Psalm 20, verse 1 says, The Lord hear thee in the day
of trouble. The Lord will hear you in the
day of trouble. That's a wonderful thing to hear,
isn't it? It's so confident. It's so sure, it's so dogmatic. The Lord will hear you in the
day of trouble. The first four verses in this
Psalm tell us what the Lord will do. All of these things, one
right after the next, the Lord will do this. The Lord will do
this. Verse one says, the Lord will
hear thee in the day of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob
will defend thee. He will send thee help from the
sanctuary and he will strengthen thee out of Zion. He will remember
all thy offerings and he will accept thy burnt sacrifice. He
will grant thee according to thine own heart, and He will
fulfill all thy counsel. And then verse five says, in
response, we will. These are all the things He will
do. And then verse five says, we will rejoice in thy salvation. And in the name of our God, we
will set up our banners. And then verse five ends by saying,
the Lord will fulfill all thy petitions. Verse six says, now
I know that the Lord saveth his anointed. He will hear him from
his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. And
then verse seven says, some trust in chariots and some in horses,
but we will remember the name of the Lord, our God. Verse eight
says, they are brought down and fallen, but we are risen and
stand upright. And then verse nine ends the
Psalm by crying and begging and pleading, save Lord. Save, Lord, let the King hear
us when we call. That's the heart of what David
is crying in this psalm. That's what he's getting to in
this psalm. Save, Lord. Save. Oh, I pray the King might hear
us when we call. When we start crying out and
begging and pleading, Oh, I pray the King will hear us. Well,
verse one says, the Lord will hear you in the day of trouble.
The Lord will. Mankind experiences all kinds
of trouble, all kinds. God's people are included in
mankind. God's people experience all kinds
of trouble. We are constantly either about to head into trouble, currently in the middle of trouble,
or just coming out of trouble. And that condition is gonna remain
with us until we're rid of this body of sin and death. It'll
always be that way. Until we're finally rid of this
body of sin. But the good news is, our Lord
will be with His people in trouble. He will hear His people. He will
help His people. He will never leave His people. Whatever trouble comes their
way, lump all trouble into this. Whatever trouble comes their
way, He said, when thou passest through the waters, I will be
with thee. And through the rivers, they
shall not overflow thee. He didn't say, I won't let you
go in. He said, they won't overflow you. When thou walkest through
the fire, thou shalt not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee. He said, I will be with you in
trouble. Every trouble that comes to his
people. But there is a particular trouble
that I would like for us to dwell on for a moment. I pray the Lord
will quicken us to this. There is a particular trouble
that comes to all of God's people. and only God's people. The world
has trouble. But there is a particular trouble
that comes to all of God's people, and it is a necessary trouble. It is a life-changing trouble. It's a very arresting trouble. And I would definitely say that
it is a precious trouble. It's a trouble that all who have
experienced this trouble desire for every soul who has not experienced
it. They want this trouble. All who have entered into it
want this trouble to come upon every soul that has never experienced
it. I'm going to tell you what it
is, and then those of you who have experienced it, see if you
can enter into the truth of this, alright? There is nothing more
precious to me than seeing a person, and I mean this, there is nothing
more precious to me than witnessing a person Get lost. It's my favorite thing to say. While everybody's talking about
getting saved, all right, that's going to be the, you know, getting
saved, getting saved. Everybody's getting saved. They're
getting themselves saved. They're getting other people
saved. There is nothing more gloriously wonderful to me than
witnessing a person Get lost. I would love to hear people go
around telling everybody, I got lost. Yeah, I sure did. I got lost. Now, man naturally is lost. Every man and woman naturally
is lost. When God truly speaks to a person,
that's the first thing He tells it. He tells them, you don't
realize this yet, but you're lost. Man is born that way, but he
doesn't know it. All right, people don't know
it. The Spirit of God has to reveal that to men and women. And when the Spirit of God does
reveal that to a sinner, when the Spirit causes a sinner, it
takes God to do it. But when the Spirit of God causes
a sinner to become truly broken, rock bottom, no hope in the flesh before God,
lost, a lost, lost sinner. When God does that and reveals
that, it is a precious thing to see. It is so beautiful. A sinner is a sacred thing. The Holy Ghost has made him so. Meaning the Holy Ghost has revealed
it to him. Revealed to him that he is a
sinner. A lost sinner before God. Sinners are hard to find. They're few and far between.
They're everywhere, but you can't find any. And only someone who
has had this revealed to them even knows what I'm talking about. This message today is specifically For those who have never been
lost, if you have never been lost, this message is for you. I honestly believe that I have
a message. I believe the Lord has given
me a word for those who have yet to experience what it truly
is and what it truly means to be lost. Now, if God intends on making
anyone lost, If he's purposed to bring a sinner to an utter
realization of what it is to be lost, then he will give that
sinner ears to hear his word. That's what he will do. If he
does not intend on very lovingly bringing one of his own to a
state of being absolutely, distraughtly, if that's even a word, lost,
He will not give ears, and I'm not talking about these, I'm
talking about the spiritual ears of the heart. If He does not
intend on bringing one of His own to this state of being absolutely
lost, He will not give spiritual ears to hear His message to His
people from His Word. So, I pray And I would encourage you to
do this along with me. Pray with me. Lord, give us ears
to hear. Give us ears to hear this. He
said, he that hath ears to hear, let him hear. If I've given ears
to hear, let him hear. Now, before we get into this,
let's understand what being lost means. When a person becomes
lost spiritually, it's just like being lost physically. Same thing. Imagine yourself
walking through the woods, all of a sudden realizing you're
lost. There's no trail, everything
looks the same. You're just lost. Lost. And I mean truly lost. I don't
know if you've ever been lost before. Sometimes we get a little
turned around. I mean lost. Really lost. A person who is truly lost realizes,
I don't know where I am. I don't know the way out of the
condition I'm in. I need somebody to help me. A
person who's truly lost honestly says, I need somebody to come
get me. I've tried everything I know
to do. I've gone every way I know to go. I thought that was right,
but it wasn't. And I thought that was right,
but it wasn't. Everything I've done and everything
I've tried, it only brings me deeper into this condition. I'm in lost of my own ability. I see no way out. That's what
it means to be lost. It's to have no more hope and
no more confidence and no more trust in yourself. You know,
men drive in their car and they're lost and their wife is telling
them, just pull over and ask somebody and they say, no, because
they have confidence in themselves and trust in themselves. I can
get myself out of this. Well, once the man becomes lost,
that's the moment he loses all confidence in himself and all
trust in himself. I'm lost. It's a condition of
emptiness. It's a condition of helplessness. It's a condition of absolute
need and dependency on someone else to remedy the situation. When
God brings a man or a woman to that spiritual condition, it
is a gloriously precious thing to see because every time When God gets the sinner lost,
God gets the sinner found every single time. Now, I truly do
pray that God will give us ears to hear this. God has a people. God has a particular people that
he has purposed to save. He has not purposed to save everybody. He has not purposed to be the
help of everybody, but He has declared in His Word who He has
purposed to be the help of, who He's purposed to save. If you'll
turn with me to Matthew 18, we'll see who it is. Matthew chapter
18. Matthew 18 verse 11 says, For the Son of Man is come to
save, and Luke's account says, to seek and to save that which
was lost. That's who He came to help. That's
who He came to save, the lost. Verse 12 says, how think ye if
a man have an hundred sheep and one of them be gone astray? Doth
he not leave the ninety and nine and go into the mountains and
seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it,
verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep than of the
ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so, it is not the
will of your Father which is in heaven that one of these little
ones should perish. And if that's the will of the
Father, then none of them is going to perish. They are all
going to be kept by the power of God. Christ shall lose nothing,
but shall raise them all up at the last day. Every single soul
that He makes lost. The problem for mankind today
is nobody's lost. That's the problem. Nobody's
lost. Ask them. Nobody's lost. Look with me at Matthew 15. Matthew
15 verse 21. Then Jesus went thence and departed
into the coast of Tyre and Sidon. And behold, a woman of Canaan
came out of the same coast and cried unto him, saying, Have
mercy on me, O Lord, thou Son of David. My daughter is grievously
vexed with the devil. But he answered her not a word.
And his disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for
she crieth after us. But he answered and said, I am
not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Mankind is in for a rude awakening. The moment that he stands before
the judgment of God, only to hear him say, I have nothing
to do with you. You were never lost. Thankfully for this woman's sake,
she was lost. Verse 25, then came she and worshiped
him saying, Lord, help me. But he answered and said, it
is not me to take the children's bread and to cast it to dogs.
And she said, truth, Lord. And that's what a believer will
say. That's a person who God makes lost will say. He'll say
to you, outside of Christ, you're a lost sinner with no hope before
God. And every one of them will say,
truth, Lord. Christ is all I have, my only
hope. If I stand in my own condition,
I'm lost. She said, truth, Lord, yet the
dogs eat of the crumbs which fall from their master's table.
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy
faith. Be it unto thee even as thou
wilt. And her daughter was made whole
from that very hour. This is why it's so precious.
It's so glorious when God brings this utter trouble of being absolutely
lost to a man or a woman. Dire straits, no hope before
God, lost. It's because that's who Christ
came to save. And that's who he has commanded
his preachers to send his message to. He said, preach to them. Look with me at Matthew 10, verse
five. Matthew 10 verse 5, These twelve
Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, Go not into the
way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter
ye not, but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. And as you go, preach saying,
the kingdom of heaven is at hand. You carry the message straight
to every soul that I cause by my spirit and by my word, by
my grace to be lost. That's the condition he puts
all of his people in, all of them. Turn with me over to Psalm
119. Psalm 119, the last verse, verse 176, David said, I have gone astray
like a lost sheep. Seek thy servant, for I do not
forget thy commandments. What's the commandment? Come
unto me. David said, I can't. I'm lost. I'm lost. I'm in trouble. I am
in such trouble. He said, just let me read this
one to you. He said in Psalm 69, 17, hide not thy face from
thy servant. Where are you? I'm lost. Hide not thy face from
thy servant, for I am in trouble." Hear me speedily, I'm in trouble. If you ever experience that as
a sinner before God, and God's people will. If you
say, as you hear this, if you say, I don't think I've ever
experienced that. Listen to yourself. Listen to what the Spirit is
saying to your heart. If you ever experience this,
I'm in trouble, I'm lost, I'm a sinner. God's people are gonna
have troubles through the rest of their life, but this is the
one great trouble. This is the one needful trouble. And if you ever experience this
as a sinner before God, then this is the message. If you ever
experience, I'm lost, I'm stripped of all my ability. In my own self, in my own works,
in my own doing, I have no hope before God. I need Christ. I need the way. I need the Savior. If He does not find me, I'll
never be found. If He doesn't bring me, I'll
never be brought. If He doesn't redeem me, I'll
die in my sin. I'm in trouble. If you ever find
yourself in that condition, then this is God's message from God's
Word straight to you. And this truly is God's message
from God's Word straight to you. Go back to Psalm 20, verse 1
says, you in the day of trouble. If you cry, it's because He made
you cry. If you cry, it's because He's
already heard you before you ever even cried. You're actually
just hearing Him. If you cry, you're hearing Him.
You're hearing Him say, cry out to me. Verse one says, the Lord will
hear thee in the day of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob
will defend you. If you've ever been in this state,
this is the most glorious thing your soul will ever hear. This
is the most glorious thing your soul heard. And I pray God will
bring more to this state. When that fear, oh my goodness,
that fear, The God of Jacob will defend
you. He'll defend you. Oh, what I
am before the judgment throne. He'll defend you. He'll defend you before himself.
God Almighty. He'll defend you. Happy is he
that has the God of Jacob for his help. The God of sinners.
Verse 2 says, He will send you help from the sanctuary. Not
only will He defend you before the throne, He'll send you help
from the throne. Directly from the sanctuary of
God Himself. He'll also send you help from
the sanctuary of His people. Through the preaching of the
Word. It'll be a lamp to your feet. It'll be a light to your
path. You know, that's what somebody
who's lost wants. A light to the path. Verse two says he will strengthen
you out of Zion. He'll strengthen you in Christ. He'll provide you with the ability
to obey his command. He will say come. And you will come. Verse three
says, he will remember all thy offerings and accept thy burnt
sacrifice. What is a lost, troubled child
of God's offering to him? An empty, helpless sinner's offering
to him. Isaac said to Abraham as they
were walking up Mount Moriah, he said, dad, I see the fire
and I see the wood, where's the lamb? And Abraham said, my son,
God will provide himself a lamb. What was the lamb he provided?
Himself. God will provide himself to be
your lamb. That's what the soul will hear.
If the soul ever becomes lost, ever in trouble before the throne,
straight from the sanctuary of the throne of God, he will say,
Christ will provide himself. Everything God demands, Christ
will provide. Verse four says, He will grant
thee according to thine own heart and fulfill all thy counsel.
He'll teach you that Christ is all, all you need, all you have. If you have Him, you're found. He'll teach you that. He'll put
that desire for Him in you and then He will grant the desire
that He put there. Verse 5 says, after being in
such great trouble and hearing this glorious word from our God,
we will rejoice in thy salvation and in the name of our God we
will set up our banners. We will advertise this. We preach Christ. We plead Christ. That will be
our banner here. We plead Christ. We'll spread the word to every
soul we can. Christ is our all. All our hope,
all our need, all our desire. We just want Him. We just beg
for Him. The end of verse five says, the
Lord will fulfill all thy petitions. If He's what you're asking for,
He's what you'll get. Verse 6 says, Now know I that
the Lord saveth His anointed. He will hear him from His holy
heaven with the saving strength of His right hand. Now I know
that if God made me lost, God will make me found. That's what
He'll convince the soul of. If God made me lost, God will
make me found. If God started this, God will
finish it. Verse seven, some trust in chariots
and some in horses. That's works, not us. We will remember the name of
the Lord, our God. What is his name? Jesus Christ. The Lord our God, the Lord our
righteousness, the Lord our Savior, the Lord our Redeemer, the Lord
our peace, the Lord our rest, the Lord our seeker and finder
and keeper. Verse 8 says, they are brought
down and fallen. Who is brought down and fallen? All who never see their condition
of being lost. Pride comes before a fall. And that's all that false religion
is. It's just pride. So much pride. It comes before
a fall. Verse 8 says, They are brought
down and fallen, but we, whose only hope is in the Lord Jesus
Christ, we are risen and stand upright in Him. That's the only reason, in Him.
So for Christ's sake, for our Savior's sake, our finder, keeper,
redeemer, friend, verse 9 says, save, Lord. Let the King hear
us when we call. If you ever find yourself in
a place, and I pray you do, I pray you do, adults, young adults,
children, I pray you do. I pray the Lord makes you lost.
I pray the Lord puts you in a just horrible condition, just a dire,
just under the dust, pouring dust and ashes onto your head.
Sorrow and misery and depression for what you are before Him.
Oh, that would be so kind of Him to do that. So nice. And if you ever, if He is kind,
And He ever does put you in that position. And you find yourself
alone in your closet, truly crying out in your own soul, Lord save
me. Please hear me right now. Please
hear me right now. If you ever find yourself crying
that, then this is God's promise to you. Verse one says, the Lord
will hear you in your day of trouble. The Lord will put you
there, he will hear your cry, he'll answer you, he'll save
you, and he'll speak peace to your heart. That's a precious
trouble, isn't it? That is a precious trouble. May
God keep us right there, right there. And may he bring more
into that trouble with us. All right, let's all stand together.