Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.heritagesermons.org/sermons/8830/psalms/.

Disclaimer: this is an automatically generated machine transcription - there may be small errors or mistranscriptions.
Please refer to the original audio if you are in any doubt.


[0:00] As the Lord shall be pleased to help me, I shall seek to continue with the morning subject.

[0:12] Psalm 27 and the 14th verse. Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart.

[0:33] Wait, I say, on the Lord. Psalm 27, 14th verse.

[0:43] The word of God declares, the just shall live by faith.

[0:59] And in the Hebrews epistle it is stated, and without faith it is impossible to please him. For he that cometh unto God must believe that he is a rewarder of all them that diligently seek him.

[1:21] So that when you ask what set the scriptures as to how people taught of God are to live, you are to live dependent upon God.

[1:34] And as grace is given at no time whatever, put any trust in what you are, or what you may do or purpose to do.

[1:49] Trust in the Lord with all thine heart, and lean not to thine own understanding. I want, as the Lord shall help me, to go on with this subject.

[2:07] I just showed you in the morning sermon, a little about what it is to wait on the Lord. The exercise that all the godly desire to be the subject of, regarding it.

[2:23] There will always be a great deal of opposition from earth and hell. And lets and hindrances will arise when you find it in your heart that you desire to do it.

[2:41] But you must be like the woman in the gospel. She said, if I may but touch the hem of his garment, I shall be made whole. And the record in the gospels tells us that she pressed through the crowd.

[3:00] Deep down in her heart was that concern and that grain of faith. A blessed determination to get in touch with him who is the sinner's friend.

[3:12] And you and I do need to be like that, as grace is given. Like Jacob, when the man wrestled with him.

[3:24] And Jacob said, I will not let thee go, except thou bless me. And now, leaving the first viewpoint of the subject, the exercise.

[3:40] I come now to what I said was the second viewpoint, the exhortation. And you will have some thoughts, some searchings of heart as you think about that.

[3:57] Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage. And now, you must have a right interpretation of what this good courage is.

[4:13] It is not courage whereby men are made bold and brave in times of danger. There is that courage.

[4:28] And it is good to be the subject of it. But it is not the courage referred to in the text. When you see the adjective good, it relates to God.

[4:44] I have told you many times, and I repeat it, whatever you see beneath the sun that is discerned to be good, you must relate it to God.

[5:03] And now, this good courage is God-given courage. It is that which a man cannot receive, except it be given him from heaven.

[5:18] The psalmist, godly David, must have had varied thoughts about it. Because there were times of a truth when he could be of good courage.

[5:32] Like when he went forth and laid Goliath low and said, I come to thee in the name of the living God. And though he was but a stripling, God honored him in the doing of it.

[5:48] And Goliath was brought down into the dust of death. Eh, but sometimes, godly David did not feel this good courage in his own soul's feelings, because you will remember that he said, I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul.

[6:10] There is but one step betwixt my soul and death. And yet, it was the will of God that Saul should die and David should live and reign on Israel's throne.

[6:25] And it came to pass. And now, looking at this subject, there is a need to be for this exhortation.

[6:38] There is a need to be for every exhortation in the word of God. And you must never forget that they are addressed to people born again.

[6:50] The exhortations in the gospel are for people born again. Because they only will respond to those exhortations and desire, as grace is given, to reduce them to practice.

[7:08] And now, you find, as you journey on through life, there are many things that discourage you. You read of Israel, long ago in their wilderness life, and the people were much discouraged, because of the way.

[7:28] And yet, even that morning, when that was their frame of mind, every Israelite could go and stand in his tent door and look toward the tabernacle, and there was the cloud rising above it, signifying the whole camp was under divine protection.

[7:55] And that the way they were going, God was their guide therein. And they had eaten of the manna which they had gathered, and drunk of the water that flowed from the rock that followed them.

[8:11] And yet, they were discouraged. And now, you and I cannot criticize Israel of old for their sad behavior, because there have been times when you and I have been ready to think our own thoughts about God, and draw our own conclusions about his dealings, and think that they were not just or wise.

[8:47] And yet, like Israel of old, when they were discouraged, because of the way, but, dear friends, they were in it. And they were journeying to the land of promise, and guided by God.

[9:05] And the things that discourage some of you, do listen, you would never be the subject of these discouragements, some of the things that do indeed make you say, oh my God, my soul is cast down within me, if you were not a sinner born again.

[9:29] Let us work that out. Wait on the Lord. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart.

[9:42] You may have something this Sabbath afternoon, and it is between you and God. You may be here, laboring, under a discouragement.

[9:56] It may be to do with you, how matters are between your soul and God. And it is not against you to suffer from that discouragement.

[10:12] Or it may be to do with things round about you, your family circle, or how the future will unfold for you and yours.

[10:24] Here is the word of the Lord. Wait on the Lord about it. You need not go down to the labor exchange to get a new job.

[10:41] Go to the throne of grace and wait on the Lord. And remember that word, he shall choose our inheritance for us.

[10:55] The remedy lies before thee. Pray. You may be discouraged because you feel to be such a sinner, and you find as you journey on through life, you get yet more openings up of what a sinner you really are.

[11:16] Until you are ready to conclude, and do conclude, no sinner needed mercy more that ever sought thy face. And the more you look within and pour over it, the more discouraged you are.

[11:34] And so you will be. What saith the Scriptures to you? Wait on the Lord. Remind him.

[11:45] Not that he needs reminding, but he does like poor sinners trying to pray to tell him all the truth.

[11:58] Remind him who he is as the sinner's friend. And who can tell but what God will be gracious to you?

[12:08] You may yet say, yea, you will, if you wait on the Lord. The Lord is my light and my salvation.

[12:22] Whom shall I fear? You shall see the beauty of the Lord. A scene of matchless grace. Tis Jesus in the sinner's place.

[12:35] Be of good courage regarding how you feel with the plague of the heart being made known to you for Jesus' blood through earth and skies.

[12:50] Mercy eternal. Mercy cries. You may be discouraged and it is no new experience or strange to people taught of God that you do desire to live the life of the righteous and you wait on the Lord if so be he will grant you in your everyday life the grace that you need to do so.

[13:20] But you find at the end of every day I would do good but evil is present with me and that discourages you.

[13:33] You seem to make such little progress in following on to know the Lord and every day at the end of it you stand in the same place where you stood before and that is where you will stand till you die.

[13:53] God be merciful to me a sinner. I have often thought of it and I have told you sometimes about good Dr. Owen who was a very great minister numbered among the Puritans and there are 24 volumes of his writings and much of it is most beautiful in the unfolding of the gospel of the grace of God and yet when he came down to die what were his last words?

[14:32] God be merciful to me a sinner and you may depend on it he died in the Lord and you poor sinner be of good courage concerning how you feel as a sinner before God with whom you have to do the heart once hardest steel that's made for sin to feel bears tokens of a ransom soul be of good courage you really could say if you were bold enough to do it the Lord is my light in as much as God has illuminated you to feel like you do whatsoever doth make manifest is light sinner if thou art taught to see how great thy guilt thy misery in every thought and act impure the blood of Christ thy soul can cure be of good courage and now you might be discouraged because you are filled with fears you may have a fear as to whether you have got any religion at all worth the name any that

[16:00] God is the author of and yet you could not feel as you do unless you did possess it you think that over prayerfully before God and search the scriptures and you will find in how you feel there is a good ground for you to be of good courage do remember that think of how you feel in your approaches to God and your confessions of sin and your desires that matters may be made right between your soul and God and then answer this question do those things arise from what you are by nature the thing is impossible I want to emphasize that line of things because I do desire that you shall be comforted with that comfort which comes from the

[17:06] God of all comfort what you are by nature will have nothing to do whatever with making confession of sin and lamenting how sad your state is as a poor sinner with a never dying soul journeying either to heaven or hell what you are by nature will never produce in you any concern that you shall be a sinner saved by grace no no wait on the Lord about it do tell him all the truth he is a savior of quick understanding sin be of good courage he will make you welcome and you shall realize what his word declares him that cometh unto me

[18:09] I will in no wise cast out oh but you do need to fear not in your discouraged state and then you may have fears about living the life of the righteous in the world as it is before your eyes so full of woe and wickedness and hell itself let loose in it you may have many searchings of heart shall I endure in following on to know the Lord or shall I fall a prey to some ill or evil either of earth or hell a light and give up and go back you will not if you have been taught to pray and to wait on the Lord but this waiting on the Lord must be on this basis pray without ceasing continuing instant in prayer remember

[19:17] Joseph heart ever on thy captain calling make thy worst condition known he shall hold thee up when falling or shall lift thee up when down you may have a fear especially those of you like the preacher old and grey headed about coming down to the end of life's journey earth hymn writer tells us my fears sometimes say I never shall find in death's gloomy day true peace to my mind and yet there is a guarantee he which hath begun the good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ and that day of Jesus Christ can be and is in one interpretation of it the day when a sinner born again comes down to die the margin reading is beautiful he which hath begun a good work in you will finish it and that finish is

[20:32] God glorifying and it means that you waiting on the Lord you will find the bottom to be good in Jordan's swelling how would the powers of darkness boast if but one praying soul were lost you might have a fear I'm drawing a bow at adventure here I say you might have a fear because you watch people along through life godly people I mean you see how they live and then they come down to die and you may not always feel as you would like to feel about how they come down to die you believe they are people taught of God but what they are by nature has often troubled you and searched you and you have sometimes had many thoughts and searchings of heart about how they really were before

[21:50] God I remember in my early days as Union Chapel pastor there were one or two people who worshipped among us I had to lay in the grave and I believe they were people taught of God but I was very young in the ministry and there were some things in their lives that were not at all commendable and when at length they died I had to stand by the grave and say what I felt was right before God and man and I remember in one instance how God helped me what I was to say because I felt sure in my mind the one to be laid in the grave was godly and yet there were those things that had been stumbling blocks to other people round about the word that God gave me was this the blood of Jesus

[22:56] Christ God's Son cleanseth us from all sin even those things which had made what they were before man to be a stumbling block they were blotted out in that fountain open for sin and for uncleanness but the great thing is let it be your concern to wait on the Lord to finish your course with joy and to leave if the Lord shall grant it a dying testimony that shall swallow up anything there might have been amiss in your outward life that has sometimes caused people to feel sad wait on the Lord for grace to live right and at the last to die right and you must remember this you sing sovereign grace or sin abounding ransom souls the tidings swell and you and

[24:21] I I know that I do you and I need sovereign grace or sin abounding therefore you can be of good courage as you wait on the Lord that Jesus blood through earth and skies mercy eternal mercy cries but then you may feel discouraged because God has given you what he gives to all his people wherever they are an everyday cross I mean a cross he has chosen and you have to live in accordance with the word of Jesus he that taketh not up his cross daily and followeth after me cannot be my disciple and you may sometimes look at your cross and deep down in your heart you might wish that things could be otherwise no no whatever you do do not ask God to change your cross great will be your sorrow if ever you should be left to do it and God should hear what you say regarding it wait on the

[25:48] Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart which is to say that every day that dawns you shall find and as thy days so shall thy strength be I was thinking in the week about doing the will of God and how sometimes it seems exceedingly difficult and hard to be understood as to what the will of God is that you should do now I was thinking of Ezekiel and he was a prophet he was taught of God he was a good man and in fulfilling his vocation as a prophet God said to him at one time that he was to lie down before Israel on his side and do nothing but lie down there and how long was it to lie there three years three times 365 days and lie on his side and do nothing but that and that was the will of

[27:09] God and in all that Ezekiel was a witness to Israel to bring before them what God designed to teach them you see you may be discouraged because of your cross being what it is but there is helping God for you and it is very sweet when at times you can be of good courage regarding it and say Lord I would indeed submit gladly yield my all to thee what thy wisdom sees most fit must be surely best for me be of good courage regarding the cross God has given you I was going to say and I will you say thank you to God for it because no cross no crown remember that wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart and now you might be discouraged because of your everyday life it is so full and you find everyday new straits attend and you are aware that you are journeying on and growing older and have not the strength and ability that you used to possess in bygone days and you wonder how the scene will end

[28:42] I can tell you he shall strengthen thine heart but you must learn to live a day at a time as thy days so shall thy strength be wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord and now I want to look at this subject from yet another viewpoint the things which do discourage us can be said to be legion almost numberless within and without coming upon us from earth and hell and what one is by nature within and yet I must ask you to hold this fast and not let it go there is no time in your life from the time you are born again as you journey on following on to know the

[29:48] Lord but what as I said in the morning sermon if you sit down and begin to count your blessings you will find your encouragements in God are ten thousand times more than ever your discouragements can be all written up together and when all is said and done we have got to keep in mind what God has ordained we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God and now wait on the Lord you may be waiting on the Lord for something special you will be if you are a sinner born again because when you wait on the Lord you are waiting for something like the psalmist in the psalm before us one thing have I desired of the Lord that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life to behold the beauty of the

[31:05] Lord and to inquire in his temple and when you wait on the Lord you have got something deep down in your soul's desires that you are concerned the Lord shall attend to some matter which like Hezekiah with his letter you desire to spread it before the Lord and the psalmist will help you he uses a very striking word I showed before him my trouble I think that is a beautiful illustration how to wait on the Lord at times you remember you fathers and mothers sometimes your children came to you and they showed you what their trouble was it was a cut or a bruise or some graze they had gained in tumbling down and they needed not to say much about what it was but they showed it and you immediately with a motherly heart or fatherly heart as the case might be began to do something needful to bring them comfort regarding it and that what they suffered might be healed so it was with the psalmist the dear man says

[32:40] I showed before him my trouble and you can do that without many words put together pray if thou canst to canst not speak but pray with faith on Jesus name and this waiting on the Lord sometimes is just Lord help me could you reckon up since you were born again how many times you have used that petition it would run into thousands of times with some of you and you got the help the Lord did not disappoint you no the help was forthcoming at the right time yes oh Lord I am oppressed undertake for me and he condescends to do that leave

[33:47] God to order all thy ways and trust in him what e'er betide you will find him in each evil day and all sufficient strength and guide the psalmist says elsewhere in another psalm my soul wait thou only upon God for my expectation is from him I can tell you dear friends you need much grace to wait only on God even when you do try to pray about this matter and that you may go on your way and try to think things over as to what you might be able to do in regard to it but you must wait on the Lord and leave it with him to do what is his will concerning you and your matter wait on the Lord be of good courage and they shall strengthen thine heart wait

[34:50] I say on the Lord and now some of you have been waiting it may be you're in you're out for the forgiveness of sins to be made known and you are still waiting and sometimes you are very troubled about it because you do try to pray and you hope you are in earnest and out of the abundance of the heart the mouth is speaking but as yet that wonderful word has not been lodged in your heart thy sins which are many are all forgiven thee and sometimes you are tempted and tried Satan is a cruel adversary he tells us we're weak our hope is in vain and the good that we seek we ne'er shall obtain eh but he is a liar and do not credit his lies the word of

[35:56] God tells us blessed are all they that wait for him and as you wait on the Lord that is what you desire to do wait for him and that blessed time of love will dawn in your soul's experience forgiveness of sins oh the blessedness of it when it is known and felt in our soul's experience to appear before God with whom you have to do and feel we are clean just God we are clean wait on the Lord in regard to it and be of good courage you may be discouraged because of some affliction laid upon you the great thing is to realize your affliction has been laid upon you by him who is too wise to err and too good to be unkind and now whatever the affliction may be if

[37:19] God has laid it on you it will be well for you to go back before you had it come upon you or when it first of all came in the early beginnings of it was it possible at that time you had been waiting on the Lord that you might have some religion to live by and to die by did you feel then some nearness in relationship to Jabez oh that thou wouldst bless me indeed and you waited on the Lord desiring that you might receive such a blessing and indeed blessing and now this affliction has come into your life and it has laid you low brought you into a hospital ward down to the operating theatre be of good courage regarding it this is the way the

[38:31] Lord is pleased to work sometimes in giving answers to prayer especially such prayers to be led into the truth and to have some religion that would do to live by and die by when much favour Christ would show to those he calls his friends he loads their shoulders well with woe and thus attains his ends and how good is sanctified affliction I do desire to thank God I know just a little of it but only a little but there is in it a wonderful sweetness when you can say before God I know O Lord that thy judgments are right and that thou hast in faithfulness afflicted me and something else follows that it is good for me that

[39:33] I may be afflicted that I have been afflicted that I may learn thy statutes yes wait on the Lord about it and remember in all our afflictions he was afflicted he is a savior of quick understanding and he can enter into every detail of what your sufferings are yes wait on the Lord oh how many matters there are these people in the text desire to lay before God you may be waiting on the Lord some of you regarding promises that you hope God lodged in your heart years ago and as yet those promises are not fulfilled you have not seen them brought to pass yet to your soul's pleasure but you can wait on the

[40:39] Lord like this remember the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope and keep this in mind the vision is for an appointed time though it tarry wait for it in the end it shall speak and not lie it will surely come and not tarry wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord I was going to say something about the other viewpoint the expectation the basis of it but I will soon come to the amen and now when you think of what it is to wait on the Lord and what guarantees there are for poor sinners who get help from heaven to do so you have got first of all the mercy scene set up and this guarantee from him who reigns thereon

[41:52] I will commune with you from above the mercy seat let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace says Paul to the Hebrews of old that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need and what do you sing sometimes it is the beautiful gospel of the grace of God the vilest sinner out of hell who lives to feel his need he's welcome to the throne of grace the saviour's blood to plead I heard an instance of sovereign grace or sin abounding in the wheat that did me good and it was about a man I shook hands with him at the thanksgiving services at

[42:54] Providence Chapel Cranbrook and he was ninety odd he had been a farmer and he lived his life worshipping the molten calf until he was about eighty eight years of age and then all at once when he was in a tree doing something the Lord spoke to him and he was convinced of sin before God brought in guilty as a hell deserving sinner he was not one who went to any place of worship but he came down and felt that hell would be his portion and he was like that for a year of and then he heard of our friend whom you all love

[43:57] I do too Mr. Delves who has preached to us from time to time and a message was sent to him to ask him if he would come and see this poor man and of course he went like every godly minister would be glad to do and he told me that he had never seen such a sight in his life to see a man of his age so wrought on by conviction of sin and to be living day and night with the consciousness that he would be lost but Mr.

[44:42] Dales was helped to tell him the son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost and that gave him a little of this good courage to wait on the Lord and after a while to his amazement he was blessed with hope and being blessed with hope he wanted to make it known before God and man and he went before the church at Croeburgh and Mr.

[45:15] Delves baptized him when he was ninety one and he was at Cranbrook on Wednesday and I spoke to him and he seemed then to be full of the joy of the Lord that is sovereign grace or sin abounding you see there is a wonderful basis the foundation of God on which this word I have been trying to preach to you this sabbath day is based upon wait on the Lord be of good courage the throne of grace is open still still the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin still the gospel proclaims whosoever shall call on the name of the

[46:19] Lord shall be saved yes and who can tell but what God will be gracious to you think on this word be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart now do not read into that word what is not recorded in the black and white letter press you are not to read it like this be of good courage and he shall make thee strong what I mean is as though you had got so much strength you had got some sphere some surplus strength that when tomorrow dawned you can begin to use that no no nothing of the kind this is the way and this is the meaning to be steadfast in believing yet to tremble fear and quake every moment be receiving strength and yet be always weak out out of weakness were made strong my grace is sufficient for thee my strength is made perfect in weakness you see

[47:38]  God has helped you with the two he is helping you today when tomorrow dawns he will still be to you what he has been hither to and he shall strengthen thine heart but to realize it there must be this wait I say on the Lord that every drooping saying keep waiting evermore and though exceeding fame still knock at mercy's door cry out and shout till night is past for daylight will spring up at last amen