This week’s talk is an exhortation given by Ray Edgecombe at the Enfield Ecclesia in 2023.
We hope this strengthens your Faith and brightens your day!
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Welcome to Good Christophian
Talks.
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Thank you for joining us this
week on this podcast.
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We select one talk a week to
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Each week we post a talk that we
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recommendation to you on why we
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are sharing the talk.
And now let’s.
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Talk more about this week’s
talk.
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This week’s talk is an
excitation that was given by
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Brother Ray Edgecomb in March of
2023 at the Enfield Ecclesia in
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Australia.
The topic was we can trust our
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God.
It’s a really excellent study in
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the Psalms, specifically Psalm
142.
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And I do enjoy kind of the study
he does the unpacking of Psalm
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142 and that section of Psalms
around it, explaining that this
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is a Psalm that David is saying
in his distress and that we can
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learn a lot about what to say to
our God and our distress.
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And I think that’s the most
interesting for me, the most
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interesting part of the study
was that he kind of spends some
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time on that growing up in our
souls in, in Romans 8.
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And, and, you know, the idea of
communicating without words with
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our God when we are in the
spirit.
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And I think that’s that’s
something that can be very
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encouraging, which is what
Brother Ray points out when we
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are in times of distress, God is
an anchor to our soul as he
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repeats over and over in this
exhort.
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This exhortation was suggested
to us in 2023 and it was
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suggested again last month when
Brother Ray passed after a very
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brief illness.
So our thoughts and our prayers
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are with his family and with the
Enfield ecclesia, and we pray
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that his sleep is short and that
we are united again with our
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Father.
We pray that that day comes
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soon.
In the meantime, here is Brother
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Reyes exhort.
We can trust our God.
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Brother Chairman and my dear
brethren and sisters in the Lord
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Jesus Christ, as Brother Sam
read for us, very importantly,
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the beginning of that Psalm of
the heading.
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It’s a Psalm, a Maskell of
David.
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It’s a Psalm for instruction,
and it was from his thoughts
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when he was in The Cave, I
suggest probably The Cave of
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Dulham.
But this Psalm here we’re going
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to look at in a little detail,
but it’s actually in a bracket
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of eight psalms.
If you come back to Psalm 138,
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you’ll see that that one’s also
headed a Psalm of David.
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And so is each of the next 7
psalms after that.
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Finishing in 145 is the last of
the bracket of Psalms of David a
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little, a little cluster of
psalms that have been placed
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here somewhere along the line.
But certainly they have a
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structure to them.
They are all written by David.
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The first two Psalms are very
clearly positive psalms.
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The last two psalms are clearly
positive and full of praise.
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But in the middle there the four
psalms, 140 to 143 are psalms of
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distress as David pours out his
troubles to his heavenly Father.
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And I think as we look at 1:42,
we need to realise that
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Structure 142 is not the end of
the story.
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It’s part of that progress from
1:38, beginning with praise but
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sinking into despair, but
finishing finally as we need to,
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and we know we want to, with our
praise to our God.
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And we’re going to have a look
at the What is the darkest of
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those 4 central Psalms?
142 clearly, if you come back to
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138 again, let’s just establish
that pattern clearly. 138 is
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very positive.
Verses one and two.
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I’ll praise thee with my whole
heart before the Elohim.
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I’ll praise, sing praise unto
thee.
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I’ll worship toward thy holy
temple.
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Praise thy name for thy loving
kindness and thy truth.
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Thy mercy in thy judgement
cheers Ed and emeth, for thou
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hast multiplied and magnified
thy word above all thy name.
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So that Psalm continues in that
theme. 139 is along the same
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lines.
It’s a well known Psalm.
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It praises thee features of
God’s creation.
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Verse 14.
I’ll praise thee, because I’m
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fearfully and wonderfully made.
Marvellous are thy works, and
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that my soul knoweth right well.
So these two psalms are clearly
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very, very positive, and so are
the latter. 2 He wonders at the
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fearfulness and the wonder of
the frame that God has made us
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with in that fourteenth verse.
When you come to Psalms 144 and
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45, they’re also positive in
their conclusion of this cluster
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of Psalms verses 1 and 2, again
of 144.
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Blessed be Yahweh, My strength
teaches, my hands to warm, my
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fingers to fight, my goodness,
God’s loving kindness, my
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fortress, my high town, my
deliver, my shield, and he in
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whom I trust, who’s a Jew, with
my people under me.
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And likewise the last Psalm in
verses 1 and 2.
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Again I’ll extol thee, my God,
I’ll bless thee and bless thy
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name forever and ever.
Every day I’ll bless thee, I’ll
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praise thy name forever and
ever.
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So this bracket of eight psalms
are surrounded, 2 positive at
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the beginning, 2 at the end.
But then these sums of distress,
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those 4 sums in the middle.
So let’s come to Psalm 142.
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David’s most definitely at one
of the lowest ebbs of his life
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as he pens these thoughts in
this Psalm as well as a Psalm of
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instruction.
The heading indicates he was who
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says there in The Cave.
Now that could have been in
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Getty, but most likely I think
it’s more a Dalam because he was
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definitely there on his own in
the first instance and it was
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after a whole series of events
when he fled from Akish, the
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king of the Philistines in Ghia.
When he fled from there, he went
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straight to this cave in
Abarland because he was in
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distress.
He had all of these things that
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have rolled upon him in these
previous few weeks and months.
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A bleak time in the life of
David.
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We we won’t go there now, but
first to Samuel 19 to 22.
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They’re the the chapters that
surround the thoughts of Psalm
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142A bleak time despite and
probably because of his
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victories over the Philistines
sought to use sought to use
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David Schweitzmach or to to slay
him.
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The only escape from that to
find that Jonathan indeed
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confirmed with him that Saul was
going to slay him.
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David was forced to break off
with his only true friend,
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Jonathan.
Forced to face the peril alone.
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He went down to the priest, the
Hymnalech, and claimed the sword
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of Goliath, but in the process
observed the presence of Doeg
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the Edomite, and doubtless that
sent a shiver down David’s
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spine.
And it was a shiver that was
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well determined, because Dalek
of course, reported that matter
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to Saul and eventually resulted
in the slaying of the priest.
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An enormous scrape of mine to
David that was to happen after
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this time, but I’m sure he
noticed Dalek there and would
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wonder if the consequences of
that action.
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A flees to Akish, the king in
Gare, only to escape by the skin
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of his teeth.
By feigning madness.
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Psalm 34 expresses his
deliverance of that time.
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All this was weighing on the
mind of David alone.
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Distressed, he comes to The Cave
of Dulham.
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It’s southeast from Gareth,
southwest from Bethlehem to
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coming South.
But the golem is not far from
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both of those places.
So let’s have a look then at
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Psalm 142.
The bleakness of His Spirit is
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clearly evident.
You look at the expressions that
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He uses through this Psalm,
verse one and two.
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I cried unto Yahweh.
With my voice unto Yahweh I made
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my supplication.
I poured out my complaint.
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I showed before Him my trouble.
My spirit was overwhelmed within
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me.
In verse 5, no one cared.
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No man would know me.
Refuge failed me.
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No man cared for my soul.
In verse 6 he cried, Attend unto
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my cry.
I am brought very low.
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In verse 7, bring my soul out of
prison.
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When we string all those
thoughts together, we can
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clearly see the distress of
David.
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But wasn’t he the heir apparent?
How did Samuel anointed him to
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be king over the nation of
Israel?
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Hadn’t he slain Goliath?
Hadn’t he slain thousands of the
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Philistines?
As it’s worse all his thousands
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and David his ten thousands.
He was a scourge of the
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Philistines.
How could he utter such
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sentiments in this Psalm?
Distressed brethren and sisters,
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it distorts our perspective.
There’s no doubt David felt all
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of those things.
It was a distortion of reality.
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But for him, at that point of
time, alone in that cave, it was
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the reality.
It wasn’t a distortion.
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He felt all of that distress.
Now, all of us experience some
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bleakness from time to time.
Some of it’s very, very severe
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in degree.
Other times it may be a flaking
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dissatisfaction.
We should note that we should be
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thankful in our days for the
medical services that we can
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access.
We would be most unwise.
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It wouldn’t take advantage of
those health services that are
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here, available to us in this
century.
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But David knew underneath.
He knew he could place his cares
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in the hands of God.
Come back to those first 2
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verses again.
You notice David doesn’t tell
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God what he wants him to do.
He puts the Massa in God’s
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hands.
In all of his distress.
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He cries with his voice.
He makes supplication.
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He pours out his complaint.
He showed before him his
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troubles.
David does not try to tell God
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what to do.
I think that’s a very important
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issue for all of us.
We have perplexing issues in our
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lives from time to time.
Don’t try and tell God what He
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ought to do for us or that
issue.
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Place the matter in His hands.
Trust in His outcome and you
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know David was in very good
company.
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Of course you think back to
Joseph, you think back to
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Elijah.
You thought he had the answers.
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They had to go to Sinai to find
the reality of that still small
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voice.
You think of Job, you think of
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Jeremiah, you think of Paul.
All of them had occasion to to
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reach out in distress to our
heavenly Father.
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Paul says even of our Lord in
Hebrews 5 and verse 7, in the
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days of his flesh, in the days
of his flesh, he offered up
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prayers and supplications with
strong crying and tears.
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That was our Lord.
The one on the table was no
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facade.
There was no no kind of action
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that was insincere with strong
crying and tears.
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In the days of His flesh.
Our Lord offered up His prayers.
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We’re in very good company when
we pour it out of stress to the
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God of heaven.
There is no place where God
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cannot be reached, no cave so
deep, no despair so bleak.
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The verse 2 uses the word my
complaint.
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It’s also been translated
babbling, interestingly enough,
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because that’s probably what
David was doing, just pouring
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out his thoughts to his God, not
necessarily coherent, not
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necessarily structured, but in
his distress, pouring out his
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issues before his God and he
poured them out.
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It says there in that verse, I
showed before him my trouble.
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I poured out my complaint.
That word poured out means to
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what’s been translated in other
places, cast out, gush out to
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shed.
And we’re getting all of that.
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The intensity of the words that
David offered before he’s gone,
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you see, doesn’t matter how dark
or heavy that cloud may but
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press us upon our minds if we
open up to God, if we pour out
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our hearts to Him, even if we
don’t know what to say.
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As Paul says in everything, by
prayer and supplication, let
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your requests be known unto God.
Don’t, don’t tell God what to
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do, but open up your heart and
let your requests be known unto
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God.
See David’s complaint.
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His troubles were not petulant
outcries.
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They came from the distress of
his circumstances.
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And we each know, brethren and
sisters, when we come before our
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father, we have the assurance He
knew what our distress was
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before we came, but He will
assist us.
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You come to Romans chapter 8 and
verses 26 and 27.
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They’re somewhat obscure words,
but the intent is quite plain.
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They’re in the context of Romans
chapter 8, where Paul is
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developing the issue of the mind
of the Spirit versus that of the
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00:16:39,640 –> 00:16:43,520
flesh.
That’s very clear from the early
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00:16:43,520 –> 00:16:47,000
verses.
And in summary, in verse 6, for
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00:16:47,000 –> 00:16:52,200
instance, to be kindly minded is
death, but think after the flesh
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00:16:52,200 –> 00:16:56,400
to think of after the world to
think of normal thoughts that in
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00:16:56,400 –> 00:17:00,680
the end is death.
But to be spiritually minded to
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00:17:01,160 –> 00:17:05,839
to mind the things of the spirit
to have the word of God in your
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00:17:05,839 –> 00:17:10,359
heart and mind, as tenuous as
that might be to be spiritually
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00:17:10,359 –> 00:17:13,480
minded is life and will bring
peace.
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I say that because through most
of this chapter it’s got a
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00:17:18,880 –> 00:17:21,920
capital S for spirit.
Sometimes it is the Holy Spirit,
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00:17:21,920 –> 00:17:27,119
but I think in most cases in
chapter 8, it’s about the mind
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of the Spirit.
That section, hopefully the
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00:17:31,240 –> 00:17:35,120
majority of our thinking which
has been channelled by the Word
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of God.
And Paul says in verse 26, that
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Spirit that goes directed
through his word, that Spirit in
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00:17:45,320 –> 00:17:49,560
each one of us helps our
infirmities.
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00:17:50,200 –> 00:17:53,360
They help David, they help each
one of us.
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00:17:54,240 –> 00:18:00,160
Sometimes we know not what we
should pray for as we ought, but
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confused situation sometimes
maybe beyond our control.
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We don’t know what to ask and it
doesn’t matter.
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Put it before our God.
And that spirit mind, because
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00:18:16,960 –> 00:18:22,600
it’s related to God himself,
we’ll make it a session with
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groanings which cannot be
uttered.
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God will see our hearts and
minds.
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He will know the turmoil that is
therein.
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00:18:33,400 –> 00:18:39,320
And it doesn’t matter if no word
comes out of our mouth, that
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mind of the Spirit in each of us
will be recognized by God.
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00:18:44,240 –> 00:18:51,080
And in verse 27, he that
searches the hearts, our God and
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00:18:51,080 –> 00:18:57,600
His Son, they search the heart.
They know what is the mind of
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00:18:57,600 –> 00:19:01,440
the Spirit, and He’ll make
intercession for the Saints
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00:19:01,440 –> 00:19:06,640
according to His will.
They are so comforting, those
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00:19:06,640 –> 00:19:13,800
words that our God and His Son
can hear our hearts, even if we
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00:19:13,800 –> 00:19:19,600
can’t express the groanings that
are within us, because He will
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00:19:19,600 –> 00:19:24,040
recognise in us the same mind of
the Spirit.
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00:19:24,040 –> 00:19:27,840
Might be a small way, but if
that mind of the Spirit is in
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00:19:27,840 –> 00:19:32,200
us, He will be able to search
that heart.
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00:19:32,800 –> 00:19:38,920
Know that mind, and of course He
will act for our good, whatever
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00:19:39,000 –> 00:19:43,720
that may be.
We never necessarily know what
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00:19:43,720 –> 00:19:48,600
the outcome shall be, but we can
place it in the hands of God and
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00:19:48,600 –> 00:19:53,680
the outcome we’ll be assured.
These words are very reassuring.
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00:19:54,720 –> 00:19:57,440
He understands our thoughts,
whether we can express them or
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00:19:57,440 –> 00:19:59,480
not.
Whether we were able to
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00:19:59,520 –> 00:20:03,840
articulate our dilemma or merely
open our hearts to Him, He knows
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00:20:03,840 –> 00:20:07,560
that heart.
He knows our situation, no
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00:20:07,560 –> 00:20:11,040
matter how bleak it may seem to
us personally.
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00:20:11,920 –> 00:20:16,920
Come back to Psalm 142.
We’ll stay here for the rest of
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00:20:16,920 –> 00:20:23,280
the exhort.
In verse 3, read there, David’s
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00:20:23,280 –> 00:20:30,840
sinking into absolute despair.
His spirit within him was
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00:20:31,040 –> 00:20:37,000
overwhelmed in the way when I
walked, I privily laid a snare
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00:20:37,000 –> 00:20:39,280
for me.
Everywhere he looked, they could
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00:20:39,280 –> 00:20:44,360
see the hand of Saul trying to
entrap him and to take his life.
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00:20:44,960 –> 00:20:50,200
And he was overwhelmed by those
events in verse four.
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00:20:50,200 –> 00:20:55,720
He he felt alone.
It says here there was no man
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00:20:56,560 –> 00:21:01,080
that would know me.
He felt totally alone.
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00:21:02,000 –> 00:21:07,600
No man cared for my soul.
But that wasn’t true, brothers
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00:21:07,600 –> 00:21:11,480
and sisters.
That was not true, Jonathan.
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00:21:12,880 –> 00:21:17,120
Jonathan cared at this point and
beyond for the soul of David and
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00:21:17,120 –> 00:21:20,840
the life of David.
Jonathan supported him in his
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00:21:20,840 –> 00:21:23,280
role of becoming the King of
Israel.
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00:21:24,000 –> 00:21:25,960
But that’s not what David saw
here.
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00:21:26,560 –> 00:21:31,000
He was so overwhelmed that no
man cares for my soul.
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00:21:31,000 –> 00:21:34,920
And that’s what distress does
for us.
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00:21:35,640 –> 00:21:41,120
It does distort reality.
He was so consumed by his
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00:21:41,120 –> 00:21:45,120
troubles, he couldn’t see beyond
his despair.
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00:21:46,160 –> 00:21:49,280
And you know we need to
contrast, don’t we?
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00:21:49,920 –> 00:21:56,080
Our Lord Jesus Christ, what did
he say in similar circumstances?
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00:21:56,880 –> 00:22:04,760
Well, John 16 and verse 32.
Behold, the hour cometh, and is
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00:22:04,760 –> 00:22:10,920
now come, that you shall be
scattered every man to his own,
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00:22:11,520 –> 00:22:15,760
and shall leave me alone.
And what did the Lord say?
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00:22:17,000 –> 00:22:22,000
I am not alone because the
Father is with me.
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00:22:23,160 –> 00:22:28,080
That is how great our Lord is.
He knew all those feelings of
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00:22:28,080 –> 00:22:33,720
distress, of feeling alone, a
feeling that no one cared, but
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00:22:33,720 –> 00:22:37,880
he knew and believed and acted
out all the time.
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00:22:38,440 –> 00:22:46,040
God was always there.
In verse 6 he ask that God
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00:22:46,040 –> 00:22:53,080
attend to his cry.
In verse 7 he says bring my soul
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00:22:53,440 –> 00:22:57,760
out of prison.
He wasn’t in a prison president
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00:22:57,760 –> 00:23:01,040
and sisters.
He was in a cave, but he felt in
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00:23:01,040 –> 00:23:06,240
his mind that he was trapped.
He was locked up, he was
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00:23:06,240 –> 00:23:08,640
shackled.
He was bound by the
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00:23:08,640 –> 00:23:14,240
circumstances of his despair.
You don’t have to be in a prison
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00:23:15,240 –> 00:23:18,560
to feel trapped.
You don’t have to be in a prison
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00:23:18,560 –> 00:23:24,360
to be shackled and bound by the
circumstances of the moment.
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00:23:26,560 –> 00:23:33,640
How can our spirits be lifted
from such despondency or despite
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00:23:34,200 –> 00:23:37,840
the melancholy of this Psalm?
And we’ve made that, I think,
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00:23:37,840 –> 00:23:41,160
quite obvious.
There are little expressions in
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00:23:41,160 –> 00:23:47,280
this Psalm that David could hang
on to and we can hang on to.
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00:23:48,080 –> 00:23:54,920
There are certainties, there are
sureties, there are anchors
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00:23:55,280 –> 00:24:00,880
which we can cling to when those
personal storms are raging.
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00:24:01,840 –> 00:24:03,880
You have a look at them in verse
3.
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00:24:04,520 –> 00:24:11,320
It slips in this phrase.
Then thou newest my path just a
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00:24:11,320 –> 00:24:17,080
little expression, but you see
that indicated a way out.
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00:24:18,200 –> 00:24:24,600
God knows my path.
God is constant sang in or we we
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00:24:24,600 –> 00:24:28,200
we read together those
meditating words.
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00:24:28,240 –> 00:24:32,840
God is constant He changes not
there is no variableness or
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00:24:32,840 –> 00:24:35,560
shadow of turning with our
heavenly Father.
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00:24:36,080 –> 00:24:40,080
He knows our path.
He said to Job through all the
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00:24:40,080 –> 00:24:42,920
things that but Job went
through, not knowing what on
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00:24:42,920 –> 00:24:47,360
earth it was all about.
God said to Job, didn’t explain
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00:24:47,640 –> 00:24:49,480
why it happened to him or
anything else.
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00:24:50,440 –> 00:24:54,960
Where were you, Job, when I laid
the foundations of the earth?
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00:24:55,880 –> 00:25:00,600
My purpose hasn’t changed.
I know the path of all my
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00:25:00,600 –> 00:25:03,280
children.
You weren’t there in those
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00:25:03,280 –> 00:25:06,160
times.
But Job, I have never changed.
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00:25:06,640 –> 00:25:10,560
I am constant.
I laid those foundations and I
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00:25:10,560 –> 00:25:15,000
will see them through through
the end God said of Jeremiah
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00:25:15,000 –> 00:25:19,080
chapter 1 and verse 5.
Before I formed thee in the
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00:25:19,080 –> 00:25:23,160
belly, Jeremiah, I knew you.
I knew your path.
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00:25:23,840 –> 00:25:25,560
I knew the way that was mapped
out for you.
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00:25:26,280 –> 00:25:31,440
You can have confidence,
security, and certainty in that
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00:25:31,440 –> 00:25:35,000
knowledge.
The angels of God encamp around
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00:25:35,600 –> 00:25:39,240
his children.
As David said in Psalm 34, the
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00:25:39,920 –> 00:25:47,200
the parallel Psalm when we feel
like David, just hang on to the
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00:25:47,200 –> 00:25:51,080
certainty that God knows our
path.
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00:25:51,840 –> 00:25:57,160
He said with Paul in Hebrews 13
verse five, I will never leave
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00:25:57,160 –> 00:26:01,840
you or forsake you.
I know your path.
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00:26:02,760 –> 00:26:05,680
It’s an anchor you can hang on
to.
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00:26:06,960 –> 00:26:11,600
Verse 5, he slips in this
expression, thou art my refuge
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00:26:12,880 –> 00:26:16,120
and my portion.
Thou art my refuge.
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00:26:17,560 –> 00:26:21,360
But he said in the verse before,
there’s no one that would know
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00:26:21,360 –> 00:26:23,280
me.
Refuge failed me.
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00:26:24,280 –> 00:26:30,760
But in verse 5 he says I really
do know that you are my refuge.
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00:26:31,640 –> 00:26:35,760
It’s translated that word
refuge, shelter, hope or trust.
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00:26:36,720 –> 00:26:40,320
Jeremiah, whose life was one of
unrelenting despair, said in
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00:26:40,800 –> 00:26:46,720
Jeremiah 17 and verse 17, You
are my hope, my refuge in the
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00:26:46,720 –> 00:26:50,200
day of evil.
The wings of the Almighty, of
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00:26:50,200 –> 00:26:55,680
their brethren and sisters to
provide refuge, protection and
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00:26:55,680 –> 00:26:58,440
hope.
They’re symbolised in the
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00:26:58,440 –> 00:27:02,080
Caribbean above the mercy seat
in the Tabernacle, those wings
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00:27:02,080 –> 00:27:06,280
that that touched each other and
were joined to that mercy seat.
348
00:27:06,760 –> 00:27:10,960
The almighty power of God to
support, to forgive, to protect.
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00:27:11,800 –> 00:27:15,640
We find that kind of expression
quite a number of times
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00:27:15,640 –> 00:27:19,000
throughout the Scriptures.
God said of Israel, He bore them
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00:27:19,000 –> 00:27:23,000
on eagle’s wings.
He said of Ruth in Ruth chapter
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00:27:23,000 –> 00:27:26,720
2 and verse 12.
Yahweh has always said to her,
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00:27:26,720 –> 00:27:32,080
Yahweh, recompense thy work.
Yahweh, Elohim, under whose
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00:27:32,080 –> 00:27:38,400
wings Thou art come to trust,
Thou art my refuge.
355
00:27:39,240 –> 00:27:44,040
Psalm 17 and verse 8.
Keep me as the apple of the eye.
356
00:27:44,680 –> 00:27:47,840
Hide me under the shadow of Thy
wings.
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00:27:48,560 –> 00:27:52,280
Psalm 91 and verse four.
He shall cover thee with His
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00:27:52,320 –> 00:27:55,880
feathers.
Under Thee His wings Thou such
359
00:27:55,880 –> 00:27:59,080
trust.
Thou art my refuge.
360
00:27:59,880 –> 00:28:03,800
Of that we can be assured, even
our Lord.
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00:28:03,880 –> 00:28:07,640
Remember He came to the city of
Jerusalem, he wept over it
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00:28:07,640 –> 00:28:12,360
because he wanted that people to
be gathered under the wings of
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00:28:12,360 –> 00:28:18,680
the Almighty and they would not.
But God is our refuge of that we
364
00:28:18,680 –> 00:28:25,080
can be assured under those wings
we find another anchor in our
365
00:28:25,080 –> 00:28:30,520
personal storms.
In verse 5, David said you are
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00:28:30,800 –> 00:28:35,600
my portion.
Yahweh is our portion.
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00:28:35,800 –> 00:28:39,920
That word portion is used right
throughout the book of Joshua to
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00:28:40,400 –> 00:28:43,200
describe the petitioning of the
land.
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00:28:43,200 –> 00:28:45,840
The lots that they cast, That’s
the word portion.
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00:28:46,560 –> 00:28:52,840
It’s an inheritance or a lot.
Yahweh is our portion of the
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00:28:52,880 –> 00:28:54,960
Lord.
It was said in Psalm 16 and
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00:28:54,960 –> 00:28:59,480
verse 5.
Yahweh is the portion of mine
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00:28:59,480 –> 00:29:02,720
inheritance.
Another little anchor, brethren
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00:29:02,720 –> 00:29:08,520
and sisters, God wants us to
share his character.
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00:29:09,320 –> 00:29:15,120
He is our inheritance.
He wants us to reflect Him, to
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00:29:15,120 –> 00:29:17,400
be His glory in the Kingdom of
God.
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00:29:18,360 –> 00:29:25,000
Hang on to that anchor.
In verse 7, David says, For thou
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00:29:25,000 –> 00:29:31,560
shalt deal bountifully with me.
Bountifully is translated to
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00:29:31,560 –> 00:29:36,640
good, to reward, to recompense,
he says in his last expression
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00:29:36,640 –> 00:29:41,760
There I do.
I really know you shall deal
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00:29:41,920 –> 00:29:46,880
bountifully with me.
In reflecting on these events,
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00:29:46,880 –> 00:29:53,200
he himself said in Second Samuel
22, verses 2021, that he brought
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00:29:53,200 –> 00:29:59,720
me forth into a large place.
He delivered me because He
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00:29:59,720 –> 00:30:03,880
delighted in me.
Yahweh rewarded me.
385
00:30:04,560 –> 00:30:09,000
He dealt bountifully with me.
He was brought forth out of that
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00:30:09,640 –> 00:30:15,440
lonely cave, that mental prison
of His mind, into a large place
387
00:30:15,440 –> 00:30:22,560
of sunshine and joy.
Brethren and sisters, God can
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00:30:22,560 –> 00:30:26,360
deliver.
He may do that now.
389
00:30:27,600 –> 00:30:31,040
It may not come until the
Kingdom of God.
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00:30:32,160 –> 00:30:35,720
Those things are entirely in His
hands.
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00:30:36,800 –> 00:30:42,040
But Paul says He will deal
bountifully with us if we are
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00:30:42,040 –> 00:30:45,520
exercised by those experiences
of life.
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00:30:46,440 –> 00:30:50,200
Hebrews 12 and verse 11
afterward.
394
00:30:51,400 –> 00:30:55,640
Afterward it yieldeth the
peaceable fruit of righteousness
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00:30:56,160 –> 00:31:00,160
to them that are exercised
thereby.
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00:31:00,960 –> 00:31:04,640
We grow by that experience.
Distress might distort the
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00:31:04,640 –> 00:31:10,440
reality, but we can grow by that
experience and it will yield
398
00:31:11,280 –> 00:31:16,760
peaceable fruit, at least in the
Kingdom of God, if not before.
399
00:31:17,960 –> 00:31:24,360
David is in great despondency.
But this was the centre of these
400
00:31:24,360 –> 00:31:29,640
Psalms, the centre of a cluster
that finished in Psalm 145.
401
00:31:29,640 –> 00:31:34,000
Let’s look at those words as we
conclude our exhortation.
402
00:31:34,920 –> 00:31:42,240
Psalm 145 and verses 18 and 19.
Here’s his conclusion.
403
00:31:43,040 –> 00:31:49,800
Distortion may be the case at
times, but in verse 18 of 145,
404
00:31:50,600 –> 00:31:57,800
Yahweh is nigh to all them that
call upon Him, to all that call
405
00:31:57,800 –> 00:32:04,360
upon Him in truth.
He will for fear fulfil the
406
00:32:04,360 –> 00:32:09,280
desire of them that fear Him.
He also will will hear their
407
00:32:09,280 –> 00:32:17,960
cry, and He will save them.
Yahweh preserves all them that
408
00:32:17,960 –> 00:32:21,600
love Him.
Brothers and sisters, we come to
409
00:32:21,600 –> 00:32:28,160
the emblems, We come to our
Lord, we come to the emblems of
410
00:32:28,160 –> 00:32:33,680
His victory.
He was mistreated, He was
411
00:32:33,680 –> 00:32:37,520
unjustly accused, but he opened
not his mouth.
412
00:32:38,680 –> 00:32:43,320
He was misunderstood by his own
disciples, who fled in confusion
413
00:32:43,320 –> 00:32:48,720
at the very hour of his need.
He said on one occasion, Now is
414
00:32:48,720 –> 00:32:54,000
my soul troubled?
What shall I say, Father, save
415
00:32:54,000 –> 00:33:01,200
me from this hour for this cause
came I unto this hour.
416
00:33:02,040 –> 00:33:05,680
And we celebrate that victory
this morning.
417
00:33:06,600 –> 00:33:10,120
Paul teaches us in Hebrews 6 and
verse 18.
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00:33:10,120 –> 00:33:14,720
He says to each one of us we
have a strong consolation.
419
00:33:15,560 –> 00:33:20,920
We who have fled for refuge to
hold heck, hold on the hope set
420
00:33:20,920 –> 00:33:28,360
before us, which hope we have as
an anchor of the soul, sure and
421
00:33:28,360 –> 00:33:33,000
steadfast, which was entered
into that which is within the
422
00:33:33,000 –> 00:33:36,600
vile.
Let us take comfort in those
423
00:33:36,600 –> 00:33:52,810
words.
Thank you for listening to the
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00:33:52,810 –> 00:33:54,410
good Chris Adelphian Talks
podcast.
425
00:33:55,210 –> 00:33:57,690
We hope this talk helped you in
your walk and brightened your
426
00:33:57,690 –> 00:34:00,050
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427
00:34:00,050 –> 00:34:01,810
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