All right, brethren, Psalm 119.
I had this written. It's interesting
that Rob just said that. Psalm 119 holds the very best
practical instruction for those that are born of the Spirit of
God. is some of the wisest practical instruction. This is true spiritual
practice in real time, in real time. Spiritual heart practice
in the midst of suffering. Those that have been born again
of the spirit worship in newness of spirit. We once thought that
life was by our hand, And we once thought our outward practice
was our life and that that was how we were going to be saved.
Our worship is no longer in the letter of the word. Now the Lord by his spirit has
made us to know true life and true worship is in spirit in
the new heart. It's a union between Christ and
that new man he's created within you. It's where you worship God. Now bodily exercise does profit
a little, but it's in the new spirit within us that the Lord
quickens and keeps quickening, keeps teaching, keeps giving
strength, establishing our heart in Him. So in all our trials,
the Lord is teaching us. He's teaching us that heart communion
It's given to us from our Lord himself by him speaking the word
into our new spirit. That is our chief need. That
is our chief need. You notice here in verse 81,
David says, my soul fainteth for thy salvation. I hope in
thy word. Mine eyes fail for thy word. Now look who he's talking about
here, saying, when wilt thou comfort me? He wants the Lord
himself to speak and comfort him. He says in verse 88, quicken
me. He's speaking to the Lord, quicken
me. He's asking the Lord, quicken me. After thy love and kindness,
so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth. So I'll hear the
witness, God says, of his son, and I'll keep that testimony.
I'll believe that witness. God is born in my heart of his
son. Look back at verse 50. He said, this is my comfort in
my affliction, for thy word hath quickened me. It's Christ himself
speaking the word into the spirit, unseen, unheard by natural man,
in spirit, and that's our strength. Now, the first thing that we're
always going to learn, whether it's the first time the Lord
afflicts us and he's teaching us the gospel or whether it's
in any affliction, he always brings us to see this over and
over again. And this is what we've seen with
David here over and over again. He's going to bring us to see
we do not have any strength in ourselves, none in ourselves. If David could quicken himself,
he wouldn't be asking God to do it. He said in verse 81, my soul
fainteth. He said in verse 82, mine eyes
fail. He said in verse 83, for I am
become like a bottle in the smoke, black, sooted, dried up, He said
in verse 85, the proud have digged pits for me. In verse 87, he
said they had almost consumed me upon earth. He didn't have
any strength. He had no ability. Now, first
of all, to understand how entirely we depend upon the strength of
God alone, we need to hear that this is, first of all, our Lord
Jesus speaking when he walked this earth. And he entirely depended
on the Father. He entirely depended on the Father
to be his strength. Now, when that hour drew near,
this is what our substitute said. He said in John 12, 27, now is
my soul troubled. Troubled. That's what he's saying
in our psalm. And he said, now what shall I
say? Father, save me from this hour. But for this cause came
I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. And then came there a voice from
heaven and said, I have both glorified it and will glorify
it again. His strength was the Father.
He depended on the Father. Our Lord could work miracles,
our Lord could do Powerful things that only he could do as the
God man, but he even trusted the father to draw people to
him He said all that the father's giveth me shall come to me. He
trusted the father to do that when he walked to serve Now by
that he's teaching you and me we have to trust him Now that
he's in glory But in the garden of Gethsemane
then he said to them my soul is exceeding sorrowful and Just
like here, he said, my soul fainteth. He said, my soul is exceeding
sorrowful, even unto death. Carry ye here and watch with
me. And he went a little further, and he fell on his face, and
he prayed, saying, O Father, if it be possible, let this cup
pass from me. Nevertheless, not as I will,
but as thou wilt. And he came to the disciples
and he found them asleep and he said to Peter, what, could
you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray. Why? That you not enter temptation. That says you need God to keep
you. And he expressed to them what
he was experiencing in our flesh, though he knew no sin, He expressed
to them, this was his word to them when they're falling asleep
there and could not even watch and pray with him at such a critical
hour. He said, the spirit indeed is
willing, but the flesh is weak. The flesh is weak. Our Lord knew
that. We can hear our Savior pray to the Father on the cross
right here in our Psalm, verse 81. My soul fainteth for thy
salvation. Hear him on the cross. My soul
fainteth for thy salvation. I hope in thy word. Mine eyes
fell for thy word, saying, when wilt thou comfort me? For I am
become like a bottle in the smoke. This refers to those skins that
held wine or water. The wineskins they carried, they
hung them up in their tents and the smoke from the fires in their
tents would turn them black. And if they didn't have much
in them, then they would wither and they would become dried up.
Look over at Psalm 22. Verse 14, this is the Lord speaking. He said, I have poured out like
water And all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of
my bowels. My strength is dried up like
a pot shoot. Like a, that's an earthen vessel,
but it dried up like a pot shoot. My tongue cleaveth to my jaws
and has brought me into the dust of death. Verse 19, he said, but be not
thou far from me, O Lord, O my strength, haste thee to help
me. The Lord, as the servant of God,
entirely depended on the Lord God, his Father, to be his strength. And he suffered and he redeemed
his people. And the Lord God fulfilled the covenant word to
him and raised him from the grave. And look what he says in verse
22, Psalm 22, 22. I will declare thy name unto
my brethren in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.
Ye that fear the Lord, praise him. All ye that see him, Jacob,
glorify him. and fear him, all ye the seed
of Israel, for he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of
the afflicted. Neither hath he hid his face
from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard. He heard. So our righteousness, brethren,
is the Lord Jesus, and our strength is the Lord Jesus. Life is in
the inward man, created of the Spirit of God in the new birth.
But that life of the new man is not us. It's not of us. We can't quicken it up. We can't
stir it up. That life of the new man is Christ
our life. And he quickens by his word,
blessing it to our hearts, speaking it to our heart by the Spirit.
And he is our strength. My soul fainteth for thy salvation. Mine eyes fail for thy word. David experienced soul fainting,
soul exhaustion. His eyes failed for looking and
watching for the Lord, probably from weeping. And David knew he had no strength
but the Lord. Spurgeon said, oh man, you know
not yourself nor the power of temptation if you're dependent
upon yourself. You will be as readily blown
away as the thistle down upon the plain when the north wind
is raging. Trust not in yourself for a moment. Trust in the Lord
with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding.
Now that is some, as practical as it gets. We're wrong here. We're going
to be wrong on it all. David said, I'm become like a
bottle in the smoke. They hung those wineskins on
a nail in their tent. And that smoke coming up would
just cover them in soot, and they would turn black, and they
would dry, and they would shrivel. And that's how he felt, sooted. His strength was dried and gone
in other places in the scripture when our Lord speaks of the skin
being black, it's from famine, being unable to eat because of
sorrow and affliction. But our Lord doesn't put new
wine in old wineskins. He's created a new man within
His child and He's filled us with the Spirit. The smoke of
the trial is not going to enter into the new man. It will mortify
the flesh, and it will make the flesh appear as what it is, black
and strengthless and sooted, and it'll mortify all our self-confidence
when we see it. But it's doing good to the inner
man, to the new man. The Spirit of Christ is dwelling
within, and He's going to quicken us inwardly by His grace, and
that's where He's going to do you some good. Even during the
trial, when we faint in the indwelling Spirit of our Lord, He's going
to keep you fastened on Him. He's the nail in a sure place,
and He's going to keep you fastened on Him. His grace inwardly is
going to keep us hoping in His Word. Even when as yet now, David's
at a place where the Lord hadn't done this for him as he's praying
for the Lord to do, but the Lord is still sustaining him. The
Lord is still quickening him to make him ask the Lord to quicken
him. The Lord's sustaining him to keep him looking to the Lord.
And even when you're in the smoky affliction and the flesh is weak
and it's faint and the eyes They're weary and can't see. The Lord's
inward spirit is going to keep you hoping in his word, keep
you longing for him, keep you looking for him, keep you calling
on him, keep you waiting on the Lord Jesus. Because we need him
to speak. We need him to revive us inwardly. That's what David's asking for.
So we don't have any strength in ourselves. That's why David's
praying for this. Now, secondly, It was that indwelling
of the Lord that kept David looking and longing for the Lord himself.
He says there, I'm looking for thy salvation. My eyes fell for
thy word. When wilt thou comfort me? That's what he needed. He needed the Lord. Now it's certain that David hoped
in the written word We have the promises of God in the written
word, but David's looking for the covenant himself. Remember
last week we saw where the Lord promised our Lord and he said,
I'm gonna hold your hand, I'm gonna give you for a covenant
of the people. David's looking for the covenant
himself, for the promise himself to Lord Jesus. Christ, the living
word himself, he needed him to speak into his soul. Spurgeon
said it this way, he said, besides looking to the book of the Lord,
David looked to the Lord of the book, saying, when will you comfort
me, Lord? We're thankful for the written
word. Read it, meditate in it, pray to God to give you some
understanding of it. I mean, constantly, every day.
That Christ is the salvation we're looking for in the word.
Christ is a salvation. We need to speak to us to make
the Word alive to us in our heart. Christ is the life and strength
of the inner man. The letter killeth. But the Spirit gives life. And
Christ is that Spirit. It's His Word. It's Him speaking
that is that Spirit. He said, It's the Spirit that
quickeneth the flesh, profiteth nothing. The words that I speak
unto you, they're Spirit and they're life. That's what David's
longing for. David knew his own weakness,
he knew his own inability, but he said, I hope in thy word. Yes, he's hoping in the written
word of God, but he's hoping in that one who is himself the
covenant. He's hoping in that one who is
the living word and having him come and save him and speak into
his heart and strengthen him. We have the promise when we look
into this word. This is what he's promised us.
God never faints. We faint, but he never does. This is his promise. He said
in Isaiah 40, 28, has thou not known, has thou not heard that
the everlasting God, the Lord, the creator of the ends of the
earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? There's no searching
of his understanding. We have God's promise in the
word that he remembers we're dust. He won't make us faint
to the point of perishing. He said, I will not contend forever,
neither will I always be wroth, for the spirit shall fail before
me and the souls which I've made. Our Lord Jesus has come down
and borne the fierce fury of God's wrath for his people. Now
you will go through some serious trials. But the Lord is, and
the Lord does call it punishing his child, but it's like a father
punishing his child. It's chastening. It's not the
fierce fury of God's wrath. He won't, he's not gonna chasten
you to make you perish. His word is gonna show us, our
Savior, that he not only satisfied God for his people, he not only
made us everlastingly righteous and put away our sin and satisfied
God on our behalf, pleased God on our behalf so that God's pleased
with all them that he brings to believe on his son. But he
also makes you to see how that the Lord has suffered every single
thing you are going through. And not only has he risen and
lives at God's right hand to intercede for us, but he is also
the one who is coming to us and succoring us. That word means
comforting us and strengthening us and keeping us walking after
him and looking to him alone. And he promises he'll take the
burden off at the right time at the right moment. And it doesn't
have anything to do with whatever caused the affliction. It's in
the heart. It's in the heart. He gives you
something, nothing. It's not about what he's given
you outwardly or taken from you outwardly. It's in the heart.
It's in the heart. The purpose of affliction is
to make us look out of ourselves, away from the world, away from
the waves, away from everything that's afflicting us, to Christ
himself. That is the purpose of it. To
look to Christ himself. He's teaching us to trust him,
and he's trusting us to hope against hope in him. That's what
Abraham did. That's who he was trusting. He
was trusting in the Lord. And so, to do this, he's going
to bring our strength to nothing. Many times, over and over again.
You that know him know this. You've experienced it. He's going to bring your wisdom
to nothing. He's going to bring your plans to nothing. He's going
to bring us to cast all our care on the Lord in prayer. Because
that's when we do it. We're like Jonah. Remember what
Jonah said? Jonah said, when my soul fainted, When I came
to the place where I had no strength, when my soul faded within me,
I remembered the Lord. And my prayer came in unto Thee,
Lord, unto Thy holy temple. Do a lot of praying, but when
you're in that place, then you really pray. And you really pray. But He's going to make us wait,
just like He's making David wait. David had to wait. Our Lord waited. Our Lord had to wait. Why does
He make us wait? Well, after He makes you wait
a little while, He eventually quickens you again, and He increases
your patience by that, because you know, the Lord, He was going
to quicken me. So next time you're a little
more patient. He increases your hope, because you have hope in
the Lord. He's going to quicken. and increases
your faith, you believe Him. I believe He will. He said He
would, I believe He will. And He makes good on this promise.
He said, He giveth power to the faint. To them that have no might,
He increases strength. That's who He gives power to,
the faint. Spurgeon had a good illustration. He said, it's a
foolish thing to come to the fountain with a full bucket. Buckets got to be empty. You
got to come wanting Him to fill it all. That's the only one He
gives power to, is to faint. To them that have no might, He
increases strength. Even the youth shall faint and
be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall. But they that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength. He'll renew it in them. They'll mount up with wings as
eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and
not faint. And in a little while, you'll
be like David. I've gone astray like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant,
Lord, for I do not forget thy commandments. Can you go astray
like a lost sheep? Sin, go astray like a lost sheep
and not forget God's commandments. Yeah, you do it every day. You
do it every day. It doesn't mean you don't believe
the Lord. You still believe the Lord. You still trust the Lord.
But you're honest to go to Him and say, I've gone astray like
a lost sheep. Lord, I'm faint. I have no power. Quicken me with
Your Word. Quicken me with Your Word. And
that renewed strength is going to be by the Lord speaking. By
Him speaking to you inwardly. through his word, through his
gospel. And that smoke that's gonna make
your flesh shrink like a bottle in the smoke, it's gonna make
you black and sooty outwardly like a bottle in the smoke. But
the same way that he spoke and shined the light in that first
hour and made you behold God's glory in his face, that's what
he's gonna do when you're in the smoky affliction. And so
the same thing's gonna happen again. The outward man's gonna
perish, But he's going to renew the inward man day by day. It's
what he keeps doing. It's what he keeps doing for
his people. Now look here thirdly at this. The reason David looked
to the Lord, because our Redeemer commanded us to look to him.
In the midst of the affliction, the Lord gave David strength
enough not to forget the Lord's statutes. They are the statutes
of his commands. Christ commands his child at
all times, look unto me and be ye saved. That's foolishness to a man that's
got it all figured out. We've heard all that. Look unto
me and be saved. Best thing that could happen
for you is to God bring you to a place where you have absolutely
no strength and actually can own it and realize, Lord, I need
you to save me. Best thing. Stand still and see
the salvation of the Lord. That's his precept to his child. But he'll have to hem us in.
I'll have to hem us in between them two idle rocks in the Red
Sea and have Pharaoh's army barreling down on us to where you can't
do a thing. And then he speaks and says,
Stand still. See the salvation of the Lord. He says, Abide in
me, for without me you can do nothing. We start feeling strong,
we start looking at our accomplishments, and we start looking to say,
what did you first come to Christ with? What experiences did you
have when you first came to Him? What works did you have when
you first came to Him? What was it you brought to Him
when you first came to Him? Not a thing, just your sin, just
your black city-ness, like a bottle in the smoke. He brings you again. Stop leaning on your own arm.
Stop looking to yourself. Stop looking to others for wisdom.
He sends that smoky affliction and he just waits until you're
just dried up, until you're just covered over in soot and like
a bottle in the smoke. And then you cry to him alone. It's real simple. You cry to
him alone. And then by the Spirit of our
Lord, David did what our Savior commanded. He spake a parable
to them to this end. He said that men ought always
to pray and not to faint. That's our Lord's precept to
us. There's David fainting. He knows there's only one place
to find help. Call on the Lord. And so he does
what the Lord told Peter to do. He casts all, all, all his care
on the Lord. trusting he cares for you. Then there's these statutes of
promise. David didn't forget the promise of God. Our Lord
gives this command and this promise. He says, be of good courage,
he shall strengthen your heart. All you that hope in the Lord,
be of good courage, he shall strengthen your heart. That's
a precept of the Lord. Behold, the eye of the Lord is
upon them that fear Him. That's a promise. He will strengthen
your heart. The eye of the Lord is upon them
that fear Him, upon them that hope in His mercy. That's a promise. So if you're in the midst of
any kind of affliction, And yet Christ is still your salvation,
and He's still your hope in the darkness, in all the smoke, when
your eyes can't see, and your flesh is wearied, and your soul
is fainting, and yet you're hoping in Him, and you're trusting in
Him, and you're calling on Him, the same as before you came into
the trouble. The Spirit's the only one that
works that. So be assured, if you're in trouble, and He's still
your hope, and He's still your comfort, He's still your salvation,
when when He's all you got, then you know the Lord worked that.
The Lord worked that. Cleave to your Master in the
smoke. He will increase you in faith. He'll increase you in
hope. He'll increase you in love. You're going to receive nothing
but profit from what He's doing for you. Nothing but profit. Say this to your own self. Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health
of my countenance and my God." He's the health of my countenance.
That inward countenance. That's my God. Christ didn't
forget the Lord's statutes in that when he trusted his enemies
to the Lord and the Lord made David do the same thing. Look
here in verse 84. Now here Christ speaking first of all, but David,
it applies to David. How many are the days of thy
servant? He's saying my days are few. I'm perishing here is what he's
saying. When wilt thou execute judgment
on them that persecute me? The proud have digged pits for
me which are not after thy law. All thy commandments are faithful.
They persecute me wrongfully. Help thou me. The Pharisees dig pits for our
Lord Jesus. They were continually trying
to entangle Him in His words. They were accusing Him constantly.
Our Lord Jesus was persecuted wrongly. He knew no sin, did
no sin whatsoever. But the Pharisees and those that
did this only did what the Lord determined before to be done.
They were doing exactly what God purposed from eternity for
them to do. So how was it that they persecuted
our Lord wrongly when they were doing exactly what God purposed
for them to do? And then what about David? David
had sinned. God had corrected him. God had
drew him to himself, brought him to repentance, given him
faith, corrected him. And then the Lord told David,
the sword will not leave your house, David. You murdered Uriah,
you committed adultery with Bathsheba, you're gonna suffer the sword
in your house the rest of your days. So the men that did what
God determined to be done to David, the Lord said, David said,
the Lord said, And he's Absalom and all the men that were after
him and persecuting him, trying to entangle him, they were just
doing what the Lord determined before to be done. And David
had sinned, that's why it was coming about. Why does David
say they're persecuting him wrongly? God was ruling it, but the men
that were doing it were doing it from the pride of their own
hearts. It was their own prideful hearts
to try to entangle our Lord and try to entangle David. And it
wasn't after the commandment. One, it's forbidden in God's
law to dig a pit for a man's beast, for another man's beast
to fall into. It's much worse to do it for
a man, to dig a pit for a man, to try to entrap him and entangle
him. Christ teaches us to love our
brethren, even our enemies. Christ teaches us to trust our
enemies to God and pray for them. Pray for them. I mean, pray for
them. He said, forgive those that trespass
against us, even as God, for Christ's sake, has forgiven us. And two, this is another reason
they were persecuting our Lord wrongly and they persecuted David
wrongly. Though men only did to Christ and they only did to
David what God determined before to be done, they were taking
to themselves the authority that belonged to God. And they were
taking to themselves the authority that belonged to our Lord Jesus
in dealing with David and the other disciples and apostles.
You know, if your child sinned against you and you corrected
them, and you turn them to you and they're following you, what would you think of it if
some man come along and snatched up your child and gave him a
spanking? You'd think that was proud, perverse
dealing. And it would be because that's
your child. That's not their child. God's
the father of his children. Christ is a master who makes
us to stand. Who art thou that judgest another
man's servant? To his own master he standeth
or falleth. Yea, he shall be holden up, for
God is able to make him stand. We see that with David right
here. With David right here. Look at the blessing the Lord
worked in David. Even using these men, laying
these traps for him, and he said, I was almost a goner. But look
where the Lord brought him right here. This is his master doing
this. This is David's father doing
this right here. Look where he brought him. At
the end of that verse, he said, Help thou me. Help thou me. Oh, I'm telling
you, that's prayer. That's prayer. That is true prayer. Simple. Dependent. That's why God sent the persecutors
to David. That's why I sent him to David
and to all his people, is to bring David to cry, help thou
me. Help thou me. Proud men don't like to hear
that because it just enrages them with their pride, because
it's a blow to their pride. Well, you do what David did.
You come boldly to the throne of grace. that you may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Now here's the
lesson that God taught David. We've seen this over and over.
We're gonna see it over and over again. Here's the lesson God
taught David. Verse 87, he said, they had almost
consumed me upon the earth, but I forsook not their precepts.
That's what we've been looking at. And David asked God. That's all it did. It made David
go to God. It made him go to his Lord. It
made him cry out more for his Lord to do for him exactly what
he did in this trial. He quickened me. That's what
he did. That's the only reason David's
calling on him. That's why he's crying to him. The Lord quickened
him and it made him ask him to continue to do it for him in
the future. Quicken me after thy loving kindness,
so shall I keep the testimony of thy mouth. That word there
almost, that's gold. That's a golden word, almost.
Precious saving graces, and that word almost. God may allow us
to be afflicted. He may let you almost be consumed,
but He has set the time, and He set the limit. And He'll quicken
you in your heart, bring you to hope in the Lord, and all
will be well. Listen to David. This is from
Psalm 3, 2. And you can apply this to our Lord Jesus, too.
Many there be which say of my soul, there's no help for him
in God. But thou, O Lord, art a shield
for me, my glory, and the lifter up of my head. I cried unto the
Lord with my voice, and he heard me out of his holy hill. I laid
me down and slept, and I awaked, for the Lord sustained me. I
will not be afraid of ten thousands of people that have set themselves
against me round about." That's what the Lord's doing for us,
brethren. He's bringing us to stop fearing men and to fear
our Lord more and more. Trust Him and call on Him and
depend on Him utterly in everything. So child of God, commit thy way
unto the Lord. Trust also in Him. He shall bring
it to pass. Trust Him. Commit it to Him.
Trust Him. You that fear the Lord, trust
in the Lord. He is their help and He's their
shield. Is that too simple? I'm pretty
dumb. I need it to be simple. Everybody can understand. Go
to the Lord and ask, help thou Lord. That's what we need. That's what we need. Every, for
everything, for everything. I pray the Lord make us hear
that and give us a quickening grace to do so. Father, we thank you for this
word. Lord, you've taught us to pray
and ask for the forgiveness of our sins. And Lord, you've taught us to
do it as we forgive others. And we need you to strengthen
us, Lord, to hold our sin and come to you
confessing it. We need you, Lord, to strengthen
us, to forgive others and pray for our enemies and do for those
that are not like us. Lord, keep us humble by your
affliction. Lord, it's good if you make us
like a bottle in the smoke. If you quicken us inwardly, fill
us with the wine of your gospel, wine of your grace. Lord, we need you to speak your
word to us. Cause us to cease leaning to
our own arm and our own wisdom. Cause us to stop leaning to the
wisdom of others and leaning on the arm of others. Make us
commit all to you, Lord, and trust you. Have all our hope
in you that you will indeed bring it to pass. Lord, help your people everywhere
to do so. Help us to love as you've loved
us. Don't let us lay traps. Don't
let us deal so proudly, Lord. Keep us trusting and believing
and following after our Lord Jesus. In Christ's name we ask it, Lord.
Amen.