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Sunday, October 19, 2014

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!

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