May it please Almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his holy word. Let's turn to the book of Psalms,
Psalm 22, and we'll read the last clause in verse 29. Psalm 22, verse 29, the last
clause. And none can keep alive his own
soul. We know that the word of God
was written by men under the divine influence of the Holy
Spirit. And this 22nd Psalm, as most
of the Psalms were, were written by David. And we know that he
was a man after God's own heart. We know that he was left to fall
very tragically. But we read in the Psalms something
of his spiritual experience and spiritual testimony. And here
we have a statement which obviously he was aware of, and none can
keep alive his own soul. And that surely has a reference
to all true believers, because often we want to be more lively,
more healthy in our soul, and yet we have that enemy, the devil,
who constantly comes and aggravates us and tries to turn us away
from the things of God and how often he is successful. He knows each of our weaknesses
and we should always recognise that we do have weaknesses and
we have different weaknesses and we should not assume therefore
that another person has the same weakness as we do. we should
recognise our condition before a holy God. And so, David commences
this psalm with those well-known words, of course, which very
clearly speak of the Lord Jesus Christ when he prayed this, My
God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? But you see, such wonderful
words, so true of the Saviour, that yet true of David and also
true of God's people. As we travel on through life
we will find those occasions when such a prayer is very suitable
for our own spiritual experience. We might feel indeed that God
has forsaken us and we may ask the question like We have here,
why hast thou forsaken me? Why art thou so far from helping
me and from the words of my roaring? Clearly, the words of his roaring
was his cry to God, his prayer to God. And we would think that
if we cry and pray to God, that he will answer. Well, he will
answer, but my friends, not always in the way that we expect. And
not always in the time that we expect. And so as we read such
words as this, we should recognize how appropriate they are to our
life. Because he goes on, Oh my God,
I cry in the daytime, but Thou hearest not. And in the night
season, and am not silent. Well, that's how it may appear
to us. That's how it appeared to David.
The reality, of course, is that God does hear. Because he doesn't
respond immediately, we may think that he hasn't heard. But if
we have prayed from our heart earnestly to God, we can be sure
that he has heard. And then it is that you and I
need patience to wait. to wait for God to answer, because
God has a perfect time to answer our prayers. Your time is always,
we're told, but my time is not yet. And that means that we have
to continue praying to God, continue crying to God, and not give up. The devil wants us to give up.
He no doubt would come and say, well, obviously your prayers
have no avail, they're not good prayers, they're bad prayers.
Well, remember the devil was a liar from the beginning. When
he first came and tempted Adam and Eve, he lied and he hasn't
changed. So don't be taken in by the lies
of Satan, but believe the truths of God's word. And we know that
David was blessed and we know that God did hear his cry, but
David was brought right down. And that's why he had to prove
none can keep alive his own soul. And he came down to this condition
and said, But I am a worm, and no man, nor reproach of men,
and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me
to scorn. They shoot out their lip, they
shake their head, saying, he trusted on the Lord, that he
would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he
delighteth in him. Well, we get a little insight,
don't we, into David's spiritual life. we should be very thankful
that God, in his love to all of his people, has recorded such
detail in his word to encourage us. So that as we look into our
own little life, our own heart, we may think perhaps we're out
of the secret, we may think perhaps that we don't really understand
the truth of God's word. Well, that's why God in his mercy
and love has given us his word that we're able to trace out
the life of God's people and to trace out our life. as we compare that which is recorded
in the Word of God. And so he tells us, he asks,
he prays, be not far from me, be not far from me, for trouble
is near, for there is none to help. We should realize that
the help of man is often of no value. my help cometh from the
Lord. And that's a good place to be
in because we can rest then in the promises of God and realise
how good and kind and gracious He is. And it brings us to the
truth of these words that we read tonight. And none can keep
alive his own soul. You may think, I don't believe
that. You may think, well, I can keep
alive my soul. Well, the Lord brings us into
those situations, like he brought David, where such a statement
as this is true. And we prove it, and we're grateful
that God has recorded such words in the word of God to encourage
us We don't want to live in a situation like this, but the Lord does
bring us here so that we have to recognise that our spiritual
life is not in our own hands. It's in the hand of God. It's
God that blesses. It's God that leads. It's God
that directs. And if you and I were able to
direct our own lives, we will make mistakes. We will bring
ourselves into spiritual bondage, because instead of coming and
giving glory to God, we would give glory to ourselves. And we would think that it was
our prayers, the ability that we had to come to God that gave
answers. Well, we should remember that
all that God does is through his sovereign grace. It's a wonderful statement, those
words, sovereign grace, and the hymn writer picks those words
up in hymn 766 it's a lovely hymn and just to remind ourselves
of that truth sovereign grace that means sovereign free and
merited favor or sin abounding sin does abound in our lives
we are sinners we're black sinners But how wonderful it is to understand
the experience of John Kent as he tells us, sovereign grace
over sin abounding. God's grace, which is sovereign,
and you young people, and I hope you understand what sovereign
means, it means this. A king or a queen in a nation
normally has a power as a sovereign to do whatever they decide to
do. It's in their hands and people
can't really influence it. Well, that's so much more wonderful
with God. He is the King of Kings, the
Lord of Lords, and therefore he has a perfect right and a
perfect ability to dispense grace his unmerited favor as he sees
fit and my friends remember this God doesn't make mistakes you
and I often make mistakes but God never makes a mistake and
so how true these words are sovereign grace or sin abounding and Kent
goes on to say ransom souls the tiding swell. That means that
God's people should speak well of these things and speak them
forth that they might swell out to bring honour and glory. Tis a deep that knows no sounding. That has a reference of course
to a ship in days past when they weren't sure where they were
and they would put a line down with a weight on the bottom to
see how deep the water was and he used to sound it. There's
a deep that knows no sounding. There's no bottom to the grace
of God. Who its breadth or length can
tell on its glories? let my soul for ever dwell. It's wonderful, isn't it? To
be able to dwell on the grace of God, the mercy of God, the
favor of God. And so, as Kent spoke those wonderful
words, we should realize that the psalmist here uses very similar
statements, really. He tells us in a 22nd verse,
I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the
congregation when I praise thee. As I often say, and I don't tire
in saying it, how we often fail to thank God, how we often fail
to praise him. And he comes and
he says, Ye that fear the Lord. Well, if you and I come within
those words, and I trust we do come within those words, ye that
fear the Lord, praise him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify
him and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel. How self-centered
we are so often. How selfish we are so often. And yet to think that our great
aim and our great desire should be to praise and glorify our
God. He is worthy of all praise. He is worthy of all adoration. And to think as we have this
22nd Psalm which shows us something of the soul's battle as David
explains it to us what a wonderful mercy we can trace out in some
measure our spiritual life along these lines and so he comes and
he says none can keep alive his own soul and the previous words
in this verse 29th verse is all they that be fat upon earth shall
eat and worship. All they that go down to the
dust shall bow before him. An example of those who are wonderfully
spiritually blessed and those who are really quite barren,
yet God still has mercy. He still deals with them. And we should recognize such
a statement, for the kingdom is the Lord's. And he is the
governor among the nation. And he's the governor in your
life and my life. How wonderful it is to remember
those words. You are not your own. You are
bought with a price. I wonder if we think of that
very often in our lives. We're not our own. God's bought
us. He's paid the price to redeem
us. And what was that price? His
life. He gave his life that we might
be redeemed. What a wonderful God we have
to save unworthy sinners, unworthy wretches on the earth and those
who have followed their own way. And yet we find God being so
kind and gracious and to realize as David came to this position
and none can keep alive his own soul. We should never rely on
our own strength. We should realize we have one
who can keep us, who does keep our soul alive. And that's not
ourselves. That's the great God himself.
Oh, my friends, do we rejoice indeed in what God has done and
bless him for it and thank him for it and praise him for it. There's many examples in the
Word of God to encourage us. Another Psalm of David, Psalm
141. We read this. But mine eyes are unto thee,
O God. So when we're in the depths,
when we're low in our mind perhaps, to realise such truths as this,
but mine eyes are unto Thee, O God the Lord, in Thee is my
trust, leave not my soul destitute. Very similar, isn't it? Perhaps
we feel sometimes we are destitute. We have been left. Well, God
leaves us sometimes to recognise that the mercy emanates from
God, and we can't keep alive our own soul. It is the glorious
work of God, and a very similar statement is in the 61st Psalm. It's a well-known psalm, and
we read this. He commences by saying, Hear
my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth,
that means We're far off, far off. From the end of the earth
will I cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed. Sometimes
we are overwhelmed with our sin. We're overwhelmed, perhaps with
our evil heart of unbelief. Well, what a blessing it is when
we have such a truth as this, and such a prayer as this. Again,
another prayer of David. He says, I will cry unto thee
when my heart is overwhelmed. He pleads this, lead me to the
rock that is higher than I. What does that mean? He desires
to be led to the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. Well, it's
a blessing to know the work of the Holy Spirit, which causes
us to understand in some way our need and to cry to him. And he goes on to a lovely little
psalm that says, For thou hast been a shelter for me and a strong
tower from the enemy. A tower that you and I can run
into and find that refuge for sinners. The gospel makes known
is found in the merits of Jesus alone. Oh, he is the strong tower. And David tells us, I will abide
in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the cover of
my wings. See what that means? the cover
of thy wings. For thou, O God, hast heard my
vows. Thou hast given me the heritage
of those that fear thy name. Thou wilt prolong the king's
life and his years as many generations. He should abide before God forever. O, prepare mercy and truth which
may preserve him. And then finally he says, So
will I sing praise unto thy name forever, that I may daily perform
my vows." You know, it's a good thing to know the favor and blessing
of God, and it's a good thing to constantly desire to praise
his name. Sometimes we might think, well,
that was good and I enjoyed that, and then we quickly forget about
it, and then we're complaining and moaning again. Instead we
should recognise God is worthy to be praised. Oh my friends,
what a kind and gracious God He is. You and I are here tonight
through His mercy. Here tonight through His mercy.
I wonder when we come, every time we gather together for worship,
we realise it's His mercy. And yet you see, often we still
complain. Well, what a mercy it is to realize
that we have a good and kind and gracious God. And so he tells
us, and none can keep alive his own soul. Well, I can ask the
question, do you know what David is spelling out here? You understand
what he's saying? and if you do it's because you've
been needy because God has brought you into a time of need and he's
called you to cry out to him he's caused you to pray to him
and you know if this has emanated from our heart you won't be satisfied
with just carrying on aimlessly you'll be waiting and watching
for answers to your prayer. Remember, the effectual fervent
prayer of a righteous man aboundeth much. And of course, we're not
righteous in and of ourselves, but we are righteous as we're
clothed with that spotless robe of Christ's righteousness. And
therefore, we come to a God who does hear and answer our prayers,
but we need to be Conscious that it's God that does these things
and that you and I can't do it ourselves We may foolishly think
we can We may foolishly think we can keep alive our own soul
And sometimes we might think oh, well, I'm all right now I'm
going to carry on in this way and I shall continue in this
favorite position And very quickly we find that we fall away. Very quickly we find the devil
comes in like a flood. And before we know where we are,
our mind's all over the place. And that which we were enjoying,
The devil's come and taken away from us. Well, we prove solemnly
such a truth. None can keep alive his own soul. And that's why we need to constantly
pray to our God that he will be gracious to us and merciful
to us. You know, in the Corinthians,
when there's much instruction in the second epistle of the
Corinthians in the first chapter we read this about the Apostle
Paul's writing to the Corinthians and he says 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, but we had the sentence
of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves,
but in God, which raiseth the dead, who delivereth us from
so great a death, and doth deliver in whom we trust, that he will
yet deliver us. So Paul here was speaking to
the church at Corinth, really, and warning them about the conflict. It is a conflict. Our life is
a conflict. We think, perhaps, that it won't
be. It'll be easy. Once we're a Christian,
the path is easy, and the path is simple. Well, it's not. And
it's the very Opposite and we spoke this morning and just to
refresh your memories about that seventh chapter in Revelation
where the Where we see John there in that time of the vision and
one of the elders asked him saying what are these which are arrayed
in white robes and whence came they and The response was this
and I said unto him sir thou knowest and he said these are
they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their
robes and made them white in the blood of the lamb. Well probably
we like the second half of that statement to realize that we
are and we shall be washed with the blood of the lamb and made
white. Perhaps we pass over the first
part Great Tribulation. It struck me recently, that word,
great, before tribulation. We know the Word of God tells
us about tribulation, but perhaps not in quite the same way. And
here it's spelled out, They all came out of great tribulation.
So you and I should recognize this is God's word. It's not my words, it's the word
of God to direct us and instruct us. And it's through these things
that men live. Job found that out in his life. He had much opposition. He had
a comfortable life, was a wealthy man, and then God allowed Satan
to come and tempt him. Tempt him greatly. He lost virtually
everything, but he came down to that situation and was able
to say, by these things men live. That means Our spiritual life
is blessed. You see, if everything went smoothly,
we didn't have any trials, we didn't have any opposition, then
you see, we wouldn't pray very much, would we? And we think,
well, really, my Christian life is quite easy. Well, the Christian
life is not easy. Because we have a great adversary,
the devil, who goes about seeking whom he may devour. And my friends,
he's trying to devour you, and trying to devour me. He's trying
to bring us into a situation where we give up religion, and
we think it's a waste of time, and we've made a big mistake. Well, realise then, that's why
we have such a word like this. And none can keep alive his own
soul. So as we enter into these times
of grave temptation, to realise it's part of the path. And what
does it direct us to? Well, I hope it directs us to
look to the Saviour. Look unto me. on the ends of
the earth and be ye saved for I am God and there's none else. What a great and glorious Saviour
we have. And the blessing is that He knows
every detail of our life, every detail, every thought that we
have. It's not hidden from God. We
may sometimes wish it was perhaps, but nothing is hidden from Almighty
God. And it's good if you and I can
realise the truth of that and meditate upon it and bless God
for it and realise that He is a kind and gracious God and to
come back to this realisation that none can keep alive his
own soul. You know, earlier in this 20
seconds, So I hope you young people, as we read it through
this evening, were able to see those places which spoke of the
Christ's life when he was on the earth there are several places
very clearly marked out and it's good to realize that God in his
love gave us these prophecies and you know what it does it
proves to us without any doubt that the word of God is true
because these words which were written hundreds, many hundreds
of years before the life of the Saviour on the earth proved that
those prophecies came to pass in the detail that they were
recorded. So it's good, therefore, to have
such an account as that in the Word of God. And so David comes
and he tells us Be not far from me, O Lord, O my strength, haste
thee to help me. Again, see how many prayers we
have in the Word of God, how many suitable prayers we have. And so we have a prayer like
that. And then the desire, deliver
my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog. Save
me from the lion's mouth. For thou hast heard me from the
horns of the unicorn. He knew where to go. My friends,
as you and I enter into temptation, what a blessing it is to know
where to go and to not be stopped in our prayers. Sometimes, you
see, we tend to think it's no point in praying. God hasn't
answered my prayer. I'm still in this desperate condition.
Pray on. Pray on. Save me. And then he comes and tells us.
You see, there's a solution to these things. There's an answer
to these things. And there's a pathway which is mapped out
before us. And therefore, David cries out
in this way, and he says, I will then. declare thy name unto my
brethren in the midst of the congregation will I appraise
thee that's a detail isn't it which
tells us the position. It's not as though something
is to be just whispered silently to the odd person here and there. No, we're told, I will declare
thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation
when I praise thee. He wanted people to know, people
to hear of what God had done for him. It's good, isn't it? In our lives, if we have the
same desire and the same concern, then we're able to declare what
God has done. We're told, I will declare. The
devil wants you and me to have our mouth shut for one reason
or another. But my friends, don't listen
to the devil. Listen to the glorious truth
of God. Ye that fear the Lord, praise
him. All ye that see the Jacob, glorify
him and fear him. All ye the seed of Israel. It goes on for. He has not despised
nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. We might feel
just like that. Afflicted. Afflicted with an
evil heart of unbelief. And that is an affliction. And
it's a painful affliction. And it's a horrible affliction. But we're told here, as David
experienced it himself, 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. Sometimes we might
think God doesn't hear. My friends, God does hear. Just remember, he waits to be
gracious. God has a time. He waits to be
gracious. We are often impatient. I refer, as you know, quite often
to the 40th psalm. Again, another wonderful psalm
of David. And there David tells us, I waited
patiently for the Lord. And he inclined unto me and heard
my cry. He didn't say, I waited patiently
for the Lord. And he never listened. He never
heard. He did say, I waited patiently. And we're often impatient, aren't
we? And he inclined unto me and heard my cry. And he tells us
then, he brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the
Maori clay. We're not told the detail of
that, but it's there for us to put our own interpretation on
it, as to what the horrible pit means in your life and my life,
and the Maori clay, what it means in your life and my life, But
then he comes and says, and set my feet upon a rock. And that clearly is none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ. And what a blessing that is,
to have our feet placed upon a rock, set upon a rock, and
established my goings. He establishes us in the things
of God. Yes, as I've said already, as
Job said, by these things men live. What a mercy it is to be
directed by the Saviour, to be brought into these conditions
and these situations so that we understand this statement,
and none can keep alive his own soul, but come to that position
to bless God that he has kept our soul alive. It hasn't died. We may think it has. But you
see, God is gracious and he brings us up. And then the result again
is praise to God. He hath put a new song in my
mouth, even praise unto our God. When God comes and delivers us,
when God hears our prayers, we must praise him. We must desire
to glorify his great and holy name because, my friends, how
worthy he is of all our praise and all our adoration. And when
we consider ourselves lost and ruined in the fall, and yet God
in his love to our soul has not cast us off, as an unworthy sinner
of the earth, but has come where we are. He's come to us where
we are. What a mercy. Then if he put
a new song in our mouth, even praise unto our God, and the
result? Many shall see it. Many shall
see it. These things are not to be done
in private. that it be done so that God's name is honoured and
glorified. He even prays unto our God, many
shall see it and fear, and shall trust in the Lord. Blessed is
that man that maketh the Lord his trust. Well, tonight, is
that true of us? Is the Lord our trust? Is He your trust? Is He my trust? Well, remember, no man can keep
alive his own soul, but what a blessing it is if the Lord
indeed is our trust. There is our hope. Our hope is
in what He has done, not in what we've done. All our righteousnesses
are as filthy rags. Sin is mixed with all we do.
And yet what a great and glorious Saviour we have, who gives to
unworthy sinners that spotless robe of His righteousness. Oh my friends, it's a glorious
and blessed Gospel, and what a mercy it is. If we can thank
God for these mercies and for these favours and none can keep
alive his own soul. Well, I wonder if you've proved
that, if you've recognised, well, you may have tried. You may have
thought, well, I'm going to do this and do that and I shall
be healthy and lively in my soul. My friends, we have to be utterly
dependent upon the mercy and love of God. Because what does
that bring forth? Praise to Him. We won't be left
then to praise ourselves. We won't be left then to say,
well I prayed this and God heard and answered that prayer and
we claim then, honour ourselves. But what a mercy if we're able
to come and say, this is what God has done. This is how God
has dealt with me. This is how God's loved. has
been shown forth in my unworthy life. And I can and do desire
to praise and honor him for his love and mercy and grace toward
us. Grace towards me, you see, religion
is always personal, isn't it? It's between our soul and God. You can't go to heaven on someone
else's religion. We need that personal evidence
that Christ has died to take away our sins. The personal evidence
that God is guiding and directing us and that humble confidence
that he who has begun a good work in us will perform it in
the day of Jesus Christ. Well, may God be gracious to
us. We thank him tonight for the
Psalms, the experience of his servant David and realise that
God in his love to our souls has recorded encouraging statements,
encouraging testimonies to direct us in that right way and to not
look to ourselves but to look out of ourselves to the great
and glorious Saviour. and to be thankful indeed that
we're able to look to him. Remember what the Apostle Paul
wrote to the Hebrews, the 12th chapter to the Hebrews, and he
wrote these words, which are very lovely. We're foreseeing
we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses.
Let us lay aside every weight and the sin which does so easily
beset us, and let us run with patience. Run with patience. Not an easy race, but we are
not to dawdle, we're to run. The race that is set before us,
and here's the secret, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher
of our faith. If he's begun a good work, he
will finish it. who for the joy that was set
before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set
down at the right hand of the throne of God. And then he says,
for consider him. If we feel down, if we feel far
off, consider him. The Lord knew what it was. to
be oppressed, to be lonely. He understands. And therefore,
what a mercy, for consider him that endured such contradiction
of sinners against himself, lest ye be wearied and faint in your
minds. Well, remember, none can keep
alive his own