one more message from this psalm. We looked at verse 8, and then
verse 1, and then verse 2, and this morning I would like to
focus on the remaining verses, verses 3 to 7. So let's read the psalm one more
time and enjoy this together. Verse 1 says, I will praise thee
with my whole heart. Before the gods will I sing praise
unto thee. I will worship toward thy holy
temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness and for thy
truth. For thou hast magnified thy word
above all thy name. In the day when I cried, Thou
answerest me and strengthenest me with strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall
praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth.
Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord, for great is the
glory of the Lord. Though the Lord be high, Yet
hath he respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar
off. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, thou wilt revive me. Thou shalt stretch forth thine
hand against the wrath of mine enemies, and thy right hand shall
save me. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me, Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not
the works of thine own hand. Now here is how we're going to
finish this out. Verse six says, though the Lord
be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly, though the Lord
be high, high and lofty, high and lifted up. Look with me at
Psalm 113. I just asked our brother to read
this for us. Psalm 113. Verse 4, it says, the Lord is high above
all nations and His glory above the heavens. The heavens, that's
the sky and the clouds and the stars and the planets, the heavens. Verse 5, who is like unto the
Lord our God who dwelleth on high? Watch verse six. Who humbleth himself to behold
the things that are in heaven and in the earth. He is so high
and lofty he has to humble himself to behold the things that are
in heaven. That's how high he is. Heaven is beneath him. That's
how lofty he is. Turn back a page, it's a page
in my Bible, Psalm 108, verse three. I will praise thee, O Lord, among
the people, and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations,
for thy mercy is great above the heavens, and thy truth reacheth
unto the clouds. Be thou exalted, O God, above
the heavens, and thy glory above all the earth." Above everything. He's above everything. Turn over
to Isaiah 6. Isaiah 6 verse 1 it says in the
year that King Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a
throne high and lifted up and his train filled the temple.
Above it stood the seraphims, each one had six wings. With
twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet,
and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another and
said, holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth
is full of his glory. His majesty, his exaltation,
his glory is so high Yet. He is so high. Unimaginably high,
unfathomably high. Yet. But. Even so. Go back to Psalm 138. Verse 6 says, Though the Lord
be high, yet hath he respect. That means he considers. He looks
upon. He looks after. He remembers. He is mindful of the lowly. The lowly. Oh, what is man that would be mindful of him. Though the Lord be high, yet
hath he respect unto the lowly. That's good news when you're
lowly. That is good news when you're lowly. The word lowly
means humbled, humiliated, bowed down, depressed. Why are God's people humbled,
humiliated, bowed down, and depressed? Their sin. Their sin. Are you happy with you? Are you
satisfied with you? You know why? Your sin. Your sin. The sin of God's people. It has separated them from God. It has separated them from good. The sin of God's people has left
them in a hopeless state. This flesh is hopeless. It's
a hopeless state. So what glorious news it is to
hear that the high and lofty Almighty God will have respect
to a sinner in that state. How does He do that? How does
He do that? How does He have respect to the
lowly? Well, in verse three, if you
look at verse three, David said, in the day when I cried, you answered me all the way down
here in low, low, lowly. And you're all the way up there.
In the day when I cried, thou answered me and strengthened
me with strength in my soul. He did that for me. Lowly me. Look with me at Psalm
34. Psalm 34, verse 1. It says, I will bless the Lord
at all times. His praise shall continually
be in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord. The humble shall hear thereof
and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me
and let us exalt his name together. Why, David? He said, here's the
reason why. Verse four. I sought the Lord
and he heard me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto him, my fears. All my fears looked unto him.
Every fear I had looked unto him and were lightened. And their faces were not ashamed.
Verse six, he said, this poor man cried and the Lord heard
him and saved him out of all his troubles. He said, that's
why. It's because this poor man cried
and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
Let me tell you one of my favorite stories to tell. It's been a
while since I've told this one. This is a true story. Back in the late 1800s, during
the Civil War, a Union soldier got word that
his mother was dying. And he wanted to go see his mother
one last time before she died. And he couldn't get leave. He tried, but he could not get
leave to go see his mother. He was in Washington, so he thought,
I'm going to go higher in authority. I'm going to go to the top of
the chain and go see the president and see if he'll give me leave.
So he went to the White House and he walked up the steps, he
walked up to the front door, and there were two guards stationed
at the front door and, you know, state your business, and he said,
I need to see the president. And they said, you can't see
the president. He said, I'm here because I need to ask leave to
go see my mother before she dies. And they said, you cannot go
in and ask leave. And he said, this is my only
option. This is my only hope. I need
to speak to the president. And they said, you are unauthorized
and we are under orders to allow no one in who is not authorized
to come in. You can't see the president.
And the man said, you don't understand. They said, you don't understand.
We're under orders. We've been given a law and the
law has said you're not coming in. That's fine. So the man finally turned and
went and sat down on the front steps of the White House and
he put his head in his hand and he started crying. Grown man
soldier sitting there crying. And a little boy was walking
by and he looked at that man crying in his hands. And he finally
said, what's wrong, mister? And the man said, you wouldn't
understand. And the little boy sat down right
beside him. He said, well, tell me, what is it? He said, son,
you wouldn't understand. He said, just tell me. He said,
my mother is dying. And I want to go see her before
she dies. And the only way I can do that
is if I get into the White House to see President Lincoln, to
ask him if he would give me leave. And I can't get in. And that
little boy said, well, I'll take you in. Come on, stand up. And he said, what? He said, stand
up. So they stood up, and they turned around, and they walked
up the steps. right past the two guards through
the front door. Walked into a foyer, into a hall,
came up to another door with two sets of guards, walked right
past those guards, opened the door, and walked straight into
the Oval Office. And sitting at his desk was President
Abraham Lincoln. And President Lincoln looked
at that little boy and said, what can I do for you, son? And
he said, Dad. This man needs to see you. That was Tad Lincoln, the son
of the president. That man had entrance into the
innermost through the sun. And through that sun, he came
in and he cried, oh, would you be merciful to me? Would you
please help me? If you will, you can. Yes, I
will. Yes, I will. Verse six right
here says, this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved
him out of all his troubles. That's how this high and holy
God of heaven and earth has regarded his sinful people. First, he
gave them life. They were dead. He had to give
them life. He caused them to cry. David said, when you said seek
my face, that's when I came seeking. He heard their cry, their cry for salvation that
he put in their hearts, and he answered them, and he said, I
have, you are. I have saved you, thou art mine. Go back with me to Psalm 138. Verse three says, in the day
when I cried, thou answeredest me and strengthenest me with
strength in my soul. You know, we can't always say
that we have strength in our flesh, but in Christ, we have
strength in our soul. We can't always say that we have
strength in our minds or strength in our hearts, but in Christ,
we have strength in our soul. That's what the Apostle Paul
meant when he said, when I'm weak, I'm strong. When I'm weak in this flesh,
when I'm weak in mind, when I'm weak in heart, when I'm weak
everywhere else, I'm strong in Christ. I'm strong in the Lord
Jesus Christ, strong in my soul, because all my hope has nowhere
else to go but to him. Nowhere else to turn but to him. Verse three says, in the day
when I cried, thou answerest me and strengthenest me with
strength in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall
praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth. Now it is true that every knee
that has ever been on this earth is going to bow and every tongue
is going to confess. All of these little kings all
over the world that have ever been, you got a king for this
country and a king for that, a ruler, all of these who are
in charge, they are going to have to confess
that there is only one King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Every
king that has ever been on this earth, lowercase K, is gonna
have to confess there's only one capital K King of Kings and
capital L Lord of Lords. Jesus Christ is his name. In
the end, on the day of judgment, like it or not, whether they
like it or not, every king will praise him Even in condemnation,
even in judgment, you're Lord. You're Lord. But look at this. Go to Revelation
5 with me. Revelation 5 verse 9, this here in Revelation 5, this
is the host of heaven standing around the throne of God. And
Revelation 5 verse 9 says, they sung a new song saying, thou
art worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof for
thou was slain and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood. out of
every kindred and tongue and people and nation, and has made
us unto our God." This is what you accomplished for us. Redemption
by thy blood. And you have made us unto our
God, kings and priests, and we shall reign on the earth. We shall reign with him. All of God's chosen people. He made us to be kings and priests
in him. Though he was high, that's how
he had respect to us. He raised us up together and
seated us with him. Though the Lord be high, he has
so much respect to the lowly. Raised us up and seated us right
there with him. Go back to Psalm 138. Verse three, in the day when
I cried, thou answeredest me and strengthenest me with strength
in my soul. All the kings of the earth shall
praise thee, O Lord, when they hear the words of thy mouth.
Yea, they shall sing in the ways of the Lord, for great is the
glory of the Lord. What is the glory of the Lord?
It's his way. Verse five, they'll sing in the
ways of the Lord. It's his way. It's his sovereign
way of choosing his people and saving his people and calling
his people to himself. What was that way? How did he
accomplish that? He accomplished that by way of
his cross. He sovereignly had mercy on whom
he would have mercy. He sovereignly was gracious to
whom he would be gracious. He saved his people by the sacrifice
of himself, put away the sin of his people by the shedding
of his own blood. He displayed his greatest glory
when he cried, it is finished. That's his greatest glory. You
talk about respect to the lowly. It is finished, he bowed his
head and gave up the ghost. God forbid that we should glory
in anything save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. If
any man glory, if any woman glory, let him or her glory in the Lord. Verse five says, yea, they shall
sing in the ways of the Lord, for great is the glory of the
Lord. Though the Lord be high, Yet
hath he respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knoweth afar
off. Even though God's people are
the elected ones. Even though God's people know
they're the ones who were chosen in Christ. Have you ever had
a moment where you're like, well, we're the elected, we're the
elect. You know, sorry for you, but
I was chosen, you're not. Oh, the pride of man. God will
not allow that to continue in his people. He will not, even
though we know that we were the ones who were chosen in Christ,
even though God's people know that they were the ones who were
redeemed in the blood of Christ. Christ didn't die for everybody.
Christ's blood was not shed for everybody. Christ did not save
everybody. He saved His elect. And even
though we know we were the ones that were redeemed in Christ
and we are the ones who are called in Christ, even so, God's people
do not forget the pit from which they were digged. We do not forget
that dunghill we were taken off of. Because of that pit and because
of that dunghill of sin, that's what it is, the pit of sin, the
dunghill of sin, because of the burden of that sin that we still
carry around, we're still lowly. By his grace. By His keeping
power, we are still lowly in the flesh. We still have nothing
to boast of. Even though as He is, so are
we in the world. Yet, we still have absolutely
no confidence in the flesh. God's people have none. We have
nothing to glory in of ourselves. We are just beggars who come
bowing before Him. That's all we are. We're just broken and contrite
hearted beggars in need. That's who he said he'll hear.
That was also in Psalm 34 where we just were. He said that's
who he is near. That's who he saves freely. That's
who he saves freely. The lowest, sinfulest, poorest
beggars that they are. He saves them fully. He saves
them freely. He saves them permanently. Someone quoted this right here.
I love this. Someone said, you can't preach
God high enough, man low enough, or grace free
enough. You can't do it. And to that,
I would like to add, I would like to reword it a little bit
and say, you can't preach God sovereign enough, Man's sinful
enough or salvation finished enough. You just can't do it.
You cannot do it. Verse six, though the Lord be
high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly, but the proud he knoweth
afar off. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, thou wilt revive me. For thou shalt stretch forth
thine hand against the wrath of mine enemies. and thy right
hand shall save me. Though I walk in the midst of
trouble, my life is trouble. Job said, man that is born of
woman is a few days and full of trouble. That's man, that's
mankind. Why is that? Sin. My life is trouble. My sin is
trouble. I am my own worst enemy. You know who I need God to overcome?
Me. I need him to overcome me. I'm my own worst enemy. But David
said the right hand of God, the accomplisher of all of God's
work, Jesus Christ. He will revive me. He will save
me. Oh, revive us. Oh, Lord, send
a revival. A revival of hope in Christ,
looking to Christ. Start the work in me. Perform
that work in me. Finish that work in me. I need
you to do it. I need you to do it. You must
do it. You must do it. Here's the good
news. Verse 8. David said, The Lord will perfect
that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. You cannot outlive the mercy
of the Lord. Forsake not the works of thine
own hands. He won't. He said he will not. For that reason, we look to him. We look to you alone. Amen.