Good evening, everybody. I'm so glad to be here. I don't really know what to say
because it's not enough. I love you so much and we're just so glad to be here.
I was so glad to sit down in that study. It was just like
the old days. And it's just great to be together. And I thank the
Lord for giving us tonight. I pray He'll bless His Word. And I'm thankful for all of His
purposes. Then soon, we're all going to
be together, real soon, in one geographical congregation, and
we'll look forward to that. But I'm so thankful. I'm thankful
to Brother Paul for asking me to preach tonight. Turn with
me, if you would, to Psalm 42. Psalm 42. I was looking for tonight's
message and ran across this psalm and the
Lord blessed it to my heart again like He has so many times before.
This is one of my favorite psalms. Another one is Psalm 25, which
I know you just heard. But I love this psalm. I want
to begin reading in verse 3. Psalm 42. And let's begin reading
in verse 3. My tears have been my meat day
and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul in me. For I had gone with the multitude,
I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy
and praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. Why art thou
cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. O my God, my
soul is cast down within me. Therefore will I remember thee
from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill
Mizar. Deep calleth unto deep at the
noise of thy waterspouts. All thy waves and thy billows
are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command His
lovingkindness in the daytime. And in the night His song shall
be with me and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say
unto God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in
my bones, mine enemies reproach me, while they say daily unto
me, where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? And why art thou disquieted within
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance and my God."
You know, the man or woman who can truly say that from the heart
is a believer. Is a believer. Truly say that
deep in the heart. He said in the middle of verse
5, Hope thou in God. I shall yet praise Him for the
help of His countenance. But he said in verse 6, My God,
I can't help it. My soul is cast down within me.
He said at the end of verse 7, I feel like all thy waves and
thy billows are gone over me. He said in verse 8, Yet the Lord
will command His lovingkindness. But he said in verse 9 to his
rock, Why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning? Why? Why? Why do I get out of
bed feeling like I'm mourning? Does that ever happen to you? If you really stop and think
about it, we have a few happy moments. God's people are happy
people. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help. But there is a lot of sadness
in this life, isn't it? And we experience it. Get out
of bed and feel like we're mourning. Why do I walk through this day
feeling like I'm mourning? Why do I lay my head down at
night feeling like I'm mourning? It's so often. We carry this
sin around with us and it's just so much and it's so often. Why
art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou disquieted in me? Now I want to read to you what
the first time I read it was either one of the most comforting
things I've ever read in my life. Or, this was the most comforting
thing I've ever read in my life. Spurgeon was such a blessing
to me on this psalm. I read his morning and evening.
I read some of his messages and he was such a blessing. And I'm
going to quote him a lot. I quote him a lot tonight. This
is his morning and evening. This is July the 21st and this
is the evening portion. And he takes it from Psalm 42
verse 9. The verse is, Why go I mourning? He said, Canst thou answer this
believer? Why go I mourning? You know how
sometimes you just can't put your finger on it. He said, can
you answer this, believer? Canst thou find any reason why
thou art so often mourning instead of rejoicing? Why yield to gloomy
anticipations? Who told thee that the night
would never end in day? It'd just stay night. Who told thee that the sea of
circumstances would ebb out? That's what the ocean does when
that tide recedes. Who told thee that the sea of
circumstances would ebb out till there should be nothing left
but long leagues of mud of horrible poverty? Who told you it was
just going to keep going and keep going and keep going? Who
told thee that the winter of thy discontent would proceed
from frost to frost, from snow and ice and hail to deeper snow,
and yet more heavy tempest of despair? Knowest thou not that
day follows night? That flood comes after ebb? That spring and summer succeed
to winter? Hope thou then, hope thou ever, for God fails
thee not. Dost thou not know that thy God
loves thee in the midst of all this? Mountains, when in darkness
hidden, are as real as in day, and God's love is as true to
thee now as it was in thy brightest moments. No father chastens always. Thy Lord hates the rod as much
as thou dost. He only cares to use it for that
reason which should make thee willing to receive it, namely
that it works thy lasting good." Every single thing that comes
is for one reason only, thy everlasting good. He said, Thou shalt yet climb
Jacob's ladder with the angels, and behold Him who sits at the
top of it, thy covenant God. Thou shalt yet amidst the splendors
of eternity forget the trials of time, or only remember them
to bless the God who led thee through them and wrought thy
lasting good by them. Come, sing in the midst of tribulation. Rejoice even while passing through
the furnace. Make the wilderness to blossom
like the rose. Cause the desert to ring with
thine exalting joys, for these light afflictions will soon be
over. And then, forever with the Lord,
thy bliss shall never wane." Isn't that great? Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? And why art thou disquieted in
me? Why has all the quietness left?
Hope thou in God. Hope thou in God. I would love
to hear the message tonight. I'd love to hear it tonight.
There are so many reasons why we become cast down. You know
that? Personal reasons, life reasons. Life happens, doesn't
it? And there are some things that happen to us and around
us, and if we did not become cast down over it, there wouldn't
be a heart in here. There wouldn't be life in here. No feeling in here. There would be something wrong.
We have good reason to be cast down sometimes. We have good
reason. But I'll tell you this, every
single time we are cast down, it is for good reason. That will
make my impact. Every single time, it is for
good reason. Every single time, it is for
good reason. Hope thou in God. Hope thou in God." It's for good
reason. Spurgeon said to believers, a
child of God, this is what he said, it sometimes happens that
the very pressure which weighs down the scale of the believer's
earthly hopes tends to lift up the opposite scale of his spiritual
peace. The harder it's pressing this
flesh down, the higher it's lifting up that soul that God gave right
back to God. He said, Hope thou in God. Hope
thou in God. It's all for good reason. Verse 3 in the text, Psalm 42
verse 3 says, My tears have been my meat day and night, while
they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? That's a good
place to be. Do you know that? That is a good place to be. That's
a blessed place to be. He's saying, I can't eat. That's
what he's saying. I'm too distressed. I just can't
eat. My soul keeps crying, where is God? What a place to be. My soul will not stop crying,
where is God? What a place to be. What a place
to be. Is it a painful place? Absolutely. Yeah. But is it so worth it? Is it such a good place to be?
Spurgeon said, A man may actually be growing in grace while he
is cast down. And he may really be standing
higher when he is cast down than he did when he stood upright.
He might be standing higher and higher. He said, when we are
flat on our faces, we are generally the nearest to heaven. Flat on
our faces. When we sink the lowest in our
own esteem, we rise the highest in fellowship with Christ and
in knowledge of Him." And I love this. When I read this, I thought,
this is just wonderful. He said, there is such a thing
as being crushed with a load of grace. Just absolutely crushed. with a load of grace. It hurts,
doesn't it? It hurts so badly. What a blessing. What a blessing that God would
be so good to us to bring us through something that would
cause this heart to cry, where is my God? I need my God. I don't need myself anymore.
I can't do it. I need my God. Where is God? That's where our Lord communes
with us, isn't it? We start having closer dealings
with Christ Himself than we ever have before when we're going
through those trials. There was a man who told me when
my mother was dying of cancer and it became clear she was going
to die, a man told me, you will look back on this day and see
it to be one of the most precious and closest times of your communion
with the Lord." And that man was right. He was right. Close communion. Look with me
over at Psalm 34. Psalm 34 verse 6 says, This poor man cried, and the
Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. He cried. He started crying.
The Lord heard him and saved him out of all his troubles. Look with me at verse 17. It
says, The righteous cry, and the Lord heareth, and delivereth
them out of all their troubles. The Lord is nigh unto them that
are of a broken heart, and saveth such as be of a contrite spirit. Many are the afflictions of the
righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all." Every one
of them. He delivered us out of our greatest
affliction, didn't He? The absolute greatest affliction,
our sin. He delivered us out of our sin. I love this hymn. It says, "'Tis
the grandest theme through the ages wrung, "'Tis the grandest
theme for a mortal tongue. "'This is the greatest theme
that the world e'er sung. "'Our God is able to deliver
thee. "'Tis the grandest theme, let
the tidings roll, "'To the guilty heart, to the sinful soul. "'Look
to God in faith, He will make thee whole.'" Our God is able
to deliver thee. Though by sin oppressed, go to
Him for rest, our God is so able to deliver thee. He is so, so
able to deliver thee. In Christ, He delivered us from
absolute destruction, eternal destruction. And He still delivers us every
single day from absolute destruction. How does He do that? How does
our Lord do that? Look with me back at Psalm 42. Verse 3 says, My tears have been
my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me,
Where is thy God? When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul in me. For I had gone with the multitude,
I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy
and praise with a multitude that kept holy day. Why art thou cast
down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise Him for the help of His countenance." In my Bible,
I have a center reference. And right there at the end of
verse 5, I have a number 4. And it says in my Bible, His
presence is salvation. His presence is salvation. When He makes His face shine
on us, when He makes His face shine on us, when He reveals
to us that He's right there. We're sitting there crying, where
is God? Did He leave us? Had He forsaken
us? Where is God? Right there with
us, watching out for us. Actually, He's carrying us. Lambs
in His arms, carrying us. Verse 6, He said, Oh my God,
my soul is cast down within me. Therefore will I remember Thee. That's what I'll do, is I'll
remember Thee. Don't you love it whenever The
Spirit of our Lord reminds this cold heart right here, wait a
minute, He's carrying me. What do you mean where is God? He's carrying me. So the burden I'm carrying is
being carried by Him too. We both don't have to carry it. He said, I could roll any burden
I have over to Him. Any of them I have, over to Him. And I don't have to carry it
at all. I can lay it on the shoulders of the one who has all the government in heaven and earth. I can just
cast my little care right there with that. All the government
of heaven and earth. I can just set it right there
with all the government of heaven and earth. I can put mine right
there with it. Right on his shoulder. Verse 6, Oh my God, my soul is
cast down within me. Therefore will I remember thee
from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites from the hill
Mizar. Those are references back to
great times of deliverance. David is remembering great deliverances. He's never failed to deliver
me before. That's what He's saying. He's
never failed to deliver me before. Never. If He was victorious,
if our Lord was victorious in delivering us from all of our
sin, an eternity of hell's fire, if He was able to deliver us
from that, He can deliver us from anything. Anything. What is anything compared to
that? There's an old saying, he who is his own lawyer has
a fool for a client. Well, if any man sin, we have
an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. Take your burden to Him and leave
it there. That's what you do when you go
see a lawyer. I've got a problem. And I'm bringing it to you. How
much will it be? It's already been paid for. Take your burden to the Lord
and leave it there. I love the song. I wrote all
these down and I thought, well, I'm quoting a lot of songs, but
I love them. What a friend we have in the Lord Jesus. Isn't
that wonderful? All our sins and griefs to bear. What a privilege to carry everything
to God in prayer. Do we enter into the privilege
He's given us? We have a place to take all our
burdens, all our cares. That song says, Oh, what peace
we often forfeit! Oh, what needless pain we bear! All because we do not carry everything
to God in prayer. I hope I'm listening to my message
tonight. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour
of prayer, that calls me from a world of care and bids me at
my Father's throne make all my wants and wishes known. In seasons
of distress and grief, my soul has often found relief and oft
escaped the tempter's snare by Thy return. Sweet hour of prayer. David said, therefore will I
remember thee. I'll remember you. Verse 7 says,
Deep calleth unto deep, at the noise of thy waterspouts, all
thy waves and thy billows are gone over me. Who could truly
say that but Christ? All thy waves and all thy billows
have gone over me. Who could truly say that but
Jesus Christ? Not me. I can't say it. I'm the one who committed all
the sin. He's the one who endured the
deep. I just endured it in Him. Verse 8 says, Yet the Lord will
command His lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night
His song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my
life. You see how much strength David
has after remembering the Lord. How much strength he has, the
help of his countenance. Verse 3 says, My tears have been
my meat day and night, while they continually say to me, Where
is thy God? When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul in me, for I had gone with the multitude.
I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy
and praise, with a multitude that kept holy day. I is the
root of all our sorrows, isn't it? Me is the root of all my
sorrows. But if our God will give us the
help of His countenance, if He'll reveal His face and remind us
to remember Christ, I, I, I, oh, but He, Christ, How long does that usually last
for us when we get that relief? How long do we usually retain
that? We walk out of the doors of our building and it slips
right away, doesn't it? It slips right away. We've forgotten everything He's
done, weak glory in everything He's done for us, and then we
just forget it. We forget it. And this is what we say in verse
9, I will say unto God, My rock. He's my rock. But I'll say, Why
hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning because of
the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in my bones,
mine enemies reproach me while they say daily unto me, Where
is thy God? Where is thy God? Where? You know what, mercy? It is for
a sinner when the Lord will lay hold on him, bring him back again
into the sanctuary to hear the same message again of what Christ
did for us. Don't you think by this point
we'd have it by now? I don't think I do. I think I
come back in and, oh yeah, wait a minute, he's carrying me. And
if He's carrying me, then I don't have to carry this. Where is thy God? I'll tell you
where He is. He's seated on the right hand of the Majesty on
high. That's where He is. Making intercession for us. Don't you love the thought of
that? Making intercession for us. Reminding all of heaven and
earth that our sins have been forgiven. Those are paid for. They're all forgiven for His
sake. Spurgeon said, if I had never received more than that
one mercy from Him, I must bless Him for it in time
and bless Him for it throughout all eternity. That's all He ever
did for me, was forgive my sin, pay my debt, sit down at the
right hand of the Majesty on high, and ever live to make intercession
for me. He said, God forbid that we should
ever think that He was so cruel as to enlighten and comfort and
cheer and help us so long and then leave us at last to sink
and to perish. I love how Manoah and his wife,
you know, Manoah thought, we're dead. We've seen God. We've seen the Holy God. And
she said, no. If He was going to kill us, He
would have never showed us all this. He would have never told
us all this. Spurgeon said He didn't reveal
all this to you only to leave you to yourself and let you fall
away. He said, yet you who have been
at the foot of the cross... We've been at the foot of the
cross. Like John and Mary. Yet you who have been at the
foot of the cross are afraid that you will be cast away at
the last. You have known the sweetness
of Jesus' love, yet you are cast down. He has kissed you with
the kisses of His lips. His left hand has been under
your head, and His right hand has embraced you. Yet you think
He will leave you at last in trouble to sink. You have been
in His banqueting house and you have had such food as angels
never tasted. Yet you dream that you shall
be cast into hell. Shame on you, Gabe Stoniker. Pluck off those robes of mourning. Lay aside that sackcloth and
those ashes. Down from the willows snatch
your harps and let us together sing praises unto Him whose love
and power and faithfulness and goodness shall ever be the same."
He said believers in Jesus are not a miserable crew. They have
songs to sing and they have good reason to sing them. Here's one. by William Cooper. God moves
in a mysterious way. His wonders to perform. He plants
His footsteps in the sea and rides upon the storm. Judge not
the Lord by feeble sense, but trust Him for His grace. Behind
a frowning providence, faith sees a smiling face. Blind unbelief
is sure to err and scan his work in vain." That's my favorite
line. I think about that one all the time. That's me. That
is me. Blind unbelief is sure to err
and scan his work in vain. God is His own interpreter and
He will make it plain. You fearful saints, fresh courage
take. The clouds you so much dread
are big with mercy and will break and blessings on your head. How
many times have we heard that song? We believe that, don't
we? It's such mercy when God reminds
it to us. Hearing that, does that make
you want to cry with David what he said in verse 1? Look at verse
1. He said, As the heart panteth
after the water brooks, 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? What relief there is in Him!
Such relief in Him! The end of verse 5 says, For
I shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. I'll
praise Him for the help of His countenance. Now look with me
at verse 11. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art
thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance and my God."
His countenance is the health of my countenance. If He'll just
look at me, if He'll just smile at me, If He'll just reveal Himself
that He's right here and show me His face. If He'll just let
me see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That's
all I need. That's all I need. His countenance
is the health of my countenance. He alone is the health of my
countenance and He alone is my God. So, soul, rejoice. Rejoice in Him. Let's stand together. I'll dismiss this in prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, we are
so grateful for Your precious, precious Word. Lord, it is so
sweet. comforting to our needy and sinful
hearts. And Lord, we do just long to
see You. We just long to see Your countenance.
Would You please look at us? And would You reveal Your face?
And would You reveal the smile that we receive in Christ because
of His blood? Lord, would You touch our hearts?
Would You reach down, reach way down? and touch these cold hearts
and bless us and give us health, spiritual health. Lord, whatever
our physical condition may be, would You bless us with the health
of Thy countenance. Thank You, Lord. We are so thankful
for each other. Lord, we're thankful for this
place. We're thankful that You raised up a dear and precious
pastor here, Lord. Thank You for the Gospel. Thank
You for not leaving us to ourselves. And Lord, thank you for the unity
and the love that you've given us in the family of Christ. Lord,
we truly love each other and we're grateful for each other.
We long to be together in your presence at your feet, worshiping
your holy, holy name. Lord, we thank you for all things
and we ask your blessings on our worship tonight. Lord, please
receive us for Christ's sake. Amen. You're dismissed.