Alright brethren, let's go to
Psalm 77. This is one of those days I would
like to preach both messages for the main message. But we'll
go with this one first and then the second message we'll actually
see this illustrated in a way. So let's
start here in Psalm 77, and we'll take it a little at a time. But
let's begin, it says, to the chief musician, to Jonathan,
means praise, a Psalm of Asaph. I cried unto God with my voice,
even unto God with my voice, and he gave ear unto me. Now
he tells us what happened here, from the beginning. He tells
us the end from the beginning. He says, I cried with my voice
unto God. I cried and earnest, an earnest
cry here. I cried with my voice, even unto
God with my voice. He repeats it twice. And He gave
ear to me. He gave ear to me. But we're
going to see God answer this prayer in a very strange way. He made it appear that the Lord
did not give ear to him. The Lord heard him. He said,
the Lord heard me. I cried, the Lord heard me. How
did he hear him? We're going to see, he made it
appear that the Lord did not hear him for a long time. Scripture said God always hears
His people. For the sake of Christ our intercessor,
He's going to hear His people. He says, before they even cry,
I'll answer them. And while they're crying, I'll
answer them speedily. And that's what he does here.
But he does it by not making him think he heard him. That's
one of the ways he hears us. Now he says, verse 2, in the
day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. My sore, and that word
everywhere else is translated, my hands. My hands ran, they
were stretched out in the night. When they would pray, they would
stretch their hands out. And he's saying, I stretched
out my hands to God in the night and ceased not. I didn't stop
praying to Him. My soul refused to be comforted. Now we may call on the Lord and
we may not understand that the Lord is hearing us when we're
calling Him because God may allow us to call on Him for a long
time without giving us a sense that He's heard us and made you
know in your heart He's heard you. The church did this over in Song
of Solomon. Remember how she laid down and
He knocked on the door and she said, I've already laid down,
I can't get up. So He put His hand through the
door and made her open the door and when she did, He went away. And He did that to make her long
for Him, to make her cry out to Him, to make her seek Him
more earnestly. She said, speaking of her Beloved,
she said, I sought Him, but I found Him not. I called Him, but He
gave me no answer. That's what's happening in our
song. Lamentations 3 verse 8, He said, When I cry and shout,
He shut out my prayer. He said in that same chapter
in verse 44, You covered yourself with a cloud, that our prayers
should not pass through. But the Lord always hears. He's
always hearing when He makes us think He doesn't. We saw when
they came to our Lord and said, He whom thou lovest is sick. Lazarus was sick and they sent
word to the Lord just like we cry unto the Lord. And it says
because He loved them, because He loved Lazarus, because He
loved Mary, because He loved Martha, He didn't go. He waited two days until Lazarus
was dead and buried. Why? Because he loved him. He
was going to reveal his glory. He was going to show his glory.
And he was going to save many there. But He was going to have
them lay down their lives. He was laying down His life.
He was going to have His disciples lay down their lives. Remember,
they said, we can't go there. The Jews are seeking you. They're
going to want to kill you. And that's where they're at. And
He said, I'm walking in the day. You don't stumble when you're
walking in the day. I'm doing the Father's will. And so He said,
I'm laying down my life. I'm doing what the Father sent
me to do. That was the thing that made them counseled together
and said, we've got to kill this man. And he knew that was going
to be it. And so he went there. And what
did it make the disciples do? Well, let's go with him that
we might die with him. Made them resolve to follow Christ. That's what he's showing us here,
how he's going to make his people look to him only. Remember we
saw in Isaiah, he said the Lord waits. that he might be gracious. He waits that he might be gracious.
And we start running and he says, your strength is to sit still,
your strength is to look to me only. And so he let them run,
he said, until they were like a tree with all the branches
broke off. And he said, you wouldn't wait?
I'll wait that I might be gracious. And he said, because the Lord's
a God of judgment. He's going to be glorified. That's
what he's doing in our psalm. Now the purpose is threefold.
Now here's the first thing. It's to make us come to the end
of self. That's always the purpose. Make us come to the end of us.
Isn't that so in everything he brings us into? He's constantly
teaching us this lesson over and over and over. Look, he says
in verse two, let's read it again. In the day of my trouble, I sought
the Lord. My hands were stretched out in
the night. They ceased not. My prayer ceased
not. My soul refused to be comforted. Now, he doesn't mention what
the trouble is. That's interesting about this whole Psalm. He never
says what the trouble was. The details of the trouble are
really not the issue because the issue is always the same.
At the bottom of the issue, It's the sinful nature in us. It's
our sinful heart always. There may be outward things that
came from it. It always is at the bottom. You
don't get to the bottom, it's right here. It's in our sinful
nature. That's it. And we gotta be brought
to the end of that. To the end of that. So these
things we're looking at here now, we can look at these, look
into Christ, We're looking at these now, looking at the psalmist.
I want to look at the psalmist first. And as you look at the
psalmist saying this, we're looking at a sinner saying this, we're
looking at ourselves as sinners, and what our problem is often
in our prayer to God, there's too much I in it. Too much I
in it. He was thinking, he was seeking
comfort in the Lord, and we think sometimes we are, but we're really
not. He says, verse 3, I remembered God and was troubled, I complained
and my spirit was overwhelmed. Thou holdest mine eyes waking. Lord, you're not letting me sleep.
You're not giving me any comfort. I'm so troubled I can't speak.
It's a good thing when God holds our eyes open and won't let us
sleep, won't let us get any comfort. That's a good thing. It makes
you cry to Him, makes you cry to Him. all night. But so many
times we start trying to seek assurance in the wrong place. Our past works and our past experiences
and things like that and a comforting feeling from those things. Now
look here at verse 5, I have considered the days of old the
years of ancient times. But there's too much my in the
remembrance. Look at verse 6. I call to remembrance
my song in the night. I commune with mine own heart.
My spirit make diligence, sir. There's too much my in there.
My, my doing, my doing. When you're looking at this as
a sinner. My, my, my. We try to look at past days and
things we've done. And there's too much me, my,
and mine in that. We're to forget the things that
are behind. It would be a terrible thing,
one, to look at the past and see our sin and just pine away
because of it. But it's also even worse to look
at the past and get some kind of comfort from anything we've
done. And so we're going to make you run, look into Christ, only
setting your affection on Him. Remember what Paul said, forgetting
the things that are behind. I'm pressing toward the mark,
toward Him. And he said, and let as many
as be thus-minded, thus-minded, looking to Christ, looking to
Christ. And if you're not this thus-minded, he said, the Lord
will reveal this to us. He will. And that's what faith
is in Christ right now. It's not getting my faith from
something that happened in the past. And it's not faith looking
to the future and worrying about what's going to happen in the
future. sufficient right now. I need grace now. Right now. I need faith right now. And true
faith is now. It's looking to Christ right
now. Believe in Him right now. We could go back and look at,
you could look at, you know, people have this deal where they
always will say, well, tell me about your conversion. And they
go back and they start looking at things and they say, you know,
they're falling out with one another because one's experience
didn't line up with the other's experience. I'm not worried about
that. If you're sitting here hearing
the gospel right now, looking to Christ right now, rejoicing
in Christ right now, that's what we need to rejoice in Him now.
Believe Him now. And He's going to bring us to
ask these questions sometimes, but He's going to make these
rhetorical questions. He's going to make us hear these
questions as, this can't possibly be. But this was the questions. He said, verse 7, Will the Lord
cast off forever? He cast Christ off in judgment
in place of His people. He won't ever cast off His people.
Now He's going to sometimes make you think He's cast you off.
Will He be favorable no more? That means will He accept me
no more? He said from eternity when He chose His people in Christ,
He made us accepted in the Beloved. We've always been accepted in
Him. He's going to receive His people. Is His mercy clean, gone
forever? He said in Lamentations, His
mercies are new every morning. It's His mercies that while we're
not consumed, they're never gone. He said this was mercy. This
was mercy by not showing Him, He was hearing Him. Does His
promise fail forevermore? Christ wrote the covenant in
His blood. He's not going to make one promise fail. He's God
who cannot lie. His promises will not fail. Verse
9, has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His tender
mercies? Never. But by not hearing, look
where He's brought to. Verse 10, I said, this is my
infirmity. This is my weakness. Other places
translated, this is my sickness. This is my disease. to be questioning
these things. Have you ever questioned these
things? Have you ever been brought there where you question, Lord,
am I not yours? Are you not going to answer me? He's going to bring his child
there. Why? To bring us to see this is just
my weakness. The weakness is in me. It's not
in God. The unbelief is in me. The sin is in me. It's not in
God. Now that's the first purpose,
to bring us to the end of ourselves, but I want to show you something
here, which makes a transition right here. This word, I looked
this word up, this is the only place this word is translated
infirmity. Now, most, many other places,
it's translated supplication. It's translated entreat, to entreat,
to, this is what I'm seeking after, this is what I'm supplicating
God for, this is why I'm praying to God. Now if you hear it that
way and you take the italics, the italics are added to make
it read more smoothly, you read it this way and take the italics
out and listen to this. This is my supplication, this
is my prayer, what I'm entreating God for, the years of the right
hand of the Most High. Who does that have to be that
can say that? What I'm supplicating God for
is the years, the eternity I've spent at the right hand of the
Most High. That's Christ speaking. That's
Christ speaking. Remember he prayed in that high
priestly prayer and he said, Lord, I long for that glory which
I had with you from before the foundation of the world. When Christ suffered in three
hours of darkness, the Lord didn't answer him. The Lord did not
answer him. He died through the weakness
of our flesh. In that sense, it could be said,
this is my infirmity. But when he cried out from the
cross, said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Though
that was a true cry and a real suffering from him. He was also
teaching us through that cry. And that's how, if you look at
these questions as Christ calling on these questions, it's certainly
rhetorical questions just like He taught us, why hast thou forsaken
me? Because you're holy. And I've
been made sin for my people. I'm satisfying justice. And so
you read all these things and see Christ in these questions
and you know Did He hear Christ? Did He hear my Redeemer? Yes,
He heard Him. Even though He didn't hear Him while He was
suffering on the cross in darkness, He was hearing Him. He was pleased
with what He was accomplishing while He was satisfying justice. But He had to tread the winepress
alone. But He heard Him. He heard Him. And that's why
He's going to hear His child. So this purpose of not hearing
us is to not only bring us cease to remembering ourselves and
our deeds and our experiences and try to find comfort there,
it's to bring us to remember the Lord and His works and what
He's done. Now look how it changes here
in verse 11. He says, I will remember the
works of the Lord. Not my works, not something I
did or something I can get some good feeling from, I'm going
to remember his works. I'm going to remember the Lord's
works. Surely I'll remember thy wonders of old. I'll meditate
also of all thy work and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God,
is in the sanctuary. His way is in Christ the sanctuary. His way was in Christ who walked
this earth holy for His people, perfecting His people. His way
is in the holiest of holies where He is right now ruling and reigning
everything that is happening in this earth. His way is in
the sanctuary where He has gathered His people together and is speaking
into the hearts of His people through this gospel where He
is going to make you know and remind you of all His works.
If you look at this as Christ, Christ is saying, I'm going to remember all your works of old
and I'm speaking of your works. And that's what Christ speaks
to us about His works. It makes us speak of His works
and remember His works of old. Look here, He says, verse 14,
thou, oh, He says there at the end of verse 13, who's a God
so great a God as our God? Can't you say that? There's no
God as great as the true and living God. Think of what He's
done. Think of everything He's done. For you, for us, for His
people, since the world was made. So it brings us to remember His
wonders and His strength. Verse 14, Thou art the God that
doest wonders. Thou hast declared Thy strength
among the people. Thou hast with Thine arm redeemed
Thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. He is making us know
He is the Lord of hosts. These are the works where He
redeemed Israel and Jacob and Joseph. He brought them out of
Egypt. What did He do? He brought them out of Egyptian
bondage. He brought them through the Red Sea. He brought them
all the way through the wilderness. He brought them across the Jordan
and He brought them into Canaan. From beginning to end, He did
everything. And that's what he's speaking
about right here. He says, the water saw thee,
O God. See, he's the Lord of hosts.
He's saying here, he's speaking of the waters. He's talking about
the depths. He's talking about the clouds,
the skies, the thunder, everything. Everything is his and at his
disposal. And he's working all these things
for us. Just like he did for them. He
says, the water saw thee, O God, the water saw thee. They were
afraid, the depths also were troubled. Look to the Red Sea.
What happened? The Lord made the waters go back
and Moses and the children of Israel went across on dry ground
and he destroyed the enemies at the waters. Our Lord Jesus
Christ dried up the sea of judgment for his people and his people,
they were baptized into Moses at the Red Sea. We were in Christ. baptized in Christ in the sea
of judgment. When He was baptized in judgment,
in the rain of judgment falling on Him like it fell on the ark.
We were in Christ like they were in the ark. And it was pitched
within and without. That ark was pitched within and
without. That's propitiation. It couldn't touch us because
it touched Him. And they were baptized into Moses. We were baptized into Christ.
Circumcised in Christ on the cross. And by that same judgment,
all the enemies were destroyed. When he destroyed sin, when he
took away all reason of accusation, he destroyed Satan's weapon,
the law and sin. He took the weapon away. Verse 17, the clouds poured out
water, the sky sent out a sound, thine arrows also went abroad,
the voice of thy thunder was in the heaven, the lightnings
lightened the world, the earth trembled and shook. You look
to Christ on the cross and it's just a description of God's judgment
and His arrows going forth into our Redeemer and justice being
satisfied by the Lord Jesus. Thy ways in the sea, thy path
in the great waters, thy footsteps are not known. It is a mystery
what God is doing. Thou leadest thy people like
a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. He led them like a
flock. He is a shepherd. Here He is. The Lord is not answering
Him. And he's sitting here saying, this is what I'm going to remember
right here. This is what I'm going to remember.
Lord, you've done mighty works. All your works are your own.
I'm remembering you. I'm looking to you. I'm thinking
of you. I'm not thinking of me anymore.
I'm not complaining anymore. I'm not looking at my song and
I'm not looking at anything I've done anymore. I'm not questioning
anymore. Lord, I'm thinking about your
works, what you've done. This is all my hope. You, you,
you're all my hope. And what's he teaching us by
all this? This is the third thing. And this is so important. It's
vitally important. He is teaching us faith. He is
believing God's Word alone. He is believing God's Word alone. Faith is not merely a feeling.
Now, God makes you know His presence. You are not a stoic. He is going
to make you know His presence. But sometimes, brethren, we can
put far too much confidence in our feelings to the point that
we start getting our assurance from feelings rather than from
the Lord and His Word. Faith's not looking back at deeds
we've done. Faith's not looking back at anything
we've done good to get any confidence from it. We can try to get back
some sort of feeling of assurance that way. And faith's not looking ahead to
something we're going to do. We can do that too and say, You
know, you can look back at the past and say, well, if I had
done it this way or that way or the other way, well, learn
from the past, but don't try to get any confidence in anything
you did right. And we can do that. And then
we can start looking to the future, and I'm going to do this, and
I'm going to do that, and I'm going to fix this, fix that, and we start
getting a lot of confidence because this is what I'm going to do
in the future. face right now, even when, if you don't have
anything but God's word. Remember how Job said, though
he slayed me, I'm going to trust him. He may slay me. You're not answering me, Lord.
I don't hear you, but I'm trusting you. I'm trusting you. I have your word. I have your
word. I'm trusting you. And when he's
brought you there, He makes His presence known. He makes you
know. He's brought you there. He's done it. What happened with
our Lord Jesus? When He said it's finished, the
Lord heard Him. The Lord heard Him. Raised Him
up. And He's going to do that for
you. What I'm saying is there's a purpose for the Lord bringing
us to suffer this, to suffer You know, not having assurance
in feelings or works or anything. And he does it, but sometimes
not making you even hear him. Not making you have any experience
in your heart of him answering you. Do you see that in the psalm? He wasn't answering him. He wasn't
answering him. The faith that God gives and
the faith He increases is often by Him making us think
He does not hear us at all. Then it comes down to this. What
does this book say? What does this book say? Nothing
else. What does the Word of God teach
me? That's what I'm trusting. You know Martin Luther's Let
me read this to you. Feelings come and feelings go
and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is the word of God,
not else is worth believing. Though all my heart should feel
condemned for want of some sweet token, there is one greater than
my heart whose word cannot be broken. I'll trust in God's unchanging
Word till soul and body sever. For though all things shall pass
away, His Word shall stand forever." And that's where He's going to
keep us. He's not going to let us trust in ourselves in any
way, not even our feeling. He's going to make us trust in
Him. He's going to make us trust Him, His Word. He said, the vision
may be for an appointed time, But at the end it'll speak, it
won't lie. It'll tarry, though it tarry, wait for it, because
it'll surely come. It will not tarry. He will answer. He has, and he shall. So if you're in that place, or
you come to that place, get in this Word and read this Word
and look nowhere else but to Christ. He will comfort you. He will make you know. When He's
brought you to the end of yourself, though, He's got to bring us
there first. But He'll make you know. His Word is sure. All our hope. All right, brethren,
let's stand together. Father, we thank You for Your
Word. We do pray You would keep us
remembering this, These promises are sure that Christ is Himself
the Word and He's fulfilled it and everything that you've promised
us is yes and amen in Him. And make us look for Him in these
scriptures. Make us look to Christ in our
prayer and in our hearts and in our lives and make us stay
upon Him and trust Your Word even beyond anything else. Lord,
it's a good thing when you hold our eyes and make us lose sleep
seeking you and longing for you. That's a good thing. We thank
you for that. And Lord, if there be any of
our brethren or your people going through this and suffering this,
Lord, we pray you work this for them and comfort them and turn
them to you and let them put any comfort in loved ones or
feelings or works or anything else, make them look to you and
trust you and rest in you. Be our comfort, Lord. We ask
it in Christ's name. Amen.