with me again to Psalm 39. Psalm 39. Last Wednesday night, we were
in Philippians 3, where Paul said, I count everything
that is not Christ, loss. If it's not Christ, it's loss. And he said, I don't care. I don't care that I've lost it
all for Christ. He said, I've suffered the loss
of all things for the Lord Jesus Christ. And he said, I don't
care, that's how I want it to be, because everything that is
not Christ is dung. It's worthless. It means nothing. Whatever great attainments we
think there are to be had in this life, they mean nothing. Compared to Christ, they mean
nothing. He said, I'm pressing toward
the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ
Jesus. He said, the only thing that
will matter in the end is Christ. Knowing Christ. Having Christ. Winning Christ. Being found in Christ. That's it. That's it. It doesn't matter one bit if
I lose everything else, as long as I don't lose him. Long as
I don't lose him. After that message, some of us
were talking in the hallway about how true that really is. How true that honestly is. How many ambitions, how many
things did we pursue after? in life. How many things did
we think were everything and think were just so important? And how many things did we think,
I just have to have that. But God in his mercy stopped
us and stopped it. I could give you a list of things
that I just, I had this, it had to go this way. And God in mercy
shut it down. and caused us to realize that
if this is gonna come between me and my Lord, it has to go.
If it's gonna come between me and my Lord, it has to go. How thankful we are for every
enticing temptation that our God has spared us from. Every wrong path our God has
kept us from. in order to keep us right there
with the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what he does for his people.
He keeps them with Christ. We try to veer off, we try to
run away, we think we've got a real good idea going over here,
but he in mercy will stop us and he'll bring us right back
to the Lord Jesus Christ. We need him. We need him. We think we're something when
we're nothing. And every now and then in His
grace and His mercy, He will remind us of what we are and
how much we need Him. We need Him so desperately. So
with that being said, the message Wednesday night caused me to
think of this. I want us to consider this request
that David made here in Psalm 39 verse 4. He said, Lord, Make me to know mine end, and
the measure of my days, what it is that I may know how frail
I am. Make me to know my end. Make
me to know what my end is, what it is, the measure of my days. But I may know how frail I am.
He said that because in the rest of the psalm, he said, that's
what will keep me turned to you. He knew that and all of God's
people know that too. When we're weak, we're strong. When we're strong in self and
in flesh, we're weak spiritually. But when we are so weak and we
just have nothing and we're so empty and we're crying out and
we're casting our all on the Lord, that's the strongest that
a child of God can be in this life. And David said, I know that's
what will keep me turned to you. Make me to know my end and the
measure of my days. What it is that I may know how
frail I am. Look at verse seven, he said,
and now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. My hope is
in thee. My hope is in thee. What's your
hope of glory? What is your hope of glory? What
is your hope of going to heaven? Well, it's because I did this.
No. It's because I decided that. No. I got one hope, Jesus Christ,
that he loved me, sought me, bought me, keeps me. I got one hope. My hope is in thee. Lord, that's
all I have. My hope is in thee. So verse
four, he said, make me to know mine end. Make me to know my
end. We would be so wise if we would
consider our latter end. Every person on earth considers
the end of their working career. It's
called retirement. People consider it. People think
about it, they invest in it. There's a ladder end. There's
a ladder end. We would be so wise if we would
consider our ladder end. I would venture to say, earthly
speaking, humanly speaking, that's probably the wisest thing we
could do in this life. Moses said, oh, that they were
wise and would consider their latter end. We have an end that
is fast approaching. For God's people, it's actually
a beginning. The good news is it's actually
a beginning. For God's people, we have a beginning
that is fast approaching. But it's an end to life on this
earth. And David said, I need to know
what my end is. I need to know what my end is.
Turn over to Psalm 73. Psalm 73 verse 1 says, truly
God is good to Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.
How can a man have a clean heart? Only in Jesus Christ. If we are
in him, we have his heart. Verse 2 says, but as for me,
my feet were almost gone. My steps had well nigh slipped. For I was envious at the foolish
when I saw the prosperity of the wicked. For there are no
bands in their death, but their strength is firm. It's like they
go all the way to the grave just so confident in themselves and
so sure of, they literally have the world by the tail, you know?
Verse five, they're not in trouble as other men, as God's people
are, troubled over their sin. Neither are they plagued like
other men. Therefore pride compasseth them
about as a chain. Violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness. They have more than heart could
wish. They are corrupt and speak wickedly
concerning oppression. They speak loftily. They set
their mouth against the heavens and their tongue walketh through
the earth. Therefore, his people return hither and waters of a
full cup are wrung out to them. And they say, how doth God know?
And is their knowledge in the Most High? Behold, these are
the ungodly who prosper in the world. They increase in riches. Barely I have cleansed my heart
in vain and washed my hands in innocency, for all the day long
have I been plagued and chastened every morning. If I say I will
speak thus, behold, I should offend against the generation
of thy children. When I thought to know this,
it was too painful for me. until I went into the sanctuary
of God, then understood I therein." He said, I'm watching the people
who do not give God a thought prosper and thrive and they're
happy in the world and they're just loving life. And he said,
this was killing me because I'm so miserable over my sin and
miserable before God and fear this latter end. And he said,
that's how it was, until I went into the sanctuary of God, then
understood I their end. Oh, the proud, the arrogant before God, the
self-righteous before God, then understood I their end. Verse
18, he said, surely thou did set them in slippery places,
Thou castest them down into destruction. How are they brought into desolation,
as in a moment they are utterly consumed with terrors? As a dream,
when one awaketh, so, O Lord, when Thou awakest, Thou shalt
despise their image. Thus my heart was grieved, and
I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I and ignorant. I was as a beast before Thee.
Nevertheless, I am continually with Thee. Thou hast holden me
by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with Thy
counsel and afterward receive me to glory. Whom have I in heaven
but Thee? Who do I have but You? And there
is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee. My flesh and my
heart faileth. But God is the strength of my
heart and my portion forever. For lo, they that are far from
thee shall perish. Thou hast destroyed all them
that go a-whoring from thee. But it is good for me to draw
near to God. I put my trust in the Lord God,
that I may declare all thy works. He said, Lord, keep me from that
awful, self-righteous pride before you. Make me to know how frail
I am. I have nothing to offer God.
There's nothing I can do for God. Make me to know how frail I am,
that I may in humility beg you for mercy. That's what a frail
sinner will do before the holy God. He will beg for mercy. God
be merciful to me. That's the end I desire. That's the end that we all need. We need to know that goodness
and mercy will follow us all the days of our life and we'll
dwell in the house of the Lord forever. I need to know my end. I need to dwell in the house
of the Lord with him forever. Lord, cause me to know that in
the end, I'm gonna awake with a lightness. I need to know that
end. Give me a heart that longs for
that. Give me a heart that looks for that. Give me a heart that
waits for that. Go back to Psalm 39. Verse four says, Lord, make me
to know mine end, and the measure of my days. Make me to know the
measure of my days. Cause me to remember, Lord, that
my time is in your hands. My time here is in your hands.
I have a designated amount of time on this earth. Don't let
me spend it away like a fool. Let me redeem the time that you've
given to me. Look at Psalm 31. Verse 15, my times are in thy
hand. Deliver me from the hand of mine
enemies and from them that persecute me. Make thy face to shine upon
thy servant. Save me for thy mercy's sake. Lord, save me. Greatest prayer
ever prayed. Lord, save me. Save me from my enemies. Save me from sin. Save me from
death. Save me from hell. Save me from
myself. Lord, save me from me for your mercy's sake. I'm in
your hands. I need to be in your blood. My time is in your hands. I'm
in your hands. to do with whatever you want
to do with me. Look at Job 14. Job is just before Psalms. Job
14. Verse 1 says, Man that is born of woman
He is a few days and full of trouble. He cometh forth like
a flower and is cut down. He fleeth also as a shadow and
continueth not. And dost thou open thine eyes
upon such an one and bringest me into judgment with thee? Who
can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one. Not one but one. Verse 5 says, seeing his days
are determined, the number of his months are with thee. Thou
hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass. Lord, cause me
to know that. Cause me to know that. It is
appointed unto man once to die. There's an appointed time for
every soul on this earth. And I don't know what it is.
I don't know what mine is. And you don't know what yours
is. Today is the day of salvation. We need mercy today. We need
grace today. We need the blood of Jesus Christ
to be poured on us today. Lord, pour your blood on me today. It's appointed unto men once
to die. That time for every soul on this earth is in the hands
of God Almighty. That time is coming fast. It's
coming so fast. James said, what is your life? It's a vapor. It appears for
a little time and then it vanishes away. We would be so wise to
consider that. That's what will teach us to
apply our hearts to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. If
our hearts are applied to Christ, God the Father is the one who
applied them. But He will apply them through the teaching of
this word. He will turn our hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ. And
He'll do that by causing us to realize we are in His hands.
Life is short. There is one need. Eternity is
coming. Turn our hearts to the Lord Jesus
Christ, please. Look with me at Psalm 90. Psalm 90 verse 1, it says, Lord,
thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the
mountains were brought forth, or ever thou hadst formed the
earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou
art God. Thou turnest man to destruction
and sayest return, you children of men. For a thousand years
in thy sight are but as yesterday when it is passed. And as a watch
in the night, thou carryest them away as with a flood. They are
as a sleep. In the morning they are like
grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourisheth
and groweth up. In the evening it is cut down
and withereth. For we are consumed by thine
anger and by thy wrath are we troubled. Thou hast set our iniquities
before thee, our secret sins in light of thy countenance.
And that's exactly what happened for God's people on the cross
of Calvary. Outside of Christ, that is what's gonna happen for
every soul who goes to stand before God. Every secret sin
is gonna be brought up. It's all gonna be set forth.
But in Christ, that's exactly what happened on the cross of
Calvary. And they were consumed. All of our sin was consumed by
his anger, consumed by his wrath. Verse nine, he said, all our
days are passed away in thy wrath. We spend our years as a tale
that is told. When I was a kid, I used to listen
to my dad and the adults tell stories. And I used to think,
I wish I had some stories. It doesn't take long and you
get stories. It doesn't take long at all. It's no time, and
then you can tell story. Our life is like a story that's
told. It's going by so fast. It's going by so fast. It's like a tale that's told.
Verse 10 says, the days of our years are three score years and
10, 70. That seems so young to me. It seems to me like people should
not leave this earth until they're in their 90s. But our Lord said 70. We shouldn't
be shocked when it's 70. For my mother, it was 48. For me, it could be today. It could be right
now. We're going to meet God. We would
be so wise to consider this. We're going to meet God. Every
soul here is going to stand before God individually. We want to
be standing in Christ. We want to be standing with Christ.
Verse 10 says the days of our years are three score years in
10. And if by reason of strength,
they'd be four score years, yet is their strength labor and sorrow? for it is soon cut off and we
fly away. Who knoweth the power of thine
anger, even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath? Who knows
the power of his anger? The Lord Jesus Christ does on
behalf of his people. He endured the power of the wrath
of God for his people. Verse 12 says, so teach us to
number our days that we may apply our hearts unto Christ. He is our wisdom. Oh Lord, we
need you. Lord Jesus Christ, we need to
be in you. Verse 13 says, return, oh Lord,
how long and let it repent thee concerning thy servants. Oh,
satisfy us early with thy mercy that we may rejoice and be glad
all our days. That means for all of eternity.
Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted
us and the years wherein we've seen evil. Why? Because that's
what will turn us to you. Let thy work appear unto thy
servants and thy glory unto their children. Let your work appear
to us and our children. The finished work of the cross
of Calvary. Show us, open our eyes to what
you've done. Verse 17 says, And let the beauty
of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish thou the work of
our hands upon us. Yea, the work of our hands, establish
thou it. That means if there's any work
to be done by us, do it for us. You establish it. Teach us to number our days that
we may apply our hearts to the Lord Jesus Christ. Go with me
back to Psalm 39. Let me just read through this. It says, David said, I said, I will take
heed to my ways. Verse one, I will take heed to
my ways that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my mouth
with a bridle while the wicked is before me. I was done with
silence. I held my peace, even from good,
and my sorrow was stirred." Clearly, David wrote this at a time of
real trouble. He was in real despair and trouble. He said at the end of verse two,
my heart was stirred. Verse four, he said, oh, how
frail I am. Verse eight, he said, deliver
me from all my transgressions. Deliver me. I've got so many
transgressions. I have so many sins. I'm so full
of sin. Deliver me from my sin. The end
of verse 11, he said, every man is vanity, empty. Man at his
best state is altogether vanity. Verse 13, he said, spare me that I may recover strength.
I'm so weak, I'm just so weak. But like Job, he said, I think
I'm gonna put my hand over my mouth and trust the Lord. Look
to the Lord, wait on the Lord. Lord, teach me to do that. Teach
me to do that. Verse one, I said, I will take
heed to my ways that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep my
mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me. I was done
with silence, I held my peace even from good, and my sorrow
was stirred. Verse three, he said, my heart
was hot within me while I was musing the fire burned, then
spake I with my tongue in prayer to the Lord. Verse four, he said,
Lord, make me to know my end and the measure of my days, what
it is that I may know how frail I am. What time I have here,
that's what my margin says. Verse five, he said, behold,
thou hast made my days as a hand breath. That's not much. He said, my
age is as nothing before thee. We get a little age on us and
we're so proud of how wise we are and our age and all that.
My age is nothing. Barely every man at his best
state is altogether vanity. That's a good place to be before
God. That is such a good place to
be. Broken, contrite, I am nothing, my age is nothing, I have attained
nothing, and neither has any other man. You are all, we are nothing. Christ is all. Verse five, behold
thou hast made my days as a hand breath and mine ages as nothing
before thee. Barely every man at his best
state is altogether vanity. We would be so wise to learn
that. Verse six, surely every man walketh in a vain show. Surely they are disquieted in
vain. He heapeth up riches and knoweth
not who shall gather them. That means that there's an end
to man. There's just an end. He does
not last. Verse seven, and now, Lord, what
wait I for? My hope is in thee. You are my
retirement. You're my retirement. What do
I get in the end? The Lord is my portion. He's my portion. And David is
saying right here, I'm left in a place where I have nothing
but hope in you. That's all I have, hope in you.
I hope in your wisdom, I hope in your work, I hope in your
life, your death, your blood, your redemption, your mercy,
your grace. My hope is in you. All of my
hope is in your salvation. Verse eight, deliver me from
all my transgressions. If I'm gonna be delivered from
my sin, it's gonna have to come from you. Make me not the reproach
of the foolish. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth
because thou didst it. He said, I kept silence through
all of my suffering because I know you're the one who gave those
sufferings to me. You did it. You do all things. I kept silence because I know
that everything here is just a light affliction compared to
the eternal weight of glory. I kept silence because I know
that my suffering is nothing compared to your suffering. Suffering
of your cross. Verse nine, I was dumb, I opened
not my mouth because thou didst it. Remove thy stroke away from
me. I am consumed by the blow of
thy hand. When thou with rebukes dost correct
man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like
a moth. Surely every man is vanity. Every man's efforts are vanity.
Every man's righteousness is vanity. A man or a woman's only
hope is in thee, in thee. In Christ alone, my hope is found. He is my light, my strength,
my song. This cornerstone, this solid
ground, firm through the fiercest drought and storm. What heights
of love, what depths of peace, when fears are stilled, when
strivings cease. My comforter, my all in all,
here in the love of Jesus Christ, I stand. That's all I have. He is all
I have. So, Lord, I cry to thee. Verse
12, he said, Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my
cry. Hold not thou peace at my tears,
for I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner, as all my fathers
were. I have no home but you. You are my home. You're the only
home that I have. Verse 13, oh, spare me that I
may recover strength before I go hence and be no more. Lord, if
you don't receive me, I have nowhere else to go. I have nowhere
else to go. If you don't keep me, I have
no other rock to stand on. If you don't save me, I have
no other hope of glory. Cause me to know that. Cause
me to consider that. Let that turn me to you. Cause
that to turn me to you, because if I'm turned to you, and if
I come to you, and if I'm drawn to you, you will receive me. I know you will. Based on your
word, you will receive me. If I'm drawn to you, in the end,
you will receive me for Christ's sake. Amen.