Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to Psalm 44, and we'll read from
our text, verse 4. Thou art my king, O God. Command deliverances for Jacob. The psalmist thought to be David
makes profession of God as his king, but then from then makes
a petition that that king, that God, would command deliverances
for Jacob. Jacob was given that name, meaning
supplanter, and so often it is used in the context of God's
people of being perhaps lacking in faith or weakness. We think of when Joseph sent
the wagons and the message to bring his father and brethren
up to Egypt. At first, the spirit of Jacob,
it fainted. He believed them not. And then
we read that when he saw the wagons, that the spirit of Jacob
revived and Israel said, Joseph, my son, is yet alive. I'll go
and see him before I die. And Israel, of course, was the
name given when Jacob wrestled with God and with man and prevailed. In this psalm, we have the beginning
where a former generation, the conquest that God gave them,
is remembered and reviewed, and then the present profession as
in our text, and also a rehearsing the deliverances that had been
currently enjoyed. But then there comes this time
of real trial, a time when things seem to be so contrary to the
path of God's people. And this is the true trial of
faith. And yet through all of this,
the church which is speaking throughout this psalm, it testifies
that though all these things have happened, yet they will
not forget thee. It's a beautiful psalm for the
people of God. It puts a reality upon a profession
and the real experience of the way in tribulation, which many
times the people of God cannot understand. They go through darks
and paths. The hymn writer says, why through
darks and paths we go, we may know no reason, and we don't. And yet here the church still
is trusting in one way, the greatest work of faith, to trust the Lord
when everything seems to be contrary and going a different way, and
yet to still be holding fast, still testifying that the Lord
is our God. Well, I want to look at this
psalm in the five sections of it and just consider each of
those sections. The first is verse 1 through
to 3, which is our father's experience. We have heard with our ears,
O God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their
days. Now dear friends, may we never
Forget this. This is one of the blessings
of the Church of God. I know in our denomination we
do have quite a few autobiographies and testimonies of past years. In our churches we've had those
that have given their testimony to the church and those things
are remembered. There's one thought, of course,
was said Years ago, when my wife joined the church at East Peckham,
1985, I think it was, and after she was received in, then the
minister that received them in said to the church, now, you
have heard Hithery's testimony, but she has not heard yours. Share your testimony with them. There's something to remember
for everyone that joins the church, that one that joins, the whole
church has heard that person's testimony. That person has not
heard the deacon's or the other church members' testimonies.
And it's a good thing to be able to share that one with another
and to remember what a former generation has gone through,
the deliverances, and blessings and helps and Israel especially
was commanded in this way, the Lord knew Abraham, he shall command
his children after him. We think of the generations from
Adam, you only need to go three generations, four generations
and you get to Abraham. There's many of those, we know
several that There's four generations of one family living now in our
churches, and you can have them tell from one generation to another. I know those in the beginning
of the Word of God, they did overlap, but not the fourth one
didn't overlap, the first one, if you know what I mean. But
the account of creation did not need to pass through more than
four people. to get down to Abraham. And likewise,
the flood as well. Very few people, it would have
had to pass through. And God has given to Israel that
they should remember, remember using the ordinance of the Passover,
how they came up out of Egypt. We have the stones that were
set up in Jordan and on the other side of Jordan as a memorial. And the very reason why was when
your children ask you in time to come, what mean you by these
stones, or what mean you by this service, then you to tell them
what had happened. They are things that provoke
to tell to another generation. And this is, the beginning of
this psalm is speaking of what the fathers have told them. And those of us that are fathers,
those of us that a generation above, we have children and grandchildren. May the Lord help us to share
with them what the Lord has done for us. And you children, ask,
ask your parents, ask your grandparents what the Lord has done for you,
how he's appeared for you. How did you come to be married?
How did you come to have the job you're in? How did you come
to be in the church, a church member? Ask them and listen to
what they have to say. It's a good thing to have this
and I feel myself of those brethren that I have in view, my own mother
and others of the brethren that are now in glory in Australia.
Sometimes when Satan really tempts and says, well, it's just cunningly
divide fables. There's nothing real in it and
it all feels empty within. And then I think of these characters
and I think of their lives, their testimony, their death, and immediately
there's this stamp of reality again. And it means a real help
and encouragement for my own soul. So this is how the psalm
then begins. How many have been brought to
faith themselves? by that which has been professed
before. And yet, it does not come through
the flesh. We must be very clear on that,
that salvation does not run through blood or through families. It
can be brought up under the sound of the truth and it's not saving.
But it is a great blessing. You know, if Paul could say regarding
the Jews, what advantage have the Jews? He said they had the
testimonies, they had the word of God, they had the law, they
did have an advantage, they did have a blessing. And so the promise
is to you and your children, even as many as the Lord thy
God shall call. Sometimes you get very sad things.
I mentioned it before, a Bible that I bought years ago off eBay. When I got it, I opened it up
and It had been beautifully written in the front page from a daughter
and granddaughter to a dear grandfather and father and grandfather. And
looking through the pages, there was little bits of paper in there
with texts. One of them, I knew where I might
find him. And I looked at these and I thought,
this man that had this Bible was one of God's people. and
he was a minister of the gospel. And I contacted those that sold
that Bible. I said, why have you got rid
of this Bible? I said, this man, this must have
been very precious. And they said, yes, he passed
away some 10 years ago. The Bible is just laid on the
shelf. We loved him. We loved his life.
I said, but have you not followed in his faith? No. They could
see everything that recommended his life, his testimony, but
they weren't following in his faith at all. And it made me
so sad. I said to them, if ever you change
your mind, if ever you come to know and love the word of God
and you want it back, we'll give it you back. And they never have
contacted. That's really, really sad when
you realize this, that faith is the gift of God. It is the
work of God. But may we plead if we have godly
parents and those have gone before that the Lord would make us godly,
the Lord would bless us with faith and that we might be followers
of them so that we can listen to what they have to say with
interest, with joy, with thankfulness and to encourage us in our own
faith. Because the next part of this
psalm. Verses 4 through to 8 is a personal
profession of trust. Verse 4 is our text. We're chosen
for our text. Wonderful and may it be that
each one of us are brought for this profession. Thou art my
king, O God. Thou dost rule over me. I am subject to thy laws. I am a willing subject. Thou hast a rightful claim over
me and over mine. Thou art not just the king of
my forefathers, but thou art my king, and that that blessing
is mine. And that again is a wonderful
thing to realize, that the Lord has blessed us with the same
blessings that have gone before in a former generation. We read
in Hebrews, Jesus Christ, the same yesterday and today and
forever. And to realize these dear Old
Testament saints, they knew the same God as us that know the
Lord. And those of our forebears that
have gone before have known the same God, the same trials, the
same difficulties, the same path. With a testimony here, that follows
on after the petition, command deliverances for Jacob, through
thee will we push down our enemies. Through thy name will we tread
them that rise up against us. Why does the church feel that
there will be those? You know, our Lord says in John's
gospel, I have given them thy word and the world have hated
them. They are not of the world, even
as I and not of the world. As soon as the Lord would be
king over us, we can know for certainly that Satan, who is
the king over all the children of pride, will rise up against
us and will oppose it. We will have enemies and adversaries. Remember the whole structure
of the Word of God. It points to this. Fight the
good fight of faith. Lay hold upon eternal life. Resist
the devil and he shall flee from you. Run the race that is set
before you looking unto Jesus. Take upon you the whole armour
of God to be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And all
the time strive to enter in at the straight gate. It's not speaking
of an easy path. It's speaking of a path of real
conflict and real trial. We think of our Lord in Hebrews
12. You have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against
sin. God's people, God's forgiven,
chosen people, and they're striving against sin. That is their life's
work, their life's journey. We're not free from sin. Until
death puts an end to life, shall put an end to sin. Don't think
of an easy path for the people of God. and no adversaries and
no oppositions. This sets a reality upon the
path. There are some that will promise
their hearers that if they accept Christ, if they believe, they'll
have an easy path, they'll have riches, they'll get health and
strength, they'll have a good car and a good job and a good
house, and they're prosperity preachers. But the reality is
not like that. And they deceive so many millions
in that way. after the things of this world.
But the Lord will tell the truth to his people when they enlist
under his kingship and in his army. Then they are on hostile
ground, but they have the promise of him being their king. And
this word of faith really command deliverances for Jacob. Our God
is able to command deliverances in one of you, poor soul laboring
under temptation and sin and darkness and something that you're
crying to the Lord to deliver you out of. Here is the God that
is able to command deliverances, even for Jacob. That doesn't
mean to say that he will command them when we want them and when
we think that we need them, because the latter part of this psalm
shows it very different. Our Lord is sovereign and he
will choose when he delivers his people and when they need
the fire, they need the trial, they need to be under those things. Remember, when the Lord looked
upon Israel in Egypt, he saw them, he saw their trials, he
heard their groanings, and the first thing he did was to send
forth so that Moses was born. That was 80 years before he actually
brought Israel out of Egypt. 80 years. Already they were having
the men child thrown into the river. Already they're in persecution. 80 years before they were brought
out. Now the Lord says, your time
is already ready. My time is not yet. 40 years in the wilderness, not
brought straight in. Because of their sin, they were
sent back. But again, they couldn't shorten
those days of tribulation and wilderness journey. But the profession
in these verses four to eight is that we will, through the
Lord, push down our enemies. It is through thy name, the name,
we know the name now, the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, we
will tread them under that rise up against us. and the profession,
that they would not trust in our own bow or our own sword. Thou hast saved us. Oh, that
that would have been professed even on a national level this
last week. Our former king, King George
VI, he did. If you listen to his message
to the nation and Commonwealth on VE Day, He gave the glory
to Almighty God, and he committed the continuing conflict against
the Japanese at that time as well to Almighty God. And this has failed to be realized
at this time. But in a spiritual way, for God's
children, they are not to trust in their own efforts and in their
own way. It will be like when the children
of Israel came out of Egypt and Amalek came. Then they did use
the sword. Joshua fought with Amalek, but
they had Moses' rod. And the direct link between the
rod lifted up, or like prayer, and the rod set down, the link
between that and what happening on the ground with Joshua was
a direct link. As soon as the rod went down,
Amalek prevailed. As soon as the rod was lifted
up, then Joshua prevailed. May we note that a direct link
between prayer, not misusing or neglecting the means, but
being able to say with them here, thou has saved us from our enemies
and has put them to shame that hated us. In God we boast all
the day long and praise thy name forever. This is the profession,
a present profession and trust and testimony of deliverance
as well. Thou hast saved us. And you would
think having that profession and that experience to start
off with that then it's going to get on better from then on.
It'll be nice, it'll be a smooth path or it'll continue in that
way. But it doesn't. It changes. And he changes from verse 9 through
to 16. A very dark, perplexing trial
that has been appointed. But now has cast off and put
us to shame and goeth not forth with our armies. Now what I want
to note clearly right at the start here is that the psalmist
is not saying someone else has done this. The word says, is
there evil in the city and the Lord has not done it. Some people
are very low to ascribe bad things to the Lord. But the Lord is
clear that he causes it to come. And Job, he says, the Lord gave
and the Lord has taken away. Shall we not receive good at
the hand of the Lord? And shall we not receive evil? Not like the account of a pastor
who heard that one of his congregation had had a car accident and they're
in hospital and he went there quickly and he came to the bed
and he said, don't worry. He said, God had nothing to do
with it. It wasn't God, it wasn't him that touched you or did it
at all. What comfort would that be? In effect saying, God was
not in control then. Someone else was, chance was,
Satan was, but not God. He was embarrassed for the things
that happened to one that had made a profession. The psalmist
is not like this. Dear friends, I know it is hard
sometimes, but do not be embarrassed by what the Lord brings you into.
Trials, tribulations, losses, crosses, You might have made
a profession before workmates or before those that know the
Lord and they look at you and that's on. You're a believer,
you're a Christian and look, look what your God's, look what's
happened to you. Your God hasn't prevented this,
he hasn't saved it. No, you say, he caused it to
come. There is a purpose, there is a reason for this. It hasn't
just happened. And we're told in Ecclesiastes
he does not crush underfoot the sons of men, he doesn't delight
to afflict them, you that are fathers, you that are mothers. You don't just unnecessarily
correct a child or cause pain or cause distress, except that
it might be for a purpose, whether it's chastening, or maybe you
go to the doctors and they need an ejection, And the child thinks,
why have I got this terrible pain? Why have I got to endure
this? The parent knows it's good. They need that. Or you say you've
got to have a diet or eat this thing. The child says, I hate
that. I don't want to have that. But the parent knows it's for
good. And it's in that way, those things, we are told in Romans
28, 28. We know that all things work
together for good. to them that love God, to them
that are the called according to his purpose. So when the experience
of the church is like this, then she says, 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. These are very different. experience
right the way through and we have in verse 15 my confusion
is continually before me are you like that confused by the
things that God has done confused by what God has appointed for
you here is one you can walk with dear friends how many times
and you have a psalm you say i can walk with the psalmist
there i can go with the psalmist there Now, many years ago, I
used to find several psalms that I could walk with. I'd go several
verses in, and it would find me in a low place. It would find
me in my trials. But then it came to higher ground,
and I couldn't walk in that. So I wrote the whole psalm off.
That psalm's not for you. But afterwards, I've thought,
when does the psalmist write these psalms? When he's in it
or when he's delivering? is when he's delivered, then
he writes what he's been through. If the psalmist has been in a
low place, and I'm in a low place, then maybe the Lord will deliver
me like him, and I'll come to be able to look back and speak
of these same things. So don't be discouraged when
you get a psalm that begins where you are and then leaves you behind. May your prayer be, my prayer
be, Lord, that I might go on to know the deliverance of psalmist
knew and to be held as he was held. But here are these things
that have come. The psalmist is very honest. Dear friends, do be honest, honest
with ourselves, honest with those around about us of the reality
of the trial. Don't just make out that we can
understand everything that the Lord is doing or that we can
see it as a blessing because the psalmist here couldn't, he
couldn't understand, couldn't see why that they were walking
in such a path. And it seemed to be the enemy
was blaspheming. The voice of him that reproacheth
and blasphemeth by reason of the enemy and avenger. Now I've
often thought with the children of Israel, the history of Israel
was in front of all of the world. You might say nations today are. Now what happens to one nation?
It's in the news and the whole world hears about what's happening.
Well Israel was. It was known by all the nations.
Rahab remembered that 40 years to when they came through the
Red Sea. She said that to the spies and
she said, not just her, The heart of all those in Jericho, they
remembered. How much must they have felt
when they saw Jordan stand up, the same thing, the same powerful
God. The pathway that the children
of Israel went, all of his judgments with them, the times that they
were brought into captivity, especially in the days of judges
again and again. And then later on, even when
King Saul was slain, These things are not done in a corner. And
sometimes it is that, like in Jeremiah's day, those from Babylon
that took the city, they were able to say to Jeremiah that
it's because you have forsaken your God. You have forsaken the
Lord your God. You think on the other side of
it, when you get Hezekiah's day, that was such a miracle. You
get the king of Assyria going through all of those nations,
and there is little Judah, and the Lord causes them to hold
out. And he appears and he delivers
their army, Sennacherib's army, to destruction and saves Judah. And at the same time, that Hezekiah
was sick unto death. You think, why at this time,
at all times, the king should be sick? Why that? But the Lord
gives that deliverance. Why in Gideon's time, why did
the Lord reduce their army down to 300? He says why, so that
they don't take the honour and glory. But there's many times
that it seems the Lord is doing something different than what
we think. Children of Israel out of Egypt, instead of going
the short way through the Philistines, they go through the Red Sea.
And many things like that. And so this is the experience. Do notice the experience of the
psalmist, of the Church of Old, and what she says. And see if
you find there a mirror and a path that you also know and are not
a stranger to walking through it. Now we have a change in verse
17. All this is come upon us Yet
have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy
covenant. Now the prayer in our text is
command deliverances for Jacob. There's more one way to look
at the deliverance. One way would be to deliver in
such a way like in Psalm 126, that the heathen shall say the
Lord hath done great things for them. But there's another way. Here is the Church of God, the
people of God, going through this dark, dark time. And yet their heart is not turned
back. They have not forgotten the Lord.
Neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant, our heart is
not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way,
though thou hast saw broken us in the place of dragons. Though
he slay me, yet will I trust in him. Is not that a deliverance
of faith? Is not that coming from the Lord?
How many we read in the parable of the sower And the Lord says
of those that are sown on the stony ground, and the wayside
hearers, and how they grow up, they have not much depth of root,
they grow up quickly first, but then they wither because they
haven't got much root. And he said these are they, that
when they have persecution or trial, then they are offended
and they go back, they walk no more. The psalmist here wasn't
doing that. That is a deliverance if we're
kept from doing that. If we're brought into trial,
remember Job says, or Satan said regarding Job, the only reason
why he served the Lord was because the Lord had put a hedge about
him, and the Lord had blessed him. That's why. Touch all that
he has, he will turn and curse thee to thy face. Well, here's
the psalmist, the Lord has touched, the Lord has gone against them,
the Lord has sold them, The Lord has made them reproach, but like
Job, they're still holding on to the law. They still trust
in him and still believe. In the world, says our Lord,
you must have tribulation. In me, you shall have peace.
And it's the Lord that chooses that tribulation, and he causeth
it to come. It is under his control. If the
Lord was to say to us, what tribulation do you like? You choose. You
tell me. You have personal affliction,
or affliction in your son, or your daughter, or your parents,
or trouble in the church. What do you want as your tribulation? Troublesome neighbours, trouble
in your job, trouble with your house, things all going wrong
with the car. What are you going to have? Wouldn't
we rather leave it with the Lord and know that He has appointed
Him? He's not been left to Satan or to chance or to us. Because
when the Lord appoints it, He knows us, so He measures it exactly
what He knows we can take. And He gives grace sufficient
and He will not suffer us to be tempted above that which we
are able. There's a great comfort in that.
the Lord is in control and he's measuring it in a right way and
if there is a dark path that some of you walking in at this
present time may this be your language and realize it as a
deliverance a deliverance for Jacob that even though all of
this happened yet you can still say a heart is not turned back
you think of dear Peter I prayed for thee that thy faith fail
not. When thou art converted or restored,
strengthen the brethren. Our Lord didn't pray that Peter
should not deny him. He could have, but he chose to
leave him. And he was humbled in that he
denied his Lord those three times. When he comes out the other side
of that trial, when he comes out, thou knowest all things,
thou knowest that I love thee. The Lord had sustained his faith
and he brought through it. The great thing with the trials,
if need be, for now, you're in the trial, but there's a nevertheless
afterwards. The important thing is endurance
through it, to be brought through it, to be given grace in it and
help in it, to not listen to the enemy that said, oh, if you're
a child of God, this wouldn't have happened. You wouldn't go
through this. The Lord would not put you through
it. That's contrary to the word of God. It's contrary to this
here. Because the Lord does appoint us these things. The fire shall
try every man's work of what sort it is. Is it our own? Will it suffer loss, be burnt
up? But when it is the Lord's work.
All this has come upon us yet. all that yet that is added there
in verse 17. Yet have we not forgotten thee,
neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. So this is the
profession that goes right through to verse 22, which the apostle,
and this is why I regret this portion, in Romans 8. The Apostle quotes this, verse
22. Yea, for thy sake are we killed
all the day long. We are counted as sheep for the
slaughter. Now look at the context that
the Apostle brings it into. Romans 8, verse 36. He quotes it exactly. And then he says, it's in the
middle of this, who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Now
note these things. Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution or famine or nakedness or peril or sword? Isn't that
not a reflection of what went before in Psalm 44? Now in all
these things, what? In tribulation, distress, persecution,
yes, in all these things we are more than conquerors. Remember
our text, command deliverances for Jacob. We are more than conquerors
through him that loved us. I am persuaded that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present,
nor things to come nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature
shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is
in Christ Jesus." And in a way this is being proved. All these
things coming upon the people of God, and that doesn't separate,
that doesn't separate through that fire, that difficulty, that
trouble. And as we go through these things,
shall death separate? No, it shall not. All of these
things. Thy sake we are killed all the
day long. Why? Why for the Lord's sake? God's people are his redeemed
people, that have fellowship with heaven, his sufferings.
And they are to endure unto the end by faith, not their own strength. To inheritance, incorruptible,
undefiled, reserved unto You who are kept by the power of
God through faith unto salvation. Through faith is the word of
God. Through faith, not by sight. Sight sees troubles, tribulations,
crosses, losses, troubles. Faith sees these things are working
for good. These things are refining me.
These things are burning away that which is of the flesh. These
things are making me trust solely in the Lord and in the Lord alone. And these things mark out the
people of God, not a smooth path through this world, but a path
of tribulation. The psalm then begins again,
sorry, ends again with a petition. Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? That's what it seemed to be.
Arise, cast us not off forever. Wherefore hide us thou thy face
and forget us to our affliction and our oppression. You know,
what would it be if the Lord hid his face from his people
and his people acted as if he hadn't hid it? If they're just
acting as if it doesn't worry me at all. Sometimes when we
had our children, one of them at least, when they did wrong,
we sent them to the room. But they just say, well, don't
matter. That's all right. We just enjoy
ourselves in the room. Or perhaps if you smack them,
and they turn around and say, that didn't hurt. Don't matter. And so the chastening, whichever
way it did, didn't have any effect at all. But with the people of
God, it is to have an effect. Yeah, actually to feel it, to
know what the Lord is doing. When he hides his face, we say,
thy face is hid from me. I feel it, Lord. I want to see
thy countenance. I want to know thy blessing and
not act as if we haven't got it. Those who realize you do
not have the blessing of the Lord, don't imagine you have
or don't make out you have, beseech him that he'll grant you his
blessing. He'll grant you his grace. He'll
grant you eternal life. Don't, whatever we do, imitate
or make out that we have what we don't have. If the Lord is
hiding his face, tell him and may he know from all that we
do that we feel it. May we want his sweet presence
and blessing and return to us. And so the testimony, our soul
is bowed down to the dust, our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Arise for our help and redeem
us, by mercy's sake. Many Psalms, you have at the
end of Psalm 25. Redeem Israel, O God, out of
all his troubles. And this, at the end of this
Psalm as well. If ever God delivers his people
from trouble, it is because they are redeemed out of it. The precious
blood of Christ sets forth and delivers from sin. That's how
the children of Israel God out of Egypt, redeemed. When I see
the blood, I will pass over you. And every blessing that we have
out of every trouble will be because Christ has died, suffered,
and risen again. And it's in these ways that we
will find that fellowship with him. For thy sake we are killed
all the day long, because every deliverance and trial for us
is through his sufferings. and as a sheep brought for the
slaughter, the Lord Jesus Christ. Lord, may this be our prayer,
our text, Thou art my King, our profession, Thou art my King,
O God, and our prayer, command deliverances for Jacob. May we have a real view of what
we are to expect in the pathway and what kind of deliverances
are deliverances and not say, Lord, the only deliverance that
I want is this and this and this. The Apostle Paul didn't have
a deliverance from his thorn in the flesh, the messenger of
Satan, but the Lord gave him grace and he was more pleased
with the grace than he had with the deliverance from that thorn.
And may that be so with us. Choose thou the way and still
lead on. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.