The Calmness of the Trusting Believer Pt 2 — Aeron Morgan

Psalm 25 and the Calmness of a Trusting Believer

Psalm 25, let me take up from this psalm again where we were a few weeks ago when I had the privilege of visiting. Let me read from verse 8, Psalm 25. I'm speaking again on the calmness of a confiding Christian's life, hallelujah.

Verse 8, Psalm 25, good and upright is the Lord, therefore will he teach sinners in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment and the meek will he teach his way. All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth and as such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.

For thy name's sake, Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. What man is he that feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way that he, that is the Lord, shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease and his seed shall inherit the earth.

The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show them his covenant. Mine eyes are ever toward the Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. Amen. This is such a helpful and encouraging Psalm of David, one in which he appears just to gather up the diverse range of his own life's experiences and he sets them before us in a way, in the way in which he looked to God in them all.

There's all kinds of circumstances that could easily have catapulted that troubled soul into unrelievable despair if it had not been for the secret that he had learned in the lifting up of his soul unto his Lord God, Jehovah Elohim.

Notice the first two verses. Unto thee, O Lord, Jehovah, do I lift up my soul, O my Elohim, I trust in thee. Let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Now without taking the time this afternoon to actually read the verses, I want you to note what he does refer to in this Psalm alone about his life, about his experiences before him as a panorama of painful memory on the one hand, but testimony to his faithful God on the other hand.

David's Enemies, Sin, and Need for Divine Help

And he makes reference to a number of things. If you have your Bible open there in verse 2 and down at verse 19 he refers to his enemies. Not only opposed to him personally, but ideologically they challenged his reverence for the Almighty.

And that was a problem, it was a difficulty, it was an unpleasant situation, his enemies. He refers in verses 6 and 7 to the painful memory of the offensive sins of his youthful days, but also of course having in mind God's merciful dealing with him.

Here is David not with a doubting heart or with weak faith, but the constant recognition of those ever availing mercies of God who is ever true to his word. And as you go on down to verse 11 you will notice that he makes reference to what may be a reference to his admitted wrongdoing with Bathsheba.

He talks about a sin which was great, which though repented of and pardoned and blotted out from the memory of God himself, he, David, was still prompted in his mind and memory in respect of that sin with Bathsheba with him.

Look upon my affliction, he says in verse 18, and my pain and forgive all my sins. He makes reference to the temptations that beset him constantly, which affirms that the magnitude of sin's power, it demands divine intervention.

It's only God's power, friends, that can prevent our failure, and David knows this. He is looking to God to sustain him in all of these things. This is 16 and 17, he refers to the troubles that afflicted him, that caused that feeling of desolation and deep distress within his heart.

He goes on to refer to the wearying effect of anxieties and miseries there in verse 18. To verse 19, a reference to the violence on his spirit caused by the injustices of those who hated him. He refers to the distrust he has with regards to his own heart, and thus the sense of his need of God's help to maintain his integrity and his moral stability.

You read that in verses 20 and 21. You know, it's all here in this one psalm. The many things that this man of God faced, and you might well, with me, relate to this verse today because it's familiar ground to those who would humbly and faithfully follow the Lord.

But it's not a hopeless and a hapless David. This man who is described as a man after God's own heart, he is observed praying and he is believing for those mercies of God, the mercies of protection and guidance and forgiveness.

They're all here in this wonderful psalm. David has learned that the only way to live with any trace of confident authority and calmness of spirit amid all these predicaments and testings of life. The only way to live is to live in conscious and consistent dependence upon the grace of God and the power of God, and all for his name's sake.

Confidence in the Lord's Light and Salvation

Notice what he says. He says in Psalm 27. Just turn over the page to Psalm 27. The Lord is my light and my salvation. And in verse 3 he says,. Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear, though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

In what, David, will you be confident? The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life, of whom shall I be afraid? That's the secret, friends, for you and me today in all of life's difficulties and trials and temptations.

You know, David's understanding of the human heart is true. And such a sense of need, as he expresses, has a solitary effect because it throws us upon God to trust in God. It honors God. So contrary to, I was reading the other day, someone gave me a little booklet, said, oh, you'll be blessed with this, Pastor Morgan, gave me a booklet of Robert Shuler, his philosophy, if it's going to be, it's up to me.

What revolting vanity. If it's going to be, it's up to me. You know, David here contradicts that. And David has the same understanding of Paul, who said in Romans chapter 7, for I know that in me, that is in my flesh, in my lower or fleshly nature, my nature with all its sinful propensities and inclination, my nature apart from the effects produced by the Holy Spirit, I know that in me, in my flesh, dwells no good thing.

For to will is present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. And as Adam Clarke comments, it's here, it's in me that fleshly appetites alone prevail. And listen to what he says, the brute runs away with the man.

It's little wonder that Paul said at the end of that chapter 7 of Romans, oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? No, friends, if it's going to be, it's not up to me, it's up to him.

It's up to him. What did Paul say in Philippians 2, for I know that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. In Colossians 127, he says, Christ is in you, and it's Christ in you that is the hope of glory.

That's why David here in this psalm, he passes from supplication in remembrance of God's covenant in the first seven verses to contemplation in respect of God's character in the first chapter, and begins with that verse 8 as we began our reading this afternoon.

God's Goodness, Righteousness, and Guidance

Good and upright is the Lord, hallelujah. Good and upright is the Lord. This is what brings serenity, brings calmness to my troubled spirit. This is what brings such effectiveness to my prayer life. When I see Jehovah Elohim, I see the Lord God Almighty beholding him as to his glorious character, that of his goodness and greatness, of his mercy and majesty, of his truthfulness and transcendence, of his sympathy and sufficiency.

When I see him, it makes all the difference, hallelujah. My brother, sister, this afternoon, I don't know just what you're passing through, but I'm sure there will be those among us today whose hearts are concealing more than they are showing on their countenances.

You may be passing through some difficult passage, and you're just wondering what you should do. Look away from yourself. Have no confidence in the flesh. See your sovereign sympathizer, the one who is able to bring you through your trials, through your hurts, through your dilemmas, through all of your fears, for God and upright is the Lord, hallelujah.

And you will note as the text continues, David says, therefore, now when you see a therefore in scripture, see what is therefore. Always takes you back in context. So David says, good and upright is the Lord, therefore, because he is good and upright.

Well what will he do, David? Ah, he replies. All here in these verses, 8 to 14, as we read in the character of God's love and righteousness, he comes to teach sinners in the way, to guide the meek in judgment, to pardon the repentant transgressor, to reveal his distinguished purposes, to reward the faithful, and to disclose the intimate, the beneficial deliberations of his own loving heart.

The secrets of the Lord, he says, are with them that fear him. Praise the Lord. There's little wonder that David knows such calmness and confidence when he has an understanding of God in this way. And that lovely, and I appreciate the teaching of the children in the good word of God as we had today, and encouraging them to get this word and hide it in your heart.

It wasn't just a message for the toddlers, it was a message for me. Because as we get hold of this word, and this revelation of God Almighty, and grasp this, this is what will keep me stable and secure in those times of adversity.

What a real challenge these words of David are to me, in respect of the depth of my perception of Almighty God, the direction of my personal spiritual life, the distinction of my relationship with the Lord God Almighty, the durability of my faith in his infallible guidance, a challenge in respect of the dedication of my all to him, and I think that seems to sum it all up.

Reverence, Surrender, and Complete Dedication to God

Without such dedication, there will not be that trust. As I was waking up on the Lord one morning this week, it seemed as though God just reminded me of this whole matter of his Godship, of Christ's Lordship over my life, and it seems as though he said to me that he will not demand more than we can give of ourselves, but neither would he countenance anything less.

It's our all. And that is what will keep us, when we are completely yielded to him and allowing him to work out his life and his purposes in us. Now we've considered two matters in our previous meditation about this life of confiding in God.

Just let me refresh your memory. We said it's a life that's lived out in true reverence of God. David speaks here of the fear of the Lord, and nothing can substitute for the true fear of the Lord in our lives if we are to know such calmness in spirit amid the trials of life.

Also we said it's a life that's submitted to the will of God. The life of surrender to God's will brings such peace as we discover what God has appointed for us. That God who in his infinite wisdom chooses what is perfectly adapted to his eternal purpose, and you are, and my, part in it.

That vast eternal purpose of God that is far greater than what we can comprehend, yet you and I have a part in that. That's why we allow him to choose our way for us and submit to the will of God. Now let's continue from there because this life of confiding in God is a life that's ever mindful of and grateful for God's goodness.

Lodging in the Goodness of God

Notice what it says, his soul shall dwell at ease, verse 13. His soul shall dwell at ease. Or, literally perhaps as the Hebrew has it, his soul shall lodge in goodness. David is not speaking of his own goodness but God's goodness.

When you go over to Psalm 107, four times he repeats in that psalm, all that men would praise the Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children of men. You know friends there must be something that is unearthly and supernatural about a faith that deems itself to be lodging in God's goodness.

Especially you see when every outward indication seems to be so contrary and naturally undesirable and yet in spite of it this confiding heart, this trusting soul lodges in God's goodness. Praise the Lord.

You see that is victory. That is overcoming. That reveals the stability of our happiness, the steadiness of our contentment. You know that is far more rewarding with its eternal implications than anything we can imagine a soul lodging in God's goodness.

I love the helpful comment of Charles Haddon Spurgeon who said whatever outward appearances may threaten we should settle it steadfastly in our minds that while grace enables us to obey the Lord's will, we need not fear that providence will cause us any real loss.

There shall be mercy in every unsavory morsel and faithfulness in every bitter drop. Let not our hearts be troubled but let us rest by faith in the immeasurable covenant of Jehovah which is ordered in all things and sure.

Praise the Lord. Grace enabling us to obey the Lord's will. Discovering mercy says Spurgeon in every unsavory morsel. Discovering faithfulness in every bitter drop. The trusting heart, the one who knows God even though the mountain seems immovable we lodge in his goodness because we fear the Lord.

Because we gladly walk in the way of his choice. Because we allow him to lead us we lodge, we stay in his goodness that is in the true permanent possession and enjoyment of the true good that's God, God.

He is my goodness. You see this is describing God. In Exodus chapter 33 and verse 19 without going into the whole incident of Moses but you'll recall as he was called to take God's people out from Egypt and take them into the land of promise.

How he had said Lord show me your glory and the Lord didn't say no I can't, I won't. He simply said to him no man can look on me and love but he says listen I will let all my goodness pass before you.

And he just sheltered him from the blazing glory of God's own mighty marvelous presence. He shaded him and passed by and Moses saw his back parts. He says I let my goodness pass before you. I say again that's God because David uses this very expression my goodness in an adoring way and a foundation of a hope in God's refuge and protection.

Turn to Psalm 144 and verse 2. This is part of my reading the other morning and I was lost in wonder, love and praise. I read the first verse, this is Psalm 144, blessed be the Lord my strength which teacheth my hands to war and my fingers to fight.

My goodness, my fortress, my high tower, my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I trust who subdues my people under me. I had a little note from someone the other day on the internet. I had shared something and he said oh my goodness, just an expression isn't it?

How many times have you used that, oh my goodness. When I read Psalm 144 and verse 2 I said never again will I just say flippantly oh my goodness because it's taking the name of our Lord in vain. I won't pursue that, think on it.

But here is David, my goodness. This is an attribute of God such as disposes him to be kind and benevolent and full of goodwill toward us. You know his goodness is the drive behind everything he does for us without prejudice or without respect of person.

He's not more good to me than he is to you. The scripture says he is good to all. In fact friends there are people around this neighborhood this afternoon who have no thought of God, God is good to them.

God is good to all, his goodness. But oh you and I, we have come to know him and we see our God as one of infinite tenderness and of quick sympathy. Every blessing bestowed, whatever it is you care to mention this afternoon is all because he is good and not because we merit anything.

Have you heard people say that sometimes, oh he deserves better than that you know or something good, oh yeah he deserved that. We don't deserve anything. In fact if we had our deserts you know where we would be, in the caverns of the damned.

God is good, God is good, God is good. To know that he cannot intend evil, even in his judgments God is motivated by goodness, never vindictiveness or unjust revenge. God never loses his cool, he never blows his top to use cliches, expressions so human.

You know my Bible tells me that he takes no pleasure in the death of the wicked. Rather friends he only takes pleasure in those who fear him, who hope in his mercy. All his ways, all his works, all his decrees are good and I'm glad today to be lodging in goodness, takes all the stress out of life, lodging in goodness, my soul lodging in God who is good.

So his goodness becomes a covert in those storms of life. He forgives all our sins because he is good. He entwels us by his Holy Spirit because he is good. He guarantees our eternal security because he is good.

He answers your prayers and mine because he is good. He lavishes us with countless blessings because he is good. He responds to our faith and hope because he is good. He grants his overshading presence because he is good.

He provides for all our needs because he is good. Can you see how it is that the understanding of who and what God is in grace makes me lodge in my goodness? Is your soul at ease like this today knowing that peace that passes all understanding?

Ron Fletcher's Conversion and Peace in Christ

I was passing in Yorkshire many years ago. One day I was going to the church. It was a Friday evening, early evening. A group of our young people were going to one of the local hospitals to hold a service and witness to those patients.

I just was not going with them. Others were taking that group, but I was down there to pray with them before they left. As I just bade them God's blessing and leaving, a man came up to me. He was in his overalls.

He looked so grave. I thought he looked angry at first. He said, Are you the pastor of this church? I said, Yes. I thought then, Oh, here is a man with a complaint, with a grudge. He is going to really go for me.

He said, Can I talk to you? I said, Sure. So I took him inside the church. That man soon opened up to me. He was in great trouble of soul. He lived right opposite the church. He said, I have watched you for days going to the church.

He said, I have wanted to come and talk to you. I have got no peace whatsoever. I have had to finish work. They have diagnosed that I have a tumor on the brain. Except for an operation, then it is going to kill me.

He said, I was coming down from my mother's home to the intersection just where your house is. That was only just 100 meters away from where the church was. He said, I have watched you. He said, Outside you have your car.

On your car there is a text written. It was not just a little plastic one in the back of the car that you cannot read. It covered the whole of the passenger side of the door. It was in gold leaf. The text that he saw coming down from his mother's was, Seek ye the Lord.

He had come down to the intersection. We lived in a community which was a coal mining community. There were a number of coal mines. Those big coal trucks used to thunder down through that village. He was going to put himself under one of those coal trucks.

He was at the end of himself. No peace whatsoever. He was going to commit suicide. He said, I saw that car. It said, Seek ye the Lord. I have been trying to pluck up the courage to come and see you. That day I had the wonderful joy of sharing with him the gospel.

The gospel of peace. That day Ron Fletcher, 31 years of age, came to know Christ. I tell you what, not only did he know he was changed. Not only did his wife know he was changed. The family knew he was changed.

The community knew he was changed. About four months later he said to me, I have to have this operation. I remember going down to the hospital to visit him. Just before he went to have the surgery. He said to me, Pastor Morgan.

He was in his dressing gown. He walked to me to the door as I was leaving after being with him and praying with him. He said, you know, I believe that God can raise me up. He sounded like one of the Hebrew lads in Daniel.

He said, but if not. He said, I am at such peace. For I know I will be with Christ. Ron Fletcher did not come off the surgeon's table alive. He died under the operation. But I'll never forget the peace with Ron Fletcher.

And then the joy in a memorial service that we had at the church. Of 13 people coming to Christ. Including his brother-in-law, Jack Taylor. Jack Taylor was a drunk. He was an alcoholic. And he only came to the service.

For the sake of his wife who was invalided and she couldn't get there. And she said, you must go. The night before that he had been blind drunk. He came along. Do you know for many years afterwards he was a deacon in the church.

The peace of God that passes all understanding. These who have such a trust in God. Who walk in the fear of the Lord. Their souls dwell at ease. They lodge in goodness. I like what Dr. Tozer said. He said, the greatness of God rouses fear within us.

But his goodness encourages us not to be afraid of him. To fear and not to be afraid. That is the paradox of faith. This confiding soul. Oh friends, it's a life that is ever mindful of and grateful for God's goodness.

The Inheritance of Abraham's Seed and God's Land

Let me share something more with you. Because it's a life believing to see others walking in God's ways. Notice what he goes on to say now. In that same verse 13, his seed shall inherit the earth. Now in this Old Testament context, this probably refers to Canaan.

But what was Canaan? We refer to it as the promised land. That is the land that was bequeathed by inheritance to the seed of Abraham. Go back to Genesis 17 and verse 8. And there you will see God speaking to Abraham.

And telling him that he was giving him a land. Not only a seed, but a land to be possessed by that seed. And of course the personal appropriation of the promise connected with the obeying of the law of God.

Do you know friends, it's the land, the only land that God speaks of as my land. The Americans can't say this is God's land. The Russians can't say it's God's land. The Africans can't say this is God's land.

The Australians can't say this is God's land. There's only one piece of this earth that God says it's my land. And it's the land he promised by covenant, inviolable, unconditional covenant to Abraham and to his seed.

And that's why friends, it is his sole prerogative to give it to Israel. And he did. And there's a number of scriptures we could refer to. That expanse of disputed, physical, geographical territory in the Middle East today is not for the United Nations.

Or for Mr. Bush or Mr. Sharon or some terms within a political road map to determine who shall occupy it. It's God's land bequeathed by inviolable covenant to Abraham and to his seed. It's described as a land that's flowing with milk and honey.

It's described as a fruitful land. It's described as a good land. It's spoken of as a land that is full of refreshing brooks and water. What a land God has covenanted to his people Israel. So David says, these who trust in God, those who fear the Lord, his seed shall inherit the earth, the land.

Families, Christian Witness, and the Fulness of God's Blessing

Now the principle for us this afternoon extends to those of faith. You and I who fear the Lord, who walk in God's chosen way. We are his seed of Christ. It says in Isaiah 53, he shall see his seed and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.

We are part of his family this morning, this afternoon. We are part of his posterity. And here David is saying that they shall enter upon the fullness that God has prepared for them that love him. Canaan for us is the spirit filled life.

Life in Christ with all its richness, with all its completeness. Of course the challenge has to do with my personal and blessed relationship to the Lord. And then to the impact and the influence of my godly life and example.

And that's why friends we should never settle for anything less or other than this for our families. That they, apart from us ourselves, enjoying the fullness of this promise that God has given. This blessedness that he has brought us into.

But we will want our families to enjoy this land of the Holy Ghost too. Let's not settle for anything less. There's a blessedness that others can come into through a faith of such a dimension as what David mentions here.

Sadly may I say on the other hand, there are many who will forever be disinclined to obey the gospel. Because its credibility has been harmed through inconsistent and un-Christlike and unethical and even sham profession of some so-called Christians.

You wonder why some children are out in the world this afternoon? Very often, not always, but often it's because they have been somehow disillusioned by the kind of Christianity they have witnessed either in the home or in the church.

It's a challenge to us to walk in the fear of the Lord. To be found in the way of God's will. To be lodging in goodness. And to see our seed, our families, see them coming to enjoy the fullness of God's blessing.

God help us in this respect. Let me just mention one thing further. It's a life that's resting in the glorious prospect of God's sovereign ends. Notice what it says, the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him and he will show them his covenant.

Intimate Communion and the Secret of the Lord

All the blessedness of intimate communion with God. Walking in the fear of the Lord with hearts disposed toward him to love him supremely. And to honor and to please him constantly. To know him increasingly.

To gaze upon him untiringly and longingly that he might discover himself to us in his beauty and majesty. Seeking him, waiting upon him. Having God to disclose his heart to us. It's possible friends, it's possible for you and me to see things that other eyes cannot behold.

The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him. We should not be taken up this afternoon with the things which are seen. Things that can be shaken. The things that pass away. We should be keeping our eyes upon the things that are unseen.

That cannot be shaken. Things that will never pass away. Because this is what will determine that calmness of spirit amid the clashing harassments of daily life. Not taken up with the temporal, but the eternal.

Not seeing just that which glitters as the world offers. But see what God himself has given to us in Christ. Seeing by faith the glorious end that God has promised to those who love and trust him. Let me ask, is this your daily joy?

Knowing that communion, allowing nothing to disturb that intimacy of fellowship with the Lord. So that without harridness, I'll put it in another way. That with unharridness we can minister to him and allow him to speak to us.

To know God, to see him face to face, morning by morning, to have him open our ear. And God share with us the secrets of his heart. I said to the Lord the other morning, I said, Lord, you are sharing so much with me.

I cannot seem to retain it, let alone comprehend it. And yet I don't want to just pause to write this down. God said, in a sense, I didn't hear a voice, but you know how it is when you're communing with the Lord.

It seems the Lord said to me, don't worry about writing it down. The Holy Spirit will bring to your remembrance that which I disclosed to you from my word. The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him.

Hallelujah. A soul that's confiding in God, trusting wholly, totally in him. All the blessedness of such an experience. Something very precious I'd like to have shared with you further. That's sufficient for today.

Are you lodging in goodness? Do you look up into his face this afternoon and say, my goodness. Hallelujah. What are you passing through today? What's your experience like? Difficult? Dark? From a natural perspective, somewhat depressing?

See your Father this afternoon. He's good. When our Lord prayed in John 17, he says, oh, righteous Father. We've got a wonderful Father. He does everything that's right. He is motivated by absolute goodness.

You can trust him. You can trust him. And he'll bring you through.