Gracious Father, we gather this morning together in thankfulness because of all that you've done for us, all that you are to us. And Father, we're grateful for the opportunity that we have once again. We say this every week. We appreciate the opportunity together and freeing us to be able to preach and to teach and to study and to fellowship together corporately. Here's your body and Lord. We just pray that you might speak to us today minister to our hearts and our minds That we might grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and that we might begin to see him More and father that you might conform us to the image of Christ Jesus by your sovereign will. And Lord, we just thank you today for the blood of Christ that has cleansed us from every sin. We also thank you, Father, for the victory that we have in the Lord Jesus Christ over sin and death and hell. And Lord, we also thank you today that even in our circumstances that Christ has overcome all things and that he brings us through things even the darkest afflictions for our good. And so Lord, we just pray that today as we look at these verses and we ponder upon the study about affliction, Father Lord, that our heart and our mind that our thinking might be set straight and made right according to your word, that we might not dwell on things in a selfish way or an arrogant way. Lord, that we might truly be thankful and honoring to you in whatever state we might be found, in whatever place that you might bring us, that we might be conformed to the image of Christ. And it's in Christ's precious name that we pray. Amen. You know, it's a get turned over here to our passage, but you know, it's really amazing. Really how selfish. how arrogant and how ignorant we can be a lot of times whenever we profess faith in a sovereign Lord, when we profess faith in a Christ that is governing all things, Brethren, if we believe that He, the sovereign Lord, is in control of all things, and if He be all wise, as we've just studied His manifold wisdom, if He be all wise, if He takes us through affliction, is it right for us to cry not fair or not right? Can we, if we truly profess to believe He is sovereignly by providence bringing to pass all things, and as the Bible says, all things for our good, is it right that, or can we be unthankful? Can we be ungrateful? I mean, we do, we are. But when we look at that, is there any room for us to say we have a right to be unthankful? We have a right to be ungrateful whenever we look at His wise providence before us. So that's kind of what I want to talk about is because you know those things roll through my mind whenever On the heels of conviction after I've done those things You know those things roll through my mind, you know what a hypocrite to say, you know I believe in the sovereignty of God in all things and that he is predestined all things to come to pass and exactly the way that he wants it. Not one atom or molecule is moving or will move or will act or will do anything apart from his desire for it to be done so. And that he is the most wisest of all. And if he is wise, if he is just, if he is right, if he is holy, and if he is a God that loves his people and still chooses to bring us through affliction, for His purpose, which He's already told us is to conform us to Christ, and that it's for our good, do we have a place, honestly, as men and women of God, do we have a place to say, well, humanly speaking, I'm just unthankful. I'm ungrateful. I hate this, it's unfair. I shouldn't have to deal with this. This shouldn't be, you know. Do we have that right as the people of God? You know, I'm not concerned with the reprobate out there, what he thinks and what he. Let God judge them. Okay, we're judging here on the inside. We're judging those among the sheepfold here. Do we, by the hand of our creator, the hand of our sovereign Lord, by the hand of our wise, providential maker, do we have the ability, do we have the option, do we have the right to complain when afflicted? It's easy for us to do, and you know why? Because of what I said at the very beginning, because we're selfish, because we're arrogant, because we're ignorant. We're ignorant of things, not in a, when I say ignorant, I mean just lacking knowledge. We're ignorant of knowledge of these situations, these issues. We're ignorant of things, and so because of our ignorance, we speak out of ignorance, just like Job's friends, they spoke a lot out of ignorance. But we also are, in Adam, we are very arrogant. We're very selfish. We're very prideful. We don't deserve that. We don't, we shouldn't have to. you know, be a part of this. This is not a becoming of me. I should not have to put up with this kind of stuff. Or we might even go so far as to say, well, I'm a child of the king and I shouldn't have to be, he would never do this. This is a straight attack from the enemy. It's a straight attack from Satan. till we get a mindset where everything that's good that happens is of the Lord, but everything that's bad that happens to us is of Satan. Well, brethren, that's not necessarily so. Even those things that happen to us on the negative side can also be by the hand of the Lord. And even if it was by Satan, it's not happening unless the hand of the Lord has said, have at it, just like he did with Job. See, Satan wasn't looking out to destroy Job. Wasn't even thinking about Job at all. If you go back to the narrative of the life of Job, you'll see that it begins off whenever God asked Satan, what are you doing? And he said, have you considered my servant Job? He brings Job into that. And I've always said, if I was Job, I probably would have said, well, gee, thanks. Which kind of is what Job ended up doing, is saying, gee, thanks, and questioning some things. But here again, God reached out to Satan and said, have you considered my servant Job? And so that just brought up a whole new, you know, he opened up a can of worms, so to speak, for Job. And what all transpired with Job. But what happened in the end? Job grew in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was brought to a place of even deeper contrition. deeper worship. I mean, we start off and we see in the book of Job, we see Job as a man who loves the Lord and worships him, was even making sacrifices for his unbelieving children in hopes that they would be given atonement. And this is back before the law was given, before sacrifices even began. Job was doing this. Job was one of the earliest people around. His book is later in the Bible, but it's thought to believe that Job was even a contemporary of Adam. And here we see Job worshiping, but yet when affliction came, it all went to pot. And God taught him some things, though, through that affliction. And so that's what I hope that we learn from some of these things today, is that we can learn through affliction, and that God loves us, and our afflictions that we go through is His act of loving kindness toward us. Now, everyone's looking at me like, okay. Preacher's gone off the hook. wagon here and uh everything that he does the bible says that all things are for our good to them who are the called according to his purpose that everything that that god brings about for us is for our good and so with that mind with you if you keep that precept in your mind all things are all things He is bringing all things to pass in our life. for our good. And that good may not be perceived right now, but eventually we're gonna be able to see that. But we already know, as he's promised, that that which he begins, he will finish. And he has ordained us to good works. He's also ordained everything else in our life for the sole purpose of bringing us into the conformity of the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I've illustrated to you guys before here, if God in His wisdom, as the creator of Mike Smith, in the determinate counsel of God before the foundation of the world, has said, okay, here in September the 19th, 1972, Michael is born. That's whenever He chose him. The Bible says that He has set the boundaries and the habitations, the times that we come into this world, the times that we go out of this world, where we live. The Bible says that we live and move and have our being in Him. Everything about us is Him. He controls all things. And so on September 19, 1972, at 11.45 p.m., Michael Smith was born into this world by God's sovereign decree. And then let's just say down here somewhere, oh, let's say in the year 2500, Mike Smith dies. Okay? We don't want to make it too close, you know. Or the Lord comes back, either one, okay? Anyway, between birth and between death, God has ordained valleys and mountains, valleys and mountains, turmoil, all these things, confusions, whatever. He's brought all these things into my life. And before this ever started, Before September the 19th, 1972, before anything ever started, God had determined this path right here. In His wisest wisdom, He can't get any wiser. His wisdom can't get any wisdomier, okay? In His wisdom, I'll write it down for you later. He has determined that his sheep, Michael, will come into this world here, will exit this world here, and in between those two things, there is gonna be a life experienced and a life manifested that will bring forth praise to him, but will also bring conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ in this person. And so during this time and this time, we are growing in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. And God has determined in his wisdom, the best path for Michael Smith to reach here, his desired end is this path. Okay, and so we are shut in to this path. It's not going to change. You're not going to change. I was having this conversation with my mom yesterday when my parents came and visited Thursday and stayed till late yesterday evening. And we were talking about some things and we was looking, I don't know if any of y'all have seen the news here lately about up here in Lebanon about them There was a, at three o'clock in the morning, some foreigners went into Walmart up there and purchased like 140 cell phones, the ones that are no contract type cell phones. And then just a couple of days ago, all these convenience stores around north of us between here Kansas City around Lee's Summit and everything. They began to have their propane tank things out there where you get your little propane like for your grill, your gas grills and everything. They were being broken into and about 50 of those have been stolen. And so, you know, you get to thinking, you know, all this stuff that's going on with all this terrorism stuff. Well, of course, you know, First thing my mom was telling us is you need to stay away from heavily populated places, you know. And we just took them over to Silver Dollar City to look at the lights and all that kind of stuff the night before. And she was even hesitant to go there, you know, of a big place like that. But just talking about, you know, going to anything, you know, any kind of football games or anything like that where there will be a lot of people congregated and everything. And I just told her, I said, Mom, you know, I said, you know, I think we need to be wise in what we do and everything. But I'm not going to shut down my whole entire life in fear that maybe there might be something that's going to happen at this particular event or that particular event or whatever the case might be. You know, I'm not going to quit going to Walmart. I'm not going to quit going to, you know, a ballgame if I want to go to a ballgame or a concert if I want to go to a concert. Play if I want to go to a play or silver dollar city if I want to go to civil not gonna quit doing those because of fear And everything because God has determined my habitation and if it's my time to go It's my time to go no matter where I'm standing or sitting or laying or whatever or flying Whatever it's gonna be God's deal. Of course. She said, okay. We'll just walk out in front of that car over there guy if it's not your time to go I said there's a difference mom between that and just being afraid of everyday life I mean everyday life it's it's common to go to Walmart it's common to go to a game to go to whatever that's common stuff but I said yeah well I'm not gonna tempt God by going out in front of a car and everything and say well if he's gonna save me he's gonna save me and whatever I mean I think he can but I said I'm not gonna do that because that's just pure stupidity But I said to say, just because of all this that's going around all the world, that I'm not gonna go here, go there and everything. That's crazy. And so, we look at our life and it's set. It's not gonna change. No matter what we do. You say, well, what if I decide to take my life tonight? I've sped up my time. How do you know that? That was your time to go. Whenever you die, guess what? That was when God desired for you to die. You didn't speed it up and you didn't slow it down. Guess what? Your high cholesterol isn't speeding up your time to die. Could you talk to my doctor? You want me to have a word with your doctor? Should we do things that are healthy? Absolutely, we should do whatever we can to be healthy and everything. You know, we're not gonna live in fear. I know people that are just, I mean, they're just so scared of, I'm not gonna eat that, I'm not gonna eat that. Oh, and they're just watching every little thing. And guys, there's a fear that we have of affliction. Now I'm not saying run and look for it. I'm not saying go out and find all the terrorists and run out screaming, you know, you know, we hate Muhammad and pick up, you know, rocks and throw it at them when they got guns. You know, I'm not saying that kind of stuff, but I'm just saying that. As we live our life, we're gonna live a life with ups and downs, with turmoil, with affliction. There's gonna be things that's happening in our life. And our attitudes, our mindsets, the way that we live and portray and live as testimony before other people, as children of grace, should be, whenever they see us, those people trust in the Lord. They trust in the Lord. They don't have fear of what might come their way because they trust in the Lord. Listen, we all know what's gonna happen when we die, right? If where he is, absent from the body is present with the Lord. And there will come a day when that which is present with the Lord will be brought back into a fully functional, non-sin-cursed body that will be perfect. So that's what happens after we die. So why are we always afraid to die? We fear the unknown. But see, through the child of grace, it really isn't the unknown. Now, we don't have all the details of what it's gonna feel like, what it's gonna actually be like, but we have that assurance that when the child of grace dies, he goes to be with the Lord. And then that body will be raised incorruptible and reunited with that part of the body or that part of the person separate from the body and will be one again. And so we know and we will be completely conformed to the image of Christ and there will be with him forever. So with that knowledge, with that understanding, why do we become unthankful? Why do we become ungrateful? Why do we become fearful whenever peril and times of death come? These times are awesome times of testimony to the faithfulness of God. And so, Pray that the Lord give you faithfulness, that he grant you grace in these times so that you might be that testimony of grace and that witness. In Psalm 119, if you would, look with me at verse 67. Because our thinking can be off, but as we study God's word, and Tom was talking about this just a few minutes before we began, we grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ as we study the scriptures and as we hear preaching and teaching and as God teaches us. We grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we grow in that grace and knowledge and everything, the Bible says our mind is renewed, it's changed in its thinking process. We become more separated from the things of the world and more separated to the things of God. Our desires, our want-tos, our outlooks, our thoughts, our whole being begins to be transformed from thinking in the ways of the world to thinking as a child of grace should think. And so our mind is being renewed in that. And so the psalmist writes here, before I was afflicted, verse 67, before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now have I kept thy word. You notice that phrase that says, but now, that means that there's been a transition and something has caused the transition. And if you look there, the way that the phrase, the sentence is laid out, what is the causal thing? Affliction. See, the subject of the sentence is affliction. Before I was afflicted, I went astray. See, affliction, before affliction came to him, he was just going astray. But after the affliction, but now, meaning after the affliction, have I kept thy word. The Lord had brought an affliction to the psalmist to teach the psalmist something, particularly obedience in this case. And through that affliction, the psalmist learned obedience. And because of that affliction, he can now say, but now have I kept thy word. Okay? So at one time you could say, I was a drunk, but then I was afflicted and now I'm no longer a drunk. Why? God has taught us through affliction some things. You know, my stepdad, I've mentioned to you guys before all the rocky past and the childhood growing up with him and my mom and everything before they professed the Lord and everything. Well, my stepdad, now, you know, he won't even touch a drop of alcohol at all because he knows of his past. Now, him and my mom, they both believe that a Christian shouldn't ever drink alcohol at any time, anywhere, anyhow, under any circumstances, for anything. Because they believe that it is a sin to do so. And, you know, that's the way that they believe, and I've talked with them about that, but anyway. But coming down to the matter of it is, see my dad, through affliction, several years of mom leaving and coming back whenever he's better, leaving and coming back, leaving and coming back, all the turmoil, the things that's happened in our lives, finally affliction, he said, I'm done with that. And he just quit. Cold turkey, quit. Not wild turkey, but cold turkey. He never was a wild turkey man, he was a Schlitz man. But he quit. And so we see, we have these times of affliction where the Lord teaches us, look down if you would to verse 71. The psalmist goes on to say, it is good for me that I have been afflicted. How often have we said that in our lives? It is good for me that I've been afflicted. I can tell you, the last two or three weeks with all the sickness in our house, I wasn't the first one to stand up and say, it's good that you've been afflicted. See, that's not our nature. You know what our nature is? I'll be glad when this is gone. It's been going on too far. It's enough. There's enough. When our mind should be, it's good that I've been afflicted. But you know why our mind never went to, it's good that I should be afflicted? It's because we don't have the but now in our radar. The but now that the psalmist had, he said, I was afflicted, and before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I have kept thy word. See, we don't have a but now in our mind. We don't have this looking for, what God is doing in the affliction with us. Our thoughts are always, I need to get out of this affliction, I don't deserve this affliction, I can't deal with this affliction, how dare this affliction be here, okay? So our mind is selfish, it's arrogant, it's ignorant, it's prideful, and so because of that, we don't ever get to the but now thinking process. And so, the first affliction might come, but if we don't realize the but now, he may bring the affliction again, and he might bring the affliction again, and he might bring, but all in all, it's God's purpose to continue to bring the afflictions that we might No. And he says right here, it is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. Modern Christianity has that category completely, not only blocked out, but dismantled, unscrewed, unhinged, unhooked, untaped, and removed and discarded from their worldview, completely, totally. In modern Christianity, it is not in the thought process that God brings affliction, much less that it is good. God said, Has there not been a trumpet blown in the city? Has there not been evil done in a city? And I have not done it. Now that word evil there is talking about calamity. It's talking about disaster. Whenever Katrina happened, whenever the tornado in Joplin happened, whenever the earthquakes happened, whenever the tsunamis happened, whenever anything happens like that, the calamity, natural disasters, so to speak. Whenever we see that, what's the first thing we think of? Oh, that's bad. Oh, that's bad. But I'll never forget, right after this tornado happened, Brother Howard, one of the first things that he mentioned is what good could come out of this because of what the Lord had done. This would wake a lot of people up. And it could also bring judgment on a lot of people that deserve judgment. And so that God brought that on a good note. There was a positive outlook on that. And we see that and we see here, he says, it is good for me that I have been afflicted. Now I can't see it. Whenever I'm walking these paths, going through life, I may not be able to see here. I can't see that. That's why the Bible says faith is evidence of things not seen. The thing not seen is my complete and total glorification. But I can't see that. But I walk this path, and listen, these paths here, whenever we're there, whenever we're there, these paths are good. Even though our human mind says, I don't deserve it, I don't deserve it, what in the world, this is not, what's going on? Okay, we don't deserve this. But the psalmist is trying to teach us some principles here of the mind of the child of grace. It is good for me that I have been afflicted so that I might learn thy statutes. We learn, we grow in the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ and we learn his statutes through affliction. So now, we still got more to talk about on this, but let me just say it here now, and I'm gonna say it again later, I'm sure. But brethren, with these two verses that we've read right here, that oughta change our mindset when we're afflicted. Okay, it should change our mindset when we're afflicted, and we should be looking for these things. What is the Lord showing me, teaching me? Look in that, and if you can't find it, guess what? Praise the Lord, He's brought affliction, and that one day it will be revealed to you, okay? Continue to give praise to the Lord, give thankfulness to Him in all things. Look down, if you would, at verse 75. It says, I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right. That should be the prevailing thought in all of our minds. From here to here. Lord, I know that thy judgments, thy judgments, thy judgments are right. Are they? Are his judgments right? Hey, buddy. His judgments are right, aren't they? So at the beginning of the day, at the ending of the day, when it's just starting or whether it's just ending, whatever we look and say, no matter what, there is one thing that we know for sure. Hey, come on in. Oh, that's all right. We know one thing is for sure, his judgments are right. So if his judgment is here, to bring me through affliction, if his judgment is here, if his judgment is this, just utter confusion, which is, as you see, the most of my lifespan. If you see that, One thing we always remember before anything, His judgments are right. He says, I know, O Lord, that thy judgments are right, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Now that's a couple of words that we don't normally put together, faithfulness and affliction. The scripture here says that in faithfulness, the psalmist was afflicted. Why did he afflict him? And what was so faithful about the affliction? Because the psalmist knew that God had promised that in all things, it would be good. Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word. Thou art good and dost good. Teach me thy statutes. The proud have forged a lie against me, but I will keep thy precepts with my whole heart. Their heart is as fat as grease, but I delight in thy law. It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes. The psalmist is beginning to learn here that through affliction, he knows the Lord better. Isn't that our desire is to know him? To know him more. That's why we gather here today. We preach and teach the things of the Lord Jesus Christ so that you might know him more. There's a scripture, and right off the top of my head, I forgot where it's found. I'd have to look it back up again. But it says, those who know thy name put their trust in thee. Those who know thy name put their trust in thee. And we know that we're not talking about the name like Yahweh or Jesus or whatever. He's not talking about that, even though that's very important. Especially whenever we looked at his name, especially back when we looked at I am, because that means I will be who I will be, I am everything, I will do what I will do, I'm sovereign. And matter of fact, he said, that's the memorial that I want for all generations. That's how I want to be known to all generations as sovereign, not loving, not just, not holy. He said, the name that I want as a memorial to all generations is I am that I am. I am a self-sufficient sovereign God. And so his name has something to do with it. But whenever that verse says, those who know thy name put their trust in thee, that means those who know not only thy name, what's behind it, who you are, what you're about, but your power, because the name also reflects the power. Whenever we say we pray in the name of Jesus, we're not praying in the name Jesus. just to say Jesus. Now you'll go around, you can hear these Pentecostals all the time, and I can attest to this because I've been in a lot of their churches in times past, and they just walk around, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. He's walking up and down the aisles, back and forth, just proclaiming the name of Jesus in every pew so that it runs out all the demons, okay? When it says we pray in the name of Jesus means that we pray in the power of Jesus. We pray in all that he is and what he represents, his authority. in the authority of Jesus. Not that we have any authority. We don't have any authority. He has all the authority. And so when we pray, we come boldly before the throne of grace. It's in the name of Jesus. It's under his auspice that we come. And so, whenever that phrase says, those who know thy name put their trust in thee, the more that we get to know who God is, the more our trust is in Him. And I've given this illustration here several times that we've talked about this, or even through our study on the name of God. We don't know each other. I know my wife better than I know all of you, because I've been married to her for 23 years. I know her. Okay, I trust her. And if some guy just out of nowhere walks in right now, immediately, and comes in and says, hey, trust me. I wanna like, I don't know you. Okay, I don't know. But the more we get to know each other, People didn't know me very well when I first come here to pastor. It took a little time to build trust. And how did we build trust? Through getting to know each other. I didn't know some of you when I first came here. Did I trust you? No. Why? Because I've been in Baptist churches? I know that there are untrustworthy people. I know there are mean people. I know there are sinful people. I know that there are a lot of things that takes place and there can't be trust. But how do we learn trust? We learn trust by getting to know each other. And so whenever the scriptures say, those who know thy name put their trust in you, that means those who have began to get to know who you are as God, we begin to put that trust in Him more and more and more. And so whenever we come to these times of affliction, when we come to these times of affliction, we trust Him. And here we see the psalmist is saying that. The psalmist is saying, he says, I know, Lord, that thy judgments are right, that's the first great thought that we need to have, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. See, God doesn't afflict us just for no reason. He doesn't afflict us in a cavalier way. He has a purpose in afflicting the children of grace. And it is so that we might, as we read in verse 67, that we might keep his word, or as we learn in verse 71, that we might learn his statutes, or even as we see here in verse 75, that we might learn that his judgments are right and that he is faithful. So we see that. Now, let's pause. We'll take a break. Use the restroom. Get a drink if you need to. Ladies, if you need to do anything, prepare it in the kitchen real quickly. We'll meet back here in about five or ten minutes and we'll continue on. But let's have a word of prayer and we'll dismiss and you can get a drink and we'll meet back in here in about ten minutes. Gracious Heavenly Father, we thank you again for the day. We thank you for your grace and mercy. We thank you, Father, that you have given us your word. And Lord, we pray as we continue in the study this morning on affliction, Lord, we just ask that you might minister to our heart, that you might show us yourself, that you might teach us, Father, that we might truly be convicted and repentant of how ungrateful and how unthankful, how selfish and prideful that we can be during times of affliction, but how that during these times we should look towards you, be thankful and be okay with at any stage of life that we might find ourselves because we know that you have sovereignly declared all things and that you are bringing us by your providence through each and everything for your glory and for our good. So Lord, we just pray that you might continue to teach us now in the coming hour. In Jesus name that we pray, amen. All right, we started off this morning in Psalms 119. We're studying about affliction this morning. And I made mention at the beginning of last hour that how we as people, even those who profess the Lord Jesus Christ, how we so often become very proud and arrogant and selfish whenever we are faced with affliction. We think that we don't deserve it. We think that it shouldn't be a part of our lives, you know, and as I've mentioned before, even with modern Christianity today and what you see on TV and hear on the radio, most people think that there shouldn't be any affliction if you're a Christian and everything, and that they don't find, and that's what's so sad, brethren, whenever you look at these preachers on TV and Listen to them on the radio and they talk about afflictions as if they are really bad things. That, you know, we should never have that. If you have enough faith, you won't have these afflictions. Or if you're a good enough Christian and you're obedient, you won't have these afflictions. You know, if you're a child of grace, you're never gonna experience these bad days. And what's sad is they don't understand and they don't see that the Bible teaches that these things are really good. And as we've read, we started in Psalm 119, and we've already read three verses here that the psalmist has laid down some things for us to understand. And we'll read those three again so that we'll see kind of where we're at. And then I wanna move into some other thoughts about it. In Psalm 119 verse 67, the scripture says, before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now have I kept thy word. And I made mention how important that but now is right there. See, there was something causal that that affliction brought to the psalmist. The affliction brought to the psalmist a life that desired and looked to keep his word. It straightened him out. It brought obedience into the life of the psalmist. And we see that affliction was something that was a good thing. It caused this person who was going astray to now keep his word. And then we see in the verse 71, he says, it is good for me that I have been afflicted. And again, I say, how many of us say that? How many of us say that? For all you visitors here, for one, it's good to have you guys here today, but my family just came off of being on a three-week stint with sickness. Not only the nasty cold that's been going around, but several of our kids had mono, and it was like really bad in the house. We were quarantining each other and everything. And I made mention, I said, even with having this knowledge, we still, Again, in our ignorance and our selfishness and pride, I did not stand up and say, it's good to be afflicted. It was not good to be afflicted in my mind. But here the psalmist, he tells us, he says, it's good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn by statutes. And so now we see not only does the affliction have a causal effect On the believer, but it also gives us a right understanding. It puts us into perspective that affliction is a good thing. There is a good aspect to affliction and there in 71 when he says it is good for me. We need to have that mentality. And I was mentioning to the brethren earlier, uh, that, uh, so often we come into affliction and we profess the name of Jesus Christ. And we, we believe that he is sovereign, that he is predestined all things that should ever take place. And that, uh, that, that, uh, he, by his providence is bringing all things, uh, to, to, to take place and that we believe that he is the most wise God. But yet when affliction comes. We don't have the mind thought that it's good for me that he do this. We begin to doubt his judgment. We begin to doubt his wisdom. And so at that point, we begin to doubt God. And in essence, what we're saying is your choice in this matter here, Lord, is not the wisest choice. And so we bring a blight onto God's character at that point. So we see that affliction has a causal effect. We see in verse 71 that it should bring right thinking to our mind. But it also says, the reason for that is good for me that I have been afflicted that I might learn thy statutes. Again, there's a causal effect in the affliction. Excuse me. And then down in verse 75, the psalmist writes, I know, Lord, that thy judgments are right. And that's where we was kind of at just a few minutes ago, where I made mention is that thought right there ought to be the top thought in everything that we ever think about. Thy judgments are right. The Lord's judgments are always right. He's never wrong. He's never unwise. He's never unjust. He's never doing anything that is off at all. It's always right on, okay? And so we see the psalmist here says, I know. Do we know? Do we know that the Lord, His judgments are right? See, there's where the mind frame comes in. There's where the growing and the grace and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ comes. Why does the Holy Spirit... lead us in growing in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ so that we might begin to know Him more. The more that we know Him, the more that we understand who He is, the more that we see His character, we see how He is, who He is to the child of grace. Now to the reprobate, that's not gonna have any effect. It's gonna drive them further away. But to the child of grace, it consumes us and it draws us closer to him. And as I mentioned in the psalmist, the other version again, I should have looked it up in between, I forgot to do that. But the psalmist says, those who know thy name put their trust in thee. And the more we get to know Him, the more we get to know who He is. The Bible teaches us that He's just. Do we believe that? Do we believe He's just? Then everything that He does is just. Do we believe that He is righteous? Then everything that He does is righteous. Do we believe that He is wise? Then everything that He does is the most wisest decision that's ever been made. So when my kids got mono and we were sick for three weeks, guess what? That was the wisest decision that God could make for our family at that time. And so he brought us through affliction for a purpose. And what's our mindset? How do we look at that? How do we look at it going into it? How do we look at it as we're going through it? And now that it's all over with, I pray it's all over with, how do we look back on that? And can we look back like the Psalmist says, I was going astray, but now I've been set right. Now I'm keeping thy word. Can we say you've afflicted me and it was good that I might learn your statutes. Can we say you brought me through this and through this I know that you are just and yet you are right. Your judgment was right. And as he says right here, he says, and that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me. Do we see the faithfulness of God in our afflictions that we go through? And I made this illustration up here for all y'all that just came in. You know, I was born September 19, 1972. This is where God and His purpose in bringing me into the habitation that He has decreed for me, I was born. And in 2,500 is when I'll die. So in between these two points, we have our ups and downs, our confusions of life, everything that goes on, the affliction that we experience, as well as the good things that we do. But from there to there is never gonna change. It's not gonna change. God in his wisdom has decreed this for Michael Smith. and it's not going to deviate. I'm not going to make a decision and then all of a sudden God's purpose is going to be skewed. I'm not going to not do something and all of a sudden God's purpose is going to be thwarted. Everything that God has predestined for me from this point to this point, as the Bible has said, is to bring me into conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. And the way that I get to this point, wherever, and of course it's gonna be after this point, whenever the Lord comes at the resurrection, when full conformity will be taking place. However, from this point to that point, if it's this, and God says this, in my wisdom, is what Michael Smith needs to be brought through so that he might be conformed to the image of Christ, then who are we to doubt that? Who are we to be upset and to be unthankful and to be ungrateful for whenever these times, also in the line of God's predetermined purpose for us, to bring us to this point, why should we do that? Do we have that right? That's our question. Do we have that right? We don't have that right. And as a child of grace, we shouldn't even have that mindset that this is undeserved and unneeded. whenever we know that our habitation has been set, that we live and move and have our being by God and that everything that happens in this life is because he set that habitation for the purpose of conforming us to the image of God and he called it all good. All things are for our good to them who are the called. And so we see that there is this teaching out there that affliction is bad, but brethren, it may be uncomfortable at the time that we go through it, but it's not bad. If God has ordained that we walk through these afflictions, praise the Lord that through these afflictions, God is still working his faithfulness through the whole thing in bringing us to the Lord Jesus Christ. To refuse to be thankful for whatever situation that God has brought us to, or brought us into, or through, is to say that God's wisdom was not the best. And to say that he is not worthy of thankfulness. He's not worthy of our thankfulness. I've heard a lot of people that profess Jesus Christ that whenever they're down in these situations of affliction, deep despair, hurt, agony, sickness, death, you know, losing houses, losing money, losing loved ones, whatever the case might be, whatever affliction it might be, I've heard people that have professed the Lord Jesus Christ that said, no, I'm not thankful in this time. that no, I don't think I deserve this, that no, this isn't right, I'm not gonna be happy, I'm not gonna be grateful, I'm not gonna be joyful in this time. And so whenever they do that, they bring into question the wisdom of God. And so in the wisdom that we see in the wisdom of man is to say those things, we don't deserve that. So in Adam, all of us say, not fair, but to the child of grace, there should be another choice, if you allow me to use that term. We have the thankfulness that in all things, we are thankful. See, whenever we are unthankful in these times of affliction, brethren, it's ultimately saying that you, in this situation, God, is not worthy of my praise or my worship. Because the Bible says that we are to praise Him in all things, that we are to worship Him always, and that we are to always be thankful in all things. And we'll get to those verses here in just a minute. But if that's the case, what about in my affliction? whenever I take a right turn and say, I'm not gonna be thankful, I'm not gonna be happy, I'm not gonna be joyful. Now, with that being said, now, I wanna get down to reality here, okay? Lest anybody begin to cast stones or, you know, think that I'm off my rocker. I understand that whenever we go through these things, when we lose a loved one, we experience sorrow. We experience hardship, we experience things, and in that we experience what I would say is negative feelings, okay? But our attitude in that, just for instance, whenever the scripture talks about those who die in the Lord, and it says that we do not, that we do not mourn as those who have no hope. It doesn't say don't mourn. When my grandfather passed away, I mourned. But we don't mourn as those who have no hope if they're in Christ Jesus. There is an attitude or a right mindset that we have knowing the promises of God, right? We know that if a loved one dies in the Lord, that the promise is there that they will be raised up. and that they will be with Him forever, and that He will be brought back to a body that is incorruptible, that He will be conformed to the image of Christ, that He will be made heirs of Jesus Christ, that He will receive all of His inheritance that Jesus has received. All these promises is what we are given. Well, brethren, we have the same promises through afflictions. We should not, if you allow me to reword that verse, we should not be afflicted as those who have no hope. We should not be afflicted as those who do not have the promise at the end. The affliction is leading us to the conformity to the Lord Jesus Christ. And so whenever we don't, have thankfulness, when we don't have gratitude, when we don't, as the psalmist sees here, have the mindset of seeing this is good for me, that I be afflicted, that we don't have the mindset of the psalmist when he says, I know thy judgments are right in this situation, then that's saying that you're wrong, you're unworthy of my praise, and I will not be thankful for what you have brought. and how shameful that is for a child of grace to have that attitude. That's in our flesh, brethren. We bow up at God, but let us pray that he give us grace in those times that we might be a testimony for him. We should be worshiping him and praising him for what he has, what he is, and what he will do. You know, Paul said that he has learned to be content that in whatever state that he found himself, whether it be rich, whether it be poor, whether it be sick, whether it be healthy, blessed, afflicted, he said whatever state, it didn't matter to him. He knew the outcome. Matter of fact, in 1 Thessalonians chapter five, if you wanna turn there with me, you can. 1 Thessalonians chapter five, Paul wrote this, and again, here's a man who had been afflicted quite a bit. Now, he had a lot, but yet after his conversion, brethren, he became afflicted quite often. He gives his own testimony of the things that he experienced. But in 1 Thessalonians 5, in verse 18, we see Paul, one of the most afflicted men in the New Testament, says, in everything, give thanks. In everything, give thanks. In my affliction, should I give thanks? In everything, give thanks. And he doesn't just stop there. I mean, that's hard enough, right? That's hard enough for us to hear. For someone to remind us, in everything, give thanks. He pokes us in the eye and tells us, for this is the will of God in Christ concerning you. We just go away with our backside dragging on the ground. Paul has now taken us to the place where we don't want to be in our flesh. We don't want to be told Yes, in your afflictions be thankful. We don't want to be told that. We want to have our own little pity parties. We want to wallow in our own problems and issues. Self-pity. We want to be pitied by all those around us. So we have the long faces, the ashen face. So everyone might ask, oh, are you okay today? Oh, I'm okay. but let me give you the list of things it's not, okay? When we're afflicted, we are to give thanks. Paul says, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God. How many of y'all have ever heard someone that has ever said, or maybe you've said it yourself, and maybe even think of it, even as of today, you think, you know, I just wish I knew what the will of the Lord was for me. Well, the Bible does tell us a few things, and here's one of them. The will of the Lord for you, child of grace, is to be thankful in all things. Now, just on a side note, and I'm not gonna shame you too much because that's the Holy Spirit's job, is to bring conviction, but isn't it a shame that a child of grace should have to be reminded to be thankful? Those who have been in the depths of the miry pit and have been lifted out, those who have been depraved beyond any ability to anything spiritual wise, that God has given them a new heart. Those who are enmity with God and hated God, running against God, could never choose Him, could never come to Him, would never desire Him or love Him or want Him, but yet was given a mind to do so, and a will to do so, and a desire to do so. Someone who could not do anything to keep the law of God, but yet was given a substitute in their place that kept it for him completely, totally, 100%, and stands before God in your place every day, interceding for you to not be thankful. It's just kind of an amazing, An amazing thing that we should ever not be thankful. Paul also, and if you wanna turn over with me, Ephesians chapter five. Paul also made this statement. In Ephesians chapter five, verse 20, he says, giving thanks always for all things, unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks always for all things. Again, even when I'm afflicted, that's part of the all things. And it falls in the timeframe of always. We should always be thankful for all things. And you say, preacher, I'm finding a hard time finding how we can be thankful in every single thing that happens in our life. Well, that's where the psalmist said, it's good that these afflictions come because it drives me to his word to look. Why is it good? What is good? Turn around, take some contemplation on the affliction. Take some introspection of what's going on. Not in this new age way that people are talking about, but honestly reflect upon your life. We know that it's all for your good, now turn around and look and see. If you can't find exactly something, just know if not anything, for the promise at the end. He's bringing you through the affliction for the promise at the end. If it's not something that you can readily grasp right now, what's happening right now? Why is he doing this for right now? Well, you might not see that. It's kind of like that Persian rug illustration we were talking about, Tom. You look at those Persian rugs, they're beautiful, aren't they? You turn around and look at the back of it, ugly as sin. Just a bunch of knots. See, that's how we're seeing the providence of God being displayed. We're looking at the underneath of the rug, but there is a beautiful, perfect, designed piece of art on the top. We don't see it all the time. We don't understand it all the time, but we know there's gonna be the finished product right here. 2005, under. unless the Lord comes back soon. We ought to always give thanks. Paul made another mention of something over in Colossians. Over in Colossians. This is kind of one of the things that really gets me because a lot of times, you know, we do things out of vainglory. We do things out of strife. We do things out of discontent. We do all kinds, do things out of all kinds of things. But Paul gives us some understanding here in Colossians chapter three, verse 17. He says, if whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him. So whatever we put our hands to, whatever we do, and whatever we say, we need to do all of those things in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God. So there's a thankfulness in our afflictions that whenever we have to go through affliction and we, begin to go through this trial, go through this time of affliction, whatever we do, whatever we say during that time of affliction, we need to do in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, giving thanks unto Him. See, there's a testimony of our lives, brethren, before other people. You know, there's never, well, I don't want to say never, but There's one of the greatest encouragements that I ever get is whenever I see a brother or sister in Christ who is going through affliction, but yet when they go through that affliction, they're thankful, they're content, they're praising the Lord, they're not complaining. that shows me that their trust is not in the things of this world, but is in the Lord Jesus, that their trust is in Him, that they have a dependence upon Him, that they have a sufficiency that they have found in God and not in their situations. See, I mentioned selfishness, pride, arrogance, ignorance is one of our problems, but you know what another reason why we get so bowed up during affliction? Affliction moves us away from our ease, moves us out of our lifestyle. Affliction causes us to miss out on maybe something that we want or don't want. During our time of sickness in our family, we didn't get to go for Thanksgiving anywhere. We didn't get to go to any of our families. Normally, a normal Thanksgiving for our family is, not counting the one that we have here together with the brethren at the church, but we have three families that we go have Thanksgiving with. My mom, Lori's mom, and then my dad. My mom and my dad got divorced way when I was little, and so I have Thanksgiving with my dad, Thanksgiving with my mom, Thanksgiving with my wife's family. And so it's just kind of a rush. But I love those times together. Thanksgiving is my favorite time of the year. We don't look at some of the other holidays and whatnot. We look at Thanksgiving because that is scriptural, that is biblical, for us to give thanks. And I love that holiday. But yet, we didn't get to go. We just stayed at home. And we had all these plans. We already had it timed down. We're going to drive to Grove. Then whenever we're done at Grove, we're going to drive down to Bristow and then back to Sepulpa. And then we had it all planned out where we're going to be. Lori knew what she's going to make. We had it all planned out. But guess what? Affliction came. The kids really wanted to go. But you know what? We had a good time together as a family. We learned some things through it. You know, but whenever the affliction came, as we went into that, you know, I wasn't the happiest camper at first, you know, I didn't wanna, I wanted to go where I wanted to go. Then I was reminded, you know, that a man decides his steps that he's gonna take, but the Lord's the one that directs them. You know, and so he had a different thing in mind. And so we should be thankful in all those things. And so whatever we do in word or in deed, whenever we enter into that affliction, we need to, whatever happens during that time of affliction, we need to do it in the name of the Lord, giving thanks to him. Be thankful for those things. And sometimes it's not easy to do that, but that's why we pray for grace to do so. We see that we're called to be thankful people, that in all things that we are to give thanks. And that there really is no room for us to be otherwise. Anything that we are apart from that is sin. It's unthankfulness, it's ungratefulness. It's us saying that we are more worthy than we should be. That we are more worthy than what this is happening here. We shouldn't do that. And so we shouldn't have those thoughts. And so I pray that as we learn these things, as we read through scripture some of these afflictions, that even the men of God and women of God endured, We see that they were thankful in all things man. It just grips my heart I don't know how many of y'all's ever read the martyrs mirror The Protestant version of that is Fox's book Martyrs, but the Martyrs' Mirror is the account of those historic dissenters and nonconformists, and we call them Baptists, of yesteryear, and all the affliction that they received, not only at the hand of the Catholic Church, but also at the hand of the Protestant Church. And we see their plight and their stand on the gospel, their stand on the ordinances. And we see that they was persecuted. And not just a quick, easy killing. We're talking about tortures. And It really does grip my heart whenever I read those things, because you read about how they'll stand there and they'll sing hymns, they'll quote scripture, they'll praise the Lord while they're being burned alive, while they're being torn asunder, while they're being flayed. All these things that they were doing at that time. And it's just astounding to see. Listen, that's not who we are in Adam. We surely don't do that. But a child of grace can, in even the harshest afflictions, they can give testimony to the faithfulness and the just and righteous decisions of God in that. You know, a lot of people will look at those martyrs and say, well, God, you know, that's something that God wouldn't have ever wanted to happen. If you'll allow me the verbiage that he used with Pharaoh to be used for even the martyr, for this reason have I raised you up that I might show my power and my glory in you. You know, every one of us has been created and has been raised up to be what we are to show forth the glory of God. And it's gonna be one way or the other. It's gonna be the glory and our redemption and our conformity to Jesus Christ, or it's gonna be in our reprobation and the wrath and judgment that's gonna be upon us. Both of those are gonna bring forth the glory of God and everything. So as the child of grace, we have so much to be thankful that we're not in the other camp, for one. We have a lot to be thankful for. And I think that whenever we experience that affliction, whenever we come into it with that mindset, we become more thankful. We become more thankful. We become more... Excuse me, let me restate it. We become less self-centered and more Christ-centered. It's more all about Him. You know, like I said, I'm still amazed at a lot of the things that Job said, you know, whenever he first was afflicted, whenever his family was taken away and all of his things was taken away. And he said, though he slay me yet will I trust him. And that phrase just haunts me all the days of affliction that I have whenever my heart doesn't fall in line with Job's. And whenever Job stands and says, the Lord gives, the Lord taketh. Blessed be the name of the Lord. And whenever he said that God did this, you know, Job, whenever he made that confession, he said, he knew that God had done this, not Satan. Although Satan was the hand that God used to do that, he knew God brought this about. It was God who brought this affliction about in me. And then right after that, the Bible says, that had nothing did Job sin in any of that. See, it wasn't a sin for Job to say that was God who did that. Today, if you say that God caused that calamity, you know what people are gonna run you out, they're gonna run you out of the church and say, you believe God's the author of sin. Get out. But to the child of grace, we look at those things and we see those afflictions and we say, he is the creator. He's the potter, I'm the clay. Whatever he wants to do with his creation is fine with me. Not that it has to be fine with you anyway, but our attitude should be it's fine with me. And we proclaim the worthiness of God. You know what? He's worthy of praise whether you're the recipient of it on the positive or on the negative. He's worthy of the praise. Do Him. That's why in Romans chapter 1, He says there's no excuse. He's made that aspect of Him known to every man. He's not revealed the Gospel to every man, but He has revealed His Godship, places the creator of all things and the worthiness of Him to be worshiped by every one of His creatures. And know what that shows? It shows our depravity because we don't. But the child of grace will be brought to worship Him. Will be brought to have a heart to worship Him. And so, while the reprobate can honestly say, the gospel was never given to me, he can never say, He was not worthy to be worshiped. But yet I chose to suppress the truth of God, and in a lie, I made God to be something other than He was. And I worshiped creation rather than the Creator. And that's what they all do. And so, brethren, I pray that whenever you go through affliction, that you'll like the psalmist say, it's good for me to be afflicted. You don't have to say it out loud necessarily, your wife might think you're bonkers, but at least in your heart say that. Now say it out loud to your wife so she can hear it because it's a good testimony. And then go teach your wife or your husband, wife teach your husband, that this is right before God that we do this. But either way, I pray that we might have a better understanding about affliction whenever it comes and while we're in it that it's not always a demon behind every bush just trying to get at God's people but that a lot of times and I will say probably most the time it's the Lord's chastening and his bringing us into conformity to his son. Does anybody have any comments or questions or anything they'd like to add? I once read a psalm that goes like this, The Lord delights in the death of his saints. That really convicted me in the thought of affliction being a good thing. Plus, John Piper talked about God ordains suffering, and it's for our good in Romans 8 as well as Philippians 4. We do all things through Christ whose strength is thus. Yeah. There's a different mindset you get when you study the Bible, isn't there? It's not a mindset of this world. Oh, yeah. You're feeling love of the world? It will pour out like water. I had kind of an interesting interaction with my brother in regard to the parable of the wheat and the tares. And I was forced to look at it a little bit more closely, I think, than I have had in the past. And I was rather amazed to see that the good seed was planted by the Son of Man in the world. But not only that, that the good seeds sprouted, and not only sprouted, but bore fruit. And I started looking at it and saying, you know, I was planted here in this world, and God had ordained those things, the sprouting, the bearing fruit, and the being harvested, But through the course of all of that, from the very beginning to the end, there's so much more to it. But in the end, it's all for that purpose, just as you spoke of. And I was a little surprised that my brother wants to try and twist it to the point where the tares can become wheat, and the wheat can become tares, and I'm thinking, They were sons of the kingdom when they were planted. They were sons of the kingdom when they sprouted. They were sons of the kingdom when they bore fruit. And they were sons of the kingdom when they were harvested. Nothing changed. Amen. That's right. I know those who have been coming for a while know this. I've given this illustration. But you brought up a thought in my mind, because of course we're talking about our attitude in affliction and our attitude on how things are received from God. Have you ever actually seen wheat and tares? Been out in the field and you've seen the wheat and the tares together? And how you know the difference between... Because if you take a wheat and a tare and you pluck it off and you lay it down, it looks exactly the same. But you know how you can tell the wheat and the tares out in the field when you're out walking in there? My uncle, excuse me, not my uncle, my great cousin, he's my great uncle's son. I'm on grandpa somewhere in there. Anyway, they're farmers in Oklahoma and they have thousands of acres and one of the things they grow is wheat. And you go out there and you look and there's one big difference between a wheat and a tare. Whenever you go out there, they look identical. The wheat has a head that bows over. The tare stands up straight. The wheat always has a bowed head and the tare always stands up straight. And that's a good illustration of the wheat and the tare. The tare is always gonna be self-centered, man-centered. It's always gonna be proud, arrogant. What I do, what I've done, what I can accomplish. And the wheat is always going to be reverent. It's going to be bowed in submission and humility, knowing that it is God and not them. And I thought that was really weird why God uses the illustration of the wheat and the tares in his parables sometimes. But even physically, there's a difference that the wheat stands up proud while the wheat bows in humility, even in the field. But yeah, it's humbling to us to hear those things, to see those things. To the child of grace, when we hear these things, whenever we do that, Our inclination is to give honor and glory to the Lord. It's not to stand up and take all the accomplishments on ourselves, pat ourselves on the back. We did a good job. It always reminds me of what Paul said, what has made thee to differ? I ask that in everything that happens. Even when I do a good job at work and I get a machine fixed, what causes thee to differ? Well, it's the grace of God. ability, the wisdom, the understanding, the mental fortitude to continue even after hours of working on something to no avail. It's him that causes us to differ. Anyone else got anything that you'd like to comment or add to or rebuke? Always make sure there's opportunity to rebuke, reproof. All right.