Would you turn to the 13th Psalm. 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 enemy say I've prevailed
against him. And those that trouble me rejoice
when I move. 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. Lord, how we thank you for who
you are. Lord, truly, we're grateful for
who you are. We're grateful for your power,
for your holiness, for your majesty, for your sovereignty, for your
justice, for your love, for your grace, for your independence,
all of your excellent attributes. How we thank you for who you
are. How we thank You for the glory
of Thy Son and the salvation that's in Him. Accept our thanksgiving
through Him. Lord, we pray for Your blessing
in this service. We pray that You would be pleased
to speak to our hearts from Your Word. We confess our sins. We pray for forgiveness and cleansing.
We pray for grace to Love you more, cause that to be our only
motive of action. Give us grace to love one another
more and unite our hearts together to fear your name. Be with all
your people wherever they meet together. In Christ's name we
pray, amen. Now this could easily be called
the how long song. If you noticed in the reading
of this Psalm, four times, David says, how long? How long? How long? How long? Verses one and two, how long
will you forget me, oh Lord, forever? How long will you hide
your 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? Now, I enjoyed Charles Spurgeon's
comment on this psalm. He said, no matter how low I
am, I can find where David's lower. And no matter how high
I am, I can always find David being higher. And I can see that
from this psalm. Now, what I think is amazing
about this psalm is how he begins with, how long will you forget
me? And look what he says in verse six, in the precise same
psalm, he says, I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt
bountifully with me. In this same psalm, he starts
out so low, and ends up in such exhilaration. Now, the Holy Spirit
inspired David to record his feelings. And in this Psalm,
we have David as low as he can be, and we have David rejoicing
as highly as he can in the same Psalm. But God, the Holy Spirit,
inspires David to record his feelings. And I'm very thankful
for that. I realize some people, if you're
around them and talk to them, it's like everything's great.
Everything's wonderful. Things couldn't be better. I'm
so happy. I'm so blessed. And David is
honest. David deals with his sorrow. David also deals with his rejoicing
in the Lord. Now remember, this is David's
own experience, but even more, these feelings are the feelings
of the Lord. when it was on Calvary's tree.
As a matter of fact, that's the most important part of this psalm. The Lord has recorded for us
his feelings when he was forsaken by his father. But we're going
to look at this psalm in both as David's experience and the
experience of the Lord. Now verse one, David says, how
long Wilt thou forget me, O Lord? Now, David felt forgotten by
God. He felt like he was all alone. Now, question, was David forgotten
by God? The answer is no. God never forgets
his people. But David felt forgotten by God. And one could say this is unbelief
on David's part because he wasn't forgotten by God. Yet here he's
expressing how he felt. I feel abandoned. I feel all
by myself. I feel like I've been left to
myself. How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord, forever? How long
wilt thou hide thy face from me? Now David felt as though
he had no communication with the Lord. Now the Lord does hide
his face. And that is what is meant by
divine chastening more than anything else. The Lord hides his face
and you can't feel his presence. You can't hear. You feel like
you can't pray. You feel like there's an estrangement,
like the Lord is holding you off. And that is a very real
feeling every believer has experienced. The Lord does hide his face,
and that's his way of chasing. Chasing isn't, well, I'm gonna
go out and wreck my car, or I'm gonna get sick. That's all a
part of the Lord's good providence. But the chasing that the believer is distressed over is when the
Lord hides his face. What a difficult, difficult feeling. Turn with me for a moment to
Numbers chapter six. This is the great priestly benediction. Numbers chapter six. And I want
you to notice the presence of the Lord in this. Numbers chapter
six, verse 18. And the Lord spake unto them,
or verse 22, I'm sorry. Numbers six, verse 22. And the
Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron and his sons,
the priests, saying, On this wise you shall bless the children
of Israel, saying unto them, The Lord bless thee and keep
thee. The Lord make his face shine
upon thee. and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up his countenance
upon thee and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon
the children of Israel and I will bless them." The light of his
countenance. I love the hymn by Newton, how
tedious and tasteless the hours. When Jesus no longer I see, sweet
prospects, sweet birds and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness
to me. The midsummer sun shines but
dim. The fields strive in vain to
look gay. But when I am happy in him, December's
as pleasant as May. His name yields the richest perfume
and sweeter than honey, his voice. His presence disperses my gloom
and makes all within me rejoice. I would, were he always this
nigh, have nothing to wish or to fear. No mortal as happy as
I, my summers would last all the year. Content, content with
beholding his face. My all to his pleasure resigned. No changes of season or place
would make any change in my mind. When blessed with a sense of
his love, a palace, a toy would appear. And prisons would palaces
prove if Jesus would dwell with me there. Dear Lord, if indeed
I am thine, if thou art my son in my song, say, why do I languish
in pine? And why are my winters so long? Oh, drive these dark clouds from
my sky, thy soul-cheering presence restore. Or take me into the
on high, where winter and clouds are no more. What a hymn that
would express where a believer is and how we cannot bear the
Lord hiding his face. You see, our experience of salvation
is seeing his beauty. Amen. That is salvation. And when we are unable to see
him, how unhappy We are. Now look what he says in verse
two. How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? How long shall
mine enemy be exalted over me? Now, notice he says, how long
shall I take counsel in my soul? David understood, here's my problem.
I'm looking within. That's my problem. How long is
this gonna be? I can't help it, that's me, I'm
so wicked that I'm gonna do that. But how long is this gonna be
where I'm just looking within rather than without? And you
know, every trouble we have begins right here, looking within. What
is there to look at? Really, what is there to look
at? Looking within, what a horrible place that is. How long shall
I take counsel in my soul? Having sorrow in my heart daily,
how long shall my enemy be exalted over me? Now, this is interesting.
I listened to a message by a man on this, and he said David was
living a defeated Christian life. How stupid. I don't know what else to say.
How stupid. Stupid. You know, when I heard
that man make that statement, I thought, well, what does a
victorious Christian life supposed to look like? That's just ridiculous. As far as that goes, a defeated
Christian life, doesn't the Bible say, thanks be unto God who always
causes us to triumph in Christ? At all times, under all circumstances,
we're more than conquerors through him that loved us. more than
conquerors, there's no such thing. Now listen to me, there's no
such thing as living a defeated Christian life. And what this
fella meant by that, you know, what does a victorious, you know,
you got a big smile on your face, a phony act, that was not David. He said, how long Shall my enemy
be exalted over me? And I think of this concept of
my enemy being exalted over me. I don't look at flesh and blood
as my enemy. People get mad at me. They're
not my enemies. My enemy is my sin. That's my
enemy. What lies in here? That's my
enemy. And David is saying, how long
shall my enemy be exalted over me? And then he says in verse
three, consider and hear me, oh Lord, my God. Consider me,
lighten mine eyes. Now, when David says this, he's
confessing, I'm not looking at things right, and I know that.
Lighten mine eyes. Give me eyes to see as I should.
And that's the same way, same thing as saying increase my faith.
Give me faith. Give me grace to see as I should
see. My eyes seem in such darkness. 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. Now, Lord, if you don't do this,
this is what's gonna happen. My enemies will say this and
they'll rejoice when I move. That's what's going to take place.
Verse five, but. Now he goes from being so low
all of a sudden, but. I'm thankful for this word, aren't
you? But, but God. There's the difference, but God.
But I have trusted in thy mercy. Now here is the only thing I
trust, His mercy. Not my works, not my heart, not
my thoughts, His saving mercy in Christ Jesus. I have trusted
and you know, that's the only thing I had to trust. His mercy
in Christ Jesus, my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation, that
salvation of which he is. He is salvation. The salvation
which is really all of grace. I will rejoice in thy salvation. And then he goes from the depths
to the heights just in this one Psalm. I will sing unto the Lord
because he hath dealt bountifully with me. What a song and what
a record of our experience. But more than our experience,
This is what the Lord says in Gethsemane's garden. This is
what the Lord says from the cross. Look at it. In this light, the
Lord Jesus, hanging on the cross, says, How long wilt thou forget
me, O Lord? Forever? How long will you hide
your face from me? Now, all of this is comprehended
in my God, my God. Why has thou forsaken me? The Lord is expressing his feelings. from Calvary's trio, how he delighted
in his father. And what I'm talking about, I
realize I don't understand. No man can enter into this. But
you think of the communion, the eternal communion that existed
between him and his father. The love there was between the
father and the son. And now the Lord Jesus has that
cut off. When he was made sin, he could
no longer see his father's smile, but his father's awful frown. You know, the Lord experienced
all the guilt and the shame of sin. Now, I don't understand
that either. He never committed sin. He never,
let me repeat that, he never committed sin. Even when he was
forsaken, he never committed sin. But he felt everything that
there is with regard to sin, the shame of it, the guilt before
his father, because the sins of God's elect became his. And
he felt all the distress of being forsaken by God. How long wilt thou forget me,
O Lord, forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face
from me? There's a scripture in Isaiah
54, where the father says to the son, In a little wrath, I
hid my face from thee. Now, what is meant by that little
wrath? God's wrath is never little. It's just talking about the time
that he experienced the complete wrath of God. Not for eternity,
but for that time, he experienced the full equivalent of God's
wrath. And the father says to the son,
in a little wrath, I hid my face from thee. You see, God can't
accept sin. Naught can still be God. God
can't accept that which is unlike Him and still be God. And He
hid His face from His Son. He no longer had the communion
that He enjoyed with the Father. How long, He says in verse 2,
shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? He truly was the man of sorrows. acquainted with grief. How long
shall my enemy be exalted over me? Now he certainly felt like
his enemies were being exalted over him, didn't he? Particularly
the devil. Satan, he felt all the powers of an angry hell. You know, I feel so ridiculous
even trying to talk about what the Lord felt, but we do have
this recorded in the scripture. I'm trying, but I know I can't
enter into this any more than any other son of man can enter
into, what the Lord experienced on Calvary's tree. And he says
in verse three, Consider and hear me, O Lord my God. Lighten mine eyes. And I think
of that as being spoken when the earth was filled with darkness
on Calvary. I mean, the whole earth was filled
with darkness. Darkness that might be felt.
And he couldn't see a thing. All he could feel was his father's
wrath against sin. Consider and hear me, O Lord.
Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death. Verse four,
lest mine enemies say, I prevailed against him. And those that trouble
me rejoice when I moved. How the thought of that pained
him. But I have, now this is the Lord
speaking, even when he had no communication from God, even
when he had nothing but his father's awful frown, even when he knew
nothing but the wrath of his father, even when he was cut
off in a way that you and I could never enter into, but I have
trusted in thy mercy. You know, when Job said, though
he slay me, yet will I trust him. Well, if you read the book
of Job, there's a whole lot of times he didn't trust him. I
mean, he spoke all kinds of things harshly about the way the Lord
was treating him. Only the Lord Jesus can say this truly, and
he did it. Though he slay me, yet will I
trust him. Now, the Lord hides his face
from us and we don't trust him, do we? We're, oh, what's happening?
But the Lord trusted him completely. And here's the statement I would
like to make from that. Truly, we're saved by the faith
of Christ. His faith. Somebody had to believe
God. Somebody had to trust God and
there's only one to do it. The Lord Jesus Christ trusted
him even in this darkness. I have trusted in thy mercy,
my heart, verse five, my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. Turn with me for a moment to
Psalm 40. Hold your finger there and turn to Psalm 40. I waited patiently for the Lord. Have you ever done that? Not once. I've never waited patiently
for the Lord. Who's speaking here? This is
the Lord Jesus Christ. Is there any doubt about that?
David said, in my haste, I said, I've cut off. I'm ready to halt.
All the things David said, but this is the Lord speaking. I
waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me, and
heard my cry. He brought me up also out of
an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a
rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in
my mouth, even praise 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. and respecteth not the proud,
nor such as turn aside the lies. Many, O Lord my God, are thy
wonderful works, which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which
are to usward. You know, when the Lord prayed
to his father, even at this time, he was praying as an us, as an
us, me and all my people. Everything the Lord did, he did
as an us. And this is his prayer. Many of the wonderful thoughts
that are to us for his people and himself cannot be separated.
Back to our text. But I have trusted. In thy mercy, my heart shall
rejoice in thy salvation. Now look at the way this psalm
ends. I will sing unto the Lord. Remember how he said you put
a new song in my heart? I will sing unto the Lord because
he hath dealt bountifully with me. Now he begins this psalm,
how long are you gonna hide your face? And he ends this song,
thou hast dealt bountifully with me. Now I love to think of the
son singing to the father, don't you? I will sing praises unto
thy name. And I love that passage of scripture
in the midst of the church. will I sing praise unto thee.
This is the privilege of the church. We get to hear by faith,
him singing his praise to God. Isn't that wonderful? I will
sing praises. I will sing unto the Lord because
he has dealt bountifully with me. Now, I think of the bountiful
dealings of the father with his son. He said, ask of me and I'll
give you the heathen for your inheritance. Thou has given him
a name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus, every
knee shall bow and every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ
is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Oh, God's dealt bountifully
with him. And let me say this, how bountifully
he's dealt with us in his son. Let's put it this way. He had
not rewarded us according to our iniquities. That is bountiful dealings, isn't
it? Oh, the bountiful dealings that every believer has in the
Lord Jesus Christ. I'm thankful for Psalm 13.