May it please almighty God to
bless us together this evening as we meditate in his holy word. Let's turn to the book of Psalms,
Psalm 61, and we'll read the first two verses. Psalm 61, and
reading verses one and two. Hear my cry, O God. Attend unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. We should be very thankful that
God has recorded in the Bible so many prayers. And what a good thing it is that
when we are perhaps seeking after the things of God and not sure
perhaps where we stand in our spiritual life, to read the experiences
of God's children recorded in the Bible and find there suitable
words to express our situation, to express the concerns and the
desires of our soul. And if God graciously blesses
us with that, we will be encouraged to believe that we're not out
of the secret, but we can enter in perhaps to that great word
which tells us the secret of the Lord is with them that know
him and he will show them his covenant, will show them his
promises. And so here we have the experience of David so many years ago and
we see that he was in a time of need. Now every true believer
comes into times of need. And what a mercy it is for you
and I as we read such words as this that we can echo them in
our heart and perhaps pray them because they speak for us. And
we're thankful then that God in his amazing love has granted
such truths recorded in the Word of God to instruct and direct
and encourage us. And so he commences with his
61st Psalm with this desire. Hear my cry, O God, attend unto
my prayer. And as I've sometimes said, that
a cry is often an involuntary act. You think of little babies. They can't speak, can they? But
they can cry. When they want something, they
cry. And their parents know, therefore,
that the little baby needs something. And so perhaps it is in our spiritual
life. We may not always know exactly
what we need, but we know we need something. You may say,
well, why is that? It's very simply that when the
Holy Spirit convinces us of our sinful condition
before a holy God. We will know that we need forgiveness. We will need God to look upon
us and to have mercy upon us and we will be found crying unto
God that he will have mercy upon us, that he will remember us
and therefore Such a word is very appropriate. Here, my cry,
religion is personal. It's between your soul and my
soul and God. No one else knows what we're
passing through. It's only God. But what a mercy
it is if we have a God. who knows about us and brings
us into a condition, into a situation where we do come with a need
because of our sin, because of our guilt, and we cry to God. We cry to God with an urgency. It's not something which is just
a mere formality because we need God to look upon us. We need
God to hear our cry. We need God to have mercy upon
us. And so we'll understand that
such a statement is very relevant. Hear my cry, O God, attend unto
my prayer. We read those other three Psalms
together which are so very suitable really and do instruct us and
especially Psalm perhaps 142 starts off in a very similar
way. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice. It's no good crying to anybody
else. It's no good crying to people. They don't understand.
They don't have any ability to help. but to cry unto the Lord
with our voice. With my voice unto the Lord did
I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before
him. I showed before him my trouble. It's wonderful, isn't it? That
we have a God who we can come to as a little child We don't
have to bring some difficult language. We can come just as
we are, and we can commit our way unto our God, and we can
pray to him. We can cry to him that he will
have mercy upon us. Indeed, just like David did here,
I poured out my complaint before him. I showed before him my trouble. And he goes on in very similar
words to this 61st Psalm. When my spirit was overwhelmed
within me then the newest my path in the way wherein I walked
have they privily laid a snare for me. I looked on my right
hand and beheld but there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed me. No man cared
my soul sometimes it's a lonely path and it's good when it is a lonely path if it
directs us to Almighty God and that's why David tells us here
having said refuge failed me no man cared for my soul he says
I cried unto thee O Lord I said I Thou art my refuge and my portion
in the land of the living. Attend unto my cry for I am brought
very low. You see the effect of sin, the
effect of being condemned by the Spirit of God is to bring
us very low. You won't be proud of it. You
won't think this is a wonderful experience, you'll realise how
sad it is because of our nature, our fallen nature, that we sin. And therefore prayer to God will
be a wonderful relief, a wonderful outlet as God touches our hearts. And so David was able to tell
us here Attend unto my cry. He wanted God to hear his prayer. It wasn't just familiar words. It wasn't just phrases. No, he
was in a time of need. And that's why he comes and speaks
like this. Attend unto my cry, for I am
brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors. for they are stronger than I.
Then he says finally, bring my soul out of prison. Perhaps you are in prison and
the devil is very happy to keep you there. But bless God, he
does come and deliver us. He does come and speaks to our
soul. He does come and applies his
word to our hearts. And so we're told, bring my soul out of prison.
So it wasn't his body, it was his soul. It was that which was
so vitally important, but he wanted God to come and to deal
with, bring my soul out of prison. And remember what he'd said previously,
I looked on my right hand and beheld, but there was no man
that would know me. Refuge failed me. No man cared
for my soul. Lonely experience. But if that
experience drives us to God, drives us, we might say, to the
mercy seat, causes us to plead that God will speak to our souls. Then you see, it'll be a blessing. And David finally says in this
Psalm 142, bring my soul out of prison,
that I may praise thy name. As a result, when God hears and
answers prayer, and when God delivers our soul
and gives us that hope in his mercy, we're then brought out of prison,
and it's then that we come and desire to praise his name for
his mercy, and his favour. The righteous shall encompass
me about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. You see,
there we have, in David's case, a humble confidence in God. But he wasn't just muttering
mere words by tradition. He was praying from his heart. And what a blessing for you and
me today, if God brings us into that condition, so that we understand
how he comes. Hear my cry. Oh God, no one else. Oh God, it
must be. Hear my cry, oh God. Well, have
we prayed like that? You see, only God knows, and
you. whether you've come to God and
said, hear my cry, oh God, attend unto my prayer. You don't want
to be passed by. You don't want to be ignored. You want God to look upon you. You want God to encourage you. You want God to come and to draw
near unto you. And of course, in this condition,
as he tells us, from the end of the earth will I cry unto
thee. Yes, the end of the earth, that
means really a hopeless condition. Hopeless condition, felt perhaps
there was no mercy, no place of mercy, and yet you see, he
tells us, even from that situation, from the end of the earth, When
I cry unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed, overwhelmed,
God knows whether you've been there, God knows whether you perhaps indeed are there. And remember, he tells us very
clearly, it's his heart, his innermost being, which is overwhelmed. His dealings with Almighty God,
condemned by God, and yet pleading for mercy. When my heart is overwhelmed,
what does he ask? It's a lovely prayer. Lead me
to the rock that is higher than I. What does that mean? It means
he wanted to be led. to none other than the Lord Jesus
Christ, that rock that was higher than he was. My friends, things
haven't changed. Many years have passed since
David uttered such a prayer. But we still, today, come like
that. I hope we do. And it's a great
blessing if God brings us to a situation where we are overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with our sin. Overwhelmed, perhaps, with our
disobedience to God. And yet, you see, with that plea
to be led to Christ. Why? To be led to Christ. Because there is forgiveness
with the Saviour. That's the great blessing. That's
the only one who can forgive us of our sins. The only one
who can cleanse us. What a great blessing to have
these things revealed to us. We have that wonderful statement
in the ninth chapter to the Hebrews. It's a lovely chapter, as you
know, I tell you often. But he tells us in verse 22,
And almost all things are by the law purged with blood. That means cleansed with blood. And without shedding of blood
is no remission. Well, we can't go through this
chapter or this epistle tonight. you can go home and read it and
you'll find that it directs us very clearly to the Lord Jesus
Christ as the only Saviour. It directs us very clearly to
read that there's no mercy, there's no forgiveness for us unless
we are under that great and glorious sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ
when he shed his most precious blood upon Calvary's cross and
gave up his life so that through that he paid the price required
to take away all our sins. What a great blessing, therefore,
to be led to the Lord Jesus Christ. That's why we see those many
years before David's plea, lead me, to the rock that is higher
than I. And Jesus is a rock. And what a mercy, he is a rock.
We may be familiar with the 40th Psalm, which is a lovely psalm.
And it starts in these words, I waited patiently for the Lord,
and he inclined unto me. Think of that, God. the creator
of all things, the ruler of the universe, inclining to such unworthy
people. And he inclined unto me and heard
my cry. The testimony that his prayer
was not in vain. And my friends, if you and I come to God and pray in faith,
He will hear our cry, and then he testifies of deliverance. Well, not in the prison house,
but nonetheless in a horrible pit. And he tells us, he, the
blessed Lord, brought me, again personal, up also out of a horrible
pit, out of the Maori clay, and set my feet upon a rock. Now we have the analogy again.
The rock, the Lord Jesus Christ. There he was, placed on that
firm foundation and established my goings. Established in the
things of God. It's good for you and me if God
establishes us in the things of God. Perhaps it's a new scene. Perhaps we never realised what
it meant. But to realise that God in his
love to our soul, establishes us in the things
of God, establishes our goings. And then he says, and he hath
put a new song in my mouth. But I wonder if we've sung the
new song. I don't know. You know whether
you've sung the new song. What was the new song? Even praise
unto our God. Praise unto our God. Have you
praised God? Has he heard your cry? Have you
cried? Has he brought you up out of
the horrible pit? And then he goes on, a new song
in my mouth, even praise unto our God, many shall sing it. It's not something which is done
in secret. It's something which is done
so that people see and observe what God has done for your soul. And it has a good effect. Many shall see it and fear. Remember, the fear
of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and shall trust in
the Lord. How wonderful when God brings
us to this place to trust in the Lord, to commit our way unto
him. Trust in the Lord. shall trust
in the Lord. Blessed is the man that maketh
the Lord his trust. No one else. Don't look anywhere
else. No one else will be adequate. The Lord and respect is not the proud
that turn aside to lies. Well what a mercy then tonight
if God has brought us to this place where perhaps our hearts
are overwhelmed. Overwhelmed. And only God may
know that. No one else knows your true feelings. But what a mercy it is that we
can come to God and we can tell God exactly what we think, exactly
how we feel, exactly what we need. We can come to God because
God knows about us. He knows our every thought. No
one else knows what you and I are thinking. But what a blessing
it is. Therefore, if we're led, when
our heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher
than I. To be led to the Lord Jesus Christ.
as our all-sufficient Saviour is a wonderful blessing and a
wonderful favour. And if you and I are led there,
we will. As we just read in that 40th
Psalm, we shall praise God. We shall rejoice because what
He's done for us. And what's He done? is revealed
to us our need of a Saviour. Has there been a time in your
life and my life when God in His great love toward us has revealed to us the need of
a Saviour and then to direct us to the Lord Jesus Christ. And perhaps we don't really quite
understand what it all means. I remember when I was a boy,
I was fearful about going to sleep because I thought if I
went to sleep I might wake up in hell. I didn't really want
that at all. So I was very fearful. And I remember my mother came
to me and said, well, you must pray to Jesus. Well, that was
good theory. But you see, it didn't in actual
fact mean anything to me. It was just words. It was correct. It was good. Nothing wrong in that at all.
But it's when God shows us the blessing of the Lord Jesus Christ
coming into this world to die for us upon the cross, to take
away our sins, then it becomes alive. The truth of God suddenly
shines forth and we can rejoice indeed in it. and how thankful
we are, and what a great blessing it is. As you know, a verse that
I like to quote is in the 2nd Corinthians, in the 4th chapter,
and the 6th verse, and it reads this. For God, who commanded
the light to shine, when God commands His light to shine into our hearts. What a revelation. And it tells
us who commanded the light to shine out of darkness. We were
in darkness. We were born in darkness. We
remain in darkness until the blessed Holy Spirit shows this
great light. And what is the light? Well,
Paul tells us, hath shined in our hearts our innermost being
to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. We see there in the Saviour all
that we need to take away our sins. And then the apostle tells
us, But we have this treasure, this revelation, in earthen vessels. That's what we are. We're just
an earthen vessel. We can't boast about our wonderful
abilities. Just an earthen vessel. That
the excellency of the power may be of God and not of us. It's important to realise. but
in our spiritual life, God will have the honour and glory. And you and I won't be able to
come and say, well, I did this and I did that. No, it'll be
all of his grace and all of his favour. That's why in the epistle
to the Ephesians and the second chapter and the eighth verse,
we read this, For by grace, that means the free and merited favour
of God, for by grace are ye saved, through faith, and that not of
yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of
works, nothing of the flesh, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created
in Christ Jesus, unto good works which God hath before ordained,
that we should walk in them." Well, it's a wonderful blessing
to be led by the Spirit of God. And this plea that David had
in his prayer, lead me to the rock that is higher
than I, that we may be led to see what there is in the Lord
Jesus Christ and in his glorious death, to realise the Lord Jesus
came into this world to save sinners. And what a blessing
if that truth is applied to our hearts, so that we have the evidence
He came into this world to save sinners, to save my soul, All
of us need to come there to know that Jesus has died to save our
soul. That was the price that God the
Father required, the death of his only beloved son. And the son was so willing to
come and to endure that death upon the cross at Calvary. And
of course it wasn't just a physical death, it was also a mental death
as he bore the sins of his whole church. It's just beyond our
comprehension. Why should God have loved you? Why should God have loved me? because in eternity past, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit agreed to save a people, to redeem a people. And the cost of that redemption
was none less than the death of the Lord Jesus Christ. And it was an enormous price
to pay. You must remember, that Jesus
took on our human form, just as you and I are. He knew
when he had to suffer, and that's why he pleaded with his Father,
if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not
my will, but thine be done. And of course, he could not escape. He had to pay. that wrath the
price for that wrath upon the head of all his people upon your
head and my head because of our sin and so it's a good prayer
isn't it lead me to the rock that is higher than i to be led
to see What our salvation cost, it's impossible really for us
to understand. But the cost was the life of
God himself, the second person in the Trinity. How willing was
Jesus to die that we fellow sinners might live. The life they could
not take away. how willing was Jesus to give. It's a great truth, and it's
a truth which is worth meditating on, thinking upon, the greatness
of our salvation, how wonderful it is to realise that God is
kind and gracious and merciful and long-suffering, long-suffering. Do you realise how long-suffering
God is to us as unworthy sinners? What a blessing it is to realise
that we have such a kind, and gracious God who does not deal
with us as our sins deserve. I'm sure you are familiar with
Jonah. Jonah was a man who ran away
from God. God told him what to do. He didn't
fancy it. So he ran away. God knew where
he was. And God knew how to deal with
him. And God knows about you and me and whether we've run
away from God. Well, we won't go through the
whole account, but the first chapter deals with Jonah running
away and then being thrown overboard. And we're told now the Lord had
prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah, and Jonah was in the
belly of the fish three days and three nights. And it seems
he was in there, try and think of it, three days and three nights,
didn't pray. Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord
his God out of the fish's belly and said, I cried by reason of
my affliction, unto the Lord, and he heard me. Out of the belly
of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice." Well, he was in a
low place, wasn't he? Couldn't get any lower, could
you, really? And there he was. And God heard him. And Jonah
says, for thou hast cast me into the deep, in the midst of the
sea, and the floods compassed me about. All thy billows and
thy waves have passed over me. Then I said, I am cast out of
thy sight. Yet I will look again toward
thy holy temple. And again, sometimes we may think that we're cast out, that God's
not hearing our prayers. And yet, you see, Jonah was given
faith. It's amazing, isn't it? He never
deserved it, nor do we. Yet, I will look again toward
thy holy temple, The waters compassed me about, even to the soul. The
depth closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about
my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with
her bars was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life
from corruption, O Lord. My God, he couldn't get away
from it, could he? He had to come. Oh Lord, my God, when my
soul fainted within me, just like David was in this psalm,
when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord. and my prayer came
in unto thee into thy holy temple. They that observe lying vanities
forsake their own mercy. Don't do that. Don't observe
lying vanities. But I will sacrifice unto thee
with a voice of thanksgiving. You see, when we come to a place
to thank God. Sometimes it's costly. It's like being a sacrifice. When my soul fainted within me,
I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in unto thee, into
thy holy temple. They that observe lying vanities
forsake their own glory. Don't listen to the devil with
all his lying vanities. But I will sacrifice unto thee
with a voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that that I have vowed. And then this grand statement.
Salvation is of the Lord. God's work had been done. And when it was done, the Lord
spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah unto the dry land. It's good, isn't it, to be able
to trace out these things in the Word of God. And they're
recorded in those details, so that you and I, in our spiritual
life, can trace out our life alongside it. To put it down
on one side, and then on the other side, put our testimony,
our experience, and see how it marries up with the saints of
God. Well, here we have then, David
on this occasion, brought low, I will cry unto thee when my
heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that is higher than
I. What a blessing for us tonight. God knows where we are in our
spiritual life. What a blessing it is if we have,
or if we desire to, come to our God with such a desire as this,
from our heart, not from our head, from our heart, because
it's real. Here, my cry, personal, your
cry, My cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. He didn't want to
be passed by, and neither would you if you got a real need. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. And we know that the
Lord did hear, the Lord did answer David's prayer and he was brought
out into a wealthy place and may we therefore be encouraged
that the Lord would look upon us and bring us into a wealthy
place and speak peace to our souls. Amen.