With steadfast eye and fight
withheld by faith, Though we are feeble, Christ is strong. His promises are true. He shall be God for evermore,
And Lord and hope for evermore. Thank you, Sherry. Those are
words, feelings of every believer's heart. You know, every believer
knows something about these frames it talks about, and these temptations. It says, 10,000 baits are temptation. The foe our adversary prepares
to catch the wandering heart, and seldom do we see the snares,
before we feel the smart. Oh boy. But though we are feeble,
Christ is strong. His promises are true. We shall
be conquerors over it all, ere long, and more than conquerors
to great Him. Joseph Hart. Psalm 123. Go back there with me. Psalm
123. The true people of God are always in trouble. They always have trouble. David,
whom God said is a man after my own heart. David who wrote,
we believe, this psalm and most of the others. David said, the
troubles of my heart are enlarged. He said, mine enemies are many,
and they're strong, and they're lively. And he's not just talking
about outward enemies, enemies of the Jewish people. He's talking
about inward. He's talking about spiritual
struggle. He said in Psalm 73 that the
world, the unbelieving world, doesn't have these troubles.
And not, he said, in troubles we are, and not plagued like
we are. Pride compassed them about. You
know how the world thinks only the strong survive. Dog eat dog,
but God's people are the ones that the dogs eat on. They're
weak, meek, and lowly, but our Lord said they will inherit the
new earth. All of God's people, true people
of God, have troubles always, sometimes physical, sometimes
physical, not always, but always inward. Always they have soul
troubles, spiritual troubles, for three reasons. And only God's
people know what this is talking about. God's people always have
troubles because of sin. We live in a world of sin. And
like our Lord, our Lord said of His people, they are not of
this world even as I am not of this world. Our Lord was called
a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. He came into this
world and He was not of this world. And it was a grief to
Him. And when the Lord puts Christ
in His people, He leaves us in the world. Now we're not of this
world, and this world full of sin grieves us, like Lot living
in Sodom. We're going to look at that story
in a little bit. Because of the world of sin we live in, we're
full of trouble because of the sin that is within us, this indwelling
sin. And again, only believers know
what that's talking about. The world doesn't have trouble
with sin and joy. Live for. God's people, it's
a constant struggle and a battle and a vexation for their heart
and soul. And thirdly, our adversary, and again, the
world scoffs at this, all mention of a devil and Satan and all
this, but our Lord's the one that talked about him more than
anybody else. The Lord Jesus Christ talked about Satan more
than anybody else. He's a real person, though he's
unseen. and he holds people captive and they don't even know it.
That the Lord Jesus Christ delivers his people from him and yet allows
him to vex them and tempt them and assault them. And so that
is a vexation, a grief to God's people, a trouble, constant trouble,
constant trouble. As I said, as the Lord said,
he's a man after his own heart, and all of God's people are,
because they have a heart, they have a love, they have a desire
for God, for Christ, for the truth, for the Word of God, for
the Kingdom of God, for the people of God, for Christ. They say like David when he was
just a young man. David came out, remember, when
Goliath, The picture of Satan himself, the God of this world,
was taunting the people of God, Israel of God. And David came
out against him. He was taunting the people of
God and defying the God of Israel. And David came out. Remember
what he said? He said, Is there not a cause? We can't let this
man say what he's saying against our God and against His people.
And all of God's people feel that same assault against our
God, against the truth. That's what this psalm is about.
That's what this psalm is about. David said, we're exceedingly
filled with contempt. The contempt of the world. The contempt of the proud. And like David, Psalm 42 is one
of my favorite psalms, and I know it is one of yours. Go back there
quickly. David, a man full of troubles
without and within, and all of God's people, get cast down. We get downcast. I hope somebody
will get some comfort here tonight. I hope a believer will get some
comfort Psalm 42, I go to this often and I tell others
that are in trouble to go there. David prayed, As a heart panteth
after the water brook, so panteth my soul after Thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? God's people actually want to
go and be with their Lord. We want out of here. He says, my tears have been my
meat day and night while they continually say unto me, where
is thy God? And Peter wrote this in 2 Peter
3. So as the days continue as they always have been, people
mock and scoff in the last day, and they say, where is the promise
of His coming? They say Jesus is coming. Where
is the promise of His coming? Everything continues like it
once was. They mock and scoff. Where is your God? Nothing to
that. Contempt. And David said in verse
4, I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. I went with
them to the house of God, like you are tonight, with a voice
of joy and praise of the multitude. I keep the holy day of worship. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Hope thou in God. Don't listen
to what they're saying. You know, in other words, that's
what he's saying. Don't listen to what they're saying. Look
at our text here. And so, God's people are often
cast down like David. And when cast down, when we're
cast down, often our heads are bowed, aren't we? We bow our
heads unto our Lord and our eyes look down, don't we? When your
head's cast down, you know, when you're really sad and sorrowful,
you can't look up, can you? You bow your head and your eyes
are cast down, but look at what David said. Verse 1, Unto thee
lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in heaven. Behold, as
the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, as
the eyes of a maiden unto the hand of her mistress, so our
eyes wait, look upon the Lord our God until that He have mercy
upon us. I lift up mine eyes unto them.
Does that sound familiar? Right on the same page, Psalm
121, he says, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from
which cometh my help. Where does your help come from,
David? My help cometh from the Lord that made the heavens and
the earth. I will lift up mine eyes. There's
only one thing to do when cast down. Look up. There's only one person to look
to. The Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord who made the heavens
and the earth. He is our Creator. We saw that Sunday, didn't we?
In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and
the Word was God. The same was in the beginning
with God. All things were made by Him and without Him was not
anything made that was made. And the Word was made flesh and
dwelt among us. The Lord Jesus Christ is a man,
yes, but He's the God-man and He's God our Creator. And He's
our Lord, and we look to Him. He's our Sovereign. He's our
Ruler. He's our Controller. He's our
King. He's King of Kings and Lord of
Lords. When we get cast down, look up. Mine eyes look unto
Thee, my Lord and my God. He said that, didn't he, in Isaiah
55? Look unto me, and be ye saved. All the ends are there. For I
am God, there is none else. I made the heavens and I made
the earth. That means He owns it all. That means He controls
it all. That means He rules over it all. Even the King's hand
is in the hearts of the Lord, like the rivers of water turns
it with us wherever we go. The wrath of man will praise
Him. Our Lord reigns and rules over the armies of heaven and
among the inhabitants of the earth, and nothing and no one
can stay His hand." This is our comfort. In the midst of all
our trouble, in the midst of our worries and our doubts and
our fears, and we hear all this noisome pestilence, we hear all
the contempt the world has and all the scorned they have and all the
things they're saying against our God and against the Scripture,
against the truth, against His people, against Christ. Look
up. See who's sitting at the right
hand of the Majesty on high. I love the story of Stephen when
he was being stoned for preaching the truth. He was just preaching
the truth. And they stoned him to death.
And while he was dying, he asked the Lord for forgiveness for
those people. But while he was dying, he said,
Scripture says, he looked up and he said, I see, I see the
Lord standing at the right hand of the majesty on earth. So look up. Our eyes, I lift
up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. The world can't
see Him. We see Him, don't we, with eyes of faith. The world
can't hear Him. We hear Him, don't we? If you're
a child of God, you're hearing Him right now through His Word.
The world thinks this is just the words of men. Oh no, this
is the Word of God in truth. O thou that dwellest in the heavens,
that made the heavens and the earth. I love what our Lord said. He said, the wrath of man shall
praise Him. No matter what man does, God
has ordained it. God's in charge of it. The Lord
hath made all things for Himself, even the wicked for the day of
evil. Nothing and no one has any power at all except that
that's given to them by the sovereign of the universe. That's our comfort. And He said, the wrath of man
shall praise Him, no matter what men say or do, it shall praise
Him. And the remainder of wrath, the Scripture says, He'll restrain. He'll just restrain. It's all good. Didn't He say,
all things work together for good to them that love God, who
are the called according to His purpose. Chosen by Him, called
by Him, given to Christ. It's all good. Not all good for
the world. It's all for God's glory and
the good of His people. Look at verse 2. He said, As
the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their master, and
as the eyes of a maiden look unto the hand of her mistress,
so our eyes wait, or look unto and wait upon the Lord our God. In the days of old, we don't
see much of this anymore, only in the movies. But in days of
old, there were large estates with men who owned those large
estates and plantations. They were called masters. And
the woman of the house was called a mistress. In case you don't
know, that's where the abbreviation, Mr. and Mrs., came from. Master
and mistress. How we like to take titles, don't
we? Mister, that means I'm a master. I'm a master of very little,
are you? At any rate, back in olden days, there were large
estates with masters and mistresses. They owned servants, and the
master, not the mistress. But the master was the owner
and controller of that vast estate. He was the one that ruled over
it all. He was a provider of all that
lived there. And all the servants, and they
had many. They had many servants. All the
servants were totally dependent upon the master of that estate
for their very lives. Something I know is very fresh
on your mind. You remember looking at something
like that in a movie or the TV recently. But those servants
depended totally upon their master. He had the wisdom. He had the
foresight. He had a purpose. He had the
finances. He owned it all. He controlled
it all. He ruled it all. And they worked
for Him. They served Him. And they depended
completely on Him. And they waited on Him. And the
mistress of the house, the maids, waited on her and looked to her.
Their lives were in His hands. Now that's not a bad thing if
you've got a good master. People today, you know, pride
themselves in being independent. But you know the only truly good
government is a monarchy. People can't rule themselves.
They're not capable. Too evil. Too greedy. A monarchy. Our Lord instituted
that, didn't He? Imagine being the servant of
David. Can you imagine being a servant
in David's house? How you would be treated? What
would you worry about? Or Solomon. What about Solomon? It says, in all of Solomon's
day, forty years he reigned, every man, every single person
dwelled under their own vine and fig tree. Not one arrow flew
in Israel. Not one arrow flew at peace all
the days of Solomon. Forty years. Well, our Lord,
when He came to this earth, said, a greater than Solomon is here,
of whom Solomon is a type. The Son of David is here. And
people, this is not news to you, but it's good news. The Lord
Jesus Christ is indeed our Master. And we're His servants. And our
eyes look to Him. And we've got a good Master.
We're sheep and we've got a good shepherd. That's why David said,
The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want ever. for anything, for food, for raiment,
for protection, for companionship, for goodness and mercy will follow
me all the days of my life. Why? Because Jesus Christ is
my Master. Oh, it's a good thing to be owned
by the Lord Jesus Christ. And by the way, we don't make
Him Lord. God made Him Lord before the
world began. And in salvation is when He makes
Him Lord over you, and you realize it, and you bow to Him, and you
love to have it so. Our eyes wait upon the Lord our
God. I'm talking about Jesus Christ. Now look at what we're
waiting on, verse 2. Look at our greatest need here.
We're waiting on the Lord our God until He have mercy upon
us. Verse 3, have mercy upon us,
O Lord, have mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly filled with
contempt. This is our greatest need, God's
people. And once again, this is something
the world doesn't... Number one, the natural man thinks
he's good, thinks he's okay, God ought to love him. He's a
pretty good fellow. When the Scripture says there's none good,
no, not one. There's none righteous, no, not
one. None that seeketh after God by nature. None that call
upon Him. None, no, not one. God's people know of the Lord's
mercies that were not consumed. So the Lord's mercy is that we're
not destroyed. We're sinners all against a good
God and a merciful God. Our greatest need is the Lord
have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us. Spare us
from what we deserve. Mercy means not getting what
we deserve. Grace means getting what you
don't deserve. By grace you say, the grace of
God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Have mercy upon us. We're waiting
on you to have mercy upon us. Have mercy upon us, O Lord. Have
mercy upon us. As I said, the reason we need
mercy is because of our sins. Our sins are ever before us.
God's people. Ever before us. Our past sins. God finally makes you to know
that you're a sinner in need of mercy and causes you to see
Christ and Him crucified who died for your sin. Your sins, you never forget.
And your past sins are ever before you. Your present sins, you have
a struggle with, a constant struggle with. And then there's the worry
about what you might do in the future. Which could be anything. Reliable to anything. And so
what do we say? Lord have mercy on me. This is
just a byword to people. This is just a slang saying to
most people. Oh, Lord have mercy. Another
way that men take God's name in vain. But it means something
to God's people. They say from the bottom of their
heart, always. In fact, I find myself praying
Just about praying this only most of the time. Lord, have
mercy upon me. When I can't find much of anything
else to pray, I pray, Lord, please have mercy. Mercy also means kindness to
such a poor, poor wretch as I am. We need mercy because of our
adversary, a stronger than us, one whom we cannot contend with,
A tempter, Adam and Eve were no match for Him. We need mercy because of the
world we live in. It's a constant temptation that
threatens to overcome us. And if God doesn't have mercy
on us, it will overcome us. Let me read something to you. I love this. This is by Samuel
Medley who also wrote most of these hymns in Gatsby's Hymnal.
about mercy. See if you can relate to this.
This is good. Well, turn to it. 385. 385. Don't take my word
for it. You'll want to mark this. We'll
want to sing it. 385. You have it? 385. Hear, gracious God, a sinner's
cry, for I have nowhere else to fly. My only hope's in Thee,
O God, be merciful to me. To Thee I come, a sinner poor,
and wait for mercy at Thy door. Indeed, I've nowhere else to
flee, O God, be merciful to me. To Thee I come, a sinner weak,
and scarce know how to pray or speak. From fear and weakness
set me free, O God, be merciful to me. To Thee I come, a sinner
vile. Upon me, Lord, vouchsafe to smile. Mercy through blood I make my
plea. O God, be merciful to me. To Thee I come, a sinner great,
and well Thou knowest all my stake. Yet full forgiveness is
with Thee. O God, be merciful to me. To Thee I come, a sinner lost.
Nor have I ought wherein to trust, but where Thou art, Lord, I would
be. O God, be merciful to me. To
glory bring me, Lord, at last. And there, when all my fears
are passed, when all Thy saints I'll then agree, God has been
merciful to me." Isn't that wonderful? It's a good thing to be poor
and needy. Only the poor and needy have
mercy. David said, I'm poor and needy and the Lord thinketh on
me. Didn't he say in Isaiah, to this man will I look, he that
is poor and of a contrite heart and trembleth at my word. Poor and needy are always looking
to the Lord, calling on the Lord, the proud and the self-sufficient
and the independent, never give him a thought. Scripture says
God is not in all their thoughts. They have many thoughts. God's
not in them. Except when they get in trouble.
Except when somebody dies. And then when that is over, they
quickly forget. Oh, what a mercy it is if God
reveals Himself to you and in you. Christ in you. Oh my. Look at verse 3 in our text.
It says, Lord have mercy upon us, for we are exceedingly filled
with contempt. Verse 4. Our soul is exceedingly. filled with the scorning of those
that are at ease and with the contempt of the proud. I want
you to turn with me to Genesis 19. It said, we're exceedingly
filled with contempt, contempt from a world at ease. And I quoted
2 Peter to you a moment ago. Chapter 3, where he said, in
the last days, scoffers, mockers shall say, where is the promise
of His coming? And where we live in the most affluent times in
the history of the world, I believe. At least there's more of it.
A time where there's more people at ease than any other. And by
the way, Amos, our Lord in the book of Amos, chapter 6, verse
1, gives a dire warning. to the people of God. He says, Woe unto them that are
at ease in Zion. At ease means be totally content
in this world with the people of this world, taken up with
this world, laid back like the fool who said, Take thine ease, my soul. You
have much laid up for you. When God says, you fool, your
soul shall be required of you tomorrow. Time is short. Woe
unto them that are at ease anywhere, but especially God's people. And we can do that. We can be
that way. And not to be at ease. There's a song written by, I
believe, a top lady that says, shall we glow to glory on flowery
beds of ease while others sail through bloody seas? In Amos
chapter 6, he says to those at ease at Zion, he said, have you
forgotten about Joseph's affliction? Many in God's people are under
affliction. Our souls are exceedingly filled
with contempt, scorning and contempt of the world at ease. And they
don't think there is a God. They don't think there is anything
to what we are doing here. They think this is all foolishness.
They think these are just the words of men. They think these
are old fables, Jewish fables. We know better, don't we? We
know better. But it exceedingly fills us with
their contempt, doesn't it? Like Noah, right before the flood,
Noah for 120 years, he was a preacher of righteousness. And he kept pounding that hammer,
building that ark, of which the world says, that's a pack of
foolishness, an ark full of animals. The Lord Jesus Christ said, as
in the days of Noah, so shall the coming of the Son of Man
be. Let them laugh, let them scoff. And in one day. But it
says that Noah, and he had to put up with that for 120 years,
didn't he? He had to put up with the laughter and the scorn of
people who said, you're pilling in a boat? For what? And for
120 years he dealt with that. Well, he faithfully warned them,
didn't he? Faithfully warned them. It says, Noah being warned
of God, moved with fear and did what? Prepared an ark for the
saving of his half. And that's what we're doing here
tonight. That's why we come here tonight. We come here hoping,
praying that God has us in Christ the Ark. That when the overflowing
scourge of His wrath comes nigh, it won't come nigh. That we'll
be safe. We'll rise above. to a new land
like those eight on that heart. Lot. Genesis 19. Lot, of which Peter wrote, he
said, that righteous man was vexed every day with all he heard
around him. Remember that? Peter said that
righteous man vexed his righteous soul, that just man, every day
with everything he was hearing all around him. He lived inside
of him. He was exceedingly filled with
contempt and scorning by those around him. Look at Genesis 19,
and here's what the Lord in mercy did for old Lot. Genesis 19,
verse 1, "...there came two angels to Sodom at eve." And Lot sat
in the gate of Sodom. What was he doing in the gate?
He wants out. You know, we are, as it were,
sitting in the gate. Christ is the gate. Enter into
the straight gate, He said. We're waiting on Him to come.
We come here hoping that the gate of heaven will open up and
we'll be like Enoch and just walk in the glory. Tonight, wouldn't
that be wonderful? If you know the Lord. Lot was
sitting in the gate. He had a family, you know, he
was concerned about. Lost. His wife, his children,
his sons-in-law, they were all lost. The Lord couldn't find
ten righteous folks in that city. Not ten. A city of about a million people.
Look at verse 1, Lot seeing these angels, angels of the Lord, angels
of mercy. These were men come to him to
take him out. Men come to him in mercy. Men
come to him with a message of mercy for him. To flee from the
wrath to come, flee from this city of destruction like John
Bunyan's Pilgrim. That's who Lot is right here. And he bowed himself with his
face toward the ground. And he said, Behold now, my lords,
turn in, I pray you, into your servants' house, and tarry all
night, and wash your feet, and rise up early, and go on your
way. And they said, No, we're going to abide in the street
all night. And he pressed upon them greatly. And they turned
in unto him, and entered his house, and they supped with him."
Does that sound familiar? I don't know. Angels of mercy. All those who seek mercy, all
those who, like Lot, are vexed, are exceedingly filled with the
scorning and contempt of the world, the Lord will send His
messengers of mercy, His gospel preachers with a message of mercy.
And the Lord, being merciful to Lot, laid hold of him while
he lingered, it's said, and He took him out. So may the Lord
lay hold of us, and may we lay hold of Him. And in closing,
I was going to have you turn to another place and I'm out
of time. But let me just tell you about it. The story of Nehemiah
is a great one. Read it for yourself when you
get time. And the Lord sent Nehemiah to rebuild the walls of Israel
and the temple eventually by Zerubbabel. And he's a picture
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Zerubbabel and Nehemiah. All
of them are. But he was sent to rebuild the
walls and the temple, and they had every adversary you could
think of. Nobody wanted that built again.
And they had adversary after adversary, John, trying to stop
this from happening. And let me read this to you.
Nehemiah said, I told the men who helped me, all those who
were with me, the hand of our God, the good God is upon me,
and the King's Word is spoken unto me. Let's rise up and build. And they strengthened their hand,
and all of these enemies came against them. And they said,
what are you going to do? You can't do this. And I said, God
of heaven is going to prosper us. We're His servants. We will
arise and build. You have no portion. You have
no right. You have no memorial in this. We're going to build
this thing. And buddy, they did. And neither hell or high water
could stop it. Read it for yourself sometimes. A wonderful, wonderful
story. In closing, in our text, there
in Psalm 123, he says, Lord, we are exceedingly filled with
the scorn of those who are at ease with the contempt of the
proud. And you know, really, this shouldn't stop right there.
Look at the next psalm. If it had not been the Lord who
is on our side. May Israel say, if it had not
been the Lord is on our side, and when men rose up against
us, they'd swallow us up quick. When their wrath was kindled
against us, the waters would overwhelm us. The streams would
go over our soul. The proud waters had gone over
our soul. But blessed be the Lord, He's not given us as a
prey to their teeth. Our soul is escaped as a bird
out of the snare of the fowler. The snare is broken. We're escaped. Our help is in the name of the
Lord, who made heaven and earth." It all goes together. Have mercy upon us, O Lord."
Is that your cry? If it is, the Lord taketh pleasure
in them that fear Him and those that hope in His mercy. Okay. Stand with me. Our Father in Heaven, thank You.
Thank You for Your Word. It is our hope, our comfort, Faith, Lord, is in Thy Word.
Thy Word made flesh, the Lord Jesus Christ. O Lord, our eyes
look to Thee. We lift up our eyes unto Thee.
Our eyes wait upon Thee. Lord, let us wait on the Lord. Wait, You said, on the Lord. And You'll see, You said, we'll
see the desire of our heart fulfilled. Our desire is unto Thee, O Lord.
Whom have we in heaven but Thee, and there's none we desire on
earth beside Thee? O Lord, we'll be satisfied when
we awake with Thy likeness. Come quickly, Lord Jesus. But
until then, deliver us from the snare of the fowler. Deliver
us from the noisome pestilence. Deliver us from all of these
things that threaten us. O Lord, deliver us from our adversary.
Cause us to always look unto Thee and call upon Thee. Be near
unto us, Lord, and send Your messengers of mercy, and send
us to them that we might hear a word that we need in Caesar. Forgive us of our sins. In Christ's
name we pray and we meet here tonight. Amen. You're dismissed.