Psalm 86, verse one says, bow down thine ear, oh Lord,
hear me, for I am poor and needy. Do you ever have moments where
you just need to stop right there? You just need to stop right there. That's all you have in you to
cry out to the Lord. I know you know what I'm talking
about. Like that's all I have in me. Lord, help me. Please help me. I'm afflicted, I am humbled,
I am wretched, I am weak. That's what the word poor means. afflicted, humbled, wretched,
weak, and needy means lacking, destitute,
and unable. It literally means the lowest
class of beggar that there is. That's what that word needy means. The lowest class of beggar that
there is. Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear
me, for I am poor and needy. Bow down, I can't even, I can't
even reach you. My voice can't even reach you.
Bow down to me, hear me, I'm poor and needy. That is such
a tough place to be. But do you know that's the best
place we could be? Does anybody enjoy feeling poor
and needy? Let me answer that for you. No. Do you ever enjoy feeling literally
helpless, like the lowest class of beggar that there is? No. No. That time whenever you're
resolved to just Just sit still and just wait on the Lord. I
have no other options. I've exhausted all my options. That is not a good feeling. Such a tough place to be. But
that is the best place that any soul could be. It is God's mercy
that He would bring a soul to that place. Turn with me over
to Psalm 34. Psalm 34 verse 17 says, The righteous
cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth them out of all their
troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. He is near
the brokenhearted. He saves the contrite spirit. That word contrite means down
in the dust. You know, we say that word all
the time. You hear that word quoted, contrite. It literally
translates crushed to powder. Just crushed to powder. That's
who the Lord is near. That's who the Lord saves. Look
right here at verse 6. It says, this poor man cried
and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. What an announcement that is.
Doesn't that give you hope that the Lord will be with you in
moments like that? It's been a long while since
I've told this true story, so I'm going to tell it again. I
love the story. I love telling this story. Back
in the Civil War, there was a Union soldier who got word that his
mother was dying. And he wanted to see her before
she died. And he could not get leave to
go see her. And so he got it in his mind
that he would go ask the president, he was near the White House,
and he would go ask President Lincoln if he could have leave
to go see his mother. And so he went to the White House,
walked up the steps and came to the door and there were two
guards standing there. And he explained who he was and
explained what was going on, explained that his mother was
dying and he couldn't get leave to go see her. And he was going
to ask the president if he would grant him leave. to go, you know,
could I please come in and speak with him? And they said, no,
you cannot. And he said, I'm begging you,
please, would you please let me come in? He is my only hope
of being able to see her, you know, begging and pleading. They
said, no, you can't come in. He said, you don't understand.
They said, no, you don't understand. We're under orders. No unauthorized person comes
through these doors. You are unauthorized. You're
not coming in. So the man finally turned, sat
down on the steps of the White House, put his head in his hand
and just cried. He just sobbed and cried. And
a little boy was walking by, and he was looking at that man
crying, and he stopped for a minute and finally asked him, he said,
what's wrong, mister? That man said, you would not
understand, son. That little boy sat down beside
him, and he said, tell me, what is it? What's wrong? He said, my mother is dying,
and I can't get leave to go see her. And my only hope is that
I could get in and ask the president if he would grant me leave, and
I cannot get in. And the little boy said, well,
I'll take you in. Come on, let's go. And the man
said, what? He said, get up. Come on, let's
go. So they stand up and turn around and walked up the stairs,
walked up to the front door of the White House, walked right
past the two guards, opened the door. Walked down the hall, passed
another set of guards, came to another door, opened that door,
and walked straight into the Oval Office. And sitting at a
desk was President Abraham Lincoln. And he looked at that little
boy and he said, what can I do for you, son? And he said, Dad,
this man needs to see you. That little boy was Tad Lincoln. son of the President of the United
States of America. And he interceded for that man. The President's son interceded
for that poor and needy man. And he was accepted, and he was
heard, and he was helped in the Beloved. All because of
the Beloved. That's how it is for every soul
who comes to God in Christ the Beloved. We are accepted, we
are heard, and we are helped in our time of need. And I'm
telling you from personal experience, that is so. You get in a place where you
are in deep, desperate need and there's only one man who will
do. And you go to him, he will help
you. He will accept you. He will hear
you. He will help you. That has been
proven to me and proven to me and proven to me and proven to
me. I'm being serious. And that causes every soul who
does that to say this. Look at Psalm 34 verse 1. 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. I sought the Lord and He heard
me and delivered me from all my fears. They looked unto Him."
Who's they? My fears. They looked unto Him and were
lightened and their faces were not ashamed. This poor man cried
and the Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles.
Good news, good news. For poor and needy, broken and
contrite souls, there is help at the throne of mercy and grace. Help for every soul that is accepted
in the beloved. That is good news, isn't it?
Turn over to Psalm 41. Psalm 41 verse 1 says, blessed
is he that considereth the poor. The Lord will deliver him in
time of trouble. Blessed, so blessed because the
Lord will deliver him in time of trouble. The thing that I
want to stress and really you know, really hound tonight
is, the Lord will help us. The Lord will help us. You know,
we have these light bulb moments. These light bulb moments. I think,
I believe, I will say this till the day I die, every time I really
get a hold of Romans 8, 28, it's a light bulb moment. I say, I
forgot, and this ought to be another one. In our time of trouble
and need and trial and weakness and heartache and brokenness,
He will help us. He will help us. He will. Aren't you so glad it says the
Lord will deliver him in time of trouble? If He delivered us
on the cross of Calvary, in our time of eternal trouble, He will
deliver us out of every little, as John Newton put it, trifle. Every trifle out there that gives
me so much pain. He will deliver us. He will help
us. He will. Go to Psalm 69 with
me. Verse 33 says, the Lord heareth
the poor. I mean poor, broken, afflicted. And he despiseth not his prisoners. Let the heaven and earth praise
him, the seas and everything that moveth therein, for God
will save Zion. and will build the cities of
Judah, that they may dwell there and have it in possession. The
seed also of his servants shall inherit it, and they that love
his name shall dwell therein." What a wonderful promise that
is. He hears the poor, he will save, they shall inherit. Now why is this? Why is it possible
for the Lord our God to redeem and deliver and help his poor
and needy people when he is so high above us and we are so low
and there's such a gulf fixed between us? When it was so impossible for
us to pay the redemption price that was owed to bring us back
to God, when we were so broke so penniless, so in debt to sin
because of our sin. How was it even possible for
a payment to be made on our behalf that would redeem and deliver
us from our poor and needy condition? How? How did he raise up the
poor out of the dust and lift the needy out of the dunghill? How did he do that? How? 2 Corinthians 8 verse 9 says, You
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich,
yet for your sakes He became poor. Here we are crying, I'm
poor. I'm just so poor. I'm so poor. You know the grace of our Lord
Jesus Christ that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became
poor, that you through his poverty might be rich. How did he deliver
the poor and needy? By stepping into their place.
by taking their position from them, by taking their poverty,
taking their need from Him, from them. Their poverty was their
sin. Their need was deliverance from
that sin. Christ accomplished that by stepping
into their sin. Look with me at Psalm 40. Psalm 40, this is Christ speaking. Verse six, he said, sacrifice
and offering thou didst not desire. Mine ears hast thou opened, burnt
offering and sin offering hast thou not required. He's saying
this to his father. What he's saying is all those
bulls and goats, they did not satisfy. Verse seven, then said
I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my
God. Yea, thy law is within my heart. I have preached righteousness
in the great congregation. Lo, I have not refrained my lips. O Lord, thou knowest. I have
not hid thy righteousness within my heart. I have declared thy
faithfulness and thy salvation. I have not concealed thy lovingkindness
and thy truth from the great congregation. Withhold not thou
thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me, for innumerable evils have compassed
me about. Mine iniquities have taken hold
upon me so that I'm not able to look up. They are more than
the hairs of mine head. Therefore, my heart faileth me.
Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help
me. Let them be ashamed and confounded
together that seek after my soul to destroy it. Let them be driven
backward and put to shame that wish me evil. Let them be desolate
for a reward of their shame that say unto me, aha, aha. Let all those that seek thee
rejoice and be glad in thee. Let such as love thy salvation
say continually, the Lord be magnified, but I am poor and
needy. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me.
Thou art my help and my deliverer. Make no tearing. Oh my God. Standing in the place of his
people, he cried, I am poor and needy. In Lamentations 3, he
said, I am the man that had seen affliction. From the cross, he
cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? But in Psalm 16, he said, my
hope looks to you. My hope is looking to you. And
he said, my heart will rejoice in that hope because I know you
will not leave me in this destitute place. You will not leave me
here. I know that I will pay the price
of this redemption in full and I'll sit in the joy of your presence
forevermore. That's what he said. That was
the hope of Christ toward his father. And that's our hope toward
Christ. What he said to his father, that's
what we say to him. He said to his father in verse
17, I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer,
make no tarrying, oh my God. That's what he said to his father,
that's what we say to him. Verse one, he said, I waited
patiently for the Lord in that grave. While he laid in that
grave for three days, I waited patiently for the Lord, and he
inclined unto me and heard my cry. He brought me up also out
of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon
a rock, and established my goings, and he hath put a new song in
my mouth. Even praise unto our God, many
shall see it, and fear and shall trust in the Lord. Lest is the
man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the
proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. That's what he said
to his father, that's exactly what we say to him. You heard
me, you pulled me out of a pit. A horrible pit, you delivered
me. Verse 5 says, Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works
which thou hast done, and thy thoughts which are to usward,
they cannot be reckoned up in order unto thee. If I would declare
and speak of them, there are more that can be numbered. The
substitution of Christ for his people, that is what lifts the
poor and needy sinners from the dunghill and sets them among
princes. stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed. And
if you'll go back with me to Psalm 86, let's just listen here to the
words of our Deliverer and our Savior, the one who stood in
our poor and needy place in order to lift us up. All right, because
He said this, we can say this. Let's hear His words first. Let's read this and hear His
words first, and then go ahead and hear our words after Him,
okay? Verse one, this is our Lord speaking to His Father. In our deliverance, He said,
bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul. For I am holy. He could say that. O thou my God, save thy servant
that trusteth in thee. The father said, you behold my
servant. Verse three, be merciful unto me, O Lord, for I cry unto
thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant,
for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, art
good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy unto all them
that call upon thee. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer
and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of
my trouble, I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me.
Among the gods, there's none like unto thee, O Lord. Neither
are there any works like unto thy works. All nations whom thou
hast made shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall
glorify thy name. For thou art great and doest
wondrous things. Thou art God alone. Teach me
thy way, O Lord. I will walk in thy truth. Unite
my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my
God, with all my heart, and I will glorify thy name forevermore. For great is thy mercy toward
me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. O
God, the proud are risen against me, and the assemblies of violent
men have sought after my soul. and have not set thee before
them. But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious,
long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. O turn unto
me and have mercy upon me. Give thy strength unto thy servant,
and save the son of thine handmaid. Show me a token for good, that
they which hate me may see it and be ashamed, because thou,
Lord, hast helped me and comforted me. Because the Father comforted
Christ concerning us, the Father has comforted us concerning Christ. Seeing and hearing Him say that
to His Father on our behalf. He said all that on our behalf.
That causes us to say that to the Father on His behalf. Because of Christ, my poor soul
is enriched. It really is. My needy soul is
provided for in Christ. It's filled in Christ. It's help
in Christ. It's blessed. In Christ we see, we keep crying,
I'm so poor, I'm so poor, but in Christ we see I'm not poor
at all. He made himself to be poor that I might have his riches. In Christ we can say the Lord
has helped us and comforted us. All thanks and praise be unto
him. Amen.