Christian Soul Trouble

Psalm 112, please, verse number 7. Psalm 112, verse number 7, He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord. The Lord will bless to us the reading of His Word.

Oftentimes when we preach the Gospel, we use the chart of the two roads and the two destinies, and the whole purpose of the chart is to get located. And it's to help people that are not saved to see their need and to understand where they are in the light of eternity. I'd like to apply getting located today to you and I. We're saved.

We're on our way to heaven, yes. But is there fear in our souls? And where I'm going with this is soul trouble. Is there such a thing as soul trouble in a believer? I'd like to say today there is.

Before you were saved, you will understand what soul trouble was. It was the concern. It was the fear.

It was the frustration. It was the anxiety. It was the helplessness.

Maybe it was the depression. It was the stress of things that were beyond our reach. Does that describe you today? It describes me.

So is it possible then for Christians to be in soul trouble? It is. And my whole purpose for these few minutes is to get us located and to really understand why we are in the condition that we're in. And I believe that today that I'm not the only one that has these feelings or these thoughts.

I believe it is widespread among God's people there is concern. The verse that we have read, He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed trusting in the Lord.

That's speaking of the righteous man. So we can take that for us today. We shall not be afraid.

I'd like to look at two things today. There's not time. There's more.

But I'd like to pick out two in particular. I'd like to pick out government. And I'd like to pick out the Gospel.

We seem to have lost our confidence in our government as a nation, whether you live from Canada or the United States. That's a common feeling. But what I see happening in my life and in life of others is this, that we're taking our lack of confidence in things of the world and we're bringing them into the things of God.

Hence we've got concern in things that maybe we don't need to be concerned about. And hence we've got fears in things that are in the Lord's control. And we have a great high priest.

I'd like to look at government, number one. Does your lack of confidence in the government, if you have a lack of confidence, carry over into the government and the assembly? Maybe that's too pointed this morning, but let's face facts. How is your confidence in the local assembly, in the overseers? What's happening is this, the frustration with government in general is becoming a cause of frustration in the government of the assembly.

My heart goes out to overseers today. Our dear brethren have a tremendous responsibility before God. And we pray for you.

And oftentimes we pray for the government and the powers that be. But I want to ask you, dear believer, today, when was the last time you prayed for the overseers of your assembly? Nine times out of ten, we pray for the government of our nation more than the government of our assembly. Why? Because we're worldly.

We bring things from the outside. We bring the thoughts and the feelings and the unrest of the world. And we bring them into our own soul.

And we bring them into the assembly. Why? Because we've lost sight of our great High Priest. Because we've lost sight of the power of our God.

And our heart is not fixed trusting in the Lord. And we're in soul trouble. We're in soul trouble.

The government of the assembly. We could go down a whole list. We could go down about the media.

Or maybe we could do money. Or our meetings. Or men in general.

And sometimes we're even concerned about the mansions that wait us in the glory. But just think with me today of the government. Is God not able to control the government of nations? He is.

And is not God able to help our overseers? He is. He is. We have a critical spirit today concerning government.

And I fear it is very strong in our local assemblies. Very strong. Is God still on the throne? He is.

We need to pray for our government and for our brethren. And we need to be obedient and submissive. The government of the local assembly.

Number two is the Gospel. Have we lost our confidence in the Gospel? You say, that's a silly question. We're the Gospel Hall Christians.

Have we lost our confidence in the Gospel? It doesn't do any good to invite people to the meeting because no one's saved anyway. Or I don't like that particular preacher that the men have asked to come and speak, so I'm not going to invite anybody. And I'm going to wait until the good preachers come.

Have we lost confidence in the power of the God of the Gospel? Do you see the point? The whole point is this. It's our lack of confidence in God. Whether it is in the government of the local assembly.

Whether it is in the Gospel that we preach. And we bring things into the Gospel, don't we? Because we're dealing with a generation that has an attention span very small. And so we feel that in order to keep one's attention in the Gospel, we need to bring in things that arouse the flesh.

That can keep people awake. That can instill the emotion in the whole time we defile the Gospel. Have we lost confidence in the God of the Gospel, brethren? Honest question.

Serious question. The Gospel that God has told us to preach. And we maybe alter it.

And we maybe change it. Why? Because we're not seeing results. It's not up to us to produce results.

It's up to us to preach the Gospel. So we're discouraged because we sow and we sow and we sow. And maybe we'll see a soul saved once in a great while.

But that's no cause for us to lose confidence in the God of the Gospel. And maybe things in our assembly aren't the way that we think they ought to be. But that's no reason to lose confidence in the God of the government and the assembly.

We've been reminded that we can pray to a God according to His will. And sometimes things don't happen. But does that mean He's not in control? No.

That means He is in control. And that means His will is being worked out. And that His will is being perfected.

And maybe the attitude adjustment is on my part. Our verse says this, He shall not be afraid of evil tidings. His heart is fixed, trusting in the Lord.

Does that describe you this morning? Does that describe me? Or are we in soul trouble today? And our heart isn't fixed. And our heart is wishy-washy. And our heart is all over the place.

And we have no confidence. We have no stability. Why? Because our confidence is misplaced.

Our God has not changed. The Gospel has not changed. It is the power of God unto salvation to them that believe.

And so I'm just going to leave these thoughts with you. Are you in soul trouble today? What was the remedy for soul trouble? Before we were saved, it was faith in God. We've been reminded of our high priest.

We've been reminded of our Lord in heaven who is in complete control. And in every aspect of our life, dear brother, today, God is in control. In every aspect, do we trust Him.