Alright, let's go back there
now to Psalm 57. Now you see the title there. It says,
To the Chief Musician. David would have this song sung
by the very best musicians. It says, Altakith. Altakith, which means destroy
not. Destroy not. This is what David's
praying to God for. That God wouldn't destroy him.
Destroy not. It's a mictum of David. That
means it's a golden psalm and it's an instructive psalm. And
the time that it was written was when he fled from Saul in
the cave. I had Brother Art read Rock of
Ages because that's where we find David tonight. He had fled
into the cleft of the rock and he was in a cave. This was a
giant cave from what I understand because King Saul had 3,000 men
and they probably all didn't go in that cave but some of them
went in that cave and David and his men were in that cave and
they hid up against the sides of the cave and in the shadows
and while Saul and his men came in there and went to sleep. You
can imagine how terrifying it would be to have a king who is
after you and wants to kill you with his soldiers in the same
cave you're in and not know you're there. So that's the setting
here. Now our subject tonight is wise
instruction. This is something we should all
heed. I titled this, Cry unto God Most High. That's what David
says down there. I will cry unto God Most High. Verse 2. I will cry unto God
Most High. And here's what I want you to
get from this message tonight. This is what I want you to get.
Whenever you're facing your sin, call to God Most High. Cry unto the God Most High. Whenever you are facing trials,
cry unto the God Most High. Whatever your case, whatever
your situation, call unto the God Most High. Now what is it
that God's people most often cry out for? What is it that
His people are constantly crying out for? Verse 1. Be merciful. unto me. O God, be merciful unto me. For my soul trusteth in thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge until these calamities be overpassed. God's people most often cry out
for mercy. That's what we cry out for. We don't cry to God and and speak
of our merit. We don't want God to look upon
us and for us to have to try to merit God's favor. Why don't
we want that? Because Romans chapter 2 tells
us plainly, it says, there's none righteous, no not
one. You mean there's nobody that's
ever kept the law in perfect righteousness, not among sinners. There is none that understandeth. There is none that understands
God and His way. There is none that seeketh after
God. It looks like the whole world
is seeking after God. I see all these religious folks.
God says there is none that seek after Him unless He shed His
mercy on you and truly made you to seek Him. That is the only
ones that seek Him. He says here, they are all gone out of the
way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good,
no, not one. You look at men and you see somebody
do some really kind, benevolent deed and you say, well that was
good. It's good according to our standard
of good, but not according to God's standard. God is holy. He's righteous and holy. It has
to be perfect to be accepted of God. So we don't come to God
crying, Merit, Merit, O God. We come crying, Be merciful to
me, O God. We need mercy. Scripture says
that God's glory is He told Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will
have mercy. Romans 8, Paul says, therefore,
because God has mercy on whom He will, therefore salvation
is not of man's will. Now that's not what you hear
preachers preaching. You hear preachers talking about
man's will. Why do they do that? Because
man likes that. That will get them a nice car
and a nice home and plenty of money in the bank. But God says,
it's not of him that willeth. Salvation is not of man's will. God has to give us a new will.
He has to make us willing in the day of his power. It's not
of him that runneth. Run to and fro and do all these
mighty wonderful works. That won't save. That won't save. God's interested in one work,
the work of His Son, Christ Jesus. It's not of Him that willeth,
not of Him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. So we cry out, be merciful unto
me, O God. And if you ever behold Christ,
and you ever behold that God has had mercy on you, that's
when we stop objecting. to this gospel. That's when we
stop crying out for our own will and protecting our way and our
works when God made you to see that He had mercy on you. And
that He has sent His Son who laid down His life for you. And
put away all your sin. And when you see that God didn't
do this for everybody, He didn't do it for everybody. That's when
you will cry out to God for mercy. When you see that you're such
a sinner that God had to send his own son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
to save us from our sin. That's when you'll cry for mercy.
And God's child who believes on Christ, who believes himself
to be a sinner, never stops crying for mercy. You know that in the
Psalms, I looked this up today, in 133 verses, David cries for mercy. And in
some of those verses, he cries multiple times like he does here. Be merciful unto me, O God, be
merciful unto me. It's mercy for God to send a
trial that would hedge us up and shut us up to God's mercy. You hear what I'm saying? Before you ever call for mercy,
It's mercy from God to stop every way that we would turn and turn
us to Him and hedge us about so we can't go to the left or
the right to bring all our works to an end, to bring all our purposes
to an end and bring us to see that we're helpless. We can't
do a thing. That's where we have to be broad.
And that's mercy for God to bring you there. It's mercy. If you
can call out for mercy, God's already had mercy on you. That's
right. The trial itself is mercy. Any trial that leaves me with
nowhere else to turn but God, that's mercy. Listen to this
from Job 37.13. He's concerning, he's talking
about the dark cloud of trial. Why does he send the dark cloud
of trial? He causeth it to come, whether
for correction, or for his land, or for mercy. For mercy. And when his child cries for
mercy, and you and I call out to God for mercy, God showers
us with mercy. He showers His people with new
mercies. Listen to this. Someone wrote
this. I don't know. I couldn't find
the author, but it said, It may be a tedious and a painful process. Faith may be long and sharply
tried, yet the blessings it will bring forth will more than repay
for all the weeping and suffering and crying it is occasioned. Do not be surprised then at any
severe trial of faith. Be sure that when it is thus
tried, God is about to bring your soul into the possession
of some great and perhaps hitherto unexperienced mercy. God sends
us a great trial. causes us to suffer great suffering,
God is about to give us great mercy. He's about to give us
great mercy. Now, everything a sinner needs
for salvation is of God's mercy. Everything. Everything. We need
a new heart, we need a new spirit created within us, that's of
God's mercy. We need Him to give us faith,
repentance, that's of God's mercy. We need full, accomplished redemption. We need righteousness. We need
holiness. That's of God's mercy. We need
to be kept. We need to be kept looking to
Christ and not allowed to turn away. That's of God's mercy.
Everything's of God's mercy. Lamentations 3.22 says, It is
of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His
compassions fail not. They're new every morning. Great
is thy faithfulness. To those of us who are real sinners. Are you a real sinner? I mean,
I'm talking about, you fit in that category where we saw there
none righteous, no not one. A real sinner. A sinner who needs
God to do everything in salvation. That's what a sinner is. And
if you're a sinner, in need of God's mercy. This is what God
says. In Isaiah 55, verse 3, He says,
Incline your ear. You listen to what you're hearing. Incline your ear and come unto
Me, God said. Here, and your soul shall live. Your soul shall live. And I will
make an everlasting covenant with you. An everlasting covenant. Nothing can change it. Even the
sure mercies of David. God will give you the sure mercies
of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now listen. Heed what He says.
Come to Him. If you come to Him begging for
mercy, truly begging for mercy. Now I don't mean just come to
Him saying the words have mercy on me. I mean from your heart
begging mercy. You are going to receive mercy.
God will give you mercy. Why did David ask God to be merciful
to him? Why did he ask that? Look here
at that second clause there in the first verse. For, that's
because, because my soul trusteth in thee. Because my soul trusteth
in thee. David knew what the Scriptures
tell us. He knew that the believer who
casts all his care on Christ will never be ashamed for doing
so. God will never make you ashamed
for trusting Him. Never. Never. Now it's true. This is true. It's only by God's
mercy that we have faith. He doesn't have mercy on you
because you're better than anybody. In fact, God's people see ourselves
as worse than everybody. Because we see our sin. Not just
what we do outwardly, but the thoughts of our heart and what
we are by nature. We see that sin. So we know it's
not because we were better than anybody else. We weren't. But
God had mercy. And brethren, He gives faith.
That's a gift of God's grace. It's a gift of God's mercy. He
has to do that for us first. But now listen, just as true
as that is, those who trust in God shall never be ashamed for
trusting in Him. Why is God going to save David? Because David trusts Him to do
so. That's why. You know, when your
children are younger and they look to you for everything and
they trust you, they jump off a tall building and trust you're
going to catch them. They trust you. You wouldn't
do anything to betray that trust. Well, God will not do anything
to betray the trust that His people put in Him. The sons of
Reuben, they made war against the Hagarites. And listen to
this scripture. This is from 1 Chronicles 5.20.
It says, They were helped against them, and the Hagarites were
delivered into their hand. And all that were with them,
God delivered them all into their hand. And they won the victory.
We're talking about real men and soldiers. God didn't have
mercy on them. He had mercy on the sons of Reuben. and He delivered that army into
their hand. And the Scripture says, for they
cried to God in the battle. And He was entreated of them
because they put their trust in Him. That's why God saved
them. They put their trust in Him.
In another battle, in 2 Chronicles 13, 18, we're told that the children
of Judah prevailed. because they relied upon the
Lord God of their fathers. And yet another battle, 2 Chronicles
16, 8, were not the Ethiopians and the Lubams a huge host? There
were far more people in that host than were with the children
of Israel, with very many chariots and horsemen. It would be like
a small country going up against a great, mighty country with
tanks and jet fighters and all the modern weapons of war. And
it says, Yet because thou didst rely on the Lord, He delivered
them into thy hand. Why is a sinner saved from our
sins? Why does God save a sinner from
our sins? Why does He save His people from
the bitter trial? Thou wilt keep him in perfect
peace, whose mind is stayed on Thee, because He trusteth in
Thee. He trusts you to do it, and God
will keep him. Many sorrows shall be to the
wicked, Many sorrows shall be to the wicked, but he that trusteth
in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about. Mercy. But now listen, without faith,
without trusting God, without hoping God, it's impossible to
please God. It's impossible. Because he that
cometh to God must believe that He is. and that He is a rewarder
of them that diligently seek Him. Unless we trust Christ,
God's not going to save. Only trusting Christ will God
save. Is anybody here a sinner? Anybody
here need God's mercy? Is there anybody here that's
in a severe and bitter trial? You need mercy? Trust ye in the Lord forever,
for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. Trust in Him. And then we're given a beautiful
picture here. Now look at verse 1, the last part there. He says, speaking to God here,
He says, Yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge
until these calamities be overpassed. You know what the life of a believer
is? Calamities. Calamities. One after another. Calamities. That means a tempest
of wickedness. That means a storm of afflictions. one after another. Oh, God gives
us great mercy and He gives us great blessings of prosperity
in Christ and abundance in Christ and He gives us joy in Christ. But it's always mixed with affliction. Trial. Trial. But you know what
happens in a storm? When a bad storm comes, those
little chicks These little bitty, small little chicks, they flee
underneath that mother hen's wings. And she covers them underneath
her wings and keeps them protected. That's the picture here. That's
the picture here. The storm of affliction comes. But Christ stands in the gap
between the believer and God. He stands in the gap between
the believer and the justice of God, the wrath of God, the
curse of God for sin that would destroy you and me. Christ took
the place of His people. And He was between us just like
that mother hen, her wings are between that chick and that storm. And He was between us and the
storm of God's strict justice. And Christ bore that for His
people. Put it away. He satisfied God's holy law. So God's just now to have mercy
on us. That's because every believer
that He brings to trust Christ is hidden underneath Christ's
wings. It's a picture. A picture. Brethren, don't miss this either.
Please don't miss this. When the calamity comes, And
it comes. Remember, they will soon be over
past. That means they are soon going
to pass. He says, I am going to flee unto Christ's wing until
all these calamities are passed over. Until they are all passed
over. Our calamities are a matter of
time. They are going to come in time.
that they're going to leave in time. One thing you can count
on in this world, everything changes. The calamities will
come, but then they're gone. That's the same for happiness
and joy too. They come, then they go. But,
our refuge in Christ is eternal. It's eternal. It's not a matter
of time, it's eternal. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge until these calamities be over past. You know, that's mercy. For God
to send His child a calamity to graciously make him take refuge
under Christ's wings. That's the only time we'll do
it. You don't go to a doctor unless you're sick. You don't
call out for a lifeguard unless you're drowning. We don't call
out for Christ and flee to Christ unless God brings us into a calamity
where we're just totally helpless. He does it to make us cry for
mercy, to make us trust Christ. That is mercy. That's mercy. Now secondly, I want you to see
this. What is our foundation for trusting God? If I'm going
to trust Him, I need to have good reason to trust Him. What's
my foundation? Why do we expect He will save
us from our sin and from all our trials when we trust Him? Why do we expect that? Well,
one, it's because of who He is. Look there in verse 2. I will
cry unto God most high. That's who our Savior is. He's
God most high. David had 600, no I think it
was about 400 men. And he's up against 3,000 well-armed soldiers. And he's in a cave now. where
there's one way in and one way out. But Saul, who was chasing
after him and wanted to kill him, he was only the king of
Israel. That's all. Christ is the King
of kings, and He's the Lord of lords. Scripture says, like the
river of water is turned, so our Lord turns the heart of the
king. Wherever he wants the king to
go, he turns him. That's so comforting if you ever
get a hold of that. You don't have to worry and fret
over what your president does, no matter who he is. Why? Because he can't do anything
except God turns his heart. That's right. Let me read you
something. Listen to this. Turn over there with me to Isaiah
45 and verse 5. Isaiah 45, 5. I am the Lord. There is none else. There is
no God beside me. I guarded thee, though thou hast
not known me, that they may know from the rising of the sun and
from the west that there is none beside me. I am the Lord and
there is none else. Now watch how sovereign He is. I form the light and I create
darkness. I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things. Drop down you heavens from above.
Let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open and let them
bring forth salvation. And let righteousness spring
up together. I the Lord have created it. And
we have a woe. Woe unto him that strives with
his Maker. Are you striving with your Maker?
How does a man strive with his Maker? He sears this Word that
says God's sovereign to do what He will. He says, I don't like
that. I believe my will is I can do
what I want to. That's striving against your
Maker. If that's your case and you can go on rebutting the Scriptures
and murmuring against God and striving against God and exalting
yourself and your will and your works, if you can go do that
and keep doing that, you know why you can? Because God has
purposed for you to do it. And His power overruled you so
that you do it. You can't do anything else. Oh,
you're guilty for the sin. I'm guilty for the sin. I'm guilty
for not trusting Him. But it's fulfilling God's purpose.
It's fulfilling His purpose. Let me give you this from Daniel. Daniel chapter 4. Nebuchadnezzar
had been turned out like a beast out in a field. And he said,
and at the end of the days, Nebuchadnezzar 4.34, He says, At the end of
the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up mine eyes unto heaven, and
mine understanding returned unto me, and I blessed the Most High. And I praised and honored Him
that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and
His kingdom is from generation to generation. And all the inhabitants
of the earth are reputed as nothing. And He doeth according to His
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. And none can stay His hand. Nobody can stop Him. And
none can say unto Him, What doest Thou? That's God. That's the true God. That's the
true God. So that's why we cry unto Him.
Number one, we trust Him because He's the Most High God. That's
who He is. God Most High. Christ Jesus is
who we're talking about. That man that walked this earth
over 2,000 years ago, He's God and man in one body, one person. He's the God-man. God so that
everything He accomplished for His people is eternal and man
so that He could lay down His life for His people. And Scripture says right now
He's risen and He's reigning. Ephesians 121 says far above
all principality and power and might and dominion and every
name that is named, not only in this world but also in that
which is to come. And He's put all things under
His feet and He gave Him to be the head over all things to the
church. Our Lord Jesus Christ is not
in a grave. Like all the other false messiahs
that came along and a false Christ that came along, our Redeemer
came out of that grave. There's plenty of witnesses that
saw there was an empty tomb there. They had put a rock over it and
put guards by it to prevent anybody from stealing His body or prevent
Him from coming out of that tomb. And He came out anyway. And now
He's risen and He's seated at God's right hand. And God's turned
everything over to the God-man mediator and He's ruling everything. Why don't you people get upset
and get all beside yourself when something goes wrong? Oh, we
do. We do. We're sinners just like everybody
else. We do. But God comes and He settles
you down. He settles you down. He turns
you to Christ and He reminds you everything that's come in
the past is in the direct control of His hand. Everything. And that's comfort. You know
nothing is happening outside of God's purpose. Nothing. Somebody said, when we trust
in the Most High, the giants of the earth are changed into
pitiful dwarfs. And they are. Here's another
reason we expect He'll save us because of what He does. Look
at verse 2. I will cry unto God most high,
unto God that performeth all things for me. All things. That means everything
in the salvation of God's elect, God does it all for us. Christ didn't put away some of
the sins of His people. And He didn't put away sins for
just some of His people. Christ put away all the sins
of all His people. Put them all away. He didn't
leave a part for His people to do. He didn't leave something
for me and you to do to be accepted of God. He said of it all, it
is finished. It's finished. He accomplished
it. See, the difference between the
Christ I'm preaching to you and the Christ that most people are
preaching in this world is, they're telling you now the only way
you can make Him to have accomplished it is if you believe on Him.
And then you're going to make His blood effectual if you believe
on Him. You know what that's doing? That's making salvation
dependent on what you do. That's making salvation dependent
on your will. What I'm telling you is Christ
accomplished the salvation of His people. And in time, He sends
the Gospel and He sends the Holy Spirit and He gives you a new
heart and He makes you know He accomplished it. That's right. His righteousness wraps us as
a robe, Scripture says. It's not a partial garment. Oh
no, Christ made that robe of righteousness from top to the
bottom without any seams in it. It's perfect. We don't have to
do anything. We don't have to fight because
our warfare is accomplished. We don't have to wash away our
sins because before God, they are all gone. Did you hear what
I said? Before God, I'm talking about
before the judge, where it matters. When Christ said it is finished,
He was saying, I have put all their sin away. God says, I blotted
it out of my record book. It's not there. No account of
sin ever at all. Past, present, or future. None
at all. What about the cares of this
life? What about the troubles we face in this world every day?
Peter said, cast all your care upon Him, for He careth for you. Cast it all upon Him. Listen
to this. Charles Spurgeon said this. I
put this in the bulletin this week. I'm going to add a few
words to make it read a little easier. He says, why do you fear
failing where you never ought to have hoped in the first place? Why do you fear failing in something
that you never should have hoped in in the first place? Instead
of fearing that you can't hold on, despair of holding on yourself. And look, never look in that
direction again. He never told you it's up to
you to hold on. He's holding on to me, not me
to Him. Oh, I'm holding on about like
Elias holds John's hand when he's walking along with Him. If the preservation is of God,
where is the cause for anxiety with you? Why are you so anxious? In Him, let your entire reliance
be. Entirely. I sat down in that
chair. I just put all my reliance on this
chair. I trust it's going to hold me. I'm not trying to sit
here and hold myself. It's holding me. When you put
your trust in Christ, you put all your reliance on Him. All
your cares, all your sins, everything that He provides. Here's my ground. Here's my ground for trusting
Him. God is performing at all times for me. He's performing
at all times for me. You see that performeth with
the ETH? You know this, that old English
ending of ETH means it's ongoing never-ending action. That's what
it means. Christ has, He is, and He shall
save me. He is at all times performing
my salvation. In everything give thanks, Paul
said. Apostle Paul said, in everything
give thanks. Why? For this is, this very day,
this trial, this suffering that you are encountering, This is
the will of God for you. You mean I'm supposed to give
thanks for the trial? It's sending me to Christ. It's
causing me to cry out unto Christ. Why wouldn't I thank Him for
it? Best thing that ever happened to me. doing this all the time. Here's
my ground for trusting Him. It's particular grace. It's particular
mercy. What do you mean by that? He's
God that performeth for me. For me. He's performing for me. If you're a child of God that
trusts Him, you can say, He's performing for me. If you're a chosen child of God,
and God chose freely by His grace, then on the cross, Christ was
performing for you in particular. If you were redeemed by Christ's
precious blood, when He crossed your path with the gospel, He
was performing for you in particular. There might have been a lot of
people there when they heard that gospel go forth that day.
But He sent it to your heart. He was performing for you. Right
now, His child, if he's suffering a trial, right now, if his child
is suffering a trial, God's performing for you in particular. This is the will of God for you. for you. I'm just going to end with this
right here. What can every child of God be sure that God shall
do for us? What can we be sure God's going
to do for us? Verse 3, He shall send from heaven
and save me from the reproach of him that would swallow me
up. You know what that word Selah
means? It means you stop And you think
about that. Just pause now and you think
about that. He shall send from heaven and save me from the reproach
of him that would swallow me up. Where are you looking for
salvation? Where are you looking for salvation?
Are you looking to heaven or are you looking to earth? Are
you looking to your maker or are you looking to man? You're
looking to the Creator or looking to the creature? You can't look
in two directions at once. God shall send forth His mercy
and His truth. God shall. Nobody else. God shall
send forth His mercy and His truth. Scripture says, when He
sent forth His only begotten Son into this world, He was sending
forth mercy and truth. And on that cross, Scripture
says, mercy and truth By mercy and truth, iniquity is pardoned. It's done. What does it mean
by mercy? It means God was giving me things
I didn't deserve. What is it by truth? It means
God did it in a way that's perfectly just. He slew His Son and satisfied
His law instead of slaying His people. So God's just and He's
merciful. That's how our sin was put away.
And in every trial you're suffering right now, whatever you're going
through in this world, I don't care what it is, at all times,
God is sending forth His mercy and His truth and He's saving
His people all the time. I pray God will bless that. We'll
come back next time. I've got a lot more here. We'll
come back and look at the rest of this later. All right. Brother Art.