Brethren, let's turn in our Bibles
to Psalm 118. The brethren at Danville send
their love to you. They're doing well. They're having
some troubles there. Brother Jimmy, the song leader,
his only daughter, I think she's 42, she died of a heart attack
this week. So you can imagine, their hearts
are breaking. Pray for them as the Lord enables
you. Alright, Psalm 118 verse 5. I called upon the Lord in distress. The Lord answered me and set
me in a large place. We see the need here is distress. That's what prompted this call
was distress. I called upon the Lord in distress,
in a narrow place, squeezed in. And the Lord answered me and set
me in a large place. The need is He was in distress. And then what did He do? He called.
Who did He call on? I called on the Lord. called
on the Lord. And the Lord answered. The Lord
answered me. And what did He do? He sent me
in a large place. Our subject is the Lord answered
me. And I just want to look at these
three things. The need, the call, and the answer. First of all,
the need. I called upon the Lord in distress. distress. That's what prompted
this was distress. Distress is to be in a strait,
in a strait. It's to be narrow, it's to be
compassed about, it's to be squeezed in on all sides. Sometimes this
word is translated pain. It's in here in distress. Have
you ever experienced spiritual distress? Spiritual distress. Real distress. David went through
many difficulties in his life. When we read the Psalms, it just
seems like David was going into a trial, he was in a trial, he
was coming out of a trial, he was going into a trial. But those
difficulties are given by God and they're how God teaches His
child and grows us in knowledge of Him in His power and His grace. You know this from Romans 8.35,
the scripture says, Who shall separate us from the love of
Christ? Shall tribulation or distress
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Do you mean God's child will
go through those? That would appear God's angry
with him. He will put his children through
some of these. But it's not in anger, it's in
love. Who shall separate us from the love of God in Christ? In
all these things, we're more than conquerors through him that
loved us. The reason that nothing shall
separate us from the love of God, the reason distress won't
separate God's people from the love of God is because His love
is in Christ. He loves His Son. He trusted
His Son. His Son entered covenant with
Him. The Father trusted a people to Him. And the Son promised
to bring that people to the Father spotless and without blame. in
His righteousness. The love of God is in His Son. That's where He loves His people
is in His Son. And because that's so, that thing
shall be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ. Now the reason that David's crying
here is he was in distress. But if we want to see true distress,
we need to look to Christ. And we know this psalm is Christ
speaking because look down at verse 22. He says, the stone
which the builder refused has become the headstone of the corner.
This whole psalm is our Lord Jesus Christ suffering for his
people. Now, first of all, our substitute
suffered distress like nobody else does or ever has. And because he suffered this
distress, we won't suffer like he suffered. Look here in verse
10. He said, all nations compassed
me about. In verse 12, they compassed me
about like bees. In verse 13, thou hast thrust
sore at me that I might fall. Christ is typified in the nations
encompassing King David. There was always nations about
King David and he was always in distress because nations were
coming up against him and he was always doing battle with
these nations. There was all different kinds of nations. There
was the Philistines and the Moabites and the Ammonites and the Malachites
and the Assyrians. Those are typical of our Lord
Jesus' enemies. They're typical of who compassed
Him about and who crucified our Lord. All nations did it. There
was no nation left out of it. It wasn't just the Jews and it
wasn't just the Gentiles. It was all people. We've all
sinned and come short of the glory of God. All are sinners. Listen to this, Acts 4.27, "...of
a truth against thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed
both Herod and Pontius Pilate..." There's governors, Caesar and
governor, from the top down. "...with the Gentiles and the
people of Israel." Jew and Gentile, all nations. They were gathered
together. But here's the good news, to
do whatever thy hand and thy counsel determined before to
be done. Now the point of this is, brethren,
is that nobody's innocent. We've all
sinned. Everybody on this earth has sinned,
and that's what we see here. God came down, God dwelt among
us, and we rejected God. and compassed Him about. These
enemies compassing Christ on the cross, they were thrusting
sword at Him, trying to make Him fall. He says in Psalm 22.11,
if you want to look there, it's not too far off. I think I'm
going to come back to Psalm 22. Look here in Psalm 22.11. They're thrusting sword at him.
They compassed him about. Look here in verse 22, 11. He
says, Be not far from me, for trouble is near. For there is
none to help. Many bulls have compassed me. Strong bulls of Bashan have beset
me round. They gaped upon me with their
mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. We've seen in John 19,
Pilate, he's trying to wash his hands of it. And he tried to
release the Lord to the Jews so they could be the ones to
blame. But he's too much of a politician, he could not just release Him. And he said, who do you want?
You want Barabbas or you want the Lord Jesus? And they said,
away with Him, away with Him, crucify Him. They gnashed on
him. This mob that was compassing
our Lord about, this was just a hellish game to them. To put
that crown of thorns on his head, they enjoyed that. Remember now, these are not just
irreligious people, these are religious folks that were doing
that. to people that if you looked at them, they'd look like an
angel of light. You wouldn't see any sin in them. And they're enjoying and taking
delight in crucifying the only sinless one, putting that crown
of thorns on His head, bowing down and mocking Him. And then when He was on that
cross, They spit upon Him and they put those nails through
His hands and His feet. And then they went about the
cross and they mocked Him more and they gnashed on Him more
with their teeth. He trusted in God. Let Him deliver
Him now if He'll have Him. Just think of that. He trusted
God. He did trust God. Like nobody
else ever has or ever will. But they're deriding Him. He
trusted God. Let God have Him now if He will.
He said, I'm the Son of God. Now you think about this. He's bearing that for His people.
He's bearing the shame of our sins while He's being compassed
about by these strong bulls of Bashan. He's distressed like
nobody ever was. And He's bearing that right there,
bearing the sins. And our sins compassed Him about
like bees. You've seen bee farmers and they'll
get the bees and they'll be all over them. That's how these enemies
were, and that's how our sins were upon our Lord. Psalm 18.4, look there with me,
Psalm 18.4. I want us to get an idea of the
distress our Lord Jesus endured, Psalm 18, 4. And I want us to
remember He's doing this for His people. For you sitting here,
He was doing this for you. And our Lord is of such infinite
love and grace toward His people that every one of His people
He's dying for, it's like you were the only one on His heart
while He was doing that. That'll make this, that'll magnify
it to you. It's like you're the only one.
Every elect child, a multitude no man can number, but it's like
every single one was on his heart personally. Psalm 18, verse 4, The sorrows
of death compassed me. That's what was compassing him. The floods of ungodly men made
me afraid. The sorrows of hell compassed
me about. The snares of death went before
me. In my distress, in my distress,
I called upon the Lord and cried unto my God. He heard my voice
out of his temple and my cry came before him even into his
ears." God's children are going to encounter distress. Satan
is going to throw a sword at us that we might fall. He's the
one that was behind this preeminently in what our Lord was doing. And
He's going to do the same to us as the Lord enables Him. But He can't do anything but
what God permits. But He will throw a sword at
you and try to make you fall. He's going to use men to do it.
He was using men to do it to our Lord. He was using men that
everybody thought were holy men. He was using them to do it. He'll use our own sin to do it. You know, we behold some of our
sin, but we don't behold all our sin. We don't even see all
our sin. And yet, what you do see, by
God's grace, by His light, enabling you to see something of your
sin, what you do see, is it not as numberable as bees compassing
you about? Is it not? I'm talking about something as simple as holding
a door open for somebody. Some poor little old lady you
hold the door open for and she goes through the door. And that thought in the heart
of, oh, this is good. God's going to be happy with
this. We're just doing what we should have done. We'll be lifted
up in pride just like that. I'm talking about Things that
just pass by us during the day that we don't even give a second
thought to. The way we answer somebody. The way we look at somebody that
looked at us. The way you felt in your heart
when the person laid on their horn up next to you. It's like bees encompassing us.
and we don't even see all of them. And then we come into trials,
troubles, and they distress us. And the Lord will see to it that
we won't have anywhere to turn. That is the Lord's purpose. He
will bring you, whether it's permitting Satan, whether it's
using men, whether it's permitting you to see your own sin and start
pining away and being distressed over your sin, whether it's some
other trial or trouble. The Lord's purpose in it is to
bring us to a place where we can't look to anything else or
anybody else. And you know this is so, this
is part of our sin. We normally first try to look
elsewhere. But the Lord will lay this on
us until we can't look anywhere else. What did David do? Better
yet, what did our Savior do? Here's the second thing, the
call. I called upon the Lord in distress. Please do not read
this and think, well, I know that. I called upon the Lord in distress. In His distress, the Lord Jesus
called upon the Lord. Our Lord Jesus called upon God,
His Father, when He was on the cross in distress. He did it
many times throughout His life. Did you read the article I put
in the Bulletin for Sunday by McShane? It was talking about
how our Lord didn't only suffer at the cross. That burden was
on Him all through His life. But it's magnified there at the
cross. And in that garden of Gethsemane,
when He sweat great drops of blood, He's calling upon the
Father. And He's on the cross, like Psalm
22, and He's calling upon the Father. My God, my God, why hast
Thou forsaken me? Hebrews 5.7, if you want to look
there, Hebrews 5.7. Hebrews 5.7 says, who in the days of his flesh,
when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong
crying and tears unto him that was able to save him from death,
and was heard in that he feared. Though he were a son, yet learned
he obedience by the things which he suffered." Now hold your place
right there just a minute. Our Lord Jesus Christ is the
Son of God. He said right before this, He's
that high priest after the order of Melchizedek, without beginning
of days, without ending of days. And yet He came, and in the days
of His flesh, He humbled Himself and took the form of a servant,
utterly dependent on the Father. Because He's walking, representing
All His elect people. He's walking this earth representing
you who He is. He's the Son of God. This is
the Son of God. This is the second person in
the Trinity. And though He were a Son, when
He took flesh, yet learned He obedience by the things which
He suffered. That's just too big for me. He learned obedience by the things
He suffered. If He's going to succor you,
if He's going to be one that can comfort you and know what
you go through, He had to go through it. He had to experience
it. But when He suffered it, He learned obedience. And believe
me, brethren, when I tell you, He was perfectly obedient. There's
not a time you and I have been in distress. And even if you
did call on the Lord, there's not a time that we've done that
perfectly obedient to Him. But our Lord Jesus Christ is
the Holy One. He's the faithful One. He's the
righteousness and holiness of His people. He's the one man
that ever walked this earth that is sinless and perfectly obedient
to the Father. And it's by His obedience that
we're made righteous. And when he called on the Father,
he did it in obedience to the Father in perfection. And God
the Father heard him because he's crying unto God in perfect
fear, perfect reverence, perfect faith, perfect love toward his
Father. Even while he's suffering unimaginable
distress in the place of his people. You know, it's easy for us to
say now, oh, I'm stressed out. Are we really? Think about His
distress. The best thing, the only thing
for us to do in distress is call upon the Lord. But no sinner will call upon
the Lord until the Lord makes us see that Christ is the only
one who can save us. That's the only time we'll call
on Him. He brings us to see He's the only one who can save us.
Even as believers in our distress, we're so prone to call on others. It would not have been perfect
faith in the Father had our Lord Jesus Christ called on someone
else in His distress. Think about that. If He'd have
called on somebody else. He asked His apostles to pray
with Him, but He didn't call on them to help Him. We want to be helpers to one
another, and it's good to have brethren you can call. And please
do not misunderstand me. I'm not saying don't call your
brethren. What I'm saying is this, how
much of our calling on others is it looking to man rather than
God? Look at the next verse in verse
8. This is what he learned through this. It's better to trust in
the Lord than to put confidence in man. We worry and we fret about our
rulers and we start talking to one another about how bad the
politicians are and how we think they're messing up and what have
you. How much of that is really looking to our rulers to be our
saviors? Look at the next word, verse
9. It's better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in
princes. Brethren, the Lord Jesus, He's
the author and finisher of our faith. When He suffered, He called
only upon the Father and He did it in perfect faith. He authored
faith and He finished faith. That means beginning to end,
it's His faith by which we're saved. It's His faithfulness. Look at Hebrews 5.9. It says,
And being made perfect, He became the author of eternal salvation
unto all them that obey Him. He perfected. He perfected it. It's not your obedience that's
going to save you. That's not real obedience. If
we're looking to ourselves in any shape, form, or fashion and
think we're obedient, and looking down on somebody else we don't
think is obedient. That's not obedience. Obedience
is taking your little bitty tiny mustard seed of faith that He
gave you and looking to His obedience to save you. That's the obedience
of faith. It's trusting you're saved by
His faithful obedience. By one man's obedience shall
many be made righteous. Just one. He's the perfect man. He's the
Holy One. He's the righteousness of His
people. He's the captain of our salvation. That's what it means.
He's the author, the finisher of our faith. He is our eternal
salvation. Now He's teaching us this more
and more each time He brings us into distress. We didn't know
this when we believed Him in the first hour. We knew and we
believed, but we didn't know it. Don't you know Him a little
more now than you did then? Haven't you seen what He's able
to do a little more now than you did then? Well, He's growing
us more and more and more and more. And when this distress
comes, we have to all admit, we usually look somewhere else
first. He's showing us by that, that we're not the faithful one.
but He won't let you find any help anywhere else if you're
His. If you're His, He's going to
keep you in distress and that distress is going to get so powerful
that the only thing you can do is call upon Him. And that's grace to us. You know
why? Because Acts 2.21 says, Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. Isn't it a gracious Lord who
would work everything in providence to hedge us up, to make us where
we can't go any other way. I think about cattle in a in a barn, you know, where they
direct them by using the gates until they bring them into a
place where they're just in one little gate, and the only thing
they can do is go straight, and they end up going right to the
trailer they want them to. He directs us like that to where
we're going right to Him, and we can't go anywhere else. Isn't
that a gracious Lord? And puts the call in your heart,
gives you the faith to call on Him, so that you call on Him,
because whosoever call on Him shall be saved. Now here's the answer. The Lord
answered me and set me in a large place. The Lord answered me and
set me in a large place. Now our Heavenly Father answered
His Son. His Son called on Him and He
answered Him. Ephesians 1.20, He answered him
and set him in a large place when He raised him from the dead
and set him at His own right hand in the heavenly places,
far above all principality and power and might and dominion
and every name that's named, not only in this world but in
the world to come. He's put all things under His
feet and gave Him to be the head over all things to the church. That's putting Him in a larger
place, isn't it? Our Lord Jesus highly exalted God His Father
by His obedience, and God our Father highly exalted His Son
and set Him in a large place. That's what Ephesians 1 says.
It says they set Him at His own right hand in heavenly places. Christ declares in verse 5. Look
at Psalm 118 and hear Christ speaking in verse 5. I called
upon the Lord in distress, the Lord answered me and set me in
a large place. Look at verse 19. Open to me
the gates of righteousness, I will go into them, and I will praise
the Lord, this gate of the Lord into which the righteous shall
enter. I will praise Thee, for Thou hast heard me, and art become
my salvation. The stone which the builders
refused has become the headstone of the corner." There he sits
at God's right hand, victorious. He accomplished everything the
Father set him to accomplish. He saved all his people, and
there he sits, highly exalted. The Father set him in a large
place. And because our Lord's head over
all things to the church, because He's the one who fulfills all
in all in His church. Now the power of that risen God-man
mediator, He is going to teach His redeemed. He's going to rule
everything in providence. He's going to send the gospel
to you. He's going to bless that gospel to our heart through the
Spirit. And He's going to put us in a distress so that we call
on Him. And then He's going to set you
in a large place. He does it when He reveals our sin to us. Didn't He bring you to call on
Him when He first revealed your sin to you? And what did He do? He set you in a Lord's place.
But that wasn't the only time He's done that. He kept doing
it, hadn't He? He keeps revealing our sin to
us. He keeps showing us more and showing us He's our salvation
and setting us in a large place. He reveals our weakness. He reveals
our total inability, but He also reveals that He's our strength.
He reveals we need His righteousness because we don't have any. It's
His by which we're saved. He reveals He alone is our salvation. And He's doing
this, He'll do this the rest of our days. The rest of our
days. Let me read a hymn to you. Hold
on just a minute. By covenant, transaction, and
blood Says Jesus, my people are mine. Their sin-bearing victim
I stood. Yea, for them my life did resign. The curse of the law I sustained,
did them from all cursing set free. That when by stern justice
arraigned, the sinner should look unto me. When darkness envelops
the mind, and troubles rush in as a flood, Protection in me
they shall find, And peace in my peace-speaking blood. For
wisdom their course to direct, As well as their danger to see,
My sheep by my Father elect, I'll teach them to look unto
me. When thirsty or faint in the
way, Or groping t'wixt hope and despair, to faith, I my fullness
display, and bid the poor sinner look there. When lost in themselves
and undone, like doves to my wounds they shall flee, for all
that the gospel makes known, the sinner shall look unto me. By crosses I'll scourge them
for sin, not flowing from wrath, but in love. Yet while they the
furnace are in, the strength of my grace they shall prove.
And when at my footstool at last they come with the suppliant
knee, their sorrowful eyes they shall cast, and look for salvation
in me." This is the point of it. It's to keep us looking to
Him. It's to bring us to look to Him.
And what does He do? He sets you in a large place. The Lord delivers His people.
He delivers us from the stress of our sin to make us behold
we're robed in His perfect righteousness and accepted of the Father. That's
a large place. He comes to you and He makes
you see. You are there seated with Him
in that place that's so large it can hold an innumerable company
of angels. It can hold that innumerable
company of God's elect that He redeemed. That's how large a
place it is. And you're right there with Him. Over and over, He delivers us
from our distress into a large place, and He makes us know this
more and more. Look at verse 6. The Lord is
on my side. That's what He makes you do.
The Lord is on my side. I will not fear what man can
do, what can man do unto me. The Lord taketh my part with
them that help me. Look at verse 13. None is so
sore at me that I might fall, but the Lord help me. The Lord
is my strength and song and has become my salvation. Look at
verse 16. The right hand of the Lord is
exalted. That's what He makes you see.
The right hand of the Lord doeth valiantly. I shall not die, but
live and declare the works of the Lord. The Lord hath chastened
me sore, but He's not given me over to death. That's what you
find. Listen to Psalm 31 7. I will
be glad and rejoice in thy mercy, for thou hast considered my trouble.
Thou hast known my soul in adversities, and hast not shut me up into
the hand of the enemy. Thou hast set my feet in a large
room. He's opened the gates of his
righteousness. He did it. He opened them. And He's brought
you to Mount Sinai. And by faith you behold Him.
By faith you see He's translated you into His kingdom. You've
been born into His church, into His family. We behold the stone
that's become the head of the corner. Verse 23, this is the
Lord's doing. And it's marvelous in our eyes.
This is what He's making us see more and more. This is the day. It's just one day. It's just
an eternal day. made where all His people are
made righteous forever. This is the day which the Lord
hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in it. And when you behold
Him high and lifted up and see that He's the need of His people
beginning to end in every distress for anything it is that would
destroy us, that's God's purpose in it to make you see that a
little bit more. His grace is personal too now. You know, we might have been
going along saying, we're all sinners. He's going to make us
know, no, I'm the sinner. You're the sinner. We might have
been going along saying, well, He laid down His life for His
people. He's going to make us say, I laid down my life for
you. I redeemed you. Look here, verse 28. This is
where He brings you, Thou art my God. and I will praise Thee. Thou art my God, I will exalt
Thee. That right there, that's the
heart of repentance. That's what makes you forsake
your sin. That's what it'll take. Right there. Right there. When
we're puffed up and we're proud, that right there is what it's
going to take. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. Verse 29,
O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good, for His mercy
endureth forever. Father, we thank You for this
Word. We pray, Lord, You would continue to hear us when we call. Lord, make us look to You first,
preeminently, and call upon You. Lord, make us to do it not only
in distress, but at all times. Make us thank You continually.
Make us see, Lord, our constant need But Lord, when we call in
distress, we thank You according to Your promise, according to
Your mercy, according to Christ our righteousness. For His sake,
You promise You will hear us. Lord, we're thankful that Your
mercy endures forever. As long as we're in this body
of death, we are going to need mercy. Don't let us, Lord, don't let
us. Please don't let us. Don't take any confidence in
anything about us. Please don't let us turn from You. We ask
You to keep us, Lord. We do thank You for one another.
Lord, give us grace to help one another, remind one another to
call upon You, That's why you provided, brethren,
to be there to remind each other, call upon the Lord. Thank you, Lord, that you're
all our salvation. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.