Let us turn to God's Word in
the Psalm that we've read, Psalm 44. And I want, before we turn
to God again in prayer, to direct you for a while to the words
that we have here at verse 4. Psalm 44, verse 4. Thou art my King, O God, command
deliverances for Jacob. Thou art my king, O God. Command deliverances for Jacob. To address then this very simple
theme of the prayer for deliverance, clearly that's what we have in
the words of this verse, a prayer for deliverance, and to consider
three things with regards to what we have in the verse. first
of all the Deliverer himself, secondly the Delivered, and then
finally the Deliverance. First of all, the Deliverer,
and he addresses God quite directly. Thou art my King, he says, O
God, And this is that word that reminds us of the might and the
majesty that belongs unto God. He is the one who is the creator
of all things. And the word that's used, I'm
sure you're aware of this, many of you, the word for God here
in the Hebrew is a plural noun. It has that plural ending of
I am. We see it when we read of cherubim,
really that's cherubs, or seraphim, seraphs. The i-m ending is indicative
of a plural, and the name for God is Elohim. It ends with that i-m. Gods would
be a very literal rendering of the words, And it's the word
that we have right at the beginning of scripture, the opening verse
of Genesis, in the beginning God, or gods, created the heaven
and the earth. But we know that there is only
one true God. In Deuteronomy 6, the children
of Israel are told quite specifically that the Lord their God is one
Lord. There is but one living and true
God. But the plural ending, of course,
is indicative of the truth that though there is one God, there
is more than one person in the Godhead. What is intimated then
is that great doctrine of the Trinity, God the Father, God
the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. And we have it right at the beginning
of the Bible there in that opening verse. Who is the One who is
the Creator? Well, that One is none other
than the Triune God. By the word of the Lord, were
the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of
his mouth." And there, in that verse in Psalm 33, we can see
reference to God the Son and God the Holy Spirit by the word
of the Lord. Think of the language that we
have in John, The opening chapter of John's Gospel, where he speaks
of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in
the beginning with God. All things were made by Him.
And without Him was not anything made that was made. The Word. the eternal Son of God by the
word of the Lord were the heavens made and then again in that verse
in Psalm 33 goes on to speak of the breath or the spirit of
his mouth because the word breath is many times In fact, more usually
in the Old Testament, translated as spirit, by the spirit of his
mouth. Why? We read of the spirit there,
of course, in the opening chapter of Genesis, as he comes, as he
broods over all that great work of creation. And so here, who
is it that the psalmist His dressing is addressing the great God,
who is the creator of all things, who made all things out of nothing. Through faith, that's what we
believe, that the things which are seen were not made of the
things which do appear. God simply spoke all creation
into being. He spoke and it was done. It
says, He commanded, and it stood fast. And repeatedly we have
that in Genesis 1, God said, and it was so. God said, and
it was so. And who is this great God that
the psalmist is speaking of? Well, He is also King. Thou art
my King, He says, O God. When we come to the last book
of Scripture, there in the Revelation, in chapter 19, almost the end
of the Bible, we read of Him who is the King of kings and
the Lord of lords. And the one spoken of, of course,
is the Lord Jesus Christ, in that particular chapter. Why,
the whole of the Revelation is the revelation of Jesus Christ,
which God gave unto Him. He is then the King. He has that
threefold office in the Covenant, He is the Prophet, He is the
Priest, and He is the King. And in all His ministry we see
Him in that threefold capacity. He is a kingly Prophet, He is
a kingly Priest. He is truly that One who is the
Great King. And Remember how he humbles even
the mighty kings and emperors of the earth, as we see there
in the book of Daniel, in Daniel chapter 4, how all the inhabitants
of the earth are as nothing. That's the confession that Nebuchadnezzar
is brought to. When God humbled that proud emperor
of Babylon, he took his reason from him and he behaved as one
of the wild beasts of the wilderness. And then when God restores his
son, he makes that confession concerning the God of Israel.
How he doeth according to his will among the armies of heaven
and the inhabitants of the earth. And none can stay his hand or
say unto him, What doest thou? And this is the one that the
psalmist is addressing. Thou art my king, O God's commands,
deliverances for Jacob. He has all power to issue His
commandments. Or the Lord Jesus says as much
at the end of His ministry before His ascension, when He gives
that commission to His disciples in Matthew 28, All power, all
authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore
and make disciples of all nations. Oh, he is that one then who is
the the mighty God, and he is the God of Jacob. His deliverance is for Jacob. Now, Jacob of course is that
one who becomes Israel. Jacob was the name that was given
to him at his birth, but when the Lord God appears to him in
Bethel there in Genesis 18, he becomes a prince with God. He becomes Israel, he wrestles
with the angel, the angel wrestles with him, he prevails. And it's
there that he becomes Israel. And the God of Israel is that
one who is the God of the covenant. Remember the words that are spoken
to Jacob as he has that experience in Genesis chapter 28. We see him as he's fleeing from
his brother Esau having stolen the birthright And as he sleeps
with a stone as his pillow, he sees the ladder that's set up
on earth with the angels of God ascending and descending upon
it. And then, there in verse 15,
God speaks to him. Behold, he says, I am with thee,
and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will
bring thee again into this land, for I will not leave thee until
I have done that which I have spoken to thee of. And Jacob
awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in
this place. And he was afraid, and said,
How dreadful is this place! Oh, how he was filled with awe. This is none other but the house
of God. This is the gate of heaven. And
then he rises and takes the stone that was his pillow and sets
it up for a pillar and pours oil upon it. And then he calls
the name of that place Bethel. And he vows a vow saying, if
God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go
and will give me bread to eat and raiment to put on, so that
I come again to my Father's house in peace, then shall the Lord
be my God." Oh, this is Jehovah, not just the great Elohim, but
this is that One who is the Lord, the I Am, the God of the Covenant. And this is the One that is being
spoken of here in the verse of our text. He is God, He is King,
He is that one who is Jacob's deliverer. That one who has a
peculiar favour to Jacob and to those who are the descendants
of Jacob, the children of Israel. Remember again what the Lord
says concerning them in the 7th chapter of the book of Deuteronomy,
and there at verse 7. Now we see Moses as the servant
of the Lord and he reminds the Israelites, the Hebrews, he says
the Lord did not set his love upon you nor choose you because
you were more in number than any people for you were the fewest
of all people but because the Lord loved you and because you
would keep the oath which you had sworn unto your fathers hath
the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you
out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king
of Egypt. This is the very people, you
see, that are being spoken of here in the psalm, at verse 3.
They got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did
their own arms save them, but thy right hand and thine arm,
and the light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favor unto
them. They were the very favorites
of heaven. God was their God, the God of
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. This is
the one, then, who is being addressed. This is the one who is the great
deliverer. And observe also the language
that we have in the verse. It's that language of appropriation. We have the word, My. Thou art
My King, O God. command deliverances for Jacob,
or when one can come and address the Almighty God, the Lord Jehovah,
and use such a word as that, and speak of Him as My God. And it's interesting, remember
what we have in the previous Psalms, 43 and 42, we see in
a sense God's people, Israel, in a low
place. We have that refrain that appears
in various forms three times in those Psalms. Verse 5 in Psalm
42, Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted
in me? hope thou in God for I shall
yet praise him who for the help of his countenance and then again
at the end of the psalm why art thou cast down O my soul and
why art thou disquieted within me hope thou in God for I shall
yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God
and yet again at the end of psalm 43 why art thou cast down O my
soul and why art thou disquieted within me hope in God for I shall
yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance and my God."
And right at the end you see, where we have that third repetition,
it's not really just a repetition, as I said there's a variety and
it's profitable to compare those three verses, but right at the
end, how does he finally address God? He calls Him my God. Even when the believer is in
that low place, when he's much cast down, burdened, disquieted,
there is God. And He can come and He can address
him as, My God. Even the Lord Jesus Christ Himself,
in all the bitterness of His sufferings upon the cross, when
we think of that awful cry that we have in Psalm 22, and He feels
utterly forsaken. But what does He say? He addresses
God as My God. My God, He calls Him. Again,
it's that language, you see. He is always the God of His people. He is the God and Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ. And He is the God and Father
of all those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, it is then
a personal God, a mighty God, yes? the gods of the covenant and
that one who has all power and all authority a sovereign God
and he can be addressed in that very personal way and that's
how we are to come to him the prayer that the Lord has given
to us how are we to address him? we are to address him in the
most intimate of fashion really we are to call him father But
when we come, we're to pray not so much my Father, but we're
to embrace one another in our prayers, and we're to say our
Father, our Father, which art in heaven. Here then we see that
one who is the deliverer of his people. Thou art my King, O God,
commands deliverance is for Jacob. But secondly, let's consider
something of the the person who is being delivered here. Who
is the person that is delivered? Well, it says command deliverance
is for Jacob. As I said just now, that was
the name that was given to Jacob at his birth. That was what he
was called by Isaac and by Rebekah. Twins were born. The firstborn
was Esau. and the second child was called
Jacob and there was a reason because although Esau was the
firstborn remember back in Genesis 25 the second twin takes hold
of his brother's heel he will supplant his brother and that's
the meaning that's the meaning of the name he is the supplanter
in his very birth And yet, he who was the supplant
is that one who becomes Isaac. When you read something of Jacob's
experiences here in Genesis, he's not a very attractive character
in many ways when we see him initially. And yet, the Lord
has a gracious purpose towards Jacob. He is the one who will
become Israel, the prince with God. When we think of the Lord
Jesus Christ, who is it that Christ has come to save? Sinners,
great sinners. He has ascended on high as that
captivity captive we're told in the psalm. He has received
gifts for men, yea, for the rebellious also. He has received gifts for
rebellious sinners. And those words that we have
there, in Psalm 68 are clearly applied to the Lord Jesus in
Ephesians 4 and verse 8. It is Christ who is being spoken
of, who was ascended, who has accomplished his great work of
redemption, come to delivered sinners, and he has received
gifts for men, even for rebellious men, even for such characters
as Jacob the supplant. Command deliverances, it says,
for Jacob. But Jacob, as I said, becomes
Israel. And it's recorded there, of course,
at Peniel, in Genesis chapter 32, where we see him with the
angel. And he will not let the angel go except he bless him. But we know that they're not
all Israel that are of Israel. There is a spiritual Israel always.
There's the doctrine of the remnant in the Old Testament. As a nation
they are simply a type of the true Israel of God. And that
true Israel is always a remnant in the midst of ethnic Israel. And you remember the words of
the Lord Jesus when he sees Nathanael, he says, Behold, an Israelite
indeed, in whom there is no guile, or the guileless one. Again,
the language of the Psalmist in Psalm 32, Blessed is the man
unto whom the Lord imputed not iniquity, and in whose spirit
there is no guile, or that one to whom the Lord does not impute
iniquity, but rather imputes righteousness to him, is the
guileless one. That's the true Israel of God.
And this is the one really that is being spoken of here in our
text. Though he has this name Jacob,
he is Israel also. Thou art my king, O God. Command
deliverances for Jacob. and it's interesting isn't it
that the language should be so strong that one should address
God and issue commandment to God you see God will have his
people come and to inquire of him he will have them even in
their prayers to command him to command deliverances. And
this is not presumptive language, but this is really something
of the confidence of true faith. Remember the verse that we were
looking at just last Lord's Day, that verse in Psalm 66 and verse
3, say unto God. How are we to address God? What
we have in that verse really is instruction. How are we to
speak to God? Say unto God, How terrible art
thou in thy works! Through the greatness of thy
power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto thee. Say unto God, How terrible, how
awesome art thou in thy works! or when we come to God we're
to remind Him of how great He is and that nothing is impossible
with Him that He is able to do all things exceeding abundantly
above all that we ask or think in a sense it is nothing to God
to deliver Israel and so what we see in the verse really is
the boldness and the confidence of faith to come before God in
such a way as this Look at what it says later. There is here,
as it were, a request for deliverance, but verse 7, Thou hast saved
us from our enemies, and hast put them to shame that hated
us. It's what's called the prophetic
perfect. Here is a psalmist asking for
salvation, asking for deliverance, but then going on to speak of
that deliverance in the perfect tense, as something that has
already been accomplished. Thou hast saved us. Thou hast
put them to shame. This is the language of faith,
where we understand something of the greatness of God, and
that nothing is impossible. with the Lord our God. Oh, there's
a mystery, there's always a mystery in the ways of God and the dealings
that God has with his people and the Psalmist clearly goes
on to speak of that. After that Selah in verse 8,
there's a change. But thou hast cast off and put
us to shame and goest not forth with our armies Thou makest us
to turn back from the enemy, and they which hate us spoil
for themselves. Thou hast given us like sheep
appointed for meat, and hast scattered us among the heathen. All the mystery of God's ways.
We can't always understand God's ways. He seems to be acting so
contrary to us, and making our lives so difficult and so trying.
But what are we to do? We're to come as those who would
desire to have such a confidence and an assurance of faith to
address him in these bold terms. Thou art my king, Thou art my
king, O God. Command deliverances for Jacob. And as there is his confidence,
really there's also something of confession here. Who is Jacob? But Jacob is so feeble, so frail. Remember those words that we
have in the prophecy of Amos, in chapter 7? By whom shall Jacob
arise? For he is small. Maybe that's
how we feel, we're so insignificant, we're nothing really. Why should
God take an interest in us? Individually, personally, why
should He take an interest in this small company of people
who gather within these walls or the few that gather at Hedge
End or any other chapel. Who are we when you think of
the multitude? Why, yesterday, the excitement
with the football match. Was it 60,000 allowed to be there
to watch the football? and the great interest throughout
the nation I don't know how many million they reckon were watching
that football match on television but who and what are we in comparison
with all that's going on round about us Jacob is so small and
so insignificant those are interesting words that we have in that prophecy
of Amos there the prophet is speaking pleading with God really
because of judgments and because of chastenings but he does speak of Jacob being
so small in the midst of all these things I must seven thus
as the Lord God showed unto me behold he formed grasshoppers
in the beginning of the shooting up of the latter growth And lo,
it was the latter growth after the king's mowings. And it came
to pass that when they had made an end of eating the grass of
the land, then I said, O Lord God, forgive, I beseech thee,
by whom shall Jacob arise, for he is small? There was some sort
of plague of grasshoppers eating up all the vegetation in the
land. It was a judgment from God. And
here is the prophets pleading with God. By whom shall Jacob
arise, for he is small? The Lord repented for this. It
shall not be, saith the Lord. And then again, thus hath the
Lord God showed unto me, and behold, the Lord God called to
contend by fire, and he devoured a great deep, and did eat up
a part. O, there must have been terrible
fires, again devouring vegetation, Then said I, O Lord God, cease,
I beseech thee. By whom shall Jacob arise? For he is small. The Lord repented
for this. This also shall not be, saith
the Lord God. Or we might feel so small, so
insignificant, but it's our privilege to pray and to pray for that
one who is the great God, the Creator and Sustainer of all
things. All we have to do really in a
sense is confess our complete and utter helplessness. Who are
we? What are we? But what a mercy
when God takes account and hears us and answers our prayers. And
so finally to turn to the deliverance itself. What is the deliverance
that is being prayed for? In a sense, there's more than
one, isn't there? It says deliverances, command
deliverances. How many times do God's people
need to be delivered? Delivered from Satan. He was such a cruel,
clever foe. Delivered from the world. It's
full of so many allurements. And there's that in us that wants
the world and the ways of the world. We all have all natures. We need to be delivered from
sin, delivered from what we are of ourselves, our sad fallen
nature. So what are these deliverances?
Well, surely this time is to be understood and to be interpreted
in the light of the New Testament. We must always do that when we
come to the Word of God, as I've said before. One of the basic
principles of interpretation must be this, that we read back
from the New Testament into the Old Testament. And certainly
it's about this principle. The Presbyterians do have a tendency
to read from the Old Testament into the New Testament. And that's where we part company
with them. We look to the New Testament.
with regards to our doctrine of baptism. We don't argue as
they do from what was circumcision in the Old Testament. We would
say that the circumcision in the Old Testament has its fulfillment
not in baptism but in a spiritual circumcision, regeneration, new
birth. But when it comes to our interpretation
of this particular psalm. It is evidently to be understood
not so much in terms of the experience of the children of Israel, although
that's spoken of and referred to. But look at what we read
in verse 22. Yea, for thy sake are we killed
all the day long, we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. And you're probably aware that
that verse occurs at the end of Romans chapter 8. a tremendous
chapter that speaks of how all things work together for good
for them that know God, to them who are the called according
to His purpose. And we have it there right at
the end of that great chapter, Romans 8, 36, as it is written,
For thy sake we are killed all the day long. We are accounted
as sheep for the slaughter. Nay, in all these things We are
more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded
that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. It's
in the light of what Paul is saying there that we have the
key that unlocks what we read in this particular psalm. What
is the deliverance? What are the deliverances? They
are spiritual deliverances. It's gospel deliverance that
is really being prayed for. Thou art my King, O God. Command
deliverances for Jacob. God will yet save his Jacob. He will save Israel. all those
that were given to the Lord Jesus Christ in that eternal covenant
they are to be saved and what is the deliverance? well there's
deliverance past, present and future 2 Corinthians 1.10 who
delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver in whom we trust
that he will yet deliver us that's past, that's present, that's
future That's Jesus Christ the same yesterday and today and
forever. And there's deliverance of course
from the guilt of sin or the guilt of our sins when our conscience
is made to accuse us. The wages of sin. What are the
wages of sin? The wages of sin is death. That's the inevitable consequence.
That's what God said to Adam, in the day that they eat us hereof,
they shall surely die. Disobedience to God's commands
brings death. And have we disobeyed any of
God's commandments to die? Death. That's the consequence
of disobedience. The curse. Cursed is everyone
that continueth not in everything written in the Lord to do them. But what do we read then in Galatians
after that statement in verse 10, verse 13, Christ hath redeemed
us from the curse of the Lord being made a curse for us. For
it is written, Cursed is everyone that hangeth on a throne. For
there is where the guilt of our sin has gone. been visited upon
the Lord Jesus Christ, He has died. And He has died the just
for the unjust to bring sinners to God. There's deliverance from
the guilt of sin. And there's deliverance also
from the very power of sin. There in that verse in 1 Corinthians
10 that I just referred to sorry 2nd Corinthians I should say
2nd Corinthians the first chapter in verse 10 it speaks of so great
a death who delivered us from so great a death and doth deliver
in whom we trust that he will yet deliver us what is so great
a death? isn't that a spiritual death?
he says previously in that chapter we had the sentence of death
in ourselves or we had the answer of death in ourselves all Paul
knew that I know that in me that is in my flesh there dwelleth
no good thing and when God comes and deals with us and deals with
us under the law that's what he makes us to feel It makes
us to feel what we are, we are dead. In trespasses and sins
we are under the very grip of sin, that's our nature. And that's
the ministry of the Lord, isn't it? We know that what things
whoever the law saith, it saith to those who are under the law
that every man may be stopped. And all the world become guilty
before God. What does God do? Well, Moses
in Psalm 90. Thou turnest man to destruction.
and say us return you children of men God makes us feel we are
destroying ourselves we have this answer of death about us
again in Romans 11 Paul says God has concluded them all in
unbelief that he might have mercy on all he concludes us in what
we are we are full of unbelief I like that little saying of
Ralph Erskine, they believe that they cannot believe. That's what
God brings his people to. There are many things we have
to believe. And we have to believe that. We have to believe that
of ourselves we cannot believe. Before faith comes, they're kept
under the law. They're shut up to that faith
that will afterward be revealed. Who does that faith come from?
It comes from the Lord Jesus Christ. All we have to look to
Him. We have to look to Him to deliver
us not only from the guilt but also from the power of sin. We
have to look to the Spirit of Christ. If we're going to be
those who would be mortifying the deeds of the body, we can
do nothing of ourselves. If ye through the Spirit, that
is the Spirit of Christ, do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall
live. All our deliverance, you see, comes only from the Lord
God Himself, who delivered us from so great a death, and doth
deliver in whom we trust, that He will yet deliver us. And so, in the text, Thou art
my King, O God, command deliverance, Oh, let us be bold, how we so
need that the Lord Himself appear. He must command the deliverance,
command deliverances for Jacob. And then when we come to the
end, what does He say there in the final verses? Awake, why
sleepest thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us not off forever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face? and forget us our affliction
and our oppression for our soul is bowed down to the dust our
belly cleaveth unto the earth arise for our help and redeem
us for thy mercy's sake." May the Lord be pleased to bless
His word to us. Amen. Now before we Turn to God
in prayer. Let us sing hymn 402. My soul lies cleaving to the
dust, Lord, give me life divine from vain desires and every lust.
Turn off these eyes of mine. 402.