Good morning, church.
What a privilege for me to be able to share God's word with you this morning, for us to look
!
Let's ask the Lord to open our hearts this morning to the truths that we find here.
So read, as I read, if you would, in your hearts, read along with me, chapter 31 of Psalm.
In you, O Lord, do I take refuge.
Let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness, deliver me.
Incline your ear to me.
Rescue me speedily.
Be a rock of refuge for me, a strong fortress to save me.
For you are my rock and my fortress.
And for your namesake, you lead me and guide me.
And you take me out of the net there they have laid hidden for me.
For you are my refuge.
Into your hand I commit my spirit.
You have redeemed me, O Lord, faithful God.
I hate those who pay regard to worthless idols.
But I trust in the Lord.
I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love.
Because you have seen my affliction.
You have known the distress of my soul.
And you have not delivered me into the hand of the enemy.
You have set my feet in a broad place.
Be gracious to me, O Lord.
For I am in distress.
My eye is wasted from grief.
My soul and my body also.
For my life is spent with sorrow.
And my years was sighing.
My strength fails because of my iniquity.
And my bones waste away.
Because of all my adversaries.
I have become a reproach.
Especially to my neighbors.
And an object of dread to my acquaintances.
For those who see me in the street flee from me.
I have been forgotten like one who is dead.
I have become like a broken vessel.
For I hear the whispering of many.
Terror on every side.
As they scheme together against me.
As they plot to take my life.
But I trust in you, O Lord.
I say, you are my God.
My times are in your hand.
Rescue me from the hand of my enemies.
And from my persecutors.
Make your face shine on your servant.
Save me.
In your steadfast love.
O Lord.
Let me not be put to shame.
For I call upon you.
Let the wicked be put to shame.
Let them go silently to Sheol.
Let the lying lips be mute.
With which insolently against the righteous.
Which speak insolently against the righteous.
In pride and contempt.
O how abundant is your goodness.
Which you have stored up for those who fear you.
And worked for those who take.
Refuge in you.
In the sight of the children of mankind.
In the cover of your presence you hide them.
From the plots of men.
You store them in your shelter from the strife of tongues.
Blessed be the Lord.
For he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me.
When I was in a besieged city.
I had said in my alarm.
I am cut off from your sight.
But you heard the voice of my pleas for mercy.
When I cried to you for help.
Love the Lord.
All you his saints.
The Lord preserves the faithful.
But abundantly repays the one who acts in pride.
Be strong and let your heart take courage.
All you who wait for the Lord.
God bless the reading of his word.
Let me pray.
Father we give you thanks for your word.
The power of your word.
The truth of your word.
The transforming grace of your word.
God I pray that this morning.
That your word would come alive to us.
And touch our hearts.
Not just our heads.
God we come before you now.
To open the word that you've graciously given to us.
That we might receive from you.
So God would you give to us.
That which is your truth.
And would you touch us deeply.
We pray in your name.
Amen.
You can have a seat.
This morning as we look at this passage.
I want to ask.
I want to start with a question.
Have you ever had times in your life.
That were hard.
Have you ever had unexpected trials.
Have you ever been in a spot.
Where you would say.
How in the world do I get out of this.
Have you ever been so down on your luck.
That you say.
Why?
Why is this happening to me?
Have you ever been in a place.
Where you didn't know.
What.
How you would make it to the next day.
Have you ever been so emotionally spent.
That you didn't have anything left to give.
Have you ever.
Had hard times in your life.
Well this morning.
We're going to see.
That David.
Is expressing.
That very thing.
In his life.
And we want to look at the word.
And see.
What it is.
David's trying to tell us.
This morning.
And even better yet.
What is it that God's trying to tell us.
Through David.
As we look at this.
Psalm.
This morning.
So what I want to do.
Is I want to ask three questions first.
That really comprises the whole.
Psalm.
And then after those three questions.
I want to look specifically.
At verses one through five.
And dig a little deeper.
And find the nuggets of gold.
That are in those five verses.
First.
This question.
What is it that we see this morning.
About God.
What does this Psalm reveal.
About God.
What did David know.
About God.
How well did David know.
God.
What does he say here.
In this Psalm.
Well let's look at a few verses.
And we want to look and see.
What David declares.
About who is this God.
You know I think that is.
Incredibly important.
When we have these difficult times.
In our life.
That we know who he is.
And so we look.
At verse one.
And do you notice.
That David calls him Lord.
Lord.
What is the Lord.
One.
To whom you bow.
And he makes this claim.
That.
God is righteous.
Coupled with that.
Is this concept.
Of the righteous God.
Does righteous things.
And all that God ever does.
Is righteous.
I think that's important.
When we're in the midst of the trials.
The deep time.
Hard times in our life.
Reminding ourselves.
That he's righteous.
And not only is he righteous.
He is able to deliver.
Do you see it?
David.
David knows this.
And calls out on God.
And says.
Deliver me.
Why would he ask that.
If he didn't believe.
That God was able.
To deliver.
You know he is.
He's able to deliver.
You and I.
According to the truth.
Of this passage.
And then David says.
Incline your ear to me.
Rescue me speedily.
What is he saying?
I know you hear.
God is able to hear.
So what do we see?
This Lord is righteous.
He's able to deliver.
He's able to hear.
The cries of his people.
Verse 3 declares this.
David says.
You are my rock.
And we will dig a little deeper on this.
In just a few minutes.
Rock.
What is he saying?
That you are my rock.
And on top of that.
It says you're my fortress.
Well a rock would be something stable.
Right?
You are my stability.
And you are my fortress.
The place that I run to.
Do you believe that true?
Do you know God in that way?
That he is a rock for you?
That he is a fortress for you?
Verse 4 declares this.
He says.
You are my refuge.
The place that I flee to.
The place that I find protection.
David declares that God is that for him.
His rock.
His fortress.
His refuge.
Do you think of those things?
Do you meditate on those things?
Do you so deeply know those things?
That at moments in your life that are the hardest.
Do you remember these?
Do you declare these?
And he goes on to say this.
That you are my redeemer.
To redeem or to purchase or to take out of this situation.
And redeem the situation for David.
That he is the one who is able to redeem.
That has more depth that we will explore in a couple of minutes.
Again he says.
Lord.
You are my Lord.
And you are faithful.
Think about these truths.
He is Lord.
He is able to deliver.
He hears.
Not only our mouth.
But he hears our heart.
He is a rock.
He is a fortress.
He is a refuge.
He is a redeemer.
He is Lord.
And he is faithful.
This God is always faithful.
He always does what he says he's going to do.
Look with me.
I'll skip to verse 14.
Notice he says.
You are my God.
Very personal here.
There is something to do about a relationship that he has.
You are my God.
God is the one who is sovereign and above all.
And we could spend the whole sermon talking about what he means when he says you're my God.
But we want to move on and look at more.
He says you are the one who rescues.
Able to rescue in verse 15.
And notice in 16 that God is a God of steadfast love.
Have you so embraced that, Christian, that it's never questioned in your heart?
Do you truly believe in all circumstances that God is a God of steadfast love?
You know what it means to be steadfast?
It means never changing.
The love of God for you never changes, Christian.
No matter how bad the situation, it never changes.
Does that give you comfort?
Notice in verse 19 that God is full of goodness.
You know what that means?
That there's nothing else in the cup.
There's no badness there.
He's full of goodness.
He's the source of all good.
That is the God that David knows.
Again, in 21, we see this steadfast love.
And again, we see that in 22, that he is the one who sees and he is the one who hears.
Do you ever doubt that?
Have you ever had a time in your life where you questioned whether that was true?
Have you ever been in such a place that you prayed because you wanted to commune with God?
You wanted to talk to God.
You wanted to hear from God and the ceiling was just too strong?
It's as if your prayers bounced right off the ceiling.
It's like, where are you?
Don't you hear me?
And we begin to question because we don't quite get what we think we need.
But he declares here that he is the one who sees and the one who hears.
And not only that, look at the beautiful picture in 23.
When David's talking to other believers, he said, all of you saints, the Lord preserves the faithful.
A sermon by itself.
The Lord preserves.
He is the one who preserves.
What does he preserve from?
What does he preserve to?
Ultimately, do you know that our salvation is because he preserves us unto eternal life?
He's the source of and the preservation to salvation.
It is the hand of God that he would keep us.
And notice this also in 23, the opposite side of that coin.
God is the one who preserves, but God is also the judge.
Do you see it?
He abundantly repays the one who turns away from him.
In this case, the one who acts in pride and chases his own way.
God is the preserver of life and the judge of those who turn away from him.
Do you hear these amazing truths about God?
Do you, Christian, know him in this way?
And maybe there's someone here who is not in the kingdom, who doesn't profess Christ as Lord and Savior, who is not saved.
But you're investigating the claims of the Bible to see what does it say?
Do you hear the beauty of who God is?
The declaration that David shares here in this psalm?
And by the way, as you dig in Scripture, you will see that over and over and over and over again, these truths are displayed.
Not only in the words of the pages, but in the lives of the people.
Christian, have you come to know him in this way?
Seeker, do you believe it?
Do you believe that this is the God, the one who redeems, the one who is the rock, the fortress, the one who is able to be a refuge, the one who loves steadfastly?
Do you believe it?
So question one is this.
What do we see here?
Who do we see this God to be?
What do we see about God?
What do we learn about God?
All these truths are declared throughout the pages of Scripture.
Question number two.
What is David's circumstance?
What is his situation?
What does David declare about his situation here?
Why is it that he's reaching out to God?
This God who he knows is able to hear?
This God who's not far away?
This God who loves him?
This God who redeems him?
The God that's able?
What is this situation?
Let's look primarily at the middle section of this psalm and see the situation that David finds himself in.
I would love to dig phrase by phrase, verse by verse, but I just want you to see quickly what David says about his situation.
See in verse 7?
He says that he's in affliction.
Now we don't know the time frame.
It's very difficult in this psalm to figure out when does this actually, when did it actually happen in the life of David?
I don't know that anybody with confidence can say it's that moment.
So not knowing that, we have to try to glean what is going on in David's life.
Though we don't know the exact moment, we really do get a glimpse of the difficulty that he's in right now.
So listen again to these things.
He says he's in affliction.
He's in distress of soul.
Have you ever been there?
Have you ever been so distressed as if it's at the deepest core of who you are?
And it's affecting every ounce of who you are.
Have you ever been so despondent that you didn't know where to turn, where to go, what to do.
And it was heavy.
And the future was totally unknown.
And the moment is so strong that you can't hardly endure.
This distress of soul.
In verse 9 he says, the tears in my eyes were abundant.
My eye is wasted from grief.
This never leaving gnawing in his heart, this grief that won't go away, has produced in him these tears.
He can't cry it out.
He's cried and he's cried to the point where the tears don't even flow anymore.
That level of grief.
And he says in verse 10, this sorrow and sighing and this failing of strength.
Are you depressed yet?
You know, some of the Psalms are just like that, aren't they?
David is just raw and real.
And the truth is probably as I'm sharing this that perhaps memories have flashed in your mind.
Our memories have touched your heart even this morning.
If I were to challenge you to say, has there ever been a time like this for you?
Have you ever been in a place that was so heavy and full of distress, full of grief, full of sorrow, full of sighing,
so much so that you're like, I have no energy to do anything.
I am spent.
I don't know what the future holds.
I don't know how this is ever going to change.
He goes on, he says, my bones waste away.
Have you ever been in a time where your bones waste away?
What does he mean by that?
He doesn't mean his bones melt and he doesn't have a hand.
What he means is it's touching me to the depth, the greatest depth of who I am.
It's touching my soul.
It's touching my eyes.
It's touching my bones.
It's affecting me fully.
I can't run from this thing.
Notice what he says about how people view him.
Have you ever been in one of those places and you look and there's nobody to turn to?
It's like, who can I go to to get relief?
Who can I go to to get help?
And he says this, he says, I have become a reproach.
Especially to my neighbors.
Those who are closest to me, to them I've become a reproach.
It's like I'm a leper and they're putting me out to pasture and said, don't come close to me.
I don't want anything to do with you, man.
He's in a rough spot, evidently.
I have been forgotten like one who is dead.
Where did all my friends go?
Does that remind you of anybody else in Scripture?
Is anyone coming to mind as I'm reading through this?
Do you see in this situation the last week of Christ's life?
If we were to think of what the Scriptures declare about that week, the Passion Week,
do we see distress?
Do we see affliction?
Do we see tears?
Do we see sorrow, sighing?
Do you see his friends fleeing from him and leaving him by himself?
Do you remember that?
It was prophesied even.
Do we see that he's been forgotten in a sense by all his friends they've out of fear run?
Even in this situation, there's the picture of Christ through whatever it is that's going on in the life of David.
Notice in 13, it says there's terror on every side.
They plot to take my life.
David's in a rough spot.
Christ was in a rougher spot.
However, you know what Jesus knew?
He knew his Father more than we could possibly imagine.
The fellowship and the understanding of who he is, who the Father is, was a comfort to Christ.
Yes?
Do you think the knowledge of God was also a comfort to David?
Let me ask this question again.
Where do you turn in those hard times in your life?
You know where I tend to turn?
At least in my prior life.
That's before I was really born.
I was here, but I wasn't really born.
I wasn't born of the Spirit.
I wasn't a Christian.
I wasn't in a relationship with God.
Where did I turn?
How high is the mountain?
I can climb it.
You know, there's a sense when you're a young kid, you can do anything, especially a guy, athletic.
I'll climb whatever mountain you say I can't climb.
Just watch.
I can do that.
I can do it.
In a sense, we thought we could conquer any foe, so to speak.
Any challenge we could conquer.
We, me, and me, and those like me.
There was a time when I thought I could do it.
My own ability, my own skills, my own whatever.
And if I didn't have enough wisdom to figure it out, I could go ask a few friends,
and I could try to rally all that information and figure out how to make it happen and fix it.
You ever tried to fix it yourself?
Isn't that where we often turn, I'm going to figure this thing out.
I'm going to tighten my belt a little bit tighter.
I'm going to really focus.
I'm going to leave it.
I'm going to do this thing.
We tend to want to do it ourselves, our own strength, our own ability, our own wisdom,
our own thinking, our own ways.
Me, me, me, me, me, me, and me is often how we try to fight these tough times.
But we're reminded here.
David is reminding himself.
Do you hear it?
No, this is God.
This is God.
Here's who God is.
Steadfast love, redeemer, rock, fortress, refuge.
He's able.
He hears.
He sees.
He's reminding himself that in the midst of the worst of the worst, God is still there.
God's not gone.
God didn't go take a break.
Do you know, Christian, that that's very true for you and me too?
Do we know it?
Do we so know it that that's our reflex?
Do we still try to figure out things on our own strength, our own wisdom, our own time, our own ability?
Do we go to the smart guys?
Do we go to the guys with all the earthly smarts and say, man, you've been through this.
How do you fix this thing?
Or do we do what he did?
Well, what do you do?
What do we see here?
In the midst of the difficulty with the understanding of who God is, question number three, what did David do?
What do you do?
I'm calling out on you to deliver me, not somebody else.
He says in verse two, incline your ear to me, rescue me.
It's almost like if you ever been around seeing, I know we watch movies.
You ever know when someone's almost just on the edge of death that you can't hear what they're saying because they can't quite get it out.
They put their ear as close to the mouth as they can and the person breathes something out.
It's almost like David is saying, incline your ear.
Can you come a little closer where you can hear me?
I can't hardly even get it out.
All I can do is whisper it.
Fourteen, I trust in you.
I trust in you.
You are my God.
Don't you love that he's taking all of this stuff that he finds real in his life and he's saying, here it is.
Here it is.
I trust in you.
I'm not going anywhere else.
I'm not going to chase after anyone else, anything else, any other method.
I'm going to do this.
I'm going to put it right in your hands.
I'm going to trust you.
I'm going to lean into you.
I'm going to take my chances with you.
My times are in your hand.
Boy, what a depth there is there.
My times are in your hands.
Do you think like that?
Do you understand that the sovereign God is overseeing the events of your life?
Do you realize that those tough times are not out of his jurisdiction?
They're not out of his range of ability.
They're not out of his sovereign oversight.
And he's saying, all right, it's bad.
And I don't know how I'm getting out.
And I'm crying out to you.
Do you see the prayer this thing is?
What did he do?
He prayed.
He verbally entrusted himself to God.
God, my times are in your hands.
No matter how bad it is now, you've got this.
You do whatever you want to do.
I'm trusting in you no matter what.
16, make your face shine on your servant.
What is he doing?
He's seeking God.
Do you find in those hard times, Christian,
that the best thing you can possibly do
is go wherever it is you need to go
and pour your heart out.
You ever been there?
You know, tough times are different.
Sometimes they're physically tough.
Sometimes they're emotionally tough.
Sometimes they're financially tough.
Sometimes they're relationally tough.
There's all these components of life.
And you don't necessarily get them all at one time.
Sometimes it's just one little type of difficulty
and overwhelmingness that is in one arena.
There's this place in West Ashley.
I'm a salesman, by the way.
I get to drive my truck wherever I want to drive it.
They don't let me go out of state often.
But I'm driving around in circles in my little territory.
But I find myself when I'm overwhelmed,
when I have not this level of distress,
but even just one little level of distress.
You know what I do?
There's this ball field
that nobody seems to ever hardly use.
It is in horrendous shape.
They don't know how to grow grass on this thing.
It's just nasty.
Who would ever want to play ball?
There's holes everywhere.
It is unsightly, but it is quiet.
Since nobody likes to use it.
For whatever reason, God has met me there.
Where do you go?
You know, there's nothing special about that ball field.
Except for me, I heard him.
He touched me right here.
He comforted me.
Not just once.
Not just twice.
Multiple times.
When I'm the heaviest, I'm going there.
Why?
I don't know.
There's a history.
There's a history for me to be able to open up.
For me to be able to be real.
And, you know, it's not about the place.
It's about the heart.
Have you noticed?
That God can do that in any spot, in any time.
It doesn't take a ball field in West Ashley that looks really bad.
But it takes a guy who can get rid of all the noise and just be real with God.
And trust themselves in God and say, God, I need your direction.
I need you to show me.
I need you to comfort me.
I need to know what to do, God.
I need to know where to step and how to go.
That's what David did.
Do you see it?
He turned to God.
He said, I'm all in.
I'm not going anywhere else.
I'm seeking you and I'm you alone.
I trust in you and you alone.
I don't trust in anybody else.
And you know what the result is?
Look at 21.
If you ever had that moment when it breaks, you know, we think about that when it comes
to fever.
You know, we got a fever and then there's that moment when it breaks and you feel like you've
gotten over the hurdle and it starts getting a little better.
Yeah, it's almost in 21.
It says, blessed be the Lord.
There's a rejoicing and a blessing and a thankfulness.
It's almost like he's singing.
Listen, 21.
Blessed be the Lord for he has wondrously shown his steadfast love to me.
It's almost like this remembrance of who he is in the spot in which he is with a heart that's
willing to give him everything and to be all in.
What happens rejoicing?
What does that sound like to you?
If I get you to toss around some New Testament scriptures, what does that sound like?
Sounds a lot to me like James chapter 1 verses 2, 3, and 4.
Where it talks about, he says, count it all joys, my brother, when you encounter various
trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces what?
This character quality, this peace, this incredible change.
Count it all joy.
What does that sound like?
I just want to sing.
I want to raise my hands.
I want to rejoice.
I want to give thanks to you.
You know, I find this to be true is that when we really, truly in our heart of hearts entrust
ourselves to God and go all in.
I said, I'm not going anywhere else.
I'm not seeking from anybody else.
Not even the closest person I know.
Not the smartest person I know.
Not the strongest person I know.
I'm not going to any of them.
You know what?
I'm going to you.
I'm seeking you.
You know what God does?
It's about time.
What's taking you so long?
You know, isn't that where he wants us to be in this life of dependency on him?
I love it.
And he tells the saints in verse 24, hey, saints, let your heart take courage.
Wait on the Lord.
Wait.
What does the word wait mean?
Wait means it ain't happened yet, but it will.
There's a confidence that God has a perfect time to care for us in a perfect way and we can entrust ourselves to him.
You see it?
That he would instruct others to be strong and let your heart take courage, Christian.
I'm going through it and I know you're going to go through it.
Hey, this is the way to walk it.
Verse 1.
Turn with me, if you will.
Let's dig a little deeper right quick.
Interesting to me that verse 1, I didn't know this because I hadn't talked to Martin Luther in a while.
So I didn't really remember this, but I heard somebody else that read something that he wrote who wrote it and I read it.
Do you get that?
Turns out that this verse was the inspiration for his salvation.
Psalm 31, verse 1.
Do you see it?
It confused him.
Why did it confuse him?
Look at it with me.
In you, O Lord, do I take refuge.
Let me never be put to shame.
In your righteousness, deliver me.
You know when he stopped?
Wait a minute.
That doesn't make any sense.
In your righteousness, deliver me?
What do you mean?
Wait a minute.
In your righteousness, deliver me.
How is this righteousness going to deliver me?
So he's confused.
Wouldn't it be a better alternative if he would have said, David would have said,
in your strength, deliver me.
But it didn't say this.
It said, in your righteousness, deliver me.
What is being said here?
Well, I don't have time to go to the real depth of this thing, but here's what Martin Luther did.
He remembered Romans.
And I forgot to put a marker on this, so let's see how fast I am.
He remembered Romans 1, verse 17.
And coupled with this verse, Martin Luther realized what salvation really is.
Verse 17 says, for in it, in it what?
In the gospel.
What is the gospel?
It said, salvation comes through faith in the finished work of Jesus for you.
That's the gospel.
If we were to read Romans 1, we would see it.
And we get to verse 16.
I'm not ashamed of the gospel.
There's the power of God unto salvation for everyone who believes, Martin Luther reading.
It's the 17.
For it is the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.
The righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith.
That is written, the righteous shall live by faith.
The righteousness of God was revealed.
Those two verses led him into the kingdom.
Do you know who the righteousness of God that was revealed?
His name is Jesus.
And it's through Jesus that we receive salvation.
David might be thinking about it in a physical perspective, but in truth, God also meant it in a spiritual perspective.
You know who the deliverer is spiritually?
There's only one.
It's Jesus.
It's Jesus who lived in my place and died in my place that I might be in relationship to this holy God.
So we keep going.
It says that I take refuge in you and you alone.
I trust in you alone.
You are my Lord.
You're my God.
You're my refuge.
You're my rock.
You're my strength.
Incline your ear to me, God.
And verse 2, isn't this beautiful?
Be a rock of refuge for me.
And if you look at the next verse, it says you are a rock.
Isn't it interesting?
You are a rock.
Be a rock for me.
What is this thing about a rock?
Isn't it cool?
He says, I want you to be my rock.
What is a rock?
Think about this for a second.
The picture is beautiful.
In my mind, you know where I went first is the rock of Gibraltar.
I don't know if y'all listened in geography class when you were younger, but there's this rock right where you enter the Mediterranean that's tall.
The rock of Gibraltar.
You know how many years it's been there?
I bet a lot of people have come and gone, died, been born, died.
I bet some wars have been fought nearby.
Guess what?
That rock's still there.
That rock ain't going nowhere.
That rock is stable.
You know God's like that too?
He ain't going nowhere.
He's stable.
You know a rock can also be viewed as a foundation.
You know when you build a building, you better have a nice rock on the corner or you're in trouble.
You know he talked about a cornerstone and Jesus is what?
The chief cornerstone?
Upon this rock I'll build my church and the gates of hell not prevail.
You're my rock and you're my fortress.
But I want you to see this.
In you is the first two words.
In you, Lord.
In you.
Interesting.
In you, I trust.
And then he goes in verse 3 and says, you are.
Why does he trust?
Because you are the rock.
You are the fortress.
You are.
If you look, and I don't know if y'all notice this, but if you look at 2, 3, 4, and 5, how many times do you see the word me and my?
Looks pretty personal, doesn't it?
You know when we're in relationship to God and we know these things to be true, it's a powerful place to be.
Our rock.
Is God a rock for you?
Isaiah 26.
He's a rock.
He's not going anywhere.
He's stable.
You can bet the house on it.
Did you notice in verse 5 a phrase that was repeated in the New Testament?
Into your hand I commit my spirit.
You know who said that in the New Testament?
Jesus.
Thank you.
Jesus.
Jesus is quoting this verse.
Do you think Jesus entrusted himself to God?
Do you think Jesus was all in?
Do you think Jesus knows what it's like to go through grief and suffering and hard times?
You know, if we were to go read through the book of Luke or the book of Matthew, we would see the difficulty that Christ endured towards the end of his life before he was crucified on the cross.
Listen to what Jesus says when he's on the Mount of Olives right before he dies.
He says this.
And he came out and went as was his custom to the Mount of Olives and his disciples followed him.
And when he came to the place, he said to them, pray that you may not enter into temptation.
And he withdrew from them about a stone's throw.
And he knelt down and prayed and said, Father, if you're willing, remove this cup from me.
Nevertheless, not my will, but yours be done.
Are we there?
God, this is hard.
I'm asking you to remove it from me.
But if you don't, I'm okay with it.
I want your will to be done, not mine.
And if you have a purpose in this that I don't understand, praise be to your name.
And then Christ, he wasn't delivered, was he, in the physical sense?
He endured unimaginable suffering at the hands of lawless men.
He was elevated on a tree, hung on a cross.
He said this right before he died.
Then Jesus called out with a loud voice, said, Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.
What does he mean?
Into your hands I commit my spirit.
Though this difficult thing in my life is happening, though I am on the cross about to die,
into your hands I commit my spirit.
Do you think that Christ was mocked?
Yes.
Do you think that he was mocked after he died?
Do you think that Christ was?
Here's what Spurgeon said about this total surrender, this total submission to the God that he knew,
the God that David knows.
Thus he does not surrender his life despondingly to death for destruction,
but with triumphant consciousness to the Father for resurrection.
You know what he knew?
And he declared three days later, you know what's about to happen?
That Jesus is going to rise from the dead.
Though he died, he said, into your hands I commit my spirit.
God, whatever you're planning, whatever your purpose, it's good with me.
Christian, are we there?
Do we realize that God loves us far beyond anything we can possibly imagine?
Do you believe that God's sovereign and able to do all things?
Do you believe that God has a plan for your good and his glory?
You know, if we believe those three things, then in these moments we can have peace.
It's hard to imagine in those moments we can rejoice.
Have you ever found yourself in the heaviest of times with your hands up in the air saying,
praise be your name?
You find yourself singing.
There's men who have gone before us and there's other men who use that phrase,
into your hands I commit my spirit.
You know, Polycarp was burned on the stake.
You know what he said right before he died?
Into your hands I commit my spirit.
It's possible, Christian, to trust in him in such a deep way that in the midst of the greatest storm,
you can have peace, you can rejoice, you can be thankful.
And God's going to glorify himself, guaranteed, and God's going to do what's best for you and his people.
You know, death's not the final answer, is it?
Jesus conquered death, and because he conquered death,
those who've trusted in him for salvation also have conquered death.
We've conquered death because Christ did it in our place.
That we might be in the heavenly kingdom with this holy God who loves us in a way we can't possibly imagine.
Let's pray.
Father,
sometimes we don't want the hard times in our life, God.
Sometimes we run from them.
Sometimes we do everything to unwind them.
But God, I pray that you do a work in our hearts so that we would instead run to you,
and we would pour our heart to you.
We would remember who you are, that God, in truth, you are our rock.
You are our fortress.
You are our refuge.
You are the one who loves us with steadfastness.
God, you desire what's best for us.
You desire what brings glory to you.
Father, help us to entrust ourselves and to rejoice when you're doing a work in our life and through our life.
God, I pray that you would grow us to the place where we trust you.
We really, truly trust you.
Father, we, in a sense, we burn the ship.
There's no other way.
There's no other method.
It's you.
Father, help us to live in that type of way where we depend on you and you alone, God.
Do a work in our lives because in ourselves we can't get there.
But by your grace, take your children there, God.
We pray in your name.
Amen.
!