Okay, this evening now we have
Psalm 31. As I initially studied this psalm
and read over it, right away verse 15 caught my attention
because this has been one of my favorite verses down through
the years and I often refer to it. Verse 15, the first line
of it said, My times are in thy hand. My times are in the hand
of God. Talking about his life, David
said, my life is in your hand. As the songwriter said, my times
are in the hand of the Lord. And then the songwriter said,
my God, I'm glad that it's so. My time is in his hand. I've entitled this message, and
with the words found in that verse, My times are in thy hand. The hand of God. The hand of
God. No one can stay, stop the hand
of God, the purpose of God, the majesty of God. No one can turn
Him from His will. He does all things after the
counsel of His own will. Now I'm not going to try to study
these whole 24 verses. I'll let you and I would encourage
you to study these verses. and to meditate upon this psalm
this week and ask the Lord to speak to you through his word.
But I want to bring out three outstanding truths that's contained
throughout all scripture, but is given to us here in this Psalm
31. and let me give him to you then
we'll come back and look at these three things trust in the lord
that's faith isn't it trust in the lord you know peter called
several things precious precious blood precious trials and then
he called you who believe christ is precious but he also mentioned
in second peter one Verse 1, I believe it is, he talks about
faith being precious. Oh, what a precious thing it
is to trust, to trust the Lord Jesus Christ. That's the gift
of God. Faith is the gift of God. Oh,
to trust the Lord. That's the first thing. Secondly,
we see this truth. Let us never be ashamed of the
Lord. You say, well, the Lord's people
will never be ashamed of the Lord. Well, as a general tenor
of a believer's life, that's so. But Peter, when the young
maiden asked, Peter, aren't you one of those disciples of the
Lord? And Peter said, no, no, not me. Are you sure about that, Peter?
Yeah. purpose known unto God, Peter
was left to himself at that point. Maybe to teach us just how weak
and frail we really are. Peter later went out and wept
bitterly that he did not confess the Lord Jesus Christ. And let
us learn from that example and from others. Let us never be
ashamed when we have opportunity to confess the Lord Jesus Christ
before those are workers, co-workers, in our own household, in our
neighborhood. I had a man across the street
from me who is on elevated ground. You who have been to our place
know across the street from me is a company. And he's on high
ground. He sits up there in his office
and he keeps an eye on me all day long. He sees every move
I make and what I do. And he's been to our services
on several occasions and seems to have no real interest in the
gospel of God's grace. But as I was finishing up our
day yesterday cleaning the building, and out in the parking lot, he
and his wife pulled up. And I knew who he was and he
rolled down his window and said, how you doing preacher? I said,
well I'm doing okay. He said, we've been able to clean
our building and put down new carpet and have repaired the
pews and put in new duct work and we're going to meet back
in the building. And I said, you ought to come
be with us tomorrow. And he said, well, preacher,
he said, you have some new things in there. But he said this, he
said this to me, he said, I bet one thing hasn't changed. He said, I bet your message hasn't
changed, has it? And I said, no, my message hasn't
changed. Needless to say, I guess he wasn't
interested in the message that I had preached before, and maybe
he was looking for some kind of change. But he said, I bet
your message hadn't changed, has it, preacher? I said, no,
it hadn't. And I said, you ought to come
be with us. Well, he put it in reverse and got out of there.
And he did not. I was hopeful that he'd come
and worship with us this morning, but he did not. But let us never
be ashamed of the Lord. And then the third thing that
we want to look at for a brief moment is the hand of the Lord. The hand of the Lord. We think
about, we read in scripture about the arm of the Lord is not shortened
that he cannot save. And then the hand of the Lord,
he talks about the anatomy and makes an illustration to the
anatomy of the body. The hand is a very skillful thing. The hand of a surgeon can delicately
operate upon a heart. The hand of a musician can play
with such preciseness the melodies on various different instruments.
You think of the hand of man, how it is used to build and construct
and to do many things. Many of them good, but also many
of them evil. But the hand of the Lord. Now you consider the hand of
man, how God has blessed us even in our fallen state, the hand
of man to paint a beautiful picture. To do these various things, but
nothing can be compared with the hand of the Lord. the hand of the Lord, the arm
of the Lord. To whom is the arm of the Lord
revealed? And you know what that arm is
talking about? It's talking about the power of God. The arm is
the power of God. So we want to consider these
three things for a few moments and I'll try to use some wisdom
here with the use of time. The first thing we see in Psalm
31 that we want to talk about for a moment is trust in the
Lord. Now notice in verse 1 it says,
In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust. Again in verse 6, He said,
I've hated them that regard lying vanity, but I trust in the Lord. And again, verse 14, he talks
about this trust again. But I trust in thee, O Lord,
you're my God. And then again, down in verse
19. Oh, how great is thy goodness,
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee, which thou hast
wrought for them that trust in thee. before the sons of men
and then again down in verse 24 be of good courage he shall
strengthen your heart all ye that hope in the Lord or trust
in the Lord the believer does have a real hope a real hope
the Apostle called it a good hope a living hope It's a good
hope through grace, through grace alone. So this trust in the Lord,
this hope in the Lord, this confidence, hope and trust and assurance
is found in no one else but in the Lord. You cannot trust yourself. Would you dare trust your feelings?
You remember the song, the hymn of Martin Luther? Feelings come
and feelings go, and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is
the Word of God. Nothing else is worth believing,
worth trusting, but His Word. We trust no one else but the
Lord Jehovah. The old timers called the Lord
Jesus Christ Jehovah Jesus. You ever heard that phrase? The
old timers referred to Him as God our Savior. It is not trust
in my trust. It is not hope in my hope or
faith in my faith. but rather faith in Christ. It's trusting the Lord Jesus
Christ. Not any creature merit, not any
religious experience, not any religious ceremony or feeling. It is confidence and trust and
hope and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now it's the Christ of
God. The Christ of God. Now make sure
you trust the right one. There are a lot of counterfeits
today, especially in our day. They talk about a Jesus who wants
to and can't, who's tried and failed. They talk about another
Jesus that Paul warned us about in Scripture. It's another gospel
that he warned us about. It's another spirit that he warned
us about. Make sure you trust the Christ
of God and no one else. The Apostle Paul talked about
that in Philippians 3 when he described the true Israel. Those
who worship God in the Spirit, those who rejoice in Christ Jesus,
and those who have no confidence in the flesh. Jeremiah 17 talks
about those who trust in the flesh, and he follows it up with
this, Cursed be the man that trusteth in the flesh, but blessed
be the man that trusteth in the Lord. That's the blessed man. Now notice he says here, I do
put my trust. It's not I have trusted. It's
not I will trust. It's I do, right now, trust Him. You see, saving faith is real,
ongoing, right now. It's not I have trusted. It's
not I have believed. It's not I have looked. The scripture
talks about to whom coming. looking, believing, repenting. It's always active in the heart
of the believer. That's why he says, I do trust
Him. And this is trusting Him at all
times, as it says in the only psalm. Do you remember the only
psalm? Psalm 62. Trust Him at all times,
ye people. Pour out your heart before Him,
for God is a refuge for Him. Trust Him at all times. It says in verse 2, He is my
rock and my strength. Down in verse 10, it talks about
David's strength failing. So we trust Him at all times. Now, here's a scripture that's
familiar with most of you. Find Proverbs chapter 3. Proverbs chapter 3 verse 5, trust
in the Lord with all thine heart, lean not, Proverbs 3 verse 5,
lean not into thine own understanding, in all thy ways acknowledge him
and he shall direct thy path, trust in the Lord with all your
heart, with all your heart, at all times, don't trust yourself.
Don't trust your own feelings. Don't trust anything or anyone,
but always trust Him. Look at verse 6 now. He said,
that regard lying vanities, but I trust in the Lord. Because
we believe and trust his word of truth and the God of truth,
we hate that which is contrary to the gospel. David even prays
here in this Psalm verse 18, let the lying lips be put to
silence. which speak grievous things proudly
and contemptuously against God's people, against God's Christ,
the Righteous One, the Lord Jesus Christ. Psalm 119. Turn over there. Psalm 119. That word strong,
that word hate is a very strong word. But look what it says right here
in Psalm 119 verse 104. And this is repeated
again in Psalm 119 verse 104. Through thy precepts I get understanding,
therefore I hate every false way. Charles Spurgeon often said, that those who do not hate that
which is contrary to God's gospel do not really love the truth. In this day in which we live,
it's a day of compromise, backpedaling, not wanting or not willing to
offend anybody, afraid to stand and preach the gospel of God's
sovereign saving grace in Christ Jesus, thinking that some religious
member of the congregation might get upset and leave. Therefore,
most preachers try to tone it down rather than boldly contending
for the gospel of God's grace. I say they're cowards. I say
they don't know God. I say they're speaking lying
vanities to save their own skin rather than the glory of God,
which is more important? His glory or offending some poor
religious self-righteous snob? I'd rather offend the snob and
let him get mad and leave as to offend God by speaking that
which is a contrary to the gospel. Would you rather offend the sinner
or offend God? I'm going to offend the sinner
whether he gets mad or not. I'm going to tell him the truth.
And that's, my friend, what we must do Because God's people
love the truth and love the God of truth and the Lord Jesus Christ,
therefore they do not tolerate that which is contrary to the
gospel. There is no room to compromise
in this matter when God's glory is at stake. Believers by His
grace trust the God of truth who cannot lie. You see what
it says in verse 6? I have hated them that regard
lying vanities, but I trust the Lord. Believers by His grace
trust the God of truth who cannot lie. Look what it says, Oh Lord
God of truth in verse 5. We trust the Lord who cannot
deceive, who cannot change. He said, I am the Lord, I change
not, therefore you sons of Jacob are not consumed. He's the same
yesterday, today, and forever. The gospel does not change. The gospel of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ is the eternal everlasting gospel. It
never needs to be amended, updated, or a new version. The gospel
of God is always the same. It's eternal and as old as God
himself. The gospel never changes because
God never changes. The lives of men always change. Always change. God never changes. So we trust the God of truth
and we hate that which is contrary to the gospel. Verse 13 and 14,
he goes on, I trust thee, thou art my God. You see verse 14,
but I trusted in thee, O Lord, and I said, thou art my God. Thou art my God. It reminds me
of the confession of Thomas. He's known in religious circles,
that's my given birth name, Thomas. And every time I hear someone
talk about Thomas, they always talk about doubting Thomas. And I think, well, that pretty
well sums me up. Doubting, doubting, doubting.
But by his grace, I can say, thou art my God. And that's what
Thomas said. You remember he said, these other
guys, you know. I won't believe what they say
unless I see the Lord myself." And when the Lord appeared, oh,
he didn't need to stick his finger or his hand. He bowed to the
sovereign Lord and said, My Lord and my God. Thou art my God. Who is the Lord Jesus Christ?
That pretty well sums it up, doesn't it? He's God. He's God
alone, a just God and Savior. What a privilege of grace to
declare that God who is God is God over all things. Of Him and
through Him and to Him are all things. In the face of opposition,
in the face of trial and heartache, Can't every believer truly say
in his heart, it doesn't matter the circumstance, it doesn't
matter the trial, it doesn't matter the heartache, the believer
in his heart can say, Thou art my God. Thou art my God. God is mine. I don't know what
he is to the rest of the sons of men, but David said he's my
God. They asked him one time, David,
where's your God? David said, Our God's in the
heavens, and he had done whatsoever he had pleased. That's our God,
the sovereign King of the universe, who does according to His will
in the army of heaven and among the heavens of this earth, and
none can stay His hand, who works all things after the counsel
of His own blessed will to the praise of His glory. Thou art
my God. Look at verse 19 now, talking
about this first point here, we trust the Lord. Oh, He said,
how great is thy goodness. beyond description, how great
is the goodness of God, the mercy of God, this goodness of God
that's laid up for them, this goodness of God that's reserved
for them, this goodness of God for them who are the elect of
God, those who believe God, and those that fear God. Do you remember
when Abraham was going to sacrifice his son lady out on the altar,
prepared the altar, the wood, and prepared to take his life. And God speaks and said, Abraham,
now I know that you fear me, you believe me, and that you
fear me. Those who believe the Lord, they
fear him. That is, they stand in awe and
reverence of His glorious, majestic person. He's laid up this goodness
for them, this goodness that has been wrought out for them. Who wrought out a goodness for
us? Who wrought out a goodness for us that's accepted of God? Who wrought out this righteousness
business that justifies before God? He wrought it out. He was
obedient unto death, even the death of the cross, the Lord
Jesus Christ. has wrought out this goodness
for us, this righteousness that he freely gives unto us. He's
wrought out for them that trust in thee. Now watch this before
the sons of men. This profession of saving faith
in Christ, trust and commitment unto the Lord and the gospel
is not to be hidden from those around you. I've often said the
Lord has no secret disciples. But rather it is to be made public
before all men, confessing Christ as our only hope of salvation. It's to identify with the gospel,
with His people, and where the gospel of God graced His priests
before the sons of men, before the ungodly. Now I would have
you turn to Psalm 138. Psalm 138. Now watch this, verse 1, I will
praise thee with my whole heart before the gods will I worship,
will I sing praise unto thee. this pagan world I will praise
my God and I will sing I will worship toward thy holy temple
and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy truth for
thou has magnified thy word Christ above all thy name we publicly
confess him rather We make public our confession
of Christ as our only hope before men. And that's what we do in
the preaching of the gospel, and that's what we do in the
witnessing of the gospel. Preaching and witnessing is simply
this. It's one beggar telling another
beggar where he found bread. Where he found bread. This is
one beggar telling another beggar about the storehouse of mercy
in Christ Jesus. You remember what the Lord told
the wild Gadarene who was healed? The wild Gadarene who was healed.
And the wild Gadarene wanted to follow the Lord. Wanted to
go with Him. Wanted to line up and pack up
and follow the Lord. And you remember what He told
him? You go home. to your family, to your friend,
and tell them how great things the Lord has done for you. One
beggar telling another beggar where mercy is found. What great
things He has wrought out for us in redemption. He redeemed
us with His blood, the precious blood of Christ, in whom we have
redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin according
to the richness of His grace. So, trust the Lord. Now, down
to verse 23 and 24. Psalm 31. Oh, love the Lord,
all ye His saints. For the Lord preserveth the faithful.
God's people are faithful, kept by the power of God through faith.
God will plentifully reward the proud doer. God will give those
He'll deal with the reprobate, with the ungodly, with judgment. Be of good courage and He'll
strengthen your heart. Verse 24, all ye that hope in
the Lord. Do you have any hope of salvation
apart from the Lord Jesus Christ alone? Do you have any hope of
forgiveness, righteousness, redemption, resurrection apart from the Lord
Jesus Christ? No, no. Hope in the Lord. Christ in you is a hope of glory. Trust in the Lord. Well, the
second thing is this, here's my second point. Believers, therefore,
because they trust in the Lord, are never ashamed of Him. Look
what it says in verse 1 again. I do put my trust in the Lord.
Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in thy righteousness.
And again in verse 17, let me not be ashamed, O Lord, for I
have called upon thee. I've called upon thee. because
we've been delivered in the very righteousness of God that he
has provided in the gospel we certainly have nothing to be
ashamed about for he certainly will accept that which he has
provided for he is Jehovah Jireh the Lord will provide we are
accepted in the beloved therefore let us never never no never Be
ashamed of God's gospel. That's why the Apostle Paul said,
for I'm not ashamed like what he says here. In verse 15 of
Romans 1, verse 15, 16, and 17, he talks about those three things. Often people will go and speak
somewhere or be asked to speak in a Bible conference and often
the question is asked by the pastor, well, Brother Tom, are
you ready? I like, and I always answer it with the answer that
the Apostle Paul gave in verse 15 of Romans 1. For as much as
in me is, I'm ready to preach the gospel of God to you, for
I'm not ashamed of that gospel. The gospel of God concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ, for it is the power of God and the salvation
to everyone that believeth. You know, there's another young
man that we read about in scripture. I want you to turn for a moment
to 2 Timothy chapter 1. Paul wrote two epistles, God-given,
God-inspired, to this young preacher, Timothy. Paul called him, my
son, in the gospel. 2 Timothy 1, but when Paul was
in prison, writing back to young Timothy, he writes this way,
verse 7, 2 Timothy 1, 7, For God hath not given us the spirit
of fear, that is, the fear of men, but of power, and of love,
and of a sound mind. Be not thou therefore ashamed
of the testimony of our Lord, nor of me his prisoner, but be
thou a partaker of the afflictions of the gospel according to the
power of God. Now this must be my favorite
verse because I quote it all the time. Verse 9, who had saved
us called us. with a holy calling, not according
to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, purpose
and grace. God marries those two together,
purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before
the world began. God's gospel the power of God
unto salvation. We count all else loss for Christ. Isn't that what Paul said in
Philippians 3? Count all things but loss for
the excellency, the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord. I count
all things lost, O that I may win Christ and be found in Him,
not having my own righteousness, which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith, the faith of Christ, the obedience
of Christ, the blessedness of Christ. Let us not be ashamed. Verse 16 in our text and verse
17, let thy face shine upon thy servant, save me for thy mercy's
sake. Let me not be ashamed, O Lord,
for I have called upon thee. I've called upon thee. Let the
wicked be ashamed. The man who ought to be ashamed
are those who refuse to believe the gospel. Those who refuse
to bow to the claims of Christ and his lordship, they ought
to be ashamed for not believing the gospel. But let me not be
ashamed, O Lord, for I've called upon thee. I've called upon thee. let me not be ashamed, for I
have called upon thee now." One of the amazing blessed truths
of God's gospel, God's people are not ashamed of Him, but also
it says in Hebrews 2, that he is not ashamed to call us brethren
we're not ashamed to own him and isn't it a marvel of God's
grace that he's not ashamed to own us sorry things that we are
what he has made us by his grace Now the last thing is this, the
hand of the Lord. In verse 5 it talks about the
hand of the Lord. Into thy hand I commit my spirit. Thou hast redeemed me, O Lord
God of truth. That's a good confession right
there. In thy hand I commit my spirit. You know someone else
who made that confession in his dying hour? The Lord Jesus Christ
upon Calvary's tree. He reaches back to this psalm
that he gave David back what? hundreds of years, and he says,
into thy hand, Father, I commit my spirit. It's finished. It's
done. It's over. We can be sure that
we're in good hands. Look at verse 8. Thou hath not
shut me up into the hand of the enemy, thou hast set me in a
large place. Again in verse 15. My times are
in thy hand, deliver me from the hand of mine enemies. We
can be sure we're in good hands. There's a repeated television
commercial by a certain insurance company. I believe it's the insurance
company that I insured my vehicle with. You remember that
Toyota I used to drive? Well, it's in what we used to
call the bone yard or the scrap yard. But they have a commercial
that says, with Allstate, you're in good hands. Well, I guess
maybe in the insurance business, that's okay. But the believer
can truly say, in His hands, we're in good hands. We're in safe hands. For seeing
we are in good hands, none can pluck them out of His hand. His hand. He said that in John
10, my sheep hear my voice, I know them, they follow me, I give
unto them eternal life and none can pluck them out of my hand.
For my father which gave to me is greater than all and none
can pluck them out of his hand. I am my father, we're one. His hands are powerful hands. None can stop the power of His
hand. His hand are caring hands. With tender hand, He lifted me
from sinking sand. He lifted me. Tender hands. His hand are providing hands.
When He opens His hand, He satisfies the desire of His people. His
hand is a plentiful hand. a providing hand, a loving hand. His hand was pierced, nailed
for my sin. His hands are sacrificial hands. His hands are laboring hands,
for He wrought out for His people a blessed, perfect righteousness. His hand. Aren't you glad you're
in His hand? God's not in our hands. We're in His hand. My times,
David said, are in thy hand. We can rightly commit all unto
the Lord, our soul, body, and spirit, for He has redeemed us
We are in safe hands. My times are in thy hand. Don't you want all your life,
your soul, your salvation in His wise, holy, and sovereign
hands? For His hands never make a mistake. His hands never lose one of His
sheep. His hand always leads in the
right path. His hand is also a loving hand
of correction. when we need correcting. his
hand does correct us whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth and
scourgeth every son whom he receiveth in the song of Solomon it says
this about his hand his left hand is under my head and his
right hand doth embrace me my times are in thy hand I hope
as you sit there this evening considering this psalm I hope
you can truly say in your heart my life My salvation is in His
hand. We depend upon His obedience,
His righteousness, His faithfulness before God.