The title of this message, Bring
My Soul Out of Trouble. Bring My Soul Out of Trouble. You know, many things go into prayer and many reasons
to pray. We pray and give thanks. with
the things that the Lord has done for us. We thank Him. I try to pray daily when I first
come into my study. And the first thing I do in prayer
is I always try to make it a prayer of thanksgiving. I always try
to start with thanking, thanking God. Thank you for a safe night. That's every morning. I wake
up in this evil world. I realized that this whole world
lies in wickedness. And I realized that my safety,
our safety, is of the Lord. A dog can't even bark at us unless
the Lord allows it to. And I'm thankful for that. I'm
thankful for the food I eat. I'm thankful for the provisions
that you all provide for us. I'm thankful for it. And then
I asked the Lord about the message. To not only give me the message
in this portion of Scripture, but to enable me to communicate
and give it to you. Not just me receive it, but I
gotta give it. And I want to receive it in a
way that it feeds me, my heart is really blessed, and then I
can in turn give it to you. If it doesn't feed me, I'm probably
not gonna feed you either. But those are the things that
I pray about. And then I pray when I'm in trouble,
soul trouble, soul trouble. And that's what we have here.
David, again, prays about his trouble. The last three or four
Psalms, starting in Psalm 140, 141, 142, 143, these all run
along the same line. David's praying about trouble,
trouble, trouble, trouble. He often cried out of trouble,
don't we? Trouble seems to be the constant
companion of God's children. Jesus Christ was said to be a
man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. You know why? He carried my troubles. That was my life he carried,
my grief, my sorrow. And I confess this though, my greatest trouble is within. I have more trouble within than
I have with anybody without. I have more struggle with that
old man than I do with any man. That old nature I have, I know
he's been dethroned, but he sure is strong. And it's probably
because I feed him too much. It might have something to do
with it. Don't we? We live in this world, we have
a tendency to feed the appetites of this flesh. I know that. That's why we're told in the
scriptures to mortify the deeds of the flesh. Don't feed this
flesh. It's like they say, don't feed
the bears. There's a reason for that. They'll
attack you. They will attack you when you
don't give them what they want. But my trouble, as I said, is
my greatest troubles within, that which I would do, I do not,
that which I would not do, I do. Do you find that to be so? That
so is. You see, that's real soul trouble.
That's what we struggle. We wrestle not against flesh
and blood, but against principalities and powers of darkness. We wrestle
against spiritual wickedness in high places. We wrestle against
that old nature that's still in us. We wrestle with these
things that we can't see. It's tough wrestling with someone
you can't see, coming at you in angles that you don't realize. You know, it's written in Job
14.1, Man that's born of a woman is a few days in full of trouble. Man is born to trouble as the
sparks fly upward. Our Lord said this, These things
I've spoken to you, that in me you might have peace. In the
world you shall have tribulation. In John 16.33. But be of good
cheer, I've overcome the world. I've overcome the world. Prayer does not need to be complicated. God knows our hearts. I tell
you what, the most uncomplicated prayers there are, are the ones
when you're in trouble. Boy, you don't have to look for
words. I find myself when I'm praying
in the study, I find myself searching for words at times. I find myself,
like you said, Doug, at a loss. Not when you're in trouble. I
promise you not when you're in trouble. Peter said, save me
when he was about to drown. He found the words that he needed
for that moment. And it's very simple. Save me. It doesn't need to be complicated.
Our Lord knows what we need. He said there in Matthew 6.32,
For after all these things do the Gentiles seek, for your Heavenly
Father knoweth that you have need of all these things. We're
not informing God, we're just showing our dependence on Him
in prayer. Prayer is really God's children
acknowledging their dependence on their Heavenly Father. It's
communing with our Heavenly Father. And here's what's sad, is usually
for us to really pray. I mean, to really pray, the Lord
has to bring us into trouble. That's so. I mean, for our hearts
to really be engaged in it, and it's to be sincere, and we're
just really engaged in prayer. 99% of the time, God's gotta
bring us into trouble to get us there. Then we flee unto thee
to hide me, as David said. Prayer is communing with our
Father, and it's showing our need and dependence upon Him. He knows we need Him. He knows
that. Do I know that? How well do I
know that, that I need Him? I need Thee every hour. We sing
it, but so often we sing above our experience. We need Him. And He has to bring us into trouble
to make us know we need Him. He has to hedge us up like He
did Gomer. He hedged up her way. You go
read that. I've been reading in Hosea. He
hedged up her way. And He has to hedge up our way.
That the only one we have to turn to is Him. Now verse one, Hear my prayer. This is a prayer of David, a
psalm of David. It's his prayer. Hear my prayer,
O Lord. Give ear to my supplications, which are many, plural. In thy faithfulness answer me,
and in thy righteousness. We pray to be heard of God, don't
we? Doug, he prayed here just a minute
ago. Doug prayed to be heard of God. I pray God answers that prayer
tonight. May He be with us and bless me, enable me to preach
in the power of His Spirit, and His Word go forth in power, and
you leave here tonight rejoicing in God our Savior, your Savior,
my Savior. The Lord send forth His Word
in power. You get something out of this, something to carry you through
to the next service. We pray to be heard of God, and
we ask Him to give ear, to give attention, and to answer me.
We pray for an answer, don't we? Don't we pray for an answer? And you know He answers every
time, you know that? A prayer that's true, a true
prayer, a sincere prayer, God answers it every time, in His
way, in His time, but He answers it every time. And in thy faithfulness
answer me, and in thy righteousness. You know, God is faithful, isn't
He? God is faithful. He's the faithful
God. He can be counted on. His promises
can be counted on. He's faithful to His promises.
You see, God is a covenant God. And I think this is what He's
making reference to, in thy faithfulness. HE'S FAITHFUL TO HIS COVENANT
PROMISES. IN HIS FAITHFULNESS TO HIS PROMISES,
HE SAYS, ANSWER ME. IN HIS FAITHFULNESS TO HIS SON,
IN HIS FAITHFULNESS TO HIS PEOPLE IN HIS SON, HE'S SAYING, ANSWER
ME. THAT'S POWERFUL PRAYING. You
know, sometimes if we just read these prayers and really pay
attention, we learn something about praying, how to pray. You
know, the disciples asked the Lord, TEACH US TO PRAY. They
heard Him pray. And I know when they heard Him
pray, they're like, Lord, teach us how to pray." Listening to
him pray, I'm sure they felt like they'd never prayed in their
life when they heard him pray. To hear him pray and give thanks
and the praise and the sincerity of it, the power of it. And they
said, teach us to pray. And you know, if we pay attention,
when we read these prayers of these saints, we can learn something
about prayer. We can learn something. Answer
me, he said. Is it too bold to ask God to
answer you? Why are you praying if you don't
want Him to answer you? If you want Him to answer you,
ask Him to answer you. Answer me in thy righteousness. Answer me in thy righteousness.
I don't have one. I don't have anything to commend
me in a way that would move you to answer me. But I believe he's
saying this, answer me in Christ our righteousness. There is a
righteousness in which God is satisfied and God can hear and
answer our prayers. He can hear and answer our prayers
and do so. But I think he, in verse two,
I think he makes kind of like, and I don't know any better way
to put this, but I think he makes an amendment to his prayer. He
says in verse 2, And enter not into judgment with thy servant.
Don't enter into judgment. Answer me in thy righteousness.
Christ is the righteousness of God. Answer me in that, but not
in strict judgment or justice. Don't bring me into judgment,
because no man living, he said, for in thy sight shall no man
living be justified. This is real spiritual knowledge
going on right here. Solomon said in Ecclesiastes
7.20, For there is not a just man upon earth that does good,
and sins not. David KNEW this. David KNEW he
was a sinful wretch. David KNEW that by nature he
was just as rotten as his enemies. I know that, you know that. You
are just as rotten as those who do not believe. By nature. You're not now. You have a nature
in you that's of God. You don't live like that. Paul
said, old wretched man that I am, but he didn't live like one after
God saved him. But enter not into judgment with
thy servant. Matthew Henry said it this way.
I mean, says he, the righteous promises of the gospel, not the
righteous threatenings of the law. Oh, don't enter into judgment
with a righteous threat. No man can stand before you in
that manner. No man can do it. There was only
one man who was just and sin not, the man Christ Jesus. He's
called the Just One. He's called the Just One. When
Paul was rehearsing his experience on the road to Damascus, there
in Acts 22 14, Paul said, The God of our fathers, he's quoting
what Ann and I said to him, he said, The God of our fathers
has chosen thee that thou shouldest know his will and see that just
one, there is a just one, and that just one died for the unjust,
that he might bring us to God. And God can answer us in Him,
but don't bring me into judgment based on me. No, based on Christ. And notice how David calls himself,
thy servant, thy servant. This is humility. This is getting
down on your knees. This is laying your face in the
dust. This is taking the crown off and laying it on the ground. And this is laying out before
God and he's saying, I'm thy bond slave. You're somebody's
slave, you know that? Everybody in this room, you're
somebody's slave, you're not your own. Don't be fooled into
thinking you're your own. You're your own, you're not.
Never have been. Before the Lord saved me, before
the Lord saved you, we were under the Spirit of Darkness, as it
says in Ephesians chapter 2. We were under the Spirit of Darkness. Before the Lord saved us, we
were under the same Spirit of Antichrist. But not now, I'm thy servant,
willing bond-slave. That's what we are. That's whose
servant I am. And the reason for the prayer
is this, for the enemy, now he gets back to the reason for the
prayer. You see, he had to clarify in verse 2. Don't bring me into
judgment with you because nobody can stand before you. But now
he gets back to what was on his heart. For the enemy hath persecuted
my soul. He hath smitten my life down
to the ground. He hath made me to dwell in darkness. He made me to dwell with dark
thoughts and dark apprehensions of God. You know Job had to fight
that, didn't he? Job did, he fought that. He thought
God turned on him. You know how dark you have to
be? You know how dark a child of God has to, a dark place they
have to be in to think that God's against them and God is going
to destroy them? That's a dark place. Because we know this, that all
things work together for our good. We know that whom the Lord
loves, He chastens. He chastens. But He says here
that He hath made me to dwell in darkness, dark thought, dark
apprehensions. As Job said in one place, I'm
full of confusion. You ever been there? Has God
ever put you in a place at one time that you're full of confusion? As those, he said, I'm in a,
it is so dark, it's the same as those who have been long dead,
buried in the grave and gone. He said, I'm in such dark. You know, sometimes God lets
the enemy have a strong hand against his children. As in the
case of Job, as an example, doing business. This is doing business
in deep water. You know the Lord said, when
you go through the water, He didn't say if, He said when. And the fire, He didn't say if,
He said when the fire, when you go through the water and the
fire, you're going through it, sooner or later. Sooner or later. Some
a little more intense than others. You know, some of God's children,
He pushed through the fire. and through the water a little
more intense than he does others, but he does so according to his
will and purpose. But he says here, for the enemy
hath persecuted my soul, my soul is who I am. If someone's after
my soul, they are after my life. They were after my reputation,
trying to discredit me because of my union to the Lord Jesus
Christ. I realized one thing. I realized
this. Well, I realized some other things, but I realized that the
whole world, look at the whole world. It's set against you. It's set against Christ. It's
set against his people, the whole world. And that's what it's all
about. It's all about that. Don't get caught up in the confusion
of battle and miss what's actually going on. There's a spiritual
warfare going on. And this is all going to end
up with the Lord Jesus Christ who's right now putting down
all rule and all authority right now. That's what's going on. And when He finally puts down
that last one and He saves that last shield, He's going to deliver
up the kingdom to God and this is over. This is over. And as Solomon said, as a tree
falls, so shall it lie. You die lost, you stay lost.
You die saved, you stay saved. There's no change. There is no
change. Someone passed away here that
we know just this week. And I said to Vicki, I said,
he's where he is forever. Forever, no change, no coming
back. Aren't you glad you know that?
Aren't you glad you know Christ? Aren't you glad you know what
this is all about? The Son of God has come and given us an
understanding. I understand what this is all about. All things
were made by Him and for Him, that's what it's all about. That's
what it's all about. And notice here also in verse
3, He says here, He hath, he hath, who is this enemy? It's
singular. You notice it's singular. Satan. He knows that behind all his
trouble, I mean, our sins make us, give us a lot of trouble,
but he knows that the very head of his trouble, he has one enemy,
Satan. A very real person. A very real
adversary of God's people. A very real adversary of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He was an adversary in the beginning. He was an adversary when we walked
on this earth. He's an adversary now. And He's not going to change.
He's not going to change. 1 Peter 5.8 Be sober and be vigilant,
because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about,
seeking whom he may devour. He's walking about on this earth. HE'S WALKING ABOUT ON THIS EARTH,
SEEKING WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR! LIKE A ROARING LION, A HUNGRY
LION! HE'S NOT LOOKING FOR A BUNCH
OF GOD-HATING REBELS, HE'S LOOKING FOR YOU! WHOM HE MAY DEVOUR YOUR
WITNESS, DEVOUR YOUR FAITH, DEVOUR YOUR HOPE! THAT'S WHAT HE'S LOOKING
FOR! HE CAN PUT A NOTCH ON HIS BELT,
I GOT ONE! THAT'S WHAT HE'S LOOKING FOR!
And that's why Peter said, Be sober, be vigilant now, don't
be foolish, don't be asleep, don't slumber, because He's walking
about seeking whom He may devour. And then the enemy here is the
unbelieving world. It's our enemy. One united enemy
against Christ and His Church with Satan as the head of it.
It's one enemy. It's one. Don't be fooled by
its kindness. It's a false kindness. The whole
unbelieving world is Antichrist. Now you got Christmas coming
up. And this is the delusion of Satan. You got everybody trying to celebrate
Christmas that's Antichrist. 99% of the world is anti-Christ and
they're gonna celebrate Christmas. They're gonna celebrate the birth
of Christ? No. No, they hate Him. As long
as they can keep Him in a manger, it's all right. As long as they
can keep Him nailed to a cross, that's all right. But on the
throne, they hate Him. And that's exactly where He is.
He's on the throne. And therefore, in verse four,
Because of this soul trouble from my enemy is my spirit overwhelmed
within me, my heart within me is desolate. Sometime God lets
his children go into deep spiritual depression. Some suggest, and
I thought about this, some suggest that this was the time that Absalom
was trying to dethrone him. I don't know whether it was or
not, but I tell you what, it would, having your son, One that
you love, trying to dethrone you and kill you? That would
be overwhelming to me. That would dry up my spirit.
That would make my heart desolate. If my son was trying to dethrone
me, spit in my face, hated me, and I loved him, he said, Absalom,
Absalom, would to God I died for you. His heart bled for that
boy, and that boy tried to bleed his heart out. And then, if that's the case,
I can sure see why he said, my spirit's overwhelmed. My son's
trying to kill me, dethrone me. The son of my, I love him. I
love Absalom. But he don't love me. That's
hard to take, isn't it? That's hard to take. But you know, our Lord knew this,
as I said in Psalm 142. He knew this soul trouble in
Gethsemane. He knew it on the cross. And we know it in a measure,
not like he knew it. He knew it to the very nth degree. He knew it perfectly. We just
know it in small degrees, really, compared to what we could know.
He knew what the wrath of God really is. He tasted death for
every man. He tasted the death, I should
die. He tasted it. He drank the dregs of God's,
that cup of God's wrath. He drank every drop of it. There's
none left for me. None left for you who believe. And what this trouble led David
to, notice here what it led him to. Verse 5, I remember the days
of old. I meditate on all thy works.
I amused, that is to be absorbed in thought, to be absorbed in
thought on the work of thy hands. If this is what trouble and trials
lead to, good. Good. If it leads me to sit down
and get away from this busy world and my busy schedule and calls
me to think upon God, good. Boy, that's when you ought to
just say, Lord, thank you for the trouble. I'm thinking of
you now. The fact that I'm calling upon you, the fact that I'm bearing
out my heart now to think that I know I need you. Thank you
for the trouble. He's calling to mind God's dealings
with him and other saints in days gone by. You reckon he's
thinking of Job? And how God brought him out of
that? I think he is. And meditation, listen, meditation
could be a great asset if it's used properly. I meditate on
all thy works of creation. Maybe he's sitting there and
he's looking down and he's thinking upon God and he sees a worm wiggling
on the ground. And he's amazed at that worm. Thank God if you can actually
look at a worm and be amazed. You know, those are the things
that amaze me. The other day I was thinking,
this is me, I get things like this on my mind, I was thinking
of a gnat and how small the eyes have to be in a gnat and the
lungs and the heart. And I think, now who can do that
but God? Who can make something that small
and operate and give it life? Give it life. My, my, my. He said, I tell you,
I meditate on thy works of creation. I look at creation, and as John
Sharnock said, it takes the wisdom of God to make such variety work
in such harmony. Only God can do that. And then
I marvel at His works in providence, how He's making all things work
together for our good, constantly. Constantly. Whatever went on
today was for your good. Period. It's for your good. And I meditate on thy works of
salvation and mercy and grace. You know, a believer is a work
of God. You know, this Armenian preaching,
they just take what Christ died, you know, Christ died on the
cross and Mary rose again. Now they set him aside. Then
they set that all aside. And now what are you going to
do with him? Now they make faith the Savior. You're a work of salvation, you're
a work of grace, you're a work of mercy, you're a work of God.
Everyone who believes is a work of God, faith is a gift of God.
He worked that in you. David said in one of the Psalms,
I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Do you ever think about
that? Do you ever stand and look in the mirror? I know you stand
in the mirror and most of the time we're thinking oh there's
a wrinkle or here's this and you know a hair's falling out.
Just stand there the next time and just say, what a marvel of
creation. This body, hands, And then a mind, it's just, the
mind is always, the brain, the mind, I've always been impressed
with. If I was ever gonna be a surgeon,
I'd be a brain surgeon. Because I am so impressed with
the brain. How you can think and do and
move, that's of God. But to believe God is a work
of God. It's a work of God. And I meditate on how all the
work of thy hands are working for my good. Listen to hear Isaiah
51, 12 through 13. I, even I, am he that comforteth
you. Who art thou that thou shouldest
be afraid of a man that shall die, and of the Son of Man, which
shall be made as grass? And forgetest the Lord thy Maker? You're so afraid of man, you've
forgotten me. THAT HAS STRETCHED FORTH THE
HEAVENS, AND LAID THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE EARTH, AND HAS FEARED
CONTINUALLY EVERY DAY BECAUSE OF THE FURY OF THE OPPRESSOR,
AS IF HE WERE READY TO DESTROY, HE CAN'T DO ANYTHING! He can't do anything without
My PERMISSION. As the Lord said to Pilate, you
have no power at all except it be given you from above. And
note the results from the meditating. He's sitting there, he's meditating
upon God and upon his works and the work of his hand, and he
says, I stress forth my hands to you. He found himself sitting there
meditating, looking down, and the next thing he does, when
he thinks of God and his greatness, he just reaches up. I stress forth my hands to you.
MY SOUL THIRSTES AFTER THEE IS A THIRSTY LADY." Now you ever
thirsted after God? That's the question I asked myself today.
I pushed back and I said, have I ever really, ever really been
thirsty for God, for communion, fellowship, for Him to say to
my soul, I am thy salvation? He said, I'm thirsty for God
as a thirsty land, like dry parched land waiting for the rain. I'm
that thirsty for God. As heat makes the body thirst
for water, so trials make the soul thirst for the water of
life, the Living God. And how quickly here, notice
how quickly we fall back into despair. Hear me speedily, O
Lord, my spirit faileth. Hide not thy face from me, lest
I be like unto them that go down into the pit. He went from meditating
on God's Word to lifting up his hands to him. And then, I know you've done this in prayer.
You pray and you're encouraged. The next thing you know, you
fall back into despondency. But he says, I desperately need
you. I don't want to be like those
who go down to the pit, who are separated from God. You know
what hell is? It's separation from God. That's what hell is.
Henry said one time, it's truth realized too late. That's what
it is too. Now from verse 8 to 12, David
makes several requests. I think he makes seven. I don't think I'm going to get
through this. Let me see what I've got left here. That's what you all get for letting
me stay in the study. Well, let's look at, I hate to
stop on this, but David asked for, listen here, he asked for
a manifestation of God's favor, verse 8. Here's one of his requests. CALLS ME TO HEAR THY LOVINGKINDNESS
IN THE MORNING. When I get up in the morning,
that's the first thing I want to think of. That's the first
thing I want to hear. is your loving-kindness to me. To me. Give me an ear to hear
thy loving-kindness even in this trial. Even though this trial
persists and goes on, when I wake up in the morning and I still
have this hardship going on, enable me to hear your loving-kindness
in this trial to me. You know, it's like over in Psalm
107, you remember all those, they get in trouble, then they
call on the Lord, He delivered them, and it was up and down,
up and down, and that goes like that through that whole Psalm.
But at the end of that Psalm, it says this, in verse 43, 107,
Whosoever is wise and will observe these things, Even they shall
understand the lovingkindness of the Lord. He brings us into
those things that He might wean us from this world, that He might
conform us to the image of Christ. These trials are the lovingkindness
of God to us. Our trials is an act of God's
lovingkindness. And for in Thee do I trust. I
don't look to anyone else, no one else. When we are in deep trouble,
we don't know which way to go. So he says here, it calls me
to know the way when I should walk. That's when we're in, you
know, when you're in a deep, dark valley, you don't know which
way to go. Here, just a month and a half
ago, I was back over here on the other side of the swamp,
and I was lost. For about three and a half hours,
I walked, and I walked, and I walked. And I sweated, and I hurt, and
I walked. I didn't know which way to go. But you know, in all that time,
I was comfortable. I was fine. I wasn't a bit concerned. First of all, in the United States,
I'm all right. But I knew the Lord knew. He
knows where home is. I knew I'd find it sooner or
later. Something would happen. When we're in darkness and lost
like that, the Lord knows. He knows exactly where we are.
You might be in some kind of deep distress over something,
the Lord knows. He knows which way we should
go. We just ask him to direct our steps. I lift up my soul
to thee, to keep it, to keep it. to be molded and fashioned
according to your will. Deliver me, O LORD, from mine
enemies, that I flee to thee to hide me. Only the LORD can
deliver our soul out of trouble. No therapist can do that. I'm
not going to go to... Now this is... I try to be careful
because I know there are people who have trouble. I mean, real
mental troubles and stuff. But I'm not going to a therapist.
You know, I had to answer a questionnaire. You know, I go to the doctor
once a year to do a checkup. And he leaves the room, gives
me this questionnaire. Do you feel like not living longer? You know, you want to kill yourself?
You want to do all this? I thought, if I answered all
this, I thought, this is stupid. I mean, I just go, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, down through there. Just because I might be down
doesn't mean that I need a pill. I need to go to the Lord. I really
need to go to the Lord and talk to Him. He's my medicine. Is He not the balm of Gilead?
I need to go to Him. I'm gonna get off that subject. Deliver me. Fly flee to thee to hide me Christ
is our hiding place Isaiah 32 to a man shall be a hiding place
from the wind and a covert from the tempest Christ is that man
Christ Jesus is our hiding place He's my hiding place from Satan
And the Lord told Satan, he said, you can't touch his life. You
know why? Because our life is here with
Christ in God. You can't touch it. You have
to take the life of God to take my life. I hide in Christ from God. You
know the best place to hide from God is in God. To hide from His
wrath, to hide from His fury, the best place to hide is in
Him. It is. Teach me to do, not just
to know thy will. A lot of people want to know.
They say, I want to know the will of God. I'll tell you this, Henry said
this one time and it stuck with me. If you're ready and willing
to do it, He'll make it known. A lot of people want to know
His will, but they don't want to do it. If you want to know
God's will, you got to be willing to do it. Now, I wanted to know
God's will concerning coming here. And I was willing to do
it, if that's what it was. And we did it. I didn't want
to know it and then just say, well, I don't know about this
or not. I didn't know that. No, you got to be willing to
do it. That's what he says. Teach me to do thy will. For thou art my God, thy Spirit's
good. You know, God is lightning. Him
is no darkness at all. God is good. God's Spirit is
good. If there's something wrong going
on, it ain't with Him. It's not with Him. No. Quicken me. Oh, oh Lord, for Thy name's sake,
for Thy righteousness' sake, bring my soul out of trouble.
For Christ's sake, bring my soul out of trouble. But notice here,
he said, deliver me, teach me. And here he says, make me to
live the teaching. Make me to live the teaching.
How many times, and I've seen this as preaching over the years,
and I've seen it when I sat under my pastor for nearly 40 years. You know, people will receive
doctrine. They'll receive the doctrine of election and doctrine
of predestination. But the precept of the gospel,
it's like, well, husbands love your wife and Christ loved the
church and gave himself for it. Wife, submit yourself to your
husband. They're just like, we'll just take that, we'll set that
aside. No, it's either all of it or none of it. All of it or
none of it. Make me to live your teachings,
quicken me, it is quicken me in my devotions, make them lively,
not just habitual, but really have life in them. Make me to
live as a believer, day by day. Make my duties lively, make my
worship, now listen, here's a good one, make my worship lively.
Make it real. You know, He seeketh such to
worship Him in Spirit and Truth. Make it real. That's a powerful one. Quicken
me. Give life to it. Take away my spiritual dullness
and lukewarmness. Take it away. And do this for
Christ's sake. Bring me out of trouble for Christ's
sake. And last of all, and of thy mercy cut off mine enemies,
and destroy all them that afflict my soul, for I am thy servant.
Give rest to my soul from the enemy. Oh, especially that enemy
within, that troublesome old man within, Lord, give me some
rest from him, conquer him, subdue him. It's a mercy to us when
God cuts off our spiritual enemies. But I think Matthew Henry said
it well, this prayer is a prophecy of the utter destruction of all
the impenitent enemies of Jesus Christ and His Kingdom, who will
not have Him to reign over them, who grieve His Spirit and afflict
His soul by afflicting His people, in whose afflictions He is afflicted.
There is going to come a day, now right now we pray for our
enemies, don't we? We do, we pray for our enemies. Our loved ones, if they don't
believe the gospel, they're your enemies. Aren't they? They're your enemies. Everyone
believes not the gospel, you're enemies. But there's gonna come a day
when we are in the Lord's presence and when He cast the wicked into
hell, we're gonna shout hallelujah. We are gonna say amen, even if
it's a loved one. Can't do that now. I couldn't
do that now. I said, I beg him, Lord, save
me. You know this, there's certain ones on your heart all the time
that you beg the Lord to have mercy on, especially your children,
your grandchildren. You pray for them all the time.
You beg the Lord to save them. Now this is gonna sound hard,
but it's the truth. When this life is over and we
have the mind of Christ, even if God cast them into hell, we're
going to say hallelujah. I think that's what he's saying
in that verse. Cut them off. Cast them away. Bring my soul out of trouble.