Your Afflictions Should Lead To Worship

Good morning. I am not Pastor Tim. I got a sweet text from him at 5 a.m. this morning. I was sleeping and I heard my phone go off. In the back of my mind I thought, that could be Tim saying he's sick and he wants me to preach, but I quickly dispelled that thought and went back to sleep. I got up around 520-ish, and lo and behold, that's exactly what it was.

It was Thursday, the day before Christmas Eve, and he had called me and said, Josh Haas, I can't say his name right, House Haas, Haas. And he said that he had contracted COVID, and he needed someone to preach in a couple days. So that put me on red alert for the next couple of days because I have a hard time grabbing a sermon from months or years ago and using that.

I can't do that. And so I had to quickly make one, a sermon up on the fly. And then, of course, he did it to me again this morning. I think it might be an initiation. Right. You know, I think he might be messing with me right now.

I'm not sure if he's actually sick. So but he said it wasn't anything too serious. He doesn't think. But he wasn't sure how contagious he was. So there's a lot of sickness going on right now in the church. So we ought to be praying for that to that end, that God be kind to us and give us good health.

But please open your Bibles to Psalm 119, please. Psalm 119. 60, verse 65. Psalm 119, verse 65. You have dealt well with your servants, O Lord, according to your word. Teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.

Before I was afflicted, I went astray, but now I keep your word. You are good, and you do good. Teach me your statutes. See, the insolent, they smear me with lies, but with my whole heart I keep your precepts. Their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. So it is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes. the law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

O Lord in heaven, praise be to your great name for you are eternally good to us that you would write the law on our hearts through Jesus Christ and his work on the cross and the application in the Holy Spirit that the new covenant promises would come upon this, your people that we would be like the psalmist here in which we could say that the law is truly our delight because we are found in Christ. Christ is our law. So that we can truly say that whatever causes me to see the law, understand the law, see Christ better, it is truly good for me.

I praise you for that this morning. And I just ask, Lord, that I might just have a few simple words to expound on that. That I would keep it simple and to the point. And that you would use it to bring about conviction of sin and a clearer view of Jesus Christ, which indeed, as it was already said, is our worship, to repent and to look upon him. So I pray that we would worship this morning, true worship, genuine, full of life.

We know that we need the Spirit to that end. So we praise you this morning for him. In Jesus' name, amen. So in these moments in which I need to make a sermon on the fly, Usually I rely upon, in family worship, what we have recently really discussed and talked about, in which it was very edifying to us, and I'll just kind of capture that and just try to proclaim it behind the pulpit.

And recently in family worship, we have little Silas read a portion of the Psalms, and he read this set of verses right here, and we spent a lot of time on this. In fact, usually we'll go on and read something else and teach it a little bit, but we just spent the time of family worship just on these verses as we kind of discussed it, and it created a very good conversation. And really, my heart, and I think my family's heart, we really rested, we looked at verse 71, in which the psalmist says something, I think, just take a moment and just think about how awesome it is that he could say this, and he's not joking.

When he says in verse 71, it is good for me that I was afflicted. Think about how amazing that is. It's one thing to say, I tolerated being afflicted, or I wasn't too upset when I got afflicted. But he says the exact opposite, in which he says, it was good for me that I was afflicted. What kind of truth are we dealing with here, where it says that it was good for me that I would be afflicted?

What kind of meaty, wonderful, whatever you want to say about it, awesome truth that we have in Scripture, that we can say in truth and seriousness, it was good for me that I was afflicted. One thing that in family worship, there's a few main goals that I have going on in my head. And the first one is just to worship God. Our God is worthy of worship all the time.

Amen. That's the first time I ever said amen like that in cause, but I did it anyways. He is. But there's other things too. There's other things too. One of them is that I want my wife and I to be on the same page in which we're going to go into this day with a heart full of gratitude and worship for what God has for us here.

Whatever that may be, we're going to use this for his honor and glory. There's another thing I want to do in family worship, and that's centered on my children, is that they are going to be told lies over and over and over again No matter how much I might try to shelter them they are going to be told lies by the world and they flesh within themselves And this lie of the world is going to try to say something like this that sin and everything else is better for you than what God has to offer It's the lie of Satan from the very beginning in the garden. It's a lie over and over again.

And so my desire in family worship is to tell them the truth, the full truth, and really get it in there, a whole worldview system of Christianity brought forth into their hearts. I want to do that. I want to bring that into their hearts. And so one way in which we looked at here is that the pagan worldview cannot sustain such a statement like verse 71.

It is good for me. That was afflicted. The Christian worldview can say that and mean it because of what it means. And we'll get to that in a second. The pagan cannot say that because their worldview is bankrupt and broken. You see, the world system, the worldview, our flesh that works in it with Satan, is that whatever feels good to me is good for me.

If it feels good to my senses, it's good for me. If I feel good, this is good for me. It is a worldview driven by self-authority. That whatever I deem to be good is good for me. And that is circumstantial, whatever feels good. The Christian worldview puts that on its face.

In the Christian worldview, it has roots. And like I said before, it has meat to the bones. Much more beautiful than that. So what do we mean here? As we contrast these two things, what do we mean here by it was good for me? Well, look at verse 65.

He uses a similar word. In fact, I think it's pretty much the same Hebrew word in which he says, you have dealt good or well with your servant. What does that mean? What does it mean to be dealt well with or good with? What is good? What is the definition of it?

See, the world relies upon their own self, their own definition, their own law to tell them what is good. So that's why they very much rely upon their passions, their desires, and everything else. But the Christian has something much different, much better. You see, whenever we read, I want to spend a moment just looking at that word good and defining it.

What does that mean so that we can know? What does it mean that it is good for me? This is good for me. Well, why don't we look at Matthew 7. Go to Matthew 7. somewhere on the mount Matthew 7 verse 7 Jesus says ask and it will be given to you seek and you will find knock and it will be open to you for everyone who asks receives and the one who seeks finds and to the one who knocks it will be open or which one of you if his son asked for him for bread will he give him a stone or if he asked for a fish will give him a serpent if you then who are evil know how to give good gifts to your children how much more will your father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask him there's a promise that if we simply ask god will give us good but then we have this weird paradoxical statement from james in which James, what does he say in James chapter 4?

James almost seems to say the opposite. James 4 verse 1, what causes quarrels or fights? What causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions, your desires within your heart, right, your natural Adam-given passions, Is it not this, that your desires within you are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel.

You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive because you ask wrongly to spend it on your passions. You can see Jesus is saying, if you ask, you will receive. James says, you ask and you haven't received because what you're asking for, you want to spend it not for what Jesus' kingdom is, but you want to spend it on your own passions, your own desires. so we can see that good is not defined but is what's within us.

It's defined by something different. It's defined by God himself. And which I think is very interesting. We just read Matthew in which he says, if you ask, you'll receive. But you know what Luke says at the end when Matthew says, just listen to me, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give you good things to those who ask him? You know what Luke says?

Instead of saying good, you know what Luke says? The Holy Spirit. Luke says, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give you the Holy Spirit to those who ask him? And so the assumption here is that you will ask, and as a Christian you will ask for what is truly good. And what is truly good is receiving the Holy Spirit or the promises of the new covenant.

Now if we go back to Psalm 119, 65. So we can better define this. You have dealt well or good with your servant. and that's defined by God not by us if we defined it in Adam being dealt good with is having good circumstances whatever feeds our flesh and desires and our sin within us that's naturally in there but as defined by God good is what God has for us and that's what he goes on to say doesn't he oh Lord according to your word this 68 verse 68 you are good and do good teach me your statutes This is a God who is good and he does good.

And we say he defines what good is. And that is according to your word. It's not according to our law. It's not according to what we say is good. It's not according to our desires and our fleshly appetites. It is according to God as our standard.

He is the definition of what is good. He is good and he does good to his people. And it's according to his word. So how can he know that God has dealt well with him? It's not because everything is going peachy clean in my life, but because he has dealt well with me according to his word What has this word done What is this word What this all about What is this What is this talking about What are we doing with the Bible What is the word saying Well, the word is all about the promises God has for his people, that he will dwell with us and he will be our God.

And this is all possible because of what Jesus Christ has came down and done for his people. Remember Hebrews 8, quoting the prophet Jeremiah. What is this great promise of God to his people in the word? Is that I will be their God and they will be my people and I'll write their law, my law on their hearts. You know, God has always wanted people who followed his law.

He always wanted people who were righteous. And he says, this is my promise. This is my promise in my word. This is all coming ahead in Jesus Christ. That I will write my law on their hearts through the work of Jesus Christ applying his spirit to us. This is the promise of scripture.

This is him treating us well according to his word. Is that he would give us the promise of his son. That he would write the law on our hearts through the son. That the law becomes Christ. Christ becomes the law within us that we can keep. We can be righteous because of what Jesus Christ has done.

So we can see when we see here in Psalm 119. when he says, you have dealt well with your servant, O Lord, according to your word, that is defined by God, and that is the good things that we have in Jesus Christ as it comes crashing down on our hearts. This is a much different understanding than what the world defines as good and what the world wants. They want, in our weak moments, we want our natural desires, our sinful desires, satisfied.

If they are, then we're happy. If they're not, then we're unhappy. But here, the psalmist tells us what the truth is. It's that we can say that you've dealt well with us by defined by God. As defined by God. And so, naturally, what will we say?

What does he go on, the psalmist goes on to say in verse 66, Teach me good judgment. If we're basing it off of our own law, we don't need to be taught anything. Whatever feels right to me, I don't need to be taught that. but since this is as defined by God and it's the good promises found in his word what do we need? what do we cry out? what do we want? we want to be taught his word we want to hear his word we want to learn it we want to know it from the heart we want it to be placed within our hearts in which we learn it apply it and do it and so this is the natural flow of things that you have dealt well with me according to word and so now I don't want to know my own law my own word but I want to know yours so teach me good judgment and knowledge, for I believe in your commandments.

Now, the Bible is not, God, I should say, is not satisfied with us having head knowledge, is he? Of course, we need head knowledge. We need to know things. We want to understand. It's certainly there, and we should value that heavily. But the Bible's not satisfied with just simple head knowledge.

We are to know intimately the word, aren't we? It is to be something that's intimately practical. That's one thing that's great about ACBC counseling and training is that it's all about how do we apply the text intimately to our lives, to where we're not just those kind of Christians where it's nice on paper, but we're definitely not going to do that in our works.

No, no, no. God's not interested in that kind of fake Christianity. He's interested in a very deeply, intimately knowing God's word to where it shows itself in application. And so it's not just about knowledge, head knowledge, but it's also about deeply applicable knowledge or going deeper than that. And so typically that's seen or it is seen through experience.

And God likes to work in ways that kind of makes us scratch our head. What's the experience that we get to value, that we get to know more intimately his word? Affliction. It's affliction. God likes to work in ways that surprises us. And most people, they want to learn things, they want to know things through good experience.

The world wants good experience. They don't want bad experience. But God says, I'll flip that on their head, and I will help you, I'll make you know the word of God better by affliction, by hardships. This is the way God works in his kingdom. And so how can we as Christians look at affliction in any other way, like the world? How can we as Christians bemoan and whine, complain? have you looked at your past afflictions as he says in verse 67 let me read it first before I was afflicted I went astray but now that I have been afflicted I keep your word you see the psalmist what he's saying there is that the affliction was good for me because it taught me to keep your word intimately I was more intimate with your word because of this affliction and now I keep it whereas before I wasn't keeping it so that wasn't good for me so what does he value more Good circumstances, desires of the heart, fleshly desires?

No, he desires more to keep God's law. The new covenant promise is coming down on him. He wants to keep the law from the heart. So he's saying, that affliction, since keeping of your law, being righteous, is more important to me than good circumstances, I'm glad that I was afflicted. Because it brought me to know your law more in doing it. You see, if affliction makes you act more like Christ, then praise be to God for giving you that affliction.

Period. It makes me wonder about myself. Have I looked at my previous afflictions in my life in that way? This was God's grace to me so that I would learn Jesus more. Have I looked at prior afflictions that way? And have you looked at prior afflictions that you're thinking of right now in your head? that way that that God gave you that so that you would know Jesus more did you look at your afflictions that way because chances are if you are not doing that if you have not looked at prior afflictions that way then those prior afflictions are affecting you badly today in some way or the other that you probably aren even aware of if you not handling bad or previous afflictions in a way that that was what God has given me so I would know Jesus more then that is affecting you right now in your relationships and everything else.

I guarantee you that. You must look at those afflictions not with a bitter heart. Woe is me. Although I understand that we're wronged, right? I get that. But we must look at that as that is what God has given me so I can know Jesus more and that will truly change your life today.

Beloved, are you going through an affliction right now, in this moment? What is that? Are we looking at it that way? That is good for me. This is what God has given me. Or do we say, God is completely sovereign, but not over this part.

As Calvinists here, we've got to say God is completely sovereign. And he's sovereign over your affliction today, right now, this moment. do you look at it this way about your future afflictions how much time do I spend worrying and worry and worry and worry what am I worried about if I go through an affliction God has given me that affliction so I can know Jesus better what do I have to worry now the Bible's only talking about little afflictions not the big ones no every single one of them no matter how bad the bigger the affliction, the more God wants you to see Jesus. That's not quite the best statement to make in the world.

This is what happens when I don't have notes in front of me, by the way. I start saying something, I got to be careful, got to bring it back. God wants you to see Jesus and know him better. He wants the law written on your heart, and he wants you to experience it more and more, and he does it through affliction. So beloved, if you're worried about future afflictions, why don't you look at that affliction as a way to know Jesus more?

And if that is truly, as a new covenant has done to change your heart, your greatest desire, more than good circumstances as the world wants, then shouldn't we cry out, let it be? Let it be. Before I was afflicted, the psalmist says, I went astray. I went away from God's law to my own law, to my own selfish law. Let that, as a Christian, let that be the most, the worst situation that you can imagine, that you are living in a way that's disobedient to your wonderful, gracious God, who has done everything for you in Jesus Christ.

The thought of going astray makes you want to melt in the earth. So that's why the psalmist can say, before I was afflicted, I went astray, but with the affliction, I keep your word. And that's a much better reality, affliction and all. This is why you can say in verse 68, you are good, and you do good. God is good. His law is good.

His ways are not our ways. They're better than our ways. So if God has placed me in it, it is for his glory and my good. That's why Paul, Romans 8, we quote it all the time. What is Paul's definition of good? It's a whole working of salvation from before time began to the end, right?

This is Paul's understanding of good. And so what is our definition of good? It's salvation coming to bear upon my soul. That is the proper definition of being treated good. The insolent, in verse 69. The insolent.

Insolent is like the prideful, right? Those who are prideful. And I can attach this, you know, what it means to be prideful is that you don't humble yourself to God and his authority. You are your own authority. God's perfect word is something that offends you. And so you create your own word instead that you are your own authority.

This is insolent. This is pride, right? This is you being proud. This is me being proud when we act this way. And so this is the person who has not bowed to the authority of God, but rather has created his own law, his own standard of what's good. And so he says the insolent smear me with lies according to their own law.

But with my whole heart, I keep your precepts. Look at that great contrast there. Their heart is unfeeling like fat, but I delight in your law. You see that? They are the ones who have not received the new covenant promises of a renewed heart. Their heart is like fat.

No flesh at all, so to speak, in that. It's all fatty. But, he says, I delight in your law. My heart has been transformed by these new covenant promises. Jesus Christ has become my delight. And so that's why he can say in verse 71, It is good for me that I was afflicted, that I might learn your statutes.

And this is really the whole life that we have as a Christian, is that Jesus Christ does not make everything perfect right away. There is this reality in which we live in the already not yet, that Jesus Christ has changed our hearts, changed us from being like the world, but then he keeps us in the world so that we can shine as lights. That we live in this already not yet time of life in which we have the truth, the new covenant promises upon our heart, but then we have to apply it in an intimate way to a world and a situation that hates us, that is working against us.

In which we can be told lies, that it's better for us to live like this, and we should live like this, we should have a definition of everything that fits the world standard, but we can say, I will not do that. Rather, I will follow the standard of Christ Jesus my Lord. And we can live obediently to that. You understand what a great thing that God has given to us, that we can show our identity.

We can show our allegiance to Christ in this way. And so it's good for us to have these contrasting views before us so that we can choose that I will take affliction, I will take whatever it takes for me to learn the word of God from the heart to do it. And that's why he concludes. in verse 72. The law of your mouth is better to me than thousands of gold and silver pieces.

Now we can say, look at the text of scripture and say, well, we don't really use gold and silver pieces. Currency isn't even backed by the gold standard anymore, it's just a bunch of paper, right? But the point it's getting at here is that no matter how much things I could purchase to fill my heart's desire, to make my circumstances good, to make life easy for me, no matter how much money I have to make it all good for me, he's saying, I love the law of the Lord more.

The law of the Lord is my delight, it's what I look to, it's what I go and reach for. And it's only when that truth has been established within your heart that you can truly say that I would much rather be obedient to God more than to have an easy life. That I could take the afflictions of everything that God might put in my path so long as I use that to know God more and be more obedient.

And this will only happen when the new covenant is in your heart. When those promises of scripture has come down upon your heart. And this is what I think Psalm 65 through 72 is saying. And so again, I'll ask to conclude. This is one of the shortest sermons you've ever heard. You think you might be in a liberal church right now, but you're not.

I promise you. How have you looked at previous afflictions How are you looking at your current afflictions And how are you viewing your future afflictions that God will kindly give you Are you looking at it in the lens of the New Covenant? Are you looking at it in the lens of knowing your dear Lord Jesus Christ better? That this is what he has for you to know him?

Or are you looking at it in a way, a pagan, bankrupt worldview in which you complain, murmur, I can't believe this is happening to me. Beloved, let us be different from the world. Let us not be like that. That is bankrupt. But let us grow in this identity of the Lord Jesus Christ, that he is sovereign, that he is a king, that he is sovereign over me. And whatever I go through is by his sovereign hand for my good and his glory.

God in heaven, thank you so much for your word. Thank you for your truth. I thank you for your grace, for the promises of scripture, I thank you, Lord, that it came, even though I was a sinner, even though, Lord, I am a sinner. Lord I think about all the ways I was in rebellion against you I hated you I hated your law I hated everything to do with what it means to be a Christian Lord you were kind to me and you showed me Jesus Christ Jesus Christ has become my delight because of these great realities of the new covenant.

God in heaven, so I can truly say with the psalmist that the law of the Lord, that Jesus Christ, and all that he is, he is my delight. It is my delight, Lord, because of what you've done in Christ for me, to obey and to turn away from sin. That it truly is my worship. And I ask God that all God's people here in this room, that it would be their delight.

And it would be their greatest desire to know your law more, to see Jesus more clearly, and to see that this is done through affliction. My God in heaven, we are to follow Jesus no matter the cost. We are to take up our cross daily and follow him. I pray that we would love Christ so much that that would be our ever-consuming thoughts each morning as we meditate upon your word and look upon you in prayer, that Jesus Christ would be a greater reality to us.

God in heaven it amazing how each day that can so quickly become very small to us And so this is why we have the great helper who applies all these things to us from beginning to end the great spirit of Christ coming into our hearts to apply these great truths. Because we know of ourselves we are weak, but in you we are strong. And we know that you give us all these things to remind us of these promises that you have for us.

So that when we are tempted in our affliction to look off of Jesus in these means like the Lord's table that we're about to celebrate, we are then reminded to look back upon Jesus, to glorify him in this, because this is what he has for us in his kindness. Lord, there may be people here today, in fact, I'm assuming there are people here today who are not saved. They are on the path to hell.

They have their own law, even while they might claim some of God's law, and they are living by that. Lord, I pray that you would reach out and grab hold of their heart and fill it with the law of Christ. with mercies and grace found in his accomplished work so that they would go from living insolently to living for you. Thank you for your mercies and your grace.

You are awesome in all your ways. In Jesus' name, amen.