May God be pleased to bless us
together as we meditate in his word this evening. Let us turn
to the book of Psalms and Psalm 28 and we'll read verses one
and two. The 28th Psalm and reading verses
one and two. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord
my rock, be not silent to me. lest if thou be silent to me,
I become like them that go down into the pit. Hear the voice
of my supplication when I cry unto thee, when I lift up my
hands toward thy holy oracle. As we read through the Book of
Psalms, and indeed as we read through the Word of God, we will
find there are many occasions when the people of God cry unto
the Lord. And we may think, perhaps you
that are younger, may think, well why should this be? Surely
once the Lord has blessed us, there's no need to continue to
cry unto God. no longer that real needs to
pray to him for spiritual blessings. But the reality is that as you
and I travel on through life, there is a continual battle,
a continual conflict that we have with the enemy of our souls,
the devil, who is very active and will never cease to be active.
until we pass out of time into eternity and therefore he is
always as it were at our elbow trying to turn us away from the
things of God and sometimes is successful in doing that perhaps
he may not be in a necessary in a physical way but perhaps
it may be in our innermost mind where there may be those things
which turn us away from the great and glorious things of God. And so we should not be surprised
that on many occasions in the Word of God, there are the cries
of prayers put up and a record of them for our encouragement. And so here in this 28th Psalm,
it's a Psalm of David, and he cries as he does on many a times
unto thee will i cry oh lord my rock now the good thing was
he knew who to pray unto and that's a good thing for us today
if you and i know who to come and to pray unto he knew the
lord who was his rock Of course, as we think of that as an illustration,
a rock is something which is not movable. It's usually firmly
embedded in the ground and we cannot move it. We should be
thankful to know that our Lord God is not something that moves
around. He is always the same. He is
always there to hear and answer our prayers. But it does not
mean to say that we will always have our prayers answered when
we want them to be answered. The Lord tells us, your time
is always, but my time is not yet. And that's really why sometimes
We may feel, perhaps like David says here, be not silent to me. He felt God was indeed silent
to him. Well, the Lord may have been
silent in not sending him an answer. And he was very fearful.
Lest if thou be silent to me, I become like them that go down
into the pit. Well, it's a good thing if you
and I are fearful, the Lord is leaving us. fearful the Lord
has perhaps left us, fearful the Lord is silent to us and
is not hearing our prayers, and fearful therefore that we may
end up in hell, which seemed to be the indication here in
this verse, go down into the pit. Well it's a good thing to
have a concern that God hears and God does hear our prayers
and doesn't need Passers-by, what a mercy then, if we have
a humble confidence in our God. And if so, may we pray in faith. As we read in James's epistle,
let us pray in faith, nothing wavering. The devil will come
and tell you, well there's no point in praying, because God
doesn't hear your prayers. What God does hear, our prayers
if we come in that right way and it's very significant that
here we have David who came in the right way and it's the right
way spoken out to us in this second verse where we're told
hear the voice of my supplications when I cry to thee when I lift
up my hands toward thy holy oracle well of course In those days
it would have been the tabernacle, the temple wasn't built, but
of course in the tabernacle there was the glorious picture of a
prayer hearing and a prayer answering God through the merits of our
Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. And it's wonderful to think therefore
that the Old Testament saints, they were able to look to that
oracle. They were able to look indeed
to the tabernacle and to look inside, as it were, by faith
and to realise that there was the Ark of the Covenant. And
there in that place the High Priest went once every year,
not without blood, to atone for his sins and for the sins of
the people. Now then, today, we don't have
to go to look to the Oracle. We don't have to go like that.
And you might remember that there was a case of Jonah in his day. Jonah, of course, had turned
his back upon God. And we should be thankful that
we have records like that in the Word of God to strengthen
us, to encourage us, Jonah turned his back upon God. God had told
him what to do. He wasn't having anything of
it. He was going his own way. It might have been a difficult
job and therefore he went and found a boat, got on the boat
and off he went quite happy, so happy in fact that he went
to sleep. But you see God knew where he was. God knew what he
would do to Jonah. And Jonah was going to be taught
a very solemn and a very blessed lesson on that trip. It was, of course, something
which he would never forget. He would never have expected
the outcome. But there he was, not been in
the boat too long, when there was a storm, a great storm. And the sailors didn't know the
reason. And they came to Jonah, and Jonah
knew the reason. He knew it was because of him.
He was the problem. And so what happened? Well, I'm
sure young people, all of us know the account of Jonah, how
he was thrown overboard and into the sea. But God had very graciously
prepared a fish, a whale, to swallow him. It wasn't a normal
whale, it was a specially prepared one. And there was Joda then,
in the whale's belly for three days and three nights in the
utter darkness, the weeds wrapped around his head. It must have
been a very terrifying experience, but it would seem that he was
so hard-hearted that it really hadn't dawned upon him the true
situation. until the Holy Spirit worked
in his heart, and this is what he said, this is the glory of
the gospel, this is what he said, then he said, I am cast out of
thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. Yes, he knew there was a place
where God revealed himself, there was the mercy seat, there was
the Ark of the Covenant, therefore though he was in that dark place
in the whale's belly yet he was able to look up and to look outside
of the situation that he was within and say yet I will look
again toward thy holy temple well perhaps we may be I know
not in a dark condition in perhaps a desperate condition just like
Jonah and yet you see if the Lord gives us faith to not look
to the natural temple but to look to a far better way and
that is of course to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ because
there is forgiveness and there is access and what a mercy it
is to realize we have such a wonderful account recorded in the chapter
we read together in the 10th of Hebrews, where the apostle
goes through this so very clearly, telling us about the perfection
of Christ's sacrifice. You see, in David's day, in Jonah's
day, there was no perfection in those sacrifices, which were
carried out year by year, year by year, but what a mercy to
read in this chapter the 10th of Hebrews these wonderful words
he says in the 18th verse now where remission of these is that
means where there is forgiveness there is no more offering for
sin having therefore brethren boldness boldness undone sinners
lost sinners blessed with this humble boldness, those who are
like David was in this verse, crying unto the Lord, that he
wouldn't be silent, that he would look upon him, he wouldn't be
left to go down into the pit, to come and realise there is
this great and glorious Saviour, having therefore, brethren, boldness
to enter into the holiest, only one way, to enter into the holy
place when the tabernacle and the temple were erect on this
earth, not without blood. And so here we have this great
statement, having therefore brethren boldness, humble boldness, the
sinners of the earth to enter into the holiest by the blood
of Jesus. Is it any wonder that the apostle
Peter speaks about this blood as the precious blood of Christ. It is invaluable, because without
it, without the application of it, there is no access. Without the application of it
to our hearts, there is no forgiveness. But oh what a mercy then, to
realize the wonder of it. and to come therefore boldly
in this way by a new and living way which he hath consecrated
for us through the veil, that is to say his flesh, and having
a high priest over the house of God. What a high priest we
have today. You see in Old Testament times
high priests came and high priests died and new high priests were
put in their place. Today we have one glorious High
Priest, the Lord Jesus Christ, who is over the house of God. And so the Apostle is able to
come and to encourage us with these wonderful words, let us
draw near with a true heart, not a false heart, that's a believing
heart, trusting in this great and glorious Saviour with a true
heart in full assurance of faith. Blessed with this gift of faith,
this blessed assurance that we can come to our God through the
merits of our Saviour because of the wonder and the favour
of that blood shed upon that cross at Calvary, to atone for
all of our sins. Every sin, every sin, the blood
of Jesus Christ cleanses us from all sins. Isn't that a wonderful
truth and a glorious gospel? And therefore, as the Apostle
says, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith,
having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies
washed with pure water. let us therefore hold fast the
profession of our faith without wavering. Now let us beware the
devil will always be at our shoulder to try and turn us away from
this great and glorious truth but you can tell him Christ has
died, yea rather is risen again and tonight we can be so thankful
that we have such a saviour in heaven now as our great and glorious
high priest interceding for us. So we have that set before us
in that 10th chapter to the Hebrews for us today in New Testament
times. David in his age had to say when
I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle Jonah in his day
had to say yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. our great wonderful blessing
today is that we can come through the merits of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ because it is indeed He that is seen as we approach
to God. Well may we come then in that
way tonight David came praying like this unto thee will I cry
oh lord my rock perhaps we come like that unto our god we can
come to our god as that prayer hearing and answering god we
may feel like david did be not silent to me lest if thou be
silent to me i become i become like them that go down into the
pit well David was blessed with living faith and may you and
I be blessed with living faith. There are many great truths in
the Word of God, many wonderful Psalms which encourage us, just
perhaps leading us to one or two of these wonderful statements
One of the Psalms, which is very precious and glorious, is the
61st Psalm, the Psalm of David. And he starts in a similar way,
really. He says, hear my cry, O God,
attend unto my prayer. He had a real need. He had a
real concern. It wasn't just a form of words.
may be delivered from just a mere form of words, but if the Holy
Spirit works in our hearts and gives us a real need, shows to
us we need to come and confess our sins, we need to come to
a God who hears and answers our prayer, a God who can and does
forgive us of all our sins and to realize those sins are forgiven
and washed away in only one way, the precious blood of the Lord
Jesus Christ. David had a confidence in his
God. He says, O Lord, my rock, well
may you and I today have a confidence in our God, as that God is our
rock that we come to. And so David says in the 61st
Psalm, Hear my cry, O God, attend unto my prayer. He says this,
from the end of the earth will I cry unto thee. When my heart
is overwhelmed, what? Lead me to the rock that is higher
than I. Sometimes we may feel just like
that. So how does it were the end of
the earth experience? don't know what will occur what
will happen and we might feel the end of all things well bless
God we have a companion in the Word of God and that companion
is God's servant David who was in this very place and he was
very fearful he tells us when my heart is overwhelmed sometimes
we feel to be overwhelmed But he doesn't stop there. And that's
the mercy, isn't it? That's the mercy. He didn't give
up. He said, well, there's no point, therefore, in doing anything
more. No point in praying. No, he cries
to his God. And he says, lead me to the rock
that is higher than I. Well, today, may we come and
say, Lord, lead me to the blessed Lord Jesus Christ, to view by
faith his sacrifice, that one sacrifice for sin. Lead me to
see the wonder in that atonement of the Saviour. Lead me to see
there is forgiveness with God, that he may be feared, that we
may rejoice indeed in the glory of the Gospel. Lead me to the
Lord Jesus Christ, who is indeed higher than I, Now David was
able to look back in his life and it's a mercy that you and
I are able to sometimes look back in our life and this is
what he was able to say, for there has been a shelter for
me and a strong tower from the enemy. Well has God been a strong
tower to us? Has he been a shelter for us
from all the assaults of Satan? We've been able to come to him
as this strong town, perhaps the shadow of a great rock in
a weary land, and to be able to commend and commit all our
way unto him. Well, says David, I will abide
in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the cover of
thy wings, Seder. His hope was in his savior. His hope was in the Lord Jesus
Christ, not physically by that name, but his hope was in the
Messiah, that one who would come and deliver him from all his
sins. For thou, O Lord, O God, hast
heard my vows. that has given me a heritage
of those that fear thy name. What a mercy that is if you and
I have faith to believe God has given us a heritage. It doesn't
mean to say we won't find ourselves in these great times of need.
And having to come like David did, hear my cry, O God, attend
unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee. the Lord leads his people, he
leads the church of God in this way. which keeps them praying
unto God. If everything in our life was
smooth and rosy and there was no roughness, no difficulty,
no trials, no temptations, we wouldn't pray to God, we wouldn't
cry to God, we'd carry on just in our vain way. The Lord sees
fit to instruct us, to teach us, and to keep us praying to
Him And what does this do? Praying to God brings us into
communion, brings us into union. It makes the Savior precious.
It makes the things of God very real, not something which is
just a theory. Well, may we bless God then for
the wonderful evidence of his work in our souls. And then further
on, In the book of Psalms, a very lovely psalm, I always think
Psalm 142. The psalmist again speaks like
this and he says, I cried unto the Lord with my voice, with
my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out
my complaint before him. I showed before him my troubles. Isn't that wonderful? You and
I can explain everything to the Lord. You can't explain everything
to people. They might not understand. They
might not know the path. They might not appreciate the
problem it is. But God knows. And therefore,
as the Psalmist says here, David tells us, he says, I poured out
my complaint before him. I showed before him my trouble. We have a God who understands.
We have a God who knows all about us. And although we may be fearful,
we may think sometimes God is silent toward us, yet let us
remember, here we have such encouragement. I poured out my complaint before
him. I showed before him my trouble. And he says, when my spirit was
overwhelmed, again this word, overwhelmed within me, yes? overwhelmed means perhaps that
we're almost drowned, but know that he wasn't and neither will
we be. Then thou knewest my path. The
Lord knows the path that you and I are walking. It is the
path that the Lord is leading us in and he's leading us in
that good path and that right path. If you and I chose our
own path it wouldn't be a good one, it wouldn't be the right
one, it wouldn't lead us to Christ It will lead us away from Christ.
What a mercy it is then to have this, to realize the Lord, he
knows our path. In the way wherein I walked have
they privily laid a snare for me. Yes, the devil's always laying
snares for us. We need to be very aware of the
snares that he lays for us. We need to be on the lookout
for them all the time. David said, I looked on my right
hand, And behold, but there was no man that would know me. Refuge
failed me. No man cared for my soul. That's a lonely place, isn't
it? That's a lonely place. But the blessing is to be found
crying unto God, because God will not forsake us. He will
not leave us. So says David, I cried unto thee,
O Lord. I said, Thou art my refuge and
my portion in the land of my living. Attend unto my cry, for
I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are stronger than I. Yes, he knew his weakness. It's a good thing when you and
I know our weakness. And also, he knew where his strength
lay. And again, it's a blessing if
you and I know where our strength lies. Bring my soul out of prison,
that I may praise thy name. The righteous shall compass me
about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. Sometimes we may foolishly
think that the Lord will never allow us perhaps to be in prison,
but sometimes he does, he allows us to be in prison. And he allows
us to be in prison because of our foolishness, because of our
ignorance. And yet you see, then he brings
us out, bring my soul out of prison. And his desire was, when
that deliverance came, that he would praise the name of his
God. Well, may that be our concern, that may be our desire truly
to praise and to glorify our God. Well, David had his confidence
in his God. Unto thee will I cry, O LORD
my rock, my rock. Oh, to have that confidence in
our God. And although it appeared that
law was silent to him, and though he was fearful that he might
become like those that go down into the pit, yet he had his
confidence in his God. And we have many evidences of
it in the book of Psalms. In the 18th Psalm, a well-known
Psalm, David tells us in the second verse, the Lord is my
rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom
I will trust, my buckler, and the horn of my salvation and
my high tower." Well, that surely is a long list of wonderful truths
that he was able to comfort himself with and to realize this was
the God that he was relying upon. And today, as we go forth in
this difficult world, the world's always been difficult, It was
difficult in David's day, as I'm sure we know, if we read
his life, and the world's never got easier. Perhaps we think
it's more difficult today, well it may be, but it was difficult
in David's day, but yet he was able to tell us, tell us about
his comfort, and he says the Lord is my rock. It's a wonderful
little thought, isn't it? The rock Christ Jesus, so solid,
unmovable, always there to see, and never lost, always there. And his fortress and his deliverer,
the God who delivered him. David had been delivered many
times from Pharaoh, many times from the king, and from other
difficulties. When he fought the lion and the
bear, God delivered him. When he came before Goliath,
God delivered him. And David had that wonderful
confidence when he came to Goliath. And he told the king, the Lord
who had delivered him out of the poor, the lion and the bear,
he would deliver him. Well, it's good. to have a gracious
and humble confidence in our God. It is a God honouring truth
to be able to confirm, yes, he is my deliverer, he has delivered
me, and I believe he will deliver me, and he will be with me. And he says, my deliverer, my
God, this is the God who is his rock, unto thee will I cry, O
Lord, my rock. Now he didn't want God to be
silent to him, did he? He wanted to have the evidence
that this God was his strength. This God in whom he was going
to trust, who he had trusted, for Bhakra and the forward of
my salvation and my high tower. There is a glorious balance in
the word of God. It's a glorious testimony there
of God's dealings with his people. It's a wonderful evidence for
us today to be able to trace out our life in some measure
and realize, yes, what was true of the saints of God of old,
humbly and wonderfully, is indeed true of me today. You see, Jeremiah as we've recently
spoken about Jeremiah. Well, Jeremiah, he tells us what
the Lord said to him in the 33rd chapter and the third verse.
He said, call unto me, call unto me. That's an encouragement,
isn't it? Call unto God and I will answer
you. Just a word there, of course,
God does answer, but let us always remember God's time scale is
not always the same as our time scale. Yes, the Lord waits to
be gracious and the Lord comes at the right time. The Lord comes
and delivers us and blesses us at the right time. He leads us
into all truth as it is in Jesus at the right time. And we have
to be prepared by the Holy Spirit to receive the blessing. The Lord has to prepare our hearts
Lord has to bring us down that we might be lifted up as we spoke
this morning. And so he says to Jeremiah, Jeremiah
says, call unto me and I will answer you. and show thee great
and mighty things which thou knowest not. What a mercy the
Lord leads us into these great and mighty truths with regard
to the Saviour and his wonderful high priesthood and his precious
blood shed upon Calvary to redeem us from all our sins, all our
sins, every sin taken away. What a mercy it is. And again,
there's so many references really in the Psalms to David's cry
and David's prayer. Psalm 39 tells us, hear my prayer,
Lord, and give ear unto my cry. He had a real concern. It wasn't
just a mere form of words, was it? It was true prayer. Indicted by the Holy Spirit,
hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry. Hold not thy peace at my tears. This religion meant something
to him. The silence of God meant something
to him. He wanted to know God's voice. He wanted to know that God was
with him. He wanted to know that God was
leading and directing him. Hold not thy peace at my tears. And he confesses, for I am a
stranger. But then he adds these two words,
with thee. Isn't that good? Isn't that lovely
to think that to be united to the Lord Jesus Christ. He wasn't
alone. And you and I are not alone.
You may sometimes think we are, but we're not. God is with us. You may not always feel the evidence
of it, but nonetheless it doesn't change. God is with us. And so for I am a stranger with
thee. and a sojourner as all my fathers
were. Well, bless God tonight. If we
have the evidence of the Lord being with us and our concern,
the Lord will indeed come and bless us indeed. And you see,
he's asked the Lord to come and bless him. In 143rd Psalm, he
cries out and says, hear me speedily, oh Lord. Sometimes there seems
to be those things where we really need God. in a great urgency. And he says, Hear me speedily,
O Lord, my spirit faileth, again, as though we're at the end of
the world. God knows, and he causes us to come in this way. My spirit bodeth, hide not thy
face from me. Is that a concern? We can't see
God, we can't feel God, we don't realise God is with us, is that
a concern? And do we plead, Lord, hide not
thy face from me, again, lest I be like them that go down into
the pit. You see, David was concerned
that he might be left, that he might be forsaken. Perhaps you
and I might feel that sometimes. The Lord has said, I will never,
no never forsake us. Those he loves, he always loves
and never leaves them. And he goes on in this 143rd
Psalm. Cause me. Real religion is personal. Never forget that. You and I
have to stand before God. You and I have to deal with Almighty
God. And that's why David comes and
says, cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in
the morning, to have the evidence of God's love toward us, to know
that grand truth in Jeremiah, yea, I love thee with an everlasting
love, and therefore with lovingkindness drawn thee. Cause me, yes, It
would be a real prayer. He wanted this, you see, speedily. He needed to hear this because
his spirit was failing. He didn't want God to hide his
face from him. He wanted God to grant that he would hear the
loving kindness of the Lord toward him. For in thee do I trust. He wasn't trusting in man. No,
he was trusting in his God. what a mercy for us today to
be found in this way. Yes, we might fear that God's
silent toward us and yet come like this with this real plea
that Lord would indeed allow us to hear his loving kindness
in the morning. we trust in him, and cause me
to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto
thee, or let us never go in a wrong direction. Let us never go on
that way that seemeth right unto a man, for at the end thereof
are the ways of death. May we be pleading for that mercy
and pleading for that favour and pleading for that blessing
that comes from Almighty God, so that he indeed may plead for
us. David asked the same question,
he says in the 35th Psalm, plead my cause, O Lord. What a mercy
it is if God pleads for us. No one can stand against that,
can they? Plead my cause. Be not silent unto me, O Lord.
Plead my cause, O Lord, with them that strive with me. Fight
against them that fight against me. Take hold of shield and buckler
and stand up for my help. Well, we need the Lord, don't
we, to help us. We need the Lord to go with us.
We need to have this true blessing of providing prayer. And that
means looking to Jesus, That means coming to the cross, that
means confessing our sins, that means bowing down before the
Lord, confessing Him to be our Lord and Master, our great and
glorious Saviour, who has condescended in His wondrous love and mercy
to redeem our souls. And the cost of our salvation,
oh let us never underestimate that, it is a tremendous cost.
The Lord of life and glory died in order that you and I might
receive this great and glorious gift of eternal life. And so may we indeed come to
God with thanksgiving. Yes, it's easy to come with all
our wants and woes, isn't it? What a mercy it is if God gives
us that wonderful desire and that wonderful blessing to praise
God and to thank him and to truly come to him with thanksgiving
in the epistle of Paul to the Philippians. We are told this
and in the fourth chapter it says, and be careful for nothing,
the sixth verse, but in everything by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving. Let your requests be made known
unto God. We always have good reason to
thank God. We have much to be thankful for.
May we come like that. And the apostle goes on and says,
And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep
your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus what a blessing
that is and may we experience it and know it and so this evening
may we come in this way as David did all those years ago and pray
earnestly from our very heart being found as David looking
to the oracle may we be found looking to the cross to the Lord
Jesus Christ unto thee when I cry O Lord my rock, be not silent
to me, lest if thou be silent to me, I become like them that
go down into the pit. Amen.