Transcription downloaded from https://sermons.heritagesermons.org/sermons/13876/preserved-and-delivered-quality-good/. 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 may be pleased to help me, would again venture to direct you to Psalm 33, reading verses 18 and 19. [0:16] Psalm 33, verses 18 and 19. Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. [0:37] May the Lord grant us that eye of faith to believe in God's word and what it declares unto us. His whole counsel, we read this morning, standeth forever the thoughts of his heart to all generations. [0:56] Or may you take courage in that, friends, to all generations, from generation to generation. And we would bless God that he is the same yesterday, today and forever. [1:11] There is no change with God, no change in his sovereign will, in his shells and his wells. And he will make the devices of people none effect. [1:26] And he will bend the wills of his people to his own will. And what a mercy that is, so that the Lord will not leave us to ourselves, but through mercy grant us that gift of grace and that faith, the run with patience, the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus. [1:51] The race is set by God, dear friends, not by man. And we would bless him that our steps, that their goings in his paths might be directed and encouraged by him as he pours upon you and me, that spirit of grace and of supplication. [2:14] What a great mystery is the work of the spirit, but what a blessed favor to feel the effects of it. It's like the wind that bloweth and the way it listeth, we know not whether it cometh and where it goeth. [2:30] But we cannot see it, but we see the effects of it and feel the effects of it. And so it is with the grace of the Holy Spirit of the Lord, when it so comes and opens your eyes and causes you and me to meditate upon the word of God. [2:49] And we meditate upon the very centered, the one centered in the midst of it, Jesus Christ, the mighty Savior. We look to him and plead with him that he would favor us with that knowledge of himself. [3:05] One says, One says, To know my Jesus crucified, by far excels all things beside, or to be enabled to sing it such, and to quote it such feelingly, to be that vilest sinner out of hell that lives to feel his need, welcome to the throne of grace, the Savior's blood to plead, the eye of the Lord. [3:28] That eye of the Lord is upon you and me, and his face we read is against them that do evil. Or how we need the Lord to exercise us then into this walk and this conduct, which is approved of God. [3:48] Or how can poor sinners then do anything approved of God, only as he gives you grace to honor him. Them that honor me I will honor, they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed. [4:02] Lest favor then that the Lord should so have his eye, runneth to and fro through the whole of the earth, to see if there be any that do fear him. And you know that eye will alight unto those that fear his name. [4:16] Those that he has begun that work of grace in, those that he has quickened into life and made them tender in his fear. You know it never makes a man hard. [4:28] If the Lord so blesses you and me with grace, you'll be faithful, but it won't make you hard-hearted. We are exhorted to be kind and tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake has forgiven you. [4:43] Or we may be kind, but we need to be firm. We would not be sloppy, would we, in our religion and in our beliefs. We need to be faithful and understand by what God's word declares. [4:57] Oh, we should do it, dear friends, in that right spirit, the spirit of Christ. Or may these things that we are speaking, speak to oneself as well as you, dear friends. [5:09] For we would feel to need it. We know what it is to have a hard, natural heart, don't we? A carnal mind and enmity to God. But when the eye of the Lord is upon you, when we're conscious of him, when we're made aware that the God of heaven that rules amongst the armies of heaven and in the inhabitants of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say what doest that, when we realize the sovereignty of God, now we have, we cannot demand God's mercy, we cannot demand God's salvation, we cannot demand anything in providence from God. [5:49] Well, we're not deserving of anything. Such is our sin, and our sins against light and knowledge. But it's his kindness, his mercy, which is new every morning, his faithfulness, that supplies your every temporal need. [6:05] And you may feel, well, I'm in great need still. Yes, and you will be. There'll be something in our lives if he favors you in one thing, abundantly favors you in one thing, you'll find some other thing that is a thorn in the flesh or a burden to you. [6:23] Because the Lord is not going to let you and me have two heavens. We have favors, and the Lord gives you and me richly all things to enjoy, but not to covet, not to worship, not to idolize. [6:39] And so there's a balancing of the clouds. And you know, sometimes we wonder whether there is a balancing of the clouds, because there seems to be so many adverse things against us. [6:52] And you cry out, you cry out in sheer desperation, feeling so, so much so that the heavens are as brass. [7:03] Your prayers don't seem to get beyond the room you're in. And all you become so cast down and burdened, you wonder where the scene will end. It doesn't alter the fact, dear friends, the eye of the Lord is upon you. [7:18] He looks upon you. There's not one inhabitant in the world, but what the eye of God is upon. He sees sin. He sees the desecration of his day. [7:29] He sees the undermining of his holy laws. He sees the weakness of the flesh of man. But he knows it all, and he knows the devil's works and deeds and actions. [7:42] And it'll be thus far and no further. And oh, what a solemn time it is. We're ripening fast for his judgments in our land. But all but for the remnant. [7:54] What should the end of this nation and the nations of the earth be that had not those that fear his name in it? So what a mercy then that the eye of the Lord is open unto their cry. [8:09] The eye of the Lord is upon the righteous. Souls that are seeking righteousness. Souls that want to be made right and kept right. Souls that long to be redeemed by the blood of Christ. [8:21] That long to be living witnesses. To have something that they can honestly speak and say of. That came down from heaven and was applied to their heart. [8:34] We get oppressed, don't we? And cast down because we do not get that that we long for. We so know that we need to be made right and kept right. [8:44] We so know that we must have our sins pardoned and blotted out and washed away. And we know that the Lord alone can do it in and of his own strength and his almighty power. [8:58] But when will thou come, Lord, is often the cry of the child of God. The eye of the Lord. Oh, what an omniscient eye. And what a mercy it is so. [9:08] The Lord is upon them. He knows your heart. He knows your sins. He knows your lusts of the flesh. And are you to make you conscious of those lusts of the flesh and that pride of life. [9:20] And he'll wean you from it. He'll wean you from the things of the world. He'll wean you from worldly friends. Worldly acquaintances. Oh, it'll be, you know, you have worldly acquaintances and they become become your friends in a right sense in the fact that they're you use them as contacts and in your business or in your callings or neighbors even where you do good unto all men, but especially the household of faith, your license to do that. [9:55] Oh, there's a there's a drawing of a line, isn't there? A thus far and no farther where we meet with those of the world. We see the difference. [10:06] See the difference. I was only speaking to one's dear one at the weekend about this. We see the difference of the upbringing of those in the world and those of the upbringing under the sound of the truth. [10:23] Though they may not have grace, but there's a difference, friends. And all you're feeling, you'll be conscious of it, to ask for the old paths and standing in the old ways, that narrow way. [10:38] And there's one minister was speaking to me in the week about what another late minister said. The way gets narrower and I get weaker. And so it is. [10:50] We're true believers in Christ. How soon we can get swallowed up with the things of this time state. You know, the Lord, the eye of the Lord is upon us. [11:01] And all how we need much grace. It behoves us to walk worthy of him. So you see, you know, there's also the dealings of God with this in your darkness, in your bondage, in your many trials. [11:18] Is there not a cause? Is there not a cause difference? Is there not an all-wise purpose in God bringing us into this foul deathliness and into this seeming famine of hearing his voice? [11:38] Do you still keep you alive? Do you still keep you waiting? And this will be an exercise of a true child of God daily. [11:50] Lord, do grant me that real repentance. Do grant me that my heart might be made tender. That I might be very exercised. [12:01] Yes, and as I said this morning, speaking to others, you can be exercised in your soul as to the words that proceed even from your mouth and also your eye up into heaven. [12:14] Lord, do deliver me from worldly fashions, from worldly habits, from even worldly sayings that bring shame and reproach upon the name of Christ. [12:28] Solemn responsibility to be a believer and a so-called Christian, isn't there? Solemn responsibility of us to let our light shine, let our light shine in the world. [12:44] Not opening your mouth and wearing your religion on your sleeve with I love Jesus badges and all that nonsense. But your dealings, your conversation, not be left to be carried away with those ungodly conversations of wicked. [13:02] Lord, keep me, Lord, keep me, you say. And so you see the solemn responsibility and there are times when we find ourselves perhaps saying something that we regret afterwards and you know you hasten to the throne of grace and confess, Lord, do forgive my ungodly conversation that sometimes seems to come out when unexpected. [13:28] And the devil laughs, doesn't he? Oh, the devil loves to see a child of God uttering those things which are not convenient. [13:39] We're all, we're exhorted, aren't we, to be holy in all manner of conversation. Oh, do these things ever search you? They do me. And I believe that in these things we have to cry unto the Lord daily and daily to confess our sins. [13:58] And you may think in your own mind, well, I'll be very much guarded, more guarded another time when I have to do business in deep waters. [14:10] Oh, Lord, do keep me. May I see thy wonderful works. And do, Lord, deliver me from men of the world. You feel sometimes they'll undermine you. They're bringing you to nothing. [14:23] Oh, how they seem to be so powerful, so strong, so powerful. Why, we read this afternoon, spreading themselves as a green bay tree and all you feel so barren, don't you? [14:38] The Lord's silent, still this green bay tree spreading itself before you. And what of you and what power have you against it? Wicked men. [14:50] Wicked men on either hand. And you wonder sometimes how can you stand against such power? Almighty God. [15:01] Oh, if God before you, friends, who can be against you? The eye of the Lord is upon you. He knows your trembling, fearful heart before man. And oh, he's able to deliver you and bring you through. [15:14] Has he not then in his sovereign mercy brought you through hitherto? You've been enabled at times to raise that Ebenezer, do his praise. [15:25] To deliver your soul from death. To deliver your soul from all those deathly, wicked characters around you that make you wonder, make you wonder, is there anything in my religion? [15:38] Why is it that all these things go out against me? Why is it that I am brought into such situations where it seems that the whole world is against me and my plans and my schemes to do right that is in my side? [15:57] Oh, and you have to realize continually, don't you, the more you go on, how weak is my flesh? Oh, the spirits, and then through mercy, the Lord in his favor towards you, blesses you with a deliverance. [16:17] He blesses you with a deliverance quite unexpectedly. He makes that way of escape for you. Oh, you see, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him. [16:29] He's upon you in your present difficult situation, but he knows the future. He knows the end from the beginning. And he will never fail nor forsake them that honor him. [16:41] So we have to pray, don't we, daily? Lord, give me more grace. Do, Lord, give me more faith and raise up a hope in my heart that I shall yet overcome. [16:53] It's upon them then that hope in his mercy. This is it, isn't it? His mercy, his mercy to you and for you alone. [17:06] You hope in it. My hope is built upon nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus' name. [17:20] You know, you don't fight your own battles. You think you will, don't you? You make your plans and you're scheme. You know what it is to lie awake at night. The devil seems to roar at you in the night. [17:33] He does me. Puts all manner of thoughts into my mind of what might happen. And it hasn't. And the Lord, as you wake in the morning, you say, why was I so full of unbelief in the night? [17:49] You know, also the Lord comes again in the night and you reflect upon these things in your pathway. And you know, sometimes when you're in that night season where you have to groan, don't you? [18:03] His eyes upon you in your night, do you know? The day and the night and the darkness and the light are both alike under him. He knoweth Ephraim. [18:14] Oh, what a word that is, friends. He knoweth Ephraim. He knows the weaknesses of Ephraim. He knows the power of the devil against Ephraim. [18:27] And he remembereth. He remembereth we are but dust. Oh, individual that you may seem to be unworthy of his notice insignificant in your life and in the world. [18:41] But the eye of the Lord is upon you. And you felt it and been persuaded of it at times. Well, now it's going to be tried. Night season work. [18:53] All those night seasons on the pillow when you groan being burdened, when you're tossed to and fro and you literally tossed to and fro in your feelings. [19:05] Can't sleep. You know, there was a certain king. There was a certain king in that night could not the king sleep. Because it was a time used of God to deliver another character that was in danger of losing his life. [19:26] You see the wonders of it as you read in that book of Esther. God's hand in it. And so it is those nights that you could not sleep. [19:38] You're not a king. Or far from it. You're a worm of the earth. You're no man. When that devil comes and tempts you and torments you as to what's going to happen and appear in your life. [19:50] And so it's all to make you and me more and more sick of self and more dependent upon him who alone has his eye upon you and you hope in his mercy. [20:04] You pray, Lord, be merciful to me a sinner to deliver my soul from death. To deliver my soul from this present situation that I am in that seems to bring such darkness and despair into my soul. [20:23] And you cry the more unto the Lord and you look to him to come and bless you with that help that is needful at this time. [20:35] Oh, Lord, you say, do make that crooked thing straight. Do make a way for me where there seems to be no way. Do set before me an open door that no man can shut and guide and direct me through that door. [20:53] Now, there is a way that seemeth right unto a man. How many religious folk and in their sincerity they're in a way that seemeth right but the end thereof are the ways of death, the ways of death, real death, drop into hell at last. [21:13] Now, this death that it speaks of here, as we said this morning and have said and hinted this afternoon, is the pathway of darkness. David was brought there when he said, why art thou cast down, O my soul? [21:31] Hope thou in God, hope thou in God. you see, there's that conversation that goes on between the living soul and the natural mind. [21:45] You see, inspired by the spirit, it's hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him, I shall yet praise him. And you live to praise him. [21:58] Bless his holy name, you live to praise him. And then when you live to praise him, so you go on. And so it's tried again. Because the Lord will try the righteous, try those souls who he hath redeemed with his precious blood, he'll try them to the quick. [22:18] But it's to prove all things, isn't it, and hold fast to that as good. He'll never fail you. I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. [22:32] Now this is a blessed favor, isn't it, to know that this God is your God, the eye of the Lord is upon you. And he'll deliver your soul from death because you hope in his mercy. [22:45] There's no mercy for man, is there? Or in this present evil day that we live in evil men and seduce us waxing worse and worse, you know all men are corrupt, aren't they? [22:59] But for almighty grace there would go you and I, the temptations that are put in the way of man and they fall under them. No matter men in high office, they fall under them. [23:13] They submit to some wall of the devil and they know not it is the devil. And all there's that seeming to they have no thought or consideration one for another. [23:27] But what a mercy if the Lord is on their side. Then here turn your captivity, friends. Here turn your captivity. You'll be like them that dream. [23:41] The psalmist says that when the captivity of his people was turned, they were like them that dream. Now sometimes we are brought there up, we were like those that dream. [23:55] Such, you cannot believe it, the things that God has done for you. Oh, in your deliverance, you were in captivity, you were in darkness, you were in as a dead man. [24:07] As the psalmist speaks of, I am forgotten as a dead man out of mind, I am like a broken vessel. I have heard the slander of many, fear was on every side, while they took counsel together against me, they devised to take away my life, but I trusted in thee, O Lord, I said, thou art my God. [24:30] My times are in thy hand. Oh, this blessed language of the psalmist, do you good, you know, won't it, at times when the Lord so makes it to stand out before you. [24:41] And remember this, that he is the same. I am the Lord, I change not, therefore ye sons of Jacob and Occhus, you, so you hope in his mercy. [24:56] And it's my soul, wait there, wait there only upon God, for my expectation is from him, from him. And so we bless God, that the Lord is the Savior. [25:11] you, but I trusted in thee. And so you trust in him for his faithfulness, in helping you through this wilderness world, delivering you from all those fears, his watchful loving care over and round about his people as a wall of fire, and he the God, the glory in the midst. [25:32] So, why art thou cast out? Hope. Hope, you see, tribulation, a tribulation that we shall be given grace to glory in. [25:46] If we were not brought into certain situations, we should not really know what it was to cry unto God for mercy. You've had trials. The Lord tried the righteous. [25:57] Now, trials make the promise sweet. Trials give new life to prayer. Trials bring us to his feet to lay us low and keep us there. And all we have to pray daily to be kept there, don't we? [26:09] And kept by the power of God, kept unspotted in this present evil world. Not to be over, over friendly with the world, but to be kind and to be courteous. [26:23] And beyond that, dear friends, to be on your watch tower, to be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God. [26:36] You see, we seldom see the snare. Before we shall feel the smart of it, be on your watch tower, friends. Be watchful unto prayer continually. When you meet with those in the world, with those whom you meet day by day, pray to daily be kept by the power of God. [26:56] God's heart, the Lord to be your shield and your reward, your guardian and your guide. You say, how can these things be? [27:07] Because all men's hearts are in God's hands. That's how you're protected, that's how you're preserved, and that's how they're restrained and how they ever will be, from touching God's anointed. [27:19] Or how we do need the Lord then, to ever keep us. You can be touched, can't you, by the tongue, touched by man. [27:31] And when we think of the dreadful, the dreadful events that are taking place in this land, where we have denied God's commandment, thou shalt not kill, thou shalt not kill. [27:45] And it goes on, dear friends, which seeming without restriction, that the Lord reigns. What a mercy that the Lord will be as a wall of fire round about you. [27:58] He has these men's hearts in his hands to preserve you from harm. Or may you prove it, dear friends, may you prove it. And so to be cared, and to deliver your soul from this felt bondage and captivity. [28:17] He's ascended on high, he's led captive, and he captive, he's received gifts of men, yea, for the rebellious also, that Lord God might dwell among them. Now, your trials, your trials that you encounter, they give new life to prayer. [28:35] They bring you to his feet to lay you low and keep you there, humbly waiting upon your God to renew your strength in fighting that good fight of faith that you might lay hold on eternal life. [28:48] No change with God is there. Change and decay all around I see, but thou who changes not, abide with me. So the Lord will be inquired of by his dear people when they're feeling this death and darkness upon them and to keep them alive in family. [29:09] You may have been longing for days, months, and years to receive a crumb that may fall from his table. Well, go on longing, go on waiting, go on pleading, begging, knocking, asking, seeking, and knocking that you might yet receive the blessing. [29:29] Because the Lord has promised, and what he has promised, he is able to perform and fulfill in the desire of the righteous. And we would look unto him that he might lighten that darkness. [29:42] And he will keep your soul alive, keep it alive, keep the exercise, debbs and flows, the eye of faith becomes very, very dim. [29:54] But rest thou on Jesus, sink or swim, and at the footstool bow the knee, for Israel's God thy peace shall be. We tried to speak last Lord's Day, that he's peckened from the peace be unto you, Jesus, stood in the midst, my peace. [30:15] And this is that peace of God that passeth all knowledge of understanding, that it says, let not your heart be troubled. We have troubled hearts, don't we, as an exercised soul. [30:28] We have little faith that when we need it, but a mercy to have a spark of living faith, you know, it'll spring up, that living faith. [30:38] and you see, like this, this great bay tree, like the, we read of this afternoon concerning it, that, you see, I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree, yet he passed away, and lo, he was not, yea, I sought him, but he could not be found. [31:09] You see, he passed away, the Lord took him out of your way, the Lord is able to make a way for you, for you, take that thing, that person that oppresses you, that tries you, that even tempts you, he's able to take them out of the way, what a mercy it is so, that the Lord is your keeper. [31:37] Christ is the keeper of his saints, he guards them by his power, now that power is not in a physical sense, as you may view it, but it is by the eye of faith, the Lord has almighty power, the working of the spirit, the steps of the man, the good man, his ways, in other words, ordered by the Lord, so what a mercy that the Lord does reign, and what a mercy to have faith, to believe what his word declares unto us, that his eyes upon us, and his ear is open unto our cries, to deliver you from the wicked, and to keep your feet, and keep you unspotted, and it'll be a constant exercise, to be very watchful, to watch ye, stand fast, quit ye, and be like men, it is to be strong, in the faith of [32:37] God's elect, as the Lord strengthens your weak hands of faith, gives power to you, and blesses you with that living faith to wait for the Lord, for proving he is our help and our shield, and his shield is spread over every saint, and thus supported, who shall faint, these things that we speak, we believe in, but oh, it's walking them out, isn't it, it's wading in the depths, and through the fiery trials, so, Paul wasn't able to say, I glory in tribulations, for tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not a shame, because the love of God is shed abroad, in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, and this, this patience, that you are in need of, for you need a patience, that after you've done the will of God, you may receive the promise, the will of God then, is that you have patience, and that you'll wait upon him, and wait for him, to tarry you here, in the city of Jerusalem, until you be endued with power on high, remembering that a thousand years is a day, and a day is a thousand years to the [34:07] Lord, but there is a set time, an appointed time, of love, when he will come, when he will come to those that fear him, the seat of the Lord, Phil Pot says this morning, or read of, he says, the seat of the Lord is with them that fear him, with them, the secrets, the secret that he reveals to them, that is not revealed to the worldly, they hear his voice, they come and declare what he has done for their soul, they speak often one to another, they speak unto him, as they have been quickened by the spirit, he reveals to them his secrets, he shows them his word, and he unfolds to them the mystery of his word, and the entrance of his word, he giveth light, and giveth understanding to their poor simple hearts, and they bless God for it, and he showers down those tokens of his everlasting love to them, so you know you may feel to have been forgotten as a dead man out of mind, like a broken vessel, but the [35:21] Lord was on your side, but I trusted in thee, O Lord, he had faith to trust, though a broken vessel, though sometimes feared to be crushed before the moth, yet God's mercies were such that he had not forsaken, for whom the Lord loveth, whom the Lord loves, he never leaves, but loves them to the end, so bless God if there's a hope in your heart that he has touched you with a token of his love, he has blessed you with real repentance and godly sorrow for sin, hold fast to it, hold fast to that faith of God's elect, hold fast to those promises, hold fast to those things that you have heard, and you have kept locked up in your soul, well you know the day will declare it, whether we are vessels of honour or vessels of dishonour, now vessels of honour will be as brass and as gold and silver, but the vessels of dishonour will be of wood high and stubborn and will be burnt up in the fires, you know when they're brought into these fiery trials, the Lord's dear people will be brought through, but those that have a name to live and are dead will come to nothing, how vital then that the spirit of the Lord be upon you and me to anoint us with that heavenly eye, sir, that the eye of the Lord might be revealed to us as looking upon us in mercy and in pity, to redeem your soul from the curse of the law, and so our desires will be to look upon him whom we appeased, to have that real revelation of the Son of [37:18] God dying in our room place instead and looking unto Jesus, it's look to Jesus kind and strong, mercy, the joy with power, he's kind and he's strong, he's a faithful God, you know, he was very faithful and very discriminating in his words, but unto you that fear my name, unto you that have been taught the fear of the Lord, it'll be an unctuous light to all that's right to you, a part of all that's wrong, and you'll be kept, though he fall, yes, he may for a season, may for a season be brought there where you yield to some temptation, you don't fully fall as an unregenerate sinner, but you may feel to be brought into some temptation, he shall not be utterly cast down, we don't want to fall from grace, do we, may the [38:24] Lord ever preserve us from falling from grace, you may backslide a little, you may backslide a little, but you will not utterly fall, not be utterly cast down into the depths of those willful breaking of his commandments in your unregeneracy, never, I can never believe it friends, we may sin with our mouth, we shall to our dying day, and we shall have to pray to be weaned from those sins of word, and thought and doctrine, we shall be brought here, that we might feel the power of the Lord upholding us with his hand, and if the Lord upholds you with his hand, when you backslide, when you utter something that you regret you uttered, caught up in the web of the wicked, or it will bring grief upon your soul, to even have had an evil thought come into your mind, you have to confess it, but the [39:25] Lord will uphold you, the Lord will keep you, the Lord will preserve you, in your going out, in your coming in, and though you may seem to fall in a little measure, in your feelings, in your thoughts, it won't be in your deeds, because you know you will hate sin, and you will hate to bring shame and reproach upon the name of Christ, and it will be a continual exercise with you and me, Lord keep me, deliver me from the love of sinning, hear my prayer, give ear unto my cries, and be merciful to me, and don't leave me to follow in these worldly pursuits, but keep my feet and give me grace to feel thy hand is upholding me, and when the Lord leads you forth by the right way, it will be his word, will be a lamp unto your feet, and a light unto your path, the light in your darkness, [40:29] Lord do keep me there, do favour me with that help of thy spirit, do teach me ever to fear thy name, don't leave me to be ashamed of that name, for this is the name the father loves to hear his children plead, all such pleadings he approves, and blesses them indeed, Lord then, grant me thy counsel, grant me thy help, grant me thy grace, grant me to set that right example in the world, of a true humble believer, that would walk ever in thy fear, and may I be cared, and do be my refuge and my strength and a very present help in my time of trouble, now to deliver your soul from death, there is that grace to fear him and hope in his mercy, to deliver your soul from going down the pit, to deliver your soul from those fears, because why those fears behold is [41:34] Jesus, holds the helm and guides the ship, the hand of the Lord, oh what a mercy that his hand is as a lamp unto your feet, he leads you forth by the right way, exercises your mind under godliness, and you pray daily, Lord undertake for me, keep me unspotted, don't lead me to worldly fashions and habits, how soon may they become a snare to me, and do give me Lord that grace, and that strength, and that power, and that mighty hand of thy, to bring me to Calvary, and to see what thou hast done, on Calvary's tree, to redeem my wretched unworthy soul from the curse of God in all eternity, you see, the blessing of the Lord will make you rich, never mind earthly riches, dear friends, [42:38] God is able to supply your every need providentially, we sometimes wonder how, don't we, we get very tempted and tried, how we are going to make ends meet, or you want to hold fast, don't you, but you know God is able to do far more exceeding abundantly for you, above all that you can ask or think, he has promised to supply the needs of his people, to them that honour him, Lord give me grace and faith that trust in me, who art that sovereign rule of the skies, ever gracious, ever wise, and all my times are in thy hands, all events that I command, Lord do deliver myself from death, and do keep alive my soul in this famine of hearing of the word of life, and the Lord you know will never fail nor forsake his dear chosen people, and as concerning this famine, the Lord knoweth the days of the upright and their inheritance shall be forever, they shall not be ashamed in the evil time, and in the days of famine, they shall be satisfied, he satisfieth the poor with living bread, you know all this notion of emotional religion and preaching too, you know so called, it'll never satisfy a longing soul, may tickle the fancy, please the natural mind, but it's the spirit, it's the spirit alone that will grant you to be satisfied, even the days of famine, because the [44:26] Lord knoweth your frame, he knoweth where you are, he knows you are but dust, he knows that you need deliverance, and so he will come and grant you to be satisfied, one day you'll be satisfied, when you awaken his likeness, because he has opened up a new and a living way for sinners such as you and me, the wicked shall perish, the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs, they shall consume, into smoke shall they consume away, the wicked borroweth and payeth not again, but the righteous showeth mercy and giveth, for such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth, and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off, death, so what a mercy to have that good hope through grace that you're one of these who have designed the Lord, but order your footsteps by his word, Lord keep my feet and keep me patiently waiting and knocking upon mercy's door, that they will yet show me a token, yet bless me with that needful pardon of my sins and the assurance of heaven, and to know that he has made, my heaven secure, he that has made my heaven secure will hear all good provide, while Christ is rich, [45:53] I can't be poor, what can I want beside, poor and needy in soul, yes, you may feel to be poor and needy in circumstances, has the Lord seen you forsaken, and begging bread, not a man has he, you've been a beggar, poor at mercy's door, and we shall be, if not providentially, spiritually, but if we are truly those that fear God, we should commit providence and grace unto him, and seek that he would undertake for us, but leave us not neither forsake us, but lead us to Calvary, and be favored to have that fountain open for sin and uncleanness, revealed to us and applied to ourselves, those precious promises, that he will not behold iniquity in Israel, or the Lord, you know, alone is able to do this, and so we would bless him for his counsel, [46:56] Lord, you say, then come here like this to the throne of grace, Lord, do show me what I am to do, every hour my strength renewed, teach me to do thy will, leave me in a plain path because of mine enemies, and bless thine own word, and apply with power to me, that I might clearly be shown the way wherein they would have me to walk and still lead off, to live with their soul from death, and to keep them alive in their babbid, you hear then to approval, you wait to hear for profit, and the Lord will teach you for profit, even in adversity, to bring you yet that day of prosperity, for the Lord will prosper them, I believe that fear him, and honor him, and serve him with reverence and godly fear, now the Lord says, our soul waiteth for the Lord, and it is the inspired word of God that puts it there, he is our help and our shield for our health, our hearts shall rejoice in him, there is a time when you will rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name, or to be given faith then, as I believe some of you have, and desire to have your weak hands of faith strengthened, he will yet enable you and me to rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name, let thy mercy, [48:37] O Lord, be upon us according as we hope in thee, now that good hope, dear friends, through grace, and all may you yet prove to be more than a conqueror through him, that has loved you and washed you from your sins, in his own precious blood, give you grace first to acknowledge your sin with a sense of a broken heart and contrition of spirit, and then through mercy for him to forgive the iniquity of your sin, and blot as a thick cloud your transgressions and your sins as a cloud, and when the end comes, when the end comes to hear that voice, come thou blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from before the foundation of the world, to enter into heaven with that great blessed deliverance from all your sins, to enter into his gates with praise and his courts with thanksgiving, into that new heaven and that new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness. [49:49] Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy, to deliver their soul from death and to keep them alive in famine. [50:00] The Lord forgive all amaze and bless his own world. Amen.