of the Word of God with you this
morning to turn back to Psalm chapter 85. Psalm chapter 85. I'd like to read this morning
the first nine verses of this chapter and verse 8 primarily
will be our text this morning. But we read the first nine verses.
Lord, thou hast been favorable unto thy land. Thou hast brought
back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin. Thou hast taken away all thy
wrath. Thou hast turned thyself from the fearlessness of thine
anger. Turn us, O God of our salvation,
and cause thine anger toward us to cease. Will thou be angry
with us forever? Will thou draw out thine anger
to all generations? Will thou not revive us again,
that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O Lord,
and grant us thy salvation. I will hear what God the Lord
will speak, for he will speak peace unto his people and to
his saints. But let them not turn again to
folly. Surely his salvation is nigh
them that fear him, that glory may dwell in our land. As I announced, our text primarily
will be verse 8, where the psalmist said, I will hear. I will hear
what God the Lord will speak, for he will speak peace unto
his people and to his saints, but let them not turn again to
folly. I suppose if we needed a title,
we could call it Peace, How Gained and How Lost. how gained and
how it's lost. Peace, how it's gained and how
it's lost. Now the psalmist said, I will
hear what God the Lord will speak. Now there were voices and voices
that he was hearing. There were voices of the past
that concern God's wondrous mercy to his people. In verse 1, he
said, Thou hast been favorable unto thy land. Thou hast brought
back the captivity of Jacob. Thou hast forgiven the iniquity
of thy people. Thou hast covered all their sin.
Thou hast taken away all thy wrath. Thou hast turned thyself. from the fearlessness of thine
anger." So he had heard of the joy of those in the land that
the Lord had been favorable to, and they were rejoicing in the
mercy of God. Now, but mingle with these voices
were the sad voice of the present. He heard the wailing and the
pleading of those who said, will thou be angry with us forever? Will thou draw out thine anger
to all generations?" And from this mingling of singing and
sighing, the psalmist turned away. He turned away, turned
his ear away, and he cried and said, I will hear. what God the
Lord will speak. I'm going to tune out those who
have spoken favorably and those who now at this time lament their
condition and their situation, and I want to hear what God the
Lord would speak to me. I want to hear from the Lord.
I want to hear from God. And here's wisdom, beloved. We
need to resort to the sanctuary of God. We need to hear from
the Lord. And the psalmist had been praying
at the mercy seat, and he had spread out his petition and said,
will thou revive us again that thy people might rejoice in thee? And certainly this is a prayer
that is upon our hearts this morning. Will thou revive us
again that thy people may rejoice in thee? Show us thy mercy, O
Lord, and grant us thy salvation. Show us thy mercy and grant unto
us thy deliverance. I believe that there are those
here this morning that have been delivered from the wrath of God.
I believe there are those here this morning that have been lifted
up and God has been pleased to give them new life and give them
hope in the Lord Jesus Christ. But there are those here this
morning, and we would not in any way, shape, or form believe
that all here are saved. There are those here that need
to be delivered. I'm sure this morning there are
those that need the Lord's deliverance. And the psalmist said, show us
thy mercy, O Lord. Show it to us. and grant us thy
salvation. If you're here this morning,
I hope that prayer is upon your heart. Show me thy mercy, O Lord,
and grant unto me thy deliverance. Grant to me thy salvation. Grant
to me that I may rejoice in full deliverance, deliverance from
sin, deliverance from the wrath to come, deliverance from eternal
judgment. And not only that, but then there
are believers here that can pray this prayer and are praying this
prayer even at this time in their hearts. Show us thy mercy, O
Lord, and grant unto us thy deliverance. Probably every child of God here
in this room this morning has something that they want the
Lord to deliver them from. or something that they want God
to intervene in their behalf and give them the deliverance
that they long for, that they hope for. Now that's what salvation
is. It's deliverance. It's deliverance. And I do not think that we ever
get past the point where we need deliverance. And even if God
today was to give us the deliverance that we long for and that we
hope for, We would need further deliverance tomorrow, would we
not? We do. And so our prayer is at the mercy
seat, show us thy mercy, O Lord, and grant us thy salvation. Now when he had spoken to God,
he desired an answer. He desired that God would answer. And he says here, I will hear
what God the Lord will speak for. He will speak. For he will
speak. Now the God of the Bible is a
talking God. The God of the Bible does speak.
He does speak to men's souls. And the Lord is pleased to have
a word for his people in season. And the Lord will bless. So this
psalmist, he desired an answer from the Lord. And he watched
and he waited till the Lord God should give him a reply. And
I believe when we pray, we ought to watch. Now men might put at
the end of a letter that they would send to us, no answer expected. No answer expected. And this
is too often a footnote, I believe, to our prayers. When we pray,
we actually, by the way we deal with our situation and the way
we go on and pick up our burden after we supposedly have cast
it on the Lord, I think we're saying to the Lord, no answer
expected. Really, we don't mean that you
would ever answer or hear our prayer. Now, not David. No, he
did expect an answer from the mouth of the Lord. He said within
himself, I have spoken, but now I will hear what God the Lord
will speak. I want to hear from the Lord.
Beloved, we're living. in a very difficult time, and
it's a time when we, I think, witness all around us the silence
of God. I believe that God can and will
speak, and He has spoken to His people through the one mediator,
the Lord Jesus Christ. But I am amazed at the silence
of God in the past few years. how that the Lord seemingly does
not say things to us maybe like we experienced in the past, but
we do believe with all of our hearts that God has a word for
us and often we do hear it, but it seems that there is a silence
over the land. I do not hear many of my brethren
any place talking about having heard from the Lord. Do you hear
that language much? where people are saying, I heard
from God, and when you know they're genuine, when you know they're
honest, when you know that they truly have or they wouldn't open
their mouth. Have you heard that from very
many people? Well, David said, the Lord God, I will hear what
God the Lord will speak. Now then, always follow up prayer
then with expectancy. Expect God to speak to you. Believe
that He will speak to you. Take down the book and read the
Word of God and meditate upon it. Because God most generally
speaks through His Word. Prayers which expect no answer
are guilty, I believe, of taking the name of God in vain, inasmuch
as they reduce the Godhead to an idol, like to the images of
the heathen, which had ears, but they would hear not, neither
could they speak through their mouths. You had an image, and
he was cut out of a block of stone, or he was cut out of a
piece of wood. And he had ears, but he could
not hear. And he had a mouth, but he could not speak. But the
God of the Bible is not that way. The God of the Bible, He
that made the ear, can He not hear? He that made the eye, can
He not see? God can both hear and see. And
God has a mouth, and He can speak. and he's spoken in his word and
we need to hear it. Now, in addition to this, there
are many voices clamoring to be heard in our day and time. David said, I'm going to hear
what God the Lord will say, but there are many voices that are
clamoring to be heard in our time. There are many doctrines
and controversies in the world of religion, but I'm not interested
in them, are you? But let this be our resolve,
I will hear what God the Lord will speak. Somebody said the
other day, well, out in Indiana, I was speaking with a gentleman
there, and he said, well, my dad was a preacher, and he said,
you know, there are 3,000, over 3,000 religions in the world,
and every one of them will tell you they're right. And that's
the way he passed off what I had to say about the message of the
gospel of God's grace. He said, well, there's 3,000
religions and everybody will tell you they're right. But my
friend, I want to hear what God the Lord would say. I want the
testimony of the word of God. I want to hear the pure gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace. And so let us resolve that I'm
going to hear what God says. I'm going to listen to the Word. I'm going to listen to the voice
of the prophets and the apostles, and I'm going to let them be
the umpire of every dispute, every doctrinal dispute. I'm
going to take it to the Word of God, and I'm going to let
the peace of God rule in my heart when it comes to the truth and
when it comes to the things of God. If they speak not, Isaiah
820 said, if they speak not according to this word, it is because there
is no light in them. The word is a lamp unto my feet,
and it is a light unto my path, saith the scripture. Hear a word,
hear the word of the Lord, Jeremiah said. So we need to listen to
the word of God and to hear it. There is one special reason given
by the psalmist why the people of God should be most willing
and eager to hear what God the Lord shall speak, and that is
because He will speak peace unto His people and to His saints. So first of all, let us consider
what we know the Lord will speak, and that is peace. Now, in Philippians
4, in verse 6 and 7, we're told that we're not to worry about
anything, but we're to take everything to God in prayer, and the peace
of God, which passeth understanding, will keep our hearts and minds
through Christ Jesus. In John 14 and 27, the verse
that I quoted in my prayer a few moments ago, Jesus said, My peace
I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let
not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. And in Isaiah
26, verse 3 and 4, it says that the peace of God, it's an everlasting peace. And
this peace is a peace that will keep our hearts as we trust in
the Lord and as we keep our hearts focused on Him. Thou wilt keep
him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because he
trusteth in Thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. So the Lord has strength
and the Lord has pledged that he will speak peace unto his
people. And so the first point is that
he speaks peace to a certain company of people, to a certain
company, to his people and to his saints or to his holy ones. Let us ask ourselves this question,
has the Lord ever spoken peace to us? Has He ever spoken peace
to our hearts? Has He ever give us rest in our
souls? Rest from the guilt of sin. Rest
from the wrath to come. Rest in our hearts and souls
in order that we might be able to commune in fellowship with
Him and acquiesce in His mercy and His goodness. Has the Lord
ever spoken peace to me? Have we heard in our ear the
voice of the Lord? For he that will not hear the
gospel of peace shall never know the peace of the gospel. Is that
right? We must hear the gospel of peace. We'll never know the
peace of the gospel until we've heard it with a hearing ear.
Until God the Lord speaks it right into our souls. We need
to hear from the Lord. Say unto my soul, thou art my
salvation. Speak in my ear and give me thy
peace. Now there is no peace outside
the Lord Jesus Christ who is our peace. Christ is our peace. There is one mediator, and only
one. There's one atonement by blood, and only one. There is
one covenant of peace, and there can never be another. There's
one hope, one peace, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ. Now,
reconciliation comes to men by Jesus Christ, and by no other. You must hear the testimony of
God concerning his Son. And what is that testimony? That
testimony that is he that hath the Son hath life, and he that
hath not the Son of God hath not life. Does Christ abide in
your heart? Does He dwell in your heart?
That's the testimony that God has given of His Son, that life
is in His Son. Now, if you have in your heart
the peace of God, it's undoubtedly because you believe that testimony,
and you believed it in your heart with all your soul. Oh, for the
ear which is open to hear the word of the Lord, for this is
the sure mark of God's grace. The sure mark of the grace of
God is that a man will hear what the Lord says, that he'll hear
the word of God, that he'll not turn a deaf ear to what God speaks,
to what God says in his word. Does not Jesus say my sheep hear
my voice and they follow me my sheep they hear my voice Now
beloved that's so important to see now God has pledged that
he will speak peace unto his people and to his saints And
he says, my sheep hear my voice. And I'm telling you that to hear
the voice of God in your heart, in your soul, him speaking peace
to you is a sure mark. It's a sure sign of the grace
of God. Those to whom the Lord speaks
peace are his people, and they acknowledge him to be their God. Now, many men have no God. Now,
they would not like to be called atheists, but practically, that's
what it is. They have no God. They listen. They listen to what? Well, they
listen maybe to the philosophers of the day. Maybe they listen
to those in our day and time who are agnostics. Maybe they
would listen to those who have no regard whatsoever for the
Word of God. They would not like to be called
atheists, but my friend, that's what you are if you will not
hear what God the Lord will say and if you've never heard his
voice. This company have been converted and made saints by
grace. These that we're talking about
here. This company that hear the voice of the Lord speaking
peace. They've been converted from sin
and they've been made saints by the grace of God. They were
once given over to folly. I know that they were lost at
one time. I know they were in sin at one
time. I know that they were alienated from God at one time. They were
lost sinners, but God turned them from their folly, and they
were converted. Once they followed sin with all
their hearts, and they knew not God, neither served Him, but
they have been changed. Conversion has taken place. Now they have a God to worship,
they have a God to trust, and they have a God to delight in.
Now, beloved, if God is not everything to you, then you're not among
His people. You're not among his people.
You say, well, God is everything to me, preacher. I believe that
the most important thing in my life is my relationship to God. And my relationship to God is
more important than whether I get a good paying job, whether I
get a good education, whatever becomes of me in my life. My
relationship to God is the most important thing. Well, beloved,
if you can say that, truly say that, then I believe this morning
that the Lord has spoken and will speak and continue to speak
peace to your soul. Now the peace which is to be
desired is peace which God speaks and all other peace is evil.
Now I believe that bad men enjoy a kind of peace. I've noticed
that they do, that bad men, those who are lost and undone without
God or His Son, they enjoy a measure, a kind of peace. Now they're
very careless, they do not think, reflect, or consider They're
not mindful of their state. They never pay much attention
to their true state before God. But they're blind, as the scripture
says, to their condition and also they're blind to their end. Very blind to their end. Now,
I don't know, you may be here this morning and say, Preacher,
I've never considered my end. Well, the Bible says we'd be
wise if we'd consider our end. If we consider what's going to
come of us. You know, in the Psalm, Psalm 73, David was talking
about how that the wicked prospered, and how that they got along so
well in the world, and how that he was chastened every day. How
that God whipped him every day, but he let the wicked go their
way. And David said, I never really understood this until
I went into the sanctuary of the Lord, and then I understood
their end. I understood what was going to
happen to them. And I come across a story the other day about two
cows out in the pasture and they were talking, they were having
a conversation about a third cow that was in the barn. And
as they were visiting with each other, one of them was complaining
about the fact that they had to go over the pasture over and
over again looking for a blade of grass, trying to get a little
nourishment out of the pasture and then they had to walk way
down over a hill down to a brook in order to get a drink of water.
And there was a third cow that was in the barn. And this third
cow, the farmer brought her hay to her and he just, you know,
he brought her grain to her and had her water right there. She
didn't have to do anything. And one of these cows was complaining
and said, that's terrible and how we're treated and how she's
treated. And then the other cow said,
well, don't you know? He said, you're foolish. You're
foolish. And don't you know that the farmer
is fattening up that cow in the barn for the slaughter? That
cow soon will be loaded in a truck and taken to the butcher shop.
And beloved, I know that there are many people in this world
who do not understand their end. And many of us, because we do
not believe the Word of God like we ought, we get all upset about
how the wicked are prospering and how the people in the world
favor each other and how they seem to be pushed ahead of us
and all we need to understand. That there is an end that is
desire, and that end is the death of the righteous. It is the end
of peace that God's people will have. And these wicked, they
do not have anything to look forward to but judgment. But
their conscience is hard and callous. Do you know that a healthy
conscience is raw like a wound to the touch? And these people,
their conscience is, as the scripture says, is seared as with a hot
iron. And yet they have a measure of
some kind of peace and contentment. But all around us, people who
have, they have a peace which Satan, I believe, preserves.
Satan preserves their peace. And when a strong man, the scripture
says, arm keepeth his house, his goods are in peace. When
Satan is in full possession of a man, then no disturbing thoughts
come in, and the sinful heart is well content. And they may even die in that
state. What a dreadful thought. David
said there are no bands in their death. but their strength is
firm. Satan hath filled them with a
strong delusion to believe a lie. And so is a false peace, and
in a false peace they perish without the true peace of God.
God alone, let me say, can speak true peace to the soul. And until
God speaks it to your heart, you don't know anything about
peace. Once a soul begins to feel its
sinfulness and to tremble at the wrath to come, none but God
can speak peace to it. Preachers cannot, books cannot,
even the Bible cannot. except by and through the power
of the Holy Spirit. Now the ordinance of the church
and baptism, the Lord's Supper prayer, preaching, none of these
can bring peace to a heart apart from the still, small voice of
the Lord. Oh, may none of us rest in anything
short of the divine assurance of salvation. Only Christ can
say, peace be still. You know, he went out, one time
they woke him up in the ship and he said, peace, be still,
and there was a calm that came over the troubled waters. The
voice of the blood of Jesus Christ speaks volumes. He can give peace
by speaking it to your heart. You know the blood of the Lord
Jesus was shed as an atonement for our sin, to cover our sin. The blood of the Lord Jesus Christ
satisfied the justice of God and satisfied God's wrath and
therefore God is free to have mercy and to speak peace unto
the souls of his people. Yes, he can give his peace by
just speaking it. One word from the Lord is the
quietest of all trouble. It just puts an end to your soul's
trouble. No deed, only a word. Now peace
has been made already. Let me tell you this, that peace
has been made already on the behalf of His people, on the
behalf of His Holy Ones. Hear these words. The chastisement
of our peace was upon Him. It was finished more than 1900
years ago on Calvary. I'm telling you, peace has been
finished. It has been made already between
God and His people. It has been made. Now, it might
not have been spoken yet to your heart, but it's already been
made. God has been pleased through
Christ to make peace. The chastisement of our peace
was upon Him. He made peace, the Bible says,
by the blood of His cross. Being justified by faith, we
have peace with God. It is finished. Righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. That's verse 10 of Psalm here,
85. Peace is fully made, and it only
remains for the Lord to speak it. Did he not speak one time
and spoke the universe into existence? And out of nothing he spoke the
universe into existence. He spoke light out of darkness,
just spoke and there was light. And so God speaks peace to his
people. Where the word of the King is,
the Bible says there's power, he speaks and it's done. I remember so many times when
the Lord has spoken peace to my heart, troubled heart, and
from tempest, I was tempest-tossed and in distress. And then a word
from the Lord, perfect peace. A word from the God of peace
can lift us out of, in an instant, out of a troubled and very heart-wrenching
situation. Well, next, sooner or later,
the Lord will speak peace to his own, his elect, his chosen. Sooner or later, the Lord will
do that. Now, don't doubt it. How blessed
are the shouts and the wills of the Lord God. He will, he
will, the psalmist said, speak peace. He will. Now, there's
one thing certain that God has a people. And another thing is
certain that God is going to sooner or later own those people
in this life. And that God is going to visit
them and he's going to speak peace to their troubled souls. There may be a time of battling
and struggling, but in the end God will speak peace. There may
be sounds of war in the camp, but God will speak peace. Some
of the Lord's true people are terribly harassed. year after
year. But the Bible says, mark the
perfect man, behold the upright, for the end of that man is peace.
Sooner or later, God's going to visit him with peace. And
I know people that's been distressed for all of their life, they've
professed faith, but they're still, they never heard anything
in their souls, and they claim to believe, and maybe they do.
and they'd have to be the one that would determine that. I
couldn't determine that. But nevertheless, even though
they're harassed by the devil, and they have times when they
feel they could not possibly be saved, yet Mark, the upright
man, Mark, that mature individual, the end of that man is peace.
The Lord will not put his child to bed in the dark. He will light
the candle. before you sleep the sleep of
death. He will. I'm telling you, if
you're one of God's elect, you're bound to hear from the Lord in
your soul, God will speak peace. He will! He'll speak peace to
your heart. And I don't believe that God's
gonna let any of these people I die until he has spoken to
them a measure of peace in their hearts. So hold on to your hope.
The night is dark. I know that the night is dark,
but the morning will surely come. The morning will surely come
when you'll hear from the Lord and when God will speak peace
to your heart. Now you may sink very low, but
underneath is the everlasting arms, there's a set day in which
the Lord will give beauty for ashes. Do you believe that? There
is a set day and God is going to visit you and this is the
day of salvation. Maybe it'll be for you. Maybe
God today will speak peace to your heart, that peace which
has already been made through the blood and the sacrifice of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, beloved, what a peace it
is. It is sound and safe, and you may have as much of it as
you will, and you'll never suffer any harm. Make any difference
how much God gives you. It'll never harm you. Some people
say, well, you'll get presumptions if you get too many blessings
from the Lord. Well, I don't think we're in
danger of that, do you? I don't think we are. Now, the
peace of God is never presumption. A holy peace, the more you have
of it, the more you want to be like the one who gave it to you.
That's just the way it works. The Bible says he'll give peace
to his saints, to his holy ones. We want to be like Christ. We'd
like to be like Christ in every way. I wish that I could be like
Christ to everyone I know. I would like to be like the Lord
Jesus Christ. And I'd certainly like to be
at peace all the time. I'm not always at peace. I'm
not always at peace, but I'd like to be. It is a peace that
will rise superior to circumstances. You may be poor, but with an
inward wealth of contentment. You see, we brought nothing into
this world. And it's certain we can take nothing out. Therefore,
with food and raiment, let us be content. And so we may be
poor, but have a wealth of contentment. You may be lonely, but God's
presence will keep you company. You may be sick. You may be sick. Peace of God will enable you
to bear pain without complaining. If God gives you peace, the devil
cannot take it from you. If God breathes peace into your
soul, the roughest winds of earth or hell cannot blow that peace
from you. Pardon me just a moment. In a
song found on page 288, he says, what a treasure I have in the second verse this wonderful peace buried deep
in the heart of my soul, so secure that no power can mine it away
while the years of eternity roll. Peace, peace, wonderful peace,
coming down from the Father above, sweep over my spirit forever,
I pray, in fathomless billows of love. And me thanks, in verse
4, when I rise to that city of peace, where the author of peace
I shall see, that one strain of the song which the ransom
will sing, in that heavenly kingdom shall be. Peace, peace, wonderful
peace, coming down from the Father above. What a tremendous song
and what a blessing it is to know that when the Lord gives
this peace, that it can never be taken away. The devil cannot
take it away. If God breathes peace into your
soul, the roughest winds on earth or hell cannot blow that peace
away from your soul. Perfect peace brings a joy of
which no tongue can fully tell. No war within, conscience is
cleansed, and the heart relieved. May the peace of God keep our
hearts and minds through the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, beloved,
we have one other thing to talk about and so we must come down
a little bit from the height. that we have gotten to or we've
risen to already this morning, talking about the peace of God
and the assurance that God will speak it, that he's well able
to, that the peace has already been made and is guaranteed,
God will speak it to his people. We will come down to the second
point and that is what we fear may mar the blessing of peace.
And that is, last part of verse 8, but let them not turn again
to folly. As we said, these are converted
people that David's talking about. There are people that are saved.
There are people that have been turned from their folly. Their sins have been covered
and put away and God has spoken peace to them, but let them not
again turn to their folly. Now the grounds of a believer's
peace are always the same. It's always the same. But a believer's
enjoyment of that peace might vary greatly. And you know what
I'm talking about. The grounds is the work of the
Lord Jesus Christ, His faithfulness unto God, the covenant of grace,
and that every condition was a condition that He met. and
that you and I are saved through His performance and not ours,
and that we're justified entirely and completely so that no charge
can be laid to our account. And the grounds of our peace
will never change. God sees us in Christ and views
us as we stand in Him, and God is not angry with those that
are in His Son. But let us, my friend, believe
our beliefs and trust God that the enjoyment of this peace will
not vary in our life. Peace may be broken with the
Christian in many and various ways. He can lose his peace. Doesn't mean that God is not
at peace as far as his soul is concerned. He stands in Christ. God is always satisfied with
Christ. He's never dissatisfied with
him. But now listen to me. Sometimes great trouble comes
into the life of a believer. Great trouble. And I don't want
to try to describe any particular kind of trouble, but if your
faith is not strong, oh my soul, you will lose your peace. And
I'll tell you the waters are cold in some of the trials that
we find ourselves. Some of the waters that we're
called upon to cross, the waters are deep and the waters are very
cold. So peace may be broken. Our peace
may be broken through great calamities and troubles that come. But they're
not accidents. They come from the hand of the
Lord. The Lord sends them. And the God of peace has control
of them. And we need to believe that.
Peace may be broken through some form of disease which preys upon
the mind as well as the body. There have been times when I've
tried, back years gone by, I went through a little time of affliction,
nothing compared to what majority of people go through. But anyway,
I had some affliction and wouldn't make any difference how many
verses you read, how much you prayed, you still had that same
old discouragement and that same old depression that you had to
fight with and struggle with. And so some people lose their
peace through disease of the mind and the body. Inward conflict,
too, I think may disturb our enjoyment of peace. Old habits,
corruption, strong and vigorous. But we can find peace in the
very fact that we're fighting as a child of God. And if I'm
a child of God, if I'm not a child of God, I would not be struggling
at all against sin. I would not be struggling. I
would have no struggle whatsoever if it was not for the fact that
I'm a Christian. If you're a Christian, then my
friend, you have a war going on and these old corruptions
and strong, that are strong and vigorous, they will Destroy your
peace if you give in to them. Satan too. I think it is hard
to have peace under his attacks. He can inject the most profane
thoughts. They're his thoughts and they're
not yours, but he can make you think that the thoughts are yours. And you lose your peace over
it. But they're his thoughts. And so with Micah I say, Rejoice
not over me, O thine enemy, though I fall, yet I shall arise, though
I fall. And so Satan, don't rejoice over
me because I had a bad day. Don't rejoice over me because
I had some faults that I ought not to have had. They weren't
mine, they were yours, and you're guilty of them. You're a liar
from the beginning. But rejoice not over me. Even
though I fall, I shall rise again. But after all, the chief reason
why a Christian, I think, loses peace is because he turns again
to folly. Now, folly is sin and error,
everything contrary to the wisdom of the divine mind, the wisdom
of God's mind. I'll show you what I mean by
this. There's folly, I think, now I'm talking about believers.
I'm talking about children of God. I'm talking about people
who have heard and the Lord has spoken to them and they have
heard that word from the Lord that Isaiah speaks of in Isaiah
chapter 55. And let me just read that to
you right quick here. Such a blessed verse, Isaiah
55. In verse 12 it said, For ye shall go out with joy, and
be led forth with peace. The mountains and the hills shall
break forth before you into singing, and all the trees of the fields
shall clap their hands. And so, beloved, we are those
that have experienced that, and have had days on end at different
times when everything was different, and when we could not understand
what it was necessarily that was making everything appear
so different. Even the houses on the streets and the trees
and everything was different due to the fact that the peace
of God and the blessing of God was upon us. But now listen to
me, there's folly of hasty judgment for the believer. We sometimes
come to wrong conclusion in our judgment of God and things. Our
eternal purpose is to be judged according to the ticking of the
clock. Now, hear me, here's what I'm
saying. You and I, oftentimes, when we review our lives, view
what's going on with us. And when we would like to sit
down and have a pity party with somebody over just how bad things
are with us and what our situation is, we begin to think about how
long we've prayed and how long we have trusted God for answers
and how long we've looked to Him. And then we begin to judge
in a hasty fashion that God's eternal purpose, or the big purpose
of God in dealing with us, that we can judge that according to
the ticking of the clock, or how much time has passed, or
what our situation is. We all are in a hurry. I know
we are. I am very much in a hurry. But
there can be no peace in the heart if we assume the judgment
throne and dare accuse our sovereign of unkindness or a mistake in
our lives. You're returning to your folly
when you in unbelief accuse God of unkindness in your life or
making mistake. Judge not the Lord, the poet
said, by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Oh, that we
could either judge the Lord's way upon eternal principles or
leave the judging, leave it off altogether. Just quit trying
to figure out God. The ways of the Lord are past
finding out. And you can never find out why
it is that God's doing what He is when He's doing it. You cannot. And if a man's ways be of the
Lord, how can he know his own way? He must trust God. And that's
the emphasis of the Word of God. My soul be as a little child
before the Lord, and you'll find peace. Trust in the Lord. Oh for grace to do that. Now
another kind of folly I think is like order. It's repining
and quarreling with God. Some are never pleased with God.
How can he be pleased with us? Are you pleased with God? Are
you pleased with God? Let not man contend with God.
Besides, who are you anyway that you should quarrel with God about
your situation, about your life? I'm talking about how you lost
your peace. You've lost your peace, and you've lost it quarreling
with God, because you don't think God is replying as you should. Let not a man... Who art thou,
O man, that replies against God? Who art thou? You may be like
Job, and you cannot understand that the ways of the Lord are
past finding out, but meditate on that. Bow your head in submission. Kick not. against the pricks. No man by quarreling with God
can gain any advantage for the right is on God's side and eternal
principles establish his government and right is on his side. Peace
to the rebellious? No! And that's why you have no
peace. You're rebellious in your heart
only to the heart that is bound to the sovereign will and purpose
of God. Now the folly of doubt and distrust, the peace you had
has come by faith. And distrust, listen, is folly. When faith departs, then there
goes your peace. There goes your peace. Remember,
thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on
thee because he trusteth in thee. Be satisfied with God and you
will be satisfied in God. I do not know whether we be doubters
or believers. I often wonder whether I am a
doubter or a believer. Am I a greater doubter than I
am a believer? Or am I a greater believer than
I am a doubter? How would you answer that question
in your own situation, in your own heart? Do you have peace
more than you have a troubled heart? Do you have peace more
days than you have problems and anxieties? Or just how is it
with you? Now the doubter, the believer,
will have peace. The doubter will have what? He'll
have misery. That's what he'll have. You may
have enough faith to get you to heaven. I do not know whether
you do or not, but you'll not have much of heaven on the road
to heaven unless you shake off this habit of distrust. and unbelief. You never gain
anything by doubting the Lord, questioning His promise or distrusting
His providence. He abideth faithful. He will
not deny Himself. He cannot lie. Believe His Word. Believe His Word. Now there's
something that I want to show you, and I'm not going by that
clock back there because it is only about 9.30 or 8.30 by that
clock. So I'm not going by that clock, but I want you to turn
with me. There's something that I must Mention to you. It's found
in Romans chapter 4 So please turn those of you that have your
Bibles I'll not keep you much longer, but I want you to look
at this with me now. I'm talking about trusting the
Lord I'm talking about trusting the Lord And we must believe
the Word of God God cannot lie now Abraham is the father of
the faithful and And Abraham believed God. Verse 17, as it
is written, I have made thee a father of many nations before
him whom he believed, even God. Abraham believed God, who quickeneth
the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were.
Now, I'm interested in in my life not being a dry run. I'm
interested in finding the mind of God about my conduct and about
how to have peace in my own soul and what is involved in a believer's
life and what he must deal with and what he must believe in order
to have peace. What he's got to believe. Now
Abraham In verse 18 it says, who against hope believed in
hope. Now he believed in a God who quickens the dead and calls
those things which be not as though they were. Against hope
he believed in hope. Now is this a pattern or is it
not? It is indeed a pattern for God's
people. It is a pattern. We must come
to the place where we, when things are against our hope, what we
believe, we still go on and believe in hope, that we believe in what
the Lord has shown us that we should pray for and ask for and
that we believe should come to pass in His time in our life. Now, and being not weak in verse
19 in faith. See, Abraham was not weak in
faith. He considered not his own body. Now, you see, God had
promised him a son, and him and Sarah, a seed. And he considered
not his own body. That means that he didn't give
consideration to the things, fleshly, carnal things. He gave
no consideration to those things. He did not look at those things.
They were not the determining factor in his joy and in his
peace. He staggered not at the promises
of God, he believed what God said, he believed it, and he
trusted the Lord. And so he was not weak in faith. Now it doesn't mean he ever made
a mistake. Abraham, he messed up on several occasions, and
it was due to unbelief. Sarah, God was pleased to give
her a word that you're going to have a child, and she was
90 years old, and so she laughed. She laughed. laughed in unbelief. She'd give up on it and she said,
well it's too late and she laughed it off. But you know what the
Lord done? He gave her a son in her old
age and he called his name Isaac which means what? Laughter. That's what it means. His name
means laughter. And so Sarah, away with your
unbelief and your judgment of God. You say God cannot do it,
it's been too long and it's too late. God will make you laugh
and glory will fill your heart and the land if you trust the
Lord. Believe God, depend upon Him.
Now then, and therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness,
he believed that God could raise the dead. He believed that when
he was an old man that God, listen, he could not have a child with
Sarah. He was an old man, he could not
produce, he was not able to do it, and he had no child because
of his strength. He had a child because of God's
power and because of God's grace and God's purpose. He had a child. And you, my friend, your situation
and what you're hoping for and what you're believing God for
can never come to pass through human and carnal efforts and
strength. It will have to. And God set
it up that way because you are a believer. And God means for
it to work that way. Now God raises the dead. He can
raise the dead. Abraham, God as it were, gave
him this son while Abraham was dead. Now there came a time after
Isaac grew up that God said you take him and Isaac and Abraham
went together up on Mount Moriah and God said you just sacrifice
your son, your only son, you sacrifice him. And Abraham did
it in his heart. He did it in his heart because
he said God can raise him from the dead. That's how it got him
in the first place. God as much as raised him up
from the death, from my death, he raised him up by promise and
by power. Now you say, I just don't know
about believing in this God that raises the dead. Well, I want
you to look at this. Now it was not written for his sake alone,
it was imputed to him, his faith was imputed to him for righteousness.
Now it was not written for his sake alone that it was imputed
to him, but for us also to whom it shall be imputed if we believe
on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead. Now let me
tell you this, that one thing about our belief As children
of God is, we believe that God raised Jesus from the dead. And
our worship involves us worshiping a God who can raise the dead. Meaning that there is nothing
impossible with this God. Now you say, well preacher, but
do I believe that? Well, let me ask you this, or
let me tell you this. You believe that. I know you
believe that if you're a Christian. You believe that God raises the
dead. That daughter of yours, that
son of yours, that has become a Christian, God raised them
from the dead. He raised them from the dead.
You witnessed it. We've seen it here. There's people
that have been saved. God raised them from the dead.
That's what happened. Spiritually speaking, God raised
them from the dead. They had a spiritual resurrection. And you're praying for your children,
aren't you? A God that can raise the dead,
my friend. You do! You believe in it. And that's the only way. A God must raise you from spiritual
death. He must do that. And God is able
to do that in all situations. Come to our situation. Quit this
and put away this doubt. Give it up! in a place where
that he demands of you that you believe against hope. And it'll be that way all your
life. The justified one They must have
the same faith of Abraham and they will be led in a path where
they will be subjected to situations where they have to believe if
this thing works out God will have to raise the dead. And that's
exactly what he's going to do. He's going to do it. He's going
to do it in our situations as we trust Him, as we believe on
Him. Don't despair because your situation
looks impossible, because it looks like it could never happen.
Don't despair. My friend, God planned it that
way. And it's to the end that glory
will fill your heart and your soul. Oh, my friend, can you
not see that if God raises the dead, in your situation, sister,
and in my situation, in your situation, brother, that if God
raises the dead, can you not see that glory would fill our
hearts and glory would fill the land. That we, every place we'd
go, we'd be talking about the glory of God in raising up and
in giving victory. And so, don't return to your
folly. Don't go back in your unbelief
and all of that despair and despondency and discouragement. Don't do
it! Don't turn again to your folly.
But my friend, have the peace of God. Trust God. Believe Him. Depend upon Him. And believe
Him, and it shall be imputed to you for righteousness. And there just may be, now you
listen to me, and I don't want to confuse anybody. God help
us if we do. But it just may be that that
particular situation in your life that you've been called
upon to believe God for That may be the very situation, just
like Abraham's situation. His righteousness depended upon
him believing that God was going to give him a seed. That's what
it depended upon. And it was imputative. And your
situation, whatever it be, that looks like it's impossible, don't
give that up. Because that may be the very
situation that God may say they believe me and it was imputed
to them for righteousness we must believe God we cannot turn
back we must trust him depend upon him so whatever your situation
be May God be pleased to bless you. Well, I've got another point,
but I must leave it because the time has gotten away from us
and we cannot do it. I will not say I will finish
it next week, but if God leads and purposes, I would. But don't
turn to your folly. Don't turn to your folly. Don't
turn back. Lose your peace. Mar your peace.
Don't do it. Look to the Lord and trust the
Lord.