Well, good morning. I feel like I've been here weeks. And I'll get caught up on my
sleep when I get home. I woke up. I couldn't get to
sleep last night. And first of all, I didn't take
your pastor's advice. You got to preach three times,
just have three messages. Well, neither did Milton. Milton
brought five, and I brought five or six. Because when you start,
then you get confused, and you're like, well, I don't. And then
you start looking at something else. So this was the one, this
was the closing sermon that I had for you, for you, this group.
But last night, I'm like, I just didn't. I thought, well, you're
trusting in your own ability. That's not what we're supposed
to do. And so this morning, early, I just wrote a few extra things. And I thought, just leave it
alone. And the Lord knows how to take
care of his people. And I pray that he would use
me to comfort you. John, let not your heart be troubled. That's what I want to do. I want
to glorify Christ. I want to edify the sheep. And
I want rebels to be saved. This morning's message, if you
have been here the last couple mornings, evenings, and listened
and heard the message and heard the gospel, this should be a comfort. Because
I don't know about you all in Texas, but I know in Missouri,
seems like government is upside down. School boards are messed
up. Politicians are politicians. But as you get older, you seem
to pay attention more to that. And I told somebody a while ago,
and it's been what my theme has been, as an American, I'm very
upset. It just bothers me. But as a
believer, I could care less. And I need to be and act. like
a believer more. So let's take all this stuff
that's going on and turn with me to Psalms 31. We're going
to look at one portion of a verse. Psalms 31. It is supposed by the old writers
that David penned this in troublesome times and in circumstances. And just looking at several verses,
we can conclude David was in much distress. Look at verse
four. Pull me out of the net that they
have laid privily for me, for thou art my strength. And look
at verse nine. Have mercy on me, O Lord, for
I am in trouble Mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and
my belly. And verse 13, for I have heard
the slander of many, fear was on every side. While they took
counsel together against me, they devised to take away my
life. Now, all the scriptures testify
of Christ, and we could say this is Christ speaking, but He says in another place that
all scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for
doctrine, reproof, correction, for instruction in righteousness,
that the man of God, that the woman of God, that the children
of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.
So I have no problems with looking at this to comfort you and to
help you and to encourage you. Scott Richardson, I think we
concluded, Scott Richardson said this, there's three phases of
a believer, whether you're one day old or you're 50 years old
in the gospel. If you believe Christ, there's
only three phases. You're heading into trouble or
you're in trouble or you just left trouble. But I attributed it to Donnie
Bell, but we concluded this was from Scott Richardson as well.
Since I heard the good news, I haven't had any bad news. But
isn't that, I mean, that's nice to say, but if I go outside and
my car doesn't start, I'm aggravated. If stuff doesn't go my way, I'm
aggravated. Oh, by God's grace, and I desire
this to you as I've come to known you, seen a few old faces. I'm not familiar with this congregation
and see new faces, new brethren that I can embrace and hug and
go back to Jackson, Missouri and pray for. And I will be thinking
about you all. Thinking about your pastor, his
wife, and this new build, this new chapter that you are about
to embark on. Psalms 31, verse 14 and 15. This is David, but I trusted
a man of like passions like you and I. Oh Lord, I've said thou
art my God. Look at this verse here. I want
to look at the first phrase. My times are in thy hand. My times are in your hand. This God, thy hand, that would
be thy power. To view this simple golden phrase
and to take it to ourselves is truly healing balm. It's, as
the writer says, honey out of the rock. It's a nail in a sure
place. If we could just, if the scriptures
were to blow away and this one page left and this one phrase,
if we have life, this would be, we could just
stand on this till our days are over. My times are in your hands. Now we're not talking about the
God of the vain man's imagination. We're talking about the God,
the sovereign, ruling, reigning, Lord Jesus Christ, who is not
trying to conquer, who has conquered. He's conquered our sins. He's
taken our sins and placed them upon himself, satisfied God's
law, satisfies God's justice, satisfied all the hand writings
against us, and he's seated. We're seated with him, the right
hand of God. I've always, in my simple mind,
I've always looked at it this way. We have to have the absence
of the negative and the presence of the positive. We have to have
the absence of the negative. That's sin, lust, vile corruptions,
and he took that. But if he just takes it, Joseph
talked about that, the double cure. He took our sins, but he
had to give us his righteousness, and that's the presence of the
positive. So I ask God, may we ask God,
the Holy Spirit, to apply this truth that our times are in his
hands and to live daily. upon this bread of heaven, to
dwell grandly upon him who loved us and gave himself for us, to
enjoy the sweetest communion that we can. Because tomorrow,
you're probably going to go to work, and you're going to be
hit with this and that, and people complaining, and people who don't
know your God. We were just like them. We were
just like them. But oh, it's difficult to have
compassion. but he had compassion on, he showed mercy on us. Let us muse into this untold
blessing this day. My times are in your hands. My times, plural. Plural. Yesterday, today, and tomorrow. What does tomorrow hold? Oh,
if we knew that, we'd probably be worse of a mess, but he does. My times, plural. All that has to do with us is
in the God of the whole universe's hands and power. Does he not
say in Proverbs 21 and one, the king's heart, the president's
heart, the governor's heart, the chairman's heart, everybody's
heart is in his hand and he turns it withersoever he will. It's a statement of pure sovereignty. And I ask you this, as 1 Corinthians
chapter 6 and John 17 says, if we are one with Christ, if Christ
abides in us and we abide in him, will not the Father who
delights in his only begotten Son and loves him world without
end, will he not be as concerned with those of us who are in his
Son? Turn to Proverbs chapter eight.
I love this passage. This is speaking about the eternal
preexisting relationship between God the Father and God the Son.
In Proverbs chapter eight, And it starts in verse 22. This is
Christ speaking, the Lord possessed me that my father possessed me
in the beginning of his way before the works of old. I, Christ,
was set up from everlasting and from the beginning or ever the
earth was. When there were no depths, I
was brought forth. When there were no fountains
abounding with water, before the mountains were settled, before
the hills, was I brought forth. While as yet He had not made
the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest part of the dust
of the world, when He prepared the heavens, I was there. When
He set a compass upon the face of the depth, when He established
the clouds above, when He strengthened the fountains of the deep, When
He gave to the sea His decree that the water should not pass
His commandment. What about global warming? Oh
well, we'll skip that. When He appointed the foundations
of the earth. Then I was by him, says Christ,
as one brought up with him, and I was daily, look at that, his
delight, rejoicing always before him. So the father was delighted
with Christ. He loved Christ. Keep reading.
Rejoicing in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights
were with the sons of men. Hallelujah, what a savior. In
free, eternally electing grace, He says it in the Gospels, as
the Father loved him, he loves us. So, my times are in his hands. David knew right well this singular
doctrine of what Spurgeon called the supreme appointment of God,
or God's absolute sovereignty in providence, and consequently,
David, in the middle of times of trouble, rested his very soul
upon Christ and his truthfulness. They saw Christ, they saw him
in type and picture, and so he could say, my times are in your
hands. My times, our times, many saints,
all saints, it's plural, times. If you're a believer, and we'll
see if you're not a believer, everybody's in God's hands. The whole church, every elect
sinner drawn unto Christ in grace and mercy. I like this in Psalms
47 verse 4. He, that is God, shall choose
our inheritance for us. Sometimes my wife and I would
get frustrated. We don't have what other people
have. And that's our problem. We look
horizontal. We should be looking up. What about this person? What about that person? has chosen our inheritance for
us. We have exactly what we're supposed to have. Therefore, we can boldly and
firmly, without hesitation, say, Thy will be done, as it is for
my ultimate good and His glory. But we often scheme and plot
and try to figure out the infinite. It's better simply to trust in
Him who is too wise to err and too loving to do wrong. You know,
I got to thinking, we just have a grandson, and when you raise
your children, you raise them to be independent. Not so with
the gospel. We want people to be dependent
on the Lord Jesus Christ. So it's opposite of what we try
to do. And can we not look at this first part of the verse
and say, my, my times are in his hands? And what does John
say? No man can pluck us out of a
father's hands. So my times, times of sickness
or health or poverty or wealth my youth, my old age, and all
things in between, no matter what our lot in this life, we
can confidently ascribe all things for us or against us is of the
making of our Supreme God for us. And it's all for us. But
as I said, it's not just our times, the redeemed, but it's
all men everywhere are in His all-encompassing hands, either
in mercy for salvation or in judgment for condemnation. You
remember when David was fleeing from Saul, and there's this man,
and the scripture tells us his name is Shimei? Shimei? He's throwing rocks at him. He's
cussing him. He's aggravating him. And what
did David say? Leave him alone. God told him. Well, there's a man in the Old
Testament named Balaam. He had a king who said, I'm going
to hire you. His name is Balak. He said, I'm
going to hire you to curse Israel. Unbeliever. He tried. He goes, I can't do it. Every
time I open my mouth, I give him a blessing. What about a donkey? The Lord
made a donkey, so everybody's in his hands. For if there is one particle,
one particle, one dust, one moonbeam that is not controlled by God's
eternal predestinating character, he loses all. As Scott Richardson
said again, God governs or he is governed. There's no middle
way. He either rules and reigns in
righteousness or he himself is ruled over. But we know from
this book, inspired by God, Revelations 19, the Lord God
omnipotent reigneth. Reigneth. Our times are in his
hands. God is not an uninterested spectator
in our life events. We heard Romans 828, all things. I like pocket watches. I got
one that you flip over, you pop it, and you can see all the gears.
They all got to be working to move those dials. That's our
God. That's our God. Queen Elizabeth, the story is
told that she got a hold of one of her favorite merchants in
London and said, I have a assignment for you. I want to send you to
Holland for years, and I want you to take care of my business.
And he said, if I take care of your business, who's going to
take care of my business? I'll go bankrupt. And she said,
I'm the queen. You have my word. Well, we're
talking about a greater than the queen. What will he send his beloved
son to call and quicken and redeem us and not care over his lambs
all the day long? He'll go fetch one lost and throw
it over his shoulder. And what will the one prodigal
who, by the Holy Spirit's conviction, came to himself, is what it says,
that's Holy Spirit conviction, and come back to the Father?
And will the Father not embrace him, robe him, Put the best ring. I'm Scott Richardson. Scott Richardson
came to our place and preached a message. If it's on Sermon
Audio, I recommend it. It's called Much Kissing. And
he preached that. And there wasn't a dry eye in
the place, because he talked about how the father, there was
much kissing, much kiss. He kissed him and just hugged.
And it just is overwhelming. That's the relationship. Christ
is all, and we have all in him. Another story is told was Sir
Francis Drake, after he had circumnavigated the entire globe, as he was sailing
into the Thames, he met with a terrible storm and he shouted,
what, circle the world? Now be shipwrecked in a ditch?
Never. Let us not have this man's human
faith put us to shame. May we look at this passage and
say, my times are in thy hands. Or as George Whitefield said
in that hymn, I'm sure you have the same hymn book, all things
work out for good. We are immortal here until our
work is done. And I had to believe that when
I was laying back down in the hospital. Didn't want to leave
my wife, didn't want to leave my new grandson, but I thought,
thy will be done. My times are in his hands. Mr. Spurgeon said, fate is blind,
providence has eyes. And his providence is for us. Now, it's nice to look at this,
but what a steady belief and what a constant trust in this
verse, what effect does it have on us? My times are in his hand. What effect does it have? Well, first of all, it'll reduce
anxiety. It reduces anxiety. We will find
heaven's shore no matter what enemy or opposition will come
our way. Doesn't Jude say that he'll keep
us falling, present us faultless? Us? Yes. Before his presence. Yeah, he's going to present us.
Secondly, it eliminates regret. I said the other night, should
have, could have, and would have are not good vocabulary, not
good words. Believers shouldn't use those. For he does all things well,
and he has ordered our steps, Jeremiah 10, 23. May we seek
to walk with him and love him and worship him and obey him,
but do not live in regret. That's easy to do. When you're younger, oh, if I'd
have done that, I'd have done that. It's OK. It's all right. Your times are in God's hands,
and he knows best. Thirdly, it gives assurance and
peace in times of trouble, distress, and hurt. As a father disciplines
his tender children, so too are kind And gracious father will
make sure we never leave his side or he will never abandon
us He says he'll never leave us or forsake us Usually when
we's not when we pray in earth, whatever and we don't find him.
We're the ones that have moved We may not know what he is doing
always but ours is to simply trust and submit to him and know
without doubt that God's grace is always for us. And doesn't
Genesis 18 say, shall not the judge of the earth do right?
Always. Always. Fourthly, this is a good
remedy for the fear of man and the fear of the unknown. The
fear of the unknown, the fear of man. What's going to happen
in November? What's going to happen in two
years? I hear we all talk about it. It affects us. This is a remedy. This is a remedy. My times are in his hand. With God on our side, the scripture
says we are more than conquerors, Romans 8. Turn with me to 1 Corinthians
15. Verse 58, the last verse. Therefore, my beloved brethren,
be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the
Lord, for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain
in the Lord. We're a family. Like most families, dysfunctional,
I'm sure. That's just the nature of families.
Long suffering, forbear one from another in love. I remember we met after our church
had, we got broke up and struggled. We're looking for a pastor, and
we providentially met Henry down at Madisonville, Kentucky, where
Maurice Montgomery was pastoring. And the funny thing is, it was
me and Melinda and the other gentleman that's been with me,
my right-hand man, Bruce, and his wife, Jackie. And we drove
into Madisonville. We got there early, as we always
did. And we were tore up. We were
miserable. We were hurting. And we wanted
to go to a restaurant. So I was driving, so I just went
to the restaurant. And we got in, and we were getting
ready to park. And Melinda and Jackie, rebellious
women, They said, we don't want to eat here. We want to eat at
that smorgasbord up the road. That's a good steak. I was aggravated. Turned around, drove back, drove
to the parking lot, parked, walked in, and who's sitting in there
by himself? Henry T. Mahan. We got to spend an hour. What an hour. And I'll never
forget what he said. So, well, what do we do? Listen
to that. And he says, well, one thing you need to do for sure
is practice. And he wrote it with his finger.
L-O-V-E. Because if there's division and
strife and ugliness and prejudice or whatever is natural to us,
he said, the Lord's not going to be in it. It's going to fall
apart. But if God's helping us, Practice love. And 35 years later, the most undeserving
under-shepherd, slowest, but we're still together. We're still
together. Oh, this is such a good remedy
for the fear of man. And we could go on, but one of
my last points is that by looking at this and trusting in his word
through the enabling of the Holy Spirit, there's no works of righteousness
here. This is what a new believer,
this is what a new creature does. This is new creature language.
Like we saw in Hebrews, the Lord speaks to his people by son,
through the son, the language of the son. You come down here,
and I hear, oh, I know that. I know that language. I don't
know Spanish, but I know the language of Son, and when I hear
it, I say amen, and our hearts are reconciled. But we are being renewed in mind
and made more like Christ when we look at this and say, my times
are in his hand, I will be done. That's what Peter says, Peter,
the second chapter, He said Christ committed himself to him that
judges righteously. That's what we need to do. I
don't understand this situation, it's aggravating, it's against
what? Submit to him who judges righteously, who can do no wrong.
Because your time and my time, tender children, his lambs, his
sheep, are in his hands. And that's what David, when David
in Psalm 2 Samuel 23, the last word, these would be the last
words of David, He said, my house is not right, my children don't
believe that this is going on, that's going on. He said, but,
and I could just see him just laying in bed, getting ready
to die, but smiling, resting his head on that pillow and said,
God has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things,
and sure, sure, my times are in his hands, and they're sure,
they're steady, they're sovereign, they're concrete, they're supreme,
they're majestic, whatever words we could use, we're in the master's hands. I wanna get this story in. I'm
going to get it in. I don't know if some of you have
heard the story about the fiddle and the old man. If you have,
pardon me. There was an auction in the city. And at the auction, there was
an old fiddle. And the auctioneer said, who
will give me $1 for this fiddle? And he plucked it. Who will give
me $1? Two, three, four? Any more? And he about ready
to hit the anvil, and I heard somebody in the back said, stop.
And the old man got up, walked up, took the fiddle, tuned it,
and started playing the most melodious, the most wonderful
music that was heard in that place. He gave it back to the
auctioneer. It's quiet. Man said, I'll give you $1,000.
The auctioneer said, 1,000, 2, 3, 4, sold, $4,000 for this old
violin. Everybody was astonished. Somebody
said, what was the difference? I'll tell you the difference,
and you know the difference. It was the touch from the master's
hand. If you've been touched by the
righteousness and worthiness and grace and mercy of Christ,
you will be different. To put in another example, an
Ozarkian, we'd go, my mom lives down by Silver Dollar City in
Branson, and we'd go in there in the morning, and you got these
guys whittling, they're just whittling on a stick, just an
old stick, you can't tell what it is, but when you're there
all day and you come back, and it's something beautiful. That's
what our Lord, his hand is doing on us, he's whittling away all
the nonsense. Bless his holy name. But now
I have a, serious and sober. In closing, for you who do not
trust Christ for salvation of your souls. Jonathan Edwards,
this used to be mandatory reading in our schools, Jonathan Edwards
had a sermon that applies directly to you. Sinners in the hands
of an angry God. You have insulted him. You have
rejected his word, this Bible. You are an enemy of his grace.
You have not submitted to his sovereign right as Lord over
all. Dear one, call upon him. Plead for his mercy. Ask to be
given a new heart and a new desire to believe, repent, and come
unto him. I know one thing. that that true
cry for mercy has been placed in there by God, and He does
not reject, never reject a true cry for mercy. Or as our brother
in Luke chapter 23 said, Lord, remember me. Thank you.