Desiring a true token (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] As the Lord may be pleased to help me, I would direct you prayerfully to Psalm 86 and reading verse 17, the last verse.

[0:13] Show me a token for good, that they which hate me may see it, and be ashamed, because thou, Lord, hast opened me and comforted me.

[0:30] Quite remarkable, this psalm, how even you see the ups and the downs, the ins and outs of the life of David.

[0:42] Desiring that the Lord would bow down his ear, he commences, and then he speaks about the preservation of his soul, and which may seem strange to you and me when he says, for I am holy.

[0:58] But if we read the margin, we see there one whom thou favourest. And so, if by the grace of God the Lord has favoured you, that work of grace begun in your souls, you will still find the enemy of your souls rearing his ugly head in some form, shape, for another, desiring to undermine that work of grace, that living faith in exercising your soul and mine.

[1:34] And so, as there was much spoken of on the Lord's day by our friend the deacon and also oneself, concerning prayer, so here we prove it.

[1:50] It is an ongoing exercise with true children of the Lord. And so, how constantly we prove that the proud may rise against you, the devil in all his activities and his subtlety, trying to undermine that work of faith in your soul and mine.

[2:12] And the desire will be from your heart and mine that the Lord would show you and me these tokens for good. Now, our young friends at Sydney have truly been favoured with a token for good.

[2:28] A child that has truly been prayed for. As doubtless, you and I, with families, have had that spirit of prayer we've given to us for our offspring, an offspring's offspring.

[2:44] And we still sometimes seem to cry and shout that the Lord appears to shut out our prayers with regard to them, that there doesn't seem any sign or evidence of the change being wrong.

[3:01] But nevertheless, there will still be this exercise with you and me, that to bear one another's burdens, to remember this and that one at the throne of grace, and be given grace to say, subject to the will of the Lord, that there might be sent those answers of peace.

[3:24] Those signs following, those evidences of God's tokens for good, which would encourage you and me to go on praying, when we receive those answers that we have long sought for from the Lord.

[3:40] And so we have to pray, don't we, that though there may be those that hate you, yes, marvel not if the world hate you, said the Lord, for it hated me before you, hated me without a cause.

[3:56] And so it will be your exercise and mine. They mock you, they despise you, they laugh you to scorn, the proud rise against you. Ah, but through mercy, you know this will have a humbling effect upon you and me, as you bow the knee before the Lord God Almighty, and seek that he would help you to commit your way still unto him for these tokens for good, that they which hate me, says David, may see it and be ashamed.

[4:29] You know, we have to blush at times and be ashamed ourselves, don't we, of our shortcomings, or our unlawful utterances, or our unlawful thoughts.

[4:44] You see, we are sinners, dear friends, through and through. But what a mercy to be found waiting upon the Lord, sowing in real tears that we might yet reap in joy.

[4:57] And you know the joy in heaven over one sin that repented, rather than ninety-nine that have no need of repentance. The Pharisees, the scribes, all these that have a religion, dear friends, of their own sparks, of their own kindling, a religion of their own making.

[5:19] You know, they lie down with sorrow. And so how vital it is that we are seeking the Lord, the Lord himself, for a token. Show me a token, Lord, for good.

[5:32] We hope to sing it later. A token, what? Of thy special love. This glorious love of Christ, shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit.

[5:44] And you know those that do hate you, mock you, despise you. When the Lord shows you a token, and it might be in providence. You know, you'll no longer be envied at the wicked.

[5:56] They may envy you and your religion. But solemnly, unless they are chosen vessels, they never will be called by grace. Never will be found in heaven at last.

[6:07] Although they may have a form of godliness, so-called. But it's all religion that would die in the flesh. So how vital it is that you're looking to the Lord to grant you a token.

[6:21] You're looking for your sins to be blotted out, to be covered with a mantle of his forgiving love. You're waiting upon the Lord to favour you with his presence and with his blessing, to grant that you might look on.

[6:37] You know, there were many looked on and saw the wonders that Jesus did alone here upon the earth when he performed such miracles, when he raised the dead, when he healed the sick, the haught, the lame, the maimed and the blind.

[6:52] And he's still that same powerful Jesus, all power given unto him in heaven and earth. You know, nothing will hurt you and me if the Lord is for you.

[7:04] Who can be against you? And so we seek him, don't we? That the Lord might help us and that he might comfort us.

[7:15] And he has promised this, has he not? That he is a helper of the helpless. Oh, how hard it is for you and me to be brought there utterly helpless.

[7:28] Bow down, Thine Hero God, for I am poor and needy. This is not a stock phrase, dear friends, that we knew someone in England had a stock phrase whenever you saw him.

[7:41] We felt that it wasn't real. But you see, this will be the real exercise that you and me before the Lord, if not before man, you won't boast of what you've learned in the head, will you?

[7:53] It's before God. It's at the throne of grace. It's in that secret place where you turn aside to pray and where you wait upon the Lord with that wrestling prayer that can wonders do, bring relief in deepest straits, that prayer to force the passage through iron bars and brazen games.

[8:15] What a wonderful weapon is prayer. And the weakest wield it best. It's a weapon. See, the weapons of warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God with the pulling down of strongholds, the strongholds of sin in your heart and mind.

[8:37] You know what your weaknesses are. You know your failings. You know your shortcomings. And you have to pray, don't you, that the Lord will in mercy bring your soul out of prison, that he would awaken you from the dead, that he would convince you and under conviction of sin that he will yet deliver you from the burden of your sin.

[9:01] You want the Lord to create in you a clean heart and renew a right spirit within you, a spirit of grace and of supplication that you'll call upon the name of the Lord and wait for him.

[9:17] It's like the woman in the Lord's Day. We read her, wasn't it? You see, she knew what it was, didn't she, to have importunity. She wouldn't be deterred.

[9:28] She had a needy case. She had a case that no one but Jesus could resolve for her. And so with you and me, dear friends, in those that are weighing heavily upon your hearts, perhaps tonight, you still don't see any answers or signs and you've waited so many days, maybe months and years, for an answer.

[9:53] You know, we are exhorted to pray without ceasing, aren't we? Show me a token. Lord, I need a token. I cannot believe unless thou dost give me faith.

[10:07] I cannot go on praying unless thou dost raise up a hope in myself that I should yet receive this token. You see, it's a token. A token for good.

[10:20] A real token. A token that I should truly believe in has come down from the Father of lights. This good gift, this gift of faith, this gift of deliverance, in that sense that you see the Lord appearing to you and for you and granting you a blessed deliverance, you stand amazed.

[10:46] And you're unable to say, Lord, for this thing I prayed. Like Hannah of old, for this child I prayed. And you see the wonders of it.

[10:57] God's promises fulfilled as he encourages poor sinners still to wait upon him for that renewed strength. The strength not necessarily body, the strength of the weak hands of faith to wait upon him.

[11:13] And for those that have been mocking you, tempting you to give up, call no more upon the name of the Lord. And you see sometimes them prospering without even believing in God or trusting in God.

[11:31] And this gives a gunshot from hell, doesn't it, for Satan to fire his fiery darts at you. Because he says, look upon them, they never pray, they don't go to the house of God, and yet look how they're prospering.

[11:48] Well, what did Asaph see when he went in the sanctuary, he saw their end. Their end was to perish in their sins. Their end was to drop into hell, where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.

[12:05] Many don't want to hear this language today. They want to sew pillows under armpits. They want to daub the hearers with untempered mortar.

[12:17] which you see it won't do, will it? We need to be searched. And oh, if the Lord doesn't search you and try you, and if it's not on your prayer, dear friends, your prayer list, I want you to be careful when I say that, but you know what I mean.

[12:35] You see, you all need to be searched. You want to be delivered from a counterfeit religion. It looks right, doesn't it? But it's a fake. It's a fake, dear friends.

[12:47] And so you want the Lord to give you this real religion. And so you have to pray, Lord, search me, oh God, and know my heart. Try me, know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

[13:02] Is that your prayer? If you're a real seeker, it will be there, because you realize that you can't manufacture a religion that's going to please God, or, be acceptable in the sight of God.

[13:20] No, it must be a Jesus Christ religion as revealed by our Holy Spirit. God, the Holy Ghost, reveals this to poor sinners, shows them their weaknesses, shows them their poverty, shows them their felt need, and they come humbly to the throne of grace, pleading, Lord, if it could please thee, do yet, reveal thyself to me, and confirm my soul that I'm in that way that leads to everlasting bliss.

[13:51] So it's shown me a token. Here a little and there a little. You won't be overflowing with religion, but it'd be a little that a righteous man had, a righteous seeking man that is, seeking that he might obtain, running with patience the race set before him, looking to Jesus, pleading that Jesus Christ might be more clearly revealed to him or to her, that they might have the name of Jesus as his ointment poured forth, formed in their very hearts as the hope of glory.

[14:34] What a refuge, what a hiding place is the Lord Jesus Christ. You see, the Lord Jesus is a strong tower, the righteous runneth into it and is safe.

[14:48] He'll be as a wall of fire round about these praying souls and he'll be God the glory in the midst and what does that mean in their very heart? There'll ever be desire us to give him all the praise and all the glory that is due unto his most holy name.

[15:06] And he's their one refuge and their strength, a very present help in their trouble. And you know, when he does search you and try you, and you're tempted to wonder that even your thoughts deserve endless banishment to outer darkness, but through mercy, if you're a chosen vessel, if you're one whom Christ has died for, whom you feel to be such a need for, so needful to you, then you'll be given that grace to seek the Lord will choose the way for you.

[15:48] In other words, show me now thy ways, Lord, lead me, guide me into all truth, and do grant that I might have some living evidence that I have been born of God, and that my treasure is above.

[16:05] Now these tokens, there may be few and far between, but they'll be real. And see, you see that he said to Elijah, rise and eat, the journey is too great for thee.

[16:21] And so, if we keep away from the house of God, from the word of God, you know we shall not be sustained, will we? We are mocking God, really.

[16:32] Though we come and go sometimes feelingly often, as the door upon its hinges and wonder, can God dwell here? Yet, we are honouring God in assembling ourselves together.

[16:45] And what a mercy this is, not looking for fleshly excitement, but looking unto Jesus, desiring that he would hear our groans. You see, he understands the side divine, he marks each secret groan.

[17:03] And so, you'll be groaning, being burdened. Show me a token. So, as the psalmist starts this psalm, so he ends it.

[17:19] He's pleading for the Lord to bow down, pleading for the Lord to condescend to hear him and help him and undertake for him and show him something that is of the work of the blessed Holy Spirit, something that can never fade.

[17:37] It may get me clouded, but he'll never die. You see, the Lord's dear people's religion will never die, and they'll never die in want, because he's begun the good work, and his work is perfect, and he that has begun that good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ.

[18:04] There'll be performers of these things, because he is a performing God, and he does hear your prayers, and he does send answers of peace in his own time and way.

[18:19] yes, you may be despairing sometimes, as to when the Lord will really show you a token for good, some blessed evidence that you are not the good man, as the good treasure of his heart bringing forth good things.

[18:39] You want to be unable to have a testimony, you want to be unable to speak of something the Lord has shown you, some lasting effect of it upon your soul that causes you to seek a closer walk with him, a calm and heavenly frame, a light that shines upon the road that leads you to the land.

[19:03] So they'll be pleading, won't they, with your soul and mine. And as I say, this wrestling prayer, this praying unto God at all times, yes, and sometimes in all places, God is not confined to our secret closets, although it's a place where you feel sometimes more liberty to pray, but he's not confined to that closet prayer, but he will certainly hear the closet prayer and send answers.

[19:40] Sometimes you can be in the street, sometimes about your busy scenes of life, life, and the Lord causes you to cry to him, and your lips don't even move, but it's from your very heart, isn't it?

[19:55] You see, the Lord is a sovereign, and what a mercy he's enabled in his own time way to grant you this token, and you bear that witness and sealing of the Spirit when the Lord so works, when the Lord so takes a word and seals it, when the Lord sets before you an open door, literally sometimes in providence, will, and no man can shut it, man might try and shut it, but you cannot overpower God's will, and we never shall, will we?

[20:34] And what a mercy this is, sir, is God, as for God, his way is perfect, and so we look to him by the exercise of living faith, that he will yet come again and show us a further token, and those that hate you, those that are opposed to you, those that can't stand your religion, might yet be ashamed, and ah, what a mercy, if those that have hated you have been, have had their hearts changed, their wills renewed, and the Lord brought them back to Zion's hill, oh, you see, the Lord is a sovereign, and what a mercy, that these appointed times roll on apace, for the Lord's dear people, not to propose, but call by grace, to change their hearts, renew their will, and return their feet to Zion's hill, we would rejoice to see true converts to

[21:34] Christ brought back, and so those that are laid up in your heart, oh, we need to go and pray for them, the Lord will yet appear, that their children might truly be taught of the Lord, and there might be a gracious revival in our day, of that real religion of God's elect, and we be determined in our own lives to know nothing among men save Jesus Christ and him crucified, because what value there is in living faith, believing that Christ died, but not only died, but died for you and died for me, for this is a faithful and acceptable saying, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am chief, and when you feel to be the cheapest of sinners, you won't be looking at others' sins and finding fault with them, you'll realise here on my heart the burden lies, past offences, pain my eyes,

[22:44] Lord, but show me a token, raise up a hope in my soul, that I shall yet get the victory over this body of death, and be more than a conqueror through him that has loved me, that I feel to be unworthy of that love, the one that has loved me and washed me from my sins, in that precious fountain of his yet blood, oh, what great matters they are to pray for, what real tokens we feel to be in need of, yes, we've had them in providence, but how much more in grace, and our mercy is that his grace is sufficient for us, his strength is made perfect in weakness, and we have to say, Lord, give me grace, to say, most gladly, therefore, will I grow in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

[23:44] You see, your infirmities, your shortcomings, your failings, you feel so imperfect in your deeds and actions religiously, don't you?

[23:56] You will do if you're a true seeker. These are your infirmities. You're not what you would be. You can't pray as you would, you can't read as you would, you can't receive anything from the gospel that you would, your infirmities.

[24:15] But you know, the Lord took your infirmities, and our mercy is that you have given grace to glory in those infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon you, absolutely stripped of everything, absolutely emptied, emptied of all your religion, you're getting nothing, dear old top ladies here, never wear out will it, with a true seeker that is, a true believer.

[24:44] You see, you'll have nothing to bring, but everything to receive, nothing to bring, no, but Jesus draws you that you might come, and come unto me, all you that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

[25:03] Take my yoke upon you and learn, of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light. Is it, you say, is it? Why, I seem to be burdened with so many things, so many things I burdened with.

[25:18] Well, then, here's a place where you can leave your burdens, where you can cast your burdens, and the Lord will sustain you.

[25:30] Oh, he doesn't take it away, but he says, my grace is sufficient for thee, my strength is made perfect in weakness. You see, when Paul said, when I am weak, then am I strong, yes, he had to lean harder and harder upon his Lord, and so will you, and so will I.

[25:54] you see, your outer man decaying, but your inward man will be renewed, leaning harder upon the Lord, and come up at last out of this wilderness, leaning upon the arm of your beloved, and saying, my beloved is mine, and I am his forever.

[26:13] What a token, what a token, dear friends, his love shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Spirit, blessed be his holy name.

[26:25] Oh, there's great cause indeed for the Lord to show you, not man, God to show you a token, a token of his love, and because thou Lord has opened me, these enemies of the truth around you, Satan will slink away.

[26:46] You see, when your cup runs over with joy and peace in believing, that's when you receive a token, when he seals a promise upon your soul, when he says unto you, fear thou not, for I am with thee.

[26:59] But Lord, did you know this pathway that I'm treading through at the moment? Yes, the Lord knows the way you take, he's appointed it, and he won't leave you to sink, dear friends, in despair at last, because he's loved you from all eternity, and this is why he suffered, bled and died for such as you and me.

[27:20] Lord, do you ponder the love of Christ? Oh, you'll have great cause for thanksgiving when the Lord so shines into your heart to give you that light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ Jesus, because he becomes such a hiding place, such a refuge, from the storms of life, from the evil, hateful tongue, from the enemy of the truth, from those that despise law and order.

[27:55] We see it around us, don't we, those in the world, despise law and order, or becoming a lawless society, or because there is no light of the knowledge in them, there is no knowledge and understanding of God and his holy commandments and his holy word, or what a dearth of religion that seems to be in our day, that what a mercy if you are looking to this God, that he might be revealed to you as your God, your Saviour and your Redeemer, and that he might shed abroad that love in your heart and mind by the Holy Spirit.

[28:36] Oh, what a God he is, and what a mercy if you have so been taught to pray, Lord help me, or so been taught to pray, Lord show me a token.

[28:50] You want that assurance don't you, that you are in that way that leads to everlasting bliss, and have faith to believe, yes, may get tempted and tried in providence, faith to believe, my God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.

[29:14] Supply your need, all the difficulties you encounter, wondering where the scene is going to end. But he still grants his dear people that hand basket full, that that is sufficient for their daily needs.

[29:32] Oh, we cannot look too far in the future, can we? But oh, what a mercy to be lifting up our eyes unto him, from whence cometh our help, up to the hills, up to the Lord, who made the hills, who made the valleys, and is able to remove the mountains, exalt the valleys, who art thou a great mountain, before it is irrevable, thou shalt be made a plain.

[30:01] So it is when you are looking for these tokens, be made a plain, you fear, don't you, the unknown way. we're creatures of fear, we drag along and fear where no fear is.

[30:16] My grace is sufficient, my mercy, my favour, my love, unmerited, we're unworthy of it, but it's sufficient, sufficient to hold up your going, sufficient to keep alive your soul, sufficient to enable you still to call upon his name, to cast all your burdens upon him, and he gives you a thirst too.

[30:48] If you're like the prophet, how everyone that thirsted, come ye to the waters, the wells of salvation, the well is deep, you've nothing to draw with, but the Lord has promised, this everlasting gospel will feed your souls, it'll be you seeking to know the truth as it is in Jesus, this is a token for good, then shall they know if they follow on to know the Lord, and what you know not now you'll know hereafter, but as faith is given and grace, so you'll endure hardness, you'll fight the good fight of faith, that you might lay hold on eternal life, and you'll be unable to say, who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, who is a God like unto thee, that pardoneth iniquity, that retaineth not his anger forever, for he delighteth in mercy, and so he's a merciful God, a faithful

[31:50] God, and able to do far more exceeding abundantly for you and me above all that we can ask or think, oh a prayer, hearing, answering God, what a privilege so you are to have this faith, to trust in him, at all times you people, pour out your heart before him, he's a very present help in trouble, able to remove the mountains, able to exalt the valleys, able to save, utter most sinners, regards the prayer of the destitute, we're not despised it, and so we bless God, that he is still, his ear is not heavy, that he cannot hear, neither his arms shorten, that he cannot save, but your iniquities, mine, separated, great gulf exists, doesn't it, between God and his holiness, and the sinner and all his sins, but there's a mediator, there's one who has suffered, bled and died, to redeem his sheep from the curse of the law, and all one said,

[33:06] I know that my redeemer liveth, and will stand at the latter day upon the earth, here come, and take your ransomed soul to glory at last, and do you not through mercy, have these tokens for good, have you never been enabled to look on, and see what God has done for your soul, those sweet moments when you see he has blessed your soul with some providential blessing, you see providence and grace are very much interwoben, and it is by these things, look at Hezekiah, by these things men live, a plaster on his boil, thought he was going to die, we knew someone that had a boil, entered into hospital at 33, he didn't come out, only as a corpse, you see here is Hezekiah, here is

[34:07] Hezekiah, that put a plaster on the boil, he turned his face to the wall, he prayed, the Lord added unto him those 15 years, you see he was a token for good, wasn't he, some tokens may seem to be greater than others, but they're from the Lord, they're tokens for good, and we shall never be seeking his face, to have these further evidences, that God is for us and not against us, that those which hate you, those that mock you, those that despise you, and remember this, you may be very well unable to mix, intermingle one with another, and you may get on with them in so far you're expected to in your calling, in your neighbourhood, or in your family circle, but you witness there's something lacking, you see, because, but like in our natural state, the carnal mind is at enmity to God,

[35:15] God, and don't you know this warfare in your own soul, without those around you in your family circle, that may despise you, and mock you behind your back, may even say words contrary to you, but remember this, your carnal mind and mine is at enmity to God, if you're a newborn soul, there's a warfare, there's a hatred between the old man of sin and the new man of grace, as I see it anyway, and so this devil, he stirs up your carnal mind, with all manner of things, he tempts you to say, when things go awry in your seemingly go awry in your life, where is now your God, where is the answer to your prayers, what's the purpose of your reading, your attending the word of God, what's the purpose of praying, this is the enemy isn't it, of your soul and mine, but you see, where sin hath abounded at times, seems to abound, grace you're much more about, you see, he says, sin shall not have dominion over you, for you're not under the law, but under grace, well what a blessed gift is grace, and we have to pray, don't we, in spite of the tempter's power that gets into your heart and mine, there's show me a token for good,

[36:43] Lord, do keep alive my soul, keep my soul waiting upon thee, and give me faith to believe that there will be yet an appointed time when I shall have that blessed assurance that thou a sinner, I have been saved by thy grace, in other words, thy precious fountain of blood has been opened to cleanse me from all unrighteousness, that he might take that robe the Saviour brought and cast it all around your soul and mine, that we might die in peace with our God, show me a token for good, and you see then the enemy will sneak away when he's ashamed, there'll be no fight left in Satan when you become more than a conqueror through him that has loved you and washed you from your sins in his blood, he's a mighty Saviour and he is able and he is willing to save all his people from their sins, not one hoof will be left behind, or may he give you and me grace to endure hardness as a good soldier of Jesus

[38:00] Christ, to put on the helmet of salvation, the shield of faith, the sword of the Spirit which is the word of life, or to do battle with Satan, but remember this, the battle is not yours and mine, as we said earlier, the weapons of their warfare are not carnum, but mighty through God for the pulling down of strong holes, so you seek the Lord, show me a token for good, that they which hate me may see it and be ashamed, because thou Lord has helped me, and how humbling effect this will have upon you and me when the Lord helps you, and he is a helper of the helpless, and you see, he will help you the helpless, and he will comfort them too, because he has said, I will not leave you comfortless, I will come to you, and he says, tarry you here in the city of Jerusalem until, he will be endued with power from on high, and you see that power, he gives the faint of them that have no might, he increases strength, oh what a glorious saviour he is, the one mediator, the one that has promised to send the comforter to his dear disciples, and if you are one of the disciples of Christ, you'll come begging, you'll come pleading, you'll come pleading for forgiveness for Jesus' sake, and if sin be pardoned,

[39:37] I am secure, death of no sting beside, the Lord gave sin his damning power, but Christ, my ransom died, remember this, he suffered, bled and died, and he didn't suffer, bleed and die in vain, he suffered the just for the unjust, that he might bring them to God in love, at last, oh, what wonderful evidences there are of his love, shed abroad in his word, and we trust, shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, as he shows you a token for good, sends out his light and his truth, leads you and guides you unto his holy hill, and to his tabernacle, and you sit at his feet, and I believe you'll know what it is, to wash his feet with your tears, of godly sorrow for your sin, and there be sorrow and love will flow mingled down your soul, around the feet of

[40:39] Christ, as you're brought to his feet by faith, you behold the Lamb of God, the acceptable sacrifice that taketh away your sins, show me a token for good, where we need to be enabled to go on praying, that the Lord will grant us his tokens, and I trust and believe, that most of you know what it is to have received a token, may you be encouraged still to press on, for look for greater blessings, the blessing of the Lord, that maketh rich, and addeth no sorrow thereto.

[41:18] The Lord pardon all amiss, and bless his own word, Amen. Amen.