Suffering for God’s Sake

Transcript

GRM 1247
11/8/2020
Suffering for God's Sake
Psalm 44; Romans 8:14-39
Gil Rugh


We're going to Psalm 44 in your Bibles. I am aware that we had an election this week, some of you probably thought I might be addressing that, but I am not, maybe along the way sometime, but not right now. But we're going to Psalm 44. And I couldn't help but think as I listened to the different songs and the words in those songs that we sang this morning and that were sung, how well they fit with the very passage of scripture we are going to be looking into. And we see the message of the word of God proclaimed in song, and the psalms were to be sung by the people as they came to worship at the temple. Psalms were songs and that's why at the title of Psalm 44 we have it for the choir director or the chief musician as we saw at the beginning of Psalm 42, the one who was in charge over all the music and the collecting of it together. And it's a maskil of the sons of Korah or for the sons of Korah. We noted probably rather than them being the authors of this song it was for them because as we noted in Chronicles, under David and Solomon with the establishing of the musicians, almost 300 of them, the sons of Korah had a role in leading the people who came to the temple for worship in their singing. This would have been one of the songs that they sang and they would be singing the truth of God as it is presented to us.

We don't know who wrote this psalm as we noted in Psalm 42, 43, there is not an author noted. That's not particularly a problem for us, it's under the inspiration of the Spirit of God. It seems, and there is general agreement on this, that the author was the king because you go back and forth from the singular to the plural, I or me or we, and it seems he speaks for himself and for the people that he serves. It may have been David, it may have been someone else. It would fit David as well as anyone, maybe better because we know of his psalms, it would be consistent with some of those. Others suggest other kings, Hezekiah and others. I'll probably mention David just out of habit so if I say King David you will think, I thought we didn't know for sure. Well, just say that's Gil's mind at this stage of his life and the king that comes to his mind. But it is the word of God to us.

The context, again these psalms are so rich for us because they are life experiences and they are the theology worked out through life that creates conflicts and difficulties for us. In this psalm Israel has suffered a great defeat at the hand of her enemies. They have not only been defeated, they've been humiliated, and it just wasn't a one-time event. it's not over. We'll see as we move through this psalm he'll say all day long they not only defeated us, but they are crushing us, it is relentless. Something of their experience. And their suffering is intensified, if I can put it that way, because they have full confidence that God is sovereign. Even as we sang, He is for us and who can be against us, who could stand against us? And the psalmist is taken up with this. We have a sovereign, almighty God who has provided great deliverances for us and now we've been defeated and we are being crushed and humiliated. And where is God? Has He abandoned us? He'll say, God, wake up, are You asleep, do You know what is going on? And added to that if they believe God is totally sovereign and yet He is not acting on their behalf, and their enemy is victorious, we have another piece to put into this picture. And that is if God is totally sovereign, in control of all, and I am suffering, and my enemies are defeating me, it must be God who is behind it all. Could the enemy be greater than the God I serve? The scripture does tell me that God is my protector, my defender. The psalmist will record He has given great victories to us as His people, he’ll write. And it couldn't happen if it wasn't the hand of God. So you'll see through this psalm, he'll acknowledge, God it is You who has brought defeat to us; it is You who has crushed us down. And it seems You have abandoned us because there is one more piece, we haven't sinned. The first thing is it's probably God's people being disciplined for sin, but the psalmist will make clear he has not sinned, the people have not sinned. And he'll be so brazen to say God, You know our hearts, You know we haven't sinned and yet You have chosen to bring this upon us.

The things we wrestle with when we find ourselves going back and forth. Yes, God is totally sovereign and we can sit here in reasonable good health, healthy enough to be here, things are okay, we sing nothing can stand against us. Then something comes in and it seems like our life may be unfair, unjust, those who hate God are gaining a victory over us in personal ways even. Then I begin to wonder, if God is totally sovereign, how could they do this to us? But if He is totally sovereign, ultimately He is the one doing it. How could He do that to those of us who love Him, those who are the objects of His love. And it's that tension that drives the psalmist in writing this special and precious psalm.

There are four divisions in the psalm, not exactly how you have it broken down. The first division will cover the first eight verses, you have it broken into two sections probably in your Bible—the first three verses, then verses 4-8. But those eight verses really express the confidence of the psalmist, perhaps the king and those he represents, the people, that He is the sovereign God and His power has worked mightily for His people. So if you just had the first eight verses, you would say this is a declaration of the sovereign power of God, working on behalf of His people, giving them deliverance. But then we'll hit verse 9 that says, “Yet You have rejected us.” So first we have to look at their confidence in God and His sovereign power.

The first three verses go back to the early history of Israel and how God worked on their behalf. It starts out, “O God.” So he writes individually and personally because you'll note he says “we have heard,” and then he'll talk in the singular as you come through because it's not only true for him individually, it's true for the people that he rules over and acts on behalf of. “O God, we have heard with our ears; our fathers have told us the work that you did in their days, in the days of old.” The fathers, their parents, have been faithful in passing down the truth of God, passing on to the children, these are the mighty works that God did, reiterating the history of God in working on Israel's behalf, and He is a mighty God. So they have been faithful to the scripture in doing that.

Come back to Deuteronomy 4, look at verse 7. “For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the Lord our God, whenever we call on Him?” And that's exactly what the psalm has done in Psalm 44, “O God.” That's what Deuteronomy says, we have a God who is amazing, there is no nation who has a god like our God, He is so near to us we can call on Him. “What great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before You today? Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently.” We'll see later the psalmist claims that they have. “So that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life,” and note this, “but make them known to your sons and your grandsons.” Responsibility of the parents is to see that their children are grounded in the mighty works of God, in the history that He has preserved for them. You are gathered here, many of you have your children or grandchildren in classes that are geared for that very purpose to have the truth of God and what He has done and His work in the early history and through our Bible as they learn those biblical accounts and are taught that. We are responsible for that, to see that our children are grounded in that. That's why we have classes geared for them so they can be taught that from early years.

Well, the psalmist here. A little bit of timeline, Abraham the founder of the nation Israel was about 2000 years before Christ. Moses is about 1500 years as he writes, the Exodus occurred about 1445 so we round it off to 1500. And David is about 1000 B.C. so you see we are about 500 years after the events that he starts out with in Psalm 44, because he is going to talk about the events of Israel going in and conquering the land. So the events of being delivered from slavery in Egypt and then under Joshua going in to conquer the land. Well, that has been passed down over 500 years. Remember in those days everybody wasn't privileged, you all opened your Bibles with me, what an honor, we each have a copy. In those days you would have had multiple copies on scrolls, you didn't have it all together in one nice readable book. You went to the temple to have the Law taught to you and explained and you had to be paying attention because you had to get it in your mind. And then be passing it on to the children and making sure they knew all those great truths as a foundation for their lives and their relationship with God. And 500 years later the psalmist could write our fathers have taught us, we know what God did in the past.

While you are here come over to Deuteronomy 6, this is where you have that great statement, verse 4, “Hear, O Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” The word of God is to be the atmosphere in which we live, we conduct our lives. We want our children to be grounded in the work of God as He has made it known. And we want to talk about it. Why does our family function like they do? Why do we do what we do? Why are we going to church? Why do I go to a Sunday School class? That's why we often put in the newsletter what has been taught to the children so you can talk about those things and how they shape our lives, our decision. They've done that.

So there are other passages in Deuteronomy, but come back to Psalm 44. So there has been faithfulness here. They have heard it with their ears, their fathers taught them, the centuries of time have gone by but it hasn't been lost. God in His grace has preserved it and they have been faithful. “You,” and there is going to be an emphasis on God. This psalm started out “O God.” Then here in the middle of verse 1 it said “the work that You did,” God did. Verse 2, “You with Your own hand… then You planted them… You afflicted… then You spread them.” The middle of verse 3, “But Your right hand… Your arm… the light of Your presence, for You favored them, You are my King, O God… through You… through Your name.” Verse 7, “But You.” “In God,” verse 8, “we have boasted… we will give thanks to Your name.” And it will continue on into the next section. It's all about God, the focus is on Him, what He has done, what He is doing or not doing, where we are in our relationship with You and where we end up in our confidence in You.

So verse 2, “You with Your own hand drove out the nations, then You planted them; You afflicted the peoples, then You spread them abroad.” What He did, He drove out the nations. Remember when they went into the land of Canaan, nations there, God drove them out before the Israelites and planted the Israelites there. “He afflicted the people,” remember He sent hornets in to afflict the people and make it easier for Israel to conquer them. And “then You spread them abroad,” and the way God worked and Israel flourished in that land. “For by their own sword they did not possess the land, and their own arm did not save them” You see the psalmist has a strong, settled belief and recognition that the sovereign God five hundred years earlier in Israel's history acted in a mighty way. And it wasn't because Israel was such a strong nation, it wasn't because Joshua was such a clever military leader. Ultimately all the credit goes to God, it could not have been done, it was Him working. He used Joshua, He used the armies of Israel but it was nothing, in the ultimate end it was God. “By their own sword they didn't possess the land.” No, it was, look at the middle of verse 3, “By Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence, for You favored them.” That emphasis, it was all God's doing, He was present, His might, that right arm, that picture of power and strength. “You favored them,” you ought to mark that, “You favored them.” That will come up at the very end of this psalm. That's why, that's the answer, God loved them, He favored them.

Come back to Deuteronomy 4:35, “To you it was shown that you might know that the Lord, He is God; there is no other besides Him.” The psalm opened up with the psalmist’s, “O God.” When we get down to verse 4, “You are my King, O God,” He is the only sovereign One who rules over all. Deuteronomy 4:37, now note this, “Because He loved your fathers,” He favored them, He chose them, “Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendants after them. And He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power.” Then here we go into the land. “Driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today.” These were nations greater and mightier than you, that's what the psalmist says, it wasn't by our military prowess, our strength. No. They have passed that truth on faithfully. It was by His great power and it was He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, driving out nations greater and mightier. Remember the light of His presence. “Know therefore today and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other.” It is God's doing, God did it.

Look over in Deuteronomy 7:7, “The Lord did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all the peoples, but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh… Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant.” Remember that His favor is there because it is tied to what? It is the covenant love He has put on them, as we'll see. “His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; (He) repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him; He will repay him...” That's part of the dilemma we are going to have. There we are told that the psalmist has full confidence that God loves Israel, He acted on their behalf, that was a display of His love. But keep in mind verse 10, God will defeat the enemies of Israel because these are His people, their enemies are His enemies. Because they hate God, they hate God's people, they fight against them. We are going to see a breakdown that the psalmist is concerned about because God has put His love on Israel. And there is a circle here, you can't go back any further. It's like in Ephesians 1 (verse 4) when we're told God elected before the earth was created in eternity past, made a choice from among sinful human beings on the basis of His own will. Why did He love Israel? Because He loved Israel, He chose them, He put His love on them, so He has a relationship with them. He promised to keep His lovingkindness on them to the thousandth generation, it just won't have an end. Come back to Psalm 44, so God gave them the land by the light of His presence, at the end of verse 3. Why? Because “You favored them,” they were Your choice people, the object of Your love.

And then verses 4-8, not only going back to early history of Israel, but more recent, their own more recent experiences a testimony that God acts on behalf of His people. “You are my King, O God.” There we are, right down there, “You are my King.’ This is a major emphasis in the psalm, when you say God is king it means He is sovereign over all, He exercises authority over all the nations. If we keep going in the Psalms we'll get to Psalm 47, but just turn over there, look at verse 2, “For the Lord Most High is to be feared, a great King over all the earth.” Verse 7, “For God is the King of all the earth.” Verse 8, “God reigns over the nations, God sits on His holy throne.” That's the confidence the psalmist has, our God is sovereign over all. That's why Daniel writes that God sets up rulers, He takes down rulers. Nebuchadnezzar needed to learn that. He decides who will rule when, and when someone's rule is over. He is sovereign, God, there is no one greater than He is. One more of the psalms on Him as king, come back to Psalm 29, there were a whole list of references, but Psalm 29:10 says “The Lord sat as King at the flood.” Now ‘as King’ is inserted there, you see in italics, but when it says the Lord sat, because the next line says, “Yes, the Lord sits as King forever.” Of course He was sitting as king in the days of the flood because He sits as king forever, He is always king. He created everything and as the Creator of everything He is sovereign over everything. So when the flood came and brought destruction over the world, God was sovereign over that, that was His hand doing it. That was before even we had the development of the nations, which happens in Genesis 10, but the flood occurs in the chapters before that.

So come back to Psalm 44. “You are my King, O God. Command victories for Jacob,” for Israel, “Through You we will push back our adversaries, through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us. For I will not trust in my bow, nor will my sword save me,” he will not fall back in his own abilities, his own resources. Good reminder. The psalmist is in serious trouble, his people are in serious trouble. The solution is not found in me, he says; that would be contrary to calling God his King, the One who will act on his behalf. In the day as John wrote in his epistles, “Greater is He who is in you than he who is in the world.” (1 John 4:4) And we would acknowledge because God is our God, He is our protector, our defender, we are assured a victory. Verse 7, “But You have saved us from our adversaries, You have put to shame those who hate us.” He can speak of that, he has experienced that. “In God we have boasted all day long.” that expression is going to be used a couple more times before the psalm is over, indicating it is ongoing. “In God we have boasted all day long.” They haven't in arrogance puffed themselves up in their victories, no, we boast in God. “We will give thanks to Your name forever,” that is pretty settled. If this psalm ended here… “Selah,” that pause, maybe a musical interlude to allow these things to sink in. “Forever we will give thanks to Your name,” because they are confident that God will continue to do what He has promised in His covenant love for Israel. You think that would make a good end to that psalm, we could have an eight-verse psalm.

And then we have verse 9, and verses 9-16, do you know what they are about? The psalmist and his people are in dire, serious conditions which are in direct contrast to the confidence that he expressed in the first eight verses. Look how verse 9 starts. “Yet You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor, and do not go out with our armies.” No wonder they are being defeated, no wonder they've been crushed, God doesn't go out with us. It's the opposite of what he said in the first three verses particularly, and declared his confidence down through verse 8. One commentator wrote, the words move from a glorious past to a tragic present. All that our ancestors experienced and we know of Your mighty power, that we have experienced in our most recent past. But now let's talk about today, You have rejected us, You have brought us to dishonor. You note the resolution here, God is sovereign. Important, the first thing to do, this is why we want to constantly stay in the Word and remind ourselves, God is sovereign. He is just as sovereign today as He was last week, that can't change, in everything, in all details. But then when our life seems to be coming apart, the enemy seems to be running over, we seem to be being crushed, we begin to think it's because these people did that, because of these circumstances, because of this. You know the psalmist is clear, if God is sovereign as He said through those first eight verses, if He is the king, if He is God, then the only answer can be “You have rejected us and brought us to dishonor, and do not go out with our armies. You cause us to turn back from the adversary; and those who hate us have taken spoil for themselves. You give us as sheep to be eaten and have scattered us among the nations. You sell Your people cheaply, and have not profited by their sale. You make us a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing and derision to those around us. You make us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.” The psalmist keeps his doctrine on line. If God is sovereign in all things, He is sovereign in all things. We are being crushed by our enemies, relentlessly humiliated and dishonored. And since our God is king over all, sovereign over all, His will cannot be resisted, He does as He wills in heaven and on earth, the only answer is God is doing this to us. And that creates a dilemma, that creates a concern. You've caused us to be defeated by our enemies. Verse 13, You've caused us to be humiliated by our enemies, they've defeated us and now they won't stop. It's like they not only defeated them, now they want to grind you into the dirt and relentlessly humiliate you and show that you are but nothing. The attacks are relentless.

Look at verse 15, “All day long,” there is that expression again, ‘all day long.” Verse 8 said “In God we have boasted all day long.” Now in verse 15, “All day long my dishonor is before me and my humiliation has overwhelmed me, because of the voice of him who reproaches and reviles, because of the presence of the enemy and the avenger.” The very fact he is in the presence of his enemies, those who hate him and his God, and it is relentless, it goes on all day long. An indication that God has brought this on me because he will not allow himself to believe God has been defeated. So he keeps that as his focal point, and he is right. That's why this psalm is very much like the book of Job and the issues that are being dealt with. We probably won't have time but I just went back through Job this week as part of this study and made a list of the verses that seem like the psalmist could be drawing those out. You can go back and refresh. And that’s what? God is a mighty God, but… He is my God, but… He gives me victory, but… They are stomping all over me, my life is in tatters, it is shattered, “because of the presence of the enemy.”

So the first eight verses talked about his confidence in God and His sovereign power. That second section, verses 9-16, talked about the seriousness of their condition in contrast to what the power of God had done in the past, distant past and more recent past. There is an explanation, maybe we have sinned, and that's always a possibility and Israel's history is a reflection of that. Maybe we are suffering because God is disciplining, maybe He has brought this on because we have sinned. So this third division covers verses 17-22, and it's a protest by the psalmist. We have not sinned, this is not a result of our sin, and the God who knows our hearts knows it's not because we have sinned. And that adds to the burden because we look, if you have sin in your life, and you'll know you sinned… And it's time to mention, if God is disciplining you for sin in your life, you will know about it. That's what he is going to talk about. In other words, you don't discipline your children and they say why am I being disciplined, you say none of your business. No, you don't do that, you explain to them why they are being … The psalmist said if we were being disciplined because of sin, God would know our sin and I would know this is the cause. And we have that sense, when you sin you have a sense that God may discipline you for that sin. The psalmist says what is going on is not a result of our sin because we're not guilty.

Verse 17, “All this has come upon us, but we have not forgotten You.” That means we have not turned from God to do things that are contrary to what He wants, we haven't forgotten our God. He is concerned God has forgotten them. He says we have not forgotten You. “We have not dealt falsely with Your covenant.” So you can see he reiterates what he has said. We know what Your word says, we know what the Law instructs us. We have not abandoned that, we have not dealt falsely with You. “Our heart has not turned back.” He is not just talking about this is a veneer out here, I'm talking about our true spiritual condition in our innermost being. “Our heart has not turned back and our steps have not deviated from Your way, yet You…” we had that back in verse 9, “yet You have rejected us,” could be translated ‘but you again.’ Verse 19, “Yet You have crushed us in a place of jackals,” they've been scattered out, they are in an uninhabitable place where the jackals roam. “And covered us with the shadow of death,” when you are covered with the shadow of death, that's how close you are. That's the picture, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, death is looming over me, so near to me, I'm so near to dying that I am in its shadow. Like if someone is in your shadow they are standing right next to you, that's the picture. You have crushed us. We haven't dealt falsely, we haven't forgotten You, You are our God, we claim You. He started out by saying, “O God,” then he said, “You are my King, O God… Yet You have crushed us in a place of jackals, and have covered us with the shadow of death.”

Now he is going to tell them if they had sinned there is no hiding sin from God. I, the Lord, search the heart,” I try the motives Jeremiah 17:10 says. There is no hiding from God, the psalmist knows that. Verse 20, “If we had forgotten the name of our God or extended our hands to a strange god, would not God find this out? For He knows the secrets of the heart.” Of course, God would know, and the psalmist would know, the people would know. And you have those kinds of acknowledgments through the scripture -- it is our sin that has brought this on us. Sometimes you have the prophets acknowledging that to God. God makes clear, you don't have to think… Sometimes you have people that want to tell you that you have sinned, and maybe they have seen sin in your life that you have covered up and haven't paid attention to. We want to be open to that. But when God is disciplining you, you will know why. That's why Paul will write and say I have a clear conscience, my conscience is clear before God. And we want to have a clear conscience, not accusing us. God would not want me to do this, this is contrary to what God desires for me. The psalmist says if I were doing that in my heart, even if he hadn't done it overtly, but in his heart he had closed God out, in his heart he was desiring other gods, God would know. “He knows the secrets of the heart,” here is the answer, this is an important verse, it is quoted in Romans 8, we're going to go there after we conclude this psalm because it is important. Reminds us, this psalm, the truth of this psalm is true for Paul and the church that he is writing to as well, going through very similar situations.

“But for your sake,” I have that circled in my Bible, “but for Your sake we are killed all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” That's the only answer, it is for God's sake, for His honor, for His glory, for His purposes. It's for Your sake, that's as far back as I can go. I don't understand why He is doing it at this time, other than it brings honor to Him. Is that not what our life is about? Oh Lord, use my life as a testimony for You, use me to bring honor to You, use me… And then He does and we say, what's wrong? Why are You doing this? Remember Paul? He prayed the Lord would deliver him from the messenger of Satan that buffeted him, and God told him, My strength is made perfect in weakness. Oh, well, now I praise God for weakness. You see, he is keeping the perspective. So this verse, verse 22, is key to what is going on here along with what we'll have as the last statement of this psalm. He is confident it is for Your sake, there is no other answer. You have the power to deliver us, You have delivered us, and You could do it again. You are not doing it. We have not sinned so we are not under discipline. The only answer is it is for Your sake, for some way that I may not be able to see. How often have you told the Lord, I don't see any good to come out of this, I don't see any purpose in this, I don't understand why this would happen. I've been with people, I have to say I don't know, either, I have no explanation, I cannot see any reason. The only thing we have to hold on to is it's for God's honor, for His purpose, that's as far as we can go.

“We are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” This is not a light thing, pain is not light. It's easy when someone else is going through pain to quote a verse and move on. If we haven't experienced pain, to talk about someone else's pain is not that bad. But this is serious, he is in the shadow of death, people have died at the hands of wicked people. He is ready to wrap it up, and he hasn't given up. All right, that doesn't mean then I just say all right, que sera sera, it's for God's sake. No, it's for God's sake, this is personal, for His honor. But I'm going to continue to call on Him, claim His promises, ask for Him to intervene on my behalf because He says He will take care of me, He will rescue me, He'll do it in His time but I'm calling on Him now, I can express the desires of my heart.

“Arouse Yourself,” so this last section is a prayer for God to redeem him and the people, rescue them and do it, at the end of verse 26, “for the sake of Your lovingkindness.” Because You promised, You put Your love on us. I want You to be honored. Verse 23, “Arouse Yourself, why do You sleep, O Lord? Awake, do not reject us forever.” That's not disrespect because he knows that God has the power, so God, for whatever reason, is not. So He tells me come with boldness to the throne of grace to use the New Testament power. We read in Deuteronomy what nation is like us whose God is so near we can call on Him? So even though I am confident this is for God's sake, that doesn't mean I'm just going to sit back. You have not because you ask not, I'm going to go and ask Him. Lord, You have chosen not to intervene, it's like You are asleep. I know You don't reject us forever, because back at the end of verse 8 he said, “We will give thanks to Your name forever.” So he knows the outcome and will be praising and thanking God for his victories, he would just like them to happen now. “Why do You hide Your face and forget our affliction and our oppression? For our soul has sunk down into the dust; our body cleaves to the earth.” Sounds like Job, doesn't it? It's like God won't be satisfied until the enemy has torn me apart and it is He who is doing it and I don't understand why. And those are painful times. “Rise up, be our help, and redeem us for the sake of Your lovingkindness.” I can only claim Your love, Your kindness, Your mercy, Your grace. You bestowed that upon me by Your sovereign choice and I know You won't take it away so now in this time when I seem to be at the mercy of the enemy, please, for Your name's sake, for Your promises, intervene.

Come back to Romans 8. The psalmist is writing out of his own particular situation, king over Israel, God's people. But the principles laid out there are not bounded by time. Paul, in Romans 8, may have had this psalm, because he is going to quote it directly, a verse out of that. What the psalm writes about is very similar to what Paul writes about, and he is writing to a New Testament church because these Old Testament truths are written for our admonition that we might learn from them and grow. He is confident, verse 14, “All who are being led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” Writing to God's people, we don't have time to do all… God, we're not slaves, He has elevated us to His own children, verse 15, and now we call Him “Abba! Father! The Spirit Himself testifies with our spirit that we are children of God.” The Spirit of God has opened the word of God to us, we know that we belong to Him. If we are children we are “heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with Him that we may also be glorified with Him.” Now we come into suffering for children that are promised glory. They belong to the living God. Doesn't a heavenly Father care for and protect and provide in every situation? We sing about it, who can stand against us? No one. So whatever pain, whatever disease, whatever sorrow comes, it can only be because God has determined that for us at this time.

Verse 18, “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” And here we find what the problem is: we live in a fallen world, the whole creation is under the curse, and the fullness of the result of the curse has not been lifted for us, will not. We are groaning with the creation, so we suffer. We still suffer the painful loss of a loved one, the pain that comes from physical affliction, disease. The children of believers die young, like unbelievers; believers seem to die too young, and yet the wicked seem to live to old age with lots of money. And believers struggle, they suffer slander, unjust treatment, they lose their jobs when they were faithful but somebody lied. All these things happen to us like they happen to anyone in the world because the curse has not been lifted and we have not experienced the final stage of our redemption. “The whole creation groans,” verse 22, “and not only this,” verse 23, “but also we ourselves, having the first fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan,” like the psalmist was groaning. And at times, Lord, it is more than I can bear; it's greater than I can… And the people around that hate You and hate me, use it to mock me and mock my God. Lord, where are You? “We groan within ourselves, waiting eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our body.” Do you know what? If this life were just all comfort and ease and enjoyment, you know in those good times… Sometimes young people express this to me when you are talking about their soon marriage. They'll say something like, I hope the Lord comes, but I hope He doesn't come before I get married. Then after you are married a while, Lord, where are You? Come today. “We groan,” verse 22, we suffer “the pains of childbirth together until now,” we're groaning with the creation. But in hope, verse 24, we have been saved and we're waiting eagerly for it with perseverance, verse 25. You need perseverance when things are just at their lowest.

We have the Spirit who intercedes for us and directs us in our prayers, we don't know what to pray for. The Spirit moves us in prayer and acts on our behalf. Again, like the psalmist. All Paul could do when he wrote to the Corinthians was say Lord, give me deliverance from the suffering of the demons who are wracking my body with pain. What did God say? No, no. Well, don't You love me? He said, I can use you in greater ways. This is a special time. Sometimes we get distracted, we don't want to miss that time. That's why it is so important the psalmist kept his perspective. God has not changed, my circumstances have changed, and for whatever reason, God has changed those circumstances, but I won't let go of God. He is my God, and I keep crying out, Lord, I need the deliverance, I need the deliverance. But I won't let go and give up, I guess God doesn't care. It seems like He doesn't.

Then we have this great section, verse 28, “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God… called according to His purpose.” Was everything working together for good for the psalmist? If it were, David, ultimately it will all come out. And we know, God even testifies, he'll be ruling in the kingdom when I establish it, he wasn't defeated forever. Every defeat we suffer is a temporary one, and ultimately it's not a defeat because sometimes those seeming defeats are times when God can be honored by our trust. So you have that verse we often quote in verses 29-30. Then verse 31, “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us?” Verse 33, “Who will bring a charge against God's elect? God is the One who justifies. Who is the one who condemns?” Christ is at the right hand to intercede. The psalmist was going through this, my enemies, they assault me, they attack me. It means nothing. Right now it seems the pain I can't bear, but keep in mind there is one sovereign king, there is one sovereign judge, that sovereign king is in charge, that sovereign judge has ruled in my favor.

So verse 35, and this is where the psalmist was, “Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written,” and here is the quote from Psalm 44. “ ‘For Your sake we are being put to death all day long, we were considered as sheep to be slaughtered.’ ” Do you know what? “In all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing,” and that's all there is outside of God Himself, created things, “will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Where did the psalmist end up? All I'm crying out is Lord, preserve us according, for the sake of Your lovingkindness. What do we have? The love of God. Nothing will separate me, so no matter how difficult this is, how painful it is, it won't separate me from the love of God. This is a time when, Lord, I'm hanging on, I won't let go.

That's why it's good for us to follow the pattern of that psalm what Paul uses. I want to go back and remember how God worked on behalf of His people in the Old Testament, how He brought deliverance to them, how great His power is. We can sing about how great You are, do I really believe it? I've experienced it. Rehearse in your mind how God took hold of your life and brought you to Himself, how He has cared for you and protected you and met every need, we have abundant evidence. Now my life is coming apart. I don't have to pretend this is not so bad, I don't mind it. No, I can be honest before God, He is looking at my heart, He's looking at my mind. Lord, I'm being crushed, I'm in the shadow of death, the enemy is winning, I won't let go of the fact it is for Your sake. You are sovereign, I am still coming to You in prayer for deliverance. He hasn't lost that confidence that God is sovereign. I don't have to give up my desire for deliverance, no, this is the desire of my heart, Lord, and You can do it, and all I can ask is for the grace to do another day. But I pray for Your deliverance, ultimately it will come, sooner or later, and in the end we will bask in His love and we will be victorious.

It is only for His people. The world has to deal with the suffering, with the difficulties, with the trials. Momentary victories and they feel so good, but it is all so short. Our suffering is short, their joy is short; our joy is eternal, their suffering is eternal. We are greatly blessed, we would not lose heart, so we claim His word as our truth, even as the psalmist did.

Let's pray. Thank you, Lord, for Your word, it is a rich word, it is a true word, Lord, it is a word that is alive and powerful, it is meaningful for us today. Thousands of years it is still _57:55_________ but it is still true. Pray for any who are going through those difficult trials that come at times in our lives, overwhelmed , Lord, under protected, under provided for. May it be a time when Your grace sustains them and they hold on with firmness to the truth that You love them, You are their God, You are sovereign over their life, You are using them to bring glory to Yourself. May that be true of each of us. We pray in Christ's name. Amen.