The 55th Psalm. Psalm 55. We'll read some verses at the beginning of the Psalm. And then a few verses just toward the end. Psalm 55, in the first verse. And let's hear the word of the Lord to our hearts. Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not thyself from my supplication. Attend unto me and hear me. I mourn in my complaint and make a noise because of the voice of the enemy, because of the oppression of the wicked. For they cast iniquity upon me, and in wrath they hate me. My heart is sore pained within me, and the terrors of death are fallen upon me. Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me, and horror hath overwhelmed me. And I said, oh, the dead wings like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest. Lo, then would I wander far off and remain in the wilderness sila. I would hasten my escape from the windy storm and tempest. Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues, for I have seen violence and strife in the city. And then we'll come down to verse 19. God shall hear and afflict them, even he that abideth of old Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God, He hath put forth his hands against such as be at peace with him. He hath broken his covenant. The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart. His words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. But thou, O God, shall bring them down into the pit of destruction. Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days, but I will trust in thee. And we know the Lord will add his blessing this evening to the public reading of his word. We thank the Reverend Bowman sincerely for the kind words of welcome again. It's a blessing to be with you for both of the services today. We assure you we have been blessed by the fellowship. It's a privilege to speak at both of these meetings. I'm very thankful for the opportunity. We thank you all sincerely for your welcome. We thank the Bowmans especially for their fellowship and very generous hospitality. That has been very refreshing, the time that we had with them this afternoon. We're just a little disappointed that the Reverend Kimbrough himself is not here, so we'll just have to make a return visit on some other occasion when Pastor Kimbrough and his wife are present. Reverend Bowman suggested I tell you just a little of the story of what happened to me in Dublin Airport a little over five years ago. If I give you just some details, as a wee bit of background to that. I grew up just outside Belfast in Northern Ireland. I grew up in a Presbyterian church, not the free Presbyterian church, what is known locally as the Irish Presbyterian church, a liberal denomination, an ecumenical denomination. Sadly, the congregation we grew up in, we didn't hear the gospel. We never were told that we needed to be saved. In the providence of God, there was a neighbor of ours. We grew up in a rural area, brought up on a farm. There was a neighbor by the name of Robert Lowe. He was a member of Dr. Paisley's church in Belfast, the Martyrs Memorial. And he had a vision for his own area. He wanted to see a gospel witness opened up in his own area. That was just a mile down the road from where we lived. There was a schoolhouse there where my mother had received her education. It was known as Killing Your Public Elementary School. It had been closed and a new modern building had been opened in more subsequent years. But Mr. Lowe had a vision to see it opened for the preaching of the gospel. So we spoke to Mr. Paisley about that. It was quite a story in itself. And it was opened as an extension work of the Martyrs' Church in Belfast. An opening mission, Mr. Paisley was the main preacher, wasn't there every night because of other commitments. Just for your challenge, something that Mr. Lowe did at that time, a busy farmer, but he took the time to visit every home in the community, and especially to speak to the parents about an afternoon Sunday school they held in that little building. Encouraged them to send their children along to Sunday school. And I would encourage you to do the same. Think of the homes in your street, in your area, in your community. There's folk there that you could speak to and encourage them to send their children along to the House of God, along to the Sunday School. That's how we were introduced. to the work there at the Killing Your School. We started to go to that Sunday school and it was in that little Sunday school that we first heard the gospel. First heard terms like the need to be saved and the need to be born again. We started to go regularly every Sunday afternoon Just to encourage you too, I wasn't the best behaved of the children that went to Sunday school. I don't tell you that to glory. in my bad behavior, but maybe you teach a Sunday school class and somebody's a little unruly, we've it hard to manage, we've it hard to handle. Don't despair of that child or that young person. You just don't know what the Lord might do with that young person in the future. Maybe put his hand upon them, save them, and call them into the work of the Lord. Those that taught in the Sunday school there, I can tell you for a certainty they never imagined that in years to come that I would have been a minister of the gospel, a minister in the Free Presbyterian Church. So pray for all the children that are under your care. Mr. Paisley in those days, he would have come out to the Killinear School at least once every year. It had what was known as an after meeting. It was held a little later on a Sunday night so that people could go to their own service and then come along to the schoolhouse and the service there later. On the first Sunday night of 1979, it was the 7th of January, Mr. Lowe told us at the afternoon meeting in the Sunday school about Mr. Paisley coming out that night. We were very keen to hear him. He was much in the news in Northern Ireland. So we went home and said to our father, he agreed to bring us down. And the Lord spoke to my heart that night. And it was in that meeting, I was just a little over 13 years of age when the Lord brought me to himself in salvation. Whenever I got a little older, got a little car of my own, started to go down to martyrs, I started to teach a Sunday school there. There was an appeal made for more Sunday school teachers. So remember the importance of getting involved in the Lord's work, even a little of the challenge that we were mentioning this morning on soul winning. I thought I was going to be a farmer. Growing up, I had nothing else in my heart, in my mind. When I came home from Agricultural College, the Lord began to speak to me about the ministry. Dr. Kearns, so well known to you folk. Dr. Kearns was home from Greenville. He was in Belfast for a little time. He was doing some special meetings in the church in Belfast that he grew up in. It was the Mount Marian congregation. There was a group of young people and we all ran about together, went to meetings. So we went along one night to hear Dr. Kern speak in Mount Marian. And in the course of his message that night, he took the time to tell how he as a young man had been called of God into the work of the ministry. And I knew the Lord was speaking to my heart that night. It's something I struggled with. for about two years of my life. The last thing in my mind was the work of the ministry, a life of study. As I said to you, I had my heart set on the farming. So I struggled with it. The Lord spoke to me a number of times about it. One Sunday afternoon after dinner, I was up in my bedroom reading the scriptures, those words at the end of Luke chapter one about John the Baptist, and thy child shall be called the prophet of the highest. And I knew the Lord had spoken to my heart again. So I just knelt down at the bedside and surrendered my heart, my life to the Lord, whatever his will might be. So I went to the Whitefield College. I started the college in 1987. That's where I met my wife, Roberta. She had been the deputy matron of the college for a time and then felt the call of God into the college to do the missionary course. She was ahead of me. And there was a number of the ministers that met their wives in the Whitefield College of the Bible. In fact, there was a number of engagements that took place all around the same time. And one of the witty fellows wrote a message on an A4 piece of paper and stuck it on the office door, Whitefield Bridal College. You can imagine Mr. Douglas wasn't very enamored about the thought of that. But we met in the college. We were married. between my second and third year of study. We had gone that summer to Wales. The Reverend Hillis Fleming that we mentioned to you was the senior minister in the mainland at that time. There was a group of people in South Wales that were interested in having a free Presbyterian witness established. He asked us if we would go. So after our honeymoon, We went down there for seven weeks until the next college year commenced. That was how we were introduced to the work there in Wales. And when I finished my studies, we felt that was where the Lord was leading us. We applied to the presbytery. We were accepted. We did deputation work. We spent nine years, very happy years, there in South Wales, the land of revivals. And then after that, we were in Mull o' Glass for the nine years or a little over it. And as I mentioned to you this morning, now almost 13 years in Armagh. Because of our involvement in the mission board, it necessitates visits to the field, to the mission field. Do keep in mind all of that work of the board. You think of the men on the board, particularly the ministers. They have a heavy workload with their church, their congregation, some of them pastoring quite large congregations. And then the added workload that goes with the expansion, the increasing work on the mission board itself. So pray the Lord will give them strength and help. So we were going out in April of 2018. It was, the 23rd of April, St. George's Day. So I was traveling with Alistair Hamilton. Alistair's the treasurer of the mission board, the Reverend Harris, who was then the chairman, the Reverend Gray, the minister of the church in Tandragi. They were traveling together as well. I hadn't been feeling well for a few weeks before that. There is a little bit of heart trouble in our family, heart history. I felt that just something wasn't right, particularly if I was doing something strenuous, mowing the grass, maybe had to sit down a few times during the grass cutting. So that morning, Alistair and I were traveling down together. Remember I mentioned to you all the extra cases. So we weren't able to go in the same vehicle. The Reverend Harris, the Reverend Gray, they were in a separate vehicle. Alistair and I got there a wee bit ahead of them. We made our way over to Terminal 1. Just coming in through the door, pulling these two heavy cases, heavy rucksack on my back. Wasn't feeling great, thinking if I could only get these cases checked in, wouldn't have the burden of them any longer. So we're just through the door of Terminal 1. And I remember Alistair looking around, and then he looked back towards me, and he said, David, I think we need to go in this direction. And that was the last thing I remember. Everything started to go out of focus just a little, and down I went. I took cardiac arrest just through the door. In fact, it happened so quick, I don't even remember hitting the floor. The whole story is really a story of the providence of God, God's providential care. So many providences. There was a young nurse that came along and she said to Alistair about CPR. He had been trained in CPR when he was about 19. He remembered what to do when this nurse guided him. So she got started on the CPR. And then there was a guard officer that came along. The guard is the police force in Southern Ireland. In Dublin Airport, they have about 300 members of staff that are trained in first aid and defibrillator use. They have 50 defibrillators throughout the airport. The chief fire officer, a man called Jerry Keogh, he was the one that started that whole defibrillator project in the airport. There was someone that took cardiac arrest in the airport and died. And he was deeply upset about that. And he vowed that it would never happen again. So that's why they started to introduce the defibrillators. So the guard officer took one of the portable ones off the wall. He gave me the first couple of shocks with it. And then very suddenly, an ambulance arrived. Alistair couldn't understand why the ambulance came so quickly. It turned out the airport had its own ambulance. Some of the paramedics double up as firemen, fire officers at the airport. They probably spend more of their time as paramedics than they do as firemen. So they came with a larger defibrillator, and that is how they were able to resuscitate me at that time. I used to think the defibrillator actually started the heart, but the defibrillator stops the heart. When you take cardiac arrest, your heart goes into an irregular rhythm. So there's four irregular rhythms, two that your heart can be started from again and two that it can't. So if you're near one of the two that can't, it doesn't matter what it's done for you. So they gave me the shock with the bigger defibrillator. We met them all a year later. Alistair and I did. We heard details that day that neither of us were aware of. They couldn't remember if they gave us a fourth, gave me a fourth shock. Alistair had contacted the Reverend Harris and the Reverend Gray. They had missed their car park and had to go all the way round again. And then they went into the wrong terminal. So we'd got parted for a little while. He told them they needed to come quickly. They ran over from terminal two. Whenever they arrived, Alistair thought they were going to collapse as well, pulling all these cases and running so far. By that stage, they had put a screen around me so that the paramedics could work with me. And when Mr. Harris saw the screen, he thought the worst. You can imagine just how he must have felt. The Reverend Gray said he looked in. We've known each other for maybe 40 years. He looked and he said, Davey boy, I thought you had died and gone to heaven. You turn a sort of a gray color after a few minutes of having taken cardiac arrest. They said I spoke to them lying on the floor. I don't remember that. The first I remember was the paramedics shouting at me in the back of the ambulance. So they brought me around and he was determined not to lose me again. So they were calling my name. And they got Alistair to stand at the back door of the ambulance. It helps to orientate you if you see somebody or something that you're familiar with. So they worked with me in the back of the ambulance for about 40 minutes. They thought at the start they could sort out the problem with a couple of stents. So they thinned my blood in preparation for that. They take me down to the Mater Hospital in Dublin. When they got me to the Mater Hospital, They realized that, you know, they take you into the cath lab, they put your inside up on a screen in the wall, you can see your chest. So they realized that the stents weren't going to solve the problem because my blockage was on a bend and the stents don't go around a corner. It would go out through the side of the artery and you would bleed to death. It turned out that a 95% blockage in my main left descending artery The one that they like to affectionately call the Widowmaker. It's very prevalent in men and often results in death. So when they realized that, the cardiologist came to me and he said, I'm very sorry, we can't do the stents, it's too dangerous. In fact, he says it's more dangerous than the bypass. So I'm lying there thinking, bypass? Did you just mention a bypass? I couldn't realize or couldn't take in the things were moving so quickly. I had collapsed just after 10 past four in the afternoon, just around that time. They had me on the operating table by eight o'clock and I had a double heart bypass operation. I said to the cardiologist, he said to me, you need a double heart bypass and you really need it immediately. I said to him, you can appreciate I've had a lot to take in. I'd like a wee bit of time to think about that. I was really hoping that there'd be time for my wife to get there before the decision would have to be made. He said, I appreciate the situation, and I don't want to be putting pressure on you. But he said, there's a few things you need to consider. One is you could take another one of these any moment. And we couldn't guarantee you'll come out of the next one as well as you come out of the first one. And he said, the operating theatre here is actually free. I said, that's very unusual. I couldn't promise you it would still be free in 10 minutes time. An emergency could be brought in at any moment. And he said on top of that, He nodded across in this direction. He said, the top heart surgeon in the hospital is still here. He was due to go on his holidays that day. But when he heard of the emergency, he agreed to stay to do the operation before he went off on his vacation. His name was McGuinness. You can appreciate with the whole situation in Northern Ireland and some of the prominent names that some find that quite humorous, that it was a man by the name of McGuinness that carried out my heart surgery. The Reverend Whiteside was in charge of the Hillsborough Church at that time. It was vacant. He was relaying to the people in Hillsborough some of the details of what had happened, encouraged them to pray for me. He got a wee bit mixed up in one of those spoonerisms. He said to the people that it was the Dublin paramilitaries that came and saved me instead of the Dublin paramedics. So you can imagine, the people laughed. I know I've said something wrong, but I just can't think of what it might be. So I realized that evening that the Lord had opened the door for the operation. We could see his hand in that. And they took me into surgery about eight o'clock. I was in surgery when Roberta and the children, whenever the family, came down. Brother Alistair stayed with me, he came down with me in the ambulance that evening, came down to the Mater Hospital, prayed with me, took documentation, documented the details of everything that happened, the time that it happened, so that he could give a a full report to the family. So the operation is about five hours. The actual direct surgery on the heart lasts for about an hour and a half or thereabouts. I come out of surgery sometime after one o'clock in the morning. So I've never met Mr McGuinness. I'm very disappointed about that. He went on his holiday while I was in the hospital. It was some of his junior doctors that took care of me. When I went for my review, he was to do the review, but he was called to an emergency surgery that day, so I didn't have the opportunity to meet him. The family that had met him, the other folk that met him too, were very impressed by his manner, very measured, very capable in the work that he's done. And I'm certainly very thankful that he was there and was willing to stay for that operation. It's encouraging to know the Lord still has a wee work for us to do. I'm very thankful for the prayers of the Lord's people that were offered at that time. The Reverend Mercer was the editor of the Vision Magazine. At the time that that happened, he asked me to write a little devotional for the magazine. I wrote it. It was interesting that we sang those words of Horatio Bonner's. I don't know if you've ever read the diary of Andrew Bonner, Horatio's brother. We were talking a little earlier about the Banner of Truth and their bookshop. Well, the Banner published Andrew Bonner's diary. I would commend it to you. the most devotional diaries that you will ever read, challenging, especially in the place of prayer was edited by his daughter Marjorie. He lamented and suffered a number of bereavements during his life. And he lived to be well over 80, but his wife died quite young. Some of his siblings, he was a very close friend with the godly Robert Murray McShane. Almost every year on the anniversary of McShane's death, he would have made a comment, you know, for maybe 50 years later, remembering back to that day. One of the oft repeated comments that he made or questions that he asked, I put it to you tonight to challenge you, why am I spared and others taken? So that's a very provoking, thought provoking question. You consider that, why are you spared? and others taken, others perhaps that you would deem to be more godly than you are, of greater usefulness walking closer to the Lord. So why is it that you're spared, you're still here, and the Lord has seen fit to take them from this scene of time? If you're not saved, the answer to that question is God's been patient and gracious and merciful. And he's giving you time, he's been long suffering, giving you time and opportunity to repent of your sins and to trust Christ as your savior. If you are saved, the reason you're spared is that God has still a work for you to do. God has still something he wants you to accomplish. And that's a great comfort, great encouragement, but a great challenge as well. So the main thing, men and women, is to ask yourself the question, what is that work that the Lord still has for you to do? Remember the prayer of Paul, the first prayer that he ever prayed as a child of God on his knees in the Damascus road, what will thou have me to do? Nothing more important for a Christian in this world. It's not all about making a lot of money, becoming famous, acquiring a lot of property or climbing up the corporate ladder. The most important thing for every Christian in this world is to know the will of God and to do it, to finish the work that the Lord has given you to do. C.T. Studd, the famous missionary, C.T. Studd was a missionary in China and in India. Most of his time was spent in Africa. In the area that is now known as the Congo, he formed what was called a HAM, the Heart of Africa Mission. He died out there. He was a missionary extraordinary. Remember he was the famous cricketer, one of the most famous sportsmen of his day. And he surrendered it all at the call of God. This fellow is called Hudson. Hudson Taylor at that time was making a great challenge for more missionaries to go to China. And C.T. Studd responded to that challenge, to that call. In fact, at one time, they raised 100 new missionaries to go to China. It was the Cambridge Seven, seven brilliant young men from Cambridge University that surrendered their life to missionary work. And C.T. Studd was one of those young men. His wife actually came from Lisburn, Lisburn in Northern Ireland. Just in the centre of the town, the building, there's an area there beside the solicitors where the family shop. She was Priscilla Stewart from Lisburn. C.T. Studd was given a fortune, left a fortune, and he gave it all away, except for a small amount that he thought he would keep to pay the expenses of the wedding. Whenever his fiance found out what he had done, she wasn't very happy. Not to the fact that he'd given all the money away. She wasn't happy that he had kept some of it back to pay the expenses of the wedding. She said to him that she wasn't prepared to marry a man that wasn't willing to give God everything. So he had to give the last bit of the fortune away as well. C.T. Studd, in his lifetime, wrote a few verses. There's a verse or a little poem. You may not be familiar with the poem, but I'm sure you're familiar with two lines that's repeated in every verse of the poem. Let me just quote the first verse to you as a challenge of the Lord to your hearts tonight. Two little lines I heard one day while traveling along life's busy way, bringing conviction to my heart and from my mind would not depart. Only one life will soon be passed. And it is only what is done for Christ that will last. Pray the Lord might write that on your heart tonight. Why are you spared and others taken? Only one life, it will soon be passed. Maybe for some of us sooner than we realize, remember men and women, never lose sight of that. It is only what is done for Christ that will last. Let's just pray for a moment, and then we'll come to a little meditation upon the scriptures. Father, we thank you for this evening gospel service. Thank you for the desire to be in thy house, for guiding our footsteps. We thank you for giving to each of us a burden to be here and giving us the health and strength We pray that that burden to be gathered with God's people will never go from our hearts and minds. Pray that it might increase and strengthen as the days and years go by. We can say tonight with the psalmist that I joyed when to the house of God go up they said to me. Thank you for the blessing of this meeting already. Thank you for the blessing of the fellowship of God's people. Encourage this congregation. We pray that you'll lead them forward. We want to pray, Father, that they will labour in this city in the fullness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ. We want to pray that you'll open new doors, new opportunities, even for the spread and the witness of the gospel in this community. We want to pray, Father, use them in that great work of soul winning. We remember you said we have not because we ask not and we plead tonight. that souls will be saved in this place in coming weeks and in coming months. Lord, challenge our hearts even about our days upon this earth. Our life is but a vapour that appeareth for a little time and then vanisheth away. We pray, Father, help us to give ourselves to Thee, to Your work more than ever. We pray that even this Sabbath day, this Sabbath evening meeting, might be a time of greater surrender, greater dedication to the service of Christ and to the work of the gospel. Remember the brethren that labor here in the Word and Doctrine, the Reverend Kimball, the Reverend Bowman, put your hand upon them, Father. We pray, endue them with mighty power. Give them many souls. We pray, Father, that their ministries will be felt across this community. We pray that they might speak even as prophets of God. We pray that you'll use them, Father, for this day, for this hour. Pray the office bearers of this church will know great wisdom from God. We want to pray, Father, that there'll be men like the men of Issachar of old. men with an understanding of the times and that know what Israel ought to do. Speak onto our hearts now, Father, minister to us from your word. Come and open the book of God to us, we pray in Jesus' name, amen. The 55th Psalm, please, the 22nd verse, the verse before the last. Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. I want to speak to you just for a few minutes as we close tonight on the subject of the burden of the believer. The fact is, brethren and sisters, Christians have burdens. You know that by experience. That's especially true of God's servant. This world in which we're found is a world of burden bearing. Those burdens can be many, and those burdens at times can be very heavy. The burdens of life, they come from all departments, all aspects of life, sometimes from circumstances in the home and the family. Maybe the burden that you're experiencing comes from the workplace, comes from your business. Maybe the burden you're carrying comes from ill health, maybe long-term ill health, sometimes from bereavement, the loss of a dear one, those family members that are so precious that we have been so close to. Sometimes the burdens come from broken relationships, And even from the work of God itself. Remember the apostle writing to the Corinthians spoke about the care. Think of the burden of all the churches. So the burdens come from all aspects of life. Let me point out to you, David had a burden. That's something that should encourage you tonight. Sometimes we think that the men that we read off in the Bible, the men and women that we read off in scripture, that they're on a different level. The day passed through this life without all the struggles and all the difficulties that you and I have to face every day. That was not the case. They were men and women subject to like passions as we are. So David had a burden. It came from the fact that his son, Absalom, just think of that, his own son, Absalom, had rebelled against him. And his closest friend and advisor, Ahithophel, had betrayed him. David was wounded in the house of his friends. That's the context of this 55th Psalm. David had a burden. You think for a moment of the things we're tempted to do with life's burdens. Sometimes we try to carry them ourselves, but we don't have the strength to do that. Sometimes the burden becomes so heavy that you want to quit. You want to give up, you want to run away. Sometimes the burden is so heavy that we complain. Who can complain like God's people? Who can criticize like God's people? Just read the story of the wilderness wanderings of the children of Israel. There's times we do really want to run away. You think of that sixth verse. Oh, that I had wings like a dove, for then would I fly away and be at rest. There's times when you're, weighed down with the burdens, and you think of the people that caused those burdens, or you feel they're the people that caused the burden, you wish evil upon them. You want something terrible to happen to them, or to happen in their family life. And sometimes, brethren and sisters, we even get to the very point we want to die. just like Elijah sitting under the juniper tree there in the desert down in southern Israel. Those are the things that sometimes we're tempted to do when we're weighed down with life's burdens. Let me stress, brethren and sisters, that's what not to do as a Christian. with life's burdens. What I want you to think about for a few minutes is what you should do with them. In fact, what you're commanded to do with life's burdens as it's set out for us here in this 22nd verse of the 55th Psalm. If you're in the meeting tonight and you have a heavy burden, maybe it's a burden that few, maybe no one else knows anything about. Maybe it's a burden that you've been crushed down onto the the unbearable weight of that burden. If that's true of you tonight, well this text gives you the answer. This text tells you what to do with that burden. In fact, this verse of God's word teaches you how to cope, how to deal with the burdens of life. Let me emphasize first of all to you, what do you do with life's burdens? Well, you consider the burden is from the Lord. If you think of the words, cast thy burden, that word burden is a very interesting word. It literally means the gift. If you have a Bible with a margin, you'll see that that is given in the margin as the alternative reading, cast thy gift upon the Lord or that which he has given thee. Isn't that interesting, brethren and sisters? Maybe you even think it's strange. I wonder, did you ever see that truth before? That trial, that disappointment, That loss that you have experienced, that difficulty that you're passing through, the challenge that you're encountering, it's from the Lord. His hand is in it. He's the one that has allowed it. He's the one that has permitted it. It's not fate. It's not bad luck. It's not a curse. It's something that God in his infinite wisdom has bestowed upon you. And you know, the realization of that fact, that truth, That changes the situation completely. In fact, that should change the way that we look at life as a whole, every circumstance that we pass through in life. Now, automatically you will ask the question, why? Why would the Lord want me to carry such a burden? Why would the Lord want me to pass through this situation? Why would he weigh me down with such a burden at this time in my life? Can I remind you of something, brethren and sisters? It's good to consider this and accept it. The fact is we don't have all the answers. We don't have all the answers to life's circumstances. The Lord doesn't always tell us the reason why. You know, there's a better question than the question why. And the better question is what? What is it, Lord, you want me to see? What is it, Lord, that you want me to learn in this situation, in these circumstances in which I'm found? Remember that the scriptures tell us the sacred things belong unto the Lord our God. You have secrets that you don't share with many people, maybe not with anyone else. Well, the Lord is the same. The Lord has secrets. There's things the Lord hasn't revealed to us down here on earth. Paul said, now we see through a glass darkly. The view that we have of our circumstances, the view that we have even of some of the things that the Lord is doing, it's not as clear as what it will be. in that land that is fairer than day. Now we see through a glass darkly. The focus isn't as clear, the vision isn't as clear as one day it is going to be. The Saviour said to his disciples, what I do, thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. There's sovereignty there. What I do, what the Lord is doing. There's mystery, what I do thou knowest not now, And there are some mysteries, men and women, brothers and sisters in this world, even for the Christian, in the Christian life. But there's eternity there as well. What I do thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know hereafter. There's no gospel hymn that says we'll talk it over in the by and by. I'll ask the reason and the Lord will tell me why. when we talk it over in the by and by. The Puritans had a great gift for summarizing a biblical truth. It was Thomas Watson who was the great prince of the Puritans. He excelled in that gift. Well, the Puritans would put it like this. We can't always trace the Lord. but we can't always trust them. You familiar with putting down a bit of tracing paper, grease proof paper on an image and then you take your pen or your pencil and you trace it, you follow the lines of that image. Well, that's how it is in life. We can't always trace. We can't always follow the Lord and what he's doing, but you can always trust him, men and women. Always trust that he knows what he's doing and he knows what is best. So we don't have all the answers. As pastors, as ministers, it's good for us even to accept and acknowledge that fact. I can suggest to you tonight some reasons why the Lord might give you a burden. One is because of your walk. Maybe there's somebody here tonight, and you're not walking as close to the Lord as you should. The old hymn says, prone to wander, Lord, I feel it. Prone to leave the God I love. One of the images of the Christian in the Bible is that of a sheep, and sheep wander away. So maybe you have not been walking as close to the Lord as you should, and the Lord wants to bring you back. back into closer fellowship, into a closer walk with himself. And that burden that you're experiencing, it has caused you to cast yourself upon the Lord in a way maybe that you haven't done for quite some time. David said in the 119th Psalm, before I was afflicted, I went astray. But now, he's talking about the time of the affliction or after the affliction. He says, now, have I kept thy word. It brought him back into closer fellowship. And perhaps you were going astray. And that's the reason why the Lord has given you that burden. He's bringing you back to himself. Another reason why the Lord gives you a burden is to show you your worth. I had a younger brother who was born with a disability. He was born with muscular dystrophy, died before his 18th birthday. Mostly, those with Duchenne muscular dystrophy don't live beyond their 18th birthday. Someone once told my mother, I think it was Professor Norman Nevin. He was a Christian consultant in Northern Ireland, now with the Lord. He specialised in the treatment of muscular dystrophy. He told my mother, the Lord only gives disabled children to special people. That's a very interesting statement. But I can assure you of this, men and women, The Lord only gives burdens to special people. See that burden you have? Well, it's an indicate of your worth, an indication of your worth. It indicates your value to the Lord, how precious you are in his sight. Do you remember what I told you a few minutes ago? The burden is a gift. And you need to view it like that. You need to fix that thought in your mind. And the Lord is like you and I. He only gives his gifts to special people. You think of birthday time, Christmas time, you just give gifts to special people. Well, the Lord does the same. Why did the Lord allow the devil to afflict Job? Can you imagine tonight? Can you even begin to enter in to the burdens, to the pain, the affliction, the suffering that Job experienced, the loss of all his wealth, the loss of his health, the loss of all his children, looking out on 10 fresh graves. What pain, what burdens he must have been weighed down with. So why did the Lord allow the devil to afflict Job in that way? Well, it's because Job was special. It's because the Lord could trust Job to be faithful to him even in those extreme circumstances. You think of what the New Testament says, loveth, think of it carefully, it's not whom the Lord's unhappy with, or it doesn't say whom the Lord hateth, it's whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth. So that burden that you're carrying, men and women, it reveals his love, his great love for you. Those are just some suggested reasons. why the Lord might give you a burden to carry as a Christian. But remember Romans 8 and 28, men and women, all things work together for good to them that love the Lord. Not just the good things in life, the blessings of life, even the painful experiences, even the heartaches, even the great burdens that you're carrying, all things work together for good. to them that love the Lord. So whatever the reason the Lord has for doing it, you can be sure of this. It's for your good, for your spiritual good, for your spiritual development, and for the deepening of your spiritual maturity as a child of God. Think of those words of Paul's at the end of 2 Corinthians 4. There's a great contrast in the verse, our light affliction. We're talking about burdens tonight. I'm sure you don't think that the burden you're carrying is light. That's how he describes it, our light, affliction, which is but for a moment. When you're passing through that period of trial and you're weighed down with a burden that seems like forever, like an eternity, he says it's but for a moment. It worketh for us. Sometimes we feel like old Jacob, all these things are against me. But even the afflictions, even the trials, They're working for us. They're for our good. And think of how the verse ends. They worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight. See the contrast? Our light affliction, an eternal weight. of glory. He said it was but for a moment, the glory is going to be for all eternity. What a prospect that is, brethren and sisters. So as you think of life's burdens and how you cope, remember, consider the burden is from the Lord. The second thing I'll emphasize is you cast the burden on the Lord. That's what the text exhorts you to do. Cast thy burden upon the Lord. I told you I was brought up on a farm. We had a lot of burdens to carry, the buckets, the barrels, the milk cans, the bags, the bales. As children, there was times we thought those things were too heavy. Times I was beat, couldn't go any further. Needed someone else to come and help, someone else to come and carry the burden for me or with me. More often than not, that person was my father, my dad. Very strong man that he was. There's a lesson, men and women, in that picture, that illustration. And the lesson is, We can't, but he can. We can't carry the burdens of life, but our heavenly father can. Remember, he's the almighty. He's the Lord God omnipotent. Keep in mind that word omnipotent, the idea is there's no limits, absolutely no limits to the power of our God. The message of the psalmist is, Take your burden to the Lord. And that's what you need to do. That's what I want to encourage you to do in this meeting tonight. He's the great burden bearer. He's the one that upholds all things by the word of his power. Just ponder that for a moment. He's upholding this vast universe. And what is my burden, my little burden in comparison to all of that? Remember the invitation of the Savior, Matthew 11, 28. Come on to me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Remember that's a promise to the saint as well as to the sinner. All ye that labor and are heavy laden. So believer, come to the Lord tonight. Come to the Lord with your burden. I mentioned Mr. Moody to you. And Mr. Moody, as he studied the scriptures, he used a wide margin Bible. He wrote a lot of notes in the margin. Someone took the Bible after his death and they typed up all of those notes and they published them in a very profitable little volume, notes from the Bible of D.L. Moody. Beside Psalm 55 verse 22, he writes the comment that the word cast literally means to rule. your burden on the Lord. And isn't that what you do with something that's too heavy to lift, something that's too heavy to carry? You roll it to where you want it to go. When we were growing up on the farm, one of the jobs that came around especially every spring and summertime was gathering stones. Whenever the fields were ploughed, been prepared for the sowing of the seed. There was always stones that came to the surface and they had to be gathered off the surface. It wasn't a very pleasant job. Some of the stones were very heavy. So what we would do is we would roll them, roll them maybe into the digger bucket or into a link box in the back of the tractor. And sometimes if my father wasn't looking, we might roll them into the drain or into the shuck rather than roll them to where they needed to go. But that's what you need to do, brethren and sisters. Roll your burden onto the Lord. How do you do that? Well, you do it by means of prayer. You need to pray about your burden and about your circumstance. You know, that's the reason. That's the simple explanation for why many Christians are always burdened. They never pray about them. They never come and cast all their care. A verse in the New Testament similar to the verse that we're considering here tonight. In fact, it's probably the verse that Peter had in his mind when he wrote those words, casting all your care upon him. So many Christians never pray about their burdens. They don't come to the prayer meeting. They don't come to cast their burden upon the Lord. One of the most famous hymns that came from Northern Ireland was Joseph Scriven's. Him, what a friend we have in Jesus. Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care? Jesus knows our every weakness. Take it to the Lord in prayer. So cast your burden upon the Lord. The third thing I'll emphasize, the final thing is, you carry the burden with the Lord. Remember, consider the burden is from the Lord, then cast it upon the Lord. But sometimes you're to carry the burden with the Lord. The text says, he will sustain thee. Just think of those words, or he shall sustain thee. Isn't that interesting? The Lord doesn't say, that he will always take the burden away. Remember, Paul learned that. Think it was thorn in the flesh. He says in 2 Corinthians 12, he besought the Lord thrice that it might depart from him. He was asking the Lord to give him a healing touch to take away that thorn in the flesh. But the Lord said, no. He said, my grace shall be sufficient for thee. You're going to have to carry on with that thorn, with that burden. but I'll give you the grace, I'll give you the strength that is needed. So the Lord doesn't always take the burden away, brethren and sisters. That's what we want, that's what we expect, that's what we long for, that's what we're pleading for in the place of prayer. But we learn here there are times that we still have to carry the burden ourselves. And maybe that's what the Lord wants you to do. Maybe that's the lesson. The Lord wants you to learn tonight. But there's no need to be afraid. There's no need to despair. Because you won't have to do it on your own. You won't have to do it on your own strength. Perhaps you've tried that already and you failed. Notice what the text says. He will. He will sustain thee. And that's what makes all the difference, brethren and sisters. What you need to do tonight is get your eyes off your circumstances and Get your eyes on the Lord. Keep your eyes on the Lord. He will give you the strength. He will give you the power that is needed. Do you remember the great promise in Isaiah 41 verse 10? Fear thou not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee. Yea, I will uphold thee. Isn't there the picture there in those words of someone been weighed down with a burden they're almost ready to stumble and fall? The Lord says, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Now as you've come to the meetings today, thinking of your circumstances, you're asking, how can I go on? How can I face the future? How will I be able to cope? How will I be able to handle the problems, the circumstances that I'm passing through? Well, here's the answer. The Lord. The Lord's going to strengthen you. He will help you. The Lord's going to uphold you with his mighty right arm. In the Old Testament, the blessing that was bestowed upon the tribes of Israel is given twice. In the book of Deuteronomy, Moses, before his death, the previous blessing was bestowed by Jacob before his death at the end of the book of Genesis. But in Deuteronomy, when you come to the tribe of Asher, one of the things that Moses said was, as thy days, so shall thy strength be. What encouragement there is in those words. The meaning is, God will give you the strength that you need for the days, the circumstances, that you're passing through. God will give you the strength to match the type of days that you're encountering. He will give you the strength to bear the cross that you have to carry here in this world and in this life. He will give you the strength, brethren and sisters, that is needed. And let me take that even a step further or a step higher, if you like, because the Lord may even carry you as well. Henry Moorhouse was an English evangelist, came from Brethren circles. He was a very close friend of Mr. Moody's. In fact, he had a great influence in the life of D.L. Moody. That's a story in itself. Henry Moorhouse had a daughter who was disabled. Her name was Minnie. One night he came home. He'd been down in town. He'd bought his wife a little gift. He'd had it all wrapped in a nice little package. Whenever he came in through the front door, Minnie was getting excited about this package. And she said, let me carry the package to Mama. Mama was upstairs in the bedroom. Henry looked at his daughter in amazement. He said, Minnie, you can't carry yourself. How are you going to carry this package? Of course, children are very quick. She had the answer all worked out. She said, Papa, you give me the package and I will carry it. And then you can carry me. And there's times, you know, life's just like that. We carry the burden, but then the Lord comes and he lifts us and he carries us through that situation. The Lord said through the prophet Isaiah, and even to your old age, to the end of your days, even to your old age, he says, I am he. Even to whore hares, that's the white, gray hares, that stage of life. Even to whore hares will I carry you. I have made and I will bear. Even I will carry and will deliver you. What a promise. The Lord carries us through those very trying periods of life. I'm sure you're familiar with the story of the little poem, The Footprints of Faith. the Christian looking back across the sands of their life. And they noticed, as they looked carefully and closely, that the most difficult, the most trying periods of their life, there was only one set of footprints in the sands. And they mistakenly thought what that meant was at those times they'd had to go alone, the Lord had left them. The Lord said, no, the gentle rebuke of the Savior What that meant was at that time I lifted you. Those footprints are mine. I carried you through those most difficult times, those darkest of valleys. So the Lord carries his people through the periods of trial. And he'll do the same for you. He'll carry you as well. Be encouraged by that knowledge tonight, men and women. You carry the burden, not in your own strength. You carry it with the Lord. by his help and by his strength. Here's a little then of what you do with life's burdens. You consider it as something that has come from the Lord himself. You cast the burden by means of prayer. You roll it upon the Lord, the throne of grace. And then sometimes we carry it, we have to carry it. That's his will for us. But we carry it with the Lord, by the Lord. with his help and by his strength. Let me say just as I finish tonight, the heaviest burden of all, let me say from the youngest right up to the oldest in the meeting, the heaviest burden of all is the burden of sin. And I wonder is that your burden in the gospel service tonight? The fact is that is your burden if you're still unsaved. You've been weighed down with a burden of guilt, a burden of sin. Do you remember the story, John Bunyan's immortal allegory, Pilgrim's Progress? In Pilgrim's Progress, Pilgrim had a burden, a burden on his back. I'm sure you all know that story well. The burden on Pilgrim's back was the burden of his sin and the burden of his guilt. But remember, he lost that burden, but there was only one place the burden could be lost, the burden could be taken away, and that was at the cross. So I want to point you to, as we close tonight, to the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. I want to urge you, if you're without Christ, that you need to get to the cross, and you can only get to the cross by faith, coming and putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as your Savior. You need to get to the cross tonight, and you need to cast the burden of your sin upon the Lord. and be saved. Don't go from the gospel service tonight without knowing and experiencing God's so great salvation. You know the old gospel hymn, burdens are lifted at Calvary, and Jesus is very near. That's the only place that the burden of your sin can be lifted and taken away. Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee. He shall never suffer the righteous to be moved. Let's bow together just in prayer as we close. Heavenly Father, thank you for the meeting tonight. Thank you for prayer answered. We thank of all that gathered before this service to call upon thee for your hand of blessing upon the meeting. We thank you tonight. for your faithfulness, your presence. Thank you, Father, for your speaking voice. We thank you for the good word of God. We can say with the prophet of old, you have spoken to us tonight with good words and with comfortable. You're the God that knows the hearts of all men. You know the hearts of all in this meeting tonight, those hearts that are heavy, burdened and weighed down, those hearts that are broken. Lord, we rejoice that you can do what none other can do. you're able to heal the broken hearted. Pray that you might do that. Even in this service tonight, come and put your nail pierced hand upon those hearts that are sad and heavy and weighed down tonight. Encourage and strengthen every brother and sister in this service tonight. Bless them for their faithfulness in attending this meeting and supporting the cause of the gospel in this place. You've assured us, Father, and promised that it's no vain thing to wait upon the Lord. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. We think of the week ahead of us, Thank Father of all that each of us have to do, we're glad that we can be here tonight and receive strength and power from on high. Especially Father, those that are weighed down, pray you'll sustain them. Give to them the strength for the days that they're passing through. You've promised in your word that you give power to the faint and to them that have no might, you increase strength. We ask thee to fulfil that for your people here. And Lord, lead this church on, even into days of revival. We pray that this church will be used of God to bless and stir this whole city and this whole community. Pray that there'll be a move of God in Winston-Salem. We ask, Father, that this city will be put upon the pages of church history. as a place where God came in mighty power and in mighty revival. Hear our cries. Thank you for our fellowship together today. We commit ourselves into your keeping. We ask Father for journeying mercies as we go from the meeting tonight. And we ask that unto the King, eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and evermore. Amen.