1 00:00:03,320 --> 00:00:05,960 Welcome to the Liberty Baptist Sermon Archives. 2 00:00:06,200 --> 00:00:09,040 The message you're about to hear was preached at Liberty Baptist 3 00:00:09,040 --> 00:00:13,040 Church in Easton, MA. You can find out more about us 4 00:00:13,040 --> 00:00:17,120 or contact us at mylibertybaptist.org or just 5 00:00:17,120 --> 00:00:19,760 look us up on Facebook. And now we hope that this 6 00:00:19,760 --> 00:00:22,080 message from God's Word will be a blessing to you. 7 00:00:24,560 --> 00:00:27,040 Psalm 119. We're going to look at 2 verses 8 00:00:27,040 --> 00:00:31,720 here tonight from this portion of the scripture in the, the 9 00:00:31,720 --> 00:00:33,440 message does come from these two verses. 10 00:00:33,440 --> 00:00:37,040 Not typical of how I would normally preach, which would be 11 00:00:37,160 --> 00:00:39,240 dealing with one passage in particular. 12 00:00:39,720 --> 00:00:43,040 But we're going to see these verses illustrated in Acts 13 00:00:43,040 --> 00:00:47,480 chapter 4 in just a moment. So I want you to notice verse 67 14 00:00:48,680 --> 00:00:51,400 and verse 71. So we'll read 1. 15 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:54,120 We'll skip down a few. Psalm 119. 16 00:00:54,960 --> 00:01:04,599 Verse 67 The psalmist writes here, before I was afflicted I 17 00:01:04,599 --> 00:01:10,120 went astray, but now have I kept thy word. 18 00:01:11,000 --> 00:01:19,760 Verse 71 It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I 19 00:01:19,760 --> 00:01:24,160 might learn thy statutes. I want you to think about this 20 00:01:24,160 --> 00:01:27,760 question tonight as we move forward in the in God's word. 21 00:01:28,320 --> 00:01:31,120 How is affliction good for God's people? 22 00:01:31,840 --> 00:01:37,560 How on earth, how on earth in your life is affliction good for 23 00:01:38,040 --> 00:01:39,400 you? I want you to think about that 24 00:01:39,400 --> 00:01:42,160 tonight and you can be seated, please. 25 00:01:47,410 --> 00:01:49,890 Affliction. What is affliction? 26 00:01:51,360 --> 00:01:54,280 Affliction could probably be defined in this manner. 27 00:01:54,280 --> 00:01:58,920 It would be circumstances involving pain, emotional or 28 00:01:58,920 --> 00:02:05,360 spiritual or physical. Affliction is anxiety, trouble, 29 00:02:05,560 --> 00:02:10,720 stress, or it could be the state of experiencing pressure or 30 00:02:10,720 --> 00:02:16,320 persecution from without or self-inflicted affliction, 31 00:02:16,640 --> 00:02:19,960 foolish, living, sinful, living affliction. 32 00:02:20,280 --> 00:02:25,480 We saw this word in these two verses tonight, verses 67 and 33 00:02:25,480 --> 00:02:29,560 71, and we can find this word and several other places in the 34 00:02:29,560 --> 00:02:31,400 Word of God. Affliction. 35 00:02:31,760 --> 00:02:36,720 Know this tonight that affliction of itself is not 36 00:02:36,720 --> 00:02:38,960 good. I think we would all agree with 37 00:02:38,960 --> 00:02:44,320 that, and we would believe that affliction alone by itself is 38 00:02:44,320 --> 00:02:48,480 not good. Anxiety, pressure, stress, 39 00:02:49,760 --> 00:02:54,600 mistreatment of of towards you or a poor decision, sinful 40 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:58,280 decisions in your life that reap consequences is not good. 41 00:02:58,280 --> 00:03:03,640 But God, the one who's sovereign and providential over the 42 00:03:03,640 --> 00:03:06,240 affairs of the lives of his children. 43 00:03:06,800 --> 00:03:11,960 But God is not limited in being able to use affliction to work 44 00:03:11,960 --> 00:03:16,040 for our overall spiritual success if he is in the 45 00:03:16,040 --> 00:03:20,120 equation. If Christ is in your life, God 46 00:03:20,120 --> 00:03:24,440 is not restricted from taking your affliction and as Romans 47 00:03:24,440 --> 00:03:30,160 828 says, using it for good. And that good is always Christ 48 00:03:30,160 --> 00:03:33,000 likeness. And so I want us to turn our 49 00:03:33,000 --> 00:03:37,360 attention to Acts chapter 4, Acts chapter 4. 50 00:03:37,360 --> 00:03:41,040 And I want us to look at a group of people who experienced first 51 00:03:41,040 --> 00:03:46,240 hand how their affliction came with God's grace. 52 00:03:46,560 --> 00:03:48,360 That's the title of the message tonight. 53 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:54,920 Afflictions come with grace. Afflictions come with grace. 54 00:03:55,360 --> 00:04:01,120 Let's pray our Father in heaven, your people have gathered here 55 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:03,640 tonight. Not for me. 56 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:07,840 They've gathered here tonight to fellowship with one another in 57 00:04:07,840 --> 00:04:12,040 Jesus name and to come under the influence of the Word of God, 58 00:04:12,440 --> 00:04:16,240 who is our Lord Jesus Christ, so that we might go out into a 59 00:04:16,240 --> 00:04:20,880 world here in a moment and to continue being salt and light in 60 00:04:20,880 --> 00:04:23,480 our homes and our communities and on the job. 61 00:04:24,320 --> 00:04:28,200 I pray, O dear God, Holy Spirit, that you would meet the need of 62 00:04:28,200 --> 00:04:32,160 your people here tonight and that your word would speak and 63 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:34,720 that your word would change hearts and encourage the 64 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:38,400 believer tonight. I do thank you for this moment. 65 00:04:38,600 --> 00:04:41,200 I do thank you for the Word of God, which is a lamp unto my 66 00:04:41,200 --> 00:04:45,560 feet and a light unto my path. The Word of God that spoke the 67 00:04:45,840 --> 00:04:49,600 earth into existence, that reveals who you are to us. 68 00:04:49,600 --> 00:04:53,640 The Word of God that reveals who we are, The Word of God Jesus 69 00:04:53,640 --> 00:04:57,800 Christ, who brings us to you and sanctifies you and will take us 70 00:04:57,800 --> 00:05:01,360 all the way home. And so, Lord, this is your 71 00:05:01,360 --> 00:05:05,400 moment to speak with your people in Jesus name, Amen. 72 00:05:07,440 --> 00:05:12,800 In Acts chapter 4, the membership of the church at 73 00:05:12,800 --> 00:05:19,040 Jerusalem illustrates how their affliction was used for their 74 00:05:19,040 --> 00:05:21,440 spiritual success. So to give some context to the 75 00:05:21,440 --> 00:05:25,480 verses we'll read in a moment, the apostles from the church at 76 00:05:25,480 --> 00:05:29,720 Jerusalem were being persecuted. They were being afflicted for 77 00:05:29,720 --> 00:05:32,400 what? For obeying God's will, for 78 00:05:32,400 --> 00:05:36,240 declaring Christ. In verse 3, which we will not 79 00:05:36,240 --> 00:05:39,760 read, we would see that verse 3 tells us that Peter and John, 80 00:05:40,280 --> 00:05:44,360 these two apostles, they were arrested for preaching Christ. 81 00:05:44,720 --> 00:05:49,320 And then in down in verses 17 and 18 of Acts 4, these verses 82 00:05:49,320 --> 00:05:53,720 inform us that before they were released from jail, the 83 00:05:53,840 --> 00:05:58,200 establishment of Jerusalem threatened them with future 84 00:05:58,200 --> 00:06:02,640 arrest should they continue to publicly preach Christ. 85 00:06:03,000 --> 00:06:05,360 I would say that this is an affliction. 86 00:06:06,920 --> 00:06:08,040 Would you? Yeah. 87 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:13,400 OK, so the apostles were after further declaring Christ, they 88 00:06:13,400 --> 00:06:16,720 gathered with their church, which is a proper response. 89 00:06:16,760 --> 00:06:21,320 After they were threatened, they and further declared Christ, 90 00:06:21,560 --> 00:06:25,640 they went and gathered with their church and reported the 91 00:06:25,640 --> 00:06:28,920 affliction that they came under, that they were arrested and then 92 00:06:29,160 --> 00:06:31,560 that they were before they were released, they were threatened. 93 00:06:31,560 --> 00:06:34,400 If they continue to preach Christ, they would be arrested 94 00:06:34,400 --> 00:06:39,000 again, or else. And so this brings us to Acts 95 00:06:39,000 --> 00:06:43,080 chapter 4 and verse 23. I want us to notice the details 96 00:06:43,080 --> 00:06:48,760 of verses 23 through 34 as these two church members gather with 97 00:06:48,760 --> 00:06:51,400 the church and tell them what happened to them. 98 00:06:51,880 --> 00:06:57,640 Verse 23, in being let go, they went to their own company. 99 00:06:57,640 --> 00:07:01,360 That would be their group of disciples, their very own local 100 00:07:01,360 --> 00:07:05,040 church in Jerusalem, and reported all that the chief 101 00:07:05,040 --> 00:07:07,240 priests and elders had said unto them. 102 00:07:08,360 --> 00:07:11,840 And when they heard that, when the church heard that, they 103 00:07:11,840 --> 00:07:14,480 lifted up their voice to God with 1 accord. 104 00:07:14,480 --> 00:07:18,200 In other words, when they heard this news from these two fellow 105 00:07:18,200 --> 00:07:23,240 brothers in Christ, they prayed. They prayed as a church and 106 00:07:23,240 --> 00:07:29,360 said, This Lord, thou art God, which has made heaven and earth 107 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:33,480 and the sea, and all that in them is who by the mouth of thy 108 00:07:33,480 --> 00:07:36,960 servant David has said, Why did the heathen rage, and the people 109 00:07:36,960 --> 00:07:40,720 imagine vain things? The kings of the earth stood up, 110 00:07:40,720 --> 00:07:43,800 and the rulers were gathered together against the Lord and 111 00:07:43,800 --> 00:07:47,960 against his Christ. For of a truth against thy holy 112 00:07:47,960 --> 00:07:51,120 child Jesus, whom thou has anointed. 113 00:07:51,400 --> 00:07:54,880 Both Herod and Pontius Pilate with the Gentiles and the people 114 00:07:55,080 --> 00:08:00,720 of Israel were gathered together for to do whatsoever thy hand 115 00:08:00,720 --> 00:08:03,400 and thy counsel determined before to be done. 116 00:08:04,160 --> 00:08:07,600 And now, Lord, behold their threatenings. 117 00:08:07,600 --> 00:08:12,880 So they were saying, God, you knew that Christ and His Church 118 00:08:12,880 --> 00:08:17,000 would be persecuted. And here it is, it's happening. 119 00:08:17,520 --> 00:08:22,320 They're saying this to the Lord. Verse 29 And now Lord, behold 120 00:08:22,320 --> 00:08:27,160 their threatenings, and grant unto thy servants us the church, 121 00:08:28,200 --> 00:08:32,159 that with all boldness they may speak thy word. 122 00:08:32,159 --> 00:08:39,240 Give this to continue to give this to Peter and John boldness 123 00:08:41,080 --> 00:08:44,200 by stretching forth thine hand to heal, and that signs and 124 00:08:44,200 --> 00:08:47,440 wonders may be done by the by the name of the holy Child 125 00:08:47,520 --> 00:08:49,960 Jesus. They said, Amen. 126 00:08:50,760 --> 00:08:55,960 Verse 31 Here's what happened. And when they had prayed, the 127 00:08:55,960 --> 00:08:59,760 place was shaken where they were assembled together, and they 128 00:08:59,760 --> 00:09:02,800 were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake the word 129 00:09:02,800 --> 00:09:06,440 with of God with boldness. And the multitude of them that 130 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:09,360 believed were of 1 accord and of one soul. 131 00:09:09,840 --> 00:09:12,520 Neither said any of them that ought of the things which he 132 00:09:12,520 --> 00:09:15,720 possessed was his own. But they had all things common. 133 00:09:15,720 --> 00:09:20,400 They loved each other, and with great power gave the apostles 134 00:09:20,400 --> 00:09:22,560 witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. 135 00:09:22,560 --> 00:09:26,080 And catch this tonight, Church, this phrase at the end of verse 136 00:09:26,080 --> 00:09:30,920 33. And great grace was upon them 137 00:09:30,920 --> 00:09:33,360 all. Neither was there any among them 138 00:09:33,360 --> 00:09:36,400 that lacked for any. For many, as were possessors of 139 00:09:36,400 --> 00:09:40,480 lands or houses, sold them, and brought the prices of the things 140 00:09:41,480 --> 00:09:45,640 that were sold. Nowhere in Acts chapter 4 is it 141 00:09:45,640 --> 00:09:50,560 recorded that the members of the church complained about what was 142 00:09:50,560 --> 00:09:52,920 now their affliction. You said that their affliction, 143 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:55,920 I thought it was Peter and John who were afflicted. 144 00:09:56,120 --> 00:10:00,440 No, catch this tonight. That when the Peter and John 145 00:10:00,480 --> 00:10:03,880 came to their church and and made the affliction known to the 146 00:10:03,880 --> 00:10:07,160 church, the affliction became the burden of the church. 147 00:10:07,600 --> 00:10:10,960 The church had to bear this burden with the rest of the body 148 00:10:10,960 --> 00:10:14,600 of Christ, Peter and John. And so there is not recorded 149 00:10:14,600 --> 00:10:17,480 that they complained. Neither is it recorded that the 150 00:10:17,480 --> 00:10:21,920 church members plotted revenge against the establishment of 151 00:10:21,920 --> 00:10:25,320 Jerusalem. But what our passage does reveal 152 00:10:25,320 --> 00:10:31,120 is the church responded to their affliction with prayer to God. 153 00:10:31,640 --> 00:10:36,920 That's how they responded to all of this in verses 24 to 31. 154 00:10:37,400 --> 00:10:40,960 We saw here at the very beginning of their prayer that 155 00:10:40,960 --> 00:10:43,680 their prayer consisted of worship. 156 00:10:44,560 --> 00:10:48,040 Worship. They acknowledged the sovereign 157 00:10:48,600 --> 00:10:54,840 rule and Providence of God over the situation, not just over the 158 00:10:54,840 --> 00:10:58,240 situation of of people being arrested now and people being 159 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:01,960 threatened for preaching Christ, but the situation that now 160 00:11:01,960 --> 00:11:04,960 affects the church. They worshipped God. 161 00:11:04,960 --> 00:11:08,000 They acknowledged his sovereignty in verses 24 through 162 00:11:08,000 --> 00:11:12,960 31 and then in 29 and 30. They're praying then consisted 163 00:11:12,960 --> 00:11:18,200 of asking for Holy Spirit induced boldness to continue in 164 00:11:18,200 --> 00:11:20,400 the will of God. They didn't come to God and say 165 00:11:20,400 --> 00:11:25,160 Lord, make the affliction, make the persecution stop, make it go 166 00:11:25,160 --> 00:11:26,920 away. We don't, we don't want this 167 00:11:26,920 --> 00:11:28,880 anymore. May they never find us. 168 00:11:28,880 --> 00:11:31,320 May nobody ever be arrested again. 169 00:11:31,320 --> 00:11:35,040 That is not exactly what they said, but they asked for the 170 00:11:35,040 --> 00:11:41,200 Spirit's help to continue to do the will of God, which is to 171 00:11:41,560 --> 00:11:45,040 continuing to magnify Christ as a church. 172 00:11:45,040 --> 00:11:48,320 In other words, the church prayed according to God's will 173 00:11:48,800 --> 00:11:52,600 that Christ would continue to be exalted instead instead of 174 00:11:52,600 --> 00:12:00,840 subdued and and hushed. And so the Bible says some of 175 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:03,880 these famous words here in verse 33. 176 00:12:04,960 --> 00:12:10,000 And when they had prayed, and when they had prayed according 177 00:12:10,000 --> 00:12:13,240 to God's will that Christ would be glorified, that's always 178 00:12:13,240 --> 00:12:16,000 God's will, that we would be like Christ, that we would 179 00:12:16,000 --> 00:12:18,120 respond like Christ, that we would shine his lights for 180 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:22,960 Christ, that we would be savory and holy like Christ. 181 00:12:23,560 --> 00:12:27,520 When they had prayed according to God's will, the Bible says to 182 00:12:27,520 --> 00:12:34,960 us in verse at the end of verse 33, they experienced God's grace 183 00:12:35,880 --> 00:12:40,960 in a time of thriving as a church in spite of their 184 00:12:40,960 --> 00:12:43,960 affliction. This wasn't peacetime. 185 00:12:44,680 --> 00:12:48,520 This was in spite of their affliction, in spite of the the 186 00:12:48,560 --> 00:12:52,400 overshadowing threat that people could go spend time in jail or 187 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:55,600 prison or worse. What is grace? 188 00:12:56,080 --> 00:12:58,880 We do need to be reminded of this once in a while because 189 00:12:59,240 --> 00:13:06,000 even I can forget what grace is. Grace is God's power to do that 190 00:13:06,400 --> 00:13:09,560 which I cannot on my own to do that. 191 00:13:09,560 --> 00:13:11,640 What is the that the will of God. 192 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:18,200 Grace is God's power to do that which I cannot do on my own. 193 00:13:18,720 --> 00:13:22,160 God's will cannot be carried out on our own. 194 00:13:22,160 --> 00:13:26,040 Grace is an absolute must have you and I couldn't even come to 195 00:13:26,360 --> 00:13:28,920 to faith in the Lord Jesus Christ without the grace that 196 00:13:28,920 --> 00:13:31,760 comes through the gospel. And that is the will of God, 197 00:13:31,760 --> 00:13:33,600 that we come to Christ through the gospel. 198 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:37,000 And so is the rest of the Christian life lived out through 199 00:13:37,000 --> 00:13:41,240 the grace of God. And so grace was experienced by 200 00:13:41,240 --> 00:13:48,400 the church when they submitted to God's will, when they placed 201 00:13:48,840 --> 00:13:54,440 faith in the plan of God, which was to declare Christ, to 202 00:13:54,440 --> 00:13:58,000 magnify Christ, to start churches where Christ can be 203 00:13:58,000 --> 00:14:01,160 declared and magnified and in effect and change people's 204 00:14:01,160 --> 00:14:05,800 lives. But when we don't come to God in 205 00:14:05,800 --> 00:14:11,160 our affliction, we will fail to experience the grace that God 206 00:14:11,160 --> 00:14:14,640 can give in our affliction. When we don't come to the Lord 207 00:14:14,640 --> 00:14:17,680 in our affliction, we are the ones who will miss out on what 208 00:14:17,840 --> 00:14:23,600 God can enable us to do if we did not come to Him so. 209 00:14:23,600 --> 00:14:28,000 But with this church, grace produced boldness within the 210 00:14:28,000 --> 00:14:31,080 membership to function according to God's plan. 211 00:14:31,240 --> 00:14:34,680 And again, God's plan was that they would preach Jesus Christ 212 00:14:34,680 --> 00:14:37,960 and that they would fellowship in ministry and in prayer 213 00:14:37,960 --> 00:14:41,520 together, and that they would continue in the Great 214 00:14:41,520 --> 00:14:45,440 Commission. This church experienced the 215 00:14:45,440 --> 00:14:49,320 boldness that only the grace of Almighty God can produce. 216 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:56,120 So how was affliction good for God's people in the Church of 217 00:14:56,120 --> 00:14:59,880 Jerusalem? Well, God providentially used 218 00:14:59,880 --> 00:15:04,320 their affliction to provoke them to wholeheartedly depend on Him. 219 00:15:04,320 --> 00:15:07,680 Let me say that again. God providentially used their 220 00:15:07,680 --> 00:15:13,480 affliction to provoke His people to come unto Him and depend on 221 00:15:13,480 --> 00:15:15,760 Him for the grace that they needed. 222 00:15:16,000 --> 00:15:19,840 Therefore, their dependence on God's grace caused them to do 223 00:15:19,840 --> 00:15:23,880 their part to declare Christ and do the work of the ministry to 224 00:15:23,880 --> 00:15:26,360 one another. In other words, the affliction 225 00:15:26,360 --> 00:15:29,920 was out of their control and that's exactly where God wanted 226 00:15:29,920 --> 00:15:33,280 it is that the affliction that they would not be so focused on 227 00:15:33,280 --> 00:15:36,160 the affliction and trying to control the establishment at 228 00:15:36,160 --> 00:15:38,920 Jerusalem, but that they would acknowledge the sovereignty of 229 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:41,440 God and they would submit the problem to Him. 230 00:15:41,680 --> 00:15:44,920 And then the grace of God would come down and they could face 231 00:15:44,920 --> 00:15:49,080 each other and continue being the church to one another while 232 00:15:49,080 --> 00:15:52,600 God over here would could take care of the affliction. 233 00:15:54,480 --> 00:16:00,400 It was good for the church to be afflicted because God used it to 234 00:16:00,400 --> 00:16:03,600 develop their Christ like character. 235 00:16:05,320 --> 00:16:09,920 Affliction isn't good, but God can take affliction and use it 236 00:16:09,920 --> 00:16:15,360 for His purposes. And the purpose in our lives is 237 00:16:15,360 --> 00:16:20,320 always Christ like character. The character of Christ is that 238 00:16:20,320 --> 00:16:27,880 we would love, enjoy, worship, trust and obey the Father no 239 00:16:27,880 --> 00:16:29,480 matter what. Let me say that again. 240 00:16:29,680 --> 00:16:32,760 The character of Christ, the mind of Christ, the life of 241 00:16:32,760 --> 00:16:37,200 Christ is to love, enjoy, worship, trust, and obey the 242 00:16:37,200 --> 00:16:41,520 Father no matter what. So let's notice an additional 243 00:16:41,520 --> 00:16:46,800 example please, in Psalm 107. Psalm 107. 244 00:16:51,560 --> 00:16:57,280 An additional example, Psalm 107 is often viewed as, and it is 245 00:16:57,280 --> 00:17:01,880 the truth as a Psalm of Thanksgiving, giving thanks and 246 00:17:01,880 --> 00:17:06,359 praise to God for what He has done in the lives of His people. 247 00:17:06,880 --> 00:17:09,359 Psalm 107. I want us to see secondly 248 00:17:09,359 --> 00:17:15,200 tonight that God uses afflictions in our lives to work 249 00:17:15,200 --> 00:17:19,800 for our spiritual character development. 250 00:17:20,280 --> 00:17:25,800 God uses afflictions in our lives to work for our spiritual 251 00:17:25,800 --> 00:17:28,760 character development. And so I want us to notice that 252 00:17:28,880 --> 00:17:33,840 we could go to any, any section of verses in Psalm 107, but I 253 00:17:33,840 --> 00:17:37,440 believe the Lord wants us to look at verses 33 through 38. 254 00:17:37,440 --> 00:17:41,440 Notice with me verse 33, Speaking of God. 255 00:17:41,440 --> 00:17:46,040 He turneth rivers into a wilderness, and the water 256 00:17:46,040 --> 00:17:50,480 springs into dry ground, a fruitful land into Baroness for 257 00:17:50,480 --> 00:17:52,920 the wickedness of them that dwell therein. 258 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:58,000 He turneth the wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground 259 00:17:58,000 --> 00:18:03,160 into water springs, and there he maketh the hungry to dwell, that 260 00:18:03,160 --> 00:18:05,960 they may prepare a city of habitation. 261 00:18:07,080 --> 00:18:11,240 And now, and sow the fields and plant vineyards, which they may 262 00:18:11,240 --> 00:18:14,760 yield fruits of increase, He blessed them also, so that they 263 00:18:14,760 --> 00:18:18,040 are multiplied greatly, and suffereth not their cattle to 264 00:18:18,040 --> 00:18:21,120 decrease. So we see here I want to ask 265 00:18:21,120 --> 00:18:24,840 this question. Why did the Lord lead His people 266 00:18:25,000 --> 00:18:27,920 to such dry, barren and difficult locations? 267 00:18:28,680 --> 00:18:31,920 It was not because of the wickedness of his people that 268 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:35,440 the land was dry and barren, but it's because of the wickedness 269 00:18:35,440 --> 00:18:39,520 of those who live there already. And but God led his people into 270 00:18:39,520 --> 00:18:43,800 a dry and barren place. Why did God do that? 271 00:18:44,400 --> 00:18:50,600 Is the Lord cruel and unkind? Was he judging them for 272 00:18:50,600 --> 00:18:53,080 something in particular? His very own people? 273 00:18:53,080 --> 00:18:55,520 Was he judging them for something in particular? 274 00:18:56,120 --> 00:18:59,720 Or maybe did the Lord God mess up his directions? 275 00:19:00,640 --> 00:19:03,680 Oops, I meant to tell you to go that way, but here we are. 276 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:07,640 I want us to see here the answer to this question in the middle 277 00:19:07,640 --> 00:19:10,720 of verse 36. He did this that they may 278 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:15,840 prepare a city of habitation and sow the fields and plant 279 00:19:15,840 --> 00:19:18,520 vineyards which may yield fruits of increase. 280 00:19:19,080 --> 00:19:22,280 And he blessed them also, so that they are multiplied greatly 281 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:25,240 and suffereth not their cattle to decrease. 282 00:19:25,480 --> 00:19:29,560 The Lord in loving, merciful Providence led His people to 283 00:19:29,560 --> 00:19:34,600 these geographical locations. In order for them to develop and 284 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:39,320 grow in spiritual character, they needed to learn to stop 285 00:19:39,320 --> 00:19:42,840 complaining and begin experiencing God's grace to do 286 00:19:42,840 --> 00:19:46,360 His will. What was His will in in passages 287 00:19:46,360 --> 00:19:49,080 like these? God's will was for them to work 288 00:19:49,080 --> 00:19:51,960 hard and build a place of habitation. 289 00:19:52,480 --> 00:19:55,320 It was God's will for them to develop character. 290 00:19:56,120 --> 00:19:59,960 God's will was for them to plant fields and vineyards. 291 00:19:59,960 --> 00:20:04,000 God's will was for them to grow in spiritual character in a 292 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:09,120 difficult situation and just let God be God and bless their 293 00:20:09,120 --> 00:20:12,080 humble diligence. God was bringing them into a 294 00:20:12,080 --> 00:20:16,480 place where they had no other choice but to get to work and 295 00:20:16,480 --> 00:20:19,880 trust God and learn how to get their hands dirty and learn how 296 00:20:19,880 --> 00:20:23,840 to see God produce fruit in their humble obedience. 297 00:20:23,840 --> 00:20:28,480 He brought them to, if you will, a a, a broken birdhouse and had 298 00:20:28,480 --> 00:20:32,160 them figure out how to fix it so that they could be good at 299 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:36,600 building birdhouses. If you will, God's will was for 300 00:20:36,600 --> 00:20:41,360 His people to learn what it meant to cry out to Him for 301 00:20:41,360 --> 00:20:44,560 helping grace and experience his miraculous blessing. 302 00:20:44,560 --> 00:20:47,760 Brother Chucky taught this morning or preached or taught, 303 00:20:47,960 --> 00:20:49,920 taught, preached, right. He was going back and forth on 304 00:20:49,920 --> 00:20:54,280 that on from Mark chapter 6 and how Jesus would have passed by 305 00:20:54,280 --> 00:20:56,840 his disciples. It wasn't that Jesus was going 306 00:20:56,840 --> 00:20:59,360 to miss his disciples. He wanted his disciples to learn 307 00:20:59,360 --> 00:21:04,200 what it meant to cry out, to humble themselves and get a hold 308 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:07,640 of the Lord Jesus Christ and let Him do for them, but that they 309 00:21:07,640 --> 00:21:09,920 what they were trying to do for themselves. 310 00:21:10,520 --> 00:21:15,040 He wanted them to be in this situation, to provoke, to induce 311 00:21:15,360 --> 00:21:21,360 if you will, their faith. God's will was for His people in 312 00:21:21,360 --> 00:21:25,840 these afflicting circumstances. It was for them to take their 313 00:21:25,840 --> 00:21:31,520 eyes off of their weaknesses and learn to concentrate on Him. 314 00:21:32,960 --> 00:21:36,720 God's will was for His people to stop bowing down and submitting 315 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:39,720 to their afflictions and and crumbling and folding to their 316 00:21:39,720 --> 00:21:44,360 afflictions and to learn to bow down to Almighty Sovereign God 317 00:21:44,360 --> 00:21:51,600 and trust His grace and to grow in spiritual character 318 00:21:51,840 --> 00:21:55,680 development. And it's important to note why 319 00:21:55,680 --> 00:21:58,600 this is the Thanksgiving Psalm. It's important to note that 320 00:21:58,760 --> 00:22:02,120 multiple times throughout Psalm one O 7, the people of God 321 00:22:02,120 --> 00:22:07,440 offered praise and Thanksgiving after they realized that God 322 00:22:07,440 --> 00:22:11,600 used this for our good. I mean, notice that here in 323 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:15,080 verse one it says, Oh, give thanks O to the Lord, for He is 324 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:17,320 good for his mercy endureth forever. 325 00:22:17,880 --> 00:22:20,600 Verse a Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness 326 00:22:20,600 --> 00:22:22,680 and for his wonderful works to the children of men. 327 00:22:22,880 --> 00:22:25,560 And that is said at least I think three more times in this 328 00:22:25,560 --> 00:22:28,520 passage. And that always came after they 329 00:22:28,520 --> 00:22:30,680 saw what God did in their affliction. 330 00:22:31,320 --> 00:22:34,960 They gave thanks. They came to understand that it 331 00:22:34,960 --> 00:22:42,040 was a loving of God to allow them to be afflicted because of 332 00:22:42,040 --> 00:22:46,080 what it did for their relationship with Him. 333 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:49,680 The very last verse of Psalm one O 7 verse 43. 334 00:22:49,680 --> 00:22:54,920 At the end of all of this, whoso is wise and will observe these 335 00:22:54,920 --> 00:22:59,320 things, even they shall understand the loving kindness 336 00:22:59,360 --> 00:23:02,360 of the Lord. Church Christian, in your 337 00:23:02,360 --> 00:23:06,880 affliction God is loving you. He's loving you. 338 00:23:07,680 --> 00:23:09,920 He's not letting you stay who you are. 339 00:23:11,000 --> 00:23:14,920 He can take the affliction and use it to form you into His 340 00:23:14,920 --> 00:23:18,400 image. Go back to Psalm 119, please, 341 00:23:20,360 --> 00:23:22,960 where we started tonight. Psalm 119. 342 00:23:32,900 --> 00:23:39,380 Affliction of itself, affliction left to itself, if you will. 343 00:23:39,700 --> 00:23:47,700 Affliction upon which God's hand is not, is not good, but God 344 00:23:47,700 --> 00:23:51,660 intends to use it to be good for us. 345 00:23:52,720 --> 00:23:58,720 Your affliction not only works for you, but it works for God, 346 00:23:59,600 --> 00:24:04,800 meaning God is in charge. Your affliction has to submit to 347 00:24:04,800 --> 00:24:09,760 your loving heavenly Father. Verse 67 it says again, before I 348 00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:13,080 was afflicted I went astray, but now have I kept thy word. 349 00:24:13,480 --> 00:24:16,760 The psalmist recognized through his affliction that prior to it, 350 00:24:17,160 --> 00:24:22,520 before it, he was wandering away from practicing God's presence, 351 00:24:23,040 --> 00:24:28,480 from living in desperation for his Creator before the 352 00:24:28,480 --> 00:24:31,000 affliction. But although the psalmist 353 00:24:31,000 --> 00:24:34,920 affliction was bad, he recognized and experienced that 354 00:24:34,920 --> 00:24:40,320 Almighty God was able to use it for His good. 355 00:24:41,360 --> 00:24:46,040 In this particular stanza of Psalm 119, the writer is 356 00:24:46,040 --> 00:24:50,840 expressing the affliction of being lied about, his integrity 357 00:24:50,840 --> 00:24:57,760 being threatened. But in verse 71, he recognizes 358 00:24:57,800 --> 00:25:01,920 that in God's sovereignty he was using this affliction to draw 359 00:25:01,920 --> 00:25:07,520 the psalmist into his presence and meditation on the truth on 360 00:25:07,520 --> 00:25:11,200 the Word of God, which would be later seen as the Lord Jesus 361 00:25:11,200 --> 00:25:15,600 Christ, the Word of God. He says in verse 71, It is good 362 00:25:15,600 --> 00:25:23,200 for me, it is good for me that I have experienced this 363 00:25:23,200 --> 00:25:25,600 difficulty, this affliction, this pressure. 364 00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:32,040 There's anxiety, the stress that I might learn thy statutes, the 365 00:25:32,040 --> 00:25:36,560 word of God. You see, when God is in the 366 00:25:36,560 --> 00:25:41,760 equation of your life, affliction works at the pleasure 367 00:25:42,120 --> 00:25:48,760 of God's providential, omniscient sovereignty in the 368 00:25:48,760 --> 00:25:53,120 lives of his people. The writer's affliction, it 369 00:25:53,120 --> 00:25:56,760 humbled him. He, he could not control these 370 00:25:56,760 --> 00:25:58,960 people. He could not control the 371 00:25:58,960 --> 00:26:02,080 situation. And so he had to humbly put it 372 00:26:02,080 --> 00:26:06,200 in God's hand, or can I say this, Acknowledge and recognize 373 00:26:06,360 --> 00:26:08,880 that it was actually always in God's hands. 374 00:26:09,560 --> 00:26:12,800 His affliction exposed his weaknesses and his spiritual 375 00:26:12,800 --> 00:26:15,960 character, and therefore God took the affliction and 376 00:26:15,960 --> 00:26:21,120 graciously used it for the psalmist's spiritual advantage. 377 00:26:21,760 --> 00:26:27,360 How is affliction good for you? How is affliction good for me? 378 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:33,920 How you find your home life, your marriage or seemingly 379 00:26:33,920 --> 00:26:39,080 prolonged state of singleness afflicting your spirit. 380 00:26:40,800 --> 00:26:45,800 Your older age is an affliction to your spirits, your mind and 381 00:26:45,800 --> 00:26:49,720 body. Your poor or questionable health 382 00:26:49,760 --> 00:26:53,560 experience is an affliction to your entire person. 383 00:26:55,080 --> 00:26:59,800 How you compare your economic situation to your neighbor is 384 00:26:59,800 --> 00:27:04,240 afflicting your mind and your spirits and your perspective on 385 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:08,680 life. Your past, far removed or 386 00:27:08,680 --> 00:27:14,160 recent, is an affliction to your mind, your memory, and even your 387 00:27:14,160 --> 00:27:19,400 relationships today, your past, your extended family members 388 00:27:19,400 --> 00:27:24,720 have made decisions that afflict your relationship with them. 389 00:27:24,720 --> 00:27:29,480 Put a strain, put a stress, put an anxiety on your relationship 390 00:27:29,480 --> 00:27:32,960 with them. How can these types of things be 391 00:27:33,160 --> 00:27:37,800 good for us? I want you to know this tonight, 392 00:27:37,800 --> 00:27:41,440 Believer that one of the greatest things the Lord can do 393 00:27:41,440 --> 00:27:45,760 is take a mess brought against you or a mess you brought on 394 00:27:45,760 --> 00:27:49,640 upon yourself and lead you into a specific or lead you into a 395 00:27:49,800 --> 00:27:52,720 specific trial designed just for you. 396 00:27:52,960 --> 00:27:56,880 So He can providentially use it all to help us become more 397 00:27:56,880 --> 00:28:01,000 humble and more enduring and more dependent upon and more in 398 00:28:01,000 --> 00:28:05,040 love with, not ourselves, but with who He is. 399 00:28:05,440 --> 00:28:08,120 That you might learn His statutes, that you might learn 400 00:28:08,120 --> 00:28:10,840 His Word, That you might learn of Christ. 401 00:28:12,280 --> 00:28:16,760 He draws you to Himself while you are being afflicted. 402 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:20,920 This is the essence of the gospel of Jesus Christ, That 403 00:28:20,920 --> 00:28:26,840 because Christ is in the equation of your affliction, God 404 00:28:26,840 --> 00:28:30,080 uses it all to make us what we ought to be. 405 00:28:30,080 --> 00:28:33,920 Listen, the good news for the believer in the affliction is 406 00:28:33,920 --> 00:28:39,200 that Christ is the grace. Jesus Christ is the grace. 407 00:28:39,200 --> 00:28:43,080 Jesus Christ is not just the good news for the lost to come 408 00:28:43,080 --> 00:28:44,920 to Christ. And I think we get thrown off 409 00:28:44,920 --> 00:28:47,720 when we just preach that salvation is about going to 410 00:28:47,720 --> 00:28:50,560 heaven, going to heaven. No, salvation is about Jesus 411 00:28:50,560 --> 00:28:54,000 Christ reconciling our relationship with our Creator 412 00:28:54,120 --> 00:28:58,000 for the here and now and for the after, which is a guarantee. 413 00:28:58,280 --> 00:29:01,320 And so as we think about salvation is for heaven, we 414 00:29:01,920 --> 00:29:04,920 forget to realize that Christ is the good news. 415 00:29:04,920 --> 00:29:09,400 In the midst of your darkest day, He's the light on your 416 00:29:09,400 --> 00:29:13,200 darkest day, He's the good news. He's the hope in your 417 00:29:13,200 --> 00:29:16,160 affliction. Believer, He's not just to be 418 00:29:16,160 --> 00:29:20,080 worshipped in heaven to come, He is to be experienced right now. 419 00:29:20,080 --> 00:29:26,360 Christ is the grace, the living and breathing Word of God. 420 00:29:26,920 --> 00:29:34,360 Thy statutes, thy word, Christ. God's will is not always that 421 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:41,440 the affliction goes away, but His will always is that we come 422 00:29:41,840 --> 00:29:46,440 to Him and experience the grace of Christ. 423 00:29:46,600 --> 00:29:49,160 Jesus said this in Matthew Chapter 11. 424 00:29:49,680 --> 00:29:56,160 Come unto me, all ye that labor in are heavy laden, and I will 425 00:29:56,160 --> 00:30:00,480 give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn 426 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:05,880 of me and I that I, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye 427 00:30:05,880 --> 00:30:09,760 shall find rest for your afflicted soul, If I might add 428 00:30:09,760 --> 00:30:13,600 the word. For my yoke is easy and my 429 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:18,120 burden is light. Sounds like Christ is the 430 00:30:18,120 --> 00:30:24,360 answer, not just for the lost, but for you right now in the 431 00:30:24,360 --> 00:30:26,320 midst of your affliction. He's the answer. 432 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:31,320 Get to Him. Get to God every day and 433 00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:36,520 especially in your affliction. Know this tonight, that God uses 434 00:30:36,520 --> 00:30:40,720 afflictions in our lives to draw us to Himself so we thrive in 435 00:30:40,720 --> 00:30:46,800 the grace found in Christ. Are you experiencing God's grace 436 00:30:50,000 --> 00:30:51,320 in the middle of your affliction? 437 00:30:53,880 --> 00:31:01,840 Are you learning to pray? Are you coming to love Christ 438 00:31:01,840 --> 00:31:06,000 more than coming to love what He loves others? 439 00:31:07,480 --> 00:31:11,160 The Father? Are you learning to trust God? 440 00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:18,000 Have you learned to stop complaining about where you are 441 00:31:18,000 --> 00:31:22,640 and begin learning commitment, hard work, grit, endurance? 442 00:31:23,480 --> 00:31:27,480 Psalm one O 7. Are you submitting yourself to 443 00:31:27,480 --> 00:31:31,000 your sovereign, faithful and loving God who is working to 444 00:31:31,000 --> 00:31:34,000 help you? Think like Christ? 445 00:31:35,280 --> 00:31:38,200 Are you? Will you in your dark day? 446 00:31:38,720 --> 00:31:43,200 Could be tomorrow, could be next week, could be here as we speak 447 00:31:43,200 --> 00:31:50,160 tonight and are you letting your church family and pastor be the 448 00:31:50,160 --> 00:31:58,360 help in your life that Christ set them up to be the church is 449 00:31:58,360 --> 00:32:04,080 a grace. You say how the church is the 450 00:32:04,080 --> 00:32:09,120 body of you can say it's OK, it's doctrinally correct. 451 00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:13,840 Christ, the body of Christ, He's not here physically. 452 00:32:14,080 --> 00:32:18,120 He's here in spirit, but this is his representation of him. 453 00:32:19,160 --> 00:32:21,320 Are you attached to the church? I don't have, I don't know who 454 00:32:21,320 --> 00:32:23,080 my pastor is. I don't have a pastor. 455 00:32:23,080 --> 00:32:25,560 I don't know who my group of disciples are. 456 00:32:25,760 --> 00:32:28,640 I just, I don't, I don't know. Are you attached to the church? 457 00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:32,480 The church is a grace. You stiff arm the church. 458 00:32:32,600 --> 00:32:34,600 You stiff arm, how God wants to help you. 459 00:32:35,800 --> 00:32:37,480 You say, I I don't need to belong somewhere. 460 00:32:37,480 --> 00:32:40,320 I just, I go, I float and I go and I go everywhere and we're 461 00:32:40,320 --> 00:32:42,640 all God's children. But but who's your pastor? 462 00:32:43,040 --> 00:32:45,920 Who are you accountable to? Who's there on your dark day? 463 00:32:46,440 --> 00:32:49,400 I don't know. We'll join a church and 464 00:32:49,400 --> 00:32:52,040 experience God's grace, submit to his plan. 465 00:32:52,040 --> 00:32:55,520 And there's the grace that you can have in your dark day. 466 00:32:56,000 --> 00:32:59,680 God knows the plans that He has for you, and He won't allow the 467 00:32:59,680 --> 00:33:04,480 afflictions to destroy you, but rather to work for your 468 00:33:04,480 --> 00:33:09,120 spiritual success in the days that are still in front of you. 469 00:33:10,240 --> 00:33:15,320 There's a story of a boy who, and about the month of January, 470 00:33:15,840 --> 00:33:20,320 expressed his desire to potentially join the high school 471 00:33:20,320 --> 00:33:25,240 cross country team. And so with that in mind, as 472 00:33:25,240 --> 00:33:30,440 spring came along, his father began to take him on hikes every 473 00:33:30,440 --> 00:33:33,520 other day after work or any given time. 474 00:33:33,520 --> 00:33:37,360 And they, they would hike for, for a couple miles and go up and 475 00:33:37,360 --> 00:33:39,080 down terrain. And they would always get to the 476 00:33:39,080 --> 00:33:42,360 top of this Cliff. And the boy's father would have 477 00:33:42,360 --> 00:33:46,800 him try to to just push the boulder that was on the Cliff 478 00:33:46,800 --> 00:33:49,600 and try to push it over the Cliff. 479 00:33:50,240 --> 00:33:52,920 And the boy never understood why they hiked every other 480 00:33:52,920 --> 00:33:57,240 afternoon, nor why he had to push this boulder that was going 481 00:33:57,240 --> 00:34:00,600 nowhere. Finally, at the end of summer, 482 00:34:00,600 --> 00:34:05,680 upon the boy insisting why they always did this, the dad told 483 00:34:05,680 --> 00:34:12,800 his son months later at the end of summer, Son, look at your 484 00:34:12,800 --> 00:34:15,480 arms. Look at your legs. 485 00:34:16,320 --> 00:34:21,159 Look at the muscle that has come to be in those parts of you, how 486 00:34:21,719 --> 00:34:25,159 they gained muscle and he gained endurance. 487 00:34:25,560 --> 00:34:30,840 And the father said, consider how much that he and his son had 488 00:34:30,840 --> 00:34:34,040 grown in their relationship during that time. 489 00:34:34,920 --> 00:34:40,920 Then his dad added, now you're prepared to endure high school, 490 00:34:40,920 --> 00:34:47,120 cross country and thrive. And you know, son, from all of 491 00:34:47,120 --> 00:34:49,199 this, I'm your biggest supporter. 492 00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:54,400 Affliction come comes with grace. 493 00:34:56,120 --> 00:35:01,360 Afflictions come with grace that is found and drawing closer to 494 00:35:01,440 --> 00:35:04,240 Christ. Christ is your greatest 495 00:35:04,240 --> 00:35:10,080 supporter as He uses your affliction to shape your life. 496 00:35:11,600 --> 00:35:14,160 Thank you for listening to the sermon from the pulpit of 497 00:35:14,160 --> 00:35:17,040 Liberty Baptist Church. If this message was a blessing 498 00:35:17,040 --> 00:35:20,520 to you, or if there's any way we can serve you, please let us 499 00:35:20,520 --> 00:35:25,120 know by contacting us at info@mylibertybaptist.org. 500 00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:29,960 Or you can visit us this Sunday at 800 Washington St. in Easton, 501 00:35:29,960 --> 00:35:32,760 MA. May the Lord bless you as you 502 00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:33,960 grow in His Word.