Psalm chapter 43, we'll be looking
at verses 1 through 5, the entire psalm this morning. Psalm chapter
43, verses 1 through 5. And the title of the message is the
cry of the oppressed saint. The cry of the oppressed saint. Now, This psalm may easily be divided
into three different parts. Verses 1 through 3, we can see
the cry or the prayer of the oppressed saint. In verse 4,
we can see the response of faith by the oppressed saint. And number
3, we can see in verse 5, the question of the saint to his
soul in regards to his hope. And that's exactly how I want
us to divide this psalm this morning. We're going to divide
it into those three sections. The first point is this, the
cry of the oppressed saint. Look at this in verse 1. Judge
me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Is this not a startling way to
begin a prayer? Judge me. How many have ever began a prayer
that way other than we just did it just a minute ago? Judge me. Judge me. This cry of judgment is calling
for God to search out in judgment the saint himself. Notice he
doesn't say, judge them that are against me. He says, judge
me. Judge me. This is a very personal,
intimate communion between God and His saint. Judge me. Man, I hope this morning, that
that's our heart this morning, that God would search us, try
us, to see if there be any wicked way in us. This cry of judgment is calling
to God to search out judgment to Himself. And this can only
be the cry, then, of a righteous man. Can you imagine anybody
that's not righteous crying this? Can you imagine anyone that is
not holy crying this prayer? Judge me! Judge me. Friends, God will judge. He must judge. He is the judge. God will judge all men. That's
a fact. God will punish all sin. That's a fact. Truly, God says the wages of
sin is death. Truly, God says, the soul that
sinneth, it shall surely die. And truly, God's Word says that
we have all sinned and come short of the righteousness of God. Amen. have this experience by
nature, that we are born dead in sins, born lacking both the
ability and the will or desire to come to God by Jesus Christ. Every man by nature has this
disability, this inability to come to God by nature. Therefore, all we can do by nature
is sin. This natural man can do no righteousness. He is incapable and unwilling
to do any righteousness. It's the deception of a man's
heart to hate this truth. I mean, do not the nature of
man, doesn't that just kick inside of us? It does. The natural man hates this fact. The natural man longs to be righteous
by his own deeds. The natural man is motivated
to be judged based on his best motives, based on his deeds of obedience. But friends, if God were to judge
men, and He will judge us based on this strict standard, if God
were to mark iniquity, who shall stand? Who shall stand? Who's going to stand before God?
We've all sinned against God, and He must judge. Friends, if we are trusting anything
that we have done for God, or we are trusting something we're
going to do for God. I remember when I was a kid,
I always said, well, you know, I'm going to believe. I just
want to have fun now. I'm just having too much fun.
I don't want to believe now. I'm just going to wait. What
are you doing? You're trusting in something
you're going to do. No, that won't work. That won't work. If God were to take our best
deeds, our best motive and judge us based on that one best thing,
God would send us to the hottest part of hell for all eternity. All eternity. Why? Because God
is just. God cannot do anything else but
judge all men strictly according to holiness, righteousness. Friends, there are some that
go so far as to say, I trust Jesus Christ. Some call Him Lord. They even talk of His blood and
His righteousness as their salvation. But the moment that they contend
that they can add something to the work of Christ, they have
defiled the sacrifice and it's no good to them. Paul said, if
you be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. In other
words, if you try to add one thing to what Jesus Christ has
already accomplished, friends, you are not saved. But you are lost in your sins. And God will judge you and give
you exactly what you deserve. Exactly. In the end, these men will find
that they have nothing. That Christ profited them nothing. Jesus said in Matthew 7, Many
shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord. They recognized Him. Lord. Have we not prophesied? Have we not preached in your
name? Ah, there'll be preachers in
this. Absolutely. Preachers will be there like
that. And in thy name cast out devils. Oh my, there's some miracle workers
in that group there. And in thy name done many wonderful
works. There's a Baptist. Many wonderful. Notice how they
value their works. They are many and wonderful. Many and wonderful. I'm just
standing before the holy God and saying, Lord, look at my
works. They're many and wonderful. How arrogant. And He will say, then will I profess unto them.
You see, they professed, didn't they? Christ will profess. He says, I profess, I never knew
you. Depart from Me, you that work
iniquity. What did He count all their wonderful
works as? Iniquity. What did He count all their preaching
as? Iniquity. What did He count all their miracles
as? Iniquity. You that work iniquity, depart
from me. Not everyone that saith to me,
Lord, Lord, will enter into the kingdom of heaven, but everyone
that doeth the will of my Father. What's the will of the Father? Go to John chapter 6. What is
the will of the Father? John chapter six and verse thirty
seven. I think there's a clear place
concerning the will of God because it says it right in the verse.
John chapter six and verse thirty seven. But I but I say unto you, ye
also have seen me and not believed all that the father giveth me
shall come to me. And him that cometh to me I will
in no wise cast out, for because 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. You want to know the Father's
will? He that doeth my Father's will. What is the Father's will?
That of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing. but should raise it up again
at the last day. And this is the will of Him that
sent me, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on
Him may have everlasting life, and I will raise Him up at the
last day." What is the Father's will? The Father's will was to
have a people. The Father's will was to have
an elect, chosen people to Himself for His own glory, for His own
praise, for His own worship. And He in sovereign love gave
them to His Son Christ. And this is the Father's will.
That Christ come down representing them, providing an everlasting
righteousness and obtaining their redemption by the blood of His
cross. That He obtain righteousness
for them. What kind of righteousness? The
scripture says an everlasting righteousness. There's only one
righteousness, and it's God's. And Christ is the only man that
has ever merited the righteousness of God. And Christ is the only one that
has ever been judged by God, found guilty, and endured the
wrath of God. to emerge victorious. He's the
only one. He's the only one. And when He provided the righteousness,
it was the will of God. When He died on the cross, it
was the will of God. When He rose again, it was the
will of God. And He saved His people from
their sins, which was the will of God. And it is also equally the will
of God that they believe on Christ. It is the will of God. What's
the will of God? Believe. On Christ. Alone. And he gives them that believe. Everlasting life. everlasting righteousness. So that when the Spirit of God
takes the gospel of God's grace and applies it to the heart,
He also imparts to us a righteousness. The righteousness of God. Where? In this mortal body I have the
righteousness of God. A new nature. A new holy nature. And therefore, every believer
in Christ may cry out, Judge me! Why? Because in Christ, I'm
righteous. In Christ, he will find no sin. And friends, truly, in us who
believe, God sees us. Every one of us ought to cry
out to God to search us. You know what? If you have not
the righteousness of Christ, if you have not the Spirit of
Christ, you are none of His. Wouldn't you want to know that?
Wouldn't you want God to search to know? Wouldn't you want to
know that you know that you know you belong to Him? that you have His righteousness.
I do. Search me. Try me. And the saints of God, like this
psalmist, go back to your text. The saints like this psalmist
are always contending with two things. Every saint of God contends with
two things. First of all, the ungodly of
this world. And second of all, the deceitful
and unjust man of our old nature. These two things we all as believers
in this life contend with. First of all, the evil ungodly
men of this world. Look at your text. O God, and
plead my cause against the ungodly nation. Truly, every believer
in Christ must endure the hatred of men. Friends, this world and its religion
hate you. Well, Pastor, I really don't
feel that, you know, I'm a pretty nice guy. Everybody seems to
like me. What are you preaching? What
are you witnessing? What are you witnessing? What
are you telling men? To be a friend of this world,
God says, you're an enemy of God if you're a friend of this
world. If you're of this world, of course the world will receive
you. Of course they'll invite you in. Of course if you compromise
the gospel, they'll allow you to come in. Oh, you're the best
friend they ever had if you compromise the gospel. You see, the cross of Christ
is always meant to be an offense. Not that I'm to have an offensive
character, that's not what it's saying. But when I tell the gospel
in love and truth, it's going to be offensive, naturally, by
itself. If we compromise the gospel,
surely we will be loved by this world. But Christ says, if the
world hates you, know this, it hated me before it hated you. Christ said, they're gonna throw
you in jail, crucify you, kill you, burn you, and they're all
going to do it in my name. I'll tell you, in the name of
Jesus, they will hate you and reject you because you preach
the truth. Jesus said, I'm not come to send
peace, but a sword. So that the foes of a man are
they of his own household. You want to know who you're hated
by the most? Look at your family. Look at
your ungodly family. Where man is oppressed for the
sake of the gospel, we should take comfort and cry unto God,
not to judge them, judge us. Judge us. Give me comfort to
know that I have the righteousness of God. Give me comfort to know
that I am preaching the truth of the gospel to those around
me. Are you oppressed by men? Are the enemies of your house
oppressing you? Then spare not! Cry out to God! Judge me and plead my cause against
those these ungodly that would hate me. You see, vengeance belongs
unto God, not us. It belongs to God, doesn't it?
Ask him to plead your cause. Don't lash out at them because
they hate you. Hold on to Christ. Because he
loves you and he'll take care of him. Second of all, we as
children of God may cry out to God because of our old sinful
nature. Oh, deliver me from the deceitful
and unjust man. Is that not a perfect description
of the natural man? That is the best description
of my natural man. Deceitful and unjust. Deceitful and unjust. That's
a beautiful picture of him. Vile and dark. full of sin. Believer, we are daily confronted
with our conscience concerning our sin, aren't we? I'll tell you what, if you have
no concern about sin, there's something wrong, desperately
wrong. We daily are reminded of our
own weakness, our own lusts, Scripture says that when we are
tempted, we're not tempted of God to sin, but we're drawn away
of our own lusts. When you sin, it's your sin.
You know, it's the only thing we really can own as something
we've done is sin. That's it. Are we convicted of our lack
of faith? Have you been convicted of your
lack of faith and love? Have we been unfaithful to our
Lord Jesus Christ? Have we left our first love? These are all questions of the
heart of the saints concerning our own selfish nature. And let
us cry unto God against ourselves. Against me. Overrule me. Deliver us, O wretched man that
I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I thank God through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Through Jesus Christ. Judge me. Where? In Christ. Not that I be found in my own
righteousness which is of the law, but that I might be found
in His righteousness. Our only hope then is to cry
for God to judge us that we be found in Christ's righteousness.
Jesus Christ my Lord, God has already judged our sins
in Him. He will not judge our sins in
us. Is that not great? Judge me! God says righteous. God says
righteous. Number three, we cry unto God
for strength. Look at this in verse two. For
thou art the God of my strength. Why dost thou cast me off? Why
go I mourning because of the oppression of my enemy? Believer in Christ, if we are
hated of all men and have the old natural man in us, how then
shall we persevere this contention? How shall we persevere through
this life? How shall we continue in faith
when our enemies are so strong and so personal? Because God is our strength. God is our strength to continue
in faith. In faith. Because we have the comfort of
God in Christ, God is all our strength. Christ is the foundation
of our souls and able to make us stand and to keep us from
falling. You remember when Peter was exalted
to the third heaven, and the Lord gave him that thorn in the
flesh, and he prayed three times, Oh, deliver me from this. Take
this from me. Take this from me. Take this
from me. And what did Christ answer him?
He said, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is
made perfect in weakness. Who's weak? who's weak, in need
of strength. Christ said, my grace is enough.
And my strength is revealed perfectly when you're the weakest. When
you've got nothing else to hold on to. It's then that God reveals
Himself to be our strength. And Paul said, therefore, I'll
glory in my infirmities. I'll glory in my sufferings,
in my persecutions, in my distresses, in my hungering. I'll glory in
it because when I'm weak, then am I strong. Are you weak? Behold, your strength is the
same omnipotent God who upholds the universe by the Word of His
power so He holds us up. Believer, if we have been saved
by grace, chosen by grace, redeemed by grace, called by grace, will
we not be kept by grace? You bet. You bet. And friends, we can be sure of
this. If God has judged us in Christ
and we are found righteous in Him, and His righteousness is
imputed to us, and God is our strength, we can be comforted
in this, that God will deal with our enemies. We don't have to. We don't have to. Jeremiah 30 verse 20 says the
children also shall be as aforetime and their congregation shall
be established before me and I will punish those that oppress
them. Isn't that wonderful? Trust in
God. Thirdly, we cry out for assurance. Look at this in verse 3. Oh,
send thy light and thy truth. Let them lead me, let them bring
me to thy holy hill and to thy tabernacle. Believers, we cry for God to
judge us in Christ and deliver us from our enemies. We cry unto
God for strength to keep us, to persevere in the faith. How
then can we be sure that God is going to give us these things?
Oh, send thy light and truth. This is the gospel of Christ. How do we receive comfort and
assurance? Only by the hearing of the word. Only by the word of God can we be assured that these
things are ours. If we neglect this, do we not
neglect our own assurance? Our own assurance? Yes. This gospel light. We pray that
God would shed this light abroad in our hearts by His Spirit.
That's how the gospel comes. That's how it's made effectual.
That's how it's made sure to every one of God's people, is
by the gospel. The gospel of Christ, who is
the light of the gospel. There is no gospel without Christ.
There is no gospel without Christ. He said, I am the light of the
world. Christ is the light. The only way the gospel is revealed
and God is manifest to men is by the son. If you're oppressed. If you're cast down. What can
lift your heart but the light? Have you ever been in a dark
room where you could see nothing? Have you ever been in a dark
place where you stumbled around? What did you need? You needed
light! Light. And light gives us comfort,
doesn't it? Why? Because light shows us. It reveals to us things. that are around us. Christ is
the light of the gospel. When you read the gospel, find
Christ immediately. Don't look for anything. Look
for Christ. Look for Christ. He'll light up this book. He'll
do it. Christ is also the truth of this
book. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. He's the truth. That no man comes
to God but by Him. Friends, Christ being the truth
of the Gospel. The truth as to how God can be
holy and still accept sinners. How is it that mercy and truth
can dwell together? How is it that righteousness
and peace with God have kissed each other? It is only in the
truth of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. There's the only hope
for sinners. And everyone who has sinned and
God when he sends this gospel, he also leads us by his spirit. The scripture says, for as many
as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. Let
the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts
and let him return unto the Lord and he will abundantly pardon. You know, I'm thankful to God
that He has not left me to guess my way to God. Aren't you? I'm glad that I don't have to
take a shot in the dark and just hope everything turns out all
right. I don't have to do that. Lord, lead me in the way everlasting. Lead me in the way of Christ. Christ. And where then does the Spirit
of God by the Gospel lead us to? To thy holy hill and to thy
tabernacles. Friends, in the Old Testament,
when this was written, there was only one place God revealed
Himself, and that was in the temple, in the tabernacle in
Jerusalem, on Mount Zion. One place. In all the world,
God's presence dwelt in one little room. Isn't that amazing? Nowhere else in all the world,
but there. And what did the rest of the
world say? Well, that's just arrogant. That's just arrogant. You mean I can't worship God
over here? You mean I can't worship God over here by myself? God
said, that's the only place I'll meet with you. That's the only
place I'll meet with you. Friends, the Spirit of God, when
we cry out to God, will always lead us to the worship of God. Always. I know this, that every believer
in Christ has His presence always. He said, I will never leave you
nor forsake you. And truly, we do daily worship
Him, don't we? Like in that first room of the
holy place, you know, they had the candlestick, the altar of
incense and the showbread. And they went in there daily,
trimming that candlestick and lighting new incense and putting
new showbread. Every day they did that. And
every day they walked in that room, they knew. that God's presence
was near, right? He was right there. He was just
on the other side of that veil. They knew God's presence was
there. So it is with every believer. We worship God by the mortification
of the deeds of the body daily, don't we? We always feast on
Christ the showbread daily, don't we? We should. And we always
offer our prayers of incense unto God. And we do feel His
presence every day. But I'll tell you, there is a
place where Jesus Christ makes a special appearance. And that is in corporate worship.
He said this, where two or three are gathered together in my name,
there I am. I like that because it's not
saying He will be there. It says He is there. You can hear somebody say, hey,
don't worry, I'll be there. You can count on it, they're
not coming. You can count on it, they're not going to be there.
What did Daniel say? He sat on the fool's bench? Is
that what he called that in the back? He said somebody had promised
to come and they didn't come. I'm on the fool's bench waiting
for them. You see, Christ is not coming, He is here! He's here among His people. And He's always here among His
people. Always. In the Old Testament Scripture,
the sin of Jeroboam is very clearly revealed. I believe it's
22 times this sin of Jeroboam is mentioned in the book of Kings. You know what the sin of Jeroboam
was? Well, I'm going to tell you so
you don't have to guess. No, I wasn't going to leave it
to you to figure it out. The sin of Jeroboam is this. Remember,
the kingdom was divided into two, Judah and Israel. And God promised to Jeroboam
that He would give him ten tribes of the northern kingdom. And
He said, you follow My ways. You follow Me and I'll bless
you. And Jeroboam got up there and he was king and he looked
down at that one little tribe left. And he said, Wait a second. That's where the temple is. That's
where God's presence is. And if the people go down, their
heart will be turned again unto God and I'll lose my kingdom. So what did He say? He said,
it's too much for you to go up to Jerusalem That's just too
hard. People, I want to make this just
as easy for you as I can. Hey, I got an idea. Let's make
some gods up here, closer to home, so you don't have to travel
so far. So you can be around your family
and your kinfolk and, oh man, it will be convenient for you. What was the problem with that?
God wasn't there. God was in Jerusalem. Now, friends, I'm not going to
sugarcoat this. And I do this because I love
you. Many of you have fallen into
the sin of Jeroboam. Either your love for this world
or the love for your family, the love for yourself, your own
time, has caused you to neglect the worship of God. Our deceitful nature says it's
too much. I can't go. It's too much trouble. I would have to give up too much
to be there. Friends, you're not neglecting
me. Although I do get discouraged. You're neglecting His presence. If He says, I am there, why then
aren't we? I don't understand. Let us cry unto the Lord to judge
us. Don't look at anyone else, just
you. Ask God to judge you. Don't worry about anybody else. And number three, this kind of
crying unto God... Second of all, this kind of crying
unto God leads to a response of faith. Look at this in verse
4. I will go unto the altar. When God Almighty comes and hears
our prayers, sends His Word, into our hearts by His Spirit.
And we hear His gospel. His people will act on it. You see, to them, it's not just
an academic exercise. But true faith always leads to
obedience, doesn't it? Well, pastor, I believe that
I believe everything you just said. And then never show up. What is that? I mean, that's
not that's not faith in action, is it? Oh. That's matter of fact,
that's unbelief. That's unbelief. Salma said, then will I go? Go where? You hear the pastor? Don't do
it. Don't do it. Don't you come because
you feel sorry for me. Don't come because you feel sorry
for someone else. You come to the altar. That's
where true faith sends us. We come because Christ is our
altar and there is no other altar. He is the altar, He is the sacrifice,
and He is the High Priest. He is everything that makes us
acceptable unto God. He is everything. He is everything. You know, when the burnt offering
was burnt, what was left that was done? The altar. The altar
stayed, didn't it? The altar is His deity. Christ
sacrificed His humanity on the altar of His deity. And when
our sins were burned up in Him, guess what? He, the sacrifice,
and He, the altar, endured. Remember that burning bush? That's
Christ. It was burned, but it was never
consumed. Isn't that amazing? Our sins
were consumed, but He wasn't. He rose victorious. He's our
altar, and we go to our altar. And lastly, the question, then,
of the crying believer. The question, why art thou cast
down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope
in God. How many times have we cried
unto God because of our oppression? And when God has delivered us
by His Word, by His Spirit, by seeing Christ, how many times
have we said to ourselves, why in the world was I worried at
all? Why did that thing bother me
so much? Why was I so downcast? Hope in
God. You see, he's preparing himself
for the next time. Hope in God. Don't be discouraged. Hope in
God. For I shall yet praise Him. I shall yet praise Him. Believer in Christ, our dark
times will not last. They are all short. Aren't they? They're short. Matter of fact,
this life is short in comparison with eternity. Paul said, what are my trials
in comparison with the glory that shall be revealed in us? What are these things? Nothing. Who shall separate us
from the love of God in Christ? Nothing and no one. Judge me. Judge me. Do I know Christ? Is His righteousness
in me? If He is, then God, You're my
strength. You're my strength. Send Your Word to me that I may
worship Thee as You have purposed, that I may go to the altar of
Christ and bow down so that I might have comfort
and assurance." Do you have comfort and assurance? If you're in Christ, you do. God will never cast you off. Is that not the most wonderful
thing? I love this scripture. It says
that our God rejoices over you with singing. God rejoices over you with singing. He dwells in the midst of you
and He's cast out your enemies. What more have you to fear? Fear not, for I am with thee. Be not dismayed. I am thy God. Is that not wonderful? I pray
that God will bless this to your hearts. Let's stand and we'll
be dismissed in prayer.