Psalms

[0:00] The portion that has rested on the mind, we venture to read to you. You haven't written seven psalms and verse seven.

[0:16] And he led them forth by the right way that they might go to a city of habitation.

[0:38] There's no new path to him, our friends.

[0:53] The prophets and the patriarchs and the children of God in the past, it's the same path to him.

[1:05] In there is not one can walk in that path without one to lead them.

[1:23] And there's not one on this earth can lead them. He dwells in heaven. And my friends, he will lead them by a right way.

[1:45] They now Oliver's taking the way. He commands.

[1:59] He gives the word. and he gives the grace to follow that word. And the way of each soul saved by matchless grace is ordained in him before you ever place your foot there.

[2:32] They are very wonderful people and are the people of God and yet they are very despised by the world.

[2:48] They know not those happy and blessed secrets that one who hath all power and all wisdom and all might is their guide, counsellor and friend and that the government of all that concerns them and theirs is on his shoulders.

[3:25] Oh, we know so little only what he reveals of the eternal God who is thy refuge, dear soul and a very present help in time of trouble.

[3:48] And the psalmist had a touch of God's goodness. It's very sweet when he gives us that.

[4:03] When you can really take the ark down though you might be in a strange land to give him thanks to God to give him thanks to know that he's been good to you and I was about to say his goodness is far above what we can fathom and in the sweet commencement of his goodness his redeemed you bought you with a price settled so that the Father is satisfied and when they come each one to their expected end you say is it expected?

[5:18] I believe it is. Dear man of God many years ago was so blessed at the breakfast table before he left to go to his work in Cambridge he had to cross over a railway line he was wonderfully blessed that moment his soul was enlarged with the goodness of his God he never got the other side of that line he was in eternity a gracious soul soul that the Lord gave him an expected end where we should say it was a saddening it was saddened glory you see redeeming the price of redemption redemption is far beyond our comprehension it was a sacred blood he died to redeem the soul how it would rejoice our hearts to hear one hand another from the depths of a living soul what must

[7:23] I do to be saved not that they could put a hand to it laid so loud and peeled that loud stacked in their poor souls and all they breathed for and long to receive is to know their sins are forgiven hope every young one here be brought there it's an unspeakable loss there's a loss of a soul my friends may there be much prayer holy wrestling and holy travel for the soul so that

[8:47] God might hear that cry and travel and hear the wrestlings of a soul quicken my dear father often rouse early as five o'clock in the morning and when we gave him our experience the minister that took the chair as he was the only deacon he said your father Christ is here at your bedroom door and heard you groaning for mercy that was where there's an only travel it'll go out to the one you travel for and where there's a prayer for any part of the way you seek him and ask him as you sing him we have read and receive at his hands and shall it be that that one that longs for salvation and forgiveness be left to perish never it is so closely related to a precious

[10:52] Christ when I say with all solemnity he traveled for you and the prophet declared before that travel took place that he should see the travel Jesus of his soul and he should be satisfied so arrives forth in the power and command of his father by the only spirit here's one here is one of mine I have redeemed them here's another here

[11:56] I have redeemed any fine you have and that first cry of eternal life came from the spirit of Christ do you you never had a cry like it did you you never had a prayer like it oh I say Lord bring many there it's a die of small things and we do desire and he knows the secret that is walking in the soul and those that have had any measure of it it takes them back to the hole of the pit from whence they were you it's never covered up my friends never covered up the seasons never forgotten you never know my dear young friends what before you but I hope that would be one of the blessings you receive

[13:40] I was about 19 an apprentice joined with all the others about 70 in that room cross in that room in my trade to do something I was cut down and it was seen that some come round me and said what's the matter with you I couldn't tell that hole has never been covered I've had a look at it more than once with a tender spirit one side of the room with the rest the other side with a cry for mercy that will never be lost by you mad friend oh you and

[15:07] I will tell you why that will never be lost whatever Jesus by his spirit has done for you he will have your praise and your thanks and you are blessing him you will bless him and now have we ever blessed him has there been no spot my dear friends when you have had great course to blessing then you have the favor of a child of God of one redeemed let the redeemed of the

[16:07] Lord say so because as far as my poor mind and voice could go it's an everlasting salvation whether you have a long pilgrimage or short you are redeemed from the hand of the enemy think of it no hell for you think of it think of it it is well to consider because by the truth of

[17:13] Christ there's a hell as well as a heaven with a halfway back some would put it on one side not when God touches you and the mercy of his grace and love to you is this he gives you heaven he he gives you heaven instead of cutting you off to destruction what a gospel to peace isn't it what a Christ to exhort maybe you felt no one sin like you did how that his eye of say the father gave him that wondrous world and there was no work compared to the work of salvation he took the body bless his name that body was slain it roused again and in that sacred blessed body he now sits at the right hand of

[19:07] God the father and he gathers them as he gathered them at first by his blessed spirit leads them by the right way not to a life and yet the way because he's the way and the truth and the life he and when they're finished the course and the night perfect by his grace he takes their spirit home to glory and not here once they were mourning here below and wept our couch with tears my friends the victory was given them that came through the

[20:21] Lamb Christ Jesus he gathered them out of the land from the four corners of the earth and they could find no rest here you'll say is that a mark of where you were to find a way yes you could find no rest for your soul could not stay where you once did whatever you were left to do in your honor e generous you could do it no longer there came a poor man and that hand was to gather you and he gathers you into the bond of his everlasting life my friends into the kingdom of his grace and it's so plain here there's nothing in the gospel that is very plain very plain doesn't want anything added to it or taken away from it it's very plain they've wandered in a solitary way oh you that have a hope are there any now wandering it's a solitary way for you you look at the way and you cannot see any companion in it you say is this the way

[22:32] I shall not forget a light Mr. Wiltshire whose mind often was touched mentality gone for a season it was only a few hours before he had a bad turn and had to be sent straight from where he was staying to the asylum he said to me this while he was feeling the power of his mind was going is this the way I've not forgotten it is this the thorny way I have to treat yes that one bless the

[23:37] Lord that was the way he had to treat and no one could alter it and to him it was a solitary way oh my friends we don't know it's our mercy that the way is appointed by God he was blessed before he was taken he was a very blessed preacher too his very afflictions made him a good preacher oh yes my friend and now where they went they were in the way they were hungry there's a hunger and there's a thirst as we just mentioned this afternoon a poor woman that said

[24:45] Lord help me that crumb which he said the dogs eat of the crumbs that fell from the master's table I said that was a portion of the bread what did the savior say to her great is thy faith he had given it and that what she prayed for was given you see my friends their soul painted in them is that the way yes my friends it's not all the way now they have to cry to the

[25:46] Lord to the babe will cry most utterly when it's angry thirsty beautiful comparisons the Lord the Lord as you know yes and my friends they cried in their trouble and that was a wonderful thing if you do not to get rid of the trouble but to cry unto your garden because it's your refuge it's your strength and it's your present help and the service said then therefore will not I fear though the earth be removed so my friends think of it

[27:07] God may give you a real cry and he gives that that you cry unto God have you known a little of it that doing business with him how you don't hide what he gives you of his grace and the spirit of suffocation and place it in a napkin and forget all about it if he give you five you must take five more if he gives you something to pray for he will have you pray for it before he gives it to you and yet it will be most valuable because it will bear his precious name on every gift every answer every help he's given you on what he does for you you say why why do you say this without me he can do nothing so when he has done something for you and he writes his name upon it and engraves it there and you have to say bless the

[28:36] Lord oh my soul and all that is within me bless his holy name and he goes to lead them Phil Pott said it's not a straight way there are some corners in it and sometimes he says it comes right back almost to where you began I mentioned Phil Pott because I don't want to copy him it's not right to copy others without mentioning who it is and that it comes in with thy own lady and perhaps has given you a word upon which is caused you much to hold in fact it's the life of your soul if that word was taken away you would be very miserable at least to fulfill it and he'll lead you to the fulfillment of it and there is no real answer to your prayers stir his strife and it won't matter child of good if you pray every day and every hour he loves to wear his children well you say it seems to be one thing after the other beautifully awesome let me take you to him that leads you he drank the cup to redeem you that you will never have to drink and he's given you a cup in some humble measure to drink the father's hand prepares the cup and what he wills his best child the difference between the cup he drank in

[31:40] Gethsemane and the cup he gives you to drink is very different there's love in the cup he gives you there's his grace which is sufficient that he gives you it is mixed with eternal wisdom eternal wisdom now designed to give you always joy now I don't know where we should get to if everything runs smooth always he'll have you pray he'll have you call and then he will bring you there where he'll deliver you he'll deliver you from your fears

[32:43] I like to come unto personal things my friends perhaps you spent in the past some nights without any sleep and perhaps dangers seem on every side or near you and you could not sleep you seemed alone and your poor eyes and your fears went up to God oh you say friends you would never know salvation if you never knew what it was to be brought to cry unto him to bless his sound pray and souls will never be lost and it's the evidence of life in the soul but there's another thought it wasn't all prayer or distresses all have the burdens now they come a break and the dear psalmist while he related some of the exercise of his sorrow he said all that men would praise the

[34:24] Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men it is my friends as if they stay while they hum the waves of God's purposes they come to a little spot where they can praise God amidst all their troubles you done it that was from you again there is a text I shall go from strength to strength every one of them appearing in Zion before their God and my friends you have a full

[35:24] Christ I would sound that power I would bring because it satisfied your loving soul and it filled your hungry one with goodness when when we can ponder over these things now we come to another experience such as sit in darkness darkness and the shadow of death being bound in affliction and iron nothing tries a dear child of God than darkness he that walketh in darkness and hath not light let him lead on his ground as when he holds your hand of

[37:09] Titus that's it friend the reason of that darkness was appointed because they rebelled against God against the words of God therefore he brought down their heart with labor I shall not forget a godly mother in Israel sixty years ago saying to me when the rod of God was heavy on me he said William you don't hear these things today William Shishy if you go contrary to God he'll give you one stroke you'll feel it and if you don't obey him then he'll give you two strokes and if you do not conform to his command as he's leading you he'll give you three and as many till you do never forget him we don't have these mothers and fathers today now as many as

[38:38] Shion said to me sixty years ago by those who had already trodden the path that I've never forgot ah my friend such a sitting dark oh you say will there never be light maybe in providence maybe in the gracious exercise of your soul it may be when you've looked around and wondered where the seed would end it may be that little secret burden you're carrying alone and I believe every one of the Lord dear children from the infant until they're taken home and when he's priced them in the way they have something before their God that is a burden to them oh yes well does he leave them in that darkness never

[39:50] I had once to come down out of a pulpit after I'd given out the text I was in darkness I said friends the Lord opens and he shuts and I'm in great darkness and I must come down did God bless that was that the right way yes there was one come off the cots woods in deep trouble of soul because she was in darkness and he did have seen no child of

[40:57] God ever had darkness to earth I feel very sorry for you she seemed and I could not have been more sorry but when you said you was in great darkness I was brought out of mine and my bonds were broken you don't always require a lot of words God blessed that service while I had to take the lowest seat oh we never know that dear woman passed into eternal glory when

[41:59] God called her home yet I never go up that pulpit steps with what I think of it I never go up any pulpit steps what I have to earn the slippery he give the door of a blessing ah my dear friends he ordained that for that woman there was the blessing in that service that released her from the power of Satan isn't you proved sometimes that he brings you out of your darkness because our minds and reason is full of that before

[43:03] God when he leads us by the right way when he brings them out of it he still leads in them and the shadow of death not death itself no it's a shadow you ever thought upon the word which he's give you to help that it is gone and died and you have said in your heart that was not from the Lord what did you do about it cried out to the Lord who gave it to you that's real my friend I believe there would be more blessing in our little causes if there was more wrestling and more prayer we can't open our hands and say all coming they must be as to that they must be seeking ones

[44:14] God will point out everyone we live in a day of small doing but we live in a day when we need much prayer given to us and much obligation we cannot expect much from your God without you cried to me blessed souls that cry to God my friend and he breaks all those bands in thunder and he gives light to and don't you think for a moment as I simply put these things that when you've been in darkness and he's delivered you out and broke your bonds you never had a brighter light to this then the very darkness when the light returned made it to shine greater still the sun of righteousness arises with healing in its wings and you've had to bless

[45:34] God for bringing you into darkness and he's brought you out of it and again he touches the heart all that men would praise the Lord for his goodness for his goodness and for his wonderful grace to the children of men don't give up praying child you might feel you're not one don't give it up I'm about to say sometimes they will not have you give it up now there's something more the way seems edged up the gates of brass and the bars of vile being such foolishness he takes the fool and makes him now the riches of his grace and lays his power and wisdom low and all their pride abased that's me

[47:03] I don't want to go outside to anybody that's me that's me we might think something was done nothing we might think nothing was done something worse oh you see there is a way that seemeth right unto a man and the end of that is death when you see bound in these gates of brass and bars of fire you don't enjoy anything do you you don't enjoy it you come to the service of God and you go wide bow oh you say Lord won't these bonds be broken there's some about today among the godly and now what it is to go to chapel

[48:13] Sunday after Sunday with these terrible bonds and God hear them they cry unto God and their trouble they deliver them out and he saveth them out of their distresses and what did he do send his word send his word and heals them and all the bonds are broken and he delivered them from their they stuck and this is the way this is the way no other way my friend and then again he says all the men who bless the Lord who will have shown from you he will and they will be very gracious and they will reach the ears of the

[49:15] Lord God of the now he said let them sacrifice to God the sacrifice of thanksgiving and his clad his works with rejoicing and he tells you those that do now the works of God are very deep I don't suppose for one moment that Jonah thought God had prepared a fish to swallow it I don't suppose he ever had a thought he was going wrong when he was asleep when the storm was on and all the rest were a week and he had to a week oh sleeper you must wait there's something wrong something wrong in the boat then he had to confess he was a

[50:19] Hebrew did he bear the Lord and that the Lord had blessed his shower now he says you must cast me into the dips God would get that to protect him I have often thought deep call it unto deep at the noise of thy waterspout yes and as he dropped into the deep he dropped into the fish's village there was a prayer place there when he got down below the weeds and pout them about his head he prayed as he never prayed before I will look again one more look he had to be there a certain time and then the fish vomited him out never hurt him never hurt him it brought him out with a song salvations of the

[51:43] Lord but my you can never run away from God's purposes never he had to go to Nineveh and he had to preach there and he had to take the message God gave him there and when God spared it he seemed as hard as he could be because God never destroyed it he said what are we without grace in exercise but my friends he knew what it was to go in the deeps and he knew Sam wanders there that he commanded and raised it the stormy wean and the waves that are and they go up to the heavens and down to the depths and they reel to and grow and staggered like the drunken men and the witcher many years ago we had a letter from a godly man and that's all he placed in it he says

[53:10] I'm reeling to and fro and staggering like a drunken man he was down in the depths well they that go down there and do business there they see the works of the lord and his wonders in the deep no wonder that they shall speak of the glory well they cry unto the lord comes in don't you and my friend what does he do he makes that storm occur I know what that is friends are you temptations sometimes are like those waves go mountains high he comes and with the word he calms those temptations they know and you cry and you ask him to bring you out and he brings you out of your distance then are they glad then are they glad oh there's a joy there's a joy my friends the joys prepared for suffering saints about will make amends for all but there's a joy here oh yes they are glad they're glad because there's a calm and he bring them to their desired haven

[55:00] I don't know much of the sea and they've been in these storms and I believe our sailors that drive on it they're glad of a haven sometime to enter into it place where they can be quiet and they exhaust us this dear man of God is not a sermon like these oh no not many like these he turn its rivers into a wilderness the water springs into a dry ground and the fruitful land into barrenness for the wickedness of damien the dweller and how soon he could do that now which looks so prosperous he could send weeks of sand burning heat and corks the whole of it up my friends his judgments are very severe but his mercy is this he can turn that very wilderness into a standard water and dry ground into water spring and he gives you the armory to dwell there have you ever seen it

[56:38] I I'm not a farmer I don't understand that wouldn't be any good taking me to a farm I once was with a farmer on his legs visiting him they said you don't understand this do you no I said be very foolish to say I did and I said if I asked you to come where I was then and set a page of type and put it all in order letter by letter and go on page after page you wouldn't be able to do it would you no he said well I said the secret was you had the secret and I had not in that matter but have you not you that have had this great concern it must be to you when the crops have come up to receive a bountiful reward perhaps you feared you would get nothing from it the

[57:53] Lord blesses the Lord blesses when it's otherwise what do a godly farmer do cry to the Lord cry to the Lord and it's a good thing my friends in all the way that he leadeth you but there are times when they're minished and brought love and again they're raised after no so ever observe if these things even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord God help him other good things and him you know time beğen KR to mean this that is bad there are our novimas