Go back with me to Psalm 13. We're about to look at something
that's very weighty and serious. So let's pray that the Lord will
prepare our hearts, yours and mine both. Psalm 13, verse 1
says, How long wilt thou forget me,
O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou forget me?
David exposes this to be a deep concern of his heart. I mean
a real concern of his heart. God would not have inspired him
to write this down in this holy book if he was not deeply, deeply
concerned about this. And he says this many times in
the Psalms. There are many Psalms that say
this very same thing. And it's like that it's happening
over and over again to him. Look over at Psalm 77. There's
quite a few, but I want to show you one. Go to Psalm 77. Psalm
77 verse 7 says, Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Is His mercy clean gone forever? Does His promise fail forevermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his
tender mercies? And in that word, Selah, means
we ought to just stop and think about that for just a minute. Is it all gone? Why would David say that? I believe
I know why. I really do. It's such a strange thing for
a believer to say, but I believe I know why he would say that. Let me tell you when a sinner
feels the fullness of this psalm, when a sinner feels the fullness
of it, it's when he does not feel anything else. Now I'm talking about a state
that's very particular. Our Lord said, I would that you
were hot or cold. Do you know when you're cold and you are just hurting over
your sin, that's cold, you just in misery, there can be comfort
there. You know it? The back of your
heart can say, ìAt least God is convicting me over my sin.î But how often do we get in a
lukewarm state? That lukewarm state. Do you feel
lost and are you grieved over your sin? No, not too bad. Is
your heart burning within you over the Word of God? No, not
too bad. Some believers know what I'm
talking about. David wrote this over and over,
and the second one I read was much greater than the first one.
And it's like the Lord shows that to us a little bit more
each time, and it's so empty. It is so empty. You get to a place sometimes
where you really honestly wonder, is God's Spirit in there at all?
Shouldn't I, shouldn't there be something? We hate it. When we're in it,
we do hate it. And we want it to be exposed
for the sin that it is. Lord, convict me if need be. But some of you know what I'm
talking about in this lifelessness. That's what it is. It's lifelessness.
Lifelessness of the heart. Lifelessness of the thoughts.
Lifelessness of the prayer. There are times that I try to
pray and I cannot even pray for help. I can't even pray to ask the
Lord to help me. You know what I'm talking about? So I have to pray, and it's very
brief. It's just short, short, short
prayers asking the Lord to help me pray so that I can ask the
Lord to help me. Because there's just nothing
in here. It's just sin and flesh. That's all it is. It's just sin
and flesh. The Lord allowed our brother John Newton to experience
what I'm talking about. And we all know this and we love
this and there's nine stanzas in this wonderful poem and I'm
going to read five of them. "'Tis a point I long to know. Oft it causes anxious thought. Do I love the Lord or no? Am I His or am I not? If I love, why am I thus? Why this dull and lifeless frame? Hardly sure can they be worse
Who had never heard His name. Could my heart so hard remain
Prayer a task and burden prove? Every trifle give me pain if
I knew a Savior's love. When I turn my eyes within, all
is dark and vain and wild, filled with unbelief and sin. Can I
deem myself a child? If I pray or hear or read, sin
is mixed with all I do. You who love the Lord indeed,
tell me, is it thus with you? Is it thus with you? We feel so far from God. Those periods of lifelessness,
we feel so far from His Spirit. And our flesh can't do anything
about it. Our flesh cannot help it. Deadness is all it is. And the moment that we realize
that we are so far from God, there's a poem that says, ìFar,
so very far from God, I cannot farer be.î That's the moment
that we enter into this psalm and say, ìO Lord, how long wilt thou forget me?î
Go back over to Psalm 13 with me. Verse 1 says, How long wilt thou
forget me, O Lord? Forever? How long wilt thou hide
thy face from me? If he does not continually say,
Seek ye my face, I won't. This is an evening of honesty. I won't. You know, God calls
you to preach, and you study, and you try to be in the pulpit. But we're all sinners. We're not holy men, spiritual
men. We just walk around being spiritual
all the time. If God does not say, seek ye
my face, I won't. I won't. If he does not continually reveal
himself to me, if he does not daily reveal himself to me, I
am lost. I am as lost in that study as
you can possibly imagine. I'm empty, totally empty. Lord, how long wilt thou hide
thy face from me? Go to Song of Solomon, chapter
3. after Proverbs, Ecclesiastes. Song of Solomon 3, look at verse
1. By night on my bed I sought him
whom my soul loveth. I sought him but I found him
not. I will rise now and go about
the city and the streets, and in the broad ways I will seek
him whom my soul loveth. I sought him, but I found him
not." How many times has that happened to you? I don't see him in here. I don't hear His voice. I can't find Him. I know He's on
every page, but I can't find Him. Has that ever happened to
you? Back over to Psalm 13. Verse 1 says, ìHow long wilt
thou forget me, O Lord, forever? How long wilt thou hide thy face
from me? How long shall I take counsel
in my soul, looking into my soul to see is there anything in there,
is there anything in there that will bring me out of this?î Verse 2 says, How long shall
I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? That moment is sorrow. It's absolute
sorrow. Where are you, Lord? Where is your spirit? Where is
your touch? Where is your voice? How long shall my enemy be exalted
over me? That's what verse 2 says. Do
you know who that is? Do you know who that enemy is?
That is my own flesh winning. That's what it is. I hear these things. I read these
things. I want to care more. I do. But my flesh is winning. Look at chapter 12, verse 1.
Our David writes, Help, Lord, for the godly man ceaseth. Help me, Lord, please. I thought
you had done a work of grace in here. I thought you'd created a new
creature, a godly man. But it appears to
my soul that the godly man ceases. Spurgeon said, about this psalm right here,
he said, ìIf a man has never yet found occasion to use the
language of this brief ode, he will do so before long if he
be a man after the Lordís own heart,î like David was. If a
man has never yet found occasion to use the language of this brief
ode, he will do so before long, if he be a man after the Lord's
own heart. How long wilt thou forget me? But Spurgeon went on to say,
How like a fool thou talkest! Can God forget? That's what the
sinner is saying. How long wilt thou forget me,
Lord? How like a fool thou talk'st!
Can the all-knowing, omniscient God forget? He knows it all. He knows the end from the beginning.
Can He forget? Can God forget? Can the Heavenly Father, can
His heart forget His own child? Is there a way that I could forget
my own children? Go to Isaiah 49. Isaiah 49 verse 13 says, Sing,
O heavens, and be joyful, O earth, and break forth into singing,
O mountains. For the Lord hath comforted His
people, and will have mercy upon His afflicted. But Zion said,
The Lord hath forsaken me, and my Lord hath forgotten me. Can
a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion
on the son of her womb? Yea, they may forget. Yet will
I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon
the palms of my hands. What does that mean? It means Every time He looks
at His hands, the God that's in heaven, seated on His throne,
with His eye on His people, daily making intercession for them,
every time He looks at His own hands, He remembers the death of His
cross that secured the remembrance of His children, every single
time. Is there any way I can forget? It means I may forget Him, and do I ever. I may forget Him,
but He will never forget me. Never. He will never forget one
sinner whom he printed his hands for, engraved his hands for. That thief said, Lord, remember
me. Little did he know that's exactly
what the Lord was doing at that exact moment in time, remembering
him. He may hide his face for just
a minute, just a minute. in order to warm the heart of
his children. He hides his face for just a
minute. I can think of times when the
girls have had it in their mind, we're leaving. And we're not. We're not going anywhere. But
in their minds, they're leaving. And they were kind of doing their
own thing and all of a sudden they think, we're gone. We weren't leaving, but they
thought we were. And the Lord might hide his face
for just a minute to warm the heart, put something in there,
put something back in there. Lord, I'm so empty. He does that in mercy for the
good of his child to allow him to start praying again. There's
always a moment when you realize God has allowed me to start praying
again. I can't pray. I can't pray. Behold,
he prayeth. He puts faith back in. That's
what he does. He hides his face for just a
minute to put some faith back in there. Back over in Psalm
13, verse 3 says, Consider and hear me, O Lord
my God. My God. Thank God He is not just the
God. He is my God. They buried our Lord in that
tomb. And when they did that, all the disciples became lost. They were all lost. They were
depressed. Peter said, I'm quitting the
ministry. I'm going back to fishing. They were depressed. They were
alone. They felt forsaken. But he arose
and he appeared to some of them. And they tried to tell Thomas,
ìItís fine, Thomas. Weíre not alone. We are not forsaken.î
But this is what he said, ìExcept I see the nail prints in his
hands, I wonít believe.î And the Lord appeared and He said,
ìHere, Thomas. touched these prints of remembrance
and as soon as he did, he said, my Lord and my God. My God, the precious reviving
of faith. I won't believe, I will not believe,
I believe. Revive us again. Revive us again. Verse 3 says, Consider and hear
me, O Lord my God, lighten mine eyes. Go over to Ezra chapter
9, go back towards Genesis. There's Job and then Esther,
Nehemiah, Ezra. Ezra 9. Ezra 9, verse 8. And now, for a little space,
grace hath been showed from the Lord our God. to leave us a remnant
to escape and to give us a nail in His holy place, that our God
may lighten our eyes and give us a little reviving in our bondage."
How sweet is that? For we were bondmen, yet our
God hath not forsaken us in our bondage, but hath extended mercy
unto us in the sight of the kings of Persia, to give us a reviving,
to set up the house of our God, and to repair the desolations
thereof, and to give us a wall in Judah and in Jerusalem. What grace! To give us a little
reviving in our bondage. Lord, lighten our eyes. Lighten
the eye of faith. That's what I need. That's what
I need. Lighten the eye of faith. Lighten
the eye of understanding. Lighten the eye of this heart.
Cause it to see Christ. That's what I need. I need to
see those nail prints. Well, back over in Psalm 13, verse 3 says, Consider and hear
me, O Lord my God. Lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep
the sleep of death. Physical death is coming. And
every believer knows that when that time comes, God's grace
will be sufficient. It'll be sufficient. But the
thing that we fear the most, the thing that I fear the most,
is sleeping the sleep of spiritual death. Lord, don't leave us to ourselves.
Revive us again. Fill each heart with Thy love.
May each soul be rekindled with fire from above. Verse 4 says,
lest mine enemy say, and that's me, this old flesh, lest mine
enemy say I have prevailed against him and those that trouble me
rejoice when I'm moved. Lord, I'm looking to you because
there's nothing in here, nothing but doubt. Verse 5 says, but
I have trusted in thy mercy. What a change from verse 1. In such a few words, David says,
I have trusted in thy mercy. One man said, David's heart was
more often out of tune than his harp. His heart was more out of tune
than his harp. And I get that. I get that. He started out sighing and he
ended up singing. And this is the daily walk of
a believer. That's what this is. I started
this week out sighing. I told you it's an evening of
honesty. Monday, you know, the Lord I hope and believe met with a
Sunday and blessed Brother Luke for a Sunday night and you come
off of Sunday refreshed and Monday comes and I started flipping
the pages and I went to Genesis, I went to Acts, I went to John,
I went to Romans and then I started filling in the gaps. Has his mercy cleaned gone? I called my dad about it. Monday
I went home and Hannah said, did you get a lot done? And I
said, well, I don't know. I didn't tell her. I didn't get
anything done. Nothing. I sat in the study all day. So I thought Tuesday I was going
to get up, you know, today's the day. I had that day Monday,
but it's coming today. And I got here Tuesday morning
and I sat. I sat. I called my dad and I said, something
is not right. I have nothing. The Lord is not
speaking to me through His Word. And he said, He will. Just wait. And I thought, this is miserable.
But I realized David experienced this. David knew something about this. So I turned here and by Tuesday
night I was singing. I was so happy. The Lord spoke
again. I started out sighing. I ended
up singing. And this is the daily walk of
a believer. I don't expect it to be any different.
All the time. You start with the doubt. Lord,
have you forgotten me? God sends a prayer, finally. Consider me, hear me. And then
he sends the remembrance. The remembrance of his mercy
and of his salvation. Verse 5 says, But I have trusted
in thy mercy, and my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. Let me ask you this question.
Was David any more secure in verse 5 than he was in verse
1? Was he any more loved? Was he
any more redeemed? Was he any more a precious child
of his father in verse 5 than he was in verse 1? The next time I get in this state,
this exact state, This state of feeling alone, forgotten, lost. That's what it is, lost.
Lord, I'm lost. May I remember what our Lord
taught our brother Martin Luther. Martin Luther experienced this. We all do. But I pray that God
would allow me to remember and you to remember what he taught
Martin Luther. He wrote this. Feelings come
and feelings go and feelings are deceiving. My warrant is
the Word of God, not else is worth believing. Oh, he's forgotten
me. Not according to the Word of
God. Psalm 42 says, ìWhy art thou
cast down, O my soul? Hope thou in God.î Martin Luther went on to say,
ìThough all my heart should feel condemned for want, lack of some
sweet token, there is one greater than my heart whose word cannot
be broken.î I'll trust in God's unchanging Word till soul and
body sever. For though all things shall pass
away, His Word shall stand forever. Verse 5 says, I have trusted
in thy mercy, not in my feelings. Don't trust in your feelings.
Somebody brought up a really good point one time. A man says,
ìI just donít feel saved.î He said, ìWell, when you were lost,
did you feel lost?î ìNo.î ìWell, you were.î Feelings come and feelings go.
ìI trust in thy mercy, not in my feelings.î My heart shall
rejoice in thy salvation, not in whether or not I feel saved."
I'm happy today because I feel saved. Well, maybe you ought
to get sad because that's coming before fall. Here's God's truth. Here's His Word to His people.
The night time can seem so bad, but it never fails. He never
fails us. Joy always comes in the morning. It's right behind it. Verse 6
says, I will sing unto the Lord because He hath dealt bountifully
with me. He always does. He always does. He brings us from the dung heap
and He sets us among princes. What mercy! What salvation! What help! What grace! What goodness! Thank God! Alright, let's stand
together.