeed for His
glory. And then waiting for the Lord
to seal the efforts that we have put forth. And you say, well,
how long, preacher, will we have to wait? Well, we may have to
wait till our death. waiting till men shall say, The
pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel is broken at the
cistern, because the Lord has said, Rise up, my soul, my fair
one, and come away. David said, I'll be satisfied
when I awake with thy likeness, and we shall be satisfied when
we shall see Christ. Satisfied when in our flesh we
shall see the Son that died for us, the Son of God that died
for us. Satisfied when He shall reign upon the earth, and we
shall reign with Him. Satisfied when we shall hear
the eternal hallelujahs, hallelujah, hallelujah, for the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth. We will wait till then. However
long we have to wait, we'll wait. I wait for the Lord, David said,
my soul doth wait. There's nothing else to wait
for. David said on another occasion, Now Lord, what wait I for? My
hope is in Thee. And that brings me to the next
word, and that word is hope. And I don't have much time to
speak on these other two words, so we will hurry. But are you
waiting on the Lord? Are you waiting? Is that the
posture right now of you here this morning? Are you waiting
before God? Here are those things pressing
that you want to see God do for you. Well, David said, and in
his word do I hope. First observe, if you will, that
hope is the reason for waiting. For we are saved by hope, the
Bible says, but hope that is seen is not hope. For what a
man seeth, why doth he yet hope for it? But if we hope for that
we see not, then do we with patience wait for it. That's Romans 8
verse 24 and 25. Next, hope is the strength of
waiting. You would not wait for a thing
about which you were absolutely hopeless. It is useless to wait
any longer, you would say, because I have given up. There's no longer
any reason to hope. But you that hope in the Word
of God and hope in the truth of God will never be able to
say that. But as much as you have some
degree of hope waiting on God, I believe that you'll continue
to wait because you got some hope in you. You got some hope.
Do you believe that God is all-powerful? I believe He is. Do you believe
God can do what he said he would do? Abraham said he believed
that he could. That God could do whatever he
said he would do. If God said you're going to have
a child when you're 100 and your wife 90, you'll have one. God
will give it to you. God is able to do whatever he
says, so hope on in his word. Now this hope is the sweetener
of waiting. Waiting is always sweet when
there's a hope at the end of it. But make sure your hope is
based on His promise, on His Word, because His Word is His
bond. When God says it, you can count
on it. Good hope, a well-founded hope,
a happy hope, a hope that maketh not ashamed, a hope that fixes
itself on Christ alone. If you do not hope, you will
not wait. And if you do not wait, you will
not receive. It is the hoping, waiting soul
that I believe in the end will get the blessing. Wait on the
Lord, be of good courage. He shall strengthen thine heart.
Wait, I say, on the Lord. But you cannot wait for that
for which you have no hope. Do you have hope in your heart
that you're going to be forever with the Lord? Well, then you
shall wait patiently and serve God here until the day is over
and until the time is gone of your service and your pilgrimage
and the Lord will receive you into everlasting habitation.
Okay, now the third word here is watching. And it's in verse
6 here where David said, My soul waiteth for the Lord more than
they that watch for the morning. I say more than they that watch
for the morning. He that waits and he that hopes
learns to watch. Well, what is the figure here
used? Well, partly, I believe it is the temple worship. There
was a great temple at Jerusalem, and all the people would go up
to worship so many times of the year. And the people would come
from near and far, and some would leave their homes in the middle
of the night, and they would arrive before morning, and they
would climb the steep hill and reach the temple gates. And they
would ask the guard, when will the service begin? When will
the meeting begin? We've come to appear before God. And he replies, not before daybreak. So they would watch for the morning. They would watch the eastern
sky. They would watch for the first
light of day, because the morning was coming. And David said, my
soul doth wait on the Lord more than they that watch for the
morning. So they look intently for the sun to come up over the
eastern hills. And so David is waiting more,
he says, more, I say, than they that watch for the morning. They're
gathered for the meeting, and they're desirous that the meeting
would start in the temple, and that the offering, the morning
offering would be made. The morning lamb would be offered. But David said, I wait on the
Lord more than all these people that gather at the gate of the
temple, waiting for the gate to open and the service to begin.
And then, too, I think this is in this, this particular thought. That of a guard upon the walls
of a city. It has been a cold and dreary
and rainy night. Picture these guards on the wall
of the city, and they've watched all night. And they're watching
for the morning because it's cold out there and it's dreary
and it's rainy. It's a bad night. And they're
watching, watching for the first light of day when their time
will be over and when they will not have to watch. any longer,
the night will be over. So they're watching. David said,
I watch more than those guards. I wait on the Lord and watch
for the Lord more than those who were looking for the Lord.
These guards out on the wall would be looking for them. I'm
waiting on God more than they would. Okay, more they'd be watching
for the Lord. There's another sense to this
meeting, and there's a loved one that's sick. And you sit
up with them through the long night. The clock ticks and it
ticks and it ticks away thousands of times. And you go lift up
the blind every once in a while and pull it aside. And you pull
aside the curtain to see whether the sun has at last risen or
not. Would God it were morning. Would
God it were morning. Would God the suffering was over.
Would God that it was over. Well, just some hint. I believe
that there's this hint here that there's these that are watching
to get through the night. And David said, I'll watch more
And I wait on the Lord more than those that would be weary with
staying with their loved one through the night hours as they
were ill and sick and they were waiting for the morning for the
shadows to flee away and the daybreak to come. Well, we've
been watching longer than they that watch for the morning, some
of us here. You have a strong desire for
the things which God can do for you. Then you have hope more
than they that have been in the middle of the night. and have
wanted the morning to come. Besides, we expect so much more
than people do. Spiritually, we expect more than
people after the flesh and in a material way expect. Regardless
of what they expect, believers expect a great deal more because
they expect to be made like their Lord. They expect to be gathered
into His presence. You and I are waiting for a daylight
that will bring us the desires of our heart, here and then,
endless rest, perfect joy, in a pure and eternal heaven. They
watch for the sun with its passing beams, we watch for the sun of
righteousness, whose glory fills heaven itself. Well may our hunger
and desire increase as we meditate on these verses that we've looked
at. And I remember the poet, and
you know sometimes we read certain things that really stick with
us, And when I was thinking about how that we wait for the morning,
spiritually speaking, I remembered these words, my soul has tasted
of the grapes and now it longs to go where my dear Lord his
vineyard keeps and all the clusters grow. I'm reminded of this story
that it was in Italy, I believe, where there was a, they raised,
they have these great, great farms. And there was some, the
enemy that got over and tasted these grapes and took some of
them back to their country. And in a little while there were
just hordes and hordes of the enemy that came over the mountains
and invaded Italy because they got a taste of the grapes of
that land. And so our soul is tasted of
the grapes, and now it longs to go where our dear Lord his
vineyard keeps, and all the clusters grow. We're waiting on that morning,
that spiritual morning, when we shall be with the Lord. This
is the right posture for the whole church, and for each individual
Christian. Waiting, hoping, watching, till
He appears, who is our Husband, our Savior, our Friend, and our
All in All. May the Lord bless us and keep
us watching and keep us waiting until he comes. Let's pray. Father,
we thank you this morning for your word, for your truth, and
we ask that a blessing the Lord might abide upon these stumbling
remarks. and that we might be encouraged,
Lord, to wait for Thee, and to hope on, and to hope on in the
truth, and to rest ourself in You, and rest our case with You. And then as we grow older in
the flesh, may our souls and spirits be revived with vigor
as we watch and wait for that call from Thee, that we're to
come upstairs, that we're to come up and to be with Thee for
all eternity. We shall wait Upon our God and
watch and watch and wait we pray it in Jesus name and for his
sake amen

Wait Hope Watch

What does the Bible say about waiting on the Lord?

Why is hope important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about forgiveness?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why do Christians experience trials and depths?

Sermon Transcript

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Joshua

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Wait Hope Watch

What does the Bible say about waiting on the Lord?

Why is hope important for Christians?

What does the Bible say about forgiveness?

How do we know God's promises are true?

Why do Christians experience trials and depths?

Sermon Transcript

Comments

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