“Thou art fairer than the children of men: grace is poured into thy lips:
therefore God hath blessed thee for ever,” Psalm 45:2.  

 
If you see the context in which our verse is written, you will notice in verse 1
that it is speaking of the king: “My heart is inditing a good matter: I speak of
the things which I have made touching the king: my tongue is the pen of a ready
writer.”


This speaking of the king is a prophetic insight that the psalmist had of the
Lord Jesus Christ in His kingly position, and it points to that blessed
condescension of that King in verse 2: “Thou art fairer than the children of
men: grace is poured into thy lips.” He is seeing the overwhelming beauty in the
grace and tender love that comes forth from the King of kings.
 
Many of the Old Testament writers spoke of the blessedness of our lovely Saviour
in a prophetic way as we see from Song of Solomon 5:16: “His mouth is most
sweet: yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved, and this is my friend,
O daughters of Jerusalem.”
 
We see such a beautiful parallel between this verse and our text. The writers
see such preciousness and such beauty in the words of the King of kings and in
His loving condescension. 

 
The love of God for His people is eternal, and that has been the source of
drawing His people to Him from eternity. I want you to turn with me to Jeremiah
31:3: “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee
with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.”
 
The Old Testament writers saw and understood what had been from the beginning.
This was not a new exposition. It is an eternal love, and they see the
blessedness in that eternal love of God. The word therefore shows that because
of this everlasting love, He has drawn us with lovingkindness. It does not say
that He has driven us. The Lord does not use the law as a whip to drive us to
Christ. He draws us with the blessed revelation of that love. He does not drive
us to Christ out of a slavish fear.

 
The gospel has a drawing love. The love of God draws us to repentance. This is
what gives us a different attitude. I saw a man one time who whip-broke a horse,
and he could crack a whip one time in the corral and a horse out in the pasture
would come running to him and stand there trembling. That is not how the Lord
draws His people to Him. The Lord draws us with the everlasting love of Christ.
 
Our blessed Saviour tells us how sinners are drawn to Him in John 12:31: “Now is
the judgment of this world: now shall the prince of this world be cast out.” The
prince of this world will no longer sit as king on the throne of your heart. The
Saviour is showing us how He will accomplish this. 

 
Continuing in verses 32 and 33 we read: “And I, if I be lifted up from the
earth, will draw all men unto me. This he said, signifying what death he should
die.”
 
Much more is to be understood here than just that we see His human body hanging
on a tree. What death did He die? We read the answer in Romans 6:10: “For in
that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.”
If we start to see the love that was in the ignominious death of our dear
Saviour and how He died unto sin, then sin becomes exceedingly sinful. This is
what has to be lifted up before our eyes—that tender love of God, of how He gave
His Son, and that tender love of the Son, how He hung on the cross. It was not
the nails that hung Him there. It was His love.
 
These gracious lips of our Saviour are what makes Him “fairer than the children
of men” to those who hunger and thirst after righteousness. He is pleading with
His church. He is pleading with His lovely bride. He is telling them of His
love. He is showing them how He was lifted up from the earth, and how He was
hung there from a motive of love. This is what causes us to hunger and thirst
after righteousness. You and I will never have enmity against sin by the whip of
the law. We will only see the sinfulness of sin and have that hunger and thirst
after righteousness as our eyes are opened to see the love of God. Amen.
 
And can it be that I should gain
An interest in the Saviour’s blood?
Died He for me, who caused His pain?
For me, who Him to death persued?
Amazing love!  How can it be
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Amazing love! How can it be?
Charles Wesley, 1707-1788

He is not here: for he is risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord
lay (Matthew 28:6).

Christ’s resurrection speaks to us of many things. The curse God pronounced upon
Satan in the Garden of Eden proclaimed Christ’s great victory over death and the
grave. Genesis 3:15 says: “And I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and
between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise
his heel.” In the resurrection of Christ, He crushed the head of Satan, gained
that victory and destroyed the works of the devil. Yet to do this, Christ also
had to be wounded. Satan’s head was crushed even though Christ’s heel, that is,
His flesh, was bruised.


Romans 4:25 says that Jesus “was delivered for our offences, and was raised
again for our justification.” This was the war in heaven against that old
serpent, which is the devil, the accuser of the brethren. All of his accusations
have been crushed.


These wounds of our lovely Saviour are the consolation of His church. We read
in Luke 24:38-39: “And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and why do
thoughts arise in your hearts? Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself:
handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.”
He used the wounds in His hands and feet to remove all fear, to remove all
distress for His church. The resurrection of our Saviour is our assurance that
the Father’s justice has been satisfied. We see the victory that has been gained
over death and the grave. We are to be baptized into His death and raised to
walk in newness of life.


When we receive a faith’s view of those wounded hands, Christ’s resurrection
becomes precious in a personal way. So often our sins rise up against us, and
our thoughts trouble us. Then we must look to the wounds of His hands and feet.
We read in Isaiah 49:16: “Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands;
thy walls are continually before me.” The resurrection of Christ becomes a
personal victory for us. He continually sees those names in the wounds of His
hands and comes before the Father and pleads for His church on that basis.


We see sin in its true light, and we see that blessed deliverance from sin,
because He was delivered for our offenses. This makes sin so exceedingly sinful.


For us to claim an interest in Christ’s resurrection we must also take part in
His death. We must understand what we read in Romans 6:4-11: “Therefore we are
buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from
the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of
life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we
shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: For in that he died, he died
unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye
also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus
Christ our Lord.” We must take part in His death if we are going to take part in
His resurrection. This means death to sin, death to self, death to everything of
this life. Then we will be raised in newness of life.


Those who are in Christ find they are complete in Him. We read in 1 Corinthians
1:30: “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom
[that we see the sinfulness of sin], and righteousness [His imputed, imparted
obedience], and sanctification [the work of repentance and cleansing], and
redemption [from the penalty of sin].” Notice the order. We do not take part in
His redemption apart from these other things.


Through Christ’s resurrection He restored all for His church as David said,
“then I restored that which I took not away” (Psalm 69:4b). The Lord Jesus
Christ restored that state of purity, that state of sanctification. He restored
what He did not take away. It was Satan who stole these things from us.

What was taken away? That perfect image of God in our human nature, which was
created for the glory of the Father. Jesus restored the true reflection of God's
image in our human nature. We see in John 1:14: “And the Word 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.”


By becoming our substitute, Christ restored our righteousness in the sight of
His Father. You and I had become sin, and He was made to be sin for us as we
read in 2 Corinthians 5:21: “For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no
sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.”


The resurrection of Christ restores our eternal inheritance, which was marred by
sin. We see this in 1 Peter 1:3-4: “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord
Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto
a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, To an
inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in
heaven for you.” That inheritance that was marred by the fall of Adam was
restored. The Lord Jesus Christ has restored all things for His church. That
defilement that we brought on ourselves through sin, He has removed.


Christ’s resurrection restored peace with God, “by the washing of regeneration,
and renewing of the Holy Ghost” as we see in Titus 3:5. In the resurrection of
Christ we can be conformed to the image of Christ. He has brought about the
perfect character and image of God in our human nature, and we have the
reflection of that so we might be conformed to the blessed image of Christ. We
can be renewed by the washing of regeneration and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost. Our priorities can be straight. Our affections can be set on things
above. By the work of regeneration we can become a new man in Christ Jesus.


To regenerate is to renew the heart by a change of the affections; to change the
heart and affections from natural enmity to the love of God; to implant holy
affections in the heart. This is what the Lord Jesus Christ purchased for us in
His resurrection.


The “washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost,” is the new birth
by the grace of God; that change by which the will and natural enmity of man to
God and His law are subdued, and a principle of supreme love to God and His law,
or holy affections, are implanted in the heart.

The resurrection of Christ is our assurance that the Shepherd was smitten to
open a fountain for the watering of His sheep. We read that Jacob was going to
see his uncle, and he found the place where the sheep were gathering, but a
stone was on the well’s mouth. They had to wait till the man came to roll the
stone away so they could drink. This typifies how the sheep, the flock of
Christ, are hungering and thirsting after righteousness and they come to the
well’s mouth but a stone covers it. In the resurrection of Christ, that stone
was rolled away. Now the flock can come to that watering place. We read in
Zechariah 13:1: “In that day there shall be a fountain opened to the house of
David and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem for sin and for uncleanness.” That
fountain is opened in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Shepherd, Jesus
Christ, brings His flock, the church to this precious well. The thirsting after
righteousness is satisfied.


Salvation is twofold. The body of Christ, which is the bread of the Lord’s
Supper, teaches us that the broken body of Christ points us to the satisfaction
of the penalty of sin. The blood of Christ also points us to sanctification for
cleansing. This thirsting after righteousness is thirsting after the cleansing
from the power and pollution of sin.


Christ’s resurrection teaches us that He first died and was buried. This is
very important to His church; as our forerunner, Christ sanctified the grave as
a holy resting place. We will all be taken from this life one day. As we are
taken from this life, we will be laid in the grave, and if we have been
sanctified, if our hearts have been cleansed, if the work of regeneration has
been wrought in our soul, then we will be laid in a sanctified grave where our
blessed forerunner has gone before us. We read in Isaiah 57:1b-2: “The righteous
is taken away from the evil to come. He shall enter into peace: they shall rest
in their beds, each one walking in his uprightness,” that is, those who have
walked in uprightness “shall enter into peace: they shall rest in their
[graves].” His soul will enter into peace. His soul will enter into heaven. The
body will rest in that bed that was prepared and sanctified by Jesus, the
firstborn among the dead, who has gone before us. Those who have walked in
righteousness will enter into peace, and they will rest in their sanctified
graves. This is what Christ has purchased for us, but we must notice that before
He was raised, He had to be laid in the grave. Entering the grave comes first.
If we are going to take part in His resurrection, we must take part in His
death.


Christ’s resurrection assures us that our bodies will rest in a sanctified place
while our souls “enter into peace,” to await the reunion of our body and soul in
the last day. John 11:25 says: “Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and
the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live.” If
we believe Him, we will obey Him. The work of sanctification must be wrought in
our souls.


Our Saviour went before His church to the grave that all our fullness should be
of Him. We are complete in Him. We read in Colossians 1:18-19: “And he is the
head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead;
that in all things he might have the preeminence. For it pleased the Father that
in him should all fulness dwell.” In His resurrection we are raised from the
death of the grave and the death of sin. We are to be conformed to Christ’s
image.

Christ’s sanctification of the grave as a resting place for His church was
foretold in the Old Testament burnt offerings. We read this in Leviticus 6:11:
The ashes of the burnt offerings were to be carried forth “without the camp unto
a clean place.” The ashes were what was left after the wrath of God devoured the
sacrifice. In those remains we see the broken body of Christ. So it was with the
ashes of the sacrifice that Christ made for sin, that is, His body was broken by
the sword of God’s Divine justice. We see this in John 19:41-42: “Now in the
place where he was crucified there was a garden; and in the garden a new
sepulchre, wherein was never man yet laid. There laid they Jesus therefore
because of the Jews’ preparation day; for the sepulchre was nigh at hand.” His
body was laid in a clean place, which signifies that He has sanctified the grave
for you and me. It is from there we will be resurrected and all sin and all
flesh and all that is corrupt will be left behind. That new resurrected body
will be perfect, and there will be no sin.


Our Great High Priest offered Himself upon the cross where the fire of God’s
wrath was poured out by the sword of His Divine justice to atone for His church.
Christ’s resurrection is the assurance of His church that the Father accepted
Christ’s sacrifice as payment in full; that His blood has cleansed away all sin
and reconciled a Holy God with hell-deserving sinners.

Our blessed Forerunner was the firstborn from the dead where He gained the
victory over death and the grave as we see in Psalm 16:10: “For thou wilt not
leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see
corruption.” Jesus sanctified the grave and came out with a holy triumph. The
holy triumph that Jesus Christ exclaimed over death and the grave has been cause
for joy to His whole living church throughout all ages as we see in Revelation
1:18: “I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore,
Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.” He is telling us of the
tremendous crown He has gained as a victory over the grave.


Oh beloved, let the enemies of the King of kings tremble and fear. We see in
Matthew 28:2-4: “And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the
Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door,
and sat upon it. His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as
snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.” The
enemies of Christ will be made His footstool. They will be put under His feet.


But let those whose enmity against God has been broken rejoice—those whose
affections have been renewed and regenerated by the Holy Spirit. We read in
Matthew 28:5-8: “And the angel answered and said unto the women, Fear not ye:
for I know that ye seek Jesus, which was crucified. He is not here: for he is
risen, as he said. Come, see the place where the Lord lay. And go quickly, and
tell his disciples that he is risen from the dead; and, behold, he goeth before
you into Galilee; there shall ye see him: lo, I have told you. And they departed
quickly from the sepulchre with fear and great joy; and did run to bring his
disciples word. And as they went to tell his disciples, behold, Jesus met them,
saying, All hail. And they came and held him by the feet, and worshipped him.”

There is nothing for us to tremble about if we are walking in the way of Christ.
Those seeking Jesus were told to see where the Lord lay. See the sanctified
grave, the grave over which He has gained the victory. His enemies fled in
fear.


Oh, what a blessing we see in the message of the angel as the friends of our
Saviour stood at the empty grave: “He is not here!” He is not in the things of
death. If we feel that the Lord has withdrawn Himself, then we must ask
ourselves: “Where has He gone? Why has He departed?” It is because we are at the
wrong place. We should not be among the things of death.


He is not found in the soul of a dead sinner! He cannot be found in the
soul-destroying pleasures of this world! If our hearts are set on the things of
this earth, Christ will withdraw. We must be dwelling among the flock of Christ.

He is not found in the workhouse of the self-righteous Pharisee, nor in the head
knowledge of the puffed up scribe. We can come to where we think we are such
authorities in the Word of God, but we find that the Lord is not there. He is
not in a legal repentance of those who desire to escape the consequences of sin,
but still love sin and trample on the blood of Christ. To all those the angel
says, “He is not here: for he is risen, as he said.” If we want to dwell among
the things of death, He is not here. We must look to a Jesus who has been lifted
up. Then we see that after we have understood the sting of sin and the sting of
the things of death, then our eyes are lifted above these things. Our eyes are
lifted up to a crucified Christ, the crucified victor over death and the grave.


What a blessing if we know what it is to find our lovely Saviour on the throne
of His exaltation, when our eyes are lifted above the things of this life, to
see a Saviour exalted above the things of death. I will show you where that
throne is, and it is such a condescension. We see in Isaiah 57:15: “For thus
saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I
dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble
spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the
contrite ones.” A contrite and humble heart is the throne of that risen Saviour.
That is where He rules as prophet, priest and king. This to me is the most
precious part of the resurrection of Christ—He has been exalted and is sitting
as King of kings and Lord of lords. That throne has been established in the
hearts of the humble and contrite.

When we learn to bow before His throne we shall find peace for our souls. The
kingdom of heaven is at hand. Enter it today. Enter into the service of the Lord
so He may rule as King on the throne of your heart. We read in Matthew 11:28-30:
“Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye
shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Those who are laboring under the heavy load of sin, those who are struggling
against the powers of hell and sin and find that they have no might against this
army, He tells them to come to Him and He will give them rest. He knocks at the
door of our hearts and calls us to open the door and let Him in. He wants to
rule our hearts. He wants a humble and contrite spirit and wants to sit on the
throne of our hearts. He wants us to look up and worship Him.


We learn that He is in the blessed image of God, reflecting the character of God
in our human nature. He humbled Himself and became obedient to death, even the
death of the cross. He is telling us to humble ourselves and become obedient to
death, the death of all things of sin.


He is telling us to learn of Him and to follow in His footsteps. He has become
the express image of His Father. Now He wants us to be conformed to that image.


Are we looking for a place to rest from the things of this world? Are we looking
for Christ to set up His throne in our hearts? We do this by learning of Him.
His yoke is easy because if we have labored under the heavy load of sin, then it
becomes the delight of our hearts to do His will.

 
And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because
he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God (Romans
8:27). 

 
FOR OUR FOURTH POINT, let’s consider how “he maketh intercession for the saints
according to the will of God.”
    
As God’s dear children grow in grace, the greatest desire of the heart is for
the Spirit’s enlightening of the heart and mind to know the will of God.
 
We read in Hebrews 5 about babes in grace and that they desire the sincere milk
of the word. Then there are young men in grace, and then there are fathers in
grace, who have strong meat.
 
As we grow in grace, we grow smaller and smaller and smaller within ourselves.
 
We read in 1 Corinthians 13:11: “When I was a child, I spake as a child, I
understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away
childish things.”
 
I want you to stop and picture something. A little child is always increasing.
She is 1, and then pretty soon she is a big girl now. She is 2. She keeps
growing and soon she says, I am going to go to school. Everything in the future
is big and increasing. I am going to college. I am going to be ... Everything
keeps gaining momentum.
 
When we become men, we put away childish things. John the Baptist said in John
3:30: “He must increase, but I must decrease.”
 
In Matthew 18:2-3, the Lord Jesus was speaking to His disciples as they asked
who was going to be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven: “And Jesus called a
little child unto him, and set him in the midst of them, And said, Verily I say
unto you, Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not
enter into the kingdom of heaven.”
 
This means that except we become as a little child we cannot enter His service.
We cannot enter His kingdom. We cannot come under the kingship of Christ unless
we become as a little child.
 
So, when I became a man, I put away childish things, and I started to grow in
grace, and how did I grow? I grew smaller and smaller and smaller within myself.
I started to hunger and thirst after the knowledge of the will of God.
 
Now it is not such a big future anymore that I have all figured out for myself.
Now my future is: Lord, what is your will?

 
How often our heart has to go out to the Lord and say, Lord, give me the wisdom
to know your will, and the grace to do your will.
 
As we grow in grace, we have a longing desire to know the will of God. Why? We
hate evil. We love God. We become as a little child. A little child can sit at
the table with no concerns about who is going to pay the taxes or the light bill
or any of the expenses, or where the food comes from that is on the table. They
have a childlike faith, trusting that their father has put it there. It never
enters their minds where it comes from.
 
When you and I truly become as a little child and have childlike faith, then we
begin trusting the Lord, and we see that He makes provision for us. Then we do
not worry so much about the things of this life. Now we are maturing into a
full-grown father in grace, and that is called eating the meat. We come to the
point that we become as that little child.
 
In Psalm 143:10, I want you to take notice of the breathing of the heart of the
man of God: “Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God: thy spirit is good;
lead me into the land of uprightness.”

 
How did he know that His Spirit is good? The Spirit teaches him the mind of God.
When the Holy Spirit begins to intercede in our hearts according to the will of
God, then the cry of our hearts becomes like we read from David in this psalm.
Verse 10 shows that childlike spirit wanting to be taught. He understood that
Spirit of God in the desire to do the will of God.
 
Now watch the next verse: “Quicken me, O LORD, for thy name’s sake: for thy
righteousness’ sake bring my soul out of trouble.” 

 
Now he is starting to hunger and thirst after the knowledge of His will. That is
as we grow in grace. As we become more mature in grace that becomes our food by
night and day. Then it is our prayer constantly to seek the Lord’s will, not to
have Him snap to do our will.
 
He sometimes sends adversity, and we should pray, Lord, give me submission to
this, not deliver me from it. Give me to be able to glorify you in the fire. In
that tribulation, in that furnace of affliction, give me to be able to do what
is for your glory, not being concerned about ourselves. We ask, What is His
will?
 
David said in a prophetic way in Psalm 40:6: “Sacrifice and offering thou didst
not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast
thou not required.”
 
He is maturing. He is becoming mature in Christianity, in godliness, in the fear
of the Lord.  

 
Continuing in verses 7 and 8 we read: “Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of
the book it is written of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law
is within my heart.”
 
He was prophesying of the Lord Jesus Christ. We now become conformed to the Lord
Jesus Christ.
 
That becomes the central desire of the heart. When the Holy Spirit intercedes
and comes with the word of sanctification in our heart, now it is a constant
desire to do the will of God. Then we say with the psalmist: Teach me your will.
Open my understanding to understand what would be your will. His law is written
in our hearts, not on tables of stone, but on the fleshly tables of our hearts.
It is our total desire to do what is pleasing to the Lord.
 
I am not primarily seeking heaven. I am not primarily trying to find a way to
escape hell. What I want to do is please the Lord. I want to do what He created
me for, and that is to live to His glory. That becomes my primary concern.
 
If you were one of my children, the fact that you are one of my children is what
makes it that you now dwell in my home. If we are one of God’s children, and if
we truly fear the Lord, then we will dwell with Him. That is how we go to
heaven.

 
It is that we have been adopted into the family of God. That adoption is through
the Lord Jesus Christ, primarily and first through His obedience. As Christ’s
obedience is imputed and imparted to us, we become conformed to the image of
Christ. We now have that same Christlike spirit.
 
That spirit, that mind of Christ, becomes our desire.
 
David’s ears were opened (verse 6) to hear the will of God, that he could
discern it. When his ears were opened to hear the will of God, his mouth was
opened to preach it. I want you to see this in verse 9: “I have preached
righteousness in the great congregation: lo, I have not refrained my lips, O
LORD, thou knowest.”
 
How do we preach the righteousness of God? Until we start preaching with our
heals, we do not have to start with our lips.

 
I visited with a brother the other night. I said: When a person comes to me and
wants to give me his testimony and a big profession of what a Christian he is, I
do not even want to hear it unless his life corresponds with it. If his life
does not correspond with it, it is mockery to make such a big profession. Until
our heart has been renewed, until we have a new desire, until it is our chief
and most longing desire to do the will of God, we do not have anything to talk
about. If we still cherish sin, if we still cherish the things of the flesh, we
have nothing to preach about.

 
The prophet Isaiah spoke of receiving the tongue of the learned after his ear
had been awakened to hear. I want you to see the chronology of this. We first
receive the ear to hear. In other words, we become teachable. We come to the
point where we have a new desire, and it is our desire to do the will of God
before we can teach it.
 
We read in Isaiah 50:4: “The Lord GOD hath given me the tongue of the learned,
that I should know how to speak a word in season to him that is weary: he
wakeneth morning by morning, he wakeneth mine ear to hear as the learned.”
 
When He awakens our ears to hear, we are able to speak a word in season. Until I
have learned to listen, I do not have anything that I can tell that is to the
Lord’s glory.
 
As we see from our text, this principle applies to prayer as well. Notice Romans
8:27: “And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”
 
He searches the heart. That is first. Our minds have to be in conformity with
the mind of the Spirit. Now He gives us what to speak so we can enter into
prayer from the heart. It is not just reciting a prayer out of a prayer book. A
sigh, a groan. One or two words from the heart is more prayer than a whole hour
of reciting fluent words all from the head. 

 
The more we have received of an ear to hear the will of God the more we will
receive of the tongue of the Spirit to intercede for us.
 
John 15:7 says: “If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye shall ask what
ye will, and it shall be done unto you.” If we have learned to hear, and His
words abide in us, we will be able to use our tongues to bring forth a prayer, a
petition, that the Lord will be willing to hear. We have heard with a spiritual
ear. We have had that penetrate our hearts.   
 
As our ear to hear God’s will grows into the exercise of saving faith by showing
love to our neighbor, in just that same proportion we receive the tongue of the
learned in prayer.
 
The Lord Jesus Christ says in Matthew 7:24: “Therefore whosoever heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built
his house upon a rock.”
 
In verse 26, He says: “And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and
doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon
the sand.”
 
The hearing is the spiritual hearing. It is the ear of that intercessory prayer
of the Spirit, and now the words that come forth after we understand the will of
God are the words that are given us by the Spirit.
 
As our ear to hear grows into the exercise of saving faith, it is by showing
love to our neighbor. I can come before the Lord and ask Him to forgive me and
to show mercy, and the first thing that happens when the Holy Spirit really
comes to intercede is that He opens my understanding and brings me into the
court of my conscience.

 
You are asking for mercy. Have you shown mercy? I am going to give you the exact
same mercy you have shown. You are asking me to forgive you, but as the Lord’s
prayer says, He forgives as I forgive: “For if ye forgive men their trespasses,
your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 
But if ye forgive not men their
trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:14-15).
 
We want to notice that hearing comes first. We have to learn to hear the will of
God.
 
I want you to see how this ties in with showing love to our neighbor. We receive
the tongue of the learned in prayer in the same proportion that we extend
ourselves to our neighbor.
 
We read about acceptable prayer and fasting in Isaiah 58:7-9: “Is it not to deal
thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy
house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not
thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning,
and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go
before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call,
and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou
take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and
speaking vanity.”
 
See how this becomes effectual prayer—when our footsteps begin to correspond
with the will of God. 

 
We read in Luke 11:1: “And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain
place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to
pray, as John also taught his disciples.”
 
The prayers of the Lord Jesus Christ were effectual because He delighted in the
will of the Father. He said: I know that you hear me always. This was because He
was without sin. He never had sinned, and the Father heard Him always. When the
disciples heard Him pray, they asked Him: Lord, teach us to pray. 

 
In the Lord’s prayer, Jesus taught us what our priorities must be in prayer,
that is, what we are to ask for ahead of any personal desires. When you and I
come to lay our petitions before the Lord, we must to it in the proper order,
with a proper set of priorities.
 
We read in Matthew 6:9-10: “After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father
which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in
earth, as it is in heaven.”
 
The Lord is telling them the manner of prayer. Our first desire is to hallow and
glorify the name of the Father. Then, we express that we want to come under His
kingship. We get back to the same prayer that David prayed: Teach me your will.
After we have petitioned for the knowledge of His will and that His kingdom
might come and that His will might be done in earth as it is in heaven, then we
may ask for our own needs. This shows us the priorities in prayer as the Lord
Jesus taught His disciples to pray.
 
We need to pray in a manner in which the glory of God is our first thought. The
second is that His will be made known.
 
When the Holy Spirit makes intercession in our hearts, our prayers will be in
the right priority. The first and uppermost thought in our hearts is to seek His
will. 

 
As we become conformed to the image of Christ, our first priority is to honor
our heavenly Father by doing His will, and to do His will, our first petition
has to be: Lord, what is your will? He intercedes in our heart, giving us a
hunger and a desire after righteousness, after doing the will of God.
 
Watch what the Lord Jesus said in Matthew 26:42: “He went away again the second
time, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if this cup may not pass away from me,
except I drink it, thy will be done.”
 
Can we pray for His will to be done even if it means the crucifying of our
flesh? This is what we need to understand if we are going to have the Holy
Spirit interceding for us, giving us prayer that is acceptable before God. 

 
When we have received the ear of the learned to hear the will of God, the Spirit
intercedes in our hearts to pray for wisdom to know the revealed will of God and
grace to do His will.
 
I want you to see something. There is a difference between the secret and the
revealed will of God.
 
We read in Deuteronomy 29:29: “The secret things belong unto the LORD our God:
but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children for ever,
that we may do all the words of this law.”
 
We are not to pray that the Lord reveal His secret will to us. We want to know
His revealed will.
 
I heard this scripture recited a thousand times as a young man and never
realized the last part of that verse until I really started studying it in my
own Bible. It says: “That we may do all the words of this law.” The Lord reveals
His revealed will because that is what He wants us to do. We are not to meddle
with His secret will. I am not to sit back and say, Well, if the Lord loved me
from eternity, and if I am elect and I am going to be saved, then I am going to
sit here and wait until the Lord saves me. Then I am venturing into His secret
will.
 
His revealed will is “that we may do all the words of this law.” I must do that
even if I must spend eternity in hell. If His secret will is that He is going to
save me or if His secret will is that He is not going to save me is not what I
should be prying into. What I should be prying into is, Lord, what is your
revealed will, and His revealed will is “that we may do all the words of this
law.”
 
The Spirit never intercedes in our behalf to pry into the secret will of God.
The religion of many people I know of is wrapped around: if I am elect, and if,
if, if, prying into the secret will of God. You know, the Lord keeps it secret
because He has His revealed will that He wants us to obey.
 
If I knew the secret will of God, and I knew that God has foreordained that I am
going to spend eternity with Him in heaven, and I cherish sin, what is going to
pull me away from sin? However, if I do not know His secret will, and I am not
making that my main objective, I am looking at His revealed will. He says that I
should love my neighbor. He says that I should do these things that He has
revealed in His will, and now my prayer is Lord, what is your will, not what is
your secret will, but what is your revealed will? What will you have me to do?
 
I want you to see God’s revealed will for Nineveh. We see in the history of
Jonah and Nineveh a beautiful illustration of how displeasing it is to the Lord
and how wretchedly wicked it is to try to pry into and make our decisions on the
basis of God’s secret will. It is a horrible sin.
 
We read in Jonah 3:2: “Arise, go unto Nineveh, that great city, and preach unto
it the preaching that I bid thee.”
 
This was His revealed will. 
 
We read in verses 3 and 4: “So Jonah arose, and went unto Nineveh, according to
the word of the LORD. Now Nineveh was an exceeding great city of three days’
journey. And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried,
and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.”
 
This was God’s revealed will for Nineveh. His secret will was that they were
going to repent, and He was going to save them, but He did not tell Jonah: You
run down the street and tell them that as soon as they repent, I will save them,
because I have already predetermined that they are going to repent, and I am
going to save them. They would never have repented.
 
The revealed will of God that Jonah had to bring forward was: “Yet forty days,
and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” Now, I want you to understand. He did not
preach the gospel to them. The doctrine of repentance was not preached to them.
They were not even told to repent, and I want to tell you why. The Lord Jesus
Christ uses that to illustrate the rebellion of the Christian nation. He says, A
greater than Jonah is here, and Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah. What
He is saying is: He did not even preach repentance. He just preached: “Yet forty
days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.” That was His revealed will, and they
acted on it. They believed it.
 
It was through preaching God’s revealed will that His secret will was
accomplished. When Jonah preached: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be
overthrown,” the people of Nineveh believed God and fasted as we see in Jonah
3:5-9: “So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on
sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came
unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe
from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to
be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his
nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let
them not feed, nor drink water: But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth,
and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and
from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and
repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?”
 
If Jonah had preached the secret will of God that He was not going to destroy
Nineveh at the end of forty days, they would not have repented. So, the Lord
performed His secret will by the preaching of His revealed will. 

 
It is a great sin to rebel against God’s revealed will through speculation of
His secret will. This is what Jonah did. He was speculating on the secret will
and acted on it instead of the revealed will. This is happening in many churches
today. They speculate on the secret will of God and therefore continue in sin
that grace may abound.
 
I want you to see in Jonah 4:1: “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was
very angry.”
 
He was displeased that they repented, and the Lord did not overthrow them. He
was displeased that what he preached did not happen. 

 
We read in verses 2 and 3: “And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee,
O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled
before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful,
slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore
now, O LORD, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to
die than to live.” 

 
Jonah speculated, and that is why he fled and did not go to do what he was told
to do. He speculated on the secret will of God.
 
So how are we to come to the knowledge of God’s revealed will? We are not to pry
into God’s secret will. We must act on His revealed will. Jesus said in John
5:39: “Search the scriptures; for in them ye think ye have eternal life: and
they are they which testify of me.”
 
If we are to pray according to His will, the first thing I want to bring to our
attention according to the revealed will of God is: “Search the scriptures; for
in them ye think ye have eternal life: and they are they which testify of me.”
 
I want to show you what happens. There are thousands of denominations, and they
each have their own interpretation of the Bible, and millions are being deceived
into hell with a Bible in their hands. This happens because they are not
searching the Scriptures for themselves, and they believe what someone told
them. They are listening to someone’s interpretation, and they are not searching
the Scriptures for the will of God.
 
I talked to a brother just the other evening. Yeah, you sure opened my eyes, he
said. That is something I never noticed. All you have to do is read the
Scriptures. It is there.
 
There is grave danger in relying on some powerful preacher, or church traditions
and doctrine, instead of searching the Scriptures.
 
I know of a young man who had his own mechanics shop, but he heard about some
powerful preacher in Texas, so he gave away everything, took all of his things
out of the house, disposed of them, got in a car, and headed for Texas. Had he
stopped to study the Word of God, he would not have had to run behind any
powerful preacher. It says, Search the Scriptures.
 
We have church traditions, and they are not the will of God. We need to search
the Word of God for His will.
 
I want you to see what it says in 2 Timothy 4:3-4: “For the time will come when
they will not endure sound doctrine; but after their own lusts shall they heap
to themselves teachers, having itching ears; And they shall turn away their ears
from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.”
 
The Holy Spirit gives you the ear to hear the truth, and where is it to be
found? In the Word of God. When we have some authority that is a higher
authority than the Word of God, then we have itching ears. They will not endure
sound doctrine. They do not want the truth.
 
They all claim to preach the Word of God. This one has this interpretation, and
that one has that interpretation. My Bible has never authorized one human being
on the face of the earth to ever interpret the Word of God. It says read the
Scriptures. It does not say interpret. 

 
God’s Word declares that it is noble to confirm what is preached—even if it is
preached by one of Christ’s true apostles—by searching the Scriptures to see if
those things are so. If you take everything I tell you and never go back into
the Word of God to confirm whether it is the Word of God, you are not wise. I
try to just literally unfold the Word, but you are still not wise if you are
relying on a person instead of the Word. The Word is the authority. You must
never sit under the proclamation of any preacher without going back to confirm
that the Word says what he says.
 
You start searching the Scriptures and the will of God starts unfolding because
you will find verses before and after the ones I have cited that the Lord may
use to turn on the greatest light for you. No person can unfold the fullness of
the Word. It is not granted to human tongue to do that. These blessings are
conveyed in the searching of the Scriptures.
 
The Lord Jesus Christ had a reason for saying, Search the Scriptures. It is in
the Word of God that there is power.
 
I want you to see how that in the days of the apostles, the men of Berea were
noble. We read in Acts 17:10-12: “And the brethren immediately sent away Paul
and Silas by night unto Berea: who coming thither went into the synagogue of the
Jews. These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received
the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether
those things were so. Therefore many of them believed; also of honourable women
which were Greeks, and of men, not a few.”
 
They were under the preaching of one of the apostles of Jesus Christ, but they
did not just take it for granted. Well, after all, he is sent by the Lord, so
what he says is true. No, they searched the Scriptures to confirm it. The
connecting word therefore shows that because of this many of them believed. See
the blessedness that the Lord brought upon the church of Berea because those men
obeyed, and they searched the Scriptures and found that what was preached to
them was so. The Lord blessed it, and many believed.

 
It is because they searched the Scriptures and found that these things were so
that they had the ear of the learned to hear.

 
Those who have not received the ear of the learned to hear what the Spirit says
to the churches would not hear God’s precious will even if God would send one of
their loved ones from the pit of hell to testify of God’s will.
 
You might say that if a man I knew personally, and I saw him buried, and all of
a sudden that man came back to me and started saying, I came right out of the
pit of hell and I come to warn you: Be careful. That is real. It is genuine, you
would say, That would scare anyone straight, would it not? The Word of God says
no.
 
It says that if you will not hear my word, you would not hear that either. Why
would we believe a man had come out of hell and started preaching to us if we
will not hear: Thus saith the Lord?
 
I want to read that to you right out of Luke 16:27-29: “Then he said, I pray
thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house: For I
have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this
place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let
them hear them.”
 
“Moses and the prophets” means they have the law of God, and they have the
inspired teachings of the gospel. That word prophets means all inspired
teaching. In other words, let them search the Scriptures, and if they refuse to
do that, and they refuse to hear me, they will not listen to you either. 

 
Continuing in verses 30 and 31 we read: “And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but
if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If
they hear not Moses [that is, the revealed will of God] and the prophets [that
is, the inspired teaching of the gospel], neither will they be persuaded, though
one rose from the dead.”
 
Do you see why it is important for us to search the Scriptures? The Spirit gives
us the ear of the learned to know the will of God, and if that is not where our
hungering desire is, we would not hear if the Lord did send one out of the
grave. 

 
Searching the Scriptures is more than a mere casual reading of it as a literal
book for our own interpretation.
 
In 2 Timothy 3:7 we read: “Ever learning, and never able to come to the
knowledge of the truth.”

 
We can read it as a literal book. We can read it with a closed mind, with a hard
heart.
 
Verse 8 says: “Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also
resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.”
 
They resist the truth because they do not love the truth, so they start
interpreting the truth, and when they get done they can make 1 Timothy 2 tell
you they can put a lesbian in the pulpit. Yet, the Word clearly says no. They do
not love the truth, and therefore they withstand the truth even as those whom
the earth swallowed alive. They do not desire to know the truth. They hear what
they want to hear, and if it does not say that they will twist it until it does,
so they can say, This is what I believe.

 
Reprobatemeans devoid of sound judgment. The Lord has blinded their minds so
they do not understand because they did not desire to understand.
 
These who are never able to come to the knowledge of the truth are those who
never learned to love the truth. They never understood what it was to desire to
know.
 
We read in 2 Timothy 3:1-5: “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, fierce,
despisers of those that are good, Traitors, heady, highminded, lovers of
pleasures more than lovers of God; Having a form of godliness, but denying the
power thereof: from such turn away.”
 
These are men of religion. They are religious people, and they do not have a
grain of religion that is pleasing to the Lord. They have every trait and every
element of violating the second table of the law, but they still have a form of
religion.
 
How are they denying the power of godliness? Godliness is to love God above all
with your heart, your soul and your mind. They are denying the power of it,
which would have a tendency to give you to love your neighbor as yourself. If
you really love God above all, you would automatically love your neighbor as
yourself because God has so commanded you. All these violations of the second
table of the law, and they still claim to be religious, but this is the perilous
time that shall come in the last days.
 
When the Holy Spirit intercedes to help us know the will of God, it becomes our
highest desire and our chiefest prayer, Lord, what is your will?
 
To thousands who think they are searching the Scriptures, it is but a sealed
book because their eye of faith is not fixed upon Christ. They are going to
become some authority in themselves, or they are searching the Scriptures with a
selfish motive. They are not searching the Scriptures to find out what is the
will of God, but they are searching the Scriptures to see how they can escape
the consequences of sin. That is the motive, but the motive must be searching to
find the will of God so we may do it.
 
In 2 Corinthians 3:12-14 we read: “Seeing then that we have such hope, we use
great plainness of speech: And not as Moses, which put a vail over his face,
that the children of Israel could not stedfastly look to the end of that which
is abolished: But their minds were blinded: for until this day remaineth the
same vail untaken away in the reading of the old testament; which vail is done
away in Christ.” 

 
That veil which comes over the eyes, that form of religion that is only for the
sake of religion, is done away when the eyes are fixed on Christ. When Christ
becomes our pattern, when Christ becomes the object of our love, when Christ
becomes the object of our faith, then that veil is taken away. We begin to
realize that Christ is preached from Genesis 1 through Revelation 22, and if our
eyes are not fixed on Christ, then we have a veil over our eyes.
 
The Lord Jesus Christ came to do the will of God, and if we have our eyes fixed
on Christ, we start to understand what is said in John 14:6: “Jesus saith unto
him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but
by me.”

 
There is no way to the Lord outside of Christ. So, we have to search for Christ
in the reading of the Scriptures, and He is all the way through the Old
Testament as well as the New Testament. So we search the Scriptures because
“they are they which testify of me” (John 5:39), and He was talking about the
Old Testament. The New Testament was not yet written.
 
As the Holy Spirit begins to make intercession in our hearts “according to the
will of God,” we will learn the prayer of David in Psalm 119:18: “Open thou mine
eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.”
 
The law of God, if we understand it properly, points us to Christ because Christ
came to fulfill the law. If we rightly see the law we have to see it as having
been fulfilled in Christ. 

 
See the venting of the heart of the man after God’s own heart as the Holy Spirit
intercedes in prayer “according to the will of God.”
 
I want you to look at Psalm 119:142: “Thy righteousness is an everlasting
righteousness, and thy law is the truth.”
 
The Lord Jesus says: I am the truth. See where we find the Lord Jesus in the
law. 

 
Verse 143 says: “Trouble and anguish have taken hold on me: yet thy commandments
are my delights.”
 
This is true even if it crucifies my flesh to keep His law.  
 
We read in verses 144 to 146: “The righteousness of thy testimonies is
everlasting: give me understanding, and I shall live. I cried with my whole
heart; hear me, O LORD: I will keep thy statutes. I cried unto thee; save me,
and I shall keep thy testimonies.”
 
See how the breathings of the heart under trial is a longing desire: Lord, show
me your will. Help me to understand your will.  

 
These prayers were the fruit of David having his eye of faith fixed upon his
blessed Redeemer’s reverence for His Father’s will. Christ is in this, and that
is what we must learn to see so it does not become a Pharisaical law religion.
It is the spirit of the law, a desire to do out of a motive of love, a desire to
do that which is pleasing unto the Lord.
 
I want you to see how these very prayers of David were prophetic in themselves.
These prayers were the fruit of having his eyes fixed on his blessed Redeemer
and His reverence for the Father’s will. In this longing desire to do the will
of the Father, he saw the Redeemer’s desire and how the Father would be so
glorified in Christ’s obedience.
 
I want you to see this in Hebrews 10:7-9: “Then said I, Lo, I come (in the
volume of the book it is written of me,) to do thy will, O God. Above when he
said, Sacrifice and offering and burnt offerings and offering for sin thou
wouldest not, neither hadst pleasure therein; which are offered by the law; Then
said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God. He taketh away the first, that he may
establish the second.” 

 
This was the heart cry of David. In a prophetic way, in his meditations and his
prayers before the Lord, David cited those very same words. Now, in Hebrews, it
is written about Christ: “In the volume of the book it is written of me.” In
other words, it was prophesied of me.
 
We read from David in Psalm 40:6-9: “Sacrifice and offering thou didst not
desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt offering and sin offering hast thou
not required. Then said I, Lo, I come: in the volume of the book it is written
of me, I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.”
 
When David vented that in his heart before the Lord, he did so with his eyes on
Christ. That is what we have to learn to understand as we search the Scriptures.
Our searching is to be with our eyes on Christ and to see how Christ is the
center of the Word, that Christ is the Word. That is what we read in John 1: And
the Word was made flesh, and the Word was God. Christ is the Word.

 
Our text says in Romans 8:27: “And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is
the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according
to the will of God.”
 
When the Holy Spirit instills spiritual prayer in our hearts, the words, the
longing desires, the prayer of the heart, centers in the will of God. That is
true intercession of the Spirit: when the will of God becomes our chiefest and
highest desire, anything that will honor and glorify God and that will
accomplish His will. 

“And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because
the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his
daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.” 1 SA 30:6.


David's faith faltered. In 1 SA 27:1 it says, “And David said in his heart, I
shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me
than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul
shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I
escape out of his hand.” David had been anointed king; he knew he would be
king, but look how his human reasoning came against him. He had to run from the
hand of Saul and ran into the land of the Philistines. That was where he sought
safety.

But what happened to him in the land of the Philistines? Ziklag was burned with
fire. The Lord used that fire to drive David out of the Philistine’s land.
Right in the extremity of David’s life was the turning point when he became
king. When he left Ziklag he went to Hebron and was anointed king. That was
where the fulfillment of that impossible promise took place. His own men had
talked of stoning him, but in such extremity he turned back and strengthened
himself in the Lord. In 1 SA 30:6 we read, “And David was greatly distressed;
for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was
grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged
himself in the LORD his God.”

That was when David’s faith was restored: at the point of all human
impossibility, when it became absolutely impossible and his own men had turned
against him, he “encouraged himself in the LORD,” and He gave David supernatural
strength. He went in the strength of his faith. We see in 1 SA 30:4, “Then
David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until
they had no more power to weep.” David and his men had so worn themselves out
that “they had no more power to weep.” They were exasperated and at the end of
their strength. They had wept until “they had no more power to weep.”

1 SA 30:10 says, “But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred
abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.”
Why did he go with four hundred instead of six hundred men? Two hundred were so
faint they were not able to cross the brook! Stop and think about how David was
so worn and weak, but then he went forth in supernatural strength. He pursued
them all that night. The next morning he came upon the camp where they had taken
the spoil. It says in 1 SA 30:17, “And David smote them from the twilight even
unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four
hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled.” After two hundred men
were so faint that they could not cross the brook, David, with four hundred men,
still traveled all night, came upon the army just at the break of day, and
fought hand to hand for thirty-six hours! See the absolute human
impossibility. See the supernatural strength the Lord gave David and those four
hundred men and how they gained the victory and brought the spoil. They went
from there to Hebron where David became king.

Do you see how the Lord brings us through such human impossibilities? Faith was
bright. By faith, David had such strength, but when he fled from the land of
Israel, he said, “I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.” He was using
human reasoning. True faith is such a pillar and gives such strength that we
can go where it is humanly impossible to go. Amen.

I am trusting Thee, Lord Jesus,
Trusting only Thee;
Trusting Thee for full salvation,
Great and free.

I am trusting Thee to guide me;
Thou alone shalt lead,
Every day and hour supplying
All my need.

I am trusting Thee, Lord Jesus;
Never let me fall;
I am trusting Thee for ever,
And for all.
Frances R. Havergal, 1874