Will it be staying home or going out like we talked last night? Preach The Word. Now, you’re like farmers. 'How can I know', perhaps the Psalmist is saying in his heart, 'that this will work? How can we know that the evil will not come nigh our dwelling? Adam started out as one. It’s a war. What do we do? I think about death a lot, because few things make me more serious about my own walk with God than to think that in about thirty seconds I might face him. I want some kind of guarantee, some kind of assurance, that this will work. Why are you a Christian? We might be able to say that, in that instance, talk is cheap! Does God shelter you under His wing? 'What will we do? Don't test God! And, in fact, he seems to use them almost interchangeably, doesn’t he? A hedonist in the old Greek sense was somebody who said, “Whatever makes you happy is right, and whatever makes you unhappy is wrong.” And so, he took that definition and put it on my term, and said, “That’s a bad idea, Piper. Did he need to see angels? April 9, 2019 “He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.” Isaiah 40:29 (NIV) Have you ever caught yourself thinking, “God, please don’t let this be part of my story”? They are so interwoven that Paul can almost use them interchangeably. I will put my sword in my hand. He said: 'Immediately relief and faith was applied to my heart, and I felt I was girt with immortality! That's what we've been studying in the book of Ephesians for the past year and a half or so, and we've seen in the first three chapters of Ephesians the theory, the doctrine, then the second half is the practice: how this doctrine affects your life. For 33 years, he served as pastor of Bethlehem Baptist Church, Minneapolis, Minnesota. “Come to me all you who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest. Matthew 7:14: “The gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life?” The gate is narrow. 4:13). Verse 11: '[They are] given charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways' - in all thy ways. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation; There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. He notes that he became wearied himself, he says actually: 'I became sick of heart, because not only were my congregation falling, but my own friends fell one by one'. “God is love. Feel happy.” And it doesn’t work like that, for you or me or anybody. When we have anything in our lives that we don't or can't say no to, then it is lording over us. “I will make my horse ready. Do you hear what the ministry is? “If I give away my body to be burned and all that I have and have not love, I am nothing.” You can’t equate love and behavior, otherwise, 1 Corinthians 13 makes zero sense. It has to be a caboose at the end of the train. They’re not able to come to Christ. Oct. 23, 2007 My Part, God’s Part. All material by David Legge is copyrighted. 28:13). Into the bargain he felt burdened with such a heavy burden to bear in ministering to these folk who were bereaved. You’re dead. It's a different thing when you're faced, staring eyeball to eyeball, with these troubles. Feel happy. I like your joy talk. You go to His resurrection, you find them there - an angel in the tomb, an angel rolling away the stone. In case, as you're going through the rest of the verses about all the diseases that you're protected from, and everything that could happen to you that's not going to happen to you because you're in God - in case you forget that there's a condition, in verse 9 he says: 'Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most High, thy habitation' - 'I'm reminding you that this isn't unconditional. Do you really remember these things? And all I’m pointing out is, the fight is a fight not to grow cold. Faith localises deity! How can I know?'. “Because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold, but the one who endures to the end will be saved.” He’s talking about the end of the age. There's an interesting story that's told by C.H. Don't miss the final part of 'The Only Safe Place': “A God Of His Word”, ------------------------Back to Top We are blind. Let us bow our heads, in these closing moments ask yourself: 'Have I let, or can I let, the word of God transfuse into my heart?'. He wouldn’t have created us if there were no reason for us to be. But God can do it on the 18th night if he pleases. In Christian theology, the death and resurrection of Jesus are the most important events, a foundation of the Christian faith, and commemorated by Easter. But if we fulfil those conditions and abide in God, we will have God's protectors, God's divine protectors. When there are cataclysmic events, spiritually speaking, taking place in humanity and in our world, angels appear - and the natural makes way for the supernatural. It guards me against thinking that I decisively produce the joy that God demands and therefore life becomes a series of techniques. We haven't even touched, we're only dipping our toe into the shallow water of what these angels are really like. We don't test Him, we trust Him! If we let it, and let the Holy Ghost of God work in our hearts, and weave this truth around our souls, we shall be free indeed. The name of this conference is How to Fight for Joy or When I Don’t Desire God, and I said that the aim is not to increase your comforts, but to sustain the sacrifice of love.And I hope that’s plain. God does not command or condemn these choices in his word. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked. That was clarification number one, namely, it’s joy in God, not joy in general that we’re fighting for. How can we be sure? You look through the Gospels at His birth, there are the angels declaring the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ. And so, I know this is work. The reason we are a technique-obsessed people is because we’re not modest. Sometime – Part Time – Full Time Christian. They are the figure of God's protection of your life! Because that's a fair assumption that people will take when they hear these truths and go away and say: 'Well, it's alright for him, he's not experiencing what I'm experiencing. One day he recounts that, returning mournfully from one of those said funerals, curiosity led him to read a paper in a shoemaker's window on the Dover Road. But I cannot do that when I get up feeling glum in the morning. If you see the angels and don't see God's protection you're missing the whole point! I was sitting down there singing, “He’s my portion. One of the most prominent occurrences of that is in Joshua 5 and verse 13, by Jericho. He is author of. These things just seem so opposite in our experience. Nevertheless, it was not I. That would be now or you in your ministry, must not be quarrelsome. You might say, “This word fight. These are the beings that we're talking about. “God, I don’t want to do this again! All right. I mean, let's be practical: do these eternal truths really kick in and do they come to your aid? But victory is in the hands of the Lord. And on earth there’s nothing I desire besides thee,” (Psalm 73:25) is flat out false for almost everybody. They that are with you are more than they that are with them! Editor’s Note: This message, which appears below as a lightly edited transcript, is the third part of a series of six messages based on the book When I Don’t Desire God. Let’s open our Bibles together to 1 Timothy chapter 2, 1 Timothy chapter 2. 2 Timothy 4:6: “The God who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness’ has shown into our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” Paul knew that. His servant turns round to him, and does this capitulate what your expression is, and the voice of your heart when you face problems? It rises spontaneously and responds to things. Angels are our servants - that's remarkable, isn't it? He couldn’t let it go. For he shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways. Hebrews 1 and verse 14 says: 'Are they', angels, 'not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?'. I am a Christian because it is the truth. There’s another relationship between God’s self-exultation — doing everything for his glory — and our delighting in it. That’s one thing, and if that’s the only way you think, you’re probably going to be a sick person because you also know another thing Jesus said in Matthew 7. Indeed, I believe, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Angel of the Lord Himself - but yet there is a picture of an angelic being as a warrior, as an armour of God. I don’t know what is best for me, but God … God’s word restores the soul, comforts the afflicted, emboldens the weak, and corrects the sinner, but only as we really read and hear it. You see, what God is wanting us to do through this Psalm is to look by the angels, to recognise that Christ has ordained these angels to guard us. Spurgeon. He wants us to see past the temporal, past the disease, past the cancer, past the disability, past the problems in work, past distress in the home from children or parents, or husband or wife - He wants us to see past, and to see that God is able! I will eat breakfast properly. You read in 1 Corinthians 11, with regard to headship and head covering, that the angels look down at decorum within the assembly. The world is constantly telling us to rest in money, rest in success, rest in your looks, rest in your strength, rest in your business. Few things make me more excited than the thought that I might finish well. Don’t limit what you think God can do through you. Bless us now we pray, and bring us back under the Gospel [this evening] and save souls, we pray in the Saviour's name. What have we been saying? You have to have God’s favor first before you can do this. 'Thou shalt not test...' - do you want to see angels? “Where will God enable me to overflow in joy in love to you better?” Will it be driving this way or this way? You cannot keep it. I say to the Lord, ‘You are my Lord. Now, I am not under the false assumption that many of us, including myself when I read this Psalm, find a lot of the truths very difficult to implement into my life and put into practice. This week we're going to look at 'God's Guardians With Their Guarantees', the guardians of God with their guarantees. Every day is from God, and we are trying to put ourselves under the waterfall of God’s grace. As the Psalmist said: 'When I said, My foot slippeth' - 'I'm going down, Lord. Find out more about us, ourministry and how to use our site, David Legge ministers in theUnited Kingdom and Ireland, Send us an email or leave a comment via our Guestbook. Daniel was in the lion's den, He took away the bite, but he still had to go into the lion's den. I Don’t Want This to Be Part of My Story. Nothing is too small, in your minor problems, in your major problems, in everything in life there is a genuine guarantee that if you trust in God - don't try and prove God: 'Lord, I want to see an angel today to know that You're protecting me', for if you do that and if you're dabbling in the supernatural in the sense of trying to prove God and see things and hear things, there is a great danger that you commit the sin that the devil committed as he tempted the Lord Jesus when he quoted this same verse. The Lord’s servant. They are our guardians, they are powerful beings, but what does this Psalm say they are? You can see that by the Gospels, the fact that angels appeared at the Lord's first coming, and as you go into the book of Revelation you find that angels will appear again at His second coming. And that’s the way fighting relates to grace. So let's look at this, let's look at how does God protect us. That's why the devil left it out. One of the great ways God reveals His will to you is through your desires. You’re hostile to the law of God. What is there to worry about? “Come to me that you not hunger. I don’t feel like it.” I might not say it out loud, but God knows that’s what I’m thinking. We have an indispensable place on planet earth. When God’s children obey their Heavenly Father, He is glorified. It was transcribed from the third tape in his 'Psalm 91' series, titled "God's Guardians And Guarantees" - Transcribed by Preach The Word. As we move toward the end of the age, he says, “The love of many in Greenville, the love of many in Minneapolis, Dallas, Atlanta, Houston, L.A., New York, Chicago, Boston, the love of many will grow cold. I don’t know if you’ve ever struggled with this like I and people in my church do: the balance between life is fight and life is rest. All of us came into this world not spiritual beings, but what Paul calls natural beings. Thou shalt tread upon the lion and adder: the young lion and the dragon shalt thou trample under feet. “How shall I inherit eternal life?” I’ve kept the Law.” “You lack one thing.” Jesus can see where his treasure is. Our hunger can compel us, force our hand, occupy our thoughts. Now, what did he need to see? One of the things God took away was all my notes, outlines, hand-drawn maps and stories that I wrote for the dream and the career God called me to. In Acts we read at His ascension that there were two men clad in garments of white, white apparel, beside the Lord as He ascended into glory. They that are with you are more than they that are with them! I don’t like your fight talk. Is that not true my friend? Amen. How can I know? So why must we, then, fight for it? In fact, they’re so opposite in our experience. God’s will is for you to be above only and not beneath (Deut. He substitutes joy for the word faith in that second clause. As we look at this Psalm it's exactly the same, it's a long journey travelling from theory to the reality of how you face these problems in life. To realise that the angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear Him and delivers them! He shall call upon me, and I will answer him: I will be with him in trouble; I will deliver him, and honour him. You will have the 'supernatural secret service' at your elbow. “All who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted” (2 Tim. God’s desire is for you to prosper (Ps. Listen to this amazing word from Jesus in Matthew 24:12–13. Sell everything you have, give to the poor, follow me. They are folly to him. We’re dead. As we go into the New Testament we find that they appear when the supernatural world breaks into the natural world. Must have a certain loving demeanor about him, and then he must be apt to teach, help explain things in the Bible, make sense out of biblical truth, answer people’s objections, an able teacher. God may grant repentance. It says: 'They shall bear thee up' - do you know what that picture is? Now in verses 9 to 12 we saw last week that God reinforces, and as if - in case we forget - in verse 9, in case we forget that there is a condition on these promises in this Psalm, which is verses 1 to 4: you've got to dwell in the secret place of the Most High, you've got to abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Be planning churches. Self-centered people don’t last long in serving God. This isn't experience speaking, this is the truth: what is there to worry about? The second thing is our - your - responsibility of when you hear the truth, bringing your life into line with the truth. It's through God's protectors as angels, that we've read about in verse 11 - He gives His angels charge over us. We’ll see more on that in just a few minutes. What are we going to do? If you don’t have control over it, it can’t be essential.” That’s one mistake, and here’s another one: “Joy must be under our immediate control, because it is commanded.”. Dead in your trespasses and sins, naturally regarding as folly everything that God says was good for you. Fight for joy, for God is the one underneath working in you to enable you to work. If your house gets built, God built it. Jesus told us that the plan is for others to “see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16). If he tells me to do it, I’ll do it.” There’s a certain presumption there that just doesn’t fit with everything I’ve seen so far. It's personal: 'over thee'. Keep in mind that prayer is not our way of getting God to do what we want. It’s a fight to delight with red-hot passion in God to the end. That was illustrated to me after I preached the last two weeks, and discussing these truths with some people - even in the foyer after the meeting - they were saying to me, and I was concurring with them and agreeing with them, it's so hard, isn't it? The Holy Spirit Pt4: The Person Of The Holy Spirit. And he says in 1 Corinthians 2:14, “The natural person does not receive the things of the Spirit of God. Can I ask you, this is the truth now - this isn't experience speaking, this is the truth: what is there to worry about? They are not our focus, His protection of us is our focus, they are only the means of it! And if nobody attacks the city, God kept them from attacking the city. Don’t turn the Christian life into a fight. It has to be optional for stoical personalities. And the answer is it’s both, and here’s the way they come together: The war is to rest in the right place, and the whole world is telling you to rest in all the wrong places. 'And Elisha answered, Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them. Here’s a verse I would put as support for that from John 6:35. So, the question is how in the world do you put together spontaneity and gift for joy and fight and work and endurance. You recognize Jesus as your treasure. I'm getting that feeling, psychologically, of claustrophobia. I know specifically He was speaking, perhaps, of children - but I believe when the Lord speaks of 'little ones' He was speaking of His ones. Lyrics to the U2 album Rattle and Hum. That was me when I first got my cancer diagnosis. And I hope that’s plain. To tread, look at verse 13, tread upon the lion and the cobra - all evil, a general metaphor for protection from deadly attacks, poisonous venom of a serpent's fangs. You have got to abide under the shadow of the Almighty, you have got to dwell in the secret place. Here are some texts that describe the modesty of the Christian claim on God. Whenever I think I've put them behind me, then I start wondering if I'm just kidding myself and maybe God doesn't even exist. If a child admits that they wouldn’t want God to exist, the most important conversation you can have is getting to the bottom of why that’s the case. The Lord said in Matthew 18 and verse 10: 'Take heed that ye despise not one of these little ones; for I say unto you, That in heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father which is in heaven'. “Not that we lorded over your faith, but we work with you for your joy, for you stand firm in your faith.” So he sandwiches joy with faith on either side. This is part 3 of a Bible Study Series through Psalm 91. He needed to see that they that are with us are more than they that are with them. A couple weeks ago I was reading a very interesting biographical sketch of a rather famous family. I use that phrase, because it seems the best alternative to the presumption that comes with thinking, “I can make this happen. Psalm 91, and this is our third study - it may be, hopefully, our final study in this Psalm as we look at it together. Whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Now, notice the parallel of those two halves. They were all sitting with pen and paper waiting for a great philosophical or theological explanation, an apologetic renunciation of everything else, and a defence of Christendom. I held up my little finger last night. With long life will I satisfy him, and show him my salvation". What will we do?'. Look at these verses, verse 11: 'He shall give his angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways'. Or 1 Corinthians 15:10: “By the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace towards me was not in vain, but I worked harder than any of them. The way is hard that leads to life, and those who find are few. 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