The origins and purposes of trials (Quality: Good)

[0:00] The worship of God this morning will hit 1083.

[0:30] My God, my Father, blissful night, O may I call thee mine, May I with sweet assurance play A portion so designed.

[1:02] This only can my fears control And bid my sorrows play.

[1:17] What harm can ever reach my soul Beneath my Father's name.

[1:29] 1083 And bid my sorrows play. The worship of God this morning will be my soul And bid my sorrows play.

[1:46] The worship of God this morning will be my soul And bid my sorrows play. The worship of God this morning will be my soul And bid my sorrows play.

[2:06] The worship of God this morning will be my soul And bid my sorrows play.

[2:19] The worship of God this morning will be my soul And bid my sorrows play.

[2:33] The worship of God this morning will be my soul And bid my sorrows play.

[2:45] The worship of God this morning will be my soul And bid my sorrows play. The worship of God this morning will be my soul And bid my sorrows play.

[3:03] The worship of God this morning will be my soul And bid my sorrows play. The worship of God this morning will be my soul And bid my sorrows play.

[3:28] The worship of God this morning will be my soul I sing the prayer of Jesus.

[4:07] I sing the prayer of Jesus. I sing the prayer of Jesus.

[4:17] I sing the prayer of Jesus.

[4:47] I sing the prayer of Jesus.

[5:17] I sing the prayer of Jesus. I sing the prayer of Jesus.

[5:29] I sing the prayer of Jesus. I sing the prayer of Jesus.

[5:41] I sing the prayer of Jesus. I sing the prayer of Jesus.

[5:53] I sing the prayer of Jesus. I sing the prayer of Jesus.

[6:05] I sing the prayer of Jesus. I sing the prayer of Jesus. I sing the prayer of Jesus.

[6:19] I sing the prayer of Jesus. I sing the prayer of Jesus.

[6:31] I sing the prayer of Jesus.

[7:11] I sing the prayer of Jesus. I sing the prayer of Jesus.

[7:23] Jesus. Jesus. I sing the prayer of Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

[7:35] Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus.

[7:47] Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. Jesus. 297 Commencing at the third verse To To Tojen

[8:50] Thank you.

[9:20] Thank you.

[9:50] Thank you.

[10:20] Thank you. Thank you.

[11:20] Thank you. Thank you.

[11:52] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[12:04] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[12:16] Thank you.

[12:46] Thank you.

[13:16] Thank you.

[13:46] Thank you. Thank you.

[14:18] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[14:30] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[14:42] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[14:54] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[15:32] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[15:44] Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

[15:56] Thank you. It's the end of theion. Thank you. Thank you. this portion and so I venture with it and I do desire that the Lord may speak through us and use me and speak into your heart and my heart that we might hear his voice and feel the power within our hearts then my dear friends it will do us good for the Lord knows the pathway that you and I walk in and all his dear people we have just sung a blessed hymn I really feel there's everything in it

[16:57] I don't really feel I can add to it it's so complete but how sweet it is to the child of God sometimes to have these blessed hymns left on the record for our youth when we are brought into the very experiences of them and they echo in our very heart and the blessed promises and encouragements there are in them and haven't they been a help at times to you and I the Lord often uses the line of a hymn or a verse to lift his people up for he knows the place they come in there these times and seasons my dear friends that you and I walk in they're all known to the Lord and so it was with dear Job his times were in the Lord's hands well my dear friends we read now there was a day when the sons of God came to present themselves before the Lord in the old days when this took place they didn't gather

[18:52] Sunday by Sunday as you and I do often there was these meetings and they were perhaps only once a year they were special occasions but now in this gospel day you and I are able to gather Sunday by Sunday in his courts to hear his voice and the dear Lord is pleased to use the means in his house from time to time to feed his people to encourage them to help them on their way to cut them down to prick their hearts yes the Lord works both ways in the hearts of his people they have to know both sides they have to be brought down to know anything savingly of a precious Christ because if they were not brought down they'd have no need of a precious Christ so it is the work of the Holy Spirit to cut down to reveal a precious Christ but my dear friends as we gather in his courts today and as it was in this day when they gathered for this occasion

[20:52] Satan was present also and my dear friends it is solemn but Satan without a doubt is here as well in this place even this morning the Lord can shut him out we know but he comes and don't you prove often times that he is in the place don't you often find your heart is roaming away into various things of the earth planning and scheming perhaps what it's going to do or hopes to do perhaps it's things are all looming up before you of the past week

[21:54] Satan isn't particular what he uses my dear friends if he can draw you and I away from the Lord away from seeking after him if he can take our hearts and our desires and and so distract us my dear friends that's what he seeks to do and we have to prove that it does take place in our hearts that blessed be God when he speaks with all his with his almighty power my friends then Satan has to retreat he has to retreat because the power of the Lord is almighty and he has overcome

[22:59] Satan and he will overcome your heart and mine if we belong to him he'll save us from all our sins he'll save us from attempting devil but my dear friends as we sang we shall still come into these trials these periods up and down blessings and fears judgments the Lord's people are not exempt and this is often a stumbling block to little ones and especially the world they look round and they say well if they was the Lord's people would he permit these judgments these sorrows to come upon them they take it as an evidence against them that there's no life within and

[24:12] Satan uses it you say you can't be one of the Lords you'd never be in that path where you are now it may be you're brought into providential straits and troubles it may be in your spirit secretly it may be both but my dear friends look at Job he had to come into these paths the Lord tried him he permitted Satan in this case to be used at great length yes Satan desired to have Job he presented himself amongst them when they assembled the worship and it's very striking the

[25:26] Lord spoke to Satan and he said whence comest thou the Lord said what are you doing here Satan what are you doing in my house Satan doesn't come in the Lord's house to worship God no he hates God he comes to distract to lead astray to deceive and if it were possibly would deceive the Lord's own dear people but it's not possible my friends not at last they may be brought into those seasons when they are deceived for a time but the

[26:31] Lord will come and enlighten and deliver his own dear people from Satan's power but my dear friends this dear man Job look at the pathway came in there was a man upright he hated evil he served the Lord he walked in the Lord's ways he was blessed much in providence the Lord blessed him in every way and now he has to come into this solemn pathway where Satan is permitted to touch everything by his life everything what a solemn pathway to have to come into and yet my dear friends there was great teaching in it when the

[27:42] Lord comes and visits his people and permits Satan to be used or any other means to lay the afflicting hand upon them that either humbles or it hardens and if grace is in exercise it humbles and it humbled Job he fell before the Lord he said blessed be God the Lord gave the Lord has taken away he saw the hand of his God in it he acknowledged it and my dear friends when you and I are brought there humbled before him that will lighten our cross that will lighten the burden that you carry if you're enabled to fall before him and submit ah my dear friends if the blessed spirit shows a little of what's in your and my heart we should know that we fully deserve all that comes upon us and more beside but the dear

[29:19] Lord doesn't afflict he doesn't reward according to our sins else we be consumed do you ever feel that in your heart that if the Lord dealt with you according to your sins you would be consumed such is the greatness and the holiness of God such is the depravity of your and my heart and the sins that we have committed my dear friends look into your heart and me that what goes on there secretly why we're often ashamed we couldn't tell anybody of the multitude of evils that go on within the thoughts the desires of our hearts the cravings the deceitfulness the hypocrisy you say but surely these things don't exist in your heart they do my friends they're in my heart and

[30:59] I believe they're in every child of God's heart and here and there it's revealed to them they see the truth of what they really are in measure only in measure my dear friends we couldn't see the whole picture I don't believe that we could stand it but my dear friends these things are brought to our notice again and again to humble us to break us down to bring us in guilty before him it's the blessed spirit's work he prepares the hearts of his people that they might be brought to that place where they need a redeemer where they need one to stand in their place before a great and holy

[32:10] God so my dear friend don't be surprised if you come into these solemn pathways don't be surprised if you come into these pathways that Job came into where the Lord brought him very low where his judgments were brought upon him in his goods and on his body and his heart was afflicted you say how was his heart afflicted why because the Lord hid his face and that is the sorest point with his dear people when they are brought into these solemn pathways and feel his affliction hand and feel the judgments and they cry unto the

[33:19] Lord and they feel that he hides his face they feel he doesn't take any notice and Satan roars there you are you see there's the evidence you're not one of the Lord he doesn't hear you he doesn't answer your prayer he doesn't speak a word of comfort and health but the Lord knows he knows just where they are my dear friends the Lord's people have to prove that the way to heaven is through much tribulation and it will be a reality to them we read so many things in the word of

[34:23] God and the experiences of his people and the pathways that they come into and we're thankful for them for they're such a help sometimes to us but my dear friends you and I if we're taught of God we'll have to walk in these paths experimentally for ourselves and we shall be brought like the sparrow alone on the house top alone Job was brought here like the sparrow alone on the house top alone his wife said curse God and die you might depend Satan was using her because she was the closest to him in the flesh he uses anything can anybody his dear three friends came that they saw the grief he was in they couldn't comfort him they couldn't speak to him that the man was alone he was burdened beyond measure full of griefs and sorrows but he still looked to the

[36:06] Lord he still had his eye upon the Lord he acknowledged the Lord's hand in it all and isn't this where you and I often come so short in the pathway that we're led into I mean now the rough pathways not the smooth ones the smooth pathways are a delight to us when the Lord's in them they're blessed paths they're no trouble they're not a trial to us but when we come in these rough and rugged pathways when things are not with us as we would have them whether they're outwardly inwardly or both then my dear friends then is the trial where do you and I look in them do we look unto him are we humbled before him like

[37:30] Job and acknowledge his hand in them or are we hard and rebellious it will be one way or the other my friend I do believe this is one way or the other and I know this that the more we are when we are hardened in it and rebellious the heavier it gets and the harder it gets and it will do all the time my dear friend we are left to our own spirit it will get greater and greater that we our hearts my dear friends we go round and round and round these things that we have to walk in we look at them from all sorts of angles and we come at them from all sorts of angles and wonder if we can put our hand two of them and put them right and all the time my friends we are getting in a world inside our hearts and we can't feel the

[39:03] Lord's presence in it and I don't believe we ever shall because it's our old spirit at work we are not submissive to his will you say well how can I be submissive to such a pathway how could Joe be submissive to such a pathway when the Lord came and he touched all his goods all his wealth his sons and his daughters how could Joe be submissive to that well he was he was why it was by the grace of God by the grace of

[40:08] God faith he had faith I believe that dear man had strong faith and he looked above all those things that was happening down here and he saw God's hand in it and he fell before his Lord and he couldn't do nothing neither will you and I we shall fall before him at times when we come into these places and we shall have to admit our sins before him and my dear friend I know this too that it will squeeze prayer out of your heart and mine and that's a wonderful mercy if it has that effect because don't you and I prove often times the burden of prayer the lack of felt nearness in prayer don't we often feel there are absolutely vain repetitions and you dread you you fear this appointed time perhaps in family worship when at the end of the day you gather for reading and prayer ah but my dear friend there are those times when the

[41:56] Lord works and he so brings you and I into those pathways he stirs up our nest and all our hearts then cry out to him they come afresh they do and they pour out their hearts before the Lord my dear friends that's sanctified trouble that's made a blessing that is my dear friends he does draw his people he stands he waits for them he watches them he listens to them I know you perhaps say well he's he's silent yes we sung of it in that hymn that second hymn when the

[43:09] Lord is silent but he still is looking upon you he still sees you and I but he's testing you and I he's watching to see whether we're going to be like those of old that we read of that turn back and walk no more with him because the sayings were hard because of what they was what was required of them was hard they didn't want to give up anything to serve Christ my dear friends this is where the warfare comes within the heart if you're called to serve the Lord you'll have to give up much you will and it won't be easy it will be things you love that's not easy may may may be the

[44:27] Lord whispers this into your heart love is thou may more than these ah the Lord search the heart the Lord will have all the heart he won't leave you and I to serve him only partly and partly the world this is the trouble this is why we suffer so much because we're always striving to do this we want as much as we can get of the world if we are honest as much as we can get of our own spirit of our own covetousness our own desires we want as much as them as we can get and we want the Lord as well but you can't mix these things and the

[45:33] Lord have shown you and I that there has got to be a separation come out from among them and be separate and touch not the unclean thing the Lord says and don't you haven't you been brought to that place here and there where you have to prove that your best times have been the times when you've been unable to cast them all away when they've been made absolutely as nothing to you and he has been the altogether lovely these are sacred seasons in the hearts of his people they're seasons that they long for and the more they have the more they want the trials are the in between and this is just where

[46:41] Job was he was in between the blessed visits of the Lord the Lord had blessed him and he was still going to bless him but of course Job could only as enabled look by faith and feel that it would be well at the end but he didn't know how it would be and neither do you and I we don't know what we shall come in tomorrow the Lord may bless you in your soul today but he may be hidden from you tomorrow you may be brought into a trial an exercise a judgment then what well it will be one of two things either your heart will be hardened and rebellious you say what after the

[47:50] Lord bless me even in his house today yes my friends we change what are we seeing sometimes I believe it is in a hymn hot and cold in half an hour this is so have you not experienced it I have solemnly so I know this that the Lord can bless and within half an hour you can be cold you can be drawn away and the

[49:59] Lord hide in his face no exemption you see my dear friends no exemption for his dear people though he has a love toward them though they follow him and serve him they are not exempt from these solemn pathways and this is where the world falls very sure that knows not him they see the judgments in the earth they see these things come upon the Lord's people and they straightway say that it cannot be they say God is love my dear friends he is love and it is in love that he permits these things to come upon his dear people what for to stir them up to bring them into life to quicken them again they come into such dead pathways they come into those pathways where they're just mechanically as it were going along day by day no life no desires no exercise they come there many times as people do don't you know it you say yes

[51:41] I do and what's come and stirred you up what's drawn you to the throne of grace what's made you go and cry unto him when he brought you into those pathways that were a trouble to you we read in the I think it's the 107th psalm when he brought them into various troubles and afflictions then they cried unto the Lord and he delivered them so my dear friends when the Lord brings his dear people into these paths it's in love and mercy that they might call upon him that they might lean upon him and seek his help when they feel the burden is too heavy for them when they feel they've got no wisdom to walk in the pathway here below they don't know what to do for the best where to go then they cried unto the

[53:05] Lord and he delivered them he showed them the way the Israelites of old were brought to the Red Sea no way of escape he led them there that was the way he directed them to that sea not to bring them to their death not to put them to confusion he said stand still and see the salvation of the Lord they had to stand still they had to wait that appointed time when he bid them go through the water and he went through with them and he delivered them from all their enemies may the Lord bless a few things for his name's sake Amen let us conclude this morning's service with him 348 acreage out they purchased people's

[55:02] Precious land, thou never canst forget. The piercing nails have wrote their names upon thy hands and feet.

[55:22] Satan invade with rage a silence, thy dear peculiar ones.

[55:36] For then thy righteousness arrives, for then thy blood attains.

[55:48] Three, four, eight. The piercing nails, thou canst forget.

[56:25] The piercing nails, thou canst forget. The piercing nails, thou canst forget.

[56:40] The piercing nails, thou canst forget. The piercing nails, thou canst forget.

[57:03] The piercing nails, thou canst forget. The piercing nails, thou canst forget.

[57:18] The piercing nails, thou canst forget. The piercing nails, thou canst forget.

[57:33] The piercing nails, thou canst forget. The piercing nails, thou canst forget. Half a mighty sight to always be withered.

[57:47] Think of the piercing, thou canst forget. Thank you.

[58:22] Thank you.

[58:52] Thank you.

[59:22] Thank you.

[59:52] Thank you.

[60:22] Thank you. Thank you.