Morning, everyone. So good to
be here again. Always a great blessing, as we
say, to gather together, for the Lord's people to gather together. Open your Bibles, if you would,
to Psalm 20. Psalm 20. The name of the message is trust
in the name of the Lord. Trusting in the name of the Lord.
Psalm 20. Wednesday nights, we've been
going through the book of Psalms, and I had prepared this message
for the. The Wednesday that has just passed,
but we canceled service, and I felt this laid upon my heart
to bring it forth today. It's a wonderful, wonderful song. Psalm 20. Verses one to nine. And it's a song of David. The
Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. In the name of the God
of Jacob, defend thee. Send thee help from the sanctuary
and strengthen thee out of Zion. Remember all thy offerings and
accept thy burnt sacrifice, Selah. Grant thee according to thine
own heart and fulfill all thy counsel. We will rejoice in thy
salvation. And in the name of our God, we
will set up our banners. The Lord fulfill all thy petitions. Now know I that the Lord saveth
his anointed. He will hear him from his holy
heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust
in chariots and some in horses. but we will remember the name
of the Lord our God. They are bought down and fallen,
but we are risen and stand upright. Save, Lord, let the King hear
us when we call. Oh my. Now we know that the author of
this psalm is Israel's sweet singer, from the short title,
The Psalm of David. Now David is the author and some
say it was either written at the outbreak of war or during
a time of war. And we will see that this psalm
is fitted to be sung at the outbreak of war or the time of war. when the monarch was girding
on his sword for the fight and preparing for battle. It's fitting
for we, the elect of God, for us to sing and breathe too. Think
of this, the great captain of our salvation is at our head. Oh, may we plead that the pleasure
of the Lord may prosper in his hands. And it has, and it does. So we shall keep this view of
Christ in our study of this psalm. We have here before us a prayer
put up by the whole church in faith for Jehovah's prospering,
the cause of his glorious Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ, the church's
King. The church is king. We have one
king, don't we? The Lord Jesus Christ. The church
taking for granted that that what is asked for in faith shall
assuredly be obtained by as a Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ will be
before the cross. He shall not fail, the scripture
declares, and has been successful in redeeming his people. It is
finished. His people, the church, celebrates
the victory and sets up banners. And sets up banners. Look at
verse 1. The Lord hear thee in the day
of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob
he fended. Here again we have the Holy Spirit
leading the church to think upon Christ as He is the grand object
intended by the Holy Spirit in this verse. Here is a prayer
for no other purpose but for the prosperity of Christ as king
in Zion, the glorious head and mediator of the church. The Lord
hear thee. The Lord hear thee. This prayer
is directed to Jehovah. The prayer is directed to the
self-existent one, the one who rules and reigns in absolute
sovereignty over all. The Lord hear thee. The sole
objective is that Jesus may for his church and people subdue
all his and her adversaries The God of Jacob defend The God
of Jacob defend the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble all
the days of Christ were days of trouble He was a brother born
for adversity a Man of souls and acquainted with grace More particularly, it was a day
of trouble with him when he was in the garden, heavy and sore
amazed, and his sweat was, as it were, great drops of blood
falling on the ground, and his soul was exceedingly sorrowful,
even unto death. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter
22. Luke chapter 22. He prayed to the Father, And
was heard. And He knew that His Father always
heard Him, beloved. He knew that His Father always
heard Him. And sufficient strength was given
in answer to prayer. And He rose a victor from the
conflict. The God of Jacob's family. Look
at Luke chapter 22 verses 39 to 44. And He came out and went
as He He was want to the Mount of Olives,
and His disciples also followed Him. And when He was at the place,
He said unto them, Pray ye that ye enter not into temptation.
How easy we are beset to enter into temptation. And He was withdrawn
from them about a stone's cast, and kneeled down and prayed,
saying, Father, if Thou be willing, remove this cup from me. But now we will see that our
great savior was ever submissive to the father's will, knowing
that the only way for we who are the redeemed of the Lord
to be redeemed was by his death upon Calvary's cross. And he
says these wondrous words, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. He's in absolute submission to
the father. His face is set like a flint
to Jerusalem, to the cross. He's born to die, isn't he? He's
come to redeem his people from their sins. And there appeared
an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening him. And being in agony. And being in agony. He prayed more earnestly. And
his sweat was it were great drops of blood fallen to the ground.
And he cometh unto his disciples and findeth them asleep and saith
unto Peter, what could ye not watch with me one hour? Beloved,
when he hung upon the cross and bore all the sins of his people,
when he endured the wrath of his father for the sins of his
people, when he was forsaken by God, This was a day of trouble. Now in this day of trouble, both
in the garden and on the cross, He prayed to His Father as He
had in other times of trouble. And in other times in the church
here, praise that God would hear and answer Him as He did. And note the latter part of verse
1. What great comfort the believer can glean from this. the name
of the God of Jacob defend. So we see two great mercies in
great trouble in this verse. Before us, hearing at the throne
of grace, God hears the prayers of his people. And defense from
the throne of grace. Two great mercies. Think of it. What mercy that God would even
hear us. In what mercy that God defends
us. Two great mercies in this verse right here. The Lord hear thee in the day
of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob
defend thee. The name of the God of Jacob
defend thee. Here before us is assurance of
safety. in the midst of 10,000 foes,
in the midst of trials and tribulations which come our way, the God of
Jacob defends us, preserves us, keeps us. The word defend in our text means
this, to set thee in a high place. To set thee in a high place. To be high, to be inaccessibly
high. Oh, what comfort, what comfort
God's people can find in this truth. Such as God's name is
far above the troubles and trials of this world. And another meaning
is to be too high for capture. to be too high to capture. That's
all from that little word defend. Isn't it wonderful? Oh, my. The name of the God of Jacob
defend the the righteous, what do we do? We run to him, don't
we run to his name? We run to him. And we're safe is in the Tower
of Brass or a town of war, beloved. We are safe in the everlasting
arms of our great God, the God of Jacob. My, I note the appeal which the
intercessor makes to our covenant head, the name of the God of
Jacob, defend thee. Who is the God of Jacob? The
God that gave him the blessing of his birthright. Though he
was the younger son, The God that delivered him from his murderous
hands of his brother. In the day of his trouble. The
God that enriched him with Laban's flock and gave him the desires
of his heart. The God that protected him and
manifested himself to him. The God of Jacob. Look at verse 2 now. Send thee
help from the sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Zion. Out of heaven's
sanctuary came the angel to strengthen our Lord. Well, he was in the
garden. We looked at that over at Luke
22. Why from the sanctuary? Because the Lord presented Himself
as there upon the mercy seat. The sanctuary was in Zion. The
mercy seat was in the sanctuary. The Lord was in the mercy seat.
And he would have himself set forth as residing there. Residing
there. Hear God's people pray. And pray
in faith for help and strength. Oh God, strengthen your people
by the preaching of your word. That's the preacher's prayer.
That you would reveal yourself to your people. To save people and his lost people. those who he has not yet drawn
to the Savior. This is our hope. This is our
hope. Strengthen us, Lord. Give us grace and strength to
make it through every day that comes. Look at verse 3. Remember all
thy offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifice, Selah. Before
war, in biblical times, kings offered sacrifices. upon the
acceptance of which they believed depended success. Our blessed Savior, beloved,
offered Himself as a sacrifice for sin. And we know that He
was absolutely sinless. He offered Himself as a sacrifice
for our sins. Willingly. Willingly. for the sins of his
people. And his offering, his offering
was to God a sweet savor, a sweet savor of the Lord. And he defeated
Satan and all the legions of hell, having spoiled princes
and principalities at Calvary's cross when he died. Turn, if
you would, to Colossians chapter 2. Colossians chapter 2. Verse 13, we see our natural
state right off the bat in this verse. And you, now remember,
Paul's writing to blood-bought saints. And you, being dead in
your sins. That was our natural state, wasn't
it? And dead there means dead, just like it means dead in Ephesians
2. Don't let anyone else tell you that the dead doesn't mean
dead because people believe it means mostly dead in religion.
But it's dead. That's graveyard dead. That's
no ability. You can't save yourself. You
can't come to Christ on your own. We were dead. and you being dead in your sins
and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened together
with him. We're born again by the Holy
Spirit of God. Heaven forgiven you. I love this.
Oh, I love this. Forgiven you all trespasses,
past, present, and future. Glory be to God. Heaven forgiven
you all trespasses. All your sins are forgiven. That
doesn't again, it doesn't give us a license to go out and go
crazy, does it? No. But but the believer can live
in this precious truth. Christ, my sins are all forgiven
in Christ, in Christ alone. Oh, my, this is wonderful. Look at this blotting out the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us. Now, blotting
out there in the Greek means to whitewash. They're gone. whitewashed, and think of the
handwriting of ordinances that was against us for our sin, beloved. Think of the book that was, if
God kept track of every sin that we did, the handwriting of ordinances
that would be against us. Oh my goodness, we've sinned
billions of times in a lifetime. Blotting out. the handwriting
of ordinances that was against you. This is wonderful news for
the sinner. It's gone. That was against us,
which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing
it to his cross. This is wondrous. And look at
this, and having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a show of
them openly, triumphing over them in it. Now, the triumphing
there, is in reference to a Roman triumph. When a general came
back from a great victory, they would have what was called a
triumph. And they would bring the prisoners in chains, the
slaves that they had caught. And they would have float-like
things that they pulled along that depicted pictures of the
great battle that occurred. And at the very end would come
the general. And he would have a golden laurel
on his head. And he would be, oh, it was a
great honor for a Roman general to have a triumph. Our Lord has
triumphed over his enemies, over our enemies. Oh, this is wondrous
truth. Wondrous truth. Oh, my. And he did it all. He did it
all by the sacrifice of himself at Calvary's cross. And God accepted
his sacrifice. God accepted his sacrifice, the
sacrifice of Christ. His burnt sacrifice perfumes
the courts of heaven, and His people are accepted through Him. We are accepted in Him, by God,
by the holy and righteous God of the universe. This is wonderful,
wonderful. There is salvation in no other,
no other but Christ and Christ alone. His people are accepted through
Him by God. And we ought always in our spiritual
conflicts to have our eye to the sacrifice of Christ and what
He's done for us. It'll bring you great joy to
think upon Christ dying for you. It's wonderful. It's wonderful. Look at verse 4. Grant thee according
to thine own heart and fulfill all thy counsel. Now Christ's
desire and counsel were both set upon the salvation of his
people. And the church of old desired
for him to save his people. And the church today desires
for him to save his people. That's what we desire. That God
would use the preaching of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ
to draw in his lost sheep. Gathering, regenerate his people. in the complete fulfillment of
His purpose. And it's all by God's work. It's all by God's
work. Grant Thee according to Thine
own heart, which is to see His seed, the travail of His soul,
and to have pleasure of the Lord prosper in His hands, to have
all His people called, preserved, and glorified in Him. And fulfill
all Thy counsel, the Scripture says. Whatever was agreed upon
in the counsel and covenant of grace between Him and His Father,
between Christ and His Father in eternity, relating to His
own glory and the salvation of His people. Grant thee according
to thine own heart and fulfill all thy counsel. Remember what we read in Luke
chapter 22, verse 42. Christ came to do the Father's
will and was submissive to him in life and in death. He said,
Father, if thou be willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless,
not my will, but thine, be done. Think of that in light of this
verse here. Grant thee according to thine own heart and fulfill
all thy counsel. The church has an eye to the
merits of Jesus' obedience and sacrifices. Our salvation is
in Christ and Christ alone. Which leads right into our next
verse. Look at verse 5. We will rejoice in thy salvation. Thy salvation. And in the name
of our God we will set up banners. The Lord fulfill all thy petitions. Here we see God's elect rejoicing
in the victories of the Lord Jesus Christ. Rejoicing in his
triumph as we saw in Colossians chapter 2. And this is the cry
of those who have been redeemed by the Lord Jesus Christ. God's
people celebrate the victories of Jesus, even while we are here
in the wilderness. Oh, my. And we know that the
church in glory celebrates the victories of our Savior, don't
they? Right now. Oh, my. And we will one day, too. Oh,
my. Sinless, like we talked about
this morning. Sinless. Oh, what a glorious
day that'll be. Oh my, turn if you would to Song
of Solomon chapter 6 verse 10. God's people celebrate the victories
of Jesus even in the wilderness here below. We see the church
is seen as coming out of the wilderness, fair as the moon,
clear as the sun and terrible as an army with banners over
in Song of Solomon chapter 6 verse 10. Who is she that looketh forth
as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible
as an army with banners? Song of Solomon, chapter 6, verse
10. My goodness. Let's go back to
Psalm 20. And look, it says, We will rejoice
in thy salvation in the name of our God. Verse five, we will rejoice in
thy salvation and in the name of our God. Do you rejoice in the salvation
of the Lord? Do you rejoice in the name of
the Lord? God's saints do, don't we? Oh
my, we rejoice. We rejoice in salvation, which
is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. And in no other, He is God incarnate
in the flesh. And we rejoice in God's salvation
in and through Him. We rejoice in the saving arm
of the Lord. The saving arm of God, the Lord
Jesus Christ. And the people in this psalm,
before their king went to battle, felt sure of victory and therefore
began to rejoice beforehand. How much more are we to do so
as we have seen the victory completely won in in and by Christ at Calvary's
cross? How much more should we rejoice?
It's finished. It's finished. Let's look at
verse six. Now I know that I now know I
that the Lord saveth his anointed. He will hear him from his holy
heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. The verse
before this was the church rejoicing in the salvation of God. And
here we see a change of person from the whole church to he who
is our glorious head, the Lord Jesus Christ. And remember the
scripture proclaims that he shall not fail. And Isaiah claims he
shall not fail. And he did not, the anointed
one, the Messiah. has saved His people from their
sins. He who is the strength of God's
right hand. Turn, if you would, to John chapter
11. John chapter 11. Does not Jesus tell His people
how sure He is of being heard by God and how He will be successful? We see a beautiful instance of
this in the days of His flesh when He was upon this earth in
John chapter 11. verses 41 to 44. John chapter 11 verses 41 to
44. Then they took away the stone
from the place where the dead was laid. And Jesus lifted up
his eyes and said, Father, I thank Thee that Thou hast heard me. And I know that Thou hearest
me always. But because of the people which
stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast sent
me. And when he had thus spoken,
he cried with a loud voice, Lazarus, come forth. And he that was dead,
remember that's our natural state, right? What a picture of regeneration
this is. What a picture of effectual calling
of God, right? Lazarus didn't say, well, no,
I'm going to stay in here. I'm dead. No, it didn't, did
he? And note the Lord only said Lazarus, because some old grace
preachers said that if he had a call come forth, every grave
would have busted open. But he called Lazarus. He called
him by his name. He calls his people by their
name. He calls us factually. And he that was dead came forth.
bound hand and foot with grave clothes, and his face was bound
with a napkin. Jesus saith unto him, Loose him,
and let him go. O my beloved, now I know that
the Lord saveth his anointed. He will hear him, and he always
does. He always hears Christ from his
holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Let us look
at verse 7 now. Consider verse 7 in Psalm 20. Some trust in chariots and some
in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. The church again breaks out in
confidence. Not in confidence in themselves,
because there's nothing for us to be confident in about ourselves,
is there? No, but because of a Redeemer's
victory. because of her Redeemer's victory.
And is this not so today? Is some trust in things that
they have? Some trust in their strength?
Some trust in material possessions rather than the rock of ages? Turn, if you would, to Jeremiah
chapter 17. Jeremiah chapter 17 all around us people look
to the arm of the flesh don't they all around us and and we
don't we don't say that In a high manner because we used to be
the same way We used to look out for number one It was all about us and we still
struggle with selfishness don't we if we're real honest with
ourselves we still struggle with that Every one of us But we're not tied like we used
to be. All around us, people look to
the arm of the flesh instead of the Lord Jesus Christ. And
that's the difference with believers. Now we look to Christ. He's our
strength. He's our hope. Why? Only in Him is our salvation. So people again look to the arm
of the flesh instead of the Lord Jesus Christ and his righteousness.
In contrast to God's people who trust in the Lord. And we see
this proclaimed in Jeremiah chapter 17 verses 5 to 8. Thus saith
the Lord. Curse be the man that trusteth
in man. Let's bring this really home.
Cursed be the man that trusteth in himself for his salvation. Because we're men. That was our
natural state, wasn't it? We've been rescued, beloved God.
We've been rescued. Thirst be the man that trusteth
in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth
from the Lord. For he shall be like the hearth
in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh, but shall
inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in the salt land,
and not inhabited. Now look at the contrast here,
beloved. Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord. and whose
hope the Lord is. Blessed is the man. If you're
a believer in Christ, you're blessed beyond measure. What a contrast we see here,
eh? Blessed is the man that trusts in the Lord, whose hope the Lord
is. Is the Lord your hope? He's my hope. The believer cries,
he's my hope. I have no other hope. For he shall be as a tree planted
by the waters that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and
shall not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green,
and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall
cease from yielding fruit. Oh, let us burn verse 7 in our
heart. Blessed is the man that trusteth
in the Lord, in whose hope the Lord is. And we see that same truth proclaimed. Proclaimed that the Lord's people
trust in Him and look to Christ, not to the arm of their own strength. Look at verse 7 again in Psalm
20. Some trust in chariots, and some in horses. And you tie that
in, in Jeremiah chapter 5. Cursed be the man that trusteth
in man. They're trusting in themselves. They're trusting in their wealth.
They're trusting in their power. They're trusting in their material
possessions. And contrast that with God's
people. But we will remember the name
of the Lord our God. Blessed is the man that trusts
in the Lord, whose hope the Lord is. Oh, beloved. Here before us,
we are instructed to remember the name of the Lord. What a
sweet delight it is for God's redeemed people to meditate upon
the one who is altogether lovely. Altogether lovely. The one who
is our Savior. The one who is our King, our
Redeemer, our Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ. And let
us ponder upon His character and think upon the names given
to our Lord throughout Scripture. Remembering that these names
describe who He is and what He did for His sheep. He is our
advocate before the Father. He is the bread of life. He is the captain of our salvation. He is our deliverer. He's rescued
us from our sins. He's Emmanuel, God with us. He's the foundation of our faith. He's the great shepherd. And we are his sheep. And he
is our high priest. God has provided for his people
a sure, safe and everlasting refuge. Upon which we can rest
our souls. And his name is the Lord Jesus
Christ. On Christ, the solid rock, I
stand. All of the ground is sinking
sand. Christ is the Great Shepherd. As He laid down His life for
His sheep, all the Father gave Him in eternity. As the Father
knoweth me, even so know I the Father, and I lay down my life
for the sheep. If you're one of His sheep, you're
blessed, blessed beyond measure. He's also called the Chief Shepherd,
and will soon come again to receive and take His sheep to glory.
great shepherd who secured all spiritual blessings for the elect
through his blood sacrifice offered upon Calvary's cross before God. And walk in love as Christ also
hath loved us and hath given himself for us an offering and
a sacrifice to God for a sweet smelling savor. He's our great
high priest. Believers in Christ are not searching
for someone to be their high priest. We don't look to some
man. We look to the man, Christ Jesus,
God incarnate in the flesh, our great high priest. Who's now exalted at the right
hand of the Father. Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers
of the heavenly calling, consider the apostle and high priest of
our profession, Christ Jesus. Our Lord is the fulfillment of
everything the Old Testament priests only pictured. And it
is Christ who represents and presents us to God wholly and
unblameable and unreprovable in His sight. Christ our Lord has redeemed
His people from all our sins by the sacrifice of Himself. It is He who has reconciled us
to God by His atonement. The Lord Jesus Christ himself
is the appointed sacrifice, appointed by God, who died the appointed
death. Turn, if you would, to Acts chapter
20. He is the appointed sacrifice who died the appointed death
to secure all appointed blessings for an appointed people. All
by God's choosing. He's the appointed sacrifice
who died the appointed death to secure all appointed blessings
for the appointed people of God. Look at this Acts chapter 20,
and this is all in this one verse, verse 28. Take heed, therefore,
unto yourselves and to all the flock over which the Holy Ghost
hath made you overseers to feed the church of God, which he has
purchased with his own blood. He is the appointed sacrifice Who died an appointed death. To secure all appointed blessings
for an appointed people. It's incredible. We don't deserve
this, do we? None of us. Beloved, let us remember
the name of the Lord. And let us rejoice in His wonderful
salvation. Let's look at verses 8 and 9
now. But we'll read verse 7 in context to see the contrast here
before us of the redeemed and the lost. Psalm 20, verses 7
to 9. Some trust in chariots and some
in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. They are bought down and fallen,
but we are risen and stand upright. Save Lord, let the King hear
us when we cry. Oh my, what a striking contrast
we have here before us. What a striking contrast. And this is manifested in the
world every day. In the different characters here
before us in our text. We have the ungodly and their
false confidences being brought down and the faithful being lifted
up and carried and sustained by the Lord. delivered all through
this life. Truly God's people proclaim,
save Lord. And he has saved us from our
sins in Christ. He has saved us from his wrath. Which fell upon Christ in our
place. He has saved us from his law. which Christ fulfilled in our
place. He has saved us from judgment,
as our sins were judged in Christ, the sinner's substitute. He has
saved us from the prison house of sin, which we were bound up
in. And praise the Lord Jesus Christ.
He saves sinners. And we see Psalm ends as it begins
with faith in God's covenant Faith in God's covenant love
in Christ one commentator brings forth save us is like Hosanna
the gospel Matthew 21 9 it says this in
the multitude went before and fall cried saying Hosanna to
the son of David Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the
Lord Hosanna in the highest So we've kept a constant eye
through this beautiful Psalm upon the person of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the victories which he has obtained for us. And the fact that we are to remember
his name, aren't we? We're to remember his name. We're
to remember the great things he had done for us. And let us
call to remembrance in the day of trouble the blessed victories
of our great King and Savior. And may we who are the redeemed
of the Lord Celebrate the triumphs of our Savior. Celebrate them.
It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. God
the Father makes His people willing. And we cry out to Him. We cry
out to Him. And He hears us. He hears us. And it is He who has saved us.
The mighty God of Jacob who defends us. God the Father heard Christ in the day of trouble
when He stood forth as the surety for our salvation. And God, the
mighty God of Jacob, as an angel from heaven, was sent to strengthen
Him. And praise God, He accepted the sacrifice of Christ when
He was made an offering for sin. God has accepted the sacrifice
of Christ. And praise God, we who are redeemed
are accepted in Christ. Let the redeemed of the Lord
set up banners. Let us rejoice. Let us celebrate
the wonderful victories that our Lord Jesus Christ has obtained.
And let us remember the name of our mighty God and Savior,
the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, as we leave this place,
let us rejoice in thy strength Let we who are the redeemed of
the Lord seek Thy face, O Lord, for grace and strength to help
us in the remaining conflicts which we have to encounter this
week and also all through our lives. O Lord, give us grace
and strength. In Thy name we will greatly rejoice.
In Thy righteousness we will make our boast. O Lord, surely
Thou art the glory of our strength, the God of our strength. And
we shall not be like those who trust in the arms of their flesh,
the things of this world, but we shall be made strong in Thy
power, O Lord, and by Thy grace. We trust in Thee, who is our
defense, our shield, our defender, our redeemer, and our God. O Lord, May we leave here praise
in your mighty name and rejoicing in the wonder of salvation, which
you have wrought for us. And we pray all these things
in your name, in Jesus name.