If you will, let's turn to Psalm
61. Psalm 61. I don't know if I'm real anxious
to preach or I'm scared to death or both. Probably both. Psalm 61. As we read through
this, I want to focus mainly on the first four verses. We'll
briefly look at all eight. I hope we can hear the urgency
in David's voice as we read this. And I want us to pay real close
attention to the tense of the wording that David uses. The
Lord moved David to write this. Let's pay attention to what is
present tense. what he's saying for right then.
And let's pay attention to what's past tense and what the future
tenses are. What's going to come to pass
or what his requests of the future are. So let's try to pay attention
to that. Psalm 61, verse one. Hear my cry, O God, attend unto
my prayer. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed. lead me to the
rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a shelter
for me and a strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy
tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of
thy wings. Selah. For thou, because thou, O God,
hast heard my vows, thou hast given me the heritage of those
that fear thy name. Thou wilt prolong the king's
life and his years as many generations, and he shall abide before God
forever. Oh, prepare mercy and truth,
which may preserve him. So will I sing praise unto thy
name forever, that I may daily perform my vows. Now what's taking
place here in this song? David's the one that's penned
this and he's the one that's lived it and the one that first
sang it. The church sang it, didn't they?
But David's crying out to God. He's not eating ice cream cake
and doing cartwheels and having a good old time. He's crying
out to God, and this is personal to David. It's personal to David,
and it's personal to every child of God. Not just for someone
else, and they ought to hear this, or I wish so and so could.
This is personal. It has to start there. The Lord
has to come to us, doesn't he? He says in verse one, hear my
cry, oh God. Attend unto my prayer. Now we pray for others. We're
told to. Told plainly to. Lord, hear your
people. Be with your people. Attend them. Be attentive to your people.
And that's true. And that's needed, it is. But hear me. Hear my prayer, oh God. Attend unto my prayer. Be attendant
to this child. You ever just got alone? The
Lord ever got you alone with him? Not in a group, not in the
holy worship of the assembly of the saints from heaven above.
Alone with a sinner that made you pray. That's a good place
to be. when everybody else in this world's
been pushed out and your only thoughts are you and him. I wish
God would get people alone. That'd be good, wouldn't it?
Imagine this. David's crying these things out.
He said, hear me, be attentive unto my prayer. Now get this. This is huge. Verse five. For
thou, O God, hast heard my vows. You heard me. If you were going to speak to
the president, pick one you like. Go back in time. I don't care.
But one you respect greatly, and you just thought so highly
of, and you get to say five words to him, or five sentences. Would
you be prepared, or would you just tell a dumb joke? Would
you have something? OK, well, I can only say 50 words. What am I going to say? Because
they're going to hear me. They're going to hear me. God
hears his children. I need new shoes. I don't really
need them new shoes. Can I hit the backspace button? Pay attention to what hollow
ground we're on. Where is this taking place? Is it only in this
house of God, this holy house of worship in the assembly of
the saints? It says from verse two, from the end of the earth
will I cry unto thee. Where's this? When it feels like
the Lord is in the east and we are in the west. Not from the
border of this earth. This is important, okay? This
picture is God and him saving sinners. As far as the east is
from the west, infinitely away from him. When he's hid his face
and we can't see, and we're in need and our prayers need attention,
need to be attentive. That's where we are. When does
David cry? Look at the end of verse two. When my heart is overwhelmed. This is overwhelming. You ever
get overwhelmed? I don't mean slightly hindered
or moderately burdened. I mean, when you cry uncle, you
just give. That's what we called it when
I was a kid. We'd pin our arms back or twist our pinnacles.
You gotta cry uncle or I won't let go. I never did let go when
I cried uncle. It lasted a little longer, didn't
it? But when you're absolutely overwhelmed, do you want to be
overwhelmed? I don't. Do I need to be overwhelmed? Yes. It's a good place to be
overwhelmed. Why? Because I ain't going to
cry out to God until I get there. I'll be just fine all by myself
because I'm a big boy and I can handle it. I can hold out a little
longer. God needs to humble his people. Break them down. Lock
them up. Get us to where we cry out to
him. That's a good place to be. Why? Because he hears his people.
Well, I know a whole bunch of people that don't cry out to
God like that. Yeah, the Lord ain't put them down and they ain't
crying out to him. But to his child, he's gonna make them. Be thankful in our infirmities.
There's an insert in the bulletin. I saw that first thing this morning.
I thought I wanted to read that, needed to, and that might be
good for you too. We'll thank him for that if he
does that. It says in verse two, from the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee. When we're so far away, turn
over Matthew 28, I thought this was precious too. The master's
given those 11 a great commission, isn't he? Matthew 28, after he'd
appeared back to them and comforted them, gave them some understanding. We feel so alone when we're like
David and we're at the end of the earth. infinitely away from our Lord.
Here in Matthew 28 verse 19, the Lord gives charge to those
11. He said, Go ye therefore and
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost, teaching them to observe
all things whatsoever I have commanded you. I read that and
I'm overwhelmed. That's who's sufficient for these
things. I can't remember all the things he taught. How am
I supposed to teach somebody else all those things? Even if they are wrote
down, I probably can't read to find them. I cry from the end
of the world when I see that in front of me. And you know
what? Look what it says next. And,
lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Dave
said, I'm crying from the end of the world. And Lord speaks
to his child, said, I'm right there with you. You can't get
away from me. You can take the east as far
as there is east, and I'm there. Go west, I'm with you. North,
south, east, west, it don't matter. To the end of the world, to the
end of the world. Back in our text, or in Psalm
61, David begins, says, hear my cry,
O God. I then attend unto my prayer,
From the end of the earth will I cry unto thee, when my heart
is overwhelmed. Lead me to the rock that is higher
than I. When we're down in that lowest
spot, and you can't get no, we know that we're in the miry pit.
We know we put ourselves there, it's right. And there's nothing
left but to cry out to God for mercy. And I mean, that is it.
What's our need? Do I need comfort? Do I need
assurance? Do I need strength? Do I need
faith? Do I need power? Absolutely not, no. I need the
rock that is higher than I. That's what I need. I hope that's painfully simple. I hope so, Lord teaches it. What
is this rock? Where is this rock? This rock's a person, isn't it?
Christ the rock. That's what Paul told him when
he wrote to the church at Corinth. He said, moreover, brethren,
I would not that ye should be ignorant, how that our fathers,
all our fathers were under the cloud and all passed through
the sea and were all baptized unto Moses in the cloud and in
the sea and did eat the same spiritual meat. Every one of
them, they went through the same troubles. They had the same teaching. We're all taught of the father.
They had the same meat, had the same food and did all drink that
same spiritual rock. for they drank of that spiritual
rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. Lead me
to the rock. To what? To who? The smitten
rock. If we see him, that's the end
state of the believer's trials, to see Christ, to learn something
about him, or be shown his faithfulness, or some attribute of Christ that
we're gonna learn in this. And David's right in the throes
of it, and he says, lead me to Christ. I go into trials, I've
been through this a couple times, and I know the outcome, I still
have sorrow and anxiety or whatever, you know, the emotions that we're
trapped in. And I say, I know I'm gonna see
the Lord at the end of this. And then, can you show me quick?
Or can you show me today? Be nice. That rock was Christ, that's
where we need lead. Paul also wrote there in Ephesians 2, he
said, Now, therefore, you are no more strangers and foreigners,
but you're fellow citizens with the saints and of the household
of God. He's speaking to the children
of God. And you are built upon the foundation of the apostles
and the prophets. What foundation's that, Paul?
Christ Jesus himself being the chief cornerstone. What rock
is that? Lead me to that chief cornerstone.
Lead me to that foundation that's the only foundation, that foundation
that can't change. what we call it, back to basics.
Get me back to basics. Set me on a rock, lead me right
to him. David's crying in great need and he needs to be heard
and he's pleading that he's led to that rock that is higher than
he is. Not that's a pier, not that's
below and I'll tend to that rock when I get around to it. A higher
rock, higher rock. Turn over to Psalm 118. Psalm 118. Remember, David was
praying that the Lord hear him, and then he said, you've heard
me. Here in Psalm 118, verse 21. David's writing again, says,
I will praise thee. Lord, I praise thee for thou
hast heard me. and art become my salvation. Lord, you've heard me, you've
saved me, salvation's of you. And I'll praise you for that.
Verse 22, the stone, that's the rock. A stone's a rock. The stone which the builders
refused is become the head stone of the corner. That stone that's refused by
the builders. Wait a second, what's taking place in that?
I need to be led to this rock? Well, somebody's builders, ain't
they? Those that reject Christ, they fancy themselves builders.
We're the ones that's assembling this. We're gonna call a meeting
and we're gonna do this and we're gonna do that. They like them,
they don't like Christ. Those that are founders, those
that are discerners, those that are judges. Instead of being
set on that rock and led to that rock, they're discerning that
rock and they don't want nothing to do with it. They're the builders. You get that? They're the founders.
They're the originators. You know what Abraham was called
by God, faithful, there in Hebrews 11? It said, for he looked for
a city which hath foundations, whose builder, and maker is God. I know they have, in religious
circles, they have a founders conference. I'd caution anybody
to steer clear of that. And I'd like to preach to them
boys and tell them, knock it off too. You didn't found squat.
God founds things. He builds things. He does things,
not us. and all those on social media
nowadays. Spurgeon can't tell you this, okay? I got to. They're creators. And they have
followers. You better watch it. You better
watch it. We have one creator. He's the
founder. He's the builder. And he's that
stone. He's that rock. Verse 23 there
in Psalm 118. This is the Lord's doing. Who
did it? Well, we, and I didn't do nothing. Lord did it. You know, and that's
been my personal experience. That's what the Word says, and
that's been my personal experience of walking this life over four
decades. God's people declare what God did. That's too simple. No, it ain't. Anything good,
he did it. And anything bad, what we call
bad, that's good, and he did it. No, the Lord has been precious
to me. It's fine. My roof's leaking,
and it rotted out. I set a light on fire, and we're
gonna have to re-roof some stuff, and hope the washing machine
ain't... No, the Lord did that. That's His water. He put it on
His washing machine through His light and His ceiling. That's
all right. It's gonna be a pain for a little
while and discomforting, That's his doing. This is the Lord's
doing. Let us never forget that. I can't feel my left pinky finger
right now. Lord did that. My hip hurts. Lord did that.
This is his doing. I didn't found nothing. I didn't
build nothing. He's the builder. Is that remarkable
to you? Or does that make you mad? Look
here in verse 23. This is the Lord's doing. It's
marvelous in our eyes. I think it's marvelous. David
thought it was marvelous. You who find him precious, you
think it's marvelous too. Well, I don't think that's marvelous.
Well, guess what? These Hebrew women ain't like
them Egyptian women. They're lively. They're different. This is marvelous. It's magnificent. And we quote this. Here's the
context. I've been laboring this for a
little bit. You ready? Verse 24. This is the day which the
Lord hath made. We will rejoice and be glad in
it. What, just cause the sun come up? What day? We flippantly
toss it around, I have too. This is the day the Lord made.
Okay, what's the context of that? We see the marvelous rock Christ. He led us to him and that's his
doing. Not just that he did it, we acknowledge,
this is the day God showed us he's God and he did it. And that
Christ is all and he brought us to him. That's a day. Oh, what a day. Oh, glorious
day that'll be. What will happen in that day?
If that's the day the Lord made and we see Him and our need of
Him and everything that He is and He's precious, what's gonna
happen? Verse 25, save now. I beseech thee, O Lord. O Lord,
I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Let us win the lottery. No, let
us be happy in the riches of God that's in Christ and Him
alone. Thank you. Thank you. It's already happened
and we're just seeing it and being happy about it. We're rejoicing.
We're rejoicing. Do you feel like you're on the
other end of the earth still? No, he's with us. It's a good
day, isn't it? Servants may be used, but this
is all the Lord's doing because salvation is of the Lord. Turn
over to Luke 20. Here's who the Lord's speaking
to. This is the context when he's giving these parables, verse
one, Luke 20, verse one. And it came to pass that on one
of those days, as he taught the people in the temple and preached
the gospel, that's what he was doing, he's preaching the gospel.
He spoke, it's a gospel. The chief priest and the scribes
came upon him with the elders and spake unto him saying, tell
us by what authority Doest thou these things? Or who is he that
gave thee this authority? Did you run that by me? Nobody
asked me if you could come in here. Who you think you are? Who are you that's sitting up
there and speaking on behalf of God? How dare you say these
things? That's context. Well, the Lord's
going to give them an example of all authority. Potentate. The final authority. Look down
in verse 9. Luke 20 verse 9. Then began he to speak unto the
people this parable. A certain man planted a vineyard
and led it forth to husbandmen. He owned everything. He founded
everything. He built everything. And he's just letting somebody
else borrow it. We're trespassers on his land,
you understand that? The Lord allows us to live on
this earth, this is his earth. Let it forth to husbandman and
went into a far country for a long time. And at the season, he sent
a servant to the husbandman. that they should give him of
the fruit of the vineyard. But the husband beat him and
sent him away empty. He sent a messenger and said,
well, you're gonna go down there and live off of my vineyard.
And they said, you ain't getting nothing out of this vineyard.
And they beat him and sent him away empty. Round two, verse
11. And again, he sent another servant
and they beat him also and then treated him shamefully and sent
him away empty. And again, he sent a third. and
they wounded him also and cast him out. I thought third time
was a charm. Third time's not a charm, okay?
What about round four? Who's gonna be the fourth one
that's sent to these husbandmen? Then said the Lord of the vineyard,
what shall I do? I will send my beloved son. It
may be they will reverence him when they see him. But when the
husbandmen saw him, they reasoned among themselves, saying, This
is the heir. Come, let us kill him, that the
inheritance may be ours. So they cast him out of the vineyard
and killed him. What therefore shall the lord
of the vineyard do unto them? He shall come and destroy these
husbandmen, and shall give the vineyard to others. And when
they heard it, who was they? That's the Pharisees and the
scribes and the elders, right? Those that are just leaders of
Israel, well-versed in the scriptures. When they heard it, they said,
God forbid. God forbid what? We killed a
son, he's gonna kill us cause of it. We've rejected the son,
we've rejected his messengers, we've rejected his servants,
and we're gonna get what's rightly ours. And they cried for the
rocks and the mountains to fall on them. God forbid. And he beheld them, verse 17,
and said, What is this that is written? The stone which the
builders rejected, the same has become the head of the corner.
Whosoever shall fall upon that stone shall be broken, but on
whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder. Those haven't,
those he's speaking to, they haven't been made to fall on
that stone, on that chief cornerstone, and just, I mean, sprawl out,
and have all, he's, gravity's just keeping you there, you're
just squished down to him. You have to, I mean, just drop
there like a wet rag, because we were dead, we can't climb,
we can't scale this rock. We had to be led to it, we had
to be placed on him. And those that reject him, well,
you know, I got some important things going on this week. Whatever
or they find a better way or that's you know what I'll get
my own inheritance I'll save myself. I'll sanctify myself.
I'll get another crown jewel my crown He says gonna grind
you to powder any glory that man will get at all even a Scotia
1111 at the whole lump and he'll grind in the powder. He's the
judge And just like those demons they said Lord is it time? I?
You come here to torture us and kill us? These here cried out,
God forbid. God forbid. What a privilege
it is to be like David, overwhelmed and fallen on Christ and broken. It hurts. There's crying and
snot and it ain't pretty. It's not picture perfect. Good
place to be. It's called life. Eternal life. Now back in our text, Psalm 61. Verse one, hear my cry, my cry.
Is this my cry? Is this your cry? Oh God, attend
unto my prayer. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the
rock that is higher than I. That rock's higher than I. That
rock is exalted. It's lifted up before our eyes.
Not as a fact, not as a confession of faith, as a person, as a redeemer,
as a Lord of my God, the Lordship of Christ. I see him. He's higher
than I. Now bring me to him, please.
You have to. When those waters come from below, you might set
me on that rock. Put my feet on him. And when
the waters come from above, when that judgment rains down through
his firmament, put me in the cleft. Be good, be merciful to me by
putting me in him. I deserve to be ground to powder.
I can't climb up this rock. I can't scale it. I must be sat
upon it. I must be sat upon it. When we
see that rock, if God ever reveals himself to the sinner, when we
see that rock, first thing that's gonna happen, you're gonna be
scared to death. Fear will encompass us. We'll be convicted of sin.
We didn't believe him. He's right to grind us to powder.
I read through Proverbs 11 this morning, because it's the 11th
day of the month, and I just felt terrible. Oh, it's slow. He's just and right. But when
we see that, when he reveals that, and we have that physical
fear, just like a child, children will be seen and not heard and
be minding their parents. They have a physical fear of getting
spanked when they're a kid. That turns into an honoring fear.
Why? They believe their parents. When we experience that fear
of seeing that rock, then we believe that rock. Not believe
in the rock, and not just believe on the rock, we believe it. That's
called faith. We believe what God said. And
you know what comes with that? There's fear, then there's belief,
and then there's comfort. I'm on a rock. Well, the earthquake,
I don't matter. Well, there's winds coming, there's
rain coming. I'm on the rock. I might get cold and I might
get dusty, but I'm on that rock. It's okay. Turn back a few pages
there in Psalm 40. David was crying out there in
our text and throughout. Here in Psalm 40 verse 1 it said,
I waited patiently for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard
my cry. He brought me up also out of
a horrible pit, out of the miry clay. How does the Lord get us
out of a miry pit? He goes into the pit. We'll see
this next hour. How do we get out of that river
of death? He went in that river. How's he gonna, he can get somebody
out of, he can get a dead person, a limp person out of a miry pit,
you're gonna have to get underneath them. Put your hand under there,
like Jacob made a swear, put your hand under my thigh. Get
underneath me in my weakness and my infirmity. He brought
me up also out of a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and
he set my feet upon a rock, and he established my goings. He
established every step I take, every breath I take. Now, if
the Lord does that, there's going to be a result. If he has an
action, there'll be a reaction, right? What's going to happen?
Verse three. He hath put a new song in my mouth. Praise unto
our God. Praise. Thank you. Good job,
wonderful. Everything he does is right,
it's good. Many shall see, they're gonna see that rock, and fear,
and shall trust in the Lord. And that's comfort. If we fear
him, we see, and we fear him, and we believe him, we'll have
comfort. Comfort, and that's where I need to be led to. If
I'm overwhelmed, I need led to comfort, right? Or in Psalm 61
again, we'll close. Hear my cry, O God, attend unto
my prayer. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For thou hast been a
shelter for me and a strong tower for my enemies. When, from the
foundation of the earth. I will abide in thy tabernacle
forever. I will trust in the covert of
thy wings. Selah." Pause and consider that. Pause and think, let it soak
in. Let it soak in. I did let it soak in. I thought,
how many times I haven't cried that? But you know, this is a
messianic song, because they all are. This is Christ speaking. Because I didn't have enough
sense to cry out when I ought to cry out. And I thought I could
handle my overwhelmness. And so on behalf of his people,
he prayed this. He cried out. He trusted the
father in all things and praised him and walked in his taverns.
He's the only one who can make vows. He swore and he can keep
it. Didn't he? Look at verse five.
For thou, O God, hast heard my vows, and thou hast given me
the heritage of those that fear thy name. What did David get?
Did David get an inheritance of heathen, people that fear
God? No, Christ did. He said, you
gave me the heathen for my inheritance. He thanked him. Good news for
heathens, isn't it? Thou wilt prolong the king's
life and his years as many generations. What's it say throughout scripture?
A couple of times in Daniel, even. His kingdom's from everlasting
to everlasting. There's no end. A kingdom without
end. He shall abide before God forever. Oh, prepare mercy and truth,
which may preserve him. So will I sing praise unto thy
name forever, that I may daily perform my vows. What's our Lord
do daily for us? Right now, right now. He came,
He purposed all these things, and He came, and He performed
those things, and it's finished, and He's risen, and He's sitting
at the right hand of God right now, waiting, expecting to His
enemies be made His footstool, and He's doing something that
He vowed He's gonna do. He ever liveth to make intercession for
us. That's the one who hears us. That's the one we pray to,
and He hears us. Isn't that something? I hope
it initially convicts me. It did. I thought, well, I'm
a terrible servant, horrible child. And then I believe what
he said, and he's all, and he has to do it. Salvation to the
Lord. And then I got comfort from that. And right now he's
on the throne, hearing us, performing his vows. It's a good thing to
know, isn't it? I'm glad he told us. I'm glad
he told us. Let's pray together. We'll be dismissed. Father, the thought that you
hear us because of our King is humbling.
Lead us to him. Save, Lord, and your will be
done. Forgive us for what we are. Forgive
us for our addiction to the things of this world. so prone to wander
and run away and hide, try to find comfort in ourselves or
other things. Lord, turn us to Christ. Overwhelm us and make
us praise him for his overwhelming faithfulness, his overwhelming
wisdom and majesty. Thank you for those that you've
revealed this to, for joining us with them and The saints throughout
time, Lord, that Christ shed his blood for. Be with us and
intercede for us as he's promised that he would. It's because of
Christ we ask it. Amen. We'll meet back at 1030.