Yearning For The Lord

Yearn For The Lord

Psalms 42

In Psalms 42 we have the second of the Maschil Psalms.

Remember all Scripture is given for instruction to improve our walk with the Lord!

2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

But the Maschil Psalms have special instructions for specific things that happen in our walk with the Lord.

What is the Biblical meaning of the Maschil Psalm?

Psa 47:7  For God is the King of all the earth: "sing ye praises with understanding".

In other words a Maschil Psalm is a song that praises God but just by singing it we can still obtain God's wisdom!

God is always looking down from Heaven just to see if we truly understand what He is trying to teach us.

Psa 53:2  God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, "to see if there were any that did understand", that did seek God.

Not only is this a Maschil Psalm but it is also the first time we have seen a Psalm that was to be sung by the sons of Korah.

These "sons of Korah" were Levites by bloodline of the tribe of Levi and during the time of David and Solomon their chief place was to keep the doors of the Tabernacle and then the Temple after it was built.

1Ch 6:32  And they ministered before the dwelling place of the tabernacle of the congregation with singing, until Solomon had built the house of the LORD in Jerusalem: and then they waited on their office according to their order.

There are 11 of the Psalms titled "for the Sons of Korah" that were put to music by these doorkeepers of the House of God.

The doorkeeper was the lowest of the jobs of the Levitical priest but these men did not see it that way.

Psa 84:10  For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. "I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness".

They readily boasted that is was better to be in the lowest position in the work of God than to be in the highest position among those that rejected God.

In other words it is better to be changing diapers in the nursery at church than to be the President of the United States or the most powerful person in this world and not know God!

There is no greater job than serving in the Army of God!

So let's begin:

*****Psa 42:1  To the chief Musician, Maschil, for the sons of Korah. As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God.

God never said our walk with Him would be an easy walk.

There will still be times when we will begin to wonder if God truly exists.

There will be times when we will desire any sign from the Lord just to know He is listening to our prayers.

There will be times when we have a great desire to be in the House of God but do to reasons out of our control we just cannot get there.

There will be times when we just want to feel that God is doing something in our lives and have a great desire and a need to just feel His presence.

This Psalm is intended to help us through those times and it begins by showing us that we are not alone because the Holy Ghost inspired this writer, probably David, to write about such a time that he was experiencing.

In the Bible a "hart" refers to a  stag or a male deer. This was one of the clean animals and could be hunted and killed for food.

A deer will use every skill it has to allude the hunter even to the point of exhaustion avoiding a watering hole knowing they would be an easy target if they stopped to drink. They would have a great thirst for a refreshing drink of water that was necessary for life.

To pant describes an excited rapid movement of the heart.

We all know that our soul is the seat of all our emotions.

God created man as a unique being.

If we have evolved, we are just a higher form of some animal, without morals and without accountability and many people use this as an excuse to live anyway they so desire.

But the Bible teaches us that humans are moral creatures who are accountable to our Creator!

Man is also a "soul" and therefore eternal!

Gen 2:7  And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.

And the Bible states that mankind is made in the image of God thus cannot be a product of evolution!

Gen 1:26  And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.

That word "our" means we were created after the image of the Tri-Une God, (Body, Soul, and Spirit)!

1Th 5:23  And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly; and I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

It should be obvious to us that our soul will sometimes be longing for it's Creator our Maker!

*****Psa 42:2  My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I come and appear before God?

Our soul, our true being, that is housed in our body of flesh will thirst for it's Creator!

We will sometimes miss a meal and in time we will feel the pangs of hunger.

But when you are thirsty for water it is an awful feeling that could lead to your death.

As a rule of thumb if you got caught out in dangerous cold most people could last no more than 3 hours.

Most people cannot go without water more than 3 days but no more that 8-10 days.

Most people can go without food for 3 weeks or more.

This writer was thirsting to the point of death for God, not water and not food!

God encourages us to be in the House of God in our appointed times of worship.

Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

We should have a desire to be in our place of worship!

BUT, even more than that, we need to thirst for that close and personal relationship with God.

Not with just any God but the True and Living God!

We need that desire to have fellowship with God Himself!

It is because Our God lives that He can give us "living water"!

What did Jesus tell that woman at the well?

Joh 4:10  Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.

Joh 4:13  Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:
Joh 4:14  But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

A dead and an impersonal god is a mockery to any religion!

What is the truth of eternal life?

Rev 21:6  And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
Rev 21:7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

What is the truth of eternal life? Being in the family of God!

If we say we love the Lord but do not assemble in His name we are pretenders of the "Gospel"!

But if we do not crave that personal relationship with Jehovah the Living God then we are fooling ourselves because we cannot know true life!

Sometimes we can crave to be in the presence of God so much we will seek some real evidence that He has not forgotten about us.

*****Psa 42:3  My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God?

When we cannot feel the presence of the Lord and we know that we have not been drinking of that "Living Water" we soon also find out that there is nothing on this earth that will satisfy that longing for the Lord and this will lead to a miserable life.

It is our God in Christ Jesus that our soul will crave!

Those that do not know the Lord Jesus as their Savior also cannot know this craving of being close to our very personal God and they will always say, where is your God when you really need Him or they will say a true God would not allow such a thing to happen.

Only those that do not know our Savior could say these things!

When we are down because of the things that happen in this world, our enemies will always try to take advantage of that situation.

We should be very clear, Satan will do anything to keep us off of our knees!

But prayer is still our greatest weapon!

The God of the mountain is still God in the valley!

What is the irony of prayer?

God knows our needs, but He will sometimes make us ask.

God will answer every prayer that makes it to Heaven, but sometimes will have to be persistent and patient.

And it is only the prayer in the name of Jesus Christ that can be answered because this shows our faith in Him to solve our problems.

Calling upon our Father in Heaven, through the Holy Spirit, and in the name of His Son Jesus is the mark of the true believer!

Even with the greatest "faith" prayers not in the will of God will certainly not be answered.

But without "faith" no prayer can be answered!

Our understanding of prayer will correspond with our understanding of the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ!

And we must remember all these things.

*****Psa 42:4  When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

God is our refuge and the place of our strength!

Hardly a day goes by that we are not caught up in the atrocities of this evil world we live in.

The phrase "come to pass" is used 161 times in the Bible. These things will come and they will pass and the answer is that when they come we need to pour out our souls to God!

In fact if we are in daily contact with our Father in Heaven we will miss out on many obstacles that cross our paths.

We need to attend the House of God regularly.

We need to get involved in the worship service.

We need to remember why we need to do these things!

Psa 62:7  In God is my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God.
Psa 62:8  Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God is a refuge for us. Selah.
And we need to stay in constant contact with our Savior!

We just cannot allow the things that go on in this world to knock us down!

*****Psa 42:5  Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.

We should also remember that God will test our faith from time to time.

1Pe 1:7  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

We should think of this as God trying to remove all our defective parts.

And we should just question our own selves and quit complaining and asking God why He has forgotten about us because that is impossible for Him to do!

What does God expect from us during these times?

1Pe 5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
1Pe 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

Why in the world should we get so discouraged since we know that God exist and He certainly cares for us?

It is vital that we endure these times of testing!

Jas 1:2  My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations;
Jas 1:3  Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.

Our hope is in the Lord!

1Th 1:3  Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
1Th 1:4  Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God.

AND, God is never very far from His children!

*****Psa 42:6  O my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, from the hill Mizar.

In verse 5 the writer of this Psalm, probably David, began to realize that he really had no good reason to fill so dejected but when we have a close personal relationship with our Father in Heaven, we need to make sure to tell Him everything.

We must also be persistent in our prayer!

We should show the Lord how we really feel, our feelings are important to the Lord!

And we should also remember the goodness of the Lord and how He has already brought us through the many trials of our life.

God makes a covenant with each one of His children and God will always keep His covenant!

It is good to remember these thing when we feel this world caving in on us.

The land of Jordan was the promised land to the Jews.

Eternal life in Heaven is the promised land to all, "whosoever will", call on the Lord Jesus Christ.

Where do we flee? We must flee to the Covenant of Grace!

Who made this covenant?

God the Father made a covenant with God the Son, brought about by God the Holy Spirit.

Isa 42:6  I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles;
Isa 42:7  To open the blind eyes, to bring out the prisoners from the prison, and them that sit in darkness out of the prison house.

God prepared His Son to be our sacrifice:

Heb 10:5  Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:

God met all the conditions of His personal covenant:

Gal 4:4  But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law,
Gal 4:5  To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.

God work through the power of the Holy Spirit:

Rom 1:2  (Which he had promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures,)
Rom 1:3  Concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh;
Rom 1:4  And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead:

God has kept this covenant and now works through the Lord Jesus to fulfill His covenant:

Heb 9:15  And for this cause he is the mediator of the new testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.

It is the "Throne of Grace" where we must flee in our times of trouble.

God made this covenant with Himself and it cannot be broken by anyone on this earth!

Eph 2:4  But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us,
Eph 2:5  Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;)

The land of Jordan refers to the promised land, our promised land is the New Heaven and New Earth.

Deu 27:3  And thou shalt write upon them all the words of this law, when thou art passed over, that thou mayest go in unto the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, a land that floweth with milk and honey; as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee.

The land of the Hermonites refers to place God commanded His blessings, The Lord commands our blessings from the Father's House.

Psa 133:3  As the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion: for there the LORD commanded the blessing, even life for evermore.

And the hill Mizar refers to the New Jerusalem.

Rev 21:2  And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

We can find comfort in the promises of God even in our times of trouble.

*****Psa 42:7  Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.

We will all have to travel through the "sea of affliction" once we call on the Lord Jesus Christ as our Savior!

If we remember the story of Job, just as soon as one affliction was over another one came until Job had lost everything he had, but his God.

If you view the ocean you will see that one wave comes and before it is over, another is already on the way.

Some higher, some lower but they come continuously. A billow describes a great wave or a surge from the sea, possibly a Tsunami type of wave.

A water-spout is a large tube formed by the clouds and with it's circular motion and being hollow within, it attracts a vast quantity of water which it will pour down all at one time.

There is only One who we can turn to and that is Our God!

Zec 10:11  And he shall pass through the sea with affliction, and shall smite the waves in the sea, and all the deeps of the river shall dry up: and the pride of Assyria shall be brought down, and the sceptre of Egypt shall depart away.
Zec 10:12  And I will strengthen them in the LORD; and they shall walk up and down in his name, saith the LORD.

*****Psa 42:8  Yet the LORD will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life.

Come what may it is the God of love that can sweeten our day!

Those that do not know the Lord have nowhere to turn but at any hour of the day or night, those that do know the Lord can turn to Him but only if He is the God of your life.

It is only the Living God that can be the God of our life!

1Ti 4:10  For therefore we both labour and suffer reproach, because we trust in the living God, who is the Saviour of all men, specially of those that believe.

Since the Lord is a living God He has life within Himself and therefore the "Author of" and the "Giver of" life to all others.

This is good reason to trust Him!

*****Psa 42:9  I will say unto God my rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?

Since we know the Living God and only because we have a close and personal relationship with Him are we even allowed to ask such questions as these.

And it is only a loving Father who is patient enough with His children who will listen to us as we do!

There is no question that God will ever reject but we may not always like His answers!

The most important thing to remember is that God is truly Our Rock!

1Co 10:1  Moreover, brethren, I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that all our fathers were under the cloud, and all passed through the sea;
1Co 10:2  And were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in the sea;
1Co 10:3  And did all eat the same spiritual meat;
1Co 10:4  And did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them: and that Rock was Christ.

God gets no pleasure seeing His children suffer.

God gets no pleasure seeing the things that Satan tries to do to God's people.

We suffer because of the choices we make!

Satan uses the afflictions of this world to either cause us to backslide, to reject the Lord, or to loose our testimony.

So we must be more like Moses.

Heb 11:24  By faith Moses, when he was come to years, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh's daughter;
Heb 11:25  "Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season";
Heb 11:26  Esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches than the treasures in Egypt: "for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward".

There are rewards for serving the One true and Living God!

*****Psa 42:10  As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?

There is no doubt that the tongue of our enemies will cut to the bone and God will listen as we explain these things to Him. God already knows what we are going through and He does not mind as we explain these things to Him and listens intently as we express our feelings to Him in prayer.

God will not judge us, He just listens to His child as most any good parent would do!

When our enemies and our persecutors ask "Where is your God now" it can cut deeply but we know that our Lord is only a prayer away.

If we did not believe that, we would not be praying. Sometimes it's good just to get some things off your chest and Our Father in Heaven will even allow us that privilege at times if we have humbled ourselves before Him.

Heb 4:15  For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.
Heb 4:16  Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

In America we hear a lot about freedom of speech. This was installed into the our Constitution by our forefathers but it comes from our relationship with the Lord.

The Lord allows us the freedom to speak to Him and the confidence to know that He will patiently listen and He promises an answer.

God only has 3 answers.

Yes, No and not at this time!

When we pray we should remember we are at the "throne of  Grace" and not the "throne of Judgment"!

God is never very far from His children!

Act 17:27  That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us:
Act 17:28  For in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring.

We simply cannot allow the things of this world to tear us down!

*****Psa 42:11  Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.

Once we humble ourselves before the Almighty God we realize that we have no ground to complain!

He is our only help!

He is the only one who can drive the sorrow away!

It is He that our enemies hope does not respond to our prayers!

He is, He has been, and He will be, our strength and our salvation forever!

He is Our God!

Isa 12:2  Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the LORD JEHOVAH is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation.
Isa 12:3  Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

And we must not forget what our job is after we are saved!

Isa 12:4  And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.

We must keep the main thing, the main thing, and the main thing is "salvation" to whosoever will believe on the name of the Lord Jesus Christ!

Questions?

Let's Pray!

Patiently Waiting On The Lord

Wait On The Lord

Psalms 40

What is patience?

Patience is is actively enduring the opposition we have to our lives.

Patience is suffering while remaining calm in that suffering!

Patience is enduring adversity while keeping a calm temper!

God's people are commanded to be patient!

Patience is described in the Bible as: endurance, steadfastness, long-suffering, and forbearance.

The Bible says we are saved by our "hope" in the sure promises of God and we must be patient in that hope!

Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

The gift of patience comes forth as we improve in our walk with the Lord.

2Th 3:5  And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ.

Jesus is coming soon but if He does not come before our death then at that time we will go straight to Him!

Let's begin:

*****Psa 40:1  To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David. I waited patiently for the LORD; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.

It may have been David's hand that wrote this Psalm but this Psalm is not so much about David.

No doubt David had passed through some deep suffering in which he had to be patient and wait on the Lord. The Lord says we all will pass through our times of suffering!

David was a type of Christ in many ways but David was never a sacrifice for God's people!

The Holy Spirit who inspired all the Bible and this Psalm points beyond David to Jesus Christ.

In fact the entire Old Testament will point you toward Jesus Christ!

This Psalm is about the Messiah!

This Psalm is a celebration of God's deliverance!

This Psalm expresses the feelings of the human nature of Jesus Christ!

Jesus Christ was 100% human while still being 100% God!

This Psalm teaches us that the greatest example of "patience" in the Bible is that time of Christ just before and during His Passion.

This Psalm recounts the inner most thoughts of the Lord Jesus Christ when He was on that cross for "our" salvation.

What is the truth about the Messiah?

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

This is the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ!

The Lord Jesus Christ did not have an ounce of impatience all through His agony in the Garden of Gethsemane.

The Lord Jesus never expressed impatience during all of the false trials before the High Priest nor before Herod nor Pilate.

The Lord was never impatient when He suffered for 3 hours the agonies of Hell's separation from His Father in Heaven while He hung on that cross until His cry was heard.

Our Lord Jesus only had one response to all these things when He said these words!

Joh 19:30  When Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said, "It is finished": and he bowed his head, and gave up the ghost.

God came down to this earth in the form of a man and patiently made a way for us to join Him in Heaven!

One day when we know our days are nearing their end we can also realize that our suffering of this life is "finally finished" and we are going home!

Notice this patient Lamb of God had no wrath and professed no vengeance, He just waited patiently until these things were over.

1Pe 2:23  Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:

Luk 23:34  Then said Jesus, Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do. And they parted his raiment, and cast lots.

We should know that the patient waiting by the Lord Jesus was not in vain and not one child of God will ever wait on our Lord in vain!

Our Messiah was brought very low but He arose in victory and because He did we can!

*****Psa 40:2  He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings.

What was the condition of Christ our Lord at the time of the cross?

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
Heb 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation unto all them that obey him;

Why was He in that horrible pit?

2Co 5:21  For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.

And the wages of sin are death!

Rom 6:23  For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

The Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, bore on His person the curse of all our sin because He had no sin of His own!

Isa 53:5  But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities: the chastisement of our peace was upon him; and with his stripes we are healed.

1Pe 2:24  Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness: by whose stripes ye were healed.

It is this act of God that is the truth of Christianity and separates Christianity from all false religion!

2Co 5:18  And all things are of God, who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ, and hath given to us the ministry of reconciliation;
2Co 5:19  To wit, that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation.

This is the only means of a personal relationship with our Holy God which also separates Christianity from false religion!

This is the only means of establishing our goings!

And we too should be singing a new song!

*****Psa 40:3  And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD.

The atonement of Christ Jesus, which means being at one with God, did not end with the death of Christ but ended with His resurrection!

Rom 1:4  And declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, "by the resurrection from the dead":

Let's look back: (John 20:2-8)

When Peter and John came to the tomb, they saw the grave-clothes lying in the grave retaining their shape as they had been wound about the body of Christ. The face napkin had been folded and laid neatly nearby but the body of the Lord Jesus Christ was gone. The body of Jesus had passed right through those linen wrappings leaving them in place.

The Lord Jesus had arose just as He had said He would!

Joh 11:25  Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:
Joh 11:26  And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?

What is this new song? It is the glorious and never ending song of redemption!

Only the Lord Jesus can know the fullness and the glory of this new song and He will one day lead all those He redeemed in singing this new song.

Psa 22:22  I will declare thy name unto my brethren: in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.

Our Lord will sing praises not only to His God but to our God!

It is this act of redemption that could have only been done by the Lord Jesus Christ that has brought each believer unto a personal relationship with God!

Joh 20:17  Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and "to my God, and your God".

Just as the Lord Jesus can be the only One to sing this new song of the redeemed, it is only the redeemed who can sing the new song of the Lord's worthiness to open the Book of Judgment.

Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

All those that can see the resurrection of our Lord just as John and Peter saw it, shall trust in the Lord and be saved!

This is the Lord's reward!

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, "and gave himself for me".

It was personal for the Lord and we can have that personal relationship with Him!

This is our greatest blessing!

*****Psa 40:4  Blessed is that man that maketh the LORD his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.

The most blessed day we can ever have is that day we trust in the Lord!

Joh 5:24  Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.

Rom 8:1  There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.

All those that are rich and in power on this earth and full of self pride expect all men to bow to them but the King of Glory went from riches to rags to pay our sin debt.

This world we live in is full of Satan's lies!

Joh 8:44  Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

It is only the Lord Jesus Christ who is the truth!

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

*****Psa 40:5  Many, O LORD my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak of them, they are more than can be numbered.

No one can count all God's wonderful works in His creation of this world and the cosmos!

No one can see God's great design for His people!

But all these things are quiet small when compared to God's great plan of redemption, and His future plans for those that trust Him!

Eph 2:7  That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.

The greatest thing we can give back to Our Lord while we are still living, is just realizing how much we are loved!

Psa 139:17  How precious also are thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them!

God desires only that we believe on Him!

*****Psa 40:6  Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou not required.

Sacrifices and offerings are physical things that are brought unto God to express devotion, thanksgiving, or a need for forgiveness.

What these scriptures show us is an actual conversation between God the Father and God the Son described by God the Holy Ghost.

Heb 10:4  For it is not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats should take away sins.
Heb 10:5  Wherefore when he cometh into the world, he saith, Sacrifice and offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared me:
Heb 10:6  In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure.

There should be no doubt to any of us that a greater and a better sacrifice was needed to solve the sin problem created by Adam!

There is a great example in the Old Testament that can give us an explanation of our ears being opened.

Exo 21:6  Then his master shall bring him unto the judges; he shall also bring him to the door, or unto the door post; and his master shall bore his ear through with an aul; and he shall serve him for ever.

When that hole was bored in the ear of that bond servant after he had become eligible for freedom it was meant to show the world that he had chosen to remain in the service of his master forever.

The Lord Jesus says, "mine ears has thou opened" because He so chose to be obedient to His Father in Heaven!

Our Lord was quick to hear and perform His Father's will!

Heb 10:10  By the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ "once for all".

*****Psa 40:7  Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written of me,
Psa 40:8  I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.

You see it was God's plan all along to sacrifice Himself in payment for our sin!

We are wrong when we do not realize that the entire Bible was written to bring us to the truth of Jesus Christ.

The God of the Old Testament and the God of the New Testament are one and the same God!

Every writer of the Old Testament wrote about Jesus Christ!

Jesus said:

Luk 24:44  And he said unto them, These are the words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must be fulfilled, which were written in the law of Moses, and in the prophets, and in the psalms, "concerning me".

When baby Jesus was born in Bethlehem, He began to fulfill all the things written about Himself in the Old Testament!

This was the first sign that the Messiah had come!

Isa 7:14  Therefore the Lord himself shall give you a sign; Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel.

We know these same things are written in the Book of Hebrews because The Messiah and the Lord Jesus Christ are one and the same.

But these are also the thoughts of Jesus Christ when He was on that cross remembering how and why He had come into the world.

Mat 26:42  He went away again the second time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me, except I drink it, "thy will be done".

Jesus delighted in paying our sin debt but His greatest delight was in pleasing His Father in Heaven and this is the lesson and our greatest example He has given to us to learn.

It is the will of God that we be just as obedient as He was!

Heb 5:7  Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death, and was heard in that he feared;
Heb 5:8  Though he were a Son, yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered;
Heb 5:9  And being made perfect, he became the author of eternal salvation "unto all them that obey him";

*****Psa 40:9  I have preached righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O LORD, thou knowest.

The entire life of Jesus was our sermon for salvation!

When Jesus preached, He preached the whole council of God!

Jesus preached openly in the Temple unashamed of His testimony!

Jesus was the first true missionary to declare the Gospel of God!

Jesus was the greatest evangelist that ever lives and reached out to all people(whosoever)!

But, Jesus also preached prophesy and judgment.

Again Jesus did all these things in obedience to His Father and Our Father in Heaven.

Isa 61:1  The Spirit of the Lord GOD is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek; he hath sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound;
Isa 61:2  To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD, "and the day of vengeance of our God"; to comfort all that mourn;

*****Psa 40:10  I have not hid thy righteousness within my heart; I have declared thy faithfulness and thy salvation: I have not concealed thy lovingkindness and thy truth from the great congregation.

This is exactly what the Lord Jesus did when He was on this earth!

Those that were lost clearly understood that no one taught the things Jesus taught!

Joh 7:46  The officers answered, "Never man spake like this man".

The scribes were the ones that made the copies of the Old Testament at that time and they had written the words so much that they became the authority on the scriptures but it had Jesus who had given the words to the original writers.

Mat 7:28  And it came to pass, when Jesus had ended these sayings, the people were astonished at his doctrine:
Mat 7:29  "For he taught them as one having authority, and not as the scribes".

Salvation is God's plan and no one can explain it better than the Lamb of God who fulfilled God's plan!

We truly have no righteousness in our selves!

It is God's righteousness that is delivered to each one that believes on the Lord Jesus Christ that provides our opportunity to be saved!

Php 3:9  And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, "but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith":
Php 3:10  That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death;
Php 3:11  If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.

What was the message Jesus had for this world?

Jesus preached the "faithfulness" of His Father.

Jesus preached the "salvation plan" of His Father.

Jesus preached the "love" of the Father.

Jesus preached the "truth" of the Gospel!

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

This now the same job of all those that Christ Jesus has delivered into salvation!

We are not to hide the righteousness of God in our hearts but we are to tell it to all who will listen!

*****Psa 40:11  Withhold not thou thy tender mercies from me, O LORD: let thy lovingkindness and thy truth continually preserve me.

When the Lord Jesus had been obedient all the way to the cross and just before He entered into the shadow of His death, He pleaded with His Father for mercy and His compassion.

And what was God's answer?

Isa 49:8  Thus saith the LORD, In an acceptable time have I heard thee, and in a day of salvation have I helped thee: and I will preserve thee, "and give thee for a covenant of the people", to establish the earth, to cause to inherit the desolate heritages;

The Lord Jesus never doubted that God's plan would be fulfilled just as it was written!

*****Psa 40:12  For innumerable evils have compassed me about: mine iniquities have taken hold upon me, so that I am not able to look up; they are more than the hairs of mine head: therefore my heart faileth me.

It was the assembly of the wicked that surrounded Jesus on that cross.

Psa 22:16  For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet.

But it was all "our sin" that Jesus bore on His body!

1Pe 3:18  For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, "the just for the unjust", that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

We are also to be more like Christ Jesus in His death than in His life.

Jesus Christ died for our sin and therefore we are to be dead to sin in order to live in Jesus Christ!

Rom 6:11  Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Rom 6:12  Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.

The Lord Jesus was made sin for us. The transfer of our sin to our Savior was real!

This is the truth of the Gospel!

It was for this reason that for a brief moment He could not look upon the face of His Father in Heaven!

Jesus died for our sin and He died of a broken heart for this one reason!

It is a well known scientific fact, that the effect of continued and intense agony will produce a colorless fluid as the blood begins to separate.

Joh 19:34  But one of the soldiers with a spear pierced his side, and forthwith came there out blood and water.

We are washed in the blood of Jesus!

Rev 1:5  And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood,

But we are also showered by the living water!

Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.

And our Father in Heaven was very pleased with His Son.

*****Psa 40:13  Be pleased, O LORD, to deliver me: O LORD, make haste to help me.

How can we not be amazed at God's plan of salvation?

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:
Php 2:6  Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:
Php 2:7  But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:
Php 2:8  And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.

Was God pleased?

Isa 53:10  "Yet it pleased the LORD to bruise him"; he hath put him to grief: when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin, he shall see his seed, he shall prolong his days, and the pleasure of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.
Isa 53:11  He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied: by his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many; for he shall bear their iniquities.

Did God help His Son? if we cannot believe this we cannot be saved!

Rom 10:9  That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and "shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead", thou shalt be saved.

If we cannot believe that Jesus was the Messiah we cannot be saved!

*****Psa 40:14  Let them be ashamed and confounded together that seek after my soul to destroy it; let them be driven backward and put to shame that wish me evil.
Psa 40:15  Let them be desolate for a reward of their shame that say unto me, Aha, aha.

In Satan's feeble attempt to destroy our Savior, he destroyed himself!

Because it is in total ignorance that anyone battles with the Lord!

God used the cross to show His love for all His created human beings!

And it was only the sacrificial Lamb of God that brought divine redemption to all people!

1Co 2:7  But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom, which God ordained before the world unto our glory:
1Co 2:8  Which none of the princes of this world knew: for had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory.

By destroying the Lamb of God, this evil world executed the plan of God perfectly!

In reality there is no one that has ever walked or that will ever walk on this earth that is not involved in God's plan of salvation!

God gives us His choice to do so willingly or unwillingly!

And God says:

1Co 14:38  But if any man be ignorant, let him be ignorant.

And God says in the end:

Rev 22:11  He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.

It is a foolish thing to reject the Word of God!

Even as  our Lord Jesus was desolate in His agony on that cross, we will see that the enemies of the Church will also be in agony in the end.

The Lord Jesus was deprived of the comfort and companionship of His Father for three hours on that cross.

That word "desolate" means that the enemies of God will be deprived of His comfort and His companionship for eternity!

1Co 3:19  For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God. For it is written, He taketh the wise in their own craftiness.
1Co 3:20  And again, The Lord knoweth the thoughts of the wise, that they are vain.

It is only those that seek the Lord who will be able to rejoice!

*****Psa 40:16  Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: let such as love thy salvation say continually, The LORD be magnified.

There are to many people in this world that think of God as loving God that would never punish the wicked forever but that is simply not true!

God says it is only those that seek Him who will rejoice!

God says that it is only those that seek Him who will be glad that they did!

Jesus said:

Joh 17:9  I pray for them: "I pray not for the world", but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine.
Joh 17:10  And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

Jesus is not praying for those that reject Him!

Jesus prayed only for those that accept Him!

We have only one job after our salvation and that is to proclaim the glory of God!

This is why Our Lord rejoiced for our salvation!

Heb 12:2  Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; "who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross", despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

We are not only to love the God of our salvation but we are also to love our salvation itself!

Self-preservation is the first law of life in this flesh!

Satan uses this one trait against us more than any other thing!

Job 2:4  And Satan answered the LORD, and said, Skin for skin, yea, all that a man hath will he give for his life.

We also know that Job would have died for His children.

Many of us who would not give our life for any other reason will give their life for their own children.

Many a soldier has given his life for freedom!

We know that this is exactly what our Lord did for us. The Lord did not allow the love He had for Himself to interfere with the love He has for each of us!

Our Lord wanted us to be free form the bondage of sin!

We are to love our salvation even more than we are to love ourselves!

There is only one thing that must remain greater than our love for our salvation and that must be our love of God!

*****Psa 40:17  But I am poor and needy; yet the Lord thinketh upon me: thou art my help and my deliverer; make no tarrying, O my God.

The Lord Jesus knew that Jehovah God would never turn away His heart from Him.

This is the thing that upheld Him in His hour of need!

As the redeemed of the Lord we must believe that the Lord will never turn His heart way from us!

It should be very sobering to think that out of all the people on this Earth, the Lord is thinking on each of us!

Jesus Christ is our example to live by in this life and He knew that His Father in Heaven was His help and also His deliverer and He is the same to each of us!

When the Lord Jesus Christ was on that cross He knew His death could come at any moment so He gave His life freely for our sake!

Jesus rose up bravely and met death head on so that we do not have to!

His need was urgent because He knew our need of salvation is also urgent!

As we go through this life we need only know one thing!

Rom 8:35  Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
Rom 8:36  As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Rom 8:37  Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us.

There is not one thing on this earth that can separate us from the love of the Lord Jesus Christ!

We need to patiently wait on the Lord!

Questions?

Let's Pray!

Rest In The Lord

Rest In The Lord

Psalms 37

There are many who fall by the wayside everyday because they find it impossible to believe God would allow the wicked to prosper while the Christians suffer.

To many, these things lead to doubt and frustration.

Satan will use these things to tempt us into sin.

The Lord will not hold us accountable for the suggestions that the Devil makes, or those thoughts that our evil hearts produce but God will hold us accountable if we yield to that sin or act on that evil thought!

We must lay hold to integrity and moral soundness and remain incorruptible.

There is no greater passage in the Bible in teaching this than the Book of Job.

Incorruptible means not being subject to decay!

Two weeks ago we saw that unconfessed sin was leading King David to the point of decay.

When we are so easily troubled because we see the wicked live a life of prosperity and we have forgotten that our sins have been forgiven and true riches await those that make it into God's Heaven and we will never spend one moment in the Burning Lake of fire, then it can also lead us to that same point of decay!

Earthy rewards are not the payment for spiritual work, spiritual work brings Heavenly rewards!

To expect earthly rewards for the work of God will only weaken our faith!

God is not dealing harshly with us when He does not make us rich!

There is a great bit of difference between a need and a want!

We can rejoice when we know we are redeemed by the blood of Jesus!

We can only rest when we understand the truth of God!

Let's Begin.

*****Psa 37:1  A Psalm of David. Fret not thyself because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity.
Psa 37:2  For they shall soon be cut down like the grass, and wither as the green herb.

Again another Psalm of David.

Not only was David King of Israel, and a man after God's own heart, God used the experiences of David to teach us many valuable lessons.

We must accept that every Word in the Bible was inspired by the Holy Spirit but when that writer had experienced those things that they had written, we can more easily relate those things to our own lives.

It is the object of God's Word to teach us the means of salvation but also how to walk in the ways of the Lord in this life!

One of the greatest problems to the Christian is when they try to answer the question of "why God's people suffer while the wicked seem to succeed"?

They say why would God allow such a thing?

This is what the word "fret" has as it's meaning!

The purpose of this Psalm is to answer this question.

To "fret" is to worry, to fume, to have heart-burn, to become irritated and it is in fact a form of jealousy!

We are not to be jealous of evildoers who seem to prosper because of their evilness.

We are also not to be envious of their apparent success.

Envy will only add to jealousy hate, and uneasiness, and it shows to that wicked person that he is superior to you!

Pro 3:31  Envy thou not the oppressor, and choose none of his ways.
Pro 3:32  For the froward is abomination to the LORD: but his secret is with the righteous.

How does God describe these evil doers?

They are as the grass that we mow weekly during the cutting season.

The destruction of ungodly people will be speedy, it will be sudden, and it will be sure!

What is the truth about herbs?

The herb is not like a tree, the herb dies to the root every year. The herb dries up once it has produced it's fruit and dries up in the sun.

All the glory of wicked and evil people will end at their death and they are soon forgotten.

Inside every "Born Again" child of God there lives a soul that knows that true life will be eternally spent with the Lord!

This true life begins when we trust in the Lord.

How do we obtain true riches?

*****Psa 37:3  Trust in the LORD, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed.
Psa 37:4  Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.
Psa 37:5  Commit thy way unto the LORD; trust also in him; and he shall bring it to pass.
Psa 37:6  And he shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday.
Psa 37:7  Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.

1) We are commanded not to fret ourselves because of evildoers.

2) We are now commanded to trust the Lord.

The Bible is a book of commandments and not a book of suggestions!

God says the cure to "fretting" is "faith"!

Faith means we  can see things as they really are.

God says the remedy for "fretting" is "doing good"!

That word "verily" means "the truth is".

The truth is that God will not only feed His people with bread, but more important God will feed His people with "His Truth"!

How will the evil doer be fed?

Isa 44:20  He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?

Jer 23:15  Therefore thus saith the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets; Behold, I will feed them with wormwood, and make them drink the water of gall: for from the prophets of Jerusalem is profaneness gone forth into all the land.

They will feed on ashes and wormwood and gall!

3) We are now commanded to delight ourselves in the Lord!

We are to make the Lord the joy of our lives!

Those that are evil get joy from doing evil things which will bring them no reward at their death.

Remember how David has used the word "my"?

The Lord is my light, my salvation, my strength, my rock, my fortress, my high tower and my deliverer!

This is the way we need to use the word "my" when it comes to the Lord!

We must have a personal relationship with Him!

What are the facts?

Those who delight in the Lord only delight and ask for the things that please Him and Our God delights in fulfilling those desires!

Joh 14:14  If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it.

How can these things come about?

4) We must commit ourselves to the Lord and not to the ways of this world.

We must roll the burden of our life over to the Lord!

1Pe 5:6  Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:
1Pe 5:7  Casting all your care upon him; for he careth for you.

When we place our trust in the Lord, why in the world would we want to interfere and not leave the results in His hands.

The more we fret the worse we will be, the more we trust the Lord the better off we will be!

The Lord is the Judge of all this Earth!

Abraham asked the Lord this question.

Gen 18:25  That be far from thee to do after this manner, to slay the righteous with the wicked: and that the righteous should be as the wicked, that be far from thee: "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right"?

We can know that the Lord is the Righteous Judge of this Earth and can only do what is right!

How will He judge the righteous who remain in the light of the Lord?

Each believer is as the noon of day when there is not even a shadow of darkness!

We must not fret because of evil doers.
We must trust in the Lord.
We must delight ourselves in the Lord.
We must commit ourselves to the Lord.

5) And then we can rest in the Lord.

This is also a command and not some suggestion.

Psa 46:10  Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth.

God will never act before it is time to act but we can also be sure to know that God will never be late, He will always be on time!

We must never forget the intent of the Lord.

Jas 5:7  Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Behold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain.

I have said it before, that lost soul the Lord is waiting on could be one of our own family members.

We will certainly see the unrighteous prosper in this world but that is all they have!

We will certainly see that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer!

We simply must help those we can, especially those of the true Church and cease from our anger at these things.

God's "Grace", through the Lord Jesus Christ is still the only answer to all life's problems!

*****Psa 37:8  Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil.
Psa 37:9  For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the LORD, they shall inherit the earth.

We must believe that nothing can ever happen to us apart from the knowledge, the presence, and the love of God!

And we must know that God only wants good things for us, things that will make us better suited for His use!

What is the truth of God?

Rom 8:18  For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.

When we see these things happen around us, we can either get angry at those that are so prosperous in their evil, or we will get angry at God.

To be angry at the world is madness, to be angry at God is insanity. Then the answer must be for us to forsake being angry!

We can live and rejoice with life when we trust that the Lord only does the right things for us and we need to avoid anything that even gives the appearance of being evil.

Anger will simmer and burn until reaches a point of explosion which will lead to sin.

Eph 4:26  Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:

Eph 4:31  Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:

We must remember those that reject the Word of God will suffer a terrible judgment.

What is the truth of the Word of God?

Luk 16:22  And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried;
Luk 16:23  And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

But those who are patiently waiting on the Lord even in this life will have the most of real enjoyment and in the ages to come the glory and triumph of the glory world.

John Bunyan wrote: "Passion" has his good things first, and they are soon over. "Patience" has his good things last, and they last forever.

What is the truth of the Word of God?

*****Psa 37:10  For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.

The average life span in some places in this world may have increased to over 70 years but that is still a short time. Many who live the lifestyle of the rich and famous do not live that long. The glitter of the wicked is not true gold!

There are many a building which carry the name of some famous person but that person has already perished. We may consider their place in society but they themselves are long gone.

His house is empty, his chair at the office is empty, his estate belongs to someone else or is without an owner. They are gone and will be soon forgotten!

But this is not so for those that love the Lord.

*****Psa 37:11  But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

It is those of "faith" that above all others, can enjoy life.

The "meek" are all those that have submitted themselves to the divine will of God!

Our meekness comes from the "Grace" of God through the Lord Jesus Christ which the world simply cannot understand.

What is the truth of the Lord our God?

Isa 55:8  For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Isa 55:9  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

Those that have been justified by faith will always be the enemy of those that will not submit to the Lord.

*****Psa 37:12  The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.

The Atheist say there is no God, so why do they attack those that do believe?

In reality most of them just hate the fact there is truly a righteous God.

Many others just say that there simply cannot be a personal God.

And all others place their faith in false gods!

As Christians we are simply to tell others about salvation through the Lord Jesus Christ and then stand our ground on these facts!

We are not at war with the world! God gave every one the gift of choice!

God wants us to have an informed choice so that there will not be any excuses at the judgment seat.

What will God do when He hears the excuses of the wicked?

*****Psa 37:13  The Lord shall laugh at him: for he seeth that his day is coming.

We know that the Lord is full of mercy and grace so laughing seems out of His true character, yet here it is.

The Hebrew word saw-khak is used here and it means a mocking laugh.

God will not allow for excuses and He will have heard them all at the White Throne of Judgment.

God's mocking laughter occurs only after those wicked have conclusively rejected His love and mercy, and then continued in their arrogant rebellion against the Word of God.

Pro 1:24  Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded;
Pro 1:25  But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof:
Pro 1:26  I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh;

It seems that most pulpits refuse to preach the truth of these scriptures.

Things will be different for those that love the Lord!

*****Psa 37:18  The LORD knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever.
Psa 37:19  They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied.

God may have laughed at those who reject Him but those that love Him have a bright future!

There is not one thing that lies in our future that God is not already aware of and is already preparing us for it before it comes!

To know the Lord Jesus Christ as your personal Savior means to have an inheritance laid up in Heaven that will last forever!

For ever means one day we will wake up in glory and there will never be another day. That day will just continue unending!

Rev 22:5  And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever.

For this reason we do not have to be ashamed that we are not as prosperous as those that refuse the Lord Jesus here in this life.

We do not have to be disappointed because we cannot obtain all our desires in this life.

God is not just a friend on the sunny days, God is our friend even on the cloudy days!

When God's providence is our inheritance in this life, we need not worry about tomorrow. God already knows what we need for tomorrow!

*****Psa 37:23  The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.
Psa 37:24  Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him with his hand.

What is it like to be in the Army of God? The Lord delights in the ways of all those who "themselves" delight in the Lord!

As a babe who delighted it's parents with those first steps, so it is with the Lord when we begin our walk with Him.

As our walk becomes more and more secure as time passes by, the Lord's smile also broadens.

Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.

God knows that the path of each Christian is not always an easy road and God understands we will fall on occasion.

Job lost everything he had and Job was a very rich man.

Joseph was treated as a slave and then put in prison.

Jonah was cast into the deep in the belly of a whale.

The child of God need fall only as far as his knees to brought back up again!

The troubles in this world may bring us down to our knees, death may bring us to the grave, but we will never go lower than this because our true life is up!

It is God that holds on to His children through Jesus Christ!

Joh 10:28  And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
Joh 10:29  My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand.
Joh 10:30  I and my Father are one.

*****Psa 37:25  I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.
Psa 37:26  He is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed.

David adds a personal testimony in his own observations in serving the Lord but this is nonetheless a true statement!

The Lord will reward those that obey Him!

The Lord will never forsake His children!

The true children of God will never be beggars when they remain in the congregation of the faithful!

How can this be true?

*****Psa 37:27  Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore.
Psa 37:28  For the LORD loveth judgment, and forsaketh not his saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off.

The path way of the Christian is stay off the path of evil!

The path way of the Christian is cease to do evil and learn to do good!

It is very important for us to maintain good works after our salvation!

Tit 3:14  And let ours also learn to maintain good works "for necessary uses", that they be not unfruitful.

Good works are all those works that grow out of our supreme love of God!

It is a fact that there will some children of God who will have certain needs from time to time and it is the congregation of the faithful who are to provide that need!

Gal 6:10  As we have therefore opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith.

Very few wicked men ever leave any help for their own children!

Not one wicked man will influence his children to obey God and most of them will also fall into the same snares of the Devil!

*****Psa 37:29  The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever.

There is only one place that is forever!

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

There is only one inheritance!

Rev 21:7  He that overcometh shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be my son.

This is the paradise of the believer, so who could be so foolish to turn down such an opportunity as this?

*****Psa 37:30  The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgment.
Psa 37:31  The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide.

What are the characteristics of a righteous man?

Their thoughts are good because their heart is right with God.

Their words are good because they have an understanding of the Word of God and the "Gospel" of Jesus Christ.

Their works are good because they take action guided by the Holy Spirit.

Col 4:6  Let your speech be alway with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.

How do we find that certain rest for our souls?

Jer 6:16  Thus saith the LORD, Stand ye in the ways, and see, and ask for the old paths, where is the good way, and walk therein, and ye shall find rest for your souls. But they said, We will not walk therein.

*****Psa 37:32  The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him.
Psa 37:33  The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.

It is sad but it is also a fact, if it were not for the laws in most lands, we would see a complete massacre of the followers of Jesus Christ!

Even when Christians cannot be just killed because of laws, their testimonies will be slandered, what they own will be taken away from them, and many will attempt to destroy the way they live.

1Pe 5:8  Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour:

We are foolish to not believe that this true!

God may allow us to be in the enemies hands for a period of time, such as Job, but God will not leave us there!

By the providence of God, temporary injustice may be tolerated for awhile but but those that love the Lord will be justified by their faith.

Rom 5:1  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:
Rom 5:2  By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

It takes a little patience!

*****Psa 37:34  Wait on the LORD, and keep his way, and he shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it.

That word "wait" is easy to say but it is hard to carry out.

Waiting is a line that extends from the heart of the believer by faith in a great desire to be with the Lord, Our God!

There will not be even one "Born Again" child of God that will stand in judgment before God at the "White Throne" seat of judgment but they will be there to witness the judgment of the non-believers.

We may also witness the ruin of many of our foes while we remain alive.

What will God do to the wicked?

Psa 52:5  God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.

*****Psa 37:35  I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree.
Psa 37:36  Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.

God's people are to be fruitful trees producing fruit season after season.

The wicked on the other hand spread themselves out as a luxurious overbearing shrub that can only grow locally and all signs of it will perish when it dies. There will be no evidence that it ever existed.

In the New Heaven and New Earth, there will be no evidence that anything wicked ever existed!

*****Psa 37:37  Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace.
Psa 37:38  But the transgressors shall be destroyed together: the end of the wicked shall be cut off.

Who is a perfect man?

Mat 22:37  Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.
Mat 22:38  This is the first and great commandment.
Mat 22:39  And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.
Mat 22:40  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.

The perfect man will be obedient to these two commandments!

The perfect man will know who his neighbor is.

Mat 5:44  But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;
Mat 5:45  That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

To do these things is the closest we can get to being perfect while we are still living on this Earth and we are commanded to do this also!

Mat 5:48  Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

But we are not to be wimps! Jesus Christ was no wimp, He was still 100% a real man while still being 100% God!

All the wicked have the same fate which is destruction and in the end will be cut off!

Their time will be shortened. their happiness will be ended, their hopes will not be fulfilled and their execution will be eternal.

*****Psa 37:39  But the salvation of the righteous is of the LORD: he is their strength in the time of trouble.
Psa 37:40  And the LORD shall help them, and deliver them: he shall deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in him.

This is the "Doctrine Of The Bible"!

Salvation can only come by the Lord!

The Lord not only delivers us in the end, He will also deliver us along the way!

The Lord must be the object of all our faith and all our trust!

The Lord will help, the Lord will deliver, and the Lord will save all those that trust in Him and His Word!

And knowing all these things we can "Rest in the Lord"!

Questions?

Let's Pray!

Rejoice In The Lord

Rejoice In The Lord

Psalm 33

The 32nd Psalm was a Psalm of instruction and yet we know that "all" the scriptures are good for instruction.

2Ti 3:16  All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness:
2Ti 3:17  That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works.

When we confess our sin to the Lord, it will lead to a time of rejoicing.

Psalm 33 is a Psalm of rejoicing.

This Psalm teaches us not to just rejoice but to express our emotions loudly.

After all we are the redeemed people of God.

Psa 107:2  Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy;

Whatever others think of us, as the redeemed of the Lord we have many reasons to rejoice in the Lord.

To rejoice is to experience joy and gladness to a high degree!

To rejoice should be heard by the voice. To rejoice is the idea of singing out with immense joy.

Though we can rejoice alone, this Psalm is more about the gathering in an assembly to worship the Lord!

Heb 10:24  And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
Heb 10:25  Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

When we gather together as the redeemed of the Lord, we need to worship but we also need to rejoice in that worship!

This Psalm teaches us how to rejoice and some of the reasons why we need to rejoice.

Let's begin:

*****Psa 33:1  Rejoice in the LORD, O ye righteous: for praise is comely for the upright.

Who are the righteous? All those that are justified by faith in our Holy God!

Rom 5:1  Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:

Music has always been a vital part of praising the Lord in our worship services.

This Psalm is more about congregational praise than the individual. It is "all the righteous" who are to praise the Lord!

All music in the Church is to be about praising the Lord and not for entertaining those that are sitting in the pews!

Many places of worship have become places of entertainment.

That building may be used for other things but that worship service should be exactly that, a worship service to the Lord!

To rejoice is to shout for joy, to sing joyfully, to cry out in joy exalting the Lord our God!

If God never did anything but save us from a burning hell, we have enough reason to praise Him!

Psa 5:11  But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice: let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them: let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.

It is dangerous to rejoice in the things of this world!

It is foolish to rejoice in our own accomplishments!

It is fatal to rejoice in sin! The wages of sin are death.

But it is heavenly to rejoice in the Lord!

It is a fact that even the righteous are not always glad, so we all have a need to stir up that rejoicing spirit within ourselves.

There is great joy in knowing the Lord!

When the Lord sees His church rejoicing and singing praises to Him they are beautiful in His sight!

The word "comely" means to offer rejoicing praise to the Lord is a beautiful and a most fitting thing to do!

Psa 147:1  Praise ye the LORD: for it is good to sing praises unto our God; for it is pleasant; and praise is comely.

God loves to see His people happy!

There may be many professionals who sing the songs of praise, who do not know the Lord as their Savior, but God sees no beauty in them.

Singing is wonderful but God says to bring your musical instruments.

The Psalms were never to be chanted, they were always to be accompanied by musical instrument!

There is nothing musical about chanting!

*****Psa 33:2  Praise the LORD with harp: sing unto him with the psaltery and an instrument of ten strings.

**The harp was the national instrument of the Hebrew people.

If you do not like the praising of the Lord with singing along with the harp, you will not like it in Heaven.

Rev 14:2  And I heard a voice from heaven, as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of a great thunder: and "I heard the voice of harpers harping with their harps":

The voice of the harp is beautiful!

**The psaltery is another version of the harp but normally had 12 strings.

It was played with the hand. Some say it resembled the guitar but had a much superior tone.

**The instrument of 10 strings was also another version of the harp.

In fact it is possible that this instrument more fits the picture of the modern day harp. The strings may have been plucked with a quill or with the hand.

There are many that say music is not important in the worship service but what do they do with these scriptures in the Bible?

God includes these things in the Bible for a reason!

Many will say that musical instruments are unnecessary to worship the Lord but most people will not sing at all without the assistance of musical instruments.

The pure fact is, that we are to praise the Lord with every fiber in our body and all the powers we possess.

Praise is never to be half-done but wholehearted!

*****Psa 33:3  Sing unto him a new song; play skilfully with a loud noise.

Nine times in the Bible we are told to sing a "new song" to the Lord.

When we are saved, we need to be singing a new song.

When our troubles are over we need to be singing a new song.

When God has answered  that prayer we have prayed for so long a time, we need to be singing a new song.

When God has been merciful toward us in anyway we need to be singing a new song!

When we live by the ways of the Lord it is a "new and living way"!

Heb 10:19  Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20  By a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh;

Just singing for the sake of singing and not in praising God is not worth very much.

The Lord loves to see us excited about our salvation!

The Lord loves to see a freshness in our worship!

The Lord loves for us to put forth our new life, that "Born Again" feeling, from the heart and soul into our praises for Him.

To play skillfully is to praise God in everything with the very best that we have!

The sweetest tune, the sweetest voice with the sweetest words, the very best we can do are still much to little to offer our Lord for what He has done for us!

We can live a righteous life only because the Word of God is right!

*****Psa 33:4  For the word of the LORD is right; and all his works are done in truth.

If this verse is not true then we can all go home because we can find better things to do but since it is true then we need to pay attention to what God has got to say!

What ever God says in His written Word are the truth!

What ever God says about His creation is the truth!

We may not understand why things happen as they do in our lives and the lives of those we love and care about but we must believe that all the works of the Lord were the right thing for Him to allow to happen!

There are no deviations from the Word of God that hold true!

There are no deviations in God's act of creation, God spoke and things happened!

We can praise God because of His truth.

We can praise God because of His faithfulness.

We can praise God because of His "Mercy" and His "Grace".

And we can praise God because of His truth in creation!

In fact there are no reasons why we should not be praising God!

The more we know about our God, the more we will learn of His excellence!

*****Psa 33:5  He loveth righteousness and judgment: the earth is full of the goodness of the LORD.

What does God love?

According to the Bible, true righteousness is a character of God that is rooted in the fulfillment of the covenants God makes with us when He saves us.

True righteousness can come to each of us only because of our relationship with Our Holy God!

Righteousness is always doing things right and we have no power of righteousness within ourselves!

Psa 14:2  The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God.
Psa 14:3  They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.

There are many who believe they know how to do the right things but God say no one can know without His wisdom.

Isa 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

God 's righteousness is seen in what God does!

And because God is righteous in His "mercy" He will also be righteous in His "judgment"!

Psa 96:13  Before the LORD: for he cometh, for he cometh to judge the earth: he shall judge the world with righteousness, and the people with his truth.

Just as God will keep His covenant of salvation through Jesus Christ, He will also keep His covenant of judgment also by Jesus Christ!

Joh 14:6  Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Salvation and condemnation must exist together as the truth of God's character!

It is only the saved that can understand these things of God.

Liberals cringe at the thought of God's judgment!

It is God who created His covenants and it is God who must remain faithful to His own covenants!

It is the righteousness of God that is the key to understanding the salvation of humanity!

God requires each of us to be righteous but our righteousness can only come by the Lord Jesus Christ!

It is the gift of "righteousness" that God gives so freely by His "Grace"!

Rom 5:17  For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)

The Earth is truly full of the goodness of God and everyone on this Earth will get the opportunity to miss out on the judgment of God!

Before any one dies they will be offered that choice to believe. It is what we do with that choice that determines our outcome at the end of our physical days.

Things happen when God speaks.

*****Psa 33:6  By the word of the LORD were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth.

We can understand the word heavens as the 3 heavens.

1) There is the atmospheric heaven:

This is the body of our earthly atmosphere and extends to about 6 miles above our planet.

No other planet has such an atmosphere as the one that surrounds our Earth!

Life on Earth can only exist because of our atmosphere!

Act 14:17  Nevertheless he left not himself without witness, in that he did good, and gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness.

2) There is the celestial heaven:

This the place of our Sun and Moon and all the stars of the Milky Way and all other galaxies.

Gen 1:14  And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years:
Gen 1:15  And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.

3) And there is the dwelling place of God:

This is the specific place of God's dwelling.

Mat 6:9  After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.

Isa 66:1  Thus saith the LORD, The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that ye build unto me? and where is the place of my rest?

This where we will find the Father's House and where Jesus returned to prepare for us a place.

Joh 14:2  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

Paul said this is the 3rd heaven.

2Co 12:2  I knew a man in Christ above fourteen years ago, (whether in the body, I cannot tell; or whether out of the body, I cannot tell: God knoweth;) such an one caught up to the third heaven.

This is what John saw in the Book of Revelation.

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

And God made all the host of all 3 heavens just by His commands.

All the vast spaces of the heavens and the cosmos were called into existence by the Word of God, in fact by the Word of Christ Jesus.

Joh 1:3  All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.

It is on these things is where our faith must begin!

Heb 11:3  Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.

If we cannot begin with the truth of God's creation we will never understand the truth of the righteousness of God!

*****Psa 33:7  He gathereth the waters of the sea together as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses.

In the Book of Genesis we read that God gathered 2 great bodies of water. One above the atmosphere and one below the atmosphere.

Gen 1:7  And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.

God then gathered all the waters below the atmosphere into one place.

Gen 1:9  And God said, Let the waters under the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.

Today all our oceans are still inter connected and separated by name only. The seas stay where God directs them.

Pro 8:29  When he gave to the sea his decree, that the waters should not pass his commandment: when he appointed the foundations of the earth:

These seas have remained in place except for the one time that God flooded the entire planet at one time in the time of Noah.

Psa 104:9  Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass over; that they turn not again to cover the earth.

All the extra water that was used to flood the Earth is now laid up in the depth of God's storehouses.

It is from these sources that we get our wells and the many springs and many a river begin from these storehouses of water.

These waters that were once used in judgment are now used in mercy!

*****Psa 33:8  Let all the earth fear the LORD: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him.

It was the Jews that sang these songs of praise but God says let all the Earth stand in awe of Him.

We cannot properly worship the Lord unless we can admit His boundless power!

We cannot get a single prayer answered unless we can admit God's boundless power!

We cannot even obtain salvation unless we can admit God boundless power!

How could we trust our salvation to a God that professed anything less than our Creator has already shown us!

Awe is fear intermingled with adoration. We must realize both these things when we come humbly before our righteous God!

Why?

Because when God speaks things happen!

*****Psa 33:9  For he spake, and it was done; he commanded, and it stood fast.

Creation is the fruit of God's Word!

This is why Creation by the design of God remains constantly under attack.

If God did not create all things as He has said then we cannot be saved!

God did not take millions nor even billions of years to accomplish His works of creation. If creation could take place by these processes then we would not need God!

We have a Creator who strives to also be our Savior but it takes "faith"!

It takes more faith to believe in the lies of evolution that it does to get saved!

Each created act was an instantaneous event that cannot be explained by natural processes!

Out of nothing came God's creation and it is confirmed by it's existence!

There is only one means of true happiness in this world and it is to realize that we are a created being and not some accident that just happened!

There is not one human being on this Earth that can prove any other method of creation beyond what God says!

*****Psa 33:10  The LORD bringeth the counsel of the heathen to nought: he maketh the devices of the people of none effect.

Everything that happens on this Earth has some part in God's plan!

God does not adjust His plan according to the outcome of events. God's decrees govern human history!

Dan 4:35  And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing: and he doeth according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand, or say unto him, What doest thou?

God also has His way in the angelic realm! Even Satan does not make a move without the express permission of God!

Sinful acts do not frustrate the plan of God and God is not the cause of sinful acts!

Although all things are encompassed in the will of God, each of us are responsible for our own actions!

Although the death of Jesus Christ was the great plan of God for our salvation, it is still a fact that wicked men were responsible for His death!

God gave us the freedom to choose but God has only chose righteousness for Himself!

Even though Christian persecution is on the rise, God will bring good out of it because He always has!

The cause of Christ is never in danger of not succeeding!

Wickedness will always be overcome with godly wisdom!

Satan will always be held in check by the power of God!

Why?

*****Psa 33:11  The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

We should ask ourselves, what is the greatest comfort we can have in this life before our death?

We should be able to answer this question with these words: That, I with my body and soul, both in life and in death, am not my own because I belong to the Lord Jesus Christ who is faithful enough to preserve me that without the will of my Father in Heaven not one hair can fall from my body and that all things that happen to me while I am alive must work to the good of my salvation!

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

God did not send His Son to this Earth to die in payment for our sin just to abandon us in our time of trouble!

1Co 1:9  God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.

God is faithful to keep His promises!

God will never change His purpose for us!

God's plan cannot fail!

**What is the view of the Atheist and the Evolutionist? All human history and of life are subject to fate.

**What is the view of the Muslim and others that believe in One God? That God created our world but has since allowed the world to run itself like some machine and men control their own destiny.

**What is the view of the pantheist and the environmentalist? That the universe is God and is only some impersonal force that permeate our universe and that God is the creation.

**What is the view of dualism? That two opposing forces, the forces of light and the forces of darkness are locked in a great battle and no one knows who will win in the end. In other words God is caught up in this battle that is out of His control.

What is the real truth of Jehovah God?

Psa 86:10  For thou art great, and doest wondrous things: thou art God alone.

Truly the Word of God will stand forever and God's eternal purposes are much firmer than His creations!

Men and women come and go and most of them follow their own desires to the grave!

But the undisturbed mind of God moves on producing results that are certain!

God's will and God's plan will be carried out from age to age and we know that the Church Age is fast drawing near it's end.

So how can our own nation of America and all other nations be blessed?

*****Psa 33:12  Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.

Blessed does not just mean just spiritual happiness but also to be prosperous in our physical lives.

Israel has been blessed from the time of Abraham but God's blessings are for any and every nation whose God is the Lord!

There are many religions but there can be only one Christianity!

If Christianity is to be considered a religion then in can only be the religion of Jesus Christ!

We have no religion beyond Jesus Christ!

There are many things that have happened and continue to happen in our world in the name of Christianity but are not of true Christians.

We see many Muslim who move forward to establish the Koran with cruelty and superstitions.

We know that many nations throughout history, such as in Europe that have felt the power of the sword in the name of Christianity but not by true Christianity.

It is not any of these things that can bless a nation!

It is only Christians who are filled with the fruit of the Holy Spirit that can bring God's blessing to any nation!

We already know that in America, those that do not know the Lord are using all their power to remove the Lord Jesus from any part of America.

God's may have already stopped blessing America!

We already know that those that bless Israel will also get a blessing but as our government condemns Israel then the blessings will stop!

So as we see our nation falling apart we do not have to look far for the reasons!

But God will never remove His blessings from those that He has chosen for His own inheritance!

Our home is not in America.

Our home is not even in this world.

There is nothing in this world that can cause our home in Heaven to be less than what God says it will be!

Joh 14:2  In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

Since we are so blessed, we need to rejoice and shine brightly for the world to see and cling to Jesus who is our Savior!

The Lord has His eyes on us.

*****Psa 33:13  The LORD looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.
Psa 33:14  From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth.

It should provide us a great comfort knowing that we are always under the watchful eye of the Lord.

But the eyes of the Lord are also on those that do not know Him.

God knows what the saints are doing and what those that are lost are doing to those saints!

There is nothing that can happen on this Earth that does not catch the eye of God.

There is also nothing that happens on this Earth that could not be stopped if the Lord chose to do so!

God can also see deep into the heart of every man and He says it is the foolish men that cause wars.

2Ch 16:9  For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him. Herein thou hast done foolishly: therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars.

*****Psa 33:15  He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.

God has fashioned every heart to seek after the Creator. The heart of the king as well as the heart of the beggar and all in between.

Consider what it means that God is examining each of us and He knows our intentions even before we act on them.

What did Jesus say?

Mat 5:28  But I say unto you, That whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her "hath committed adultery with her already in his heart".
Mat 5:29  And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
Mat 5:30  And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

We must desperately fight against the desires of our heart when our desires go against the Word of God!

*****Psa 33:16  There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength.

God cannot be defeated in His plans for all mankind!

Our Lord is a sovereign God and has decreed all things according to His will.

Every human being is responsible for their own sinful acts!

For instance, Christ's death was a result of God's plan but wicked men were responsible for His death!

So man being a mortal, and subject to death, has no power to change God's plan.

All those that trust in mortal power are deceived!

There have been many an empire fall throughout history that have fallen even though they had the largest army and/or the best armaments.

There is no greater example of this than the nation of Israel!

America has never been great because of earthly resources. America has been great only because the founding fathers searched for a place to serve God, by the Lord Jesus Christ.

Why is America failing today? Because Christians are standing idle while wicked people are removing the Lord Jesus Christ from our nation!

America may be the most powerful nation on this Earth but nothing can ensure the safety of those that God leaves to their own destruction!

No man, no matter his strength is able to deliver himself from the hands of God!

When that day of death arrives there is no force on this Earth that save us from that death!

Our strength can only come from the Lord!

Jer 9:23  Thus saith the LORD, Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might, let not the rich man glory in his riches:
Jer 9:24  But let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the LORD which exercise lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness, in the earth: for in these things I delight, saith the LORD.

*****Psa 33:17  An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.

In the time of David, military strength was measured not only by the size of the army, but also in horses and chariots.

It is a fact that the well trained horse will rush into danger therefore taking his rider to his death or death can come if that horse falls upon it's rider.

The strongest defenses are nothing if they fail when they are needed the most.

Even today in Iraq, we have an army supposedly trained by America, supplied with the best weapons on this Earth yet they are failing miserably because they have no will to fight the enemy.

They do not have God on their side!

In fact they themselves allow the persecution of God's people!

We should realize God is not on either side of this conflict!

It is just evil and foolish men on both sides seeking to control the masses of people.

And it is only the Lord our God who can deliver us from such wars!

Sennacherib had a mighty army but it only took one angel of the Lord to end his day!

2Ki 19:35  And it came to pass that night, that the angel of the LORD went out, and smote in the camp of the Assyrians an hundred fourscore and five thousand: and when they arose early in the morning, behold, they were all dead corpses.

Not one army nor even all the armies on this Earth can stand against the Lord!

Psa 20:7  Some trust in chariots, and some in horses: but we will remember the name of the LORD our God.
Psa 20:8  They are brought down and fallen: but we are risen, and stand upright.

*****Psa 33:18  Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;
Psa 33:19  To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine.

That word "behold" means open your eyes and you will see who sits on the throne of our world!

Many laugh when they see the references to the physical features of the Lord.

God is Spirit for sure!

Joh 4:24  God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.

But we know that the Lord Jesus went back to Heaven in a glorified body and in that same glorified body will He return!

Act 1:9  And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
Act 1:10  And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
Act 1:11  Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.

The truth is that our God is omnipotent and He can certainly assume the attributes of the bodies of those He has created when He so wills!

What does God say to those that mock Him?

Psa 94:8  Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
Psa 94:9  He that planted the ear, shall he not hear? he that formed the eye, shall he not see?
Psa 94:10  He that chastiseth the heathen, shall not he correct? he that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know?
Psa 94:11  The LORD knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity.

Deliverance from evil cannot come by military power!

Deliverance form evil cannot come by manpower!

Deliverance from evil cannot come by all the horsepower in this world!

Deliverance from evil can only come by "Spiritual Power"!

Because the Lord's hand go everywhere His eyes go!

God can preserve all those He sees and death cannot touch them unless the Lord allows it!

Mortality means we are always subject to death at any time, God knows exactly when that day will come and it comes by the choices we make.

We should also remember, famines normally come by the judgment of God.

It may be said that famine comes from natural causes but they must be allowed.

Natural causes are just the agents and instruments God uses in His judgment of sin!

But the greatest famine of all is when sin separates us from the express will of God!

Amo 8:11  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD:
Amo 8:12  And they shall wander from sea to sea, and from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it.

This famine may be in the early stages of it's beginning or even farther along than that!

There is not a day that goes by that we should not be calling upon the Lord.

*****Psa 33:20  Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield.

We can only rejoice when we are patiently waiting for the Lord and trust in His Word!

What are we waiting for?

Rom 8:23  And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body.

That word "Our" means these things belong to those who wait on the Lord.

Our relationship with the Lord must be a very personal thing!

The Lord is the answer to all things to His people!

Isa 40:31  But they that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

What are we to rejoice in?

*****Psa 33:21  For our heart shall rejoice "in him", because we have trusted in his holy name.

We must not rejoice in sin.

We must not rejoice in ourselves.

We must rejoice in the Lord!

We must rejoice in His Word!

We must rejoice in His person!

We must rejoice in His righteousness!

We must rejoice in His salvation!

We must rejoice in His unspeakable joy!

1Pe 1:8  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:
1Pe 1:9  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

And we must rejoice in our only hope!

*****Psa 33:22  Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.

Even when we can rejoice in the Lord, we still need His mercy!

Our joy can come only by our faith!

What did Jesus say?

Mat 9:29  Then touched he their eyes, saying, "According to your faith be it unto you".

We are saved by our hope in a very personal relationship with the Lord!

Rom 8:24  For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for?
Rom 8:25  But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.

Even when our hope is weak, we can rejoice because we have been blessed far more than we deserve!

Questions?

Let's Pray!