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Christians in Time of Stress By Peter Jeffrey

 really but take the first verse as a text David says my soul finds rest in
God alone my salvation comes from him and that first part my soul finds rest
in God alone now here we find David in this arm as we so often find him in the
Psalms in great stress now what the particular cause of this stress is we
don't know but somebody comes out in verse 2 how long will you assault a man
will you throw him down they fully intend to topple him from his lofty
place they take your light in lies they mount with a mouse they bless and in
their hearts they curse some people think this was written during the time
of his problem with Absalom but we don't really know when the psalm was written
and it's really unimportant I think in many ways it's an advantage to not to
know what was causing the pressure that was upon David at this time because what
is important is that we can learn how he copes with the pressure not what's
causing it but how he copes it the next psalm is another psalm of great pressure
we are told there that he took place when he was in the desert in Judah and
you know something of the reason behind that particular psalm but we don't know
the reason yet so what we can see is here is a man in stress doesn't matter
what caused it but how did he cope and how can we learn to cope in stress not
an identical stress but in stress because stress as you know is a killer
literally but medical people are telling us now that more and more illnesses are
caused by stress more and more physical elements are caused by stress emotional
physical or spiritual stress it's deadly doesn't matter what source it
comes from but it's deadly and don't we all know stress don't we all know it at
some point or other nobody will go through life very long without knowing
some pressure some cause of stress which makes them feel that they can't cope
that they don't know which way to turn they don't know how to handle the
situation a Christian can be at stress at work because of his occupation he can
be a stress at home because of family relationships he can be at stress
because of health or lack of health in his body and in all sorts of ways these
stresses can come and they can have devastating effects upon him spiritually
they're not spiritual in their origin but the effect becomes spiritual the
the cause may be something like physical quite material but it pulls him down
spiritually it makes him doubt if he's a Christian it makes him doubt if he's
got a real relationship with God that's the sort of thing that stress does to
us so let's learn from David because if we're not there now we will be just hang
on a bit it'll come one way or other it'll come so how to cope is the thing
that we want to learn from this song few general observations about the psalm
first and then we look at it in particular first general observation is
this there is no note of fear or depression in the Sun none at all now
you do find out in some Psalms with David but not with this no fear no
depression now that's an encouraging start for us because it tells us that we
can under be under acute stress without having depression and without being
fearful that's an encouraging a possibility for us so often don't we we
quit stress and pressure with fear and depression we think if you are the one
that you got to have the other and very often it follows on like that but it's
not necessary that's what this song is telling us there is no fear there is no
depression it is not easy not essential for a Christian to finish up low and
depressed and fearful and uncertain because he is under stress and because
he's under pressure if we are then there's reasons for that but it is not
necessary that's the first thing he has a great encouragement you great
encouragement and the second note about the Sun is there's no prayer in the Sun
no prayer whatsoever he doesn't address God at all now in some 63 the next time
which is a similar situation it's all prayer he starts in 63 Oh God you are my
God and he goes on addressing God but not here there's no word to God he's not
addressing God what he does address first of all he addresses his own soul
in verse 5 he talks about find rest oh my soul he's speaking to his soul my
soul find rest in God and then having done that he speaks to other Christians
verse 8 trusting God at all times for peoples he's broadening his scope now so
he doesn't speak to God at all in this up no breath speaks to himself and then
he speaks to other Christians next time I say full of address to God but not
here and these are two important things we realize I think don't we and the
stress we need to pray and we accept that but there are other things we need
to do too and that's what comes out here in this song the first thing he reminds
us about to deal with stress is begin to talk to ourselves find rest for my
soul in God and can I say this to you as Christians how we need to learn to speak
to ourselves about God that's the thing we need to count of it and learn to
develop now it said that when a man talks to himself it's the first sign of
madness and it's probably true I don't know but I know this that when a
Christian can talk to himself about God it's a sure sign of spiritual health
it's a sure sign when the Christian has learned to talk to his soul to talk to
himself about this God listen to verse 5 6 & 7 this is healthy here is a David
speaking to his soul find rest or my soul in God and he talks to his soul
about God my hope he says comes from him he alone is my rock and my salvation he
is my fortress I shall not be shaken my salvation and my honor depend on God he
is my mighty rock he is my refuge now that's healthy very healthy or to remind
ourselves particularly in times of stress and tension and pressure of the
greatness and the magnificence of God talking to ourselves speaking to
ourselves about who this God is you see stress tends to produce a sort of
introverted self-pity that sees no hope and if you've been under stress you know
the reality of that we all know it an introverted self-pity it can see no hope
it can see no possibilities of any deliverance that's what stressed and
that's what that's why it's a killer and the Christian remedy to that is to see
God in all his glory which always produces a most reasonable optimism you
see there is an optimum optimism that's not reasonable under stress you can do
certain things you can fill yourself full of tranquilizers and that get rid
of and I think there are times with certain emotional problems you have to
do that but all that does in pumping yourself with tranquilizers is give you
unreasonable optimism it shuts the problem out it doesn't deal with the
problem it doesn't deal with your own reaction to the problem it sort of numbs
your mind so you don't think about it or under stress you can not think about the
problem and there are people like that they refuse to face up to it they refuse
to even admit it's there they refuse to admit there is a problem and they shut
it out and they pretend it's not there they put the ostrich act and they stick
their head in the sand and they hope the problem will go away but it doesn't go
away it doesn't deal with the problem it doesn't deal with their attitude now the
Christian reaction is surely to see the problem or is ever whatever it is that's
causing the stress not to minimize it not to say it's unimportant because
that's silly not to pretend it's not there not to say I can cope when you
know you can't cope but to see the problem against the back cloth of the
magnificence of God and to realize that this God as we were seeing early in the
week in in in isaiah 43 but 42 that this God is with us he's our God he's the God
who cares for us he's the God who promises to give us strength and grace
to bear the problem to deal with the issue he might not even take it away but
there is no need for a sort of introverted fear and and sorrow and
depression and everything fall into pieces because we've got a great God
more and more in scripture you come back to this and this is why I was saying
earlier in the week if there's one thing we need to learn as Christians in these
days is the greatness of our God not only in order for us to face the world
with all its darkness but on to deal with ourselves and our own problems you
know we can fall into the problem sometimes as Christians and I'm sure
you've been there I've been there and we've got a particular problem a
particular pressure building up and we say something like this oh you know if I
only had X amount of dollars or X amount of pounds I could solve the problem but
we haven't got that all we got is a sovereign God you see there's the
silliness of it you see what we're doing then is trusting mammon not gone mammon
can solve my problem but God can't and of course we know that's not true we've
got a great God greater than mammon greater than anything in the world and
we need to talk to ourselves and remind ourselves because if we don't the devil
will talk to us and the devil begin to whisper into our subconscious into our
minds that we are hopeless and we're going down and down and down and he'll rub
our nose in the dirt and he'll tell us nobody cares the judge doesn't care and
God doesn't care and you're in this on your own and it's not true it never is
true thank God for that there is no situation in this world when we run our
own there is no situation possible for the Christian when he has to face it
with his own strength with his own intellect with his own ability with their
own resources and nothing more we have a great great God to remind ourselves as
David does he says take rest oh I sorry God why because my hope comes from him
this is my God talking to ourselves about God try it sit down and say well
this I don't know where to go here but there is discard remind yourself what
God has done for you remind yourself of mercies in the past remind yourself of
problems in the past we forget so often that we how God has been good to us we
forget what he's done so often the old hymn says come to your blessings name
them one by one and it will remind us what the Lord has done and our life if
we are Christians are full of the mercies of God the very fact that we're
Christians is the biggest mercy of them all to know that we are the Lord's
people so let's rejoice in that and let's remind ourselves not to say that
doesn't matter the problem doesn't matter of course it matters but we're
not to face it on our own and from that point when we learn to talk to ourselves
we can share with others that's how David goes on in verse 8 trust in him at
all times he says oh people pour out your hearts to him for God is our
refuge not just trust him but pour out your hearts not just pour out your
hearts but trust him and pour out your hearts I wonder if you found what I
found in trying to help people in problems so often when we try to
encourage each other in times of stress as a brother or a sister in the
fellowship and they're under stress it's happening all the time somebody is
like that in a fellowship usis probably more than two or three and we have them
in rugby and we try to help them and our words are correct perfectly correct we
are saying all the right things and our intentions are the best we love them and
we want to see them come out of this is cloud but even as we speaking we know
our words are empty and shallow and not helping we're not doing the right words
and we're written names the right reasons but we're not helping those
people I've been in that situation many times and sometimes you be on the
receiving end of it and you know what the people are saying to you is meant in
the best will and you know that they're saying the right things but it's not
really helping you now why why do why do we experience situations like I've
often thought about that why is it words are right intentions are the best
we're not helping could I suggest it may well be this because we've not first
reminded ourselves of the mercies of our God you see before David says come me
people or go eat people and trust in God he says to himself find rest oh my soul
in God and we're free to help each other in times of stress it's not merely words
it's not merely intentions it's that we might come from the presence of God and
I've known God's mercy and God's grace in a real and a rich way to us so we're
not just speaking words are we not just speaking thoughts but we're speaking
what we know about God and we're sharing with each other the realities of God in
our own experience we've perhaps been there or perhaps we haven't been there
but we can identify in a way because we know God for ourselves words aren't
enough even intentions aren't enough very often when we're trying to help
each other but all that people can know that we've been with God that we've come
from God that we've conquered that our soul has been strengthened our so not
his mind in the presence of God and from that strength I begin to minister I
begin to share I begin to encourage and touch those who are around me we speak
to ourselves first remind ourselves and then we say come me people or go he
people and trust in this God well here then is a man speaking of his soul and
the whole Sami speaking of his soul at first words of my soul finds rest in God
and that's very unusual isn't it you know we are men speaking of their souls
very often we often put importance on unimportant things and the soul doesn't
seem to matter and that's sad about Christians very often you know it's very
very rare sometimes you hear Christians talking about their souls they talk
about their lumbago and their arthritis and the cucumbers and the tomatoes and
the grass and their children and they car and their holidays and everything
else but to talk about their soul this man talks about his soul as if it's the
most normal thing for him to do and he warns against the unimportant things he
warns us as Christians against trusting in the things which don't really matter
and he does that in verses 9 and 10 he wants us in verse 9 of putting too much
emphasis on ability and position he says low born men are a breath the high born
are but a lie if we're in the balance they nothing together they're only a
breath he says you take all these great people he says and they've got great
jobs and better jobs than you perhaps and they've got more ability than you
and they're oozing with talent and oozing with this but you put them all
together in nothing it doesn't matter he says then he goes on in verse 10 and he
wants us about trusting in money and possessions don't trust in extortion he
says or take pride in stolen goods what we say we haven't got much of that but
though your riches increase do not set your heart on them because in the end
they don't really matter he's not saying these things are unimportant he's not
saying don't give anything to him what he's saying is this compared to the
soul in the end when everything is reduced to the last line they don't
really matter the world puts the emphasis on them there's something more
important he says for the Christian you see this man sees clearly what really
matters he's under stress and he knows under stress that position and ability
and money and possessions well don't really ease the problem they don't
really ease the problem and I think we've got to realize this sometimes they
don't there's a greater problem and that problem is my relationship with God and
my soul with God if I'm worrying myself sick it's because I'm not learned
somehow to rest in the Lord and find rest in the Lord Jesus says don't be
anxious about things don't worry about things that tomorrow take care of itself
now we'll read that in the 7th one but don't we find it so difficult can we all
find it so difficult there's something almost in readiness that caused us to be
anxious but caused us to worry but cause us to to do the very things that the
Lord doesn't want us to do and we think if we had all the other things right if
I had a better job I'd be okay I know money I'd be okay if I know ability we
look with any of your other people other Christians and we say they're losing
with talented we've got nothing and if I had his ability I'd be okay wouldn't be
okay at all I'm gonna learn and you're gonna learn to cope with what we are and
cope with what we've got and be what we are David is telling us listen man at
his best is a weak and pathetic creature he reminds us in verse 3 with one of the
most fascinating description I think of man in the Bible he talks about himself
as this leaning wall and this tottering fence that's all we are at the best
leaning walls and tottering fences we've seen a leaning wall it's blowing you
were gonna say the frost has got into it you know things like that you do but we
had we had a war in our garden not very long and it was a leaning wall and the
frost that got into it and the mortar had cracked and the bricks were
splitting open and and if we just lean against it it was topple over leaning
walls they going they going the foundations of gone or a tottering fence
and one strong puff of wind you've seen them fragile little things and one puff
of wind they be gone and that's a man who's like he says I think we're so
strong we think we're so self-sufficient but all we are a leaning walls tottering
fence it wouldn't take much to push us over how vivid that is and how accurate
that is it isn't a pessimistic view of life it's an accurate view of life James
says the same thing really he says what is life what is life when you reduce it
all what is life it's but a vapor he says that appears from the little wire
and it vanishes away it's gone there's been all our time worrying about this
and worrying about that and life will just vanish away now there's not a
Christian here tonight who wouldn't accept what I've just said in theory
because you can't because that's what the scripture says we accept these
things in theory but I wonder if you really believe them these bodies of ours
are weak and temporary and our souls are immortal and we know that and we agree
with Jesus when he says what shall it profit a man if he gained the whole
world and lose his own soul we know in the end the thing that matter is our
immortal soul and we know what the soul is it's very difficult to define the
soul sometimes but I always define the soul as the life of God in man it's
that we distinguish his man from all the other of God's created beings God
breathed in Adam and he became a living soul and if you're a Christian you're a
living soul not a dead so but a living soul God has breathed his life in you
and gone Jesus said that's the most important thing there is about you to
gain the whole world and lose your soul you've made a bad bargain now we know
the reality of that and we can't argue against that because we believe in
Scripture but I wonder if you really believe that that the most important
thing is what we are between before our God and can I suggest you that sometimes
it's only stress that teaches us the reality of what we say we believe and
it's perfectly true that sometimes God can teach us under stress and pressure
what we are not willing to learn when things are going well and when things
are going great under stress we learn because we have to test the reality of
what we say I did experience of this just six months ago last August in our
summer we were on holidays in abrist with in Wills at the conference of the
evangelical movement of Wills I preached on the Sunday night in the
conference and then I was preaching on the Tuesday afternoon in the open-air
meeting on the prom from not and I was the first of four or five preachers I
think and I was preaching the gospel you know the sort of thing you have an open
air hundreds of people standing around and you're seeking to preach to
unbelievers who were passing by and what I did because you can't preach with a
text and three points or an open-air service I I suggested to the people that
there were two questions I spoke on two questions and I argue and I believe
people always ask each other when they bump into friends unexpectedly on
holiday might not be true in Australia but it's all was certainly true in
England and Wales you walk in all this through the top and you suddenly see
someone you didn't expect to see that I use it that's nice to see you and then
these two questions always come up how long are you staying when you're going
home always come up with us how long are you staying when you're going home as a
sort of negative attitude about these things and I took those two questions
and applied them to life and death and you can imagine what I would do with a
preaching the gospel how long are you staying in this world you don't know
could be gone tomorrow when are you going home you got a home to go to and
that's the sort of line I took as I preached the gospel it on that Tuesday
afternoon and I said something like this I said we as Christians we don't care
how long we're in this world because we've got a home to go to and we know if
God was to take us now and we were to die that we'd be in the presence of the
living God I preached that sort of way and then I finished preaching and the
next fella came up to preach and I went to sit on in the crowd and five minutes
later I had a heart attack just five minutes after preaching that sort of
thing telling these people that if we were to die today it didn't matter
because we'd be in the presence of God and we'd be going home and five minutes
later I had a heart attack and suddenly all the words I'd been preaching with
evangelical conviction and with evangelical zeal suddenly rose up before
me and smacked me in the eyes and said no do you really believe this because
there was this heart attack and I could have been in the presence of God I could
have been dead in a matter of minutes I didn't know how severe these things were
I didn't know what was happening when I finished up in hospital one of my
friends who was in the when another minister who was in the in the open-air
meeting in the crowd he wrote me a letter he says Peter there is no need to
make your illustration so dramatic he saw the point you see no need to make
your illustrations so dramatic but you know what I'm saying is this that in
such times the Christian soul can have rest in God in times of great stress and
uncertainty when you don't know what tomorrow not what you're gonna do
tomorrow but whether you have a tomorrow even in such times you can no rest of
soul when the body knows no rest because of pain when you're wired up to a heart
monitor and I was truffed up like a chicken for five or six days with wires
going everywhere the soul can no rest and that's perfectly right because you
can learn to trust in God but you were a fiercer but such situations to all
that you've been saying for you weeks and for years before of the reality of
God and the presence of God and the peace of God and the things that matter
and if you were to die you'd go to the presence of God but you could have rest
in such a situation but it is a rest says David that has to be found my soul
finds rest it's not something that comes automatically just because you're a
Christian because the tragedy is that so many Christians under stress and
pressure do not know rest of soul they worry they get anxious they become
miserable they lose faith they lose assurance and all sorts of things go
wrong it isn't something that comes automatically just because you're a
Christian but it can be there because you're a Christian but says David you
have to find it my soul finds this rest now how do you find it well you find
something don't you in one of two ways you find something either accidentally
or by searching and I think those two subtitles will cover just about any
experience of finding you find something accidentally in other words you're not
looking for it you don't even know it's there and because you're not looking for
it you don't care whether you get it or not you don't know it's there and
suddenly you come across it and you're excited because the whole thing is so
unexpected you found it you would know it's a surprise and you're excited and
then there's the other finding which is a result of searching this is quite
different you know this thing whatever it is is there and you want it or how
you want it so you search for it you are searching because you know it's there
you're searching because you want it but the trouble is you get frustrated
sometimes in searching for things and you get disappointed sometimes and you
may doubt if it's even possible to find it the longer you search the more
frustrated you get the more disappointed you get and you begin to
doubt if this thing you're looking for is possible to find and then you find it
and you're excited like the other fellow who found accidentally but more than
that you're overjoyed and there's a great peace and there's a great
satisfaction and you determined now to look after what you found and never
lose it again because you don't want to go through the agonies of searching
again but if you did lose it you will be prepared to go through the
agonies of searching because it's worth it because you know it's there now
there are those two areas and a finding accidentally or by searching now how do
you find rest of soul well it's not accidentally it's not just gonna drop in
your lap you can be a Christian for 20 or 30 years and it will not just drop in
your lap you'll find it by searching I'm not going to deal with how to search
for this Psalm 63 tells you exactly how to search for it and if you want to know
how to search for this rest of soul then look at Psalm 63 and you'll find it there
in David's experience what I want to ask as we as we finish tonight is this what
is it that is found what is rest of soul my soul finds rest in God the Lord what
does my soul find what is rest of soul don't you think sometimes we use words
and we don't really ask the meaning I think soul is like that we turn the word
soul up our lips and it's very difficult to be fine and perhaps this thing rest
of soldiers what is it well let me try and answer it like this
remember David here is under stress whatever that stress is he's seen his
own weakness the stress has highlighted for him that he is nothing more than a
leaning wall in the tottering fence but he didn't stop there he didn't stop
there and sort of lapse into a sort of self-pity and feel our helplessness and
helplessness he's a child of God and so he looks to God and he finds what he has
or he sees rather and realizes afresh what he has in God he's not looking at
what he may have in God he's not looking for some future blessings when he gets
to heaven and gone he finds and reminds himself what he has now in God and rest
of soul I would suggest you is to get things into a right perspective I don't
think it's a good spiritual experience a great climatic experience it's simply to
get things into the right perspective is to realize what we have as Christians in
God now not what maybe not some blessing that I want but what I have just because
I'm a Christian in ourselves we are leaning walls and tottering fences we
know that we're weak we're not very strong but in God what are we listen to
David but he says if we are in God in verse 1 I'm hanging on to my Bible on my
notes now for grim death in God he says we have salvation verse 1 in God he says
verse 2 we have strength he is my rock in God verse 2 we have security he is my
fortress in God verse 2 we have stability I shall never be moved in God
verse 5 we are hope in God verse 7 we are honor and all that is to be found he
says in God alone alone my soul finds rest in God alone there is no
alternative but if we want these things it is in God alone that we will find
them but notice too these are not merely blessings from God they are blessings
that have been found in God and there's a tremendous difference sometimes whoops
we expect these things to be found from God but they're not found from God
John Owen the Puritan says that these blessings are God and not like a
sticking cluster or a band-aid that you've got a bit of a problem you take
and you stick on and it's detached from anything else you can't have the
blessings of God like that you can't have the blessings without having God
they are not something from God they're not something maybe that God gives us
there's something that are found in God and we find them only as we exercise
what is our joy and right and privileges Christians of having a living
relationship with God and it seems to me that rest of soul is greatly dependent
upon the union that we have with Christ on the oneness that we have with him of
the fact that we are complete in the Lord Jesus Christ that's rest of soul
it's not great some good experience that comes out of the blue it says I begin to
talk to myself and begin to remind myself of what I am in God oh I'm weak
and I'm pathetic I'm a failure I've made a muck of this I made a muck of that
way because I'm a leaning wall and I'm a tottering fence and all those things
could be true and I begin to get depressed and I begin to feel hopeless
and I begin to to begin to wallow in self-pity and there's nothing worse for
a Christian than self-pity there's nothing more destroying for a Christian
than self-pity so I turned from those and I say okay that's what I am that's
what I am in myself but oh look what I am in God I have
salvation in God I have strength in God I have I have a stability in God which
is impossible to me temperamentally or emotionally he is my rock he is my
refuge he is my strong tower and I begin to see what I have in God I not
only do I see them as an empty theory but the more I realize that I'm one with
Christ and I'm in God I see these things as part of what I am enough something
detached they are what I am the fruit of my salvation rest of soul is the product
of union and oneness with the Lord Jesus Christ it's the product of a spiritual
fullness and the answer to these problems I'm not rushing here there and
everywhere looking for this and looking for that but to be still just to
consider what God has done for me and now precious the Lord Jesus Christ is
and he is precious isn't he even in the most drab moments he's precious to them
that believe he's precious when I began to think that Christ himself not sparing
I think the hymn book is a tremendous source of comfort you know it's division
I think that very often hymns should be read and unsung they such a source of
strength of the Lord Jesus Christ let me tell you of one experience I had with a
hymn I'd gone into hospital in avarice truth and I didn't know how serious the
heart attack was I didn't expect to go into hospital they went in and they kept
me in and I was put in a bed and I was wired up and the monitors are blinking
back and forth all over the place and the little light was jumping up and down
like it like a sort of yo-yo every time somebody came in the room banging went
up through the ceiling and I didn't know how serious these things were my joy and
my delight was to preach and I didn't know if I preach again I didn't know how
ill I was I didn't know what was happening and and in this sort of
confusion you can get all sorts of frustrations got you and before I'd gone
into hospital I'd started reading a new book by a friend of mine I've been
Evans a biography of Daniel Rowland one of the great great Welsh preachers
first full English biography ever written of this great man he was
ministering at the same time as Wesleyan Whitfield only he was a bit different he
ministered 40 years in the same church whereas they were wandering around all
over the place he was 40 years in thank I saw ministering and I was reading this
book and I got to page 300 before I went into hospital and I took it with me in
or Lorna brought her in after I'd gone in and I didn't you know you don't feel
like reading you for four sets for several days and then I got further bit
better and I started reading this book and I turned the page over 301 and there
was a hymn a hymn I'd never seen before a hymn by William Williams Patrick
Allen you've got lots of Williams hymns in the book start learning and they
were singing and there was a hymn I'd never seen in English before it was a
hymn apparently which had been English many many years obviously Williams had
written it in Welsh he did all his hymns but I'd never seen this translation and I
have never known a hymn makes such an impression upon me as that hymn did it
seemed to put everything into perspective for me let me read the hymn
through to you or two verses of it and then I'll I'll stop and tell you what I
mean this is this is the hymn to see thy face beloved makes my poor soul
rejoice or all I've ever tasted or ever made my choice when they all disappear
why should I grieve or pine while to my gaze that opens the sight but Christ is
mine he's greater than his blessings he's greater than his grace far greater
than his actions whatever you may dress I'll plead for faith gifts cleansing for
these I'll yearn quite so but on him only always I look and mean far more
tremendous him of Christian experience yes I was in the situation I didn't know
whether I preach again and preaching to me was the most important thing in the
world it still is thank God it still is it was the most important thing it was a
gift I think God had given me and I wanted to use it for the glory of God
and I enjoyed preaching a delight in preaching and it seems about all thing
was falling to pieces I've been I just been pretty I just been preaching in the
open air when this thing happened and then I'd read these verses to see thy
face beloved this relationship with Christ this oneness with Christ makes my
poor soul rejoice over all I've ever tasted or ever made my choice I tasted
the blessings of preaching and there's nothing I tell you in all the world of
it and that would be my choice because God enabled me to have that choice to
preach and these were the great things but then when they all disappear and it
looked as if they were all disappearing it looked as if they couldn't do it
again perhaps when they all disappear why should I grieve or pine while to my
gaze there opens the site but Christ is mine that doesn't change as Williams all
these other things may change all the things we think are precious and
important whether it's preaching or anything else they might be disappearing
they might be taken away from us but why should I grieve or pine because this
relationship with Christ doesn't change and who is this Christ oh he's greater
than his blessings and he's greater than his grace others are tremendous lines
you know there are some Christians who are running around looking for
blessings all the time he's greater than that whatever blessing you can have he's
greater than that there are some Christians who run around delighting in
grace and perhaps we are some of those people who delighted in doctrines of
grace and we think that the doctrines of grace are the tremendous things he's
greater than that he's greater than our concept of reformed faith he's greater
than our concept of Calvinism he's greater than all we can understand of
grace he's greater than that he's greater than his actions and his actions
are mighty but he's greater than that whatever you may dress Oh Williams goes
on and he says I plead for faith gifts cleansing for these I'll yearn quite so
that's legitimate that's right but he says on Jesus on him only and not only
but always I look and lean for more and I feel that you know we need to be
lookers and leaners that's restive so you can do two things you can look away
from Christ or you can look to him as a Christian I mean you can lean on him or
you can lean on yourself or somebody else but when we look to Jesus when we
lean on him that doesn't that doesn't mean you forget the problem it doesn't
mean you don't believe the problem is on is important doesn't mean that you
pretend it's okay well it isn't okay but you begin to trust Jesus you begin to
realize what you have in Christ and I tell you what you have in Christ is more
important than anything else in the whole world and we can theorize about
that what we're gonna learn to do as Christians is to know that in reality
to know that he is greater than his blessings and that he is greater than
his grace it's all summed up it seems to me at the end of the Psalm here David
says you or God are strong and you or God are loving and we're back where we
started at the beginning of the week in the greatness and the goodness of God he
is a strong he is great he is a good God he is loving he is able and he is
willing that's the thing we need to know as Christians he is able to give us
strength and to give us grace and to warm our hearts towards himself and to
help us in our problems he is able more than that he is willing he is our God at
great that's strong though God of loving and that's you a guy as a
Christian that's my God he's a God who wants to give us rest of so we know
stress of course we do we'll go on knowing stress of course we will it's
part and parcel of life but we can know peace in the middle of that we can say
my soul finds you've got to look for it it's not gonna drop on your lap my soul
finds rest in God how do you search well if I got the notes are you all
preaching on 63 63 is a great song read 63 that's how you say earnestly
searching wanting it with all your heart don't play around with it seek God until
you know that oneness which he has purchased for you with his own blood and
you begin to know that peace in the middle of all the trials which is our
joy and our delight may we know it more than this recording is brought to you by
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