Sermon Title: Quicken Me, O Lord

Sermon Text: Psalm 119.

Preached on: May 1st, 2011 (Midway Baptist)
Rob Fleshman

TURN TO PSALM 119. Chippie never saw it coming. One second he was peacefully
perched in his cage. The next he was sucked in, washed up, and blown over. The problem
began when Chippie's owner decided to clean Chippie's cage with her vacuum cleaner. It
was when she turned to answer the phone that Chippie accidentally got sucked in.
The owner gasped, put down the phone, turned off the vacuum, and opened the bag.
There was Chippie-still alive, but stunned. She grabbed him and raced to the bathroom to
wash him off. Then, realizing that Chippie was soaked and shivering, she reached for the
hair dryer and blasted the pet with hot air. Poor Chippie never knew what hit him.
A few days after the trauma, a reporter contacted Chippie's owner to see how the bird was
recovering. "Well," she replied, "Chippie doesn't sing much anymore-he just sits and
stares." Application: In the life of every Christian who is striving to live for the glory of
God, there will be such days that we must endure. We may start off the morning singing
on our perches, but by night fall, we wind up stunned and staring into space. And the
mechanism that does it may be in the form of a discouraging report from labwork
an overheated car words from your spouse announcing that it is over
a pink slip a prodigal child or a hundred other unexpected hurt and headache and
heartache.
The result is, we feel as though we could just die. We are broken and bruised and
bewildered; and feel as though hat all of the life has just been taken away from usby
force. What we need is to be quickened by God. Quicken means to recover, repair,
restore, revive (to make alive that which was dead). The week after Resurrection Sunday,
we should know that our God is in the business of bringing the dead back to life.He is
in the quickening business.

I Quicken me, O Lord, Because the Trial is Raging (Ps 119:107)

Psalms 119:107--I am afflicted very much: quicken me, O LORD, according unto thy word.
Well-known missionary Amy Carmichael once wrote the following poem about the
sufferings that flow in the midst of trials and following Christ.
POEM: Hast thou no scar? No hidden scar on foot, or side, or hand? I hear thee sung
as mighty in the land, I hear them hail thy bright ascendant star,
Hast thou no scar? Hast thou no wound?
Yet I was wounded by the archers, spent, Leaned Me against a tree to die; and rent
By ravening beasts that compassed Me, I swooned: Hast thou no wound?
No wound, no scar?
Yet, as the Master shall the servant be,And, pierced are the feet that follow Me;
But thine are whole: can he have followed far Who has no wounds nor scar?

Jesus suffered greatly while on this earth, and we know that John 15:20--.The servant
is not greater than his lord. If they have persecuted me, they will also persecute you;
When you and I took on the name of Christ, and identify ourselves with Him, its a
package deal that a measuring of suffering and pain go along with being a follower of
Christ and facing times of trials. But I want to encourage you that it was in a PRISON
CELL that Joseph knew the very real presence of the Lord. It was in a LIONs DEN that
Daniel's faith was proved. It was in the FIREY FURNACE that Daniel's three friends
found themselves accompanied by a fourth Friend, the Friend of sinners. And whatever
furnace, prison, or lions den you might be facing today, God is still big enough to meet
you there.

Andrew Murray was a pastor during the 1800s. He was facing a most difficult time in his
own life and Christian walk and wrote these few words of much wisdom.
First, He brought me here. It is by His will I am in this strait place: in that fact I will rest.
Next, He will keep me here in His love and give me grace to behave as His child.
Then, He will make the trial a blessing, teaching me the lessons He intends me to learn,
and working in me the grace He means to bestow.
Last, in His time He can bring me out againhow and when He knows. Let me say I am
here, 1) By God's appointment; 2) In His keeping; 3) Under His training; 4) For His time.

Before we move on to the next application, let me ask you,

If God didnt remove the trial you are facing today, but instead enjoined Himself with
you while you are going through it, would you still praise Him?
If God never gave you another single blessing for the rest of your life, would you still
serve Him? Habakkuk 3:17-18--17 Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall
fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat;
the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: 18 Yet I will
rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. Do you love God simply for
WHO HE IS; or do you only love God for WHAT HE GIVES?

Quicken me, O Lord, Because the Trial is Raging, secondly

II Quicken me O, Lord, Because Sin is Wooing (Ps 119:37)
Ps 119:37--Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou me in thy way.

TURN TO ROMANS 7. We speak at times with swelling confidence about the power of
sin in our lives BEFORE we got saved; and looking ahead we know that sin will have no
part in Gods Heaven in the FUTURE. But lets be perfectly honest and candid, the
power of sin in the PRESENT, where we are at now is real, and at times in our life
pressing and strong. And in those moments where we yield ourselves to the temptation
of sin, the pain and the hurt and the suffering that always follows in the wake of sin is
devastating. Yes there is forgiveness in Christ, and yes there is restoration, and yes joy
will come in the morning, but in the night there is but sorrow and pain. Quote: "This is
the bitterest of all-to know that suffering need not have been; that it has resulted from
indiscretion and inconsistency; that it is the harvest of one's own sowing; that the vulture
which feeds on the vitals is a nestling of one's own rearing. Ah me! This is pain! There is
an inevitable Nemesis in life. The laws of the heart and home, of the soul and human life,
cannot be violated with impunity. Sin may be forgiven; the fire of penalty may be changed
into the fire of trial: the love of God may seem nearer and dearer than ever and yet there
is the awful pressure of pain; the trembling heart; the failing of eyes and yearning of
soul; the harp on the willows; the refusal of the lip to sing the Lord's song."
No wonder James wrote, James 1:12-16--12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation:
for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to
them that love him. 13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God
cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted,
when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it
bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. 16 Do not err, my
beloved brethren.
Paul wrote of the Christians ongoing battle with sin. Romans 7:9-21--9 For I was
alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. 10
And the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death. 11 For sin,
taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. 12 Wherefore the
law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good. 13 Was then that which is
good made death unto me? God forbid. But sin, that it might appear sin, working death
in me by that which is good; that sin by the commandment might become exceeding
sinful. 14 For we know that the law is spiritual: but I am carnal, sold under sin. 15 For that
which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I. 16 If then
I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it is good. 17 Now then it is no
more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my
flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that
which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would
not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that
dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.

As Christians, we know that POSITIONALLY we have passed from death to life; but
PRACTICALLY it can sure feel sometimes like we are still dead in trespasses and sins.
Why is that? Because sins power is real; and sin relentlessly rips and pulls at our hearts.
The day you got saved, you realized the power and consequences of sin, and that in and
of yourself, you were incapable of having the victory over sin. So you turned to Jesus
and His shed blood on Calvary, and you became alive in Christ Ephesians 2:1--And you
hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; We are to be dead to sin, and
alive to Christ, but we often get that reversed and over time become dead to Christ and
alive to sin.and Maybe its time for some here this morning, that we reverse that,
asking God afresh to take our dead, lifeless heart; and our dead, lifeless walk, and our dead,
yielding to sin time and again spirit; and beg Jesus to quicken you, because sins power in your
life is great and sin is ever wooing you and me.

III Quicken me O, Lord, Because the Hurt is Real (Psalm 119:25)

Psalms 119:25--My soul cleaveth unto the dust: quicken thou me according to thy word.

TURN TO 2 COR 1. For some in here this morning, perhaps the hurt in your life this
morning is the loss of your healthfor others, perhaps you have lost someone close to
you.for still others, the loss of a job/livelihood, and even your wealth. Id like to
introduce to a man who knew all of those hurts and more and he suffered through them at
once. In one day, in the matter of moments, Job lost his family, his wealth, and his
health.Then over the course of time, his friends pushed him to the brink with false
accusations and misassumptions of Jobs character. The pain and the hurt was such that
Job declared in Job 10:1 My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon
myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

Perhaps you are here this morning and the hurt is such that you feel you have no strength
to go on. I would encourage you that, God cannot fill you with His strength until you are
emptied of your own strength, for HIS strength is made perfect (or complete) in YOUR
weakness.

2Cor 1:3-1- 3 Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of
mercies, and the God of all comfort; 4 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we
may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we
ourselves are comforted of God. 5 For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our
consolation also aboundeth by Christ. 6 And whether we be afflicted, it is for your
consolation and salvation, which is effectual in the enduring of the same sufferings which
we also suffer: or whether we be comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. 7
And our hope of you is stedfast, knowing, that as ye are partakers of the sufferings, so
shall ye be also of the consolation. 8 For we would not, brethren, have you ignorant of
our trouble which came to us in Asia, that we were pressed out of measure, above
strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life: 9 But we had the sentence of death in
ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the dead: 10
Who delivered us from so great a death, and doth deliver: in whom we trust that he will
yet deliver us;

CLOSING: Dr. Paul W. Brand, the noted leprosy expert had a frightening experience
one night when he thought he had contracted leprosy. Dr. Brand arrived in London one
night after an exhausting transatlantic ocean trip and long train ride from the English
coast. He was getting ready for bed, had taken off his shoes, and as he pulled off a sock,
discovered there was no feeling in his heel. To most anyone else this discovery would
have meant very little, a momentary numbness. But Dr. Brand knew that such numbness
was a symptom of leprosy, and the very thought struck terror in his heart.

He rose mechanically, found a pin, sat down again, and pricked the small area below his
ankle. He felt no pain. He thrust the pin deeper, until a speck of blood showed. Still he
felt nothing...His fears overtook him. All that night long, he tried to imagine his new life
as a leper, an outcast, the forced separation from his family. As night receded, he yielded
to hope and in the morning, with clinical objectivity, with steady fingers he bared the skin
below his ankle, jabbed in the point-and yelled. Blessed was the sensation of pain! He
realized that during the long train ride, sitting immobile, he had numbed a nerve. From
then on, whenever Dr. Brand cut his finger, turned an ankle, he was to respond with
fervent gratitude, "Thank God for pain!" Dr. Brand learned that even something to be
dreaded as pain and deep hurt had a purpose.

Application: I dont know what kind of pain you are suffering through this morning,
Christian. I dont know what kind of hurt you may be reeling from; but I do know this
there is a purpose in the painand one day it will be made known to you. But until then,
I encourage you to pray and cry out to the Lord.quicken me. Quicken me because the
trial is raging, because sin is wooing, and because the hurt is real.

Invitation: