There's an ancient proverb which
goes something like this, when a man reaches 40 years of age,
he is either a fool or a physician. And they mean by that, when a
man reaches 40 years of age, he either doesn't know anything
or he knows some things that are good for him personally.
past 40 by many years, and I hope that I'm not a fool, I believe
that I have learned some things that are good for me. At least
I know two things that are good for me, and I borrowed them from
the writings of David in the book of Psalms. I know two things
that are good for me, and the first one is found in Psalms
119, verse 71. Would you care to turn
over there? Now, the subject this morning
is two things that are good for me. And I hope when I get through,
you'll be able to say, Amen, preacher. Those two things are
good for me, too. I've come down through life and
I'm able to determine what's good for me. I believe I know
these things are good for me. Now, the first one, Psalm 119,
verse 71. Now, listen to David. It's good
for me. That's the way he starts it off. It is good for me that
I have been afflicted. What did he say? He said it's
good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn
thy statutes. Now, I realize that what I'm
about to say is quite contrary to most of the preaching that
you hear today. We are plagued We are besieged
in this day with what we call a health and wealth religion.
Something good is going to happen to you. Well, I'm saying this. David said, it's good for me.
What's good for me? And this something good is affliction
and trial and tribulation and temptation and sorrow and tears
and heartache. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted. Because in that way, I was able
to learn God's statutes. Now listen to some scripture.
Now see what God says. David said, it's good for me
that I've been afflicted. And then the scripture says,
it's given unto you not only to believe in Christ, but to
suffer for Christ. The scripture says, they who
would live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution. Our Lord said to his disciples,
in the world you shall have tribulation, not prosperity, not good health
all the time, not total happiness all the time, but tribulation. Listen to the word of God. If
ye be without chastisement, you're not sons. You're not sons of
God. Whom the Lord loveth, he's chasing
it. Now, if you be without trial and affliction, You're not a
son of God. That's what Paul said in Hebrew.
And Paul wrote this, Most gladly will I glory in my infirmities,
that the power of Christ might rest upon me. And then again,
Paul said, When I am weak, then am I strong. Not when I'm prosperous,
not when I'm satisfied, not when I feel like I can whip the world
with one hand tied behind me. When I'm weak, then am I strong. And then he says, let the rich
rejoice in that he's made low. Let a man rejoice when God brings
him down and brings him down and strips him and humbles him
and breaks him and crushes him. God is nigh unto them of a broken
heart. He saveth such as be of a broken
heart and a contrite spirit. This doesn't sound like everybody
happy to say amen, does it? It doesn't sound like that little
chorus we used to sing, happy all the time, happy all the time.
I don't find the Apostle Paul talking that way at all. Listen
to this, count it not strange, Peter said, count it not strange,
my brethren, when fiery trials come upon you. They are sent
of God to try your faith. In other words, no man should
be disturbed by afflictions. He better be disturbed if he
doesn't have them. No man should be disturbed by
fiery trials, he'd better be concerned if he doesn't have
them. No man should be concerned by the chastening hand of God,
he'd better be concerned if it's not there. For he said, listen
to this, no man should be disturbed by afflictions, for you know
that we were appointed thereunto. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted. Read that. Psalm 119, verse 71. We need to read it over and over
again. It's good for me that I've been afflicted. Now, wait
a minute. Hold on. Hold the phone. I'm not saying that trial and
affliction are good for everybody. It may not be good for you. Now,
listen to me. I'm not saying trials and afflictions
are good for everybody, but they're good for believers. They're good
for God's people. Trials and afflictions make some
people bitter. but not God's people that make
them mellow and sweet. Trial and affliction make some
people sour and mean and rebellious. But affliction is good for a
true believer, and I can give you several scriptural reasons
why affliction and trials and tribulations are good for me
and good for every believer. Now, not for every man, every
believer. There's some of you that trials
and afflictions make you bitter. You quit going to church and
you quit worshiping God and you quit reading your Bible and you
quit praying and you get sour and rebellious against God because
God has dealt with you in His good providence in a way that
you're not happy about. Well, you've missed Christ. You're
not a true believer because a true believer, affliction draws him
nearer to God like Job who said, though he slay me, I'll trust
him. Or like Job who said, naked I came out of my mother's womb
and naked I shall return. The Lord gave and the Lord hath
taken away. Praise the Lord. And he didn't
charge God with foolishness. Now, why is it good for me that
I've been afflicted? Well, I'll give you four or five
reasons. Number one, trial or affliction reveals the reality
of my faith. Now how can I know that I have
faith if my faith is never tested? How do you know that boat will
float if you never put it in the water? How do you know your
roof won't leak if it never rains? How do you know you have faith
in God if that faith in God is never tested? Every true believer
in the Bible in the Old Testament was put to severe tests As God
said to Abraham after he took Isaac up on top of that mountain
and would have sacrificed him upon the commandment of God,
he said, Abraham, now I know that you love me. God knew it
all the time, but he was showing it to Abraham. He was proving
it to Abraham. He was proving what's really
of value in this life, faith in God and not just love for
his children. Job was tried and Job came through
it. David was tried. Peter was tried. Paul was tried. All of God's
people in the Bible were tried, severely tried by God to prove
their faith. Now wait a minute. When you think
of the word trial, you usually think of sadness or sorrow or
sickness. Trial is not always unpleasant
to the flesh. Sometimes it is. But I'll tell
you this. Sometimes prosperity is a trial. Now listen to me. More people
have fallen away from God because of prosperity than ever have
fallen away from God because of poverty. The wise man wrote
this in Psalm 30 verse 8, God give me neither poverty nor riches. Give me not riches lest I be
full and deny thee and do not give me poverty lest I be poor
and stale and take God's name in vain. Sometimes people prosper. And prosperity is the worst trial
they possibly could have had because it leaves their minds
and thoughts away from God. But I'll guarantee you this,
every believer, every man who has faith will be tried. He will
be tried through temptations and tribulations and afflictions
and infirmities to prove his faith. And we ought to be glad
for it. And then secondly, trial enables
me to see the frailty of human flesh. I need to see this. The
Bible tells me over and over again, put no confidence in the
flesh. Put no confidence in the flesh. Trust not the arm of the
flesh. Lean not on the arm of the flesh.
Trust in the Lord God. Long for His return. Solomon
said, I've tried it all. I've tried it all. I've made
the rounds of all that the world has to offer. And I've come to
the conclusion that it's vanity. All is vanity. Vanity of vanities. All is vanity. I've come to this
conclusion that there's nothing here for me. Everything's there. Now, the only way that I can
come to that conclusion is to experience it. God's got to teach
me the frailty of human flesh. You can't read about it and learn
it. Nobody can tell you about it in order that you can learn
it. You got to experience it. A few trips to the cemetery will
reveal to you that it's appointed unto men once to die. A few trips
to the hospital will reveal to you that all flesh is grass.
The grass withereth and the flower fadeth. A few trips to the altar of confession
will reveal to you that in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
And a few trips to the valley of disappointment And the valley
of depression and doubt will reveal to you how much you need
God. So these trips are good for us.
It's good for me that I've been afflicted. It's good for me that
I had that night of weeping and night of mourning because I won't
turn loose of these things that I hold in my fleshly hand until
God shows me that they're not worth holding. They're not worth
holding. And I'm not going to give my
life in the labor of love for God's glory until I see that
what I'm laboring for down here is not worth it when I get it. It's not worth the effort. God's
going to destroy it all anyway. And then thirdly, trials and
afflictions leave me looking to the grace of God for my strength
and my help. God blessed Paul with some mighty
revelations. He took him on one occasion to
the third heaven. And then Paul said, there was
given to me a thorn in the flesh, a real affliction, a real trial. And he said, I went to God three
times, and I prayed, Lord, take this thorn out, take this thorn
away, deliver me from this affliction. And God said to him, Paul, I'm
not going to take that thorn away from you. I'm going to teach
you two things with that thorn. I'm going to teach you, first
of all, that you're still a man. No matter how much you know,
you're still a man. No matter how much you've seen,
you're still a man. No matter where you've been,
you're still a man. No matter you're a son of God,
you're still a man. You're still a frail, finite,
fallible, foolish creature made of flesh. Don't you forget it.
And I'm going to teach you, secondly, that your dependence and hope
is in me. My grace is sufficient. I can
take care of your needs. I can take care of your afflictions.
I can take care of your trials. But you're going to learn those
two things. And that's what affliction teaches you. You're nobody. I'm
nobody. You're nothing. I'm nothing.
We're just flesh. And the sooner we learn that,
the better. And we don't have anything that God didn't give
us. We don't know anything that God didn't teach us. will never
be anything that God didn't make us. And we need to remember that.
And trial teaches you that. You can't learn it any other
way. God has to knock the soup out from under you and strip
you and knock all your foundations out from under you and leave
you hanging by the thread of His grace and nothing else. And
then you'll praise God. You'll thank Him for that affliction
that shuts your mouth. And thank Him for that affliction
that lets you see who He is and who you are. And then fourthly,
trials and afflictions. Enable me to sympathize with
others in the same condition. Enable me to sympathize and pray
for and pity and understand the weakness and burdens of others.
No man can weep with others if he's never wept himself. That's
right. Nobody can forgive others unless
he's experienced forgiveness himself. To whom much is given,
he'll love much. to whom much is forgiven. He'll
love him. No man is going to show mercy until he sees he's
the recipient of mercy. God prepares his vessels to minister
to others. He prepared Peter for Pentecost. And he prepared him by letting
him deny his Lord. Now that sounds strange to human
ears. I know that. But to people whose ears have
been anointed by the Spirit of God, they know what I'm talking
about. God always brings a man down before he takes him up.
He always strips him before he clothes him. He always slays
him before he raises him. Always. He always humbles him
before he exalts him. Paul said, I know how to be abased,
and I know how to abound. But you don't know how to abound
unless you know how to be abased. And that's what trial does. It
brings you down. Thank God for it. In everything
give thanks. This is the will of God concerning
you. And then, fifthly, trials and afflictions allow me to see
the sinfulness of my heart and enable me to rejoice in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul in Romans chapter
7 talked about his weakness. He said the things I would do,
I do them not. The things I would not do, I
do. When I would do good, evil is present with me. I find a
law that when I would do good, I've got a law of sin. Oh, wretched
man that I am. Who's going to deliver me from
this body of sin? I thank God. I have that deliverance
in Jesus Christ, my Lord. You see what trial does? It turns
your eyes upward instead of inward. It turns your eyes upward instead
of down here to the things of this earth. It makes you say,
it makes you able to say, for me to live is Christ and to die
is gain. It makes you able to say, I'm
in a straight betwixt the two. I have a desire to depart and
be with Christ, which is far better. There's nothing for me
here. I'm just a stranger, I'm just a pilgrim, I'm just a sojourner,
I'm just passing through. I'm like Abraham, I'm looking
for a city whose builder and maker is God. I'm looking for
a new body. I'm looking for a day when I
shall be conformed to the image of God's Son. David said, and
what man was ever afflicted like David? I shall be satisfied when
I awake with his likeness. David was tired of it all. He
said when, you know his last words, the last words of David,
do good if you look them up in the book of 2 Samuel, I believe
it's chapter 24, somewhere in there. He said, although it be
not so with my house, God has made with me an everlasting covenant,
ordered in all things and sure, and this is all my desire, and
this is all my salvation. This is it. Here was a man who
had been the most powerful man on earth. Here was a man who
had the greatest kingdom on earth. Here was a man who had legions
at his disposal. Here was a man who had anything
he wanted. And here he is, 70 years of age
and about to die, and he said, I'll tell you, I'll sum it all
up. God has made with me a covenant, eternal and sure, and that's
all my desire and all my salvation. All right, second thing I've
learned that's good for me. It's good for me that I've been
afflicted, that I might learn God's statutes, and God's word,
and God's ways, and God's will, and God's purpose, and God's
providence. And then in the book of Psalm chapter 73, verse 28,
David said again, it's good for me to draw near to God. That's good for me. To draw near
to God. I'll put my trust in the Lord
God. Now you must read Psalm 73. And
while you read it, remember what David is saying. Psalm 73, David
watched the wicked prosper. He watched the rebels prosper.
They didn't have any affliction. They didn't have any trials.
They didn't have any sickness. Their eyes stood out in fatness.
There was no bands in their death. And listen to David. He said,
Behold, verse 12 and 13, Psalm 73, Behold, these are the ungodly
who prospered. in the world. They increase in
riches. Have I cleansed my heart in vain?
All day long I've been chasing, what is this God? What is this? I'm a believer. I'm a righteous
man. I'm a man of integrity and holiness.
I try to walk your way, keep your law. Here these folks out
here rebels, they curse you, they take your name in vain,
they have no use for God and yet they prosper. And they're
not sick, I'm sick. They're not poor, I'm poor. They're
fat and I'm starving. What's going on here? And I'll
tell you this, some of the most startling discoveries that a
new Christian will make, will discover when he's saved, he's
going to find out some things. Let me give you about five or
six. Number one, it'll startle him to find out that all men
do not rejoice over his faith in Christ and his love for God
and his desire to give God the glory. That's right. Everybody's
not going to welcome you as a believer. They'll welcome you as a drunk.
They'll welcome you as a thief or a crook, as a pretty good
feller or a politician, but they won't welcome you as a believer.
Even a man's enemies, a man's enemies shall be even those of
his own household. Christ said they'll put you out
of the synagogue, they'll put you out of the cathedrals, they'll
put you out of the churches, they'll put you out of the temples,
and they'll think they're doing God a service. And it's going
to surprise you. When you start talking about
Christ and His blood and His death and salvation and eternal
life, you're going to be surprised at who would say, well, I'd just
rather not listen to that. I liked you better the way you
were. And then I'll tell you something else you'll find out.
You'll find out that your sinful appetites, your fleshly appetites,
aren't altogether curbed. They're still there to a great
degree sometimes. The battle goes on and on and
on. Yeah, you have a new nature,
but you have an old nature. Don't deny it. You'd be lying.
If any man say he hath no sins, he's a liar, and the truth's
not in him. You'll find out your fleshly appetites are still there,
and they'll still give you problems, and that'll surprise you. You
thought when you came to the Lord and you were born again
and saved that everything would be no problem anymore, no trouble,
but you still got troubles. And then you seemingly, here's
something that shocks a lot of believers, your seemingly reasonable
prayers are not always answered the way you think they ought
to be answered. You want this person saved and that person
saved and you pray for them and pray for them and pray for them
and pray for them and God doesn't save. And you want this person
to be made well, and you pray for him and pray for him, and
they're not well. You want this person to live, and he dies.
And you think, what's going on here? God told me if I ask anything,
he'd grant it, anything according to his will. We've got to find
the will of God. Prayer's got something to do
with the will of God. Prayer, somebody said, changes things.
Yeah, it changes me and brings me into subjection and submission
to the will of God. That's just about what prayer
changes. God's will shall be done. His determinate will and
His permissive will is going to be done. Sometimes we're shocked
when we pray about a matter seriously and sincerely and reasonably,
but it's not answered like we think it ought to be. And then
in the fourth place, our spiritual growth is so slow. We want to
grow, we want to learn, we want to come to knowledge, we want
to master the Bible, we want to know the secret things, and
the hidden things, and the mysterious things, and we search, and seek,
and study, and we grow so slowly. Our faith, and love, and joy,
and humility, they just don't grow as fast as we think they
ought to grow. Our spirit's willing, but our
flesh is weak. We'll grow in God's time, according
to God's will, and then We're so often disappointed in ourselves
and disappointed in others. Now, you're going to find this
as a believer. You'll be disappointed in yourself. It's unhappily so
that we're more disappointed in others than we are in ourselves.
That's because we're so proud and so self-righteous. And this
is to teach us to put no confidence in the flesh. And then I'll tell
you another surprise that the believer has. Like David, he
sees the wicked prosper. He sees the rebel get great gain. He sees the blasphemer live free
from trouble while he's walking a path of sacrifice and suffering
and trial and agony. And he's like David. He said,
what's going on here? Well, God took him down to the
house of the Lord. He said, David, let's go down
to the house of the Lord. And he went down to the house
of the Lord and God showed him something. God showed him to
quit looking upon things as they appear in this life, in this
world, to our flesh, and start looking at things as they will
appear in eternity, death, the judgment. And God showed him
not the rebel's prosperity, but He showed him his suffering,
showed him his eternal condemnation. He showed him their end. He showed
him the believer's glory and the unbeliever's misery. He showed
him the believer's being conformed to the image of Christ. And he
showed him the unbeliever, the rebel, being committed to eternal
condemnation. And David went off saying, Lord,
I'm sorry. I sure have sinned. I sinned
with my lips. I said things I shouldn't have
said. It's good for me. Then he goes on to this verse.
It's sure been good for me to draw near to God. It's been good
for me to draw near to God. When I have my problems and my
struggles and my afflictions, it's good for me right then to
draw near to God. Now, how do I draw near to God?
Here are three things and I'll close. Number one, I draw near
to God in faith. Without faith, it's impossible
to please God. He that cometh to God must believe
that He is and that He's the rewarder of them that diligently
seek Him. This is clear. It's the clearest
thing in the Bible. Without faith, it's impossible to please God.
He that believeth. Israel could not enter the promised
land because of unbelief. Take heed, brethren, lest there
be found in you an evil heart of unbelief. Sinners approach
God by faith and no other way. Not by works, not by law, not
by church membership, not by baptism, not by any ordinance,
not by human merit, but by faith. By faith in Christ. Christ is
our mediator. There is only one way to God,
and that's through Jesus Christ, who said, I'm the way, the truth,
and the life. We believe he loved us. We believe he died for us.
We believe he was buried and rose again. We believe he intercedes
for us at the right hand of God, and he's the only savior, substitute,
and redeemer. Now ask the well-known religionist
how to be saved. Ask the Mohammedan, how are you
saved? Well, this is what he said. Repeat
these words. There is no God but Allah. and
Mohammed is his prophet, read the Koran, pray five times a
day, make a pilgrimage to Mecca. You mean that's the way I'm saved?
That's the way. Well, let's go and ask the Hindu. How are we
saved? The Hindu says, observe the rules
of the caste, worship the cow, crawl through the dust to the
temple, erect a shrine to one of a million deities, and then
you might escape reincarnation as a snake, a beast, or perhaps
a woman. You mean that's the way I'm saved?
Well, let's run ask the Buddhists. Buddhists, how are we saved?
Sit with your arms folded, forget that you have a body, become
indifferent to pain or pleasure. That's it? That's it. Well, let's
run ask the Confucius. And the Confucius says, study
the sacred classics, learn the rules of holiness. Confucius
will show you the path to duty. You must save yourself. That's
it? That's it. Let's go to Christ. Let's go to the Bible. And our
Lord says, coming to me, all you that labor and are heavy
laden, I'll give you rest. That's the way to God. It's good
for me to draw near to God.