Open back with me to Psalm 13. As we look at this psalm this
morning, I want to look at it from two different perspectives.
First, we're going to look at this psalm as our experience,
as David's experience. David penned this psalm. David
the king was David the sinner, just like I am, just like you
are. And if the Lord tarries and as
we grow in grace, this psalm will be our experience. As I thought more on that, I
think we all experience this psalm firstly as the Lord reveals
himself to us. We just don't have sense enough
to know what we're experiencing at that time. We're going to look at that briefly
because I want to get to the point of this psalm. This psalm
is the psalm of our Lord Jesus Christ. And In this text, we have recorded
how he became one with us, that we might be made one with God. Let's read this text again. Psalm
13. How long wilt thou forget me,
O Lord? Forever. How long wilt thou hide
thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall
mine enemy be exalted over me? Consider and hear me, O Lord
my God. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep
the sleep of death. lest mine enemies say I have
prevailed against him, and those that trouble me rejoice when
I am moved. But I have trusted in thy mercy.
My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the
Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me. Have you experienced
what David experienced to be able to pin these words? David,
the sweet psalmist of Israel, David, the king, David, the sinner. David was a man mightily used
of God, and he wrote many of the Psalms we enjoy. God inspired. God breathed, God gave David
these words to write. But David wasn't a receptionist
that took dictation. He didn't just, here's the words,
write them down. David had to know and experience
these words in his heart and in his soul before he could write
them. How long Will thou forget me,
O Lord, forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face
from me? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall
mine enemy be exalted over me? Have you been there? Have you
been where you don't feel the Lord's presence? Where when you
pray, the prayer doesn't get past the lips and the heavens
are as brass. They don't go any further than
the ceiling. Where your heart cries out, Lord,
are you clear gone? Have you left me forever? It
has been my experience that every time that I have this experience,
I take counsel in my soul. I'm looking at the wrong place. I've turned my eyes and I feel
the Lord has left me because sin and unbelief have borne their
fruit. And I've taken my eyes off of
the one that loves me and the one that I love. And I've forgotten
his blessed promise. I will never leave thee nor forsake
thee. It is not he that has left me,
but I have forgotten him. And as a loving father, he will
chastise and he will correct his wayward children and he'll
let us feel the loss of his presence. as we are brought to the end
of ourselves. You know these times. Times are
hard. They're difficult. Trials, troubles,
distresses, sicknesses, they abound. And we always fall into
the same pattern. I can fix this. If I go here, If I talk to this
one, if I do this, I can make myself whole again. And the outcome is always the
same. We're worse off than when we
started. At long last, we're brought to
where we should have started. an end of self. And we turn and
we look to the one that we should have gone to in the very beginning.
The one that says, come to me, bring all your troubles, bring
them to me. And we go to our Lord and our
God. Verse three. Consider and hear
me, O Lord my God. Don't leave me here. Please hear
me. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep
the sleep of death, lest mine enemies say I have prevailed
against him, and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. Oh, Lord, my God. He is my God. He has created
me. I belong to him. We all belong
to him. And more than that, he is my
redeemer. He has bought me. He has redeemed
me to himself. He is my God. Lighten mine eyes. Salvation
is of the Lord. If the work is to be done, he
must be the one that does it. And we fall at his feet, begging
for his mercy, his grace, and to know his presence once more. Lighten mine eyes. Lest I sleep the sleep of death. Lord, if you don't have me, if
you don't keep me, if you leave me alone, I shall sleep the sleep
of death. Great is our Lord's faithfulness. And because he is faithful, he
brings us through the trouble. And we with David exclaim in
verse five. But I have trusted in thy mercy. My heart shall rejoice in thy
salvation, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. I will sing unto the
Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me. We, even in this poor,
wretched, sinful flesh, we know, having been made to see Christ
as he is, In His glory, He is our only hope that God will deal
mercifully with us. And because He has done so, in
Christ we exclaim, in Christ alone He hath dealt bountifully
with me. Now, hold your place here in
Psalm 13 and turn with me to John 17. John 17, this psalm being brought to my
attention, I was led to think upon how great our Lord's words
are in His high priestly prayer recorded here in John 17. John
17, verse 20. Our Lord prays, John 17, 20. Neither pray I for these alone,
but for them also, which shall believe on me through their word,
that they all may be one, as thou, Father, art in me, and
I in thee, that they also may be one in us. that the world
may believe that thou hast sent me. And the glory which thou
gavest me, I have given them, that they may be one, even as
we are one. I in them, and thou in me, that
they may be made perfect in one. and that the world may know that
thou hast sent me, and hast loved them as thou hast loved me."
In these four verses, the word one is repeated five times. The theme of these verses is
that those given to Christ by the Father Those he loved, those
he saved, will be made one with God the Father and God the Son. How can such a wretch as this
be made one with the Holy God? Holy God the Father, the Holy
God the Son, Our greatest imaginings can't come even close to considering
what it's going to be like to see him as he is, to be in his
presence. Can't even come close. But to
be joined as one, with the Father of God, and with the Son of God,
and with the Spirit of God, no sinful man can grasp it. As I considered this, as I tried
to enter in, I can't grasp that union. But
God has given us a glimpse into what he did to make it possible
for us sinners to be made one with God. God Almighty in the person of
God the Son came down from eternal glory and became as Adam said,
bone of my bones and flesh of my flesh. In the sweat of thy face shalt
thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground, for out of it
wast thou taken, for dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou
return. The almighty God became dust. Think of how little we consider
dust. In our house, it's an annoyance. You go and rent a room, such
as we had last night, and you walk into that room that you've
paid for, and there's dust on the countertop. It's a dirty room. First thought
in your mind, not clean. And yet, it's something with
a swipe of our hand we remove. God became dust. God sending his own son in the
likeness of sinful flesh became dust. Turn back to Psalm 13. As we said, this is a psalm of
us. This is our psalm. This is David's
psalm. He knew these words. He experienced
these words. And this is the psalm of our
Lord Jesus Christ. He, because He made Himself to
be one with us, one with those that He loves, He felt and he
knows by experience the words of this song. I have a very simple
three point outline. Verses one and two are our Lord's
experience on the cross. Verses three and four, as he
laid in our tomb. and verses five and six, our
Lord's glorious resurrection. Verse one, how long, and read
these as if you're reading in the New Testament, Christ is
speaking here. These are his words. How long
wilt thou forget me, O Lord, forever? How long wilt thou hide
thy face from me? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall
mine enemy be exalted over me? when our Lord was made sin for
us. These were some of the words
that he experienced in his heart and in his soul. Hold your place
here and turn to Mark chapter 15. Mark 15. Mark 15 verse 34. Excuse me, 33. Mark 15, 33. And when the sixth hour was come,
there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour. And at the ninth hour, Jesus
cried with a loud voice saying, Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani,
which is being interpreted, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? As our Lord hung there in darkness,
in our natural state, being made one with us, bearing our sin,
bearing the sin of those that he loves, his beloved bride,
God, forsook our Redeemer. Just a matter of hours before
this event, he had prayed to his father and our father, that
they also may be one in us." What did it take for that prayer
to be answered? God. The Son of God, God manifest
in the likeness of sinful flesh, was forsaken by God. the triune, holy, one God, forsook
God the Son, in whom dwelleth the fullness of the Godhead bodily." That's a statement A vast and overwhelming statement,
a statement that there is no comprehending of for our minds. There's no entering
into it. There's no example that can expound
upon this. There is one thing given to us
where two are made one flesh, and that is marriage. We just in our congregation had
celebrated the marriage of a young couple. And this couple are just
starting their lives together. And in a very short period of
time, Life is going to occur. And their happy togetherness
is going to be separated. Work's going to come. Family's
going to come. Something's going to occur where
one or the other has to depart. And that couple will once again
know the loneliness of going to bed in an empty bed again,
separated from your beloved. Some of us are entering that
stage of life in which the realization of the twilight is coming. There's going to be a day we
awake and the wife of my youth won't be there, or my husband
won't be there. Some of us have already endured
the loss of our beloved. The longer we are together in
this oneness, the greater that separation feels. Such an inadequate comparison
to God the Father forsaking God the Son. In the time our Lord hung in
that darkness, bearing our wrath, he bore an eternity of being
forgotten by God the Father. as the Father of God hid his
face from the Son of God. Psalm 13 verse 1. How long wilt thou forget me,
O Lord, forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face
from me, How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow
in my heart daily? How long shall mine enemy be
exalted over me? Oh, the sorrow our Lord endured
on our behalf. A man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief. The Lord Jesus Christ, who knew
no sin, who Proverbs 8 records was daily the Lord's delight,
rejoicing always before Him, set aside His glory and came
in our likeness. Then, there upon Calvary's tree,
His enemies are, for a moment, apparently, exalted over Him. Who are these enemies? Me, myself,
and I lead the pack. The sin and the iniquities that
I am, that I commit, have separated me and my God. There, in my sin,
in all my enmity against him, Am I binding my Savior to that
tree? The other enemy is death. For a moment, being the result
of sin, appears to have exalted itself above our Lord. The serpent
has bruised the seed of woman's heel, and for a moment he appears
to have exalted himself above our Lord. Hold your place here
and turn to Luke chapter 23. Luke 23. Luke 23 verse 44 Luke 23 44 And it was about the sixth hour,
and there was a darkness over all the earth until the ninth
hour. And the sun was darkened, and
the veil of the temple was rent in the midst, And when Jesus,
remember his condition, a man beaten, his visage was so marred
more than any man who has been bleeding from his head, from
his face, from his back, from his hands, from his feet. hanging upon the cross. From
Psalm 22, he described himself, my strength is dried up like
a pot shirt, and my tongue cleaveth to my jaws, and thou hast brought
me into the dust of death. For all his condition, Luke 23,
46, And when Jesus had cried out
with a loud voice, not a forsaken, not a forlorn, not a defeated
voice, not a, it is finished voice. He cried out with a loud
victorious voice. It is finished. a commanding voice. Then, verse 46, he said, Father, into thy hands
I commend my spirit. And having said thus, he gave
up the ghost. Back to Psalm 13. It is appointed unto men once
to die. Jesus Christ, God the Son, was
made one with us, and he gave up the ghost. His broken body
was taken down from the tree and was laid in a tomb. Verse 3. Remember, these are Christ's
words. Consider and hear me, O Lord
my God. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep
the sleep of death. Lest mine enemies say I have
prevailed against him, and those that trouble me rejoice when
I am moved. What did it require? that our
Lord's prayer that they also may be one in us might be answered. He must first become one with
us before we can be made one with Him. And being one with
us, the wages of sin is death, he laid down his life and he
entered into that tomb that was prepared for me. And even there,
he pleaded for us. In the tomb, sealed and in darkness,
his body rested. as He, by His own blood, entered
once into the holy place. As our High Priest, the Lord
Jesus Christ, entered into the presence of God, not without
blood, but with His own blood, and He paid our sin debt, by
which He obtained eternal redemption for us. With his final words
from the tree, he said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit,
the words of the Son of God. And can you not hear the words
of the man Jesus contained in this psalm? Consider and hear
me, O Lord my God. lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep
the sleep of death, lest mine enemies say I have prevailed
against him, and those that trouble me rejoice when I am moved. Verse 5 But I have trusted in
thy mercy, my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation, I will sing
unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with me." Our
Lord trusted perfectly, as no sinful man can, and he was confident
in the promises and the commands that were given to him. One of
those promises he trusted, Psalm 16 says, For thou wilt not leave
my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to
see corruption. Speaking of laying down his life
in John 10, he said, no man taketh it from me, but I lay it down
of myself. I have power to lay it down and
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received
of my father. Because the almighty God first
trusted in Christ Because from the foundation of the world,
God chose a people and gave them to Christ. And because He loved
us and gave Himself for us, that we might be made one with Him
and one with the Father. Because of all this and oh so
much more, God the Son became dust and was made one with us. And being one with us, he fulfilled
the law on our behalf. He went to the cross to suffer
and die our death, meeting the demands of holy justice. He went
into the tomb to make intercession for us. And on the third day,
he arose that at the name of Jesus, every knee shall bow. He is exalted above all. He has conquered every enemy. My sins, which are ever before
me, he has put them away as far as the east is from the west. The serpent which bruised his
heel, his head has been bruised. Of death, O death, where is thy
sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and
the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. In His resurrection,
Christ our Savior says, I will sing unto the Lord, because He
hath dealt bountifully with me. And in Him, because He was made
one with us, that we might be made one with God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Spirit, our hearts echo, I will sing
unto the Lord, because He hath dealt bountifully with me in
Christ Jesus my beloved Savior. For our sakes, that this sin
might be made one with God, the Lord Jesus Christ made Himself
to be one with us. He bore the wrath for us, He
bore the sentence for us, and He arose for us. How long wilt
thou forget me, O Lord, forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face
from me? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall
mine enemy be exalted over me? Consider and hear me, O Lord
my God, Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death, lest
mine enemies say I have prevailed against him, and those that trouble
me rejoice when I am moved. Our enemy cannot prevail over
us. Christ has conquered them all. But I have trusted in thy mercy.
My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the
Lord, because he hath dealt out with me. May the Lord bless us.