4. Praying with God’s Promises. Psalm 61:6-8

Text: “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, Who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in Him was yea.  For ALL the promises of God in Him (Jesus Christ) are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”

2 Corinthians 1:19-20.

Good morning, promise-praying Christian!  Having repented from your vile sins and mine, and having received faith from God to believe and receive Christ Jesus as our own and personal Saviour, Redeemer, and Lord – ALL the promises of God are open for us to pray to our loving Father in Heaven; and All the promises of God, to us who are ‘in Him’, are met with the Father’s ‘Yea and Amen’ – Yes, my son/daughter, you can have My given promise; and, Amen so be it unto you according to My given promise, and at all times according to My own Sovereign will for you.’  Wow!  

What a thrill to be permitted of the Lord to pray His promises back to Him and to receive His promised Fatherly blessings!

“Wherefore come out from among them (the world, and the false professors), and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, and will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty.” (2 Corinthians 6:17-18)

Verse 5. “Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear Thy Name.  If we suffer, it is the heritage of the saints; if we are persecuted, are in poverty or in temptation, all this is contained in the title-deeds of the heritage of the chosen.  Those we are to sup with we may well be content to dine with.  We have the same inheritance as the Firstborn Himself; what better is conceivable?  (Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 269.)

Being God’s people, elected in Eternity by God the Father; saved in time by God the Son; sealed for Eternity by God the Holy Spirit, we are inheritors of ALL of the promises of Almighty Lord God Jehovah!  Hallelujah!  What a treasure trove to inspire our prayers!

“Teach me Thy way, O Lord; I will walk in Thy truth: unite my heart to fear Thy Name.  I will praise Thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify Thy Name for evermore.”  (Psalm 86:11-12)

Fearing the Lord and praying God’s promises back to Him is a most powerful method of prayer.  What God has promised us, ‘His people’, He will do.

Jesus teaches us: “Hitherto have ye asked nothing in My Name: ASK, and ye shall receive, that your joy may be full.”  (John 16:24)

All those whom, by God’s free grace and the Blood of Christ Jesus alone, are born again of His Spirit – are defined by Scriptures as SAINTS.  Nothing to with Popery or man-manufactured ‘religion’, or being ‘beatified’ by Roman Catholic Popes or so-called Protestant Prelates – merely by being Spiritually regenerated by God Himself to be ‘His people’.  “...Ye must be born again!”  God the Spirit alone creates true ‘saints’.

“Saints are described as fearing the Name of God; they are reverent worshippers; they stand in awe of the Lord’s authority; they are afraid of offending Him; they feel their own nothingness in the sight of the Infinite One.  To share with such men, to be treated by God with the same favour as He metes out to them, is a matter for endless thanksgiving.  All the privileges of all the saints are also the privilege of each one.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 269)

Thus, ALL the promises of God can be prayed to the Lord God with authority from His Word.  Has not His Word taught us that, “...ALL the promises of God in Him (Jesus Christ) are yea, and in Him Amen, unto the glory of God by us.”?  

So, we ask ourselves, ‘Are we ‘...in Christ...’?  Yes, we are!  Then we conclude: All the promises of God are Amen – Yes, my child, you are Mine, therefore, Amen, so be it unto you.  What a cause for instant thanksgiving unto such a generous Lord God and Heavenly Father!  Glory to His Name!

Are YOU a genuine Christian this day, Reader?  If so, God’s written promises are available for you to claim from Him in an act of reverent prayer.

Mercy:  Do you find yourself in a position where you desperately need God’s mercy?

“For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but My kindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall the Covenant of My peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee.”  (Isaiah 54:10)

Help: Is your human strength almost gone, and you need Divine help to persevere?

“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of My righteousness.”  (Isaiah 41:10)

Opposition:  Are you facing intense and fierce opposition in your Christian life?

“Behold (Look, and fully understand!), all they that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish.”  (Isaiah 41:10)

Bereaved:  Are you sat in a pit of sadness, grief, and personal bereavement at present?

“I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.”  (John 14:18)

Peace:  Does your very soul and mind need personal peace to endure at present?

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you.  Let not your heart be troubled neither let it be afraid.”  (John 14:27)

Dear Christian Reader, the Lord God Almighty has made Divine promises to you, and to me; promises that He MUST fulfil, or cease to be a true and Holy Lord God.  He has made us His promises because He is a Lord God of infinite love towards us, ‘His people’, who are bought back from sin by the infinite sufferings, death, and shed Blood of His only begotten Lamb, Jesus Christ.  To refuse us His promises, would be to dishonour His Son, Jesus – and that our Heavenly Father shall never do.  Thus, we may pray back the promises of the Lord. 

“Call unto Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”  (Jeremiah 33:3)

Verse 8.  “So will I sing praise unto Thy Name forever. There should be a parallel between our supplications and our thanksgivings.  We ought not to leap in prayer and be limp in praise.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 269) Praise God for answered prayer!

Thought: To pray God’s promises back to Him in reverent, and worshipful prayer, we are authorised by the Lord to use - Psalm 61: A Precious Pearl of Prayer.  Amen.

3. Praying from Experience. Psalm 61:3-5

Text: “For Thou has been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.”

Psalm 61:3.

Good morning sheltered Christian!  Amid all the storms and vicious circumstances of life; the Lord God Jehovah has been your refuge and mine.  In Christ Jesus, we are Eternally secure.  Let us give Him all the praise and all the thanksgiving of our hearts?  Hallelujah!

“With Christ in the vessel we can smile at the storm...as we go sailing Home.” (Chorus)

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?  (Or Corona Virus?) ...Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us...” Nothing! “...shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35-39)

‘NOTHING’ MEANS NOTHING! NOTHING SHALL SEPARATE US FROM CHRIST JESUS OUR LORD!

True Christians, born again of the Spirit of God, can pray most confidently, due to the fact that we are praying from past and present experience of God’s grace in our lives, and in the lives of ‘His people’.  Thanks be to the Lord it is so! 

“And she (Mary) shall bring forth a Son, and thou (Joseph) shalt call His Name JESUS: for He shall save HIS PEOPLE from their sins.”  (Matthew 1:21)

Please take note: The God-breathed, inspired, Scripture in question does NOT say that Jesus shall save ALL people from their sins – only ‘His people’; those whom the Lord God Almighty has preordained to save, from before the foundation of the world.  All others shall be totally, and Eternally, LOST.  (John 6:37)

Repentance, making a full 180% degree turn away from Satan, self, and sin, to a 180% degree following hard after Christ Jesus, and serving the Living Lord God, is only in God’s gifting to us to do so!  Unless the Lord grants us this gift of repentance, and faith to believe (trust) in the Atonement Sacrifice of Christ upon the Cross – sinners cannot ever be saved.

“And the servant of the Lord must not strive (physically fight and fuss); but be gentle unto all men, apt to teach, patient, in meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure (according to His Sovereign will) will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth; and that they may recover themselves out of the snare of the Devil, who are taken captive by him at his will.” (2 Timothy 2:24-26)

“Jesus saith unto him, (Thomas) I am the way, THE TRUTH, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.”  (John 14:6)

Repenting from our sins, and knowing Jesus in a Spiritually born-again experience, IS ‘...knowing the Truth...’ – as the Scriptures teach us clearly, ‘...the Word (Christ Jesus) was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and TRUTH.”  (John 1:14)

If repentance, as defined above, is God’s gift to sinners, then we cannot be Eternally saved without this gift from God.  Similarly, FAITH, being the ‘...gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast...’ (Ephesians 2:8-10); it follows that without God’s gift of saving faith, no sinner can ever be Eternally saved.  The Lord God grants such Eternally vital gifts to ‘His people’ alone.  All others remain reprobate, rejected of God, and shall perish in a Christ-rejecter’s Hell forever. This is the Word of God.  God’s Word is His written will.  God’s will is always done.

“I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish...except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.”  (Luke 13:3;5)

Those who have been blessed with faith in Christ, and God’s gift of true repentance from sin, and Eternally saved – shall suffer persecution!  This persecution is a promise from God!

“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus (all true Spiritually regenerated Christians) SHALL suffer persecution.”  (2 Timothy 3:12)

Furthermore, concerning the subject of ‘praying from experience’, having suffered many many bouts of personal persecution, slander, gossip, terrorist murder bids; terrorist death-threats, over the past 43 years of my experience as a born again Christian; and having been rejected, ridiculed, shunned, and deceitfully opposed by many others actually professing to be Christians, and ‘leaders of the church’ – my prayers are prayed with strong confidence, due to the vast experience with which I have been blessed while suffering under such hindrances and oppositions.  The Lord God always looks after, takes care, of ‘His people’.

Verse 3. “For Thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. Experience is the nurse of faith.  Sweet is it beyond expression to remember the loving kindness of the Lord in our former days, for He is unchangeable and therefore will continue to guard us from all evil.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 269)

Verse 4. “I will abide in Thy tabernacle forever. Hewers of wood and drawers of water in the tents of Jehovah are more to be envied than the princes who riot in the pavilions of kings.  The best of all is that our residence with God is not for a limited period of time but for ages; yea, for ages of ages, for time and for Eternity: this is our highest and most heavenly privilege: I will abide in Thy tabernacle forever.  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 269)

Verse 4. “I will trust in the covert of Thy wings. Experience of past answers to our prayers, gives us more faithful confidence that the Lord will continue to bring us through all other trials and profound tribulations – even this deadly pestilence of global Corona Virus which is unleashed upon our disobedient nations worldwide as I write this Bible exposition (21/3/20).  Having been protected by God over the past 43 years, and 33 years before I was redeemed – I can pray now with more confidence that, the Lord not only hears my prayers, but answers them, often even before I can utter the words.  What a Saviour and Lord!

“And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear.”  (Isaiah 65:24) Our Lord God Jehovah, cares for ‘His people’.

Verse 5. “Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear Thy Name. Fearing the Lord God Jehovah, the Spiritually regenerated Christian should have nothing else to fear.  Come, the threat of poverty!  Come, the threatening of violent man!  Come, sword, or gun, or bomb, or dagger!  Come, the most deadly and contagious Corona Virus!  We, the followers of Christ Jesus, have absolutely NOTHING to fear.  If God’s will be perfect, then God’s perfect will be done! Glory to His gracious, Holy, loving, merciful and generous kindness!  Even so, Come Lord Jesus, the Spirit and the Bride say, Come!  Amen, so be it, Lord God.

Thought: If God be unchanging, the experience of past prayers answered by Him, should more than inspire our full confidence in all our daily prayers to Him now.  “...I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye...are not consumed.” (Malachi 3:6) Glory!

2. Praying, While Feeling Overwhelmed! Psalm 61:2

Text: “From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.”

Psalm 61:2.

Good morning, Christian feeling overwhelmed!   Your faith in Christ is strong, praise God, but the intensity of your daily experiences in life has become so severe, that you too often FEEL you are at the point of being overwhelmed by it all, and ready to halt. 

If this describes in any small manner your experience of life at this point, beloved Reader, read on – for God’s Word has new strength for you and me to claim every time we open the sacred pages of our KJV Bibles.  Hallelujah!  Jesus IS the Word made flesh! 

“In the beginning was the Word (capital W!), and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word was made flesh (Jesus Christ), and dwelt among us, (and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”  (John 1:1; 14)

“For the Word of God is quick (living) and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in His sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do.”  (Hebrews 4:12-13)

Many this very day (September 15th, 2022) – professing Christian and non-believers alike – find themselves ‘overwhelmed’ by the horror of a global pandemic virus that is suddenly sweeping across the nations of our world; causing death, gross illness; and utter fear.

 I believe that Corona Virus, if it has not been unleashed by the hand of an angry Lord God Himself – because of the increased rejection of Eternal Salvation offered by Him, through His Son, Jesus Christ - it has been Divinely permitted by Him, as an international chastisement of apostate and unbelieving mankind. 

“They (the unbelieving nations) forgot God their Saviour, which had done great things in Egypt (the ten terrible plagues); wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red Sea.  Therefore, He said He would destroy them...”  (Psalm 106:21-23) 

Our righteous and Holy Lord God is long-suffering but is never ever to be mocked or ignored!

Suddenly today, human government; human reasoning; human science so-called; and all the skills of highly paid doctors and consultants are totally overwhelmed, and unable to quell the raging spread of this deadly plague.  Medical science is totally ‘overwhelmed’!

Hospitals and Health Centres, Care Homes and Clinics are being ‘overwhelmed’ by the onset of the Corona Virus pandemic.  Throughout the disobedient nations of the world, the death toll rises, and the liberties of populations are being curtailed, and taken away.  Already, humanistic Governments are calling for the isolation – self-isolation, or enforced quarantine – to be introduced, in a puny effort to stop the spread of this fatal plague.

What, therefore, should we, as born again, Spiritually regenerated, Bible-believing Christians DO in the midst of such an ‘overwhelming’ global situation?  God’s Word contained in our God-inspired Bibles offers us the only answer to such deep questions.

Verse 2. “From the end of the earth will I cry unto Thee. No spot is too dreary, no condition too deplorable; whether it be the world’s end or life’s end, prayer is equally available.  To pray in some circumstances needs resolve, and the Psalmist here expresses it, I will cry.  It was a wise resolution, for had he ceased to pray he would have become the victim of despair; there is an end to a man when he makes an end to prayer.

Verse 2.  “When my heart is overwhelmed. It is hard to pray when the very heart is drowning, yet gracious men plead best at such times.  Tribulation brings us to God and brings God to us.  Faith’s greatest triumphs are achieved in her heaviest trials.  It is all over with me, affliction is all over me; it encompasses me as a cloud, it swallows me up like a sea, it shuts me in with thick darkness, yet God is near, near enough to hear my voice, and I will call Him.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 268)

What, therefore, does all the above mean at this time of global pandemic plague and spread of death and chaos?  What does it mean for the genuine child of God, the Spiritually regenerate, Bible-believing Christian servant of the Lord Jesus Christ?

It means that, in the face of such a deadly plague, you and I must be quick to get more serious about our state in the eyes of the Living Lord God; we must be quick to get to the place of prayer; we must be more urgent about witnessing and telling, not only our own family circles; but all who have ears to hear, that Christ returns real soon, and we must be good and ready for Him.  Otherwise, it will be all Eternally TOO LATE!

“If My people (genuine Christians), which are called my My Name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from Heaven, and forgive their sins, and will heal their land.  Now Mine eyes shall be open, and Mine ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.”  (2 Chronicles 7:14-15)

“Neither is there Salvation in any other: for there is none other name under Heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:12)

Fear is currently sent from Satan and permitted by the Lord God to test ‘His people’, at this time of unprecedented global plague, sickness, and death.  God’s people must not be afraid.

“When the action of the heart is paralyzed, even temporally, it will tell upon all the members, a chill there sends its cold vibration through every limb; Satan knows this well, and so all his dealing are heart dealings, efforts to paralyze the very spring of life itself.”  (Phillip Bennett Power 1862)

Verse 2. “Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I.  There is a mint of meaning in this brief prayer.  Our experience leads us to understand this verse right well, for the time was with us when we were in such amazement of soul by reason of sin that although we knew the Lord Jesus to be a sure Salvation for sinners, yet we could not come at Him by reason of our many doubts and forebodings.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 268)

Jesus Christ, the Son of the Living Lord God, is the only Rock of our Eternal Salvation.  There is forgiveness of sins, and Eternal pardon found in no other.

“Unto Thee will I cry, O Lord my Rock; be not silent to me: lest I become like them that go down into the pit...Draw me not away with the wicked...”  (Psalm 28:1-3)

Thought: May the Lord God cover ‘His people’ with His protective hand.  Amen. “There shall no evil befall thee, neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling.”  Psalm 91:10. Amen.  Fearing the Lord, true Christians have nothing to fear.

Psalm 61: A Precious Pearl of Prayer

1. Praying from the Heart                                                          Psalm 61:1

Text: “But from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find Him, if thou seek Him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.  When thou art in tribulation and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days...”

Deuteronomy 4:29-30.

Good morning, Christian in need!  As the faces of my readers differ, so will the variation of your needs today.  Some of us are suffering ill health or injury; some are suddenly, and so terribly bereaved of a loved one who was profoundly dear to the heart; some are enduring hard afflictions; and besieged by a myriad of otherwise petty little foxes that are eating at the very vines of Christian faith and perseverance.  Christian needs are complex and can often be overwhelming – this is the time that we must engage in prayer from our hearts to God.

In such times of serious need, we must all be forthrightly reminded that our Lord God Almighty, Who has saved our never-dying souls, through faith in the once for all time Atonement for our sins made by His Son, Jesus Christ, upon that cruel Cross, is at all times, only a prayer away, and waiting to hear a cry of sincerity from our hearts.

“Call upon Me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and might things, which thou knowest not.”  (Jeremiah 33:3)

The Lord God Jehovah, Creator of all things, the God of our Salvation, is not so much interested in our words, He is most interested in the sincerity of our hearts (our inner being, not the blood pump in our breasts!).

“And I will give them an heart to know Me, that I am the Lord: and they shall be My people, and I will be their God: for they shall return unto Me with their whole heart.”  (Jeremiah 24:7)

“Subject and Division:  This Psalm is a pearl.  It is little, but precious.  To many a mourner, it has furnished utterance when the mind could not have devised a speech for itself.  It was evidently composed by David after he had come to the throne (see verse 6).”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 268)

In times of profound need, we must seek to be profound in prayer to the Lord God for His deliverance, comforting peace, and strength.  The depth of our need should be the gauge of the depth of our sincere pleadings with the Almighty.  Serious times require serious prayers.

Verse 1. “Hear my cry O God. He was in terrible earnest; he shouted; he lifted up his voice on high.  Pharisees may rest in their prayers; true believers are eager for an answer to them: ritualists may be satisfied when they have ‘said or sung’ their litanies and collects but living children of God will never rest till their supplications have entered the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 268)

David, in commencement of writing Psalm 61, does not seek to beat about the bush.  There are no flowery prefaces to what he earnestly desires to convey – the urgency of his prayer to the Lord.  Thus, he launches straight into the point of his needs – ‘Hear my cry, O God!’  Like Peter when, suddenly undermined with fear and doubt as he trod on the waters with Christ, he got to the very crux of his petition to the Lord Jesus, he cried, “Lord, save me!”, and the Lord saved him immediately, and told him not to doubt.  (Matthew 14:25-32)

When you and I are in serious need of God’s help, we also must cut to the chase in prayer, we must get to the point; we must cry out from our very being in reverence and sincere prayer to our Holy Lord God.  He already knows our needs but delights to hear His children ask for His Fatherly assistance – Christ’s Sacrifice at Calvary assures us of a way into His very Presence.

“For we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.  Let us therefore (a conclusion) come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we might obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.”  (Hebrews 4:15-16)

Verse 1. “Attend unto my prayer.  Aquinas saith that some read the words thus, (intende ad cantica mea,) attend unto my songs – and so the words may be safely read, from the Hebrew word, ranah, which signifies to shout or shrill out for joy – to note that the prayers of the saints are like pleasant songs and delightful ditties in the ears of God.  No mirth, no music, can be so pleasing to us as the prayers of the saints are pleasing to God.” (Thomas Brooks 1608-1680)

As State wickedness, immorality, dishonesty and ungodliness increases during these ‘end times events’, prior to the soon expected second Coming of our Lord Jesus, so also will the grave needs of all sincere, Bible-believing Christians.  The spirit of ‘political correctness’, which is in fact the spirit of anti-Christ, is making, and shall continue to make, Christian life and practice more and more difficult.  In our most recent decades leading up to this year of 2022, we have witnessed with our eyes the following crucial and prophesied events: the great falling away of the visible church from sound Bible belief and doctrine; the rise of counterfeit Christianity, as reverence and healthy fear of God has given way to so-called charismatic circuses, easy-believism, and gross humanistic ministries.  God’s Word puts it this way:

“This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent (no self-control), fierce despisers of those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God: having a form of godliness but denying the power thereof: from such turn away.”  (2 Timothy 3:1-5)

What, therefore, should we, as committed, Bible-believing Christians, be doing right now?  What battle-plans should we be making to effectively combat, and prepare, for the hardships we must all face before the Lord suddenly appears ‘...like a thief in the night...’?

With the Psalmist David’s experience in mind here in Psalm 61, we must begin to learn how to pray from our hearts to the Living Lord God Whom we profess to know and love; we must begin to get serious about our prayer-lives; and cry out for strength to persevere in ‘...the faith once delivered unto the saints...’.  We must also look up and cry out the victory prayer: “Even so, Come Lord Jesus, the Spirit and the Bride say, Come!”   Glory to the Lamb!

Thought:  Serious Christian needs requires serious Christian prayers from the heart!

URGENT: Testing Computer Problem Message

 Dear Ulster Christians Ministry, International Bible Class

I have been having some technical problems with my computer programmes, and a lot of hindrance to sending out my weekly Bible Lessons internationally, as I have faithfully tried to do for the past 25 years.

At this point I have again lost my international Address Book for Bible Lesson emailing and reception and am working off an old Address Book: so please forgive me if your circumstances have changed, or you no longer wish to have my Bible Lessons sent to your mailbox.  If you could 'unsubscribe' in such a case, or better still, email me to let me know you are still willing to receive the weekly Scripture Lessons, I would be eternally grateful, brethren.

I hope I can now get this Blog to send this message to you, and look forward to, God willing, continue Christian fellowship with you as we each seek to '...grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.'  (2 Peter 3:18)

Love in Calvary grace,

Dr C.K. McClinton

Ulster Christians

www.ulsterchristians.org 

Email: watchman696@tutanota.com 

2. Obviously Victorious! Psalm 60:6-12

Text: “Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.  Through God we shall do valiantly: for He it is that shall tread down our enemies.”

Psalm 60:11-12.

Good morning, delivered and victorious Christian!  You and I were in the most profound depths of Spiritual depression, lying, as Elijah once was, under that terrible ‘juniper tree’ of heartache, soul-grief and abject misery. 

Today?  Why, we are back up on the mountain top of Spiritual joy and steadfastness – praising the Lord God Almighty, Jehovah, for hearing and answering our cries for His Divine help.  Hallelujah!  What a Saviour!  We are Victorious, in the Eternal Victory of King Jesus Christ!  All glory to the Lamb, Who is worthy!  Amen.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?  Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword (war)?”  (Romans 8:35)

“Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him that loved us.  For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, or angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature (including our own selves!), shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”  (Romans 8: 37-39)

Here are the facts of our Bible-believing Christian faith!  Here, written under the full inspiration of God the Holy Spirit, is what really counts when you and I find ourselves under any ‘juniper tree’ of Spiritual or temporal depressions.  God has said it.  We believe it.  And in spite of all ill or defeated feelings, we shall completely overcome all oppositions and hindrances to the practice of true, Bible-believing, Born Again, Christianity.  Hallelujah!  It is faith, not feelings that count when the Spiritual Battle is in full array against us.  God IS our defence.

“He only is my Rock and my Salvation: He is my defence; I shall not be moved.”         (Psalm 62:6)

Verse 6.  “God hath spoken in His holiness. Faith is never happier than when it can fall back upon the promise of God.  She sets this over against all discouraging circumstances; let outward providences say what they will, the voice of a faithful God drowns every sound of fear.  God had promised Israel victory, and David the kingdom; the holiness of God secured the fulfilment of His own covenant, and therefore the king spake confidently.  The goodly land had been secured to the tribes by the promise made to Abraham, and that Divine grant was an abundantly sufficient warrant for the belief that Israel’s armies would be successful in battle.  Believer, make good use of this and banish doubts while promises remain.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 266-267)

We mere mortals put great value on a man who ‘says what he thinks, and means what he says, and does what he says he will do, to the very best of his human abilities’.  How much more should Spiritually regenerate (born again) Christian believers, value the Word spoken or inspired to be written, by the Lord God Jehovah Himself?  The Lord God does not lie!

“God is not a man that He should lie; neither the son of man, that He should repent: hath He said, and shall He not do it?  Or hath He spoken and shall He not make it good?”  (Numbers 23:19)

God’s Word is a Supernatural Word, endued with Supernatural power from God Almighty Himself.  God speaks, and it is done.  God’s Word quickens dead spirits, that we might live Eternally, and become living spirits unto Christ Jesus.  God’s Word is His power.

“For the Word of God is quick, and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword piercing even to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.”  (Hebrews 4:12)

Verse 6. “God hath spoken...I will rejoice.  (Or, ‘I will triumph...’)  Faith regards the promise not as fiction, but fact, and therefore drinks in joy from it and grasps victory by it.  Here is a motto fit for any soldier of the Cross...Let not Canaanitish doubts and legalisms keep thee out of the inheritance of grace.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 267)

Verse 7. “Judah is my lawgiver.  To all claims of Rome, or Oxford, or the councils of men, we pay no attention; we are free from all other ecclesiastical rule but that of Christ.”  (C.H. Spurgeon, Treasury of David, page 267)

One of the biggest traits throughout the church world-wide at present is the curse of LEGALISM – professing Christians would run every night to ‘church meetings’, and three times on the Lord’s Day, but just will not open their Bibles and engage in personal Bible studies alone with the Lord, for love nor money!  Therefore, IF the Minister, or Pastor, or Church Leader gets it wrong – EVERYBODY GETS IT WRONG.  The blind leading the blind comes to mind, and too many today in this increasingly humanistic and anti-Christian age are falling down into that pit of error in doctrine, leading to complete and total unbelief.  Just you try to pit Bible Scripture against ‘the politically correct spirit of humanism’, and see how quickly Bible-believing Christians are being savaged by utter Laodiceans!

“And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the Creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.  So then (a conclusion) because thou art lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spue (vomit) thee out of My mouth.”  (Revelation 3:14-19)

Professing Christians, who ARE genuine Christians, need to shun all humanistic teachings - placing mankind at the centre and at the head of all things - and begin to return to the old paths of Bible-belief and trust in the Lord God and His Sovereign power and grace.  The Lord Jesus returns soon, all the signs of the times written about in Matthew’s Gospel and the Prophets are hurtling us towards that wonderful and terrible day.  Wonderful for the true Christian, terrible indeed for the false professor and those outside Christ’s Kingdom.

“Behold (look and fully understand), I come quickly: blessed is he that keepeth the sayings of the prophecy of this Book (The Revelation).”  (Revelation 22:7)

Verse 11. “For vain is the help of man. As they had lately experimented in Saul a king of their own choosing, but not able to save them from those proud Philistines.” (John Trapp, 1601-1699)

Thought: Our Eternal Victory is most apparent to the eyes of God-given faith. Rejoice!