Go with me, if you would, back
to Psalm 123. Psalm 123, and let's read these
four verses again. Unto thee lift I up mine eyes,
O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the eyes of servants
look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden unto
the hand of her mistress, so our eyes wait upon the Lord our
God, until that He have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us,
O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly filled with
contempt. Our soul is exceedingly filled
with the scorning of those that are at ease and with the contempt
of the proud. David is crying out to the Lord
for help. He's crying out to the Lord for
help. He said, Unto thee lift I up
mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. I'm looking to
you. I'm looking to you. Do you know those moments? And
if you're one of His own, you do. But do you know those moments? of when you have great need. I mean exceptional need. Great sorrow. You know how sometimes
sorrow comes when you least expect it. It just overtakes you. Great,
great heaviness. Just great trouble. Have you experienced those moments
when it dawns on you? Alright, you're headed into the
trouble. You're in the sorrow. You're
in the heaviness. And all of a sudden you realize,
I've been crying out to myself. I've been complaining to myself. Seeking help from myself. That's
the first thing we do. We seek help from right inside
here. I've been crying out to my family.
I've been crying out to my friends. But all of a sudden you realize
now I'm crying out to you. Now I'm crying to you. I wasn't
before. But now I am. Now I'm reminded
of the source of help. All of a sudden it comes to you.
I forgot where true help was. Now I'm coming to the root of
the matter. I'm standing at the throne of
grace. Verse 1 says, Unto thee lift
I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. I'm lifting up
my eyes to the one who dwells in the heavens. Psalm 121, it
says, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh
my help. My help cometh from the Lord
which made heaven and earth. I'm going to the one who made
heaven and earth. He will not suffer thy foot to
be moved. He that keepeth thee will not
slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is thy keeper. The Lord
is thy shade upon thy right hand. The sun shall not smite thee
by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord shall preserve thee
from all evil. He shall preserve thy soul. The Lord shall preserve thy going
out and thy coming in from this time forth and even forevermore. There is a God, the only God
there is. He is seated in the heavens and
He said, I can look to Him. He said that I can cry out to
Him for help. Is that not amazing? Does that
not grab you? This only God that exists, He
said I could cry out to Him for help and He said He would hear
me. And He said He would answer me. He said He would never leave
me and never forsake me. He said He would hold my right
hand. He said if I seek Him, I'll find
Him. And if I come running to Him,
He will in no wise cast me out. Do you ever have those moments?
Those precious moments where we realize again that the God
of all heaven and earth is our help. The God of all heaven and
earth is our direct help. We can go straight to the throne
of God. Verse 1 says, Unto thee lift
I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold, as the
eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, And as
the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our
eyes wait upon the Lord our God. How do servants look to their
masters? When servants look to their masters,
what are they looking for? Everything. Everything. A true servant to a true master. Everything. Not only are they
looking for a command, direction and leadership, but they're looking
for the food that sustains them. They're looking for the clothes
that cover them. They're looking for the shelter
that protects them. Their master is their all, and
our master is our all. He's our all. Not only is He
our commander, our direction, our leader, He's the one that
provides the food that sustains us. He provides the clothes that
cover us. He provides the shelter that
protects us. Both physically and spiritually. Physically, He provides those
things for us. Spiritually, He is those things
for us. The Lord our God, His name is
Jesus Christ. And He is the bread that sustains
us. You know man cannot live by bread
alone. You know that, it's true. If
all we had was bread alone, I would hate to go through this world
without the Word of God. Wouldn't you? Wouldn't you hate
to go through this world without the Word of God. Man does not
live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the
mouth of God. We're looking to You. We're looking
to Your Word. He said, I am the bread that
came down from heaven. I'm the living bread. He said,
if you feed on me, you will never spiritually hunger ever again. And it's so. It's so. I don't know if you've ever experienced
spiritual starvation. But all it takes is one taste
of the blood of Jesus Christ. That's all it takes. It just
takes one true look to the finished work of Calvary. And you're just
so full. You're just so full. He said,
if you come to me and partake of me, you eat of me everything
I am and everything I've provided, you will never spiritually hunger
ever again. And if our spiritual bellies
are filled, I promise we have all we need. Having food and
raiment, if we have our spiritually bellies filled and we've got
the right set of clothes, We have everything we need. Everything
we need. Look at Isaiah 55. Isaiah 55 verse one says, ho,
everyone that thirsteth. I love how it starts with, ho,
that means announce it to everybody. Behold, this declaration goes
out to everybody. Ho, everyone that thirsteth,
come ye to the waters. What waters is he talking about?
He's talking about himself. Christ is the living water. He said, if any man thirst, let
him come unto me and drink. You think about that. He said,
if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Any man or
woman. Any man or woman? Somebody says,
any man or woman? Verse 1 says, Ho, every one that
thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, all
who are broke, even if you're broke, broken
and broke, come ye, buy and eat, yea, come
buy wine and milk without money and without price. Wherefore
do you spend money for that which is not bread, and your labor
for that which satisfieth not? Is that not man, sadly, in religion? He's just spending all his money
for bread that cannot satisfy. He said, hearken diligently unto
me. And eat ye that which is good,
and let your soul delight itself in fatness. As a servant looks
to his master for his next piece of bread, Lord, we look to you,
and we do. Lord, we look to you. Christ
is the nourishment that sustains us. Christ is the clothing that
covers us. Look with me at Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61 verse 10, it says,
I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful
in my God, for He hath clothed me with the garments of salvation. What is that? He goes on to say,
He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness. Whose robe
of righteousness? His own robe of righteousness.
He took off, when He took the robe of our sin, He put His robe
of righteousness on us. A complete trading of robes. He is the robe of righteousness
He put on us. His work, His purity, that's
what covers us. Lord, we look to you to cover
us in that. We look to you to cover us. He is our nourishment. He is
our covering. He's our shelter from every stormy
blast that could come. Go with me over to Psalm 91. Psalm 91 verse 1 says, He that
dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide
under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is
my refuge and my fortress, my God, in Him will I trust." Not
only is He our shelter from, as verse 5 says, the terror by
night and the arrow that flies by day. Verse 6 says, the pestilence
that walks in darkness and the destruction that wastes at noonday. But He's also our shelter from
the wrath of God. He's our shelter from God's judgment
against our sin. Will God punish sin? We had better believe it. Will
God punish our sin? Will He punish the sin of the
very people that He chose to set His love and affection on?
If He chose to set His love and affection on them, will He punish
their sins too? We'd better believe it. He's
a just God and a Savior. That's why we look to Him. Lord,
hide us in that rock. Hide us in the cliff to the rock.
That rock was broken for us. Hide us in the secret dwelling
place of Christ. That rock is Christ. He is our shelter. He's our all. He is our all. David said, as
a servant looks to his master, Lord, that's how we're looking
to you. And then he said something that is really what drew me to
Psalm 123. Go back over there, Psalm 123. I just adore this. He said in verse 2, Behold, as
the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and
as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, So
our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that he have mercy
upon us. Lord, we're going to keep looking
to you until you have mercy on us. We're just going to keep
looking. We're going to keep looking and
keep looking until you have mercy on us. We know that you're going
to. We know that you've promised
to, you said you promised in your Word, in the bread of your
Word, that you would give it to every soul that desperately
needs it. We know that you are the one who gives the need. We know that you're the one that
causes the eye of the heart to look in the first place. So Lord,
we'll keep looking, trusting, believing until you have mercy
on us. By your grace, we won't stop.
We will not stop. By your keeping power, we will
not stop until you have mercy on us. That reminds me of another
man in the scripture. Go with me over to Genesis chapter
32. Genesis 32 verse 24, it says,
And Jacob was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him
until the breaking of the day. Jacob was a man who was rightly
named. His name means cheater, deceiver,
sinner. That's what his name means. That's
what he was. Right here, Jacob has been running for his life
because his brother Esau wants to kill him. Jacob bribed and
deceived Esau out of his birthright blessing. But it says, a man
came to Jacob one night and wrestled with him all night long. And
that man was the Lord Jesus Christ. Jacob was obviously no match
for our Lord. But our Lord was kind enough
to wrestle with him anyway. And our Lord has been kind enough
to wrestle with every single one of His children throughout
every generation of the world. That's what He does. He comes
and He wrestles with them. And it says in verse 25, When
He saw that He prevailed not against Him, He touched the hollow
of His thigh, And the hollow of Jacob's thigh was out of joint
as he wrestled with him. And he said, let me go for the
day breaketh. And Jacob said, I will not let
thee go except thou bless me. I can't let go. I just cannot
let go. If I let go, I'll, I'll lose
the only hope I have. If I don't have you, I don't
have anything. So I'm going to keep holding
on. That was his answer. I'm just going to keep holding
on. I'm going to keep waiting. I'm going to keep wrestling until
you bless me. Until you have mercy on me. Verse
27, And he said unto him, What is thy name? And he said, Jacob. It's center. I know what it is. Verse 28, And he said, Thy name
shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel. That means a prince
of God. For as a prince hast thou power
with God, and with men, and hast prevailed. And Jacob asked him,
and said, Tell me, I pray thee, thy name. And he said, wherefore
is it that thou dost ask after my name? Meaning, you know who
I am. Verse 29 goes on to say, and
he blessed him there. What was his blessing? What did
he receive? Mercy. He received mercy. He was spared from the wrath
and the punishment he deserved for the sin that he had committed. Verse 30 said, And Jacob called
the name of the place Peniel. That means the face of God. For
I have seen God face to face and my life is preserved. I received mercy and my life
is preserved. Where is it preserved, Jacob?
It's preserved in the blood of the man who just wrestled with
me. Well, Jacob, are you ready to
let go now? Nope. I still can't let go. He's blessed me, I can't. Where
else is there to go? To whom else shall we go? I've
mentioned this before, but quite a few years ago, it was before
I came here, I was traveling around and filling in to different
places that needed someone to come preach. And one Saturday
night I was staying with a family, in this particular congregation,
and we were all sitting around talking, and they have a daughter
who at that time was a very early teenager, very, very early teenager,
maybe not even a teenager, but we were all talking about the
gospel, just sitting around talking about Christ. And every now and
then she would say something. And it was good. And I kept taking
note that that's good. She has some good things to say.
Well, the next morning I was sitting on the front porch with
her dad having a cup of coffee and I mentioned to him that it
seems like she really has an interest in these things. And
he said, oh, she has an interest, all right. She's so concerned about it,
she's scared to death. She's terrified. And I said,
Over what? He said, She is concerned that
the Lord is going to return before He saves her. She is concerned. He said, She's consumed with
it, worried that the Lord is going to come back and gather
all of His own to Himself. before he reveals himself to
her, speaks peace to her heart. I told her dad, I think he already
has saved her. I think he already has revealed
himself to her. And in the Lord's time, I believe
he did speak peace to her heart. She's a precious girl. I love
her very much. But David said, and I told her
dad, you tell her, keep waiting. You tell her, keep looking. You
tell her, keep asking. Keep begging. Keep begging. Keep
begging. Don't stop. Keep looking. David
said, we will keep on looking until you have mercy on us. We'll
just keep on looking. Well, go back to Psalm 123. Psalm 123 verse 1 says, Unto
thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens.
Behold, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters,
and as the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, So
our eyes wait upon the Lord our God until that He have mercy
upon us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord, have
mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly filled with contempt. Our soul
is exceedingly filled with the scorning of those that are at
ease and with the contempt of the proud." Contempt means hatred. It means shame. Our Lord said
that His people would be hated for the truth's sake. As this world tried to shame
Him, this world will try to shame all those who are truly looking
to Him. All those who truly follow Him. There are persecutions that
come and will come and will continue to come. There are. But can we
not read these last two verses in this way and mean this with
sincerity? Verse 3 says, Have mercy upon
us, O LORD, have mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly filled
with contempt. is exceedingly filled with the
scorning of those that are at ease and with the contempt of
the proud. Our soul is exceedingly filled
with the same thing. I see the same thing in this
cold, dead, stony heart that I see everywhere else. Oh, wretched man that I am. Lord, that's why we're looking
to you. That's why we are looking to you. I definitely need to
be delivered from my enemies. And I mean this, I definitely
need to be delivered from my enemies, but I need to be delivered
from myself. I am my own worst enemy. In every
way, shape, and form, when it's time to come and gather in His
name and worship Him, I am my own worst enemy. I say that and
mean it as the preacher. I am my own worst enemy. Lord,
would you deliver me from me? Would you please deliver me from
the body of this death? Please, I'm looking to you and
I'm going to keep looking to you until you have mercy on me. I need that deliverance so badly. Well, let's close with this verse
of Scripture. Go with me over to Isaiah chapter
30. Isaiah 30 verse 18, it says, And therefore will the
LORD wait, that He may be gracious unto you. And therefore will
He be exalted, that He may have mercy upon you. For the LORD
is a God of judgment, blessed are all they that wait for Him.
For the people shall dwell in Zion at Jerusalem, thou shalt
weep no more. He will be very gracious unto
thee at the voice of thy cry. When He shall hear it, He will
answer you. When He hears it, He will. It's
coming. It's coming. Keep looking, keep
waiting, keep crying until He has mercy. All who need it are
going to get it. Every soul that needs it is going
to get it. All right, let's all stand together.