to the book of Psalms, and if you will, let's turn to
Psalm 119. Two verses I want to read, Psalm
119, verse 49 and 50. Remember the word unto thy servant,
upon which thou hast caused me to hope. This is my comfort in
my affliction, for thy word hath quickened me. I think that most
of us here this morning are aware that Psalm 119 is the longest
psalm, the longest chapter in the Bible, and that it especially
deals with the word of God. This psalm speaks to us of God's
word, his written word. But in this psalm, we also have
a number of these short petitions that the psalmist David prays
unto the Lord. Remember, our text says, remember
the word unto thy servant, upon which thou hast caused me to
hope. Our Lord said that the Pharisees,
you know there were three sects among the Jews when the Lord
Jesus Christ came into this world. The religious world, there were
the Herodians, the Sadducees, and the Pharisees. The Pharisees
were the fundamentalists of that day. And they did everything
that they did in religion for the most part to be seen of men. They gave their alms, that is
they gave unto those who needed help to be seen of others. They loved to stand on the street
corners and make long prayers only to be seen of others. They fasted and they would make
their appearance to appear that everyone could tell that they
were fasting. The Lord said, for a show. This
is what the Lord Jesus Christ said about the Pharisees and
their prayers. For a show, make long prayers. David, if you read through this
psalm, you will see a number of these prayers, very short,
but very effectual. One of his prayers, I believe
it's recorded in one of the earlier Psalms, two words. Help, Lord. Help, Lord. That's a great prayer,
isn't it? Help, Lord. There's never a time
we don't need His help, is there? I don't think so. We always need
his help, no matter from day to day as we live through this
world. But as we look at these two verses this morning, there
are four truths that I want to bring out to us. Four truths
that stand out to me. This first verse has been on
my heart for several weeks, just crying to me to bring a message
from it. So that's what I'm going to do.
And there are four truths that I want to impress all of us with
this morning. First, God's children, if you
are one of his children, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ,
and that's the only way a person becomes a child of God, is through
faith in Christ. But my first point is, God's
children must not expect to escape affliction in this world. must not, God's children must
not expect to escape afflictions. Notice what the psalmist said,
remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me
to hope. This is my comfort in my affliction. When we think about who wrote
these words, the human author, I know God, the Holy Spirit inspired
David. all scriptures given by inspiration
of God. We know that, we believe that.
But David was a man, the scripture says, after God's own heart.
That's what God said about David. He told Samuel, he had chosen
one, a man to be a leader, a king, who was a man after his own heart. God chose David, God anointed
David, had Samuel to anoint him, And God raised him up to be his
king, king over Israel. Many blessings, many things were
given unto David, but this still did not exempt him from trouble,
from affliction in this world. None of God's children need expect
to be exempt from afflictions in this world. We live in a world,
remember this, we live in a world which is under a curse. Whether
you're saved or lost, all of us, we all live in a world that
is under a curse. And it's cursed because God cursed
it, because of man's sin. And it brings up thorns and thistles. And we all recognize that, don't
we, if we try to grow a garden. how the weeds and the thorns
and the thistles and everything, they just multiply. You don't
have to do anything to have a good harvest of weeds. But this world,
we all live in this world, which is under God's curse. And afflictions come to every
child of God, and they come from many sources. We think of them
as coming from the flesh, that is, that old nature we live in
this world as a believer, the flesh, the family, and from friends. And David, if you study his life,
you realize that he experienced afflictions from all of these,
from his flesh, from his family, and from his friends. Someone
once said this, a friend of mine, a preacher, who's now gone to
be with the Lord, but he made this comment. He said, a believer
is always in one of these three conditions, always. Child of
God is always in one of these three conditions. Number one,
he's either in affliction, coming out of affliction, or going into
affliction. One or the other, as long as
he is in this world. In fact, the psalmist in Psalm
34 said, many, many are the afflictions of the righteous, not just a
few. So that's the first thing I point
out to us. But you know, afflictions, God
sends afflictions to his children. And they're far good. We may
not realize it at the time. But I was thinking this morning
of a couple that we are introduced to in the New Testament by the
name of Aquila and Priscilla. Aquila and Priscilla. You know,
they had to flee their home. They lived in Rome. They were
believers. They were children of God. But
the emperor, or Caesar, Claudius, he commanded that all the Jews
had to leave Rome. Well, they had a business there,
evidently. They were tent makers. I had to go. That had to be somewhat
of an affliction, but I was thinking of what happened to them by having
to leave Rome. They went to Corinth, the city
of Corinth, and it wasn't long before they had the Apostle Paul
there living with them as their guest, as their visitor. What
a blessing, right? to entertain, to have in your
home a servant of God like the Apostle Paul. And then we read
there in Corinth that a man by the name of Apollos came to town,
and he was mighty in the scriptures. He was an orator. He was a great
orator, evidently. But there were some things that
he had not been taught about the gospel, truth of the gospel
of Jesus Christ. And so who is it that God uses
to take him aside, to take him into their home, no doubt, but
Aquila and Priscilla, and explain to him the word of God more perfectly. So an affliction turned into
a blessing, didn't it? Look here in this psalm a few
verses down in verse 67. The psalmist said here in verse
67, before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy
word. Many times when afflictions come
to a child of God, it drives us to our knees. It drives us
to prayer. to seek the Lord. And it drives
us to the word of God, to study the word of God, to see what
God says about this. That's what the psalmist said,
before I was afflicted, I went astray. God's people are referred
to as sheep. He's the shepherd. He's the good
shepherd, isn't he? Who gave his life for the sheep. And we love him. But sheep are
sheep, and sheep are wont to stray. That just seems to be
the nature of sheep. They want to stray away. Stray away from the shepherd.
They keep seeing some grass that looks a little greener over there. Some grass just looks a little
greener over there. Now their shepherd has led them
into a place where he knows the pasture's just right for him,
but they get the idea, I'd like that pasture over there. And
they go astray. The psalmist said, before I was
afflicted, I went astray. And God uses affliction to bring
his people back, to draw his people back to the shepherd.
Look down to verse 71. He said, it is good for me that
I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. Thy statutes,
of course, refers to the word of God. And it is an affliction
that we do learn the word of God. Many times passages of scripture
just seem to jump off the page to us, you know, when we are
in affliction and we see how that applies to us in that particular
point. We sang the hymn just a few minutes
ago, It Is Well With My Soul. I'm sure that most of you are
familiar with, I think his name was Stafford who wrote that hymn. how that his wife and two daughters,
I believe it was, were drowned at sea as they were crossing
from America to England. He couldn't go with them because
of business, but he later sailed across and he had the captain
of the ship take him to the place where the ship on which his wife
and daughters had drowned or gone down. And he went back to
his cabin and he wrote the words to that hymn. It is well with
my soul. When we sing that third verse,
I almost always think, we ought to stand up on this one. I almost
asked David to stand up. My sin, my sin, not in part,
not part of it, but the whole, my sin. It's nailed to the cross and
I bear it no more. It is well with my soul. Affliction, affliction, no doubt
brought that hymn into our experience as believers. And you know when
a child of God is in affliction, the devil, and yes, the devil's
real. He's real. Now he's not sovereign.
He's not omnipotent. He's not omniscient, and he's
not omnipresent. I understand that. Only God is. But he is real, and he's a real
enemy. And he goeth about, the scripture
says, Peter tells us, he goeth about seeking whom he may devour. Now he's, who's he seeking whom
he may devour? Believers, God's children. And many times when God's children
are in affliction, Satan or some of his demons, they seize upon
that opportunity to cause the believer to doubt his salvation,
question God's providence, question God's love. You know, in the
book of Job, Satan appeared before God, the
devil appeared before God, and God said, have you considered
my servant Job? And this is what God said about
Job. There's none like him in all
the earth. He was the one exception in all
the earth. And Satan said, and this is how
I know he's not omniscient, he doesn't know everything. If he
had known everything, he never would have asked or told the
Lord, Now if you take away his wealth and you take away his
health, he's gonna curse you to your face. That's what he
told God, isn't it? Well, the Lord gave him permission.
Satan couldn't do anything. He couldn't touch Job because
Job was one of God's children. God put a fence around him just
like he's put around each and every one of us here today who
know him. The angel of the Lord encampeth
round about them that fear him. And God allowed Satan to touch
Job, to take away his wealth, his riches, take away his family. And what did Job do? He blessed
God. And then God allowed Satan to
take away Job's health. What did he do? He blessed God. But listen. That's in chapters one and two
of Job. Chapter three, you know how it
begins? Job never cursed God. Satan said
he would, but he didn't. But he did curse the day of his
birth. He did, he cursed the day of
his birth. He was a man after all, just
like you and just like me. And affliction tends to cause
God's children to question God's love and God's providence, God's
direction. So that's the first thing. God's
children, I think all of us understand this pretty well, don't we? God's
children must not expect to escape afflictions in this world. Although,
there are those who preach that so-called prosperity gospel.
They'll tell you it's always God's will for you if you're
one of His children. And you believe it's always God's
will that you be rich in the things of this world. Listen,
all of God's children are rich. All of us. He has blessed us
with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places. in Christ
before the world began. Now, that doesn't, spiritual
blessings, those are the best kind of blessings. You say, well,
God's blessed these other people here with a lot of money and
a lot of lands and all these things in this world. Sure he
has. And they're gonna leave them
all one day. And one day when they stand before God, those
things are not going to count for anything. No? What's it to profit a man if
he should gain the whole world and lose his own soul? All of
God's children, we're rich. And not only rich spiritually,
but all of us here in this building today, we are rich materially. If we compared ourselves with
the vast majority of people in this world, we are extremely
wealthy people. Isn't that so? Sure it is. Have any of you ever gone hungry,
I mean really hungry, a week or two without any food? I doubt it. Have you ever been
out on the street naked? I doubt it. God has blessed us,
but the best blessings are spiritual blessings, no doubt about it.
But God's children must must not expect to escape affliction
in this world. The second thing, God's word
is given to comfort his children in affliction. That's what the
psalmist said. This is my comfort in my affliction. This is my comfort in my affliction. Now, the apostle Paul declares
in 2 Corinthians that God, our Father, the Father of the Lord
Jesus Christ, God, our Father, is the God of all comfort. He's
the God of all comfort. Don't look for comfort anywhere
else. God is the God of all comfort. And he uses his word in comforting
his people. God uses his written word. When
you are in affliction and going through some trials, some difficulty,
you know what Satan will tell you? Don't go to church. Stay
home. You don't need to be there. You're
not worthy to be there. That's not going to help. The
very thing that God uses to comfort his children, Satan will do his
best to cause you to stay away from. Stay away from hearing
the word of God. Stay away from reading the word
of God. No, this is my comfort, David
says. What is he talking about? He's
talking about the word upon which God had caused him to hope. That's it. Look at the text again,
verses 49 and 50. Remember the word unto thy servant
upon which thou has caused me to hope. This is my comfort in
my affliction. Now, what word was it? What word
of God was it that was David's affliction, or David's comfort,
rather, in his affliction? Well, we're not told, and I believe
we're not told for good reasons. The writers tell us it was God's
word that was sent to David through Nathan the prophet, recorded
in 2 Samuel chapter 7. In that word that God sent to
David, David wanted to build God a house. You know the story.
By house, I mean a temple. manifested his presence in that
tabernacle, which was a tent. That's all it was, a tent. David
thought about himself living in a sealed house, a sealed house,
a house like you and I live in. And he thought about that, that
Ark of the Covenant being out there in a tent. Something's wrong here. Something's
wrong here. The ark of God in a tent and
here I am living in this mansion and this palace. I want to build
God a house. I want to build him a house of
cedar with beautiful stones and embellished with gold and silver. I've got it all. And he did. He had it all. And when he told
Nathan the prophet his desire, at first Nathan said, do it,
the Lord be with you. But Nathan went home and God
said, you go back and you tell David he's not going to build
me a house. He's been a man of war, shed much blood, he's not
going to be the man to build me a house. I'm gonna build him
a house. And by building him a house,
Of course, he told him that he would have a son who would build
that house and would have a kingdom forever. Now, no doubt that promise
or prophecy was fulfilled in type in Solomon, David's son,
Solomon. He did build a beautiful temple. And he did reign, but he was
a type of David's greater son. Who's that? That's the Lord Jesus
Christ. Look with me in Luke chapter
one, just a moment. Many believe this is a word that
David has reference to when he says that upon his word, God
had caused him to hope. In Luke chapter one, these are
the words of the angel to Mary about the birth of the Lord Jesus
in verse 30. The angel said unto her, fear
not, Mary, for thou hast found favor with God. And behold, thou
shalt conceive in thy womb and bring forth a son and shalt call
his name Jesus. You see how every letter's capitalized? Jesus, Jehovah Savior. Thou shalt call his name Jesus,
Jehovah Savior. He shall be great and shall be
called the Son of the Highest. And the Lord God shall give unto
him the throne of his father David. And he shall reign over
the house of Jacob forever and of his kingdom there shall be
no end. Many believe it was that word
that David especially has reference to. The word upon which God caused
David to hope. Now I said that in my opinion
it's for good reason we're not told which word it was. And I
say that because Probably every believer here
today, you have a particular word from the word of God upon
which God has caused you to hope. It's not the same for everyone.
For everyone, it is the word of God, that's true. You know,
in 2 Thessalonians, the apostle Paul said that believers are
given a good hope through grace. A good hope through grace. There
are several things that go to make up a good hope. Several
things. Grace is one of them, of course.
For by grace are we saved. Nobody has a good hope who doesn't
know and believe with all his heart that salvation is by grace. A good hope is built upon Jesus
Christ and his work alone. No one has a good hope who has
a hope that is not based fully entirely upon the person and
work of Christ. I'm talking about his absolute
perfect obedience unto God and his suffering on the cross. That's a hope, a good hope. But
also, another thing that goes into making up a good hope is
a particular scripture, a particular scripture that God just burned
into your soul. And it's not the same for everyone. It's not the same. Every child
of God here today, probably, there's one scripture in particular
that just speaks to you. You're tempted to doubt your
relationship to God. You go back to that one scripture,
for some people it is, all that the Father giveth me shall come
to me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. Many people run to that scripture,
and as a hymn writer said, that's the way I came to Christ. Just
as I am, without one plea, but that Jesus died for me. I came
to him as a poor, needy, sinful individual, could not help myself. And I rest upon his promise,
all that come unto me I will in no wise cast out. Other people
have another scripture, where sin abounded. where sin abounded, grace did
much more abound. I give unto my sheep eternal
life, and no man shall pluck them out of my hand. Casting
all your care upon him, for he careth for you, whatever scripture
it is, call upon me in the day of trouble, and I will help thee,
Look unto me, all ye ends of the earth, for I am God, and
beside me there is no savior. I mean, how many different scriptures,
but one in particular that just causes you to have a good hope. A third thing, I said I wanted
to say four things. The third thing, God's word is
powerful in the hand of God. Notice in the last part of verse
50, thy word hath quickened me. Thy word hath quickened me. Now,
the word quicken, of course, means to give life. We see that in Ephesians 2 and
verse 1. You who were dead in trespasses
and sins he hath quickened, quickened, made alive. The word of God,
and this is something that none of us can fully explain, but
one of the old Puritans said it like this. This word, the
word of God, the written word of God, is a chariot. the chariot in which God the
Holy Spirit rides. And yes, it is God's word. The Holy Spirit comes to us when
we are dead in trespasses and sins and quickens us, gives us
eternal life. But as we go through this world,
we need to be quickened over and over again. Not that we ever
lose that eternal life, but we grow sluggish and sleepy in the
things of God, and we just need to be quickened. We need to be
charged up again, if you please. And what is it that God is going
to use? He's going to use His Word, His
written Word. You know, Paul wrote that to
the Galatians. They were being tempted to turn
their side and start trusting in their works for salvation. And Paul asked them this question
in Galatians chapter three. He said, received you the spirit,
received you the spirit, that is the Holy Spirit. Did the Holy
Spirit come upon you by the works of the law? Is that how you became
acquainted with the Holy Spirit? By trying to keep the law of
God? by hearing the law of God read
and attempting to obey the law of God? Is that how the Holy
Spirit was communicated unto you? Or was it by the hearing
of faith? Was it through the preaching
of the gospel of Jesus Christ that God the Holy Spirit came
to you and quickened you and made you alive, spiritually alive? The gospel of Jesus Christ. It's
still, after all these years, it's still the power of God unto
salvation unto everyone that believe it. Because therein in
the gospel is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to
faith. The fourth thing, and I'll just
mention this, prayer. I said that the psalmist, he
has these short prayers and this is one of them. Remember the
word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope.
Prayer must be offered in faith. It must be offered in faith.
In Hebrews 11, we read without faith, it is impossible to please
God. Now you cannot have faith, and
this is something I'm sure all of us recognize, but let me just
repeat it again. Real faith is based upon the
word of God. If you've got a word from God, then you may have faith that
God is going to answer your prayer. You've got a promise in your
hand, and it is from the Word of God. Faith must be based upon
the Word of God. It's not just dreaming up something,
conjuring up something in your mind that you would like, no.
Faith must be based upon the Word, the written Word of God. When you pray, when you see God's
face, Let me show us this, if you will. Turn to Genesis, and
I'll close with this. But look in Genesis. You know
Jacob. Jacob had his problems, didn't
he? He had his afflictions. He had a dysfunctional family. A dysfunctional family is nothing
new, is it? He certainly had one. He had
his problems. He had his afflictions. But God loved Jacob. God chose
Jacob. God revealed himself unto Jacob. And the point I'm making is when
you pray, your prayer must be in faith, and faith must be based
upon the word of God. Now here in Genesis chapter 32, beginning with verse nine, here's Jacob, he's got his whole
family, and he had a big family, and all of his herds, he's coming
back to the land of Canaan, and he gets word that his brother
Esau's coming to meet him. The last time he heard anything
from Esau, Esau said, I'm gonna kill him. I'm going to kill him. I'm going to get my hands on
Jacob. I'm going to put an end to him. But you know, the scripture
says the heart of the king is in the hand of the Lord. He turneth
it whither so ever he will. And we find his brother Esau
now, even though he's coming with 300 armed men, his heart
is turned towards Jacob. But Jacob in prayer here in verse
nine says, oh God, oh God of my father Abraham and God of
my father Isaac, the Lord which said it unto me. Now what is
he saying here? Lord, you told me to come home.
You told me to come back. Thou saidest unto me, return
unto thy country and to thy kindred and I will deal well with thee.
I'm not worthy of the least of all the mercies and of all the
truth which thou hast showed unto thy servant. For with my
staff I passed over this yard, and now I am become two bands. Deliver me, I pray thee, from
the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau, for I fear
him, lest he come and smite me and the mother with the children. Now, Lord, you said, I will surely
do thee good and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which
cannot be numbered for multitude. And you know, we won't read on,
but you know what happened when Esau came. Esau embraced him,
kissed him. But the point I'm making is Jacob
prayed in faith. He had God's word. And he just
repeated that back to God. Lord, this is what you said.
You told me. You told me to come back. And
here I am. And God answered his prayer.
Faith. Faith must be built upon the
word of God. Well, I trust the Lord will bless
this word to all of us here this morning.