Assurance For a Troubled Heart - Part 2 of 2

The Baptist Bible Hour now comes to you under the direction of Elder Lacerre Bradley, Jr. O for a thousand tongues to sing, my great Redeemer's praise! The worries of my God and King, the triumphs of His grace!

This is Lacerre Bradley, Jr. inviting you to stay tuned for another message of God's sovereign grace. Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father! There is no shadow of turning with Thee. Thou changest not thy compassions, they fail not. As thou hast been, thou forever will be. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me!

Summer and winter and spring, dine and harvest. Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above, join with all nature in manifold witness to thy great faithfulness, mercy and love. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see.

All I have needed thy hand hath provided. Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me! Pardon for sin and of peace that endureth, my only presence to cheer and to guide. Straight for today and night, all for tomorrow, blessings of mine with ten thousand beside. Great is thy faithfulness, great is thy faithfulness! Morning by morning new mercies I see. All I have needed thy hand hath provided.

Great is thy faithfulness, Lord unto me! Thankful we have the opportunity to come your way at this same time each week. If you are blessed by the messages on this broadcast, we'd like to hear from you. Even if you can't contribute, if you just send us a note and let us know what the messages have meant. If you can help, it'll be greatly appreciated.

The summer months always seem to be a challenge and certainly that's the case now. So if you can contribute, send us a note at Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Today we continue with the message on assurance for a troubled heart. The text is Psalm 73, verse 1 and 2.

Truly God is good to Israel, even to such as her of a clean heart. But as for me, my feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped. I pray the message will be of comfort to you today. Now, next let's look at his consolation. Verse 23. After he is confessed that he was thinking like a brute beast, he says, nevertheless, I am continually with thee. Thou has holded me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory.

Isn't that wonderful to consider? God was still with him. Now, certainly that's not put here to excuse us when we have drifted and we're thinking incorrectly and to say, well, it really doesn't matter after all.

It simply is here to make us understand God is merciful to us. And when we have faltered, he has not forsaken us. I am continually with thee. Thou has holded me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory.

What a contrast. The wicked were going down to final destruction. This one who is a believer was going ultimately to be received into glory. So in spite of his wrong thinking and the tendency to even complain, God had not left him. In spite of his ignorance, he was constantly in God's care. And must we not all acknowledge that there have been plenty of times along the way in our life when our reasoning has been no more valid than that of Asaph?

When our thinking has been distorted, our responses, our actions, our attitudes have not been what they should have been. But how wonderful to know that in spite of our failures, God has cared for us. Yes, this man was in God's care constantly. Verse 26, my flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. My flesh.

Well, we know the arm of flesh is sure to fail us. And are there not times when you may say my heart faileth? I want to love the Lord God with all my mind, heart, soul and strength. I want to be diligent and zealous in serving him.

I want to serve him with all of my heart. But you go through those perplexing times when you may view a situation like Asaph did that you just don't understand. Or the trials of life are so heavy and so burdensome, you say my heart faileth. I can't take anymore. I can't hold up.

I can't keep going. But God is the strength of my heart. Isn't that good to know? That when we recognize our weakness and we're faltering and failing and struggling and we admit we can't make it, God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. So he acknowledges his weakness, but looks to God as his strength. And that's a theme repeated over and over throughout the scripture. We look at Psalm 62 verse 5.

My soul, wait thou only upon God, for my expectation is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation. When you read the words that my heart faileth, and then you turn to read these words, he only is my rock, what a contrast. We are weak and we falter and we fail, but he is the rock of my salvation.

He is my defense. I shall not be moved. In God is my salvation and my glory. The rock of my strength and my refuge is in God. Trust in him at all times ye people, pour out your heart before him.

God is a refuge for us, Selah. Trust in him at all times. Not just the times when you feel uplifted and you look on the beauty of nature and seeing it, the handiwork of God and rejoice in his power and his glory and his greatness, but trust in him in all times.

When you're walking through the deep valley, when the night is dark, the burden is heavy. You trust in him at all times and you pour out your heart before him. Sometimes you may think, I just wish there was someone that would really understand me. I can just sit down and pour out my heart, tell it like it is.

And that's not apt to happen because we're all reserved, we're all reluctant to really tell anybody all of the deepest burdens of our heart. But here's one where you can pour out your heart and he knows all about you already. He knows your weakness, he knows your failings, he knows your sins, he knows your shortcomings, but you can pour out your heart before him and know God is a refuge for us. And further, it said that God would be his guide, be his guide. He's going to guide even unto death. He recognizes need of a guide because he now acknowledges that his thinking had been foolish.

He was envious of the wicked and that was foolishness. So he needed a guide, someone to guide him in the right path. You know, many young people go through a stage where they feel like they don't need a guide. They've reached that happy point in life where they can make better decisions than their parents could. They know what they ought to be able to do and they ought to be able to set the rules. And there have been a few times along the way I've had occasion to talk to a young person who obviously was getting ready to head down the wrong path and admonished them not to go that route. But they went anyway.

They didn't feel like they needed a guide. They said to me, no, you don't understand. I'm going to be able to do this, that, and the other. I'm going to make this thing work.

It's going to be fine. How sad to see the disaster that sometimes came as a result of making that kind of a choice. I don't need a guide. Sometimes pride keeps one from relying on a guide.

I guess in this day of having all these little gadgets that will direct you about where to go, this is kind of a thing of the past, but it used to be men were basically known for wanting to feel like when they're driving the car they know where they're going and they don't need any guidance, they don't need any help. Just give me enough time and I'll get you there. Well, sometimes that worked and sometimes it didn't. I remember years ago I was preaching at a church down in the mountains of North Carolina and I stopped in the little fast food restaurant there to get a bite to eat and it was full of people come to find out they were all radio listeners on the way to that meeting to hear me preach that night. So somebody said, well, preacher, do you know where the church is? I said, oh, yeah, I've been there several times. Well, just follow me.

I'll take you there. So I've got about a dozen cars following me. We're going down the road and all of a sudden I got this uneasy feeling.

It wasn't looking as familiar to me as it ought to. And we ultimately came to the foot of a big mountain and that was the end of the road and there wasn't any church there. So some helpful soul got out of his car and said, preacher, I'm glad we're not depending on you to get us to heaven. You can't even get us to the church.

And I had to admit my failure. Well, sometimes you can think you know where you're going when you don't. But thankfully somebody in the group finally helped us get turned around and got to a meeting that night. But all of us need a guide. We need the guidance of God's Word.

We need the guidance of His Holy Spirit. Sometimes though it's pride that keeps a person from seeking the help of a guide. I know what I'm doing. I know where I'm going.

And it can lead to trouble. But when you acknowledge God as being your guide, you know in advance you've got the right guide because He is faithful. He's not going to guide you for a while and then desert you. He's going to guide you clear unto death it says.

And He's always right. Psalm 48 verse 14, For this God is our God for ever and ever He will guide even unto death. If you're following His guidance, you're blessed.

You're on the right road. And then the 24th verse of this 73rd Psalm, Thou shalt guide me with Thy counsel and afterward receive me to glory. So the question may come to mind, well, how does God guide us? There are people that claim God guides them because He speaks to them audibly. And He's revealed to them things that are not made known to anybody else. Often what they claim has been revealed contradicts the Word of God.

The scriptures are closed. They are complete and He's not giving further revelation as far as divine truth. But how does He guide us? Well, He guides us through His Word. Psalm 119 verse 33, Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes and I shall keep it unto the end. Give me understanding and I shall keep Thy law.

Yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of Thy commandments for therein do I delight. Lord, I need guidance and I know I need it from Your Word. Teach me, Lord, the way of Thy statutes, not teach me something in addition to it, contrary to it, but teach me Thy statutes. And then we come to the New Testament and read in 2 Timothy 3, 16, All scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable, is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works. So you need guidance, you go to His Word. There we find it's profitable, profitable for doctrine, the basic fundamental truths that you're going to believe.

It's profitable for reproof, to reprove us when we're on the wrong track, when we're thinking wrong, when our attitude is wrong, for correction tells us how to get back on the right path, for instruction in righteousness. And then not only are we guided by the Word, but by the Holy Spirit. Jesus said in John 16, 7, Nevertheless, I tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go away. For if I go not away, the Comforter will not come.

The Comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you. Verse 13, Howbeit when he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will what? Guide you into all truth. For he shall not speak of himself, but whatsoever he shall hear, he shall, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come.

He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and shall show it unto me. And so we need guidance. We need guidance that God can give us and will give us. We need it from his Word. We need the blessing of the Holy Spirit as we read the Word to understand it and to be able to make the application of it in our life. And then, as we come to the end of the Psalm, we see his activity. Verse 28, But it is good for me to draw near to God. Good for me to draw near to God. Oh, so many references in Scripture to the importance and the benefit of drawing near to God. We looked recently at the 27th Psalm, where in verse 8, God said us, Seek ye my face, my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will I seek.

I hope referring back to a message like that stirs your mind again to remember the importance of giving the kind of response the psalmist did, Thy face, Lord, will I seek. And then you come to the New Testament, James 4, verse 8, Draw nigh unto God, and he will draw nigh unto you. Well, how do we draw near? Through his Word.

We learn more about him. The more we learn about God, the more we learn about his truth, the closer we're going to be to him. And we draw near through prayer. Prayer is such a vital part of the Christian life. We can't have a close walk with God if we neglect prayer. We need so much to commune with him sometime when I start my day and I'm struggling. Do I need to pray first or read the Bible first? And both of them are vital. And so we need to be very much involved in prayer. Pray without ceasing.

And the Lord gives us some unique lessons about prayer, conveying some concepts that we wouldn't get otherwise were not the way he illustrated it. There was a man who went to his neighbor at midnight, knocked on the door and said, Friend, lend me three loaves. The man inside said, no way I can do that. We've already gone to bed.

The kids are in bed. We've already settled down. The door is shut.

Can't do it. Back in those days, many times it was a small house, one room house, and they all slept in the same room. And when the kids are all settled down for the night, they don't want to have to start over again, get them up. So the kids are all in bed. I'm in bed too late.

Can't do anything about it. The man says, I'm sorry. I can't leave.

I had a traveler come in and back in those days, as it was expected, if you had a traveler come, you were going to care for him. And said, I need to give him something to eat and I don't have anything. And I'm asking for three loaves. The man from the inside of the house, can't do it.

Can't do it. Well, Luke 11 8 says, I say unto you that though he will not rise and give him because he is his friend, yet because of his importunity he will rise and give him as many as he needeth. It wasn't just because he was his neighbor and his friend, but the guy wasn't going to leave. I've come for three loaves and I've got to have it. So, because he wouldn't give up because of his importunity, he says he'll get up and give him as many as he needs. And I say unto you, here's the lesson to be drawn. Ask and it shall be given you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it shall be open unto you. For everyone that asketh receiveth and he that seeketh findeth.

And to him that knocketh it shall be opened. Have you sometimes felt a little guilty when you keep going back to the Lord, asking him for the same thing repeatedly? Sometimes the words come to my mind. You're not heard for your much speaking.

But that's another story. That's just somebody going through the repetition of a lot of words, thinking they're gaining some favor with God through that exercise. When I have a little doubt in that area, I remember it says, Pray without ceasing. And I remember that lesson in the 18th chapter of the Gospel of Luke, where it talked about that widow that went before the unjust judge, another case that he granted a request, not because he cared for the woman or her situation, but because of her importunity, because she wouldn't give up. And so Jesus says, that's why this man was going to get what he came for, because he wouldn't give up.

We are not to give up in our prayer life. So then Jesus makes this observation. It says, If a son shall ask bread of any of you that is a father, will he give him a stone? Or if he ask a fish, will he give him a serpent?

Or if he ask an egg, will he offer him a scorpion? If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him? I might say that's a bit of a strange way to end that, that he will give him the Holy Spirit. Well, let's say that you're praying for joy, because the Lord says we're to rejoice always in the Lord. Well, Jesus says, you'll be given the Holy Spirit, because joy is the fruit of the Spirit. You want peace, you want hope, he's going to give you the Holy Spirit, as he is the source of these things that you seek and desire.

So, as much as a father is not going to give something harmful, detrimental to his son, he's going to give that which is good. Your Heavenly Father is going to grant what is for your good. And obviously, we have to take into account all the things that Jesus taught about prayer, that when we come to pray, we begin our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. We want God's name to be sanctified, hallowed, praise, throughout the earth, throughout the land, in our church, in our own life, individually.

And we're praying, thy will be done. But at the same time, we are to be persistent in prayer, continuing to not, to seek and to ask. How else do we seek God?

Through giving thanks. Psalm 92, 1, It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High. It's a good thing to give thanks to the Lord. Obviously, when Asaph was in this troubled state of mind, he wasn't giving thanks.

He was perplexed about what he saw others enjoying that he didn't have. But when he got his perspective correct, he began to the sanctuary of the Lord and began to think like he needed to think, he had a different outlook. He was looking to the Lord as being his guide, even unto death. It is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord and to sing praises unto thy name, O Most High. And then the last expression of this psalm, verse 28, It is good for me to draw near to God. I've put my trust in the Lord God that I may declare all thy works. That's another good way of drawing near to God. I draw near to him, I put my trust in him, and I'm doing it that I may declare his works. If you're declaring the works of God, you are close to him. You're serving him, you're enjoying him, you're praising him.

And may that be the case with us all. To say it is good to draw near to God that we can say I've put my trust in the Lord God and that I may declare his works and that he will be my guide all through life unto death and finally to guide me safe home at last to be with him. And I won't let me walk close to thee through this world of toil and snares if I call to the Lord to give. Surely it should always be our desire and prayer that we can have a closer walk with the Lord. Only when we're walking closely with him can we find the wisdom, grace, strength, mercy that we need on a daily basis. Surely we can relate to the things that the psalmist has described in this wonderful portion of scripture and may we apply it in our lives. Till next week, at the same time, may the Lord richly bless you all. Ohio 45217 Be here, Lord, let it be.