Complexity II - Part 2 of 2

Oh, 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 L'say Bradley Jr. welcoming you to another broadcast of the Baptist Bible Hour. In the dark of the midnight, have I wronged in my face, While the storm mounts above me, and there's no hiding place. In the crest of the thunder, precious Lord, hear my cry, Keep me safe till the storm passes by. Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds more, Till the clouds roll forever from the sky. Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of my hand, Keep me safe till the storm passes by.

Many times, safe and whispered, there is no need to try, For there's love in the sorrow, there's no hope by and by. But I know thou art with me, and to long grow upright, Where the storm's never gone, and the sky. Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds more, Till the clouds roll forever from the sky. Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of my hand, Keep me safe till the storm passes by. When the long night has ended, and the storms come the more, Let me stand in thy presence, on that bright beach most shore, In that land where the tempest never comes, Lord, may I dwell with thee when the storm passes by. Till the storm passes over, till the thunder sounds more, Till the clouds roll forever from the sky. Hold me fast, let me stand in the hollow of my hand, Keep me safe till the storm passes by. Well, for me, it's hard to believe that it's September 1st already. I don't know, it just seems that time flies by.

And I particularly enjoy the warm days of summer. And while there's some beauty when the fall comes along, it's just difficult to see how time flies, and how God's mercy is so great to sustain us through all the trials of life. I hope the message will be a blessing to you today.

If it is, let us hear from you. Our address is Baptist Bible Hour, Box 17037, Cincinnati, Ohio 45217. Then verse 165, Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. God gives peace to His people. He gives a peace that passes understanding. He gives a peace that nothing else, no one else can possibly provide. He can give us such a peace that although the storms are raging around us, there can be peace in our hearts because He has spoken that word of peace to us.

How thankful we can be for it. Psalm 29 verse 11 says, The Lord will give strength unto His people, the Lord will bless His people with peace. Jesus said in John 16 33, that in me ye shall have peace. Confirming that in the world there would be tribulation, but in me ye shall have peace. And those that have this peace, He says, nothing shall offend them. If you have peace with God, then you're not going to stumble.

You're not going to be offended. You're not going to turn away because of opposition and persecution, which the psalmist has already described, or turn away from the basic teachings of His word. Let's look at an example, Matthew chapter 11. These are the words of Jesus. Matthew 11 verse 25, At this time Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes, even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Now here Jesus makes a bold statement concerning the sovereignty of His Father.

I thank thee, Lord of heaven and earth. Here He acknowledges the sovereign rule of the Father above. I thank thee, He's not questioning it, He's not complaining about it, but I thank thee that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent.

Now from the human vantage point, somebody might say, that doesn't seem right. Why would God hide something from anybody? Well, He doesn't have to give all of His reasons. He just said it's a fact that there are some things that are hidden from the wise and prudent, those who consider themselves to be wise, those who are depending upon human ingenuity and their own wisdom, and at the same time He has revealed it unto babes, unto those who are weak and small and insignificant, and He says it seemed good in thy sight. Now there's a declaration delivered by Jesus Christ Himself concerning the sovereignty of God. If you have peace with God, if you're trusting Him, if you're relying on His word, you're not going to be offended by that. You're not going to say, that's too difficult for me.

Let's look at another example of this to see that such an application is in order. In the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John, in the 58th verse, John 6.58, Jesus says, this is that bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead, but he that eateth of this bread shall live forever. Now Jesus is our bread of life and He is speaking in this manner here. In fact, in the preceding verse He says, as the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father, so he that eateth me, even he shall live by me.

That obviously was strange language to these people. But He's talking about partaking of him as the bread of life and the one that eats of this bread shall live forever. Now in verse 60, many therefore of his disciples, when they had heard this, said, this is a hard saying, who can hear it? Many that were following him around, large crowds that would come out to hear him speak, when he makes this kind of a statement indicating that he's the bread from heaven and you partake of this bread and you live forever, that they got the point. Jesus was saying, I'm God. And they had difficulty with this declaration. Verse 61, when Jesus knew in himself that his disciples murmured at it, he said unto them, doth this offend you?

Now what does our text say? Those that have this peace that is of God are not offended. He says, does this offend you, that which I have spoken? Verse 66, from that time many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. There were those that have been going along, observing the miracles, listening to his teaching. But when it gets down to this point, which makes it clear that he is claiming that he is God, he is the bread of life, and that it is as you partake of him that you have everlasting life, they're offended.

They turn back and walk no more with him. But when you have the peace of God in your heart, in spite of the fact that there may be some things that are difficult to understand, some things you have to admit that you do not fully grasp and understand, you're not offended by the message. You're not offended with the truth of God. You're not offended by the message of the cross.

You embrace it. And then there's another way in which there are some which are offended. Jesus mentions that in the 13th chapter of the book of Matthew. Verse 21, in the parable of the sower, he says, yet have he not root in himself, but doerth for a while, for when tribulation or persecution ariseth, because of the word, by and by he is offended. Where the seed has not taken root. Here's a person then that doesn't give indication that this is really a part of them.

This is really their genuine experience. By and by this individual, when persecution comes, he says, I've had it. You know, it was nice when everything was going along smoothly.

I enjoyed being there with people and singing songs and interacting and having fellowship, but persecution, that's another story. I can't take that. Somebody talked mean to me. Somebody didn't want to have anything else to do with me.

Somebody told me I was stupid because of what I believed. I can't stand up against that. And of course, that's mild compared to what it can become when you're imprisoned or threatened. And so Jesus said though, these are offended, but those that have this peace of God, according to the psalmist, are not offended. I will not be offended.

Nothing offends them. Verse 166, Lord, I have hoped for thy salvation and done thy commandments. Hope is expectation. A lot of people have difficulty really getting into the Bible meaning of hope, but they're used to using that phrase rather loosely and saying, well, I hope so and so will happen. And they're really not expecting it to.

It's kind of a wild dream. You know, it's like the student that doesn't get ready for the test, so I sure hope I get a good grade. It's not because they're expecting it.

They just hope lightning will strike and there'll be some kind of a miracle and they'll get a good grade anyway. But the hope that David is talking about is expectation. That's depicted so well in Psalm 81 verse 10 when he says, open thy mouth wide and I will fill it. You don't need to open your mouth if you don't think it's going to be something put in, you know, as we've so often compared this to the picture of a little group of birds in the bird's nest and their little mouths are wide open while the mother bird's gone to get the worm of the morning and they're they're expecting something.

Their mouth is open. The Lord says, open thy mouth wide and that indicates not only hope but faith. I'm expecting something and I've got faith that God is going to do something beyond even maybe what I have been able to think about.

Call unto me and I will answer thee and show thee great and mighty things which thou knowest not. It's easy if you've had some setbacks, some discouragements, some personal failures or others have disappointed you and failed you. It's easy to get to the point that you're just really not expecting much.

Just don't anticipate that things are going to get any better. There's going to be any time of special blessing and uplift but God would have his people to have the right kind of hope. Lord, I have hope for thy salvation. There are many kinds of deliverances and I'm looking to the Lord.

He's my salvation. He's my deliverer and I'm expecting something. I'm expecting him to do something.

It may not be exactly what I have wanted and desired. I've got to be submissive to his will but whether it's going to be that God's going to change the situation out here that I've been praying about or whether he's going to change me so I know better how to deal with it. I've still got bright expectations because my trust is in him. Romans chapter 15 verse 13, Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace and believing that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost.

That's wonderful. That's something we must never lose sight of. God is the God of hope, not the God of despair. There's no reason for God's people to become hopeless, ready to give up, say there's no use. No, God is the God of hope. So I can't see how I'm going to get through this ordeal.

You don't have to see the way through it. You don't have to see the end of the journey as far as this particular trial is concerned but you trust the living God who is the source of your hope, of your help. God is the God of hope. And according to what the psalmist is telling us, that hope is going to be bright when we're doing his commandments. Lord, I have hope for thy salvation and done thy commandments. See, it certainly doesn't stack up when you say, well, I'm hoping that God's going to intervene and I'm hoping that God's going to do this and he's going to do that and yet you're ignoring his word. He's giving you some explicit instruction.

He tells you what you ought to be doing and you're not doing it. I say, I just hope that God's going to intervene anyway. Back to that fourth chapter of the book of Philippians, we saw the admonition to rejoice, the admonition not to worry, and then the instruction about how we pray. We make our request on what we do with thanksgiving and then we come down to the eighth verse and see Paul's think list telling us what we ought to think about. Not our miseries, not our troubles, but whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are good, what of good report, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise, think on these things.

Those things which you have both learned and received and heard and seen in me do and the God of peace shall be with you. Do it. Simply means to practice it. Keep doing it. People sometimes make excuses, well I tried that one time and it didn't work. No, this is to become a practice, this is to become a way of life.

I'm doing it. That seems to be so difficult for us in our fallen human nature to get these two principles together. Somebody says, well I'm hoping I'm trusting God, and you should be, but are you doing the things God said do? You know it'd be like the man described in the book of Proverbs who was the owner of a field. The field had a wall around it. Somebody at some time marked out that field and said this is a place where special attention is going to be given to the raising of a crop.

They put up the wall to keep animals out and to identify this place where some crops are going to be raised, but time passed by and this man who now has the care of the field is sitting on his porch with his hands folded and the field is grown over with briars and the wall is tumbled down and he says a little sleep a little slumber and so shall thy poverty come. So a person might be saying, I pray that God's going to supply my needs, but what are you doing about getting out in the field and laboring? God will bless you and give you the strength to work, but you got to work and that's just one of many examples that could be given. A person might say, well I'm just praying that God's going to bless me to grow. I want to grow spiritually. I want to grow in grace.

What are you doing about it? What are you feeding on? In order to grow you got to eat.

Eat what? Spiritual food after being in the word of God. And so this hope is definitely connected to obedience, to doing the things God has business to do, to obeying him, to respecting his word.

In the book of 1 Corinthians chapter 15 verse 58 Paul says, therefore my beloved brethren be ye steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord for as much as you know that your labor is not in vain in the Lord. See even the service that you render in God's kingdom can sometimes seem to be very unfruitful. Say, well I've tried to encourage this person. I've tried to admonish this individual.

I've tried to give some instruction to my own children. I've tried to pray for this one and it seemed like just nothing has been accomplished. He says your labor is not in vain in the Lord. That makes it crystal clear that when it comes to serving God there is no place to quit.

I don't care how discouraged a person might become, how it appears to you that nothing is going right, that none of your labors have been worthwhile. He says your labor is not in vain in the Lord. The Lord may be doing a lot more with your little feeble effort than you've been able to see. Your example, your testimony, your prayers. God may be using them but if He lets you see all the ways in which He was using it you might be elevated in pride.

So He says I'll just hold some of it back and not let you see it. And it's a test of your faith. Will you still continue to do what's right and trust God even when you don't see the immediate result that you desire? So hope is bright when we're doing His commandments. If we're not doing His commandments, if we're not trying to obey Him, if we pitch Him the tile, no wonder our hope grows dim. You know there's no promise in the scripture that you're going to be comforted and encouraged when you're not doing the right thing. I can't think of a text in the Bible that's designed to encourage the disobedient.

You're encouraged when you're doing what God has commanded. In the book of 1st John chapter 3 and the third verse, after talking about this blessed hope of our Savior's return, that when He shall appear we shall be like Him, the practical application of that is the third verse, and every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself even as he is pure. If you have this expectation, you are expecting one day to see Jesus Christ, to be with Him, to be like Him, to live with Him forever, the person that has that expectation, that hope is going to make a difference in how they live. Because the attitude is going to be, I want to honor Him in every detail of my life. I want to seek His will.

I want to know what He's revealed in His Word. I want to do what's right before my God. Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself. The last verses of this section of this Psalm put emphasis upon this doing of His commandments. Verse 167, my soul hath kept thy testimonies and I love them exceedingly. I have kept thy precepts and thy testimonies for all my ways are before thee.

Think about that. All my ways are before thee. How often do you give thought to that? So many times when a person has grown careless in their conduct or they are in a state of downright rebellion, I'm just, I'm going to do my own thing. I'm going to do what I want to do and it doesn't matter what anybody says about it.

They're not giving thought to this text. All my ways are before thee. God observes every detail of our life. We might hide some of our actions from others, we don't hide them from the Lord. We might keep some of our improper attitudes, we think, shoved down deep inside, but God knows all about them.

And so in this section of Psalm 119 we've seen a reference to trials, but the commitment of the psalmist is that no matter what the trial may be, even to the point of princes, prominent powerful people persecuting me, yet I stand in awe of thy word, I will continue to do what is right no matter what the opposition may be. And then joy. I rejoice in thy word even as one that has discovered great spoil. I'm taking delight and pleasure in it. Hate. I'm going to hate and abhor lying. God hates lying and so I need to hate it, whether it is my own lie or that told by someone else or whether it's false teaching in opposition to the word of God.

When it is a lie I need not to tolerate it, but to hate it. And then there's praise. Seven times a day do I praise thee because of thy righteous judgments. There is peace. God gives great peace to those that love his law and nothing shall offend them or cause them to stumble. And there is hope. I have hoped in thy salvation and done thy commandments. Not hoped in thy salvation and ignored the commandments. Say, I think as long as I'm looking to God everything's going to be all right anyway.

No, I'm hoping in him but I'm observing his commandments. So much practical instruction in this remarkable portion of scripture. Pray that God will help us to apply it in our lives on a daily basis. Well, thank you for listening today. If you'd like to help keep the program on the air, you can make a donation at our website at BaptistBibleHour.org. Till we greet you at the same time tomorrow, this is LeSara Bradley Jr. beating you goodbye and may God bless you. It is my story. This is my song. Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story.

This is my song. Praising my Savior. Praising my Savior. Praising my Savior all the day long.