Alright, turn with me tonight
in Psalm 77. Psalm 77. I'll begin reading in verse 1. I cried unto God with my voice,
even unto God with my voice, and He gave ear unto me. In the day of my trouble I sought
the Lord. My sore ran in the night and
ceased not. My soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God and was troubled. I complained, and my spirit was
overwhelmed. Thou holdest mine eyes waking,
I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have considered the
days of old, the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance
my song in the night. I commune with mine own heart,
and my spirit may diligent search. Will the Lord cast off forever,
and will He be favorable no more? Is His mercy clean gone forever? Doth His promise fail forevermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath He in anger shut up His
tender mercies? And I said, this is my infirmity,
but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most
High. I will remember the works of
the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders
of old. I will meditate also of all thy
work and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Who is so great a God as our
God?" I was thinking about it today
that I used to remember that, think about how that it seemed
like old folks, the only thing that they wanted to talk about
was their illnesses, their afflictions. And now that I am becoming one,
I'm finding myself almost in the same boat. I'm trying not
to. Pray for grace not to. But that's sometimes the way
that it is. And I suppose that a great part
of it is that we'd love to have a little sympathy, wouldn't we?
It's kind of hard to come by in our day, but it'd be nice
to have a little bit of sympathy. And here the psalmist, Asaph, is led by the Spirit to bear
his own affliction. And what we find is that the
experiences and the failures and the problems of the psalmist are the experiences and failures
and problems of all the Lord's people. I know the times and the circumstances
and the details may be different, but the experiences are much
the same. One of the reasons why I love
the Psalms is because it seems like that
the psalmist is confessing what I dare to confess, and he's saying
to God and to all the things of my own experience. And the reason for this is that
all the Lord's people, being of the same stuff, and being
in the same world and facing the same things, they all possess
the same infirmities. As a matter of fact, they all
possess one particular and common infirmity. That word, infirmity, means to
be weak, sick, or afflicted. And what this psalmist calls
in verse 10, my infirmity, is also my infirmity. And I dare say, with all the
Lord's people who are themselves described as believers, as those
of like precious faith. I dare say this is all their
infirmity. And this infirmity, and that's
what I've called this tonight, the common infirmity, This infirmity is simply this,
unbelief. Unbelief. Isn't it amazing that those who
have been given this precious faith and who do and shall believe
God, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, that they at the same
time have this common infirmity. Unbelief. And not only that, we have to
confess that it's sin. It's just absolutely sin. I've said something like this
many times. But I found where one writer
says this. Unbelief should never be viewed
as a badge or merit or of an excusable or understandable state
of mind. As a matter of fact, sometimes
reading the old Puritans and some other writers and hearing
what some people say about this and how they view this, it's
almost as if Assurance is an awful thing, and unbelief is
a normal thing, an excusable thing, almost having some merit
to it. But he said this, at its heart,
unbelief constitutes rejection of God's testimony. It is simply not to believe God. And it is not ever excusable,
and rather than have any merit or anything about it to be admired,
it is sin. I'll tell you how I know that.
When the Apostle writes in Hebrews 12, he says, Wherefore seeing
we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses,
let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily
beset us." There is one sin in particular
that does so often, and as he says here, so easily beset us
or set us back. He says, and let us run with
patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus,
the author and finisher of our faith. In its entirety, the author
and finisher of our faith, and we are found I know if there
is a verse in this Bible that expresses the testimony of an
individual that fits me to a tee. It is the man in Mark chapter
9 that Jesus is speaking to, and he says this to him. He says,
if you can believe all things are possible to him
that believeth." And it says, "...that straightway
the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe, but help thou my unbelief." Is
that you? That's me. By the grace of God, I believe. But I'm oftentimes found crying
that same thing out. Lord, help my unbelief. Because I know that this is my
chief sin against God. And I am so much like the psalmist
here, and I dare say all the Lord's people, I'm guilty at
times of questioning his love. I'm guilty, oh, I'm so guilty
of this, of misinterpreting his providence. And so often disbelieving his
precious promises. It is a sin that I am so prone
to, and it so easily besets me. And it arises from this corrupt
nature that is still about me, the plague of my natural heart
and mind, so that I often have to find myself just like the
psalmist saying, Lord, I've just felt things or thought things
or said things in haste, said them rashly without even stopping
to think and consider. What you've made yourself in
grace be to me. I'm like Jacob of old. He sat down there in his home. He had, he thought, lost a son
and now had just lost another one, the youngest son. He was
hungry. There was no food because of
a famine in the land. He thought his other sons were
lying to him. All these things are against
me." You'll never say that to him.
All these things are against me. When in truth, it was for
him, just like it is all of God's elect, just exactly the opposite. That son he thought was missing,
God had miraculously delivered, and not only delivered, but raised
him up to the second in charge of Egypt and used him, as he
said, to preserve much life alive, including the life of Jacob and
his brethren. Why? Because though he in that
moment was in this lapse of unbelief, It did not change the reality,
the God-wrought reality, that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them that are the called according
to His purpose. You see, in this unbelief, Asaph
confesses that he's been talking to himself. Now, if you want
a fool for a conversationalist, just start talking to yourself. He's been reasoning in his mind. He's been evaluating what his
natural eye is beholding and what he is seeing with this natural
eye and feeling in his mind and in his heart, he's been doing
it. If you look here in verse 6,
he confesses that. He says, I call to remembrance
my song in the night. I commune with mine own heart
and my spirit made diligent search. And you know what? makes diligent
search. I'm afraid it always finds the
same thing. Fleshly answers, fleshly remedies. But when the Spirit of God works
in us, and when you read in Galatians, it says that the fruit of the
Spirit is faith. That's part of the fruit of the
Spirit. That's not man-made. That's not brought in us by our
own efforts. That's the working of God's Spirit. And he's been asking himself
these questions which arise from this unbelief, and the very questions
he asks, some of them so familiar to me. They're the evidence of
unbelief. Look at what he says in verse
7. Will the Lord cast off forever? You'd hate for somebody to know
that you said something similar to that. Will the Lord cast off forever? Could that be possible? Well, it says in the Lamentations,
ìFor the Lord will not cast off forever. But though he cause grief, yet
will he have compassion according to the multitude of his mercy.î
No, he will not cast off forever. Well, where are you going to
find that out? Talking to yourself. Where are
you going to find that out? Just musing this over in your
mind? Ask yourself the question, then
you answer it? No. In His Word, the Lord will not cast off forever. He causes what the writer in
Lamentations, Jeremiah, says is grief, but He won't cast off His people
forever. Absolutely not. Right? Look at the next part of that
verse. And will he be favorable no more? Do you ever feel like you've lost
the favor of God? Well, the truth of the matter
is, you and yourself never had the favor of God. No way possible
that you ever could get the favor of God. But the Lord has given
His favor over to His people in Christ who has always had
His favor. Will He be favorable no more? Well, the psalmist is in another
place. He says in Psalm 5, But let all those that put their
trust in Thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy,
because thou defendest them. Let them also that love thy name
be joyful in thee. Let them be all those things,
and it is for a reason. For thou, Lord, wilt bless the
righteous, and with favor wilt thou compass him as with the
sheep. He'll wrap you, He says, the
righteous. Who's that? Those righteous in
Christ. He'll wrap them, He says, with
favor as with a shield. He won't cease to be favorable
to His people because His favor toward them is in one that never
changes or alters. It's always given to us, shown
to us in Christ, the unchangeable One, and He will bless the righteous,
and He'll wrap them with His favor like a shield. Where do you find that out? In
the Scriptures. You won't find that on Oprah
Winfrey. You won't find it on the evening news, you won't find
it in the daily paper, you won't find it in all those self-help
books, this is where you're going to find it. All right? Verse
8, ìIs His mercy clean gone forever?î Boy, this is unbelief. ìIs His
mercy clean gone forever?î Well, I could read you, One phrase
in Scripture that is found there, I could read it at least forty
times in the Scriptures. But I'll just read it to you
one time. Praise ye the Lord, O give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good, for his mercy endeareth forever." Just that expression, His mercy
endeareth forever, is over 40 times in this book. And His mercy,
that mercy that is in Christ, who is the Eternal One, it is
forever. Mercy. Boy, I need mercy. I act like
the enemy of God. Sometimes I think more than I
act like the child of God. But He shows mercy. That's the
kind treatment of one who acts like an enemy. All right, look
at that next part. He says in verse 8 again, "...doth
his promise fail forevermore?" Well, I thought surely God was
going to do this for me. I thought surely I'd claim this
promise. I thought surely this would take
place. I believe this promise. Does
His promise fail forevermore? Listen to this, "'Blessed be
the Lord that hath given rest unto His people Israel, according
to all that he promised, there hath not failed one word of all
his good promise, which he promised by the hand of Moses his servant." Why does God go to all the trouble
to show us all these things concerning Israel and the various patriarchs. Why does he go to record and
preserve this record? It's so that we can see his faithfulness
to keep every promise. There never has been but one
promise keeper. And that's God Almighty Himself.
And He is that promise keeper in His Son for all the promises
of God. Not most of them. Not part of
them. But all the promises of God in
Him, in Christ, are yea, and in Him, amen, unto the glory
of God by us. Peter writes and he says, the
Lord is not slack concerning His promise. That means evidently that things
are not as they appear. But they are as God has ordained
them to fulfill His purpose and keep His promise. The Lord is
not slack concerning His promise, as some men count slackness,
but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance." It goes on in this world. And
it appears as if his promises will not be kept. But they are
being kept all the time. And that is the promise especially
to bring every one of his people to faith in Christ and repentance. How about this one? Verse 9,
"...hath God forgotten to be gracious?" Hmm. Has God forgotten to be
gracious? That sounds like a man who doesn't
deserve God's grace one bit, which is really the only people
that ever have it. Because if you and I deserved
it, it wouldn't be grace. Grace superabounds. He gives more grace. And one day I'd like to be able
to stand. I'd like to be able to stand
before you, before somebody, and preach the grace of God. I always feel like that everything
is always so insufficient to talk about the grace of God. Has God forgotten to be gracious? No, He gives grace to the humble. He gives more grace. He gives more grace. That's what
James, as we saw, was telling the Lord's people that at the
same time he was calling spiritual adulterers. How about this one in verse 9?
Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? In Hebrews he says, For I will
be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities
will I remember no more. I'll be merciful. It says the Lord's mercies endure
forever. But there he speaks it very personally,
I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, which is what everything we are
and do. Is there any medicine for this
affliction? Is there any help for such a
an incurable malady, it seems like, as far as our existence
in this world is concerned? Not in our flesh. Not in our flesh. But the only cure, I've always
said the only cure for death is life. Well, the only cure
for this infirmity is faith. Where are you going to get it
from? It is the gift of God. It's not something, as most people believe, that
they have naturally. And if they choose to, if they
exercise their will to, they can, as they say, exercise it. No, it's the gift of God. All men have not faith. He gives it as a gift. No question
about it. It doesn't add one thing to our
salvation, and yet it is a vital, intricate part of it. But He gives it. in that one
way that He has ordained, in that one way that will glorify
Him, in that one way that He tells us in Scripture. He says, Faith comes by hearing,
and hearing by the Word of God. Now, that does not mean that
everyone who hears the Word of God in their ears or reads it
with their eyes is going to have faith, is going to believe it.
No, but it means that that which is to be believed, especially him who is to be believed
is only set forth in the way he is to be believed in this
book, in the Word of God. It isn't what Dr. So-and-so says. It isn't what I say. It is what
God says. Faith comes by hearing. God gives
it by His Spirit to lay hold, to believe, to trust
in, to rely in Christ as He is revealed in Scripture and all
those promises. that are yes and amen in him. Now, look at what he says in
verse 11. I will remember the works of
the Lord. Now, a lot of people are in a
sad state about this. They think they have faith, and
oftentimes they think they have faith that they don't have, because
in this time of remembering, They can't remember. Why? Because you can't remember what
you've never known. You can't remember what you've
never heard. Oh, I've got faith. Not necessarily. I like what Paul said on that
ship tossed in that Heraclidan wind. It always does me good. People are always talking about
faith and telling what they believe. Paul, in the midst of that, said
this. He said, I believe God. A lot of folks say that, don't
they? I believe God. No, he said, I
believe God that it shall be as He hath said. That's what I believe. I believe that it shall be that
it is as He has said. As a matter of fact, faith, if
you stop and think about it, someone said faith is believing
that God will do what He says that He will do. But that's not
where faith begins. Faith begins Believing that God
has done what He says He has done, especially in Christ. If you believe what He says He
has done in the crucified Christ, if you can believe that, you
can believe all the rest. That it shall be as He has said. And we read and we hear preach
the Word of God. He says, I will remember the
works of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders
of old. Now, he didn't have Paul and
Peter and James and John and Luke. He didn't have that whole
canon and revelation of Scripture, all closed and bound up by God,
complete. He probably had a few parchments
and scrolls that contained the books of Moses and maybe some
others. exploits of the Old Testament
saints and God's dealings with them? Do you ever stop and think of what God did when He delivered
those Israelites out of Egypt? It is absolutely miraculous from
one end to the other. First of all, for sending a man who looked
Pharaoh in the face and said, I am sent me, let my people go,
he says. And a man, Pharaoh, whose heart
was so hard and obstinate that he resisted at every point, and
then all of a sudden one day, he says, get on out of here.
I've often wondered what he must have thought that moment in his
palace when he looked out and saw those Israelites in a trail
going out, and it dawns on him what he's done. He sent all his
labor force out. He gathers up his army to go
after them. And then God opens the Red Sea. It's just amazing. I'll tell you, it will do you
so good to read again and think about his wonders of old. Paul said, "...for whatsoever
things were written aforetime were written for our learning,
that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might
have hope." Well, all he had then was the
Old Testament Scriptures. Verse 11, I will meditate also
of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. I won't sit around
here and talk about the awful problems I'm having, the awful
things that are going on, I'll talk about what you did. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Where are you going to find out
about it? Well, you can see in the tabernacle, and you can see in the temple. all of which picture Christ and
Him crucified. Thy way, O God, the way of righteousness, the
way of peace, the way to God, the way to heaven, thy way, O
God, is in the sanctuary. Who's that? That's Christ. That's His gospel. The Lord is righteous in all
his ways, and holy in all his works. Now, I want to point out one
verse for you found in Romans 15. You can take this as our benediction. and hopefully take home with
you. Romans 15 and verse 13. Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace
in believing. Where is all joy and peace? It's
in believing. That ye may abound in hope through
the power of the Holy Ghost. It's when He enables us to believe
God. That's when we're filled with
all joy and peace. God bless you.