If you take your Bibles and turn
with me to Psalm 43. Psalm 43. The title of this message
is The Prayer of the Oppressed. The Prayer of the Oppressed. This Psalm we know is written,
is not titled here, but we know it to be written of David. We
know it's written of David. This Psalm is somewhat linked
to the psalm that is just before it. Some of the words are exactly
the same in this psalm as they are in the previous psalm. Now,
some men put these psalms together. I don't see that being necessary.
These psalms may be written by the same man, but they may be
written at different times concerning the same subject. And we also
know that these two psalms have David as their author, And the
time in which this psalm was written was most likely either
when David fled from Saul or when David fled from Absalom. He was oppressed, he was weary. He, in the other Psalm, he says,
as the heart panteth for the water brook, so my soul panteth
after thee as a deer running for his life. David was running
and he was praying unto God. If you'll notice in verse two
of our text, it says, for thou Lord of my strength, why dost
thou cast me off? Why I go mourning? Because of
the oppression of my enemies. You'll see that that is the same
and the previous The previous chapter, he says that in verse
nine, he says, thou art my rock. Why hast thou forgotten me? Why
I go mourning? Because of the oppression of
my enemies. And of course, the last verse, he says, why art
thou cast down on my soul? And you know that he says this
in the last verse of the 42nd Psalm. He says, why art thou
cast down on my soul? You see, these are the same,
but yet they're written in a different way, in a different way. Now,
this psalm may be broken down into three parts, and that's
what I'm going to do tonight is break this psalm down into
three parts. The first three verses is the
cry or the prayer of the oppressed saint to God. He says, judge
me, oh God, and plead my cause against the ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from the deceitful
and unjust man. without the God of my strength. And here's his oppression, not
only oppression of the wicked. Why dost thou cast me off? He also is oppressed because
he feels as though God has cast him off. Why go I mourning? Because of the oppression of
the enemy. Oh, here's his prayer. Oh, send
out thy light and thy truth. Let them lead me, let them bring
me into thy holy hill, in thy tabernacle. Now the second part
is verse four, which is the response of faith towards Jesus Christ,
who is the altar of God and the joy of God. He says in verse
four, then will I go unto the altar of God. That's Christ. He says unto God my exceeding
joy. Yea, upon the heart will I praise
thee, O God, my God. And then in verse five, the saint
here is questioning his own soul concerning his doubt. He said,
why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquiet within
me? Hope in God, for I shall yet
praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. Okay, so the first part, the
cry of the oppressed. He says, judge me, O God. Now, have you ever began a prayer
like that? Judge me, O God, and plead my
cause against an ungodly nation, O deliver me from deceitful and
unjust men. The cry of judgment, he is crying
for justice. This cry of calling unto God
is a searching out in judgment. to himself. Now, I'll tell you
this, no man can cry to God for judgment except this, except
he be just. It would be utter insanity for
a man to cry out for justice if he himself was a sinner or
a wicked man. He is crying out for judging.
Judge me, oh God. The only one going to do that
is a righteous man. Now friends, I want you to know
this and be very aware of God will judge. He is only asking
what God will do. God will judge him as God will
judge all men. Listen, God must judge all men
and he must punish all sin. And the judgment, the just judgment
of God against sin is one, eternal death. Eternal death. You know, you hear men say, well,
I'm paying for my sin. No, you ain't. No, you can be
hurt in this world, you can suffer in this world, but you won't
pay for one sin, not one. Matter of fact, in hell, no man
will pay for one sin. That's why it's eternal, because
no man could pay for sin. God says the wages of sin is
what? Death. The soul that sinned, it shall
surely die. We have all sinned, the scripture
says, and what? Come short of the glory of God. Man by nature is dead in trespasses
and sins. Man by nature is from the crown
of his head to the sole of his foot, full of sin, full of wounds
and bruises and putrefying sores. We are all born lacking the ability
to obey God. And not only this, when the gospel
of Jesus Christ is preached about the forgiveness of sins, we lack
the ability to believe. We lack the ability to come.
Jesus said, no man can come. This is how ruined our state
is, is that we have no love for God and no ability to come to
Christ. Man by nature hates God. Scripture
says a natural man is at enmity. Our carnal mind is at enmity
against God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. Therefore, what's the conclusion
of this? If God were to judge us based on our deeds, based
on the best efforts of our religion, he would find us all guilty and
we should all be cast into hell. This is something men do not
want to hear. They don't want to hear it, but
it's true. If you go to God and you say, judge me based on my
works, my religion, my baptism, my obedience of the law, my obedience
to the Lord's Supper, any of those things, God will cast you
into the hottest part of hell. There is no exception, friends. God is just and he must judge
all men with strict justice. And some will go as far to even
make a profession to trust in Christ. Some men trust in Christ
and they say they call on Jesus Christ, he's their Lord. They
say they believe in his blood and righteousness. But listen,
if you believe on Christ as part of your salvation, you're just
as lost as somebody who don't believe on Christ at all. Some men believe that Christ
did the first part, and they must somehow make up the rest. They must, by their will, by
their religious deeds, by their obedience to the law, somehow
make themselves acceptable. You know, that's what Paul said
to those Galatians. He said, are you so foolish, have to be
gone in the spirit that you should be made perfect by the flesh?
And yet that's what almost religion is. It's beginning in the spirit
and somehow making yourself perfect in the flesh. Our Lord, he makes no bones about
this. He said, not every man say it
to me, Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven. I don't
care if you say Jesus is Lord. Anybody can say that, right? Jesus said, but he that doeth
the will of my Father in heaven, those are the only ones gonna
go to heaven. Many shall say to me that day, that day when
he comes in judgment, that day when everything is exposed, they'll
say to me, Lord, Lord, have we not preached in your name and
in your name cast out devils and in your name done many wonderful
works? And listen how they classify their works. Wonderful. Have
we not done so many wonderful works? Have we not preached in
your name? Have we not done miracles in
your name? Jesus says to them, I will profess
to them. They profess something, now let
me profess something. I never knew you. Depart from
me and here's your wonderful works. You that work iniquity. Notice the value of their work
to them was wonderful, but what was the value to Christ? When
he judged them, what was their value? Nothing. Nothing. No one may call Christ Lord unless
he does the will of the Father. Do you do the will of the Father? This night, if you were to cry
this prayer, if you were to say, judge me, oh Lord, could you
say that? Could you be just? Only he that
does the will of the Father is just. What is the will of the
Father? Go to John chapter six. Usually you ask questions like
this, you get answers in scripture and plain answers too. This will
be a plain answer for you. John chapter, what is the will
of the father? He that doeth the will of the father. What
is it? John 36 and verse 37. All that the father giveth me,
Jesus said, shall come to me and him that cometh to me, I
will in no wise cast out. Now, how could he be so bold?
Four, I came down from heaven not to do mine own will, but
the will of him that sent me. And this is the father's will
which has sent me, that of all he had given me, I should lose
nothing, but raise it up again at the last day. Now what's the
will of the father for Christ? It's that he lose nothing. That's
the will of the Father. He said, all that the Father
gives me, they're gonna come to me and I'm not gonna cast
him out because I've come to do his will. And this is his
will that he gave to me. Lo, I come in the volume of the
book of, it is written of me to what? Do thy will, O God. By the which will, Paul says,
we are sanctified, made holy. What is that will? The will is
that he should lose nothing. that he should suffer and die
and provide righteousness for every one of his elect people.
That was the will of the father. And there's a second part of
this will, verse 40, and this is the will of him that sent
me. Now this is concerning all of those that were given to the
father. This is concerning the elect that everyone that seeth
the son and believeth on him may have everlasting life and
I will raise him up at the last. The will of the Father is that
God gave his elect to Christ. It is the will of the Father
that Christ should redeem all of his elect, that he should
lose none of his elect, and that he should raise them up at the
resurrection day, and that none of them will suffer the judgment
and justice of God, and they will forever be with Him. Don't
you see that? So when judgment comes, what
is going to happen to the elect when they are judged? They're
not going to be like the false professors. They're going to
be judged of God, but what are they going to be found? They're
going to be found righteous. Why? He said, I'm going to give
them everlasting life. Friends, I'm here to tell you
some good news. Christ has accomplished the Father's
will. He accomplished the will of the
Father. He has brought in everlasting
righteousness. He has finished the transgression. He has made an end of sin. He has done the will of the Father. and yet equally true. This is
the Father's will that all that were given to Christ, all that
he died for shall come to him by faith. Oh, the glory of an assurance
of this truth, that all of the elect shall come to Christ. There's gonna be no regrets here,
friends. Everyone the Father chose and
Christ redeemed, they're gonna come. I don't care how much Satan
opposes. I don't care how much the world
opposes it. Matter of fact, all Satan's opposition
and the world's opposition and even our flesh's opposition,
God will bring his elect. This is the will of the Father.
It will be done. It will be done. It will be done. It's a glorious truth. And they shall believe on him.
Now listen, you believe on him. I'm not talking partially. Friends,
I don't believe on him partially. These that come to Christ, they
come as sinners as the power of the gospel is revealed to
them They're quickened by the Holy Spirit and see their need
of a Savior. And so then the only man who
will cry unto God for judgment is one who is made just by Jesus
Christ. That's the only way this can
happen. The only way I can cry, judge me. There's another scripture
that says, search me, oh Lord. See, the only way God is going
to deliver me from my enemies is if I'm in Christ. That's it. You see, if I'm not in Christ,
I am the enemy. If you're not in Christ tonight,
you are the enemy of God. You're not helping God's church,
you're hindering it. You're pulling against it. You're
fighting against it. You see, only one who is going
to be delivered are His people, those who are justified by Jesus
Christ, found in His righteousness. Why? Because, listen, my sins
have already been judged. God didn't overlook my sins,
friend. He condemned them. He didn't
punish our sins. He punished them in His Son. died in my stead. If you look at Calvary, you see
what you deserve. If you see the man beaten beyond
recognition, if you see the justice of God crushing him, that's what
I deserved. And yet he bore the blame. He
bore my sins in his own body on the tree. So then I might
cry in my oppression, judge me. Judge me, not in me, judge me
in him. And so then, look back at your
text now. We can say, if I am in him, God
judge me and plead my cause. Oh, don't you know that if you're
in Christ, you have someone to plead your cause? Someone to
plead your case. Listen, even if you're the guilty
party. Even if you're the guilty party.
And we're going to get to that in a minute. One of these oppressors
is you. One of those that oppress you the most is who? You. And
the world oppresses us. Who's going to plead for me,
huh? Christ is. The scripture says this, he ever
liveth to make, what? Intercession for us. He intercedes
for us. Now Scott, how often does he
intercede for you? How many times a day do you need
intercession? Someone to plead on your behalf. I know I need his intercession
more than you do. I need him to intercede daily,
moment by moment intercession, pleading his own blood and his
own wounds for me." Now then, notice this, the ungodly, his
enemies. Two enemies here are mentioned
that he's oppressed by. He's oppressed, but is he oppressed
by the enemy? First of all, he says, plead
my cause against the ungodly nation, there's one, and two,
deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. You see, one's
plural and one's singular. The unjust nation is a bunch
of people and the unjust man is one. First of all, the unjust
nation, who is that? The ungodly world. The ungodly
world, truly every believer in this, every believer must endure
the hatred of men. Now, listen, if you will not
endure the hatred of men, you can't be Christ's disciple. You
just can't be. We will be hated. We will be
despised. Why? Because the servant is not
greater than his Lord. They hated him without cause. They will hate you without cause. Now listen, if they don't hate
us yet, it's because they've not heard of us. They've not
heard our gospel. The minute they hear our gospel,
friends, we have enemies. Jesus said, they hated me before
they hated you. They'll hate you. They'll hate
you. And so this world hates us. If it doesn't hate you, again,
they don't know what you believe. Let them know, and you will see
their hatred. Why? Because we don't compromise,
friends. We cannot compromise the gospel.
There is one God. There is one Savior. There is
only one way to God. There's not multiplicity of ways
to God, and so we cannot compromise it. That's why they call the
early Christians people of the way, because they believed there's
only one way. And they were hated for it. Because
listen, if your way is not my way, then your way is wrong. If your God is not my God, then
your God is not God. If my Christ is not your Christ,
then your Christ is not Christ. Tell somebody that. And friends,
you will be despised. You will be hated. But not only
by those on the outside world, I'm talking about in your own
home. You know what the Lord said? He said that. He said,
think not I've come to send peace on the earth, but not peace,
but a sword. For I came to set a man at variance
against his father and a daughter against her mother and a daughter-in-law
against her mother-in-law, and a man's foes will be they of
his own household. Those we love the most hate us the most. They
despise this gospel and they will do everything they can to
disrupt it. So when we are oppressed and
men hate us for the gospel's sake, let us comfort ourselves
in this, judge us in Christ. Plead our cause against them. Are you oppressed and hated?
Are the enemies of your own household oppressing you? Then spare not
and cry out. Cry out to God to judge and search
and know if Christ is formed in you, because if Christ is
formed in you, listen, He will oppress them that oppress you.
If Christ is formed in you, He will oppress them that oppress
you. Second of all, look at this second
enemy, He says, deliver me from the deceitful
and unjust man. Is this not a description of
your own nature? Your own heart? What does the
scripture say about a man's heart? The heart is deceitful and desperately
wicked above all things who could know it. It's a perfect description
of me. It's a perfect description of
my old nature. The believer, we are daily confronted
by our conscience because of our sin. Listen, I've ran into
a few nut jobs. That's all you can say. They're
just crackpots who somehow believe once they're saved, they don't
sin. If any man say he has not sinned, he makes God a liar.
There you go, they're out. I don't even wanna listen to
him anymore. That's not the gospel and that's not my experience.
That's not the experience of any saint in this book. Friends,
we still have this old nature, this rotting corpse about our
neck, and he is our enemy. He is our enemy. You know, most
of the believers' problem is not so much compromising with
the world as with self. How many times do we compromise
with self? How many times do we give in
to the temptations of our own flesh, of our own nature? Why? He's a deceitful man. He's
a wicked man. Deliver me from myself. This is the cry of the righteous. This is the cry of God's people.
Let us cry out to God against ourselves. Let us in the new
man cry out to be delivered as Paul did. Oh, wretched man that
I am. Who shall deliver me from the
body that's dead? I'm so thankful for his answer.
Who shall deliver me? I thank God. I thank God through
Jesus Christ, our Lord. I thank God through him, I will
be delivered from this wretched man, this wretched man. And I
have assurance he will deliver me because, listen, he will never
charge me of my sins. God who is just and must punish
sin cannot, cannot demand twice payment for sin. This is why
we say judge me, because if I'm in Him, then surely He will deliver
me from me, from all my sins. He cannot judge them at Christ's
hand and then again at mine. Deliver me. Thirdly, look at
this, we cry unto God because he is our strength. Verse two.
Thou art the God of my strength. Believer in Christ, because of
our sin and the hatred of this world, many times our faith becomes
weak. Doubts and fears fill our minds. I tell you, when I'm in this
condition, I feel like Melted wax. I feel like that I'm a puddle
of goo. I can't do anything. I have no strength to deliver
myself. What is my hope? The psalmist
here said, why dost thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because
of the oppression of my enemy? Why have you cast me off? Isn't
that how it feels? It feels as though God has cast
us off. When we are oppressed by our
enemies, when our sin overwhelms us, it feels as though God has
cast us off. What then would be our hope in
such weakness of faith and strength? Here it is. God is my strength. How strong is God? If God is my strength and I have
all the strength I need. If I am my strength, I have no
strength. But my strength is not from me. You see, I'm going to endure
by faith. If I'm a true believer in Christ,
and you are too, if you're a true believer, we shall endure every
trial, every pain, every difficulty, every oppression of every enemy. Why? Because God is our strength. God is the source of our faith.
And if God is the source of our faith and the source of our love
and the strength of our faith and the strength of our love,
it will endure. Because we have this comfort,
God is our strength. We may have hope because Christ
is then the foundation of our soul. You think of strength,
you think of someone lifting something. Who's lifting us? Who's carrying who, friends?
Are you carrying your God? If you are carrying your God,
then your God is not God. If your God is dependent upon
your strength, then your God is not God. You see? My God depends on nothing of
my strength because my God is carrying me. So in the midst of our oppression,
you think of someone being pressed down, somebody being squashed. Well, think of the other hand
pushing up. God is holding us up and He's holding our oppressors
up. He is our strength, He is the
foundation of our soul. Listen what Jude said, he says,
unto Him that is able to keep you from falling. Who's gonna
keep you from falling? You? No. Unto Him who is able to keep
you from falling and not only keep you from falling, but presents
you faultless. He is able to present you faultless.
What Jude says in Jude 1, 24, He's able to present you faultless
before the presence of His glory. Listen, with exceeding joy. This
is not something He is begrudging to do. It is something that is
joyful for Him to do. You remember when Paul was oppressed
and vexed in the flesh, he prayed to the Lord three times to remove
the thorn in his flesh. And what did our Lord and Savior
say to him? My grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is made perfect in weakness. My strength is manifest
to be perfect in your weakness. So when you have no way to hold
yourself up and then somehow you're still here, who's doing
that? My grace is sufficient. My grace
is sufficient. My grace is sufficient for thee.
When? At all times. Why? Because my strength is sufficient. Believer, if we are cast down
and oppressed by the thorns of our flesh or the world, the devil,
our sins, we feel as though as God has cast us off, we feel
weak within ourselves, it is then we may rejoice and see that
omnipotent, almighty, and omnipresent strength of God and his ever
eternal, omnipotent grace. saves us and keeps us, sustains
us so that we might persevere. It's God that does this. What
is this? And in crying and depression, listen, God is your strength.
If you're in Christ and you can say, judge me, how can I stand
that? Because Christ is my strength.
Christ is my strength. Look at this, the third thing,
the believer cries for assurance in verse three, send out thy
light and thy truth. Let them lead me, let them bring
me into thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. Believer, when
we cry to God to judge us in Christ and to deliver us from
our enemies, when we cry to God, who is our strength to keep us
and preserve us, how are we assured that he'll give us these things?
Now listen, how many times you cry out for these things in faith
and yet feel as though you would not receive them? We do. How can I be assured that
I'm gonna get this? How do I know this? Only if he
sends the light and the truth to reveal it. You know, Scott,
you're in this room here, you cut off all the lights, it's
dark. It's dark. You may have an idea of where
everything's at, but you don't know until when. Light. You cut on the light and it reveals.
You know what? Judge me. Am I in Christ? Then
show me I'm in Christ. If God, you are my strength,
then show me by the light of your gospel, show me that you're
my strength. The light reveals and the truth,
thy truth. What is this light of the gospel
that should give us such assurance? It is this, when Jesus said,
I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to God,
but by me. You know, Christ is the light
of the world. So when he says send the light, what is he asking
for? I believe one translation of this says, send the son of
righteousness. He says, send out the son of
righteousness, the Messiah, the light. Jesus said, I am the light
of the world. And he is the light of the gospel,
isn't he? This is how we know the light
of the world is through his word, his gospel. The sum and substance
of this book is who? It's Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ. He is the light of the gospel
that reveals to us the Father, that reveals the mystery of this
gospel, how God can be just and justify the ungodly. As God commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, He has shined in our hearts to
give us the light of the glory of God, where? In the face of
Jesus Christ. And when I'm oppressed, I'll
tell you this, I've got to see Him. I was speaking with a woman earlier
about being trapped by the things of this world. Why are we so
trapped by the things of this world as believers in Christ?
I'm not worried talking about the world, talking about you
and me, believers. Oftentimes believers are so, you know, they're
so chained to the possessions of this world. You know why we,
and then so when the gospel comes and says, you know, you need
to forsake all and worship Christ. And then the believers torn like,
well, if I worship Christ and I've got to give up this. Well,
listen, if you had your eyes on Christ, it would be easy to
give up that. If we saw him in the light of
his glory, it would be simple. It'd be like leaving trash. You
don't have any problem leaving trash. It's not worth anything. And so if we fix our eyes and
we see the light of his glory and his countenance, surely we're
able then to leave these things. Lord, send his light, send the
light and the truth. The old Jesus Christ is the truth.
The gospel of Christ is true. What is this truth? The truth
is that Christ has accomplished our redemption. That's what this
book is about, an accomplished redemption. He's the truth. The scripture manifests to us
that in him alone is mercy and truth met together. What's the
truth? The truth is we deserve hell.
Truth is God is holy. What's mercy? Mercy Mercy by
definition is acceptance without merit. How can these two meet
together? How can God be just and justify
the ungodly? Only mercy and truth are met
together in one person, Jesus Christ. Lord, show me that truth,
show me Christ, who is my light and my truth, the truth. And he is the way, he's the only
way that leads to God. Jesus says, no man comes to God,
but by me. Isn't that something? That just
defies everything religious men teaches. They say, well, you
can go to God by the Pope. You can go to God by the priest.
You can go to God by the preacher. You can go to God by coming down
to the front. You can go to God in this and that by taking the
Lord's supper. You can go to God by your baptism.
No, you can only go to God by Christ. That's it. There's only
one way to Christ God. It's Christ. And this is where
the Spirit leads every believer, every oppressed believer. Isn't
this what he's asking for? Look at this. Look at your text.
He says, send the light and thy truth. Let them lead me. Notice where they lead me. Let
them bring me to the holy hill, to thy tabernacles. What is this
but Christ? Isn't this where they, in the
Old Testament, there was only one place God met with people.
Isn't that amazing? We got this idea and said, well,
surely that just can't be so. One place in all the world? Yep,
one place, Zion. And not only just one place,
in one building, a temple. And not just in one temple, but
in one room of that one temple, over one mercy seat, and not
without blood. and it must be administered by
only one priest. All of that pictures Christ.
Isn't this where the spirit leads the oppressed? It leads us to
thy holy hill. And what do we find now at that
holy hill? In the Old Testament, they had
to stand afar off, didn't they? No one was allowed into the presence
of God but that priest and only once a year. But what happened
when Christ died? What happened to that veil that
separated those two rooms? It was ran in twain. And Paul
says in Hebrews nine, he says, the way is made open. It's open by the tearing of the
flesh of the son of God. The way is now made open to us. This is where the spirit leads
me. It leads me into the presence of God by the blood and righteousness
of Christ. And not only this, it tells me
where I might find him in a special way. Consider this. You know,
Jesus said this, where two or three are gathered together in
my name, there I am in the midst of them. You know, I am, this means of
worship that we have right now with the video is a blessing. I'm thankful for it. But I know
this, we long to be together. Why? Because there is a special
blessing that we have when we're together. And I'm sad because I believe
that some people even in the church are going to use this
even after I've had, I know some churches that have met coming
back together. They are actually worshiping
together and still people are watching videos. When they got
a church, when they got a place to go, I understand if you don't
have one, but if you got one and you don't go, well, you say,
well, I might get sick. What if the disciples said that
in the early church? Well, if I go to church, I might
get killed. You know what they did? They went anyway. And so
should you. Don't use this disease, this
pandemic as a crutch. to not worship God, because that's
all you're doing. If you are able to go worship,
you should go worship. And if God kills you, what is that but a promotion?
If you truly believe, if we truly believe it. I'll tell you, once we get a
building, we're gonna meet together. I told Scott that we would have
been meeting together this whole time if we had a place. Regardless
of what men tell us we can't do, we have a mandate from our
God to meet together, and we should. And I'll tell you, shame
on you if you haven't. If you don't, shame on you. You should be listening to your
pastor. Why? There's a special presence of Christ you're missing.
We can't provoke one another to love if we don't see one another.
I know that's what we're missing, but Lord willing, soon we'll
be able to do it again. That's what I wanna do. As soon
as God enables us, we will. So as we worship together and
we preach the word of God together, The spirit of God then leads
us to Christ, his holy hill, his holy tabernacle. And verse
four, now then look, this is the second part, and I'm gonna
go quickly here. The response of faith. He said, then will
I go into the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy. Yea, upon
the heart will I praise thee, O God, my God. When our souls are oppressed
and we cry out to God for help, it is his spirit that leads his
people by his gospel. What will his people do? Where
will they go? They'll go to Christ, their altar.
You know, when you went to that old altar in the old, at the,
you saw an animal slain and you saw his body burned. You saw
the smoke ascend unto God and the priest pronounced you clean. The priest pronounced to people
that their sins had been removed. Now we know that the blood of
bulls and ghosts don't take away sin. That was a picture of Christ.
When we go to the worship of God, when we go to him and to
his holy hill, it is always by this one altar, by Christ. By
Christ we go. It's not just something we hear,
it's something we go to. By faith we cling to this altar. I remember one time a missionary
in Mexico was talking about something he'd seen in the Catholic Church.
They had this altar down here at the bottom, and then they
had this golden altar way up there, way up there. And he asked,
why the two altars? He said, well, the first is for
the common people. They have to come in and get cleansed so
often every day, every time the mass is done, blah, blah, blah.
He said, oh, but that one was reserved for the priest. It's
a one-time deal. You only need to go to that altar
once. I said, why don't they just skip that one and go to
that one? No, we have an altar they don't
know about. If your altar is a piece of gold
and a piece of wood and a piece of stone, you got an altar like
that, you don't know anything at all about our altar. Our altar
is Jesus Christ. Our altar is Christ. Oh, that
sinners might see their need of Christ and that Christ, that
sinners might see that Christ is the only altar, the only sacrifice
and the only high priest God has accepted. And I'll tell you
what, once we see that, what do we find? We find this, God
is my joy. God is my joy. If my sins are gone, what do
I have to be worried about? If God can judge me and he judged
me justly and find me just and innocent, how happy is that? That's what we find when we see
the altar of Christ. He is our exceeding joy. Friends,
there's nothing of greater joy than to know we have peace with
God. There's no greater joy than to see God is happy with you. See the psalmist, he's saying,
why are you cast me off? And yet really in reality, God
is happy with it. God, listen what this says in
Zephaniah chapter three in verse 14. It says, seen, O daughter
of Zion, and shout, O Israel, be glad and rejoice with all
the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. Why? The Lord hath taken away
thy judgments. Judge me, O God. Why? He's taken
away thy judgments. He hath cast out thine enemy.
O Lord, help me. Those that oppress me, deliver
me. Well, he's already cast out your enemies. the King of Israel,
even the Lord is in the midst of thee. Oh, send out that light
and lead me to thy holy tabernacle. Show me that altar. Well, all
right, he's in the midst of you. He's not only in the midst of
his church, he's in the midst of our hearts. He's in our bodies
by his Holy Spirit. And listen to this, thou shalt
not see evil anymore. What to God I had such faith
as to see that daily. that no matter what we face is
not evil. Thou shalt not see evil anymore. Pastor, this is happening to
me. I'm sick. It's not evil. My family's destroyed, Pastor.
It's not evil. I know you can't see it. Faith
sees it. God says it's not evil. All things work together for
good to them that love God, to them that are called according
to his purpose. Believer, the response of faith is to rest
in Christ, to trust in Christ, and by trusting in Christ our
altar, we are able then to praise God, to give thanks. to give
thanks. Lastly, then, is the question
of the saint's soul. Look at this. He said, why art
thou cast down, O my soul? He said, Lord, if you judge me
and I'm in Christ, even though my enemies oppress me and you
deliver me, Lord, if you send your light and your gospel and
it points me to Christ and God, you're my joy and my strength,
then what in the world am I so sad for? He rebukes his own soul. Why art thou cast down? Why art
thou disquieted within me? Listen, hope in God. And we know what the word hope.
I pray the Lord has taught us this. The word hope does not
mean wish. It means confidence. Have thou confidence in who? in God, in God. How many times have we been bowed
down? How many times have we been overcast our souls with
sin, been so faithless and unbelieving? And then when we have finished
our cries to God, the spirit of God points us again to Christ
and we felt such relief. How many times have you felt
relief? How many times has God made us feel refreshing over
our souls by his word? How many times have you gone
to worship expecting nothing and God give you joy? How many
times? And every time we say this, why
in the world was I so cast out? Why was I so destroyed? I know that every believer has
many experiences of God's grace. is then we ask ourselves, why
do we doubt at all? Oh soul, why do you doubt? When
God has declared him to spell to be what? My God. He said that. He said, why hope thou in God? For I shall yet praise him who
is the health of my countenance and my God. He not only sustains my physical
health, he does. but it sustains my spiritual
health, the more important health. Believer, our God is our health
of our salvation, the lifter of our head and the strength
of our souls. If God be for us, then who can
prevail against us? Who then will separate us from
God? Who will condemn us? If we are
not going to be judged by God, then who will judge us? Who? The scripture says there is none
that condemneth. There's none. Who can condemn
me? God justified you. Christ died
for you. Who then shall separate us from
the no one and nothing? It is God that is our strength.
It is God that leads us by his gospel. May God even now move
us by his grace to praise him. Praise him. For what? Everything. Are you sick? Praise him. Are you in trouble? Praise him. Why? He will deliver you. He
will deliver you. This is the cry of the oppressed. Judge me. If I'm in Christ, lead
my cause. Deliver me from my enemies. You're
my strength. You're my joy. Lead me to Christ. By thy light and thy truth, thy
gospel, lead me to Christ always. I pray God will bless this to
you. This will be dismissed in prayer.