Let me read to you verse 18 and
19 of Isaiah chapter 29. Verse 18 and 19. And in that
day shall the deaf hear the words of the book, and the eyes of
the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The meek
also shall increase their joy in the Lord, and the poor among
men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. Let us look to
the Lord at this time in prayer. Almighty God, our Father, we
come to you this morning in need as we often, our Father, are
found. We approach your throne in great
need and this morning we feel so weak and frail in ourselves
and so unable in a spiritual way to take up the task of preaching
the Word to your people. But our fathers, we come, we
ask for the blessing and the anointing of the Spirit and the
ability which only God can give to a man who you called and placed
in this place of awesome responsibility. We ask this morning for that
ability which we need to be able to convey the mind of God today
to this people. And we ask, Lord, that you might
strengthen us and that we might be blessed in our own hearts
and that this scripture might be fulfilled today in our own
hearts. We thank you for your great mercy
that you've had upon us. And we could not do with justice,
it wasn't enough. We would go to hell with justice. And we could not do simply that we could make some vows and tell
you that we would never sin again or that we would never do wrong
again. That wouldn't work because we
failed so many, many times. And yet you said that you would
have mercy on us. You would have mercy on us. And
you had mercy, mercy to those that are undeserving. And we
thank you, Lord, this morning for the mercy that we've been
the recipient of. And Father, we ask that you might
be pleased today to encourage this people to look to your hand
and to look, our Father, to your Holy Spirit to your son for the
encouragement which we all desperately need. And we do thank you for
your having appeared to us, having come to us in our need at many,
many times and how that you've refreshed our hearts and how
that you said to us, be of good cheer, be of good cheer. I've overcome the world. Be of
good cheer. And so our father this morning,
bless in this service, glorify your name, exalt your son, and
use this time that we spend together for our edification. And Lord,
we do pray for those this morning that have asked us to remember
them. And Father, we pray that those
that wait for you, those that need the Lord to visit them,
that they shall be blessed today and encouraged. Their need will
be met. As our brother prayed for the afflicted, we pray for
the afflicted. And Lord, you said you would
leave in the midst of the land a poor and afflicted people.
that would trust in you. And so I pray for those poor
and afflicted souls, our Father, that wait before you. We all
feel that we're in that category. And Lord, we just ask for your
healing and for your blessing and pray for a lifting up and
pray for a time of encouragement. And may you now fill us with
the Holy Spirit that we may be completely yielded up this morning
to the Lord and to the mind of the Lord that we may say and
do that which would be glorifying and pleasing unto you. The scripture
says whether you eat or whether you drink whatsoever you do,
do all to the glory of God. We desire that above everything
else as we live out our days in this world. Enable us to do
it now for Christ's sake. Amen. The verse says, and in that day,
verse 18, and in that day, and you might ask, what? What day? What day is he talking about?
Well, I believe he's talking about the day of the Lord. I
believe he's talking about the day of God's power. I believe
he's talking about the day and the hour when God in His sovereign
grace and mercy appears to a man, when He appears unto one of His
dear sheep. a day when the Lord is pleased
to manifest Himself. It's the day of the manifestation
of God to a poor soul, to one who is waiting upon the Lord.
He says, and in that day shall the deaf hear the words of the
book. Now we know that all men by nature are deaf, They are
deaf to the Word of God, they are deaf to the voice of God's
Spirit until they are made alive and able to hear the words of
the book. And then how many times you being
a poor child of God have experienced that you've taken up the Bible,
and I suppose there's more Bibles, in the world today than there
are maybe of any other book that has ever been printed. More books,
maybe more Bibles in our homes than any other book. But I'll
tell you this this morning, that the Bible is probably the least
read book of any maybe that we have in our homes. Are we reading
the Word of God? But many times as poor sheep
of Christ, we take up the Bible and we read it, But our ears
are deaf, we do not hear what the Bible is saying. We can read
over and over a chapter and sometimes we're ashamed of ourselves that
we got so little out of the book that we've read, out of the chapter
that we've read, out of the verses that we've read. And so in that
day shall the deaf hear the words of the book. Do you long to hear
the Word of God? Do you long to hear the words
of the Book? Do you long that this Bible would
be made flesh and that you'd be able to understand the meaning
of Scripture? That you'd be able to receive
the message of God's Spirit into your heart? Have you longed for
that? Do you desire that? Do you hunger
and thirst after righteousness? Well, he says in that day, in
that day when the Lord is pleased to come to you, manifest himself
to you, when the Lord is pleased to visit your household and to
visit your soul in particular, then, he said, you'll hear the
words of this book. The deaf are going to hear the
words of this book. You hearing the Word of God is
the most important thing probably that will ever happen in your
life. You hearing from God in the Word. God speaking to you
off the pages of the Scripture and the Scripture coming alive
in your soul. You knowing what God has said.
God having spoken a word to you, your deaf ears being opened and
you hearing what God says. Now it's impossible for a deaf
man to hear, but it is not possible if God is pleased to send His
Word where the Word of God is, there's power, there's authority,
And where the word of the King is, the Bible says, there is
authority. And when God is pleased to speak
a word, your deaf ears will hear. They really will hear. And you
know, as a poor child of God in this world, as one who is
trying to deal with all of the tests and the difficulties and
the trials, that come to us in this world many, many times,
I need to hear a word from God. I need to hear a word. I need
for God to say something to me. And I've been in just that kind
of a case recently where I needed to hear a word from the Lord,
where I needed to be visited by God. And he goes on to say,
the deaf's going to hear the words of this book, and the eyes
of the blind shall see out of obscurity and out of darkness. The eyes of the blind. You know
God's people are blind as far as this world and their walk
in this world. We're blind. There's so many
things that we do not know, we do not understand. We do not
know what's happening. And the Bible says that if a
man's ways be of the Lord, how can he know his way? And the
Scripture talks about how that the Lord says, I will bring the
blind by a way which they know not, in paths which they've not
known, I'll make the darkness light and the crooked way straight.
This will I do unto them and not forsake them. The Lord is
leading His people. His people are, as it were, blind. in that that they do not know
the way. There's not a one of us here
this morning that would say, just leave it to me Lord, I know
the way. I know the way. I just know where
to go, how to go. I know how to go about this thing
of life. I know how to make decisions
and I can very well make the decisions that my life is concerned
with. But beloved, we know that as
God's dear people having been in the way for a number of years,
and the longer you're in the way, the more convinced you'll
become that it is not in man that walketh to direct his steps,
that no man is able in and of himself to find the way. The scripture says that His ways
are not our ways. As the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are the Lord's ways higher than our ways. And
so His way is not being our way. And even when we become what
we call very pious and very, very spiritual, we often discover
that at that very time the Lord crosses our path with His way
and we're dumbfounded and we just simply do not know what
to do and then there comes a time when the Lord humbles our hearts
and we just simply must bow our knee and surrender up ourselves
to His way, to the Lord's way. But you see we're blind in this
world and we're going to see though. He says there's a time
when the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity. There's
going to come a day, there's going to come a morning when
you pick up your Bible and your ears will no longer be deaf.
There will come a day whenever the Word of God is read, and
where a man speaks the Word, and where God opens up your blinded
eyes, and you begin to see the way of the Lord, and you begin
to see the way that you're to take. You begin to see that,
and it comes and is open to you. Well, this is the day that He's
talking about. And it may be tomorrow for one
of you, it may be next week for some of the rest, it may be that
we'll wait for a year before we hear a word from God or the
Lord comes and shows us something and our blind eyes are able to
see something out of obscurity and out of darkness. But then
in verse 19 he says, the meek also shall increase their joy
in the Lord. The meek, those that are submissive
to God, those that are waiting upon God, those that trust the
providence of God, those that leave their life and their concerns
in the hands of Almighty God, those that are not out here in
the world like the men of the world, and trying to, as it were,
to glean all they can get here in this world, and hook or crook
or whatever, trying to get in this world all that they can
possibly get their hands on, the meek, the meek that trust
in the Lord, the meek, those that have the attitude of old
Moses. When the Lord, you know, appeared
to him, he said, well, Lord, I can't speak. I don't have the
ability to speak. A very meek man. The meekest
man, I suppose, according to what the Word of God teaches,
that lived in his day. A very meek man. And so there
are many in our day and time who cast all their care upon
the Lord every day, knowing that He cares for them. There are
many every day that go to prayer and ask the Lord for daily bread. There's many that go to the Lord
every day, His dear people in this world that are tried and
tested and sometimes they feel wrung out like a rag. and they
just simply don't know what to do about their circumstances
and their situation, and they just rest in the Lord. Somebody
says, well, why aren't you doing something? Why don't you do this
or do that? And they say, we're waiting on
the Lord. You know, Matthew Henry wrote a book on meekness. And
it was one of the most eye-opening books that I ever read. And it
was cross-grained to everything that I feel in the flesh. It
really was. And one of the things that he
said was that as the Lord's people we ought to go out to the cemetery
and we ought to study long and hard the grave and we ought to
study the silence that's in the cemetery. You know we have this
this thing about murmuring and complaining and this business
of always being upset and this business of somehow or other
feeling that we've got to get our two cents in or we've got
to get ours while we're here in this world and that things
ought to be different with us and we just deserve that they
be different with us and we're always speaking as it were from
a heart. You know the Bible says that
as a man thinketh in his heart, so is he. The Bible speaks of
the heart as something that needs to be kept. And we need to be
very careful what we say that comes out of our hearts. But
this is somehow or other the attitude. Well if you go out
and study the silence that's in the graveyard. You know the
Bible says that we're dead. The Bible says we're dead and
our life is hid with Christ in God. The Lord's people are dead
with Christ. They died with Him. And they're
dead as we stand to the world and the things of the world.
And meekness comes from our just being silent. Or just being sometimes,
just not saying anything. Just simply waiting on the Lord.
That's meekness. And it says here, the meek also,
the meek also shall increase their joy. They may seem to be
very melancholy at times. They may seem to be very much
cast down at times. They may seem to be as if they
were not, they just were in this world as an orphan is in this
world. That they have nothing and that
they're just waiting on the hand of God to provide and to give
to them what they need. And they're in circumstances
that are not favorable to them getting ahead and them being
able to move on, as it were, in this world and to have the
things of this world. They're not in that position.
And yet, what they must do is wait on the Lord. But the Scripture
says there's coming a day. there's a day when the meek also
shall increase their joy in the Lord. It's not always going to
be that way. The day is going to come when
you as a meek man are going to rejoice and going to be able
to praise God and be full of joy in the Lord and the poor
among men shall rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. The poor
and I think that he means the poor in spirit but of course
we read in the scripture that the poor have the gospel preached
to them and we do know that the Lord many many times makes a
man poor in spirit and empties him out in order that he could
fill him in order that he could fill him with the true riches
in order that he could give him you know the scripture says that
the rich the Lord sent empty away The Lord sent them away. Now they were full of themselves
and they were full of the things of this world. They had plenty
of everything as far as the world is concerned, but they had no
capacity for the things of God. So the Lord sent them away empty,
the Bible says. The rich He sent away empty.
But the poor, you know, to a poor man or to a hungry soul, every
better thing is sweet. God gives them a morsel. God
gives them something that will cause them to rejoice. God gives
them something that will make them glad. a poor man, a man
who waits on God, a man who trusts God, a man who says live or die,
I'll trust the Lord, a man who says if I have or have not, I'll
trust God, I'll wait on the Lord, whatever my situation is, I'll
trust the Lord, I'll wait on Him. That man, there'll come
a day when he's going to rejoice. And ain't anybody going to be
able to steal his joy from him. He'll have a time of rejoicing. And the meek, as they increase
their joy, they increase their joy, and the poor shall rejoice
in the Holy One of Israel. Well, I heard a word from the
Lord, and I want to share it with you today. I want you to
turn to John chapter 13, and I want to show you a few verses
here. that were of special blessing
to me and talk to you a little bit about these words. Now in
John chapter 13, I'd like to read here beginning with verse
21. And when Jesus had thus said,
he was troubled in spirit, and testified and said, Verily, verily,
I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me. Now the Lord
Jesus, being in this world, was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief, and there were often times when he experienced, he
was a man who had emotions, He was 100% man, 100% God, and he
had emotions, and certainly he was in the flesh, in a body of
flesh, a body that God had prepared him. He was without sin, he had
no sin. He was born of a virgin, but
here we find that the Bible says that even Jesus was troubled
in spirit. And he testified and said, Verily,
verily, I say unto you, that one of you is going to betray
me. Then the disciples looked one on another, doubting of whom
he spake. Now there was leaning on Jesus'
bosom one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved. Simon Peter therefore
beckoned to him that he should ask who it should be of whom
he spake. He then lying on Jesus' breast
saith unto him, Lord, who is it? Jesus answered, He it is,
to whom I shall give a sop, when I have dipped it. And when he
had dipped the sop, he gave it to Judas Iscariot, the son of
Simon. And after the sop, Satan entered
into him, then said Jesus unto him, That thou doest, you do
quickly. Now no man at the table knew
for what intent he spake this unto them. I'm reading this so
that you might get the picture here of the object of our Lord
in these verses. For some of them thought because
Judas had the bag that Jesus had said unto him, buy those
things that you have need of against the feast, or that he
should give something to the poor. He then, having received
the salt, went immediately out, and it was night. Therefore,
when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of Man glorified,
and God is glorified in him. If God be glorified in him, God
shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify
him. Little children, get a little
while. I am with you. Ye shall seek
me, and as I said unto the Jews, whither I go ye cannot come.
So now I say to you a new commandment I have given to you, that ye
love one another as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that
ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. Simon Peter
saith unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him,
Whether I go thou canst not follow me now, but thou shalt follow
me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why
cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy
sake. Jesus answered him, Wilt thou
lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
The cock shall not crow till thou hast denied me thrice. And
then verse 1 of chapter 14, let not your heart be troubled, you
believe in God, believe also in me. Now then our Lord's object
I think throughout this portion of scripture seems clear and
plain to me, and that is that he would give a word of comfort
and establish and build up these downcast disciples. Now he saw
that their hearts were troubled, and Jesus himself, as we mentioned,
was troubled in spirit. And many, many times the people
of God find themselves in just this kind of situation, where
we're troubled and where we have a degree of heart trouble. Now there was a variety of causes
as to why that the disciples at this time were discouraged
while they were cast down. And one is, as we mentioned,
the master was troubled in spirit. And then by hearing that one
of them, one of the twelve, should betray him. Our Lord had said
back in verse 18, He says, I speak not of you all. I know whom I
have chosen, that the scripture may be fulfilled. He that eateth
bread with me hath lifted up his heel against me. And this,
I believe, discouraged these disciples that they knew that
one of them And so much so that they looked on one another doubting
of whom he spake. They looked on each other saying,
well I wonder who he's talking about? Which one of us is it
that will betray him? And then I think also that when
Judas got up and left, the mysterious departure of Judas also troubled
these disciples. And when Satan entered into him,
no man at the table knew for what intent he spake this unto
him, that is, why Jesus spoke as he did unto Judas. For some of them thought because
Judas had the bag that Jesus had said to them, buy those things
that we have need of against the feast, or that he should
give something to the poor. He then having received the sop
went immediately out, and it was night. I'm sure of this had
some effect upon the minds of those disciples. And then also
his announcement that he should be a little time with them. Look at verse 33, little children
get a little while I'm with you. Now you and I can very well see
where that would have an effect upon our hearts and would cause
us some degree of trouble if someone were to say to us, somebody
that was as dear and precious to us as our Lord Jesus Christ,
if he was in our midst and if he had been with us for some
time, he said, little children, a little while I'm with you.
I'm just going to be with you a little while, and then I'm
going to be gone. You shall seek me, and as I said
unto the Jews, whither I go you cannot come, so now I say unto
you, You cannot come and I'm just going to be with you for
just a little time. Now also the warning that he
gave to Peter that he would deny him. Now listen to what he said
to Peter. Peter said, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? Jesus
had told him, whether I go, thou shalt not follow me now, but
thou shalt follow me afterwards. Peter said unto him, Lord, why
cannot I follow you now? I'll lay down my life for your
sake. And Jesus answered him, Will you lay down your life for
my sake? Verily, verily, or truly, truly,
I say unto you, Peter, the cock shall not crow till thou hast
denied me thrice. You better deny me. Now can you
imagine the atmosphere then, at this time, in this place,
when the Lord Jesus had disclosed all these things, and these mysterious
things were happening here in the midst of the disciples. Can't
you imagine the heart trouble and Jesus sensed it and so he
said in verse 1 of chapter 14 Let not your heart be trouble
you believe in God believe also in me Don't let your heart be
trouble now beloved heart disease is an old disease heart trouble
in God's people is something that is very common and We have
that disease, I have it, and I think you have it. Many, many
times your heart is disturbed, your heart is troubled, and you
might have not got all of the things dumped on you that was
dumped on the disciples at any one time, but you still can wake
up many mornings and not even really know why. You're just
cast down, you're just discouraged, you're just trouble in your heart.
I was talking with a dear soul the other day and I said, well
how are you? And she said, well I'm I'm alright. And I said, well, what's going
on? And she said, well, I'm depressed.
And I said, well, depressed? Yes, I'm depressed. And I said,
well, is there anything in particular? No. I don't know what it is even. I'm just depressed. I'm just
cast down. And so, beloved, it is that way
with God's people on many, many occasions. And this is trouble
of heart. Now heart trouble, I think probably
you and I would say that it's very common, very common among
those who are disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ. And certainly
there's no rank, no class, or condition that is exempt from
it. No bars or bolts or locks. Somebody
said can keep it out. We're just going to have heart
trouble now and then. There's going to be times when
we're going to feel that we're deaf, where we feel we're blind,
we feel that we need a word from the book, and we feel that we
need light to come to us in our obscurity and our darkness. And from inward causes we have
this, and from outward causes, partly from the body. this old
body some of you are getting older here and the day is going
to come when you're going to be bothered by afflictions that
you haven't experienced before and these afflictions are going
to be very depressing. to be sick, to be afflicted in
the body. And oh, for the day when God's
people, even though they are afflicted and greatly, greatly
afflicted, they'll be able to say, I'm not sick. I'm not sick
in the light of the fact that God is with them. The preciousness
of the Lord is surrounding them. The Lord's grace is greatly upon
them and they're so intoxicated with the power of the world to
come that they say, I'm not sick. I'm not sick. I'm not sick at
all. It's in the Lord's hands and
I don't feel this sickness. I'm so taken up. with God's goodness
and grace and what He's promised that I hath not seen, nor ear
heard, neither has entered into the heart of man. I'm so taken
up with that that I can say, as the book of Isaiah says, I
am not sick. Now then, from inward causes
and from outward causes, we have this heart trouble. We have this
heart trouble. Partly from the body, as we said,
partly from the mind. A lot of times it's our minds
that give us trouble. I'll tell you what, this old
mind, there's an awful lot that goes into it. There's an awful
lot that comes out of it. And there's an awful lot that
you gotta watch it. This mind will get you in trouble
if you think too much, if you study too much. I remember talking
recently to Steve Aquino and he seemed to be on that particular,
at that particular time, a little upbeat. And I said, what's going
on? And he said, well, I have been
dealing with my mind. And I've kind of got a little
bit straightened out. And I pretty well got myself
way down just in my thoughts. And so by the grace of God, I've
been able to get myself back on track in my mind. And I'm
better now. I'm better now. Well, from what
we love in this world, we have a lot of trouble because from
what we love in this world. You know, many, many times we
love things in this world we ought not love. The Scripture
says, Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world.
For if any man love the world, the love of the Father is not
in him. All that's in the world, the lust of the flesh, the lust
of the eyes, and the pride of life is not of the Father, it's
of the world. The world is passing away. They
that will do the will of God will abide forever. The things
that we love in this world gives us a lot of heart trouble. And
then also those whom we love in this world can give us a lot
of heart trouble. Your children and in your human
relationships you can have a lot of heart trouble by and through
those people that you love in this world and from what we fear. also gives us a lot of trouble.
What are you thinking about? What are you fearful of? What
are you fearful of? Are you afraid of what's coming?
Are you afraid to more or less to get up every day? Are you
just kind of afraid of life? Afraid of failing? Afraid of coming down the road,
coming into some very difficult and hard places? Afraid of all
those mountains you've got to climb? Afraid of all those valleys
that you have to go through? Are you afraid? Are you afraid
to die? Are you afraid to get old? Are
you afraid of what's coming in your life? Are you fearful? Well,
beloved, that's heart trouble. That's heart trouble. Now, the
journey of life is just full of this trouble we're talking
about. It's full of it. The journey of life. Things being
sprung on us. I'm not going to be with you
very long. I'm going to be gone. Out of here. We've heard that
so many times. I'm leaving. I won't be here no more. I'm
leaving. You coming back? Well, I don't
know. I'd like to. I'd sure love to.
But I don't know whether I'll ever be back or not. I'm leaving.
And then, you know, so many goodbyes in this world. So many things
to trouble an individual's heart. The best of Christians have many,
many, John Bunyan said, bitter cups to drink between grace and
glory. Many bitter cups to drink. between their experience in the
grace of God and regeneration and their entering into eternal
glory. Is that not true? John Bunyan
knew what he was talking about. He knew what he was talking about.
He certainly was right about that. The holiest saint of God
finds that this world is a veil of tears. That's what it is.
A time when things are sprung on us that just trouble us inside. The time when we hear news, sometimes
from afar, sometimes from near, and we just have all kinds of
trouble dealing with it. Well, there's only one way to
deal with it. And our Lord gives us here the prescription. He gives us the sure medicine.
In verse 1 here, He said, Let not your heart be troubled. You
believe in God, believe also in me. So faith, beloved, is
the medicine that cures heart trouble. Faith. You must believe
God. To believe more thoroughly what
you already believe. To believe it more thoroughly.
Analyze what you believe and believe it more thoroughly. It
doesn't mean good Early part of this week, Monday, I flew
back on an airplane with a fellow from out in Memphis, Tennessee,
who was a Sovereign Grace believer. And we talked a great deal about
what we believed and all and it done me a great deal of good
to be able just to confess to him what I believed. What I believed. Done me a lot of good. It do
you a whole lot of good to talk it over with somebody. Visit
with somebody and talk over with them what you believe that you
might more thoroughly believe what you already believe. You
need to believe it more thoroughly. And not only that, but you need
to trust more entirely. Trust more entirely. You say,
well, you know, I've got to leave a little room over here to deal
with these things. No, the best thing for you to do is trust
entirely the Lord. Give up all of these things into
God's hands and trust Him with Him. Steve Aquino called me yesterday,
and we were talking, and he had a situation come up recently
which was very, very discouraging to him. He was being sued by
a fellow that he did some electrical work for. And this fellow had
waited two years, but Steve apparently was working on his box, the power
box in his home, and The box was in terrible shape, the wiring
had been very poorly installed, so Steve pulled out some breakers
and the house caught on fire. The wires just somehow or other,
the box caught on fire and there was a lot of smoke damage. Then Steve bought a new box on
his own and took it back and installed it. and did all the
work, and yet the fellow's insurance company who paid $7,000 to clean
up the house and to redo some things, they are suing Steve
now for the money. Well, somehow or other, Steve
was just, he never thought about the fact that he had liability
insurance. and uh... so he was worked up
had been worked up for a week about it that just thought it
was the end i mean here i am being sued and i'm a baptist
preacher i'm being sued and this is just going to just going to
ruin me not only financially it's going to ruin me it's going
to cost the lawyer lawyer's going to cost three thousand dollars
to represent me and i said steve don't you have liability insurance
well yeah i got liability insurance i said well steve that's that'll
take care of it That'll take care of it, just turn it over
to them. And I said, they got some big lawyers, big dog lawyers
that's got teeth in their mouth and they'll take care of it for
you. You just turn it over to them. Well, boy, he got some
relief from that. He got a great deal of relief
from that. But he said, well, now I got another problem. I
said, well, what's that? He said, well, I gotta preach
in the morning. I don't have a thing to preach. I said, you
know Steve, this is the Lord's work. You and I are involved
in the Lord's work. This is the Lord's work. And
you trust Him. You trust Him. You rest yourself
in Him and trust Him to give you a word for those people in
the morning. It's His Word. They're His people
and it's His Word and you trust Him. And if He's not in it, you
don't need to be in it. It's best if you not be in it.
if the Lord's not with you. And so rest in the Lord. And
so rest more unreservedly in the Lord. Lay hold more firmly. Lean back more completely. This is the prescription. This is the prescription. You
got heart trouble? You're afflicted? The Lord's
going to appear. Believe that God, believe His
Word. Believe what He said in His Word. The Scripture says that the Lord's
going to keep him in perfect peace. trust in him that waits
on him thou will keep him in perfect peace Isaiah 26 and 3
because he trusteth in the Lord. You know these disciples I think
they already believe don't you? I think they did. I think they
already believe but they ought to believe more. Jesus said you
believe on me Let not your heart be troubled, you believe in God,
you believe in God and he said just believe also in me. Trust
me, trust my wisdom and trust me. Now there was a word that
came to me yesterday that impressed my heart a great deal and enabled
me to be in a kind of frame of mind where I could come here
this morning and where I could speak to you. And we find over
in the Word of God, if you were to turn with me to Matthew chapter
9, I want you to look at this with me. I won't spend much time
on this, but I want you to see this as we close out our thoughts
here this morning. Listen, beloved, there is nothing
holy, there is nothing sanctifying about gloominess or about despondency,
about morbid pessimism. There isn't anything about it
that is becoming to a child of God. When we're in that kind
of a state, listen, that is the exact opposite of the fruit of
the Spirit. which God has given by His Holy
Spirit to His people. You could read in the book of
Galatians chapter 5 that the fruit of the Spirit is love and
joy and so on and so forth. And you can read that in that
fifth chapter of the book of Galatians. But to be cast down,
to be gloomy and despondent To be troubled in heart is just
the opposite of what we ought to be. Now the Holy Spirit is
our comforter. I want to mention that to you.
The Holy Spirit is our comforter, not our tormentor. If you're being tormented, then that's not the Spirit's
work. The Holy Spirit's work is to comfort His people. But here in the book of Matthew
chapter 9, I want you to look, if you will, at the second verse. Here's this fellow that was sick
of the palsy. And in verse 1 it says, And he
entered into a ship, that is, Jesus did, and he passed over
and came unto his own city. And, behold, they brought to
him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed. And Jesus, seeing
their faith, said unto the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good
cheer, thy sins be forgiven thee. Now, beloved, when we are cast
down, uh... and uh... we are dishonoring
our heavenly father uh... many many times we need to hear
the word of the book and the word of the book to me yesterday
was son be of good cheer be of good cheer now the word cheer
means to be put into good spirits it means to be merry of heart
and uh... it means There's a word called, it's hilarious. And this signifies that readiness
of mind, that joyousness. which prompts an individual to
do the things that he ought to do as a child of God. For an example, we read in 2
Corinthians 9 and 7 that God loveth a cheerful or a hilarious
giver. One that has joy in their hearts
and is ready of mind to do what they ought to do. They're prompted
by the cheerfulness of their heart to do as God would lead
them to do. And so here we find, and I want
just to point out a few places to you, where this word cheer
is used. And son be of good cheer. Son
be of good cheer. The deaf is going to hear a word
out of the book, and the meek are going to rejoice in the Lord,
and we are going to, as God's people, the Lord is going to
come to us, and He's going to do something in us. And he's
going to say something to us. Our heart trouble will be taken
away. We'll be able to believe God. The day is coming. The day of the Lord. The day
and the time is coming. And you need to believe that.
And here's this man who was sick of the palsy. The Lord said to
him, Son, be of good cheer. Thy sins be forgiven thee. Now
I want you to understand that this man was still paralyzed.
He was forgiven though. He was still paralyzed, but he
was forgiven, and that is reason enough to be of good cheer. Son,
the Lord says you just be of good spirits. Even though you're
paralyzed, you be of good spirits. Thy sins be forgiven thee. So
here is the day that this man, this death man as it were, this
man who needed so desperately to hear a word from the Lord,
here's the day in which he heard it. Son, be of good spirits,
be comforted, be courageous, thy sins be forgiven thee. Then also look in this same chapter
at verse 22, verse 22. And here's where the woman that
came to Jesus, which had the disease with an issue of blood,
12 years, came behind Him and touched the hem of His garment.
For she said within herself, If I may but touch His garment,
I shall be whole. But Jesus turned Him about. Notice
her day. Here she is. Don't you think
she needed to hear a word from the Lord? Don't you think she
needed a word from the book, as it were? She needed to hear
from God? But Jesus turned him about, and
when he saw her, he said, Daughter, be of good comfort. Well, that
word comfort there is the same word translated cheer in other
places. Daughter, be of good cheer. Thy
faith hath made thee whole. Be of good cheer. In other words,
be of good spirits. There's no need to be cast down
to spawn it and know you spent all your living. I know that
you give it all to these quacks and they haven't been able to
do anything for you. And I know that you need help.
I know you do. But be of good comfort. Be of
good cheer. Get rid of your heart trouble.
Get rid of it. Believe me. Trust me, thy faith. You having believed me your faith
has made you whole and then there's another verse of scripture that
I want you to see and that's Matthew chapter 14 Look in Matthew
chapter 14 and look at verse 27 And you remember the story that
Jesus had constrained his disciples to get into a ship. These are
everyday life events. It's what they are. And that's
what I'm trying to show you. That this heart trouble and this
need of the day of the Lord This need of a visit from God. All
of it. It's just everyday experience
for God's people. And they got into the ship to
go over to the other side. And when he had sent the multitudes
away, he went up into the mountain park to pray. And when the evening
was come, he was there alone. But the ship was now in the midst
of the sea, tossed with the waves, for the wind was contrary. And
in the fourth watch of the night, Jesus went unto them, walking
on the sea. And when the disciples saw him
walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit. And they cried out for fear.
They cried out for fear. But straightway Jesus spake unto
them, saying, Be of good cheer. Be of good
spirits. It is I. Be not afraid. It is
I. Now you see he appears to them
when the ship was in the midst of the sea tossed with the waves,
the wind was contrary. Picture that in your own life.
How would that translate? Well every one of you could get
up and say now here's the way it translates in my life. Last
week on Wednesday so and so and such and such I mean I was out
in the midst of the sea I was tossed up and down in the waves
and the wind oh it was so contrary did you ever get up and you felt
like all day long something was just blowing you back that you
just could not get going you couldn't accomplish what you
wanted to accomplish listen that's where the disciples were and
the Lord Jesus came He came, that's that day we were talking
about earlier out of Isaiah 29 verse 18. That's the day. He
came and He said, you be of good cheer. Be of good cheer. It is
I, be not afraid. I got this thing under control.
I've got this situation here under control and the presence
of Christ and the realization of His providential rule should
cause us to be of good cheer. Is that right? It should cause
us to be of good cheer. And that's what the Lord said
to me yesterday. He said, be of good cheer. I got this thing
under control. I'll take care of this thing.
You just trust me. You rely on me. Just cast yourself
on me. And don't try to work this thing
out. Lord, I don't have any wisdom to go forward. I don't know what
to do. I don't know how to deal with this and that and other
things. Just cast yourself on me. Be
of good cheer. Be of good spirits. You don't need to be gloomy and
despondent and cast down and despair. No need! Just be of
good cheer. Be of good cheer. I'll take care
of it. Trust my providential rule. Okay? And then another verse
is John 16 and 33. I'd like for you to turn there
and look at this. John 16 and verse 33. Our Lord again had been speaking
to them, the disciples. In verse 28 He said, I came forth
from the Father and am come into the world, again I leave the
world and go to the Father. And His disciples said to Him,
Lord now speakest thou plainly and speakest no proverb. And
Jesus in verse 31 said, Do you now believe? He said, Behold
the hour, yea, has now come that you shall be scattered, every
man to his own. You folks are going to all be
scattered. And you're going to leave me alone. I'm going to
the cross, and when they take me and lead me into powerless
judgment hall, you're all going to scatter. Every man to his
own. And yet He said, I'm not alone
because the Father's with me. These things I've spoken unto
you. that in me you might have peace. In the world you'll have
tribulation. In the world you're going to
have trouble. In the world you're going to have many days when
you're just not going to know how to deal with things. You're
going to have heart trouble many days. But be of good cheer, but
be of good spirits. This is not something that's
to overwhelm you and to drive you to the point of suicide. drive you to the point
of doing something that would bring reproach on your God? This
is not what this is about. Jesus said, in the world you're
going to have trouble. That word tribulation is trouble.
But you be of good spirits. Be comforted. Be comforted. Be courageous. Stand like a man
and be believing, trusting the Lord. I have overcome this world. I've overcome. I've already gone
before you. I've already gone before you.
I started this thing a long time ago and I'm going to have to
wash myself here or I'm going to jump a rabbit and first thing
you know I'll be off on another track. But I get to thinking
every once in a while about how the Lord How the Lord was looking
out for me before He saved me. About how He's looking out for
me in this world. And how He looked out for me
since He saved me. And there's a good picture of
that in the Scripture. About that tree. You remember
that our Lord was walking along and this fig tree hadn't borne
any fruit. And somebody said, cut her down. Cut her down. And the man said,
well, no, don't do that. He said, I'll dig about it and
water it. And if they don't have any fruit
on them next year, you can cut it down. And you know, there
was a time when the Lord, I'm sure, passed by me and the intercessory
work of our Lord started in the life of his sheep before they
were ever converted. And God said, cut that center
down. And the Lord Jesus said, no,
don't cut him down. I'll dig about him. And I'll
water him. And he'll bear fruit. There'll
be fruit there next year. And there came a time when the
Lord did water me about and dug up the soil around as it were.
And the Lord caused me to be fruitful. Well, that's that rabbit
I was telling you about. But I mean, these are things
that just just entered into my mind this morning. But anyway,
I'm in the 16th chapter of John where the Lord said, I've overcome
the world. I've overcome it. I'm out in
front of you. I've been out in front of you
before you were ever, well before you came forth out of the womb,
I was out in front of you. I've been out in front of you
from old eternity. I've been in front of the Lord's
people. I've overcome the world on the behalf of my people. I've
overcome it. Alright, and then there's another
verse that I want us to see. And that's over in the book of
Acts. And that's the last one. Acts
chapter 27. Acts chapter 27. And we take note here. Let's look at verse 21 through
25. You remember Paul was on ship
and there was a huge storm. And the tempest lay on us, and
all hope that we should be saved was then taken away in verse
20. But after a long abstinence, Paul stood forth in the midst
of them and said, Sirs, you should have hearkened unto me and not
have loosed from Crete to have gained this harm and loss. And
now I exhort you, verse 22, to be of good cheer. For there shall
be no loss of any man's life among you but of the ship. I
exhort you to be of good spirits. For there stood by me this night
the angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve." There's that
day of the Lord, that day when God, the day of His manifestation,
the day of revelation, the day when God comes and speaks and
gives a word. And the deaf ears are opened,
and the blind eyes see. There stood by me this night
the angel of God, whose I am, and whom I serve, saying, Fear
not, Paul, thou must be brought before Caesar, and, lo, God hath
given thee all them that sayeth thee. Wherefore, sirs, Be of
good cheer. Wherefore, sirs, be of good spirits. For I believe God. He learned a lesson, didn't he?
He said, I just believe God. I believe what God told me. And
God just told me, and so I'm telling you, you be of good cheer. It shall be even as it was told
me. God's gonna deliver us. He will deliver us. And so you
just trust Him. And I'll tell you what, I can't
stand here before you this morning and say that I always believed
God regardless of what happened in my life at every given time.
That I always just could trust Him unreservedly and rest without
a murmur. I can't stand here and tell you
that. But here this morning, I can stand here and I can tell
you that I believe God. I believe He's an absolute sovereign.
I believe He's a God of purpose. And I believe that every one
of His children, that He cares for each one of them. And I believe
that God has a Word for each one of us this morning. A Word
that would get us through. A Word that would see us through. A Word that would enable us to
face whatever we have to face. A Word. A Word from the Book. A Word from the Book. Be of good
cheer. I believe God that it shall be
even as it was told me. Now brethren, I'd just like to
say this in closing. I'd like to say that sometimes we're afraid to be
upbeat. Sometimes, you know, we get in
such a state of mind that we're a little bit afraid to act too
happy. We're a little bit afraid to
be of good spirits. Somebody say, well, what do you
got to be happy about anyway? Why, you're as happy as if you
was in your right mind, or you're not,
you wasn't in your right mind, or whatever. But beloved, listen,
you got nothing to fear about being of good cheer. Nothing
to cheer. Nothing to fear about being of
good cheer. You have nothing to fear. And
don't worry about it. Somebody said, well, I don't
want to get too happy, you know. First thing you know, I'll get
slapped down. Well, the Lord said, be of good cheer. Listen,
if you are of good cheer, it'll be catching to everybody around
you. If you're a parent, your children are bound to pick up
on it. Bound to pick up on it, if you're of good cheer. If you're
not, they're bound to pick up on that too. And you don't want
to plague your children with that frame of mind. You
want to believe God, don't you? You want to believe God. Go back. Rehearse. Look. Trust. Pray for the day when
God would give you a word out of the book. And encourage you. Enable you. I've got to have
one all the time to keep going. And I think all of His people
do. I think you've got to hear from the Lord. And I think God
has a day that He's going to visit you. and trust Him to do
it. When you get into a very difficult,
tight, trust Him to visit you and to give you help and to give
you strength and to enable you to overcome. But the prescription
is believe God. Believe God. Trust Him. Trust
Him for His grace. Behind the frowning providence
He hides a smiling face. Trust Him. Father, in the name
of Jesus, I cast all my care upon you this morning, and thou
dost know all of the care that we have. And we cast it all upon
you the best we can. Give us strength and grace and
backbone to be able to endure all that must be endured. Give
us thy help and thy blessing and strengthen us. Oh, thank
you for remembering us and coming to us. and causing us to have a day
of power and a day of manifestation and realization. A day of opening
of the eyes and opening of the deaf ear. Thank you. Thank you
dear Lord. In Jesus name, Amen.