God's Word: Precepts for the Persecuted

Turn with me in your Bible to Psalm 119 Psalm 119, we are at the midpoint of this great chapter We are at the 11th section, and when we finish verse number 88 this evening, we will be exactly in the middle of this great chapter in Psalm 119 And you gotta ask yourself, what is it you have learned in the first half of this chapter? What verse has stuck out most in your mind? What phrase of what the psalmist has said sticks out in your mind? How have you grown in your walk with the Lord? You know, those are always good questions to ask ourselves

When I was growing up, my parents had a rule when we went to church Two rules One, I had to sit with them in church, even when I was 18, 19, and 20 years of age. I had to sit with my mom and dad in the front row In the front row And I always had to take notes That was a rule in my house Alright, we had lots of rules My dad was in the military, my mom was a farmer So we had lots of rules We live and died by the rules that mom and dad made And they said, you're gonna sit down front and you will take notes And we will quiz you on what it is you learned every Sunday

And you know what they did? They asked me, okay, what did you learn today? What do you think about what the preacher said about this or that? And I think, the Lord, I took notes Because if I didn't take notes, I'd have forgotten everything he said But you know, I learned something very valuable by taking notes You know, in those days, they didn't have laptop computers And so you had to write your notes. I went off to college and I had to take notes, writing down. I was a great note-taker in college because I learned to take notes in church on Sundays

And it translated over to my classes in college and in seminary when I had four-hour classes two or three times a week and had to take notes But I realized that the more I took notes, the more I learned and the more I was able to go back and refresh my memory as to the things God was trying to teach me And all of a sudden, the Scriptures began to stick They began to stick in such a way I could recall them Because, you know, you only remember about 10% of what you hear, about 25% of what you write down And so I began to write things down. I began to write them in my Bible

My mom was a great note-taker in her Bible And whenever we had a guest speaker who would come, and we were close to Capitol Bible Seminary and Washington Bible College, and so we'd get speakers from the college and the seminary And my parents had been at that church for 37 years And so whenever one of the speakers from this college or seminary was going to come to our house or to our church, they would call my mom And they would ask her what they spoke on the last time they were there because they knew that Mrs Sparks would know And sure enough, she'd have Dr

Homer Heater, September 7th, 1974, spoke here So she'd have it all in her Bible because she took notes about everything Who spoke, what they said, how they said it, what they wore It was all in her Bible It was all right there She never forgot a thing My mother's like an elephant She never forgets anything Oh, by the way, this has nothing to do with the sermon, but I thought I'd throw it out to you Do you know why elephants never forget anything? Because they only require two hours of sleep a day That's it They don't forget anything because they don't sleep very long

You go to sleep, you forget things They don't forget because they never sleep two hours a day What's that tell you? If you don't want to forget anything, sleep two hours a day Aren't you glad you came to church tonight to learn that lesson? That's not in the text, but anyway, it's just good food for thought

But anyway, so the question comes, what is it you're learning? I would hope that you're taking notes. I would hope that you're writing down things that stick out in your mind about the psalmist and what he went through because, you know, when you read Psalm 119, you see a man going through great struggle We don't know if David wrote it We don't know if Daniel wrote it We don't know if Hezekiah wrote it There are varied opinions about who wrote Psalm 119 But it really is truly irrelevant who wrote it because we know it's inspired by God It's the God-breathed word

But what I like about this is that the psalmist expresses his emotion, and that emotion that he expresses is the inspired emotion that God wants us to see because he wants us to understand that the struggles we go through, we're not alone And so it doesn't tell us about the exact struggle the psalmist had It doesn't tell us who the psalmist was so we could speculate about what kind of struggle he was going through It's kind of like a universal struggle So it applies across the board to all of us concerning what it is we're going through And the psalmist cries out for help

You ever been there? You ever cried out for help to God? God, help me That's what a psalmist does And what we begin to see is something very unique about this man and what it is he does and how God takes him through his hour of trial and gives him the precepts that will govern his persecution and how he handles it It's a great study And as we come to this middle section, this halfway point, this 11th section, you will note that it begins with the 11th letter of the Hebrew alphabet The 11th letter is a cough

If you have a Bible that puts those Hebrew letters above the section, you can see what it looks like It looks like a backwards C, right? You know what the Jews teach about the letter cough and what it means? It pictures someone bent over in a penitent spirit, in a broken spirit And this letter represents the broken man It represents the helpless man who's bent over pleading to God because he is downtrodden He has no place to go And that bending over caricature is what is implied in this Hebrew letter that helps us understand this middle section of the psalm

It's about a broken man, a humble man, a penitent man who cries out to God for help. I don't know about you, but I've learned many lessons in Psalm 119 And it's so good because God has taken me through these lessons as we've gone through this study And I've seen some of the issues that the psalmist faced and I've dealt with them face to face in my life And I've begun to respond the way the psalmist did because God's been teaching me See, I think it's so important, the relevancy of God's Word It is so true to form It's never outdated, is it? It's always right there

It's always pertinent to our life Whether it was a psalmist thousands of years ago or it's us today, it's true and it's the same and what God did for him, God will do for you And what God told him to do, he tells us to do And what the psalmist did is what we need to do It's so practical That's why I love the Word of God It's so hard for me to read books about the Word of God. I do because I have to study And I look and I read and I see what the historians said about the text and some of the modern guys say about the text and all that kind of stuff

But, you know, it's hard to read about the Bible It's a lot easier just to read the Bible So what we're going to do, as we have done for the last 10 sections, this 11th section, I'll read the odd verses, you read the even verses You've got to read them really loud Why? Because one day somebody will listen on the radio and they're going to wonder, who's that in the audience? Is there anybody there? Is anybody reading? So you read really, really loud. I'll read the odd verses, you read the even ones We'll begin at verse number 81 and end at verse number 88

My soul languishes for thy salvation, I wait for thy word Though I have become like a wineskin in the smoke, I do not forget thy statutes The arrogant have dug pits for me, men who are not in accord with thy law All your commandments are unfaithful They have persecuted me with a lie They almost destroyed me on earth, but as for me, I did not forsake thy precepts Provide me with the authorities of your lovingkindness, so that I may keep the context of the kingdom of God Again, it's a great psalm

It's a great section. I'm going to look with you this evening at number one, the struggle of the psalmist And then I want you to see the situation of the psalmist And then I want you to see the solution for the psalmist Very simple outline, very simple passage because it's so relevant to you and to me and how we deal with everyday life, the things that we go through If you're here tonight and you're crying out to God to help you, this section's for you It's for you It's got your name written right on it

If you ever come to a point in your life where you just cry out to God because you don't know where God is or what God's doing, this is for you You need to take to heart what the psalmist says and learn from him because he'll help you see what God wants you to learn Let's begin by looking at the psalmist's struggle in verses 81 to 83 And we're going to look at three things His soul, his sight, and himself His soul, as the text says, was fainting His sight was failing But in spite of all that, his self was faithful And you're going to notice something about the psalmist

And this is what separates the psalmist from people like you and me This is it Are you ready? No matter what the psalmist went through, he always made a commitment to keep and to obey the Word of God That's what separates him from us He had a great perspective And that perspective was that no matter how difficult it was, how hard it was, no matter what the struggle was, I will not forget your Word. I will obey your precepts Over and over throughout Psalm 119, it says the same thing No matter what happens to me on the outside, on the inside, I am doing exactly what you have commended me to do

See, that's what separates him from us We let the circumstances govern our emotions and govern our responses and govern our obedience to God And all of a sudden we realize, well, I'm just not going to do that. I don't want to do that anymore The psalmist never came to that point He never said, well, I'm not going to do that anymore He says, I am faithful to keep your statutes. I will do what the Lord says So you need to think about that as you go through your struggles, as you go through your situations, to understand the psalmist never, never reneged He was committed to God Listen to Psalm 6

Psalm 6, verse 2, says this Be gracious to me, O Lord, for I am pining away Heal me, O Lord, for my bones are dismayed, and my soul is greatly dismayed But Thou, O Lord, how long? Return, O Lord, rescue my soul Save me because of Thy lovingkindness For there is no mention of Thee in death In Sheol, who will give Thee thanks? I am weary with my sighing Every night I make my bed swim. I dissolve my couch with my tears My eye has wasted away with grief It has become old because of all my adversaries Many people I know fall in that category They flood their couch with tears

They cry out to God and ask, How long? How long, O Lord, will this continue on? How long will you let my adversaries come against me? How long will you keep me in a state of turmoil? How long, Lord, will these things persist in my life? You ever ask that question? Sure you do It's not wrong to ask that question The psalmist did The psalmist did And God would do a great work in his life because when he cried out, he cried out to his God And whenever you cry out to God, it's always the right thing It's never wrong to cry out to God He expects his children to cry to him

He expects his children to come to him Come to him and plead with him because he wants to show you He wants to teach you That's our God That's the loving kindness of our God So let's look first of all at his soul He says, My soul languishes It faints for thy salvation. I wait for thy word His soul is fainting It's not falling away It's not coming to a point where it falters It's just failing It's languishing because he waits for the word of God He is waiting for the salvation of God Not that he is looking for salvation from sin He's already received that But salvation from a situation

Salvation from a sorrow That's what he is asking God to deal with him in Although we don't know his situation, we know that it did have an effect on the inner part of the psalmist His soul was in pain But no matter how great the pain for the psalmist, he would never fall away from God He says, I wait for thy word. I am hoping in your word. I am trusting in your word. I have confidence, Lord, that your word will deal with me accordingly Folks, that is so good That's the place we all need to be

We can ask God, Lord, what are you going to do? How are you going to handle this? In the meantime, I'm going to wait on you. I'm going to wait for your word. I'm going to wait for you to comfort me. I'm going to wait upon you, Lord, because you are my king and you are my God He was confident in God, yet he was honest enough to admit his discouragement to God That's a good place to be, isn't it? Good place to be Lord, you know, Lord, I'm waiting for you My soul is fainting for thy salvation. I am worn out waiting for you, Lord, to deal with me And I want you to deal with me

And so, therefore, I'm going to wait for your word Let's know what the psalmist said in Psalm 42, verses 1 to 5 As a deer pants for the water brook, so my soul pants for thee, O God My soul thirsts for God, for the living God When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night While they say to me all day long, Where is your God? These things I remember, and I pour out my soul within me For I used to go along with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with the voice of joy and thanksgiving and multitude keeping festival

Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him Over to verse 11 Why are you in despair, O my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him the help of my countenance and my God Again, a similar cry of the psalmist in Psalm 119 And then you go over to Psalm 73 Psalm 73. A psalm of David that says, Whom have I in heaven but thee? And besides thee, verse 25, I desire nothing on earth My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever

You know, a lot of psalms were written by King David He wrote them in the caves in the Judean wilderness Those of you who have been with me to Israel have been to a place called En Gedi And there are a multitude of caves all throughout that region And that we know that David would hide out in those caves and write these psalms about, Where are you, God? What are you going to do to help me, God? What do I do next, God? Help me, crying out to His God The Judean wilderness is a barren, hot, deserted, desolate place You'd die there You'll die there if you don't know where to get water

You're not going to make it And David had to run from Saul He had to run from his son Absalom And constantly be on the go, hiding, at the same time crying out to his God to save him, to protect him The psalm of Psalm 119 was very similar He kept crying out to his God Take care of me, Lord. I love Paul over in 2 Corinthians 4. A very familiar text He says this in verse number 7 We have this treasure in earthen vessels Now the treasure could be the gospel because we know that in the Bible, in Matthew 13, the treasure is referred to as the gospel of God

And Paul says we have this gospel in an earthen vessel With that gospel comes the assurance of the presence of God So the treasure could be God Himself within the earthen vessel of a man, the individual So we know that the treasure could also be the Word of God because Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy that you've got to guard the treasure And so we know that it's the Word of God within the man So Paul is saying we have this treasure, whether it's the Word of God, whether it's the gospel, whether it's God Himself, it's all one and the same It's in an earthen vessel It dwells within me

It's inside of me He says this, that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves This treasure demonstrates to all that God is powerful Listen to what he says We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not despairing, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed, always carrying about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body For we who live are constantly being delivered over to death for Jesus' sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh

So death works in us, but life in you But having the same spirit of faith, according to what is written, I believe, therefore I spoke, we also believe, therefore also we speak, knowing that He who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and will present us with you For all things are for your sakes, that the grace which is spreading to more and more people may cause the giving of things to abound to the glory of God What a perspective Paul had We have a treasure, and that treasure resides within us, that the surpassing greatness of the power of God might be seen by all

And so no matter what happens to us on the outside, it's all for your sake It's all for you So that you'll be raised up on the last day So you'll come to understand the value of the treasure Paul had a perspective that what is happening to him happens to him for the good of others What a perspective Wouldn't it be good if we had that perspective? That what is happening to me, family, work, at play, no matter what, it happens so that others will come to know the God, the God that I serve That's the perspective that Paul had So you go back to Psalm 119

The psalmist says that his soul, his soul was fainting, but his sight was failing He says in verse number 82, my eyes fail with longing for thy word while I say, when wilt thou comfort me? Wow His eyes are failing Why? Because he's looking and searching and seeking and finding nothing in the word that will comfort him

Now we've all been there, right? We look for that quick fix, you know, at the funeral or in the hospital or when the difficulties arise, we look for that quick fix in the word of God that will give me that little boost, that little pick-me-up in the middle of the night that will get me to the next day Sometimes we seek and we search and don't find the comfort that we think we need in God's word It's there, but somehow the psalmist says, my eyes fail with longing for thy word

Sometimes when we are at the bedside of the one that we love and they're dying and we're asking for God to give us a word of comfort, we seek, we search See, sometimes God wants us to do a lot of searching God's not into quick fixes Looking for a quick fix, God's not your ATM He's not going to work it that way for you You know, he wants you to search the word of God, to seek his will And sometimes when we sit bedside with one we love, we know they're going to die It's not going to last much longer

Or maybe we have prayed for years for a rebellious child, asking God to do a work, hadn't happened yet Or maybe we're praying for an unsaved spouse, been praying for 5, 10, 20, 30 years, still not saved When will you comfort me, God? I've been praying, how much longer do I have to pray? How much longer do I have to cry for help? How much longer do I have to ask you to do a work, Lord? I seek your word, I search your word, I do not have an answer, Lord When will you comfort me? That's a legit question

How do we know that? Because it's an inspired word of God, asked by a man who truly loves the law of God He wants to know what God has to say Let me give you a couple examples One is in Luke chapter 7 How funny, we should go to the gospel of Luke Seems that's what takes up the bulk of my study throughout the week Luke chapter 7, John the Baptist is in prison Now why is John the Baptist in prison? He was set aside while in his mother's womb He was filled with the Spirit of God, while yet in his mother's womb Can you believe that? This man was the chosen prophet of God

He was a fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy He was raised by his father, Zacharias And you can imagine the stories that Zacharias told J.B. when he was growing up as a kid Trying to explain to him all that took place when he was deaf for those nine months because he didn't believe what God said Trying to encourage his son, Look, J.B., you've got to believe what God said You've got to believe. I didn't believe and I was struck mute. I couldn't speak. I couldn't hear for nine months because I didn't believe You've got to believe everything God said because you're the forerunner to the Messiah

We've studied the gospel of Luke We know all about it So John the Baptist grows up and he's in the Judean wilderness He comes out of the wilderness like a locomotive coming and preaching the gospel Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand He's preaching the gospel Thousands of people are coming down The Bible says all around Judea were coming down to the Jordan to be baptized This guy was the most popular guy since, well, I don't know, whoever else was popular in those days. J.B. was the guy, man He was popular He had it all Jesus comes on the scene

He points at, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world That's the Messiah That's the one right there He points to the Messiah He must increase. I must decrease He had the right perspective He was a humble man He's still in the prison Why? What's going on? It doesn't make sense So Luke 7 says, verse 18, And the disciples of John reported to him about all these things, that is, all that Jesus was doing And summoning two of his disciples, John said them to the Lord, saying, Are you the expected one? Or do we look for somebody else? This is John the Baptist

This is the greatest man who ever lived according to the mouth of Jesus He was the greatest prophet that ever existed He was the man He was the forerunner to the Messiah He was the most popular man in Judea He was the guy that paved the way for the Messiah

And now he says, Are you the Messiah? Are you the one we're looking for? What happened to John the Baptist? You see, when you find yourself in situations that are negative, when you think they should be positive, when you find yourself in prison, instead of a great place on the beach, you begin to ask, Well, what happened? Maybe I missed my calling We know we didn't miss his calling We knew he was the forerunner to the Messiah

So these men, they go to Jesus, and they say, John's asked us to ask you, Are you the Messiah? Are you the guy? Are you the guy we're looking for? Or should we be looking for somebody else? This is what Jesus says Go and report to John, verse 22, What you have seen and heard, the blind receive sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised, the poor have the gospel preached to them, and blessed is he who keeps from stumbling over me What does Jesus do? Quotes Isaiah 35, Isaiah 61

Why? Because the only assurance John could receive that would allow him to rest in the fact that what he did was right was the word of God That's it So Jesus goes and quotes the Old Testament, say this is what I'm doing, just like it was prophesied You tell John that everything was true, everything he did was right It's all good John receives that John could rest at ease knowing he'd lose his head for the right reason He'd lose it for the right reason Because he was called of God and fulfilled the plan of God But he asks, Lord, is this the right thing? We ask those questions

We're in the right situation, right place The Bible says over in the book of James, a very familiar passage, verse 13, anyone among you suffering, let him pray Anyone cheerful, let him sing praises Anyone among you sick, let him call for the elders of the church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick and the Lord will raise him up and if he has committed sins, they will be forgiven him So if somebody gets sick, they call upon the elders to pray

The elders pray, they don't get better, they're still sick What happened? We go back, we see what James says in James 5, verses 14 and following, that if I call upon the elders to pray over me, to anoint me with oil, I'll be healed And all of a sudden, I'm not healed, I'm still sick In fact, I'm worse today than I was when the elders prayed over me yesterday What is wrong? God, where are you? What has happened? We begin to ask these questions Well, is it God's will for everybody to be healed? All you do is look at the apostle Paul and realize that that's not the case

He prayed three times that whatever that thorn in the flesh was would be removed, and God said, no, this is not gonna happen, Paul My grace is sufficient for thee You gotta learn that lesson So we come, we search the scriptures, and our sight begins to fail, longing for the word of God God, when will you comfort me? When will you come to my aid? When will you help me? When will you take care of me? How and when will I be comforted by my God? This is the psalmist's struggle It's an inward struggle Things that he faces every single day

So many times, the Bible is silent, or better yet, appears to be silent concerning my situation or my condition And because it appears to be silent, then I begin to question what it is I'm doing and what God is doing And yet, God has a plan. I love what Charles Bridges says in his commentary in Psalm 119 He says, God waits, not because he is reluctant to give, but that we may be fitted to receive That's good We're not fitted to receive what he has for us, and so he waits to prune us, to purify us, at the right moment when we are fitted to receive the right comfort from him

So the next time you cry out to God and you're saying, Lord, what are you doing? How come you're not doing this? Why aren't you doing this for me? Just remember, you're probably not fitted to receive what he has to give for you yet There's some more things he needs to do So you rest in the fact that, Lord, when will you comfort me? You will comfort me when I am fitted, when I am ready to be comforted So keep on pruning, keep on molding, keep on purifying, so that I can be fitted to receive what it is you have for me His soul was fainting, his sight was failing, but his self was faithful

And this is what separates him from us Listen to what he says Verse 83, Though I have become like a wineskin in smoke, I do not forget thy statutes That's good Though I'm like the wineskin You know, they held wine in wineskins, they held water in wineskins, I mean, water in animal skins, and they would take these skins and they would hang them up to dry, and sometimes they would hang them over fires to dry, and the smoke would infiltrate that animal skin, and it would begin to smell like smoke Therefore, that which was on the inside would begin to take on that smell and that odor

And the psalmist says, I'm like one of those animal skins, hung out to dry And all of a sudden, I'm beginning to smell like smoke. I'm beginning to smell like that which is around me, the world, being contaminated by the corruption and the pollutions that are in the air because of the sin in the world And maybe he was wondering whether or not God could ever use him again Maybe he had gone through so much struggle and pain and difficulty that he was, you know, I'm just like a dried up wineskin. I'm filled with smoke. I'm useless You can't use me anymore Just throw me away

But no matter what happens, I'm not going to forget the law of God He's not going to do it See, he doesn't blame God for his situation, does he? He doesn't fault God for where he is in his struggles He just says, I'm just not going to forget the word of God because he knows that his only answer is in God's word He knows that. I love this phrase because you can read it often in the text Psalm 51, it says, The arrogant utterly deride me, yet I do not turn aside from thy law Verse 61, The cords of the wicked have encircled me, but I have not forgotten thy law

Over in verse number 109, it says, That my life is continually in my hands, yet I do not forget thy law Verse 141, I am small and despised, yet I do not forsake thy law The psalmist said the same thing No matter what happens to me, I'm never going to forget the law of God because he knew that that law would sustain him That law contained life And if that law contained life, he would live Listen to Psalm 71, verse number 3 This is a great verse Psalm 71, verse number 3, Be thou to me a rock of habitation to which I may continually come Thou hast given commandment to save me

God has given his commandment to save me You see, within the commands of God is the saving grace of God God saves you, sustains you, and satisfies you through the commands he gives to his children We need to learn that lesson We need to understand what God is going to do through his word and how powerful it is to those who believe in him The psalmist did not forget the word of God See, God's word is that which restores us

Sometimes we feel like we are useless, that we're like that wine skin or that animal skin that's hung up and beginning to smell at the world and wondering whether or not God can use us or not But if we don't forget the word of the Lord and realize that it's God's word that cleanses us and that it's God's word that controls us and that it's God's word that manifests itself true in us, then we know that we are made clean through God's holy word The psalmist knew that That's why he didn't forget the word of God He knew that And that's why it's so imperative that we never forget the law of God

That's why I love a midweek service. I've been asked many times by people, why do you have a service in the middle of the week? I say, because I don't want anybody to forget And they say, forget what? Forget what God said Well, come on, they're not going to forget from week to week Oh yeah? I talk to people in my church They can't remember what happened yesterday They don't know what I preached on last week They don't have the foggiest idea See, but the reason we have a midweek service is because we don't want you to forget Don't forget the law of God You need to always remember what God said

Why? Because that's where you draw your comfort That's where your stability is He is the anchor for your soul He's the stabilizing factor in your life He speaks to you through His word He doesn't speak to you any other way, but just through His word If you're not in it, you forget it Guess who's not listening? You can't listen if you don't know what He's saying See, you need to be in the word of God so you never forget it That was a psalmist. I'm not going to forget the law of God Remember Job? Job had a hard life, man. I'm glad I'm not Job. I never pray for the patience of Job Never do

That's never been a prayer request of mine Maybe it is for you But remember what the Bible says in the book of Job, the second chapter, the seventh verse It says, Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord and smoked Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head And he took a potsherd to scrape himself while he was sitting among the ashes That is why I said to him, Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die We said to her, You speak as one of the foolish women speaks

Shall we indeed accept good from God and not accept adversity? And all this Job did not sin with his lips You know the story of Job He lost everything except for his wife Lost his health He was miserable So much pain he couldn't sleep There was no morphine to take in those days Couldn't go to the doctor's office, shoot up with morphine so he could get rid of the pain His life was nothing but pain That's what it was He could get no relief Couldn't stand, couldn't sit, couldn't sleep, couldn't lay down He couldn't do anything

There was no place to find relief so he'd sit among the ashes where it was burning hot Scrape himself, try to scrape the boils that were all over his body so somehow he could get some kind of relief Thinking that if I scrape this one harder and cause myself to bleed more profusely over here, I would not feel the pain as badly over here What kind of way is that to live? So his wife says, Get it over with Get it over with, Job It's not worth it And Job says, Am I going to lose my integrity? Should we not accept adversity from God? We accept good from God

Are we not going to accept adversity from God? Go to Job 30 Job 30 verse 26 It says, When I expected good, evil came That's us, man We expect good and what happens? Evil comes When I waited for light, darkness came This poor guy, man He's just miserable It says, I'm seething within and cannot relax He can't He's in so much pain he can't relax Days of affliction confront me. I go about mourning without comfort. I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help. I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches The only friends he has are scavengers, animals

Who wants to be around the man? He's in constant pain You can't give him any relief He cries out for help all the time Just let him scream Let him be off by himself Let the animals hang around him Let the ostriches hang around him Maybe they can kind of relate to where Job is Job says, These are my companions These are my friends You think you got it bad You haven't seen anything till you've read the life of Job It says, My skin turns black on me My bones burn with fever Everything hurts constantly No relief Therefore my heart is turned to mourning and my flute to the sound of those who weep

This is a man who would not curse God This is a man who kept true to his God This is a man who experienced unfathomable pain unlike you and I will ever begin to imagine So we begin to question God Why? How come? You know what God's solution was? He showed him some dinosaurs Behemoths Leviathan He said, Where were you when I created those guys, Job? Where were you? I'm sorry, Job Did I talk to you about the creation of these guys? No, I don't think so Did I ask for your opinion when I created the universe and the world? No, I don't think so Were you around then, Job? No, I don't think so

See, Job needed a good lesson in God's unfathomable power and the sovereignty of Almighty God And Job, when he gets a hold of it, says these words He says, Job answered the Lord and said, I know that thou canst do all things and that no purpose of thine can be thwarted God had a purpose in Job's boils God had a purpose in Job's new friends, the ostrich and the scavenger dogs God had a purpose in all that God had a purpose in taking away his family God had a purpose in all that And Job finally realized no purpose of thine can be thwarted

And then he says, Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge? Therefore I have declared that which I did not understand things too wonderful for me, which I did not know Hear now, and I will speak, I will ask thee, and do thou instruct me. I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear, but now my eyes see thee Therefore I retract, and I repent in dust and ashes Job says, I've never seen you before Oh, I've heard about you, God, but now I see you That's a big difference It's one thing to hear It's another to see And Job says, I've heard of thee, but now I see thee

And now that I've seen you, you're way beyond my comprehension, and I repent in dust and ashes And then it says, verse 10, And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job when he prayed for his friends And the Lord increased all that Job had twofold Listen to this Listen carefully Amidst all of his pain, all of his turmoil, all of his loneliness, all Job thought about was him Himself In the miserable condition he was in And God says, Wrong person to think about, Job You're not thinking about me And as soon as Job began to think about God, he prayed for his friends

And as soon as Job prayed for his friends, he was healed And God gave him twice as much as what he had before Twice as much And the Bible says these words in verse number 12, And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning Oh, he questioned God He doubted God He was a man of great faith He really was That's why God gave Satan permission to touch him Because he knew that the faith of Job would stand strong and stand the test of pain It did Job stands as that model example that no matter what the physical pain we have, it will never match Job's pain

And when you learn about the sovereignty of God and the greatness of his power, and you repent in dust and ashes, your eyes are off yourself, your eyes are on your God, you're right where they need to be, and you begin to pray for others more than you pray for yourself, and God gives you twice as much as you had before That's the way God works The psalmist was the kind of man that learned never to forget the statutes of God. I trust that would be you and me That's his struggle Now look at this situation

The psalmist says in verse number 84, How many are the days of thy servant? When wilt thou execute judgment on those who persecute me? Lord, isn't it about time for you to deal with those who are against me? When will you deal with them? The psalmist knew that vengeance wasn't his, it was the Lord's That's always a good lesson to learn The psalmist learned that lesson, so he prayed that God would execute judgment upon his persecutors

But he asked, Lord, when are you going to do that? Isn't it about time you do it? How long will this continue on? I'm reminded of what it says in the book of Revelation, in the sixth chapter, verse number nine And when he broke the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those that had been slain because of the word of God and because of the testimony which they had maintained

And they cried out with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, wilt thou refrain from judging and avenging our blood on those who dwell upon the earth? How long, O Lord? When will it be? Here's God's answer And there was given to each of them a white robe And they were told that they should rest for a little while longer until the number of their fellow servants and their brethren who were to be killed, even as they had been, should be completed also

They said, How long, O Lord, will you enact your vengeance upon those who killed us? God says, after they kill a little bit more of you When they kill a little bit more of you, then it will happen Get to Revelation 10, verse number 6 The delay is over It's over And God enacts His judgment, His vengeance on those who killed His people who were committed to the truth of God's holy word Remember Luke 18? Luke 18, the great story of the persistent woman Luke 18 Because we always wonder about delay and why God doesn't do things right now

And it says in verse number 18, chapter 18, verse number 1, Now He was telling them a parable to show that at all times they ought to pray and not to lose heart You've got to pray or lose heart If you pray, you don't lose heart If you lose heart, it's because you don't pray So He tells them a parable that they would learn how to pray so they won't lose heart There was a certain city, a judge who did not fear God and did not respect man And there was a widow in that city and she kept coming to him saying, Give me legal protection from my opponent And for a while he was unwilling

But afterward he said to himself, Even though I do not fear God nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will give her legal protection Lest by continually coming she wear me out And the Lord said, Hear what the unrighteous judge said Now shall not God bring about justice to His elect who cry to Him day and night? And will He delay long over them? I tell you that He will bring about justice for them speedily

However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find this kind of faith on the earth? When the Son of Man arrives, what kind of faith will He find? Will He find the kind that persistently prays and cries to Him day and night and never gives up and never quits no matter how long it's been, no matter how long the delay in our mind Remember God, in God's perspective, there is no time He lives outside the realm of clocks and calendars He's infinite He's outside the realm of time The Bible says a thousand years is one day to the Lord

And so in our time frame, we're thinking, well, I've been in the hospital now for three whole days When can I go home? And we begin to put God on a timetable You just can't do that with God because He doesn't operate in the realm of time, but He always operates perfectly Always It's always done in the perfect timing of His sovereign plan So a psalmist comes and he talks about his own struggle and that struggle or that situation centers around the fact that he had experienced from his perspective delay

He experienced from his perspective a delay in God in acting vengeance upon those who were against him But the real service lies not in the realm of time, but in the realm of eternity He struggled with that That was the situation he faced He also not only experienced delay, but he endured deception It says in verse number 85, the arrogant have dug pits for me, men who are not in accord with that law It's pits, not pit Pits, plural They've dug pits for me They have looked for various ways to destroy me The arrogant hate me They want me to fall into the pit so my life is destroyed

Like Potiphar's wife who dug many pits for Joseph through lies and through lust Like in the book of Daniel, the rulers of Babylon dug pits for Daniel through Darius' decrees Like the Herodians and the Sadducees and the Pharisees would dig pits for Jesus to try to entrap him There's always someone looking to dig a pit for you that would destroy your life So he had to endure He had to endure the deception of those who would lie about him They dug pits for me who are not according to thy law They looked for ways to destroy my life But he says in verse number 86, all thy commands are faithful

All thy commandments are faithful, Lord. I'm going to stick with them Because no matter how deep the pit, how varied the pit, your commandments are true They'll never fail And then he encountered danger He says this, they have persecuted me with a lie Help me Help me They haven't told the truth They lied Help me, God Listen to this They almost destroyed me See, they couldn't destroy him Why? Because God was his protector They almost destroyed me It's like Peter in Luke 22 when Christ said to Peter, Peter, Satan has asked to sift you like wheat

But I prayed for you that your faith will not fail. I prayed for you, Peter You're going to make it Almost But not quite And you go and you remember 2 Chronicles 16, 9, how the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the earth looking to strengthen the hearts of those who are committed to the Lord God is looking to strengthen those hearts That's why his eyes run to and fro throughout the earth. I love what the psalmist said in Psalm 41, verse number 11 Psalm 41, verse number 11 It says this, But this I know that thou art pleased with me, because my enemy does not shout and triumph over me

As for me, thou dost uphold me in my integrity, and thou dost set me in thy presence forever Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting Amen God should protect you They almost did And they almost did it where? He says very clearly He says, They almost destroyed me on earth That's the only place they can destroy you is on earth, right? They can't touch the eternal nature of your soul They can't touch you in heaven They can't even begin to get a glimpse of you in heaven He understands that it's only temporary It's only while he is on earth

He says, They almost destroyed me on earth, but as for me, I did not forsake thy precepts Here's the principle When you are attacked, always attach yourself to the word of God When attacked by the enemy, attach yourself to your authority That's what he did They came after me They sought to destroy me, but you know what I did? I'll tell you what I did. I did not forsake thy precepts He wasn't going to compromise his stand They lied about him It wasn't going to change anything He was going to remember the precepts of God That's what makes the psalmist so unique

He would not turn his back on the precepts of God So what's the solution? Very quickly, here it is Verse 88 Revive me according to thy lovingkindness Lord, quicken me Revive me Restore me Instill life within me But it's got to be according to your lovingkindness See, he appeals to the lovingkindness of God The holiness of God shows us how far we are from him The justice of God shows him that I have no right to be with him, but the lovingkindness of God draws me to him and stabilizes my life that I might live for him So he calls out to God, Revive me according to your lovingkindness

You can read about it in Psalm 66, verses 3 to 5, Psalm 138, 1 to 3, Psalm 143, 8 and 9 It's all about being revived by God because if God revives us, Psalm 80, verse 18 says, Revive us and we will call upon thy name, O Lord, God of hosts Restore us Cause thy face to shine upon us and we will be saved The only way we're saved is through the lovingkindness of God What's the reason for revival? Only one Here it is So that I may keep the testimony of thy mouth Not so I can be relieved from my struggle and my situation Not so I can be free from persecution and pain No

Revive me, Lord, so I will be able to keep the testimony of your mouth That's what I want to do. I just want to be faithful to you. I want to do your word, O Lord You see, the precepts for the persecuted are simple When the soul is troubled and the situation is trying, the saints trust They trust in God and God alone Let's pray Father, we thank you so much for the opportunity to talk tonight through this text and to realize, Lord, the many, many things you have for us Lord, there are many souls tonight who cry for help

Who say, Lord, when? Why not now? When will you comfort me? When will you deal with my persecutors? How long, O Lord, must I wait for you to answer my prayer? Father, we ask those questions, as the psalmist did And may we have the same response, the psalmist No matter what the question, there's always the commitment that says, I will not forsake your precepts. I will keep your word. I will obey you, Lord No matter what Father, that needs to be the driving force of our life And we pray that you make it a reality In Jesus' name we pray Amen.