morning y'all will be turning
to psalm 44 psalm 44 some of y'all may know brother mark he's
back home again and uh gwen they got him set up where she can
switch out his ivs you gotta have uh four different ivs with
medication in them a day and so i'll try to reach out to him
today and if they need help with the to leave the house for an
hour or something, go get groceries or we can get it for them. And
I thought, you know what? I'll go down there and sit with him
so she can come to services, but we kind of self-defeated. If they need any help, I'll sure
let y'all know. Here in Psalm 44, we looked at
those first eight verses last week. And you remember, we don't
know who wrote this Psalm. It doesn't say David wrote it.
It doesn't say Asaph wrote it. It doesn't say Moses wrote it.
And that's good. Because that may not apply to
a king or to a servant. That could apply to us, doesn't
it? This could be applied right to where we live and meet us
where we are. It says in verse one, we have
heard with our ears, oh God, our fathers have told us what
work thou didst in their days in the times of old. And it keeps
talking about what the Lord's done for them. Verse two, how
thou didst drive out the heathen with thy hand. And you planted
them. Our fathers, they told us about
this. You drove out the heathen and you planted them. Our rivers
of still water, isn't it? How thou didst afflict the people
and cast them out. For they got not the land in
possession by their own sword. Neither did their own arm save
them. How were they saved? With thy right hand and thine
arm. and the lot of thy countenance.
That's who did it. You did it. Your right hand.
Christ, your right hand. Christ, your strong arm. Christ,
the lot is who saved them. Because thou hath a favor unto
them. Because you wanted to. You was
gracious to whom you would be gracious. You showed mercy when
you felt like showing mercy. And we're thankful. Because of
that, verse four. Thou art my king, O God. Command deliverances for Jacob. Salvation's a command, the Lord
speaks it. You're mine. And that's it, it's done. But
that's plural, isn't it? Command deliverances. If we're
to be delivered eternally, the Lord has to command it. And it's
not in us, it's not by our sword, it's not by our doing. He does
it. And day to day. hour to hour, minute by minute.
If I'm going to be delivered out of whatever it is I'm in,
he has to do it. And he just speaks. You don't
need to come to my house, Lord. That's what that centurion said. You don't have to come down here.
He sent somebody to talk on his behalf. You just say it. You
just will it, and it'll be done. Thou art my King, O God. Command
deliverances for Jacob through thee. Will we push down our enemies? I'm not going to push down my
enemies. Lord save me, now I can overcome and conquer. No, through
you. Through thy name will we tread
them under that rise up against us. For I will not trust in my
bow, neither shall my sword save me. I own a bow. You get that? There's the possession of a sword.
But if that's the means that's used, I'll know it's not me,
and it's not my doing, it's your doing. That's what he told Hosea,
wasn't it? I wrote it down just last second.
But I'll have mercy upon the house of Judah, and will save
them by the Lord their God, and will not save them by bow, nor
by sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen. He's
gonna save them by the Lord your God. That's what he says. I'll
not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me. But thou
hast saved us, from our enemies, and has put them to shame that
hated us." You've done all this. What enemies? Those bad people
down the street? No, worse than that. You've saved us from our
enemies of the law. That's the handwriting of ordinances
that was against us. You've saved us the enemies of
sin. That's what we are. Enemies of our nature, what we're
born with. Enemies of death, enemies of punishment, enemies
of hell, of eternity. You've saved us. Thou hast saved
us from our enemies. Thou hast put them to shame ahead
of us. In God, we boast all the day long. Well, I picked Jesus. That's you boasting in you. I
let him save me. Well, then you're in charge.
That's not right. What's this one say? What's this
child of God say? In God, we boast most of the
day. No, all the day. That new creation
in us, if he saved us, if he's worked in us, this is a horrible
thing that's happened to us. No, it's good. God's in it. This
is miserable. Why God wouldn't do this? Yes, he would. He's on his throne.
He rules and reigns all things. Oh, we're in trouble. Big trouble. God sent this. We boast in him
all the day long and praise thy name forever. Thank you, Lord. You did right. You're holy. You're
just. You're good. No matter what. Selah. Pause. That musical term, stop,
take a breath, think on that. That's where we stopped last
week, wasn't it? If we could just live in those first eight
verses every day, boy, wouldn't that be nice? That's not our
life, though. We can't live on mountaintops.
You're above 10,000 feet, they call that the tree line. Nothing
grows above that. There's no growth on mountaintops.
Where's all the sediment and all the nutrients? That runs
down. It's down in the valley, isn't it? I don't like being
down in the valley. It's dark and cold and wet, and
yep, it's miserable, isn't it? And that's where the Lord's gonna
grow you. You want some spiritual growth, you're gonna have to
go through some deep waters, ain't you? You go down in the ocean,
we saw the Titanic stuff this week, and these metal pieces,
big brass, beautiful, like sextants and compass heads and all this
stuff. It got down there, there's 6,000 PSI where that Titanic's
sitting. And it just bent like a piece
of paper. Just crumbled it up. Sometimes the Lord may take us
through deep water. make us swim down real low. I
pray he doesn't, but that might be what's best. That's needed,
isn't it? Here are these next eight verses. So all those first
eights is wonderful. These next eight, you notice
the psalmist here declares what the Lord does. The Lord does
it, but it's not what he's done for us. He's talking about what
he's done to us. That's when we get a problem, isn't it? When
we start bellyaching and murmuring against God. Job didn't say,
well, the devil did all these bad things to me. Satan did this.
No, he said the Lord did it. The Lord gave and the Lord took
away. He didn't say the Lord gave and Satan took away. The
Lord gave and the Lord takes away. Blessed be his name. Look
at verse nine. But thou hast cast off and put
us to shame and goest not forth with our armies. Thou makest
us to turn back from the enemy and they which hate us spoil
for themselves. Lord, we're losing battles. We
bless your name all the day long, but we ain't winning. The Lord never chastens his children
without a cause. The Lord never chastens his children
without a cause. We're not chastened or afflicted unless he has a
holy purpose for it. And there was never a time I
thought about it. There was never a time I was chastened that I didn't
have it coming. I didn't deserve it. Whether by my earthly father
or my heavenly father. Dad didn't whip me because he
didn't know half the stuff I did. I got away with it. I can never
charge God with folly if he sends me a chastening trial or a strong
affliction. Nor can you. physically is where
they had a whole lot of victories in those battles, didn't they?
But those mountaintop moments, you had too many of those, you
start thinking you climbed up that mountain. You start thinking
you did it. Too much sun is not good for
you. You need some cloud and some
rain. It's not good for a garden. It's not good for people, is
it? You have sunstroke. Sun's getting to them. Been out
in the desert too long, isn't it? Too many mountaintops and
we get lightheaded. Verse 11 says, Thou hast given
us like sheep appointed for meat. You just feel turned over, like
our enemies just compass about. They're more than the hairs of
my head. And has scattered us among the heathen. Remember when
Stephen was stoned, Saul of Tarsus went down there and held her
coats and says, Saul made havoc of the church, entering to every
house and hailing men and women committed them to prison. Therefore
they were scattered abroad. When Saul come to town, he was
persecuting the church. He come down and scattered the
church among the heathen, didn't he? They had to run for their
lives. He was killing people. And it
says, they were therefore scattered raw and went everywhere preaching
the word. Preaching the word. Lord, you've
scattered us. Sometimes that's good. He scattered
sometime, a point, he scattered the gospel all the way down to
San Diego County. Can you imagine that? It's so painful. I've seen it
happen in our lifetime. It'll happen again, unless the
Lord comes. But there are times, even in
our day, that the churches, the Lord raises up a church, he raises
up a lot in a community, and then he busts that up, he scatters
it, and he uses that to raise up other lights on other hills.
Didn't he send trial and affliction here, and he sent some of his
people to Kentucky, and he sent some of his people to Florida,
and he sent some of his people here and there, all over the world,
didn't he? We got a brother over in the
Middle East right now. Hope we'll be home next month. Sometimes
the Lord does that. He scatters that, and that's
his goodwill and purpose. While it's happening, oh, it
hurts. While it's happening, we cry out to him, but afterwards,
don't you thank him? You thank him? From time to time,
God has to send affliction to scatter his sheep, or we would
all just huddle up together and not go nowhere. We just sit in
our houses and never leave. Never go nowhere. And if he wants
his gospel and 10 buck two, he's going to bust up something and
send it there, isn't he? It's in verse 12. Thou sellest
thy people for naught, and dost not increase thy wealth by their
price. You're just selling your people, not even for a price.
We ain't worth nothing. I know that, but it feels like
you just gave us away. That's seeing things from our
point of view, isn't it? The Lord raised up Pharaoh for
what cause? Just to show his power. Well, I can't see that
as a good thing. We're looking at it from our
eyes, from our point of view, not from his point of view. You
see that? The Lord knows all things. He
commands all things. Every molecule that's ever moved
throughout time has went where he wanted it, or he's not God.
Our God is God, isn't he? Verse 13, thou make us us. A
reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to them that are
round about us. That's so. That's so. We're hated among the world,
isn't it? And I'm not talking about quote
unquote Christians and quote unquote modern times. They'll
hate you too. They'll string you up if they
get a chance. Start telling them there's a holy God and we're
all sinners and he saves whom he will and he sits on his throne
and does what he will and we're going to bow to him. He's the
king. You better watch it. Get mad,
won't you? Didn't we just see that in John
15? He said, remember the word that I said unto you, the servant's
not greater than his Lord. If they persecuted me, they will
also persecute you. For if they've kept my things,
I'll also keep yours. But these things will they do unto you
for my name's sake, because they know not him that sent me. They
don't know God. Kevin, that's a strong thing.
I didn't say it, God said it. God said they don't know God.
That's why they hate him. Verse 14, thou makest us, who's
doing all the making? He is. Who's that concern? Us, us. Thou makest us a byword
among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.
You know how many heads I had shook at me? Like you fly over
this whole nation to go out to California to preach? Ain't they
got somebody between New Jersey and California to come out there?
Them heads start shaking. Well, you mean you can't move
to Hawaii? Ain't no gospel there. Why don't you go someplace where
it's cheap? They wag their heads, don't they? Just a byword among
the heathen. We know that's temporal. Those
are temporal things, aren't they? And I tell you what, I live it.
Don't you? Put those things away, Kevin.
Yeah, I know. My dad always was famous for telling us, pay no
attention to it. Dad, my leg hurts, pay no attention to it.
I can't stand that sound, it's driving me nuts, pay no attention
to it. Well, it's easier said than done, isn't it? We still
live these things. My name's still a byword among
the heathen. They still shake their heads
at me. I'm not real, feelings come and feelings go and I have
them, don't you? There's times I feel happy, times
I feel sad. And as old Don said, we laugh at puppy love, but puppy
love's real to the puppy, ain't it? All these things are on purpose.
We're not going to be ashamed. We know that, don't we? Paul
told us in Romans 10, for the scripture saith, whosoever believe
with him shall not be ashamed. They're wagging their heads,
they're mocking us. but us shall not be ashamed if we've believed
on him. Isn't that confusing? When you
feel ashamed and you feel neglected and you feel like you can't win
a war to save your life, you're losing the battle. Lord, you've
just hid your face from us, but I know what your word says. We
won't be ashamed, we're not left alone. Is that confusing to you? Does that confuse you? Look at
verse 15. My confusion is continually before me. That's my guilt and
shame also, but also just being confused. It's like I got two
different people inside of my body, isn't it? An old man and
a new man. And the shame of my face hath
covered me, for the voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemeth
by reason of the enemy and avenger. All this stuff, this reproach
that's going on, this blasphemy that's going on, I'm confused
by it. Like those men that was rowing in the boat, the Lord
said, go over there, go to the other shore. And they got in
the boat and they rowed and the storm came and the winds were blowing
and the waves were crashing and that boat was about to get ripped
apart. And they thought, I'm right here where you told me
to go, Lord. I'm doing what you told me to do. You gonna kill
me? You gonna starve me to death now? It's confusing, isn't it? Job
said that. He said in Job 10, if I be wicked,
woe unto me, but if I be righteous, yet will I not lift up my head?
I'm full of confusion. Therefore see thou mine affliction.
Look at my affliction and being confused. He said, it increaseth. Thou huntest me as a fierce lion,
Lord. What's a profit in that? What
benefit does that have for the Lord to hunt his people like
a fierce lion? He said, and again, thou showest thyself marvelous
upon me. I'm confused. When I look to
me, this is bad. And then I see your marvelousness
one more time. That's good. What's the one big
difference between verses eight and these second set of, verse
eight and the second set of eight? The focus went from praising
the Lord, the eyes on Him, and what He's done for us, to the
focus being on us and what He's doing to us. You see, it's not
His promises, but His providence. And we try to interpret God by
providence. Knuckleheads and heretics all around this nation
right now have said, oh, well, if you read this in Revelation,
that means Biden, and that means Trump, and oh, hogwash, hush
it. Quit leading people astray. That's
silly wives tales. Silliness. That's not what that
means, and we get in trouble when we do that, don't we? That's
what Job's miserable comforters come to him, and they say, what'd
you do? You done something for God to do this to you, didn't
you? No, Lord's gonna show us Christ. That's the blessed man,
isn't it? I'll tell you this too, separately. It's a grace
of God he allows us to speak to him. This is a song that the
church sang, but this is also a prayer, isn't it? I don't know
how you pray, There's times I cry out to the Lord, say, Lord, why
is this happening? I say, why me? I do, I'll just tell you
plainly. Lord, why me? Why is this going on? And he
doesn't kill me instantly. We'll see next hour, Judah had
two boys that died, Ur and Onan, and that one was wicked and the
other one displeased God. He said, I was displeased with
him. That means he's an eyesore and he killed both of them. God
of the Bible kills people. And what a grace it is, he doesn't
strike me dead where I stand. And he's patient and long-suffering
and gentle and kind and good and faithful. I don't know what
to pray. Like James told us, and if I
do think I asked something, it's consumed on my love, something
that benefits me, isn't it? I want to win battles. I don't
want to have people shaking their head at me. I want to be a good,
respected man in this community. Me, me, me, isn't it? It takes
another turn. We saw those first eight verses,
just praise to the Lord, what he's done for us. The second
eight verses, well, our belly aching because of what he's done
to us. Isn't he good? Why don't we act like it? Why does he do
that? Why do we lose the wars? Why
do we have people wagging their heads at us? Why do we get so
down? Why are we so, we felt the Lord's mercies are clean
gone from us forever. Lord reveals himself marvelous
once again, like he did to Job. Look, verse 17. And this has
come upon us, All this has come upon us, yet have we not forgotten
thee? Neither have we dealt falsely
in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back,
neither have our steps declined from thy way. I can read those
verses and I'll just say, that's right. Oh, I get it. I get it.
I get it. I know the pain. I know the struggling.
And then he says, we have not forgotten thee. We've held up
our end of the covenant. Ooh, uh-oh. Is that you? That
ain't me. I can't say that. Our hearts
has not turned back, neither our steps declined from thy way.
I've walked in your paths. How does he say that? I can't
say that. Who can say that? Who can say that on behalf of
us? Wait a second, all this suffering. That's me looking to me. Is there
somebody that might have suffered a little bit more than me on
a cross at Calvary? And not just a Roman death, having
nails drive through you, or having to put through your feet, having
the weight of sin put on them, of an entire people, an innumerable
people, and having the whole wrath of God poured out where
the sun didn't shine for three hours, and he turned his back
on him. A holy God turned his back on a holy God that bore
my sin, that was made me, that was made you. That's how we show it. He can
say that, can't he? Over Matthew 3, if you wanna turn there. Matthew 3. A little word, one word makes
a big difference. I always used to say and and
or. If you have a checking account and on them checks it says and,
It says Kevin and Kimberly Thacker both have to sign it, or the
check's no good. But if it says or, she can sign
it, or I can sign it, and the check's still good. Words make a difference, don't
they? Look here, Matthew 3, verse 13. And then cometh Jesus from
Galilee unto Jordan unto John to be baptized of him. But John
forbade him. saying, I have need to be baptized
of thee, and thou comest to me. Lord, you need to baptize me. I don't need to baptize you.
I know who you are. And Jesus answering and said
unto him, suffer it to be so now. I dwell on that a lot this
week. What's the Lord doing? He said,
suffer, suffer it. That means allow it and let it
take place, but you hold it, bear it. Paul went three times,
didn't he? In perfection. Lord, take this
from me. Take this thorn out of my side. He said, my grace
is sufficient for you. Suffer it. Hold on to it. You'll
be all right. I'm with you. Suffer it to be
so now, John, for thus it becometh me to fulfill all righteousness. Oh no, it says us. Thus it becometh
us. Isn't that what word's been just
streaming off throughout this psalm? Us, us, us, us. I've been afflicted. So what?
That's nothing compared to what he was afflicted with. That was
the Holy God. In human flesh, walked this sin-cursed
earth. They mocked him and they wagged
their heads at him. They put a crown of thorn on
his head and spit on him and plucked out his beard. That's
the king that they did that to. Why did they do that? For us.
For us. God turned us back on God. Why? Because we were in him. We were
united with, that's called salvation, being united to a holy God. Isn't
it? That's a person. It's not a systematic
theology. It's not memorizing a bunch of
scripture. It's not acting like good little church people. It's
being made one with Christ. We'll see it next hour too. We've
got to have his name, his complete identity, or we're going to burn.
We have to be made one with him. I can't do that. You're right.
I can't either. He can. And know what the first
eight verses said, you saved us. Father, we're gonna praise
and glory Him, not man. He said, suffer it to be so now,
verse 15, for thus if it cometh us to fulfill all righteousness,
then He suffered Him. And Jesus, when He was baptized,
went up straightway out of the water, and lo, the heavens were
opened unto Him, and He saw the Spirit of God descending like
a dove and lighting upon Him. And lo, a voice from heaven saying,
this is my beloved Son, in whom. There ain't no other way you're
gonna make Him happy. in whom I'm well-pleased. Us. That's what I said to us. Somebody
asked me one time, when was you baptized, Kevin? I said, about
almost 2000 years ago. As God sees it, right? Well,
there's no sense in me confessing now. Oh yes, there is. Yes, there
is. We have not strived against sin
to blood, have we? Have we suffered that much? We
dealt with these things, been tempted by Satan in person? No,
but in him we have. In him we were victorious, wasn't
it? All of the us's being persecuted, that was our king, and we were
in him when he happened. Back in our text, verse 19. Psalm 44, verse 19. Though thou hast sore broken
us in the place of dragons, where the fire and the tearing apart
is, that's where we were broken. We were tried in fire and covered
us with the shadow of death. I haven't died yet in this body,
have I? There's no more sin to worry
about, no more condemnation. Death's lost its sting. Why,
I died when Him. I was risen in him. That's where
that leper, Lazarus the leper, was out there. And whenever he
died, it said he was carried away to the bosom of Abraham.
And that rich fellow was buried. This old body's gonna die and
go to the ground, so what? Maybe it'll get burned up, maybe
it'll be in an ocean. I don't know where it's gonna
be. Might be at the bottom of the Atlantic. But that spirit's gonna go to
him. Verse 20, if we have forgotten the name of our God or stretched
out our hands to a strange God, shall not God search this out?
For he knoweth the secrets of the heart. Christ is the only
one in those in him that can say, Lord, judge me. Judge me. He was holy, perfect and upright,
wasn't he? and he knows the secrets of the heart. You can clean up
outside the cup. People can talk right, and smell
right, and look right, and have a clean house, good, well-behaved
children, and never drink, cuss, or chew, or run with those that
do. You can do all those things on the outside. God looks on
the heart. He looks on the heart. That ought to be a comfort to
us. It scares you to death in the first place, and then it's
like, well, I don't even know me. You do. Lord, you know. That's what he told Simon, didn't
it, Simon Peter? He said, Simon, son of Jonas,
lovest thou me more than these? He said, yea, Lord, thou knowest
I love thee. He said, feed my lambs. He said a second time,
Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And he said, yea, Lord, you
know that I love you. He said, feed my sheep. And he
said the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And
Peter was grieved because he said it the third time, lovest
thou me? I don't know. You do. I think
I love you. I don't even know what love is
when I see your love, your long suffering. He was grieved. And
he said to him, third time, thou lovest me? And he said unto him,
Lord, thou knowest all things. But I love you, you know, because
you put that love in me. You're the one that did it. You
know I love you. And Jesus said to him, feed my
sheep. Feed my sheep. Verse 22, Psalm 44. Yea, for
thy sake we are killed all the day long. We're counted as sheep
for the slaughter. That's what Paul's going to quote
in Romans 8. Years after David, or whoever it was that penned
this, puts a pen down in it. So who shall separate us from
the love of Christ? Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? As it's written,
for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we're counted as
sheep for the slaughter. And he says, nay, in all these
things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. Through
him and in him and by him, isn't it? Awake, verse 23, why sleepest
thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us Not off forever. He never slumbers nor sleeps,
does he? And you know the first thing I thought of when I read
that? We come to the Lord, didn't we? His servants come to him
in that boat, and it was swamped, and the waves come over. It filled
the boat up. They were tossed to and fro,
and they went to him. He was in the back of the ship where
it tosses the most. And they woke him up and said, Master,
don't you care that we perish? And he arose and rebuked the
wind and said to the sea, peace, be still. And the wind ceases
a great calm. And he said, why are you so fearful?
Why are you so fearful? How is it that you have no faith?
I've cried those things. Lord, don't hurry. Come to me now. Don't cast us
off. Arise. Stand up for me. And right as I cry out, he has,
eternally. What's wrong with me? Verse 24,
wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction
and oppression. For our soul, why didn't he say souls? There
in verse 25. One heart of one mind, of one
accord, isn't it? We're one in him. For our soul
is bowed to the dust, and our belly cleaveth to the earth.
I was so thankful to read that. It's not all the positive things
I haven't done that get me the most, it's that I haven't bowed
as I ought to. That my belly hasn't just been
sunk down to the earth as it ought to in reverence or in begging
sorrow or whatever it is, begging mercy or whatever the case may
be. In Him is my soul. It's our soul, isn't it? Arise
for our help and redeem us for thy mercy's sake. That's what
he asked. That's the words of our Lord
asked that we ask it. He asked it. And then what he do, he did
it. What's in that tomb over there? Ain't no bones. Ain't no body. He's risen. Why? He redeemed us. For what cause? Who gets glorified? For your
mercy's sake, for your name's sake. I hope that was a blessing
to you. Let's pray. Father, we can praise your name all the day
long and speak of the wonderful grace you've had to us, for us,
only because Christ has suffered for us. Lord, we're thankful you are
just and holy. And we're thankful you've justified a people in
your son. Arise, Lord. Allow us this morning,
if you're pleased, to see Christ lifted up. Him is the one that's
worthy. Him is the one that's our Savior,
that commands salvation. Him, the ones that preserve us
to the end. Him being the only one that's
faithful. Make us praise our King. Thank you for this time, Lord.
Forgive us for what we are. It's because of Christ we ask
Him. Amen. All right, we'll take about 15
minute break and meet back at 1030.