The battle has been won. That's what Isaiah 40 says, doesn't
it? Warfare is accomplished. The
Lord said before that, you won't need me. The battle is not yours,
but the Lord's. And our Lord is satisfied, Isaiah
53 says. You'll see the travail of his
soul will be satisfied. He is. Good hymn. This is my Father's Word. wrong
seems so strong. God is the ruler here. He is
in control. Going back to Psalm 43, the title
of this message, Oh God, My God. David in this one, this psalm,
and the one before it, mentions God's name in nearly every verse.
He calls upon God cries unto God and uses His name. But we're not like the world.
David knew the Lord, the fear of the Lord, and I believe we
do too. The world, it takes His name
in vain. The world is constantly saying,
Oh my God. God's people use His name like
that, but they mean it in reverence and respect, and they're calling
upon Him in fear, and they're calling upon Him in sincerity. Oh God, my God, my God, my Sovereign,
my Lord. This is a psalm for the downcast
like the one before it. You notice he said, Why art thou
cast down within me, O my soul? He said that twice in the previous
psalm. Some of the writers say this
was just a continuation of the one before it. And I had to ask
myself, why did he write another psalm right after that one saying
basically the same thing? Because we are so prone to getting
downcast down. We're so easily cast down. And I'll be honest with you,
it doesn't take much to bring me down. I'll just be honest
with you. It doesn't take much to get me
a little bit depressed. I know I'm supposed to be an
example in faith, and maybe I put up a good front, but quite often
I get easily upset and downcast and depressed. I do. Shouldn't,
but I do. Take just recently. I was rejoicing
in God's Word and preparing a message from Psalm 84, like I told you. And about an hour later, someone
told me some very sad and depressing news. And it just brought me
down. And I became so downcast, so
depressed. It's not that serious, Bad enough
that it really, really bothered me. It really did bring me down. Disappointing. Greatly disappointing. But it caused me to do two things.
Two things. First of all, it caused me to
think on others. The troubles, the problems. that
other people have to go through. My brother, I began to think
about some of you. I began to think about the things
you've gone through and go through every day on a daily basis. This
world brings us down, doesn't it? It drags us down. It made my troubles light when
I began to think about some of you all, the troubles you've
gone through and go through on a daily basis. It made my troubles
very light. And then the next thing it caused
me to do was to, it drove me to the Word. That's what troubles
do. Shouldn't it drive us to God's
Word? And I thought about Psalm 42.
I remember one time a dying believer, someone I loved was dying, and
I was upset, and I began to read Psalm 42. And it lifted me up
so much. Why aren't I cast down? And I
told them to read it, and they did, and I hope it lifted them
up too. But as I said, my eyes dropped
down to Psalm 43. After I read that. All right,
let's look at it. David says, Judge me, O God. Plead my cause against an ungodly
nation. O deliver me from the deceitful
and unjust man. Now, David was a sinner. And he knew it. So when he says,
Judge me, He's not pleading his righteousness. He's
not pleading his goodness. He's not saying that I'm innocent
at all. He says this no less than four
times in the psalm, Judge me, O God. No less than four times. I looked them all up. You know,
when we think of God judging us, we almost always think of
it in a bad sense, don't we? We almost always think of it
as God in His wrath and His condemnation finds us guilty and pronounces
judgment on us. That's not what David is saying.
He said one time, he said, if you should bring us into judgment. He said, don't bring me into
judgment. Don't bring me, don't judge me according to my works. Oh no, please don't do that.
What he's saying, well, listen to a few psalms. Listen to this.
Speaking of the judgment of God. God is our judge and I'm thankful. I am mighty thankful. David one time, he said, don't
let me fall into the hands of God. He said, I want to fall
into the hands of God. I mean, in the hands of men.
I want to fall into the hands of God. Men aren't righteous judges,
God is. But he says things like this in the Psalms. In Isaiah
42, he says he'll bring forth judgment, speaking of Christ.
He says he'll bring forth judgment unto truth, true judgment. He
says he'll set judgment in the earth. Remember that? He says
he'll judge his people in righteousness. What's he saying? Go to Psalm 139. Go over to Psalm
139. What's he saying? He says, Judge
me, O Lord. I believe this is what he's saying.
Psalm 139. Go over there. You'll judge his people in righteousness. Remember when Abraham said, Shall
not the judge of the earth do right? Oh, yes, he will. Yes,
he will. And so David says, Judge me.
Thou art my judge, and I'm glad of it. We're told to judge ourselves. If we judge ourselves, we won't
be judged. Doesn't that say that? If we'll judge ourselves correctly
and rightly, we'll find ourselves guilty. But even then, we're
not good judges of ourselves. Not very often. We often justify
ourselves wrongly. All right, look at Psalm 139.
Here's, I believe, what he's saying. Psalm 139, you know these
verses. He says in verse 23 and 24, Search me, O God, and know my
heart. Try me, and know my thoughts. And see if there be any wicked
way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." He's not saying,
see if you can find anything wrong with me. You know better
than that. What he's saying is, and he said it in another place,
keep me from secret sin, sins I don't know about. Keep me from
presumptuous sin. Search me. Expose my heart in
every way. Look at John 3. John chapter
3. A chapter that most people just
know one verse. John chapter 3. I've always loved
this verse. Our Lord says this. John chapter
3. Oh Lord, search me. Try me. See if there be any wick. Whatever
it is, Lord, expose it. Bring it to light and lead me. Lead me in the way of everlasting
judgment. Verse 21 of John 3, verse 20. Our Lord Jesus Christ is speaking.
He says, Everyone that doeth evil hateth the light. That's
the Word. That's Christ. That's the truth.
Neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved
or exposed. But he that doeth truth, that
is, believeth Christ, believeth the Word, worships the Lord,
that believes him, fears the Lord, comes to the light. Why? That his deeds might be made
manifest, that they might be exposed. Why? That they are brought
in God. Show me. I want to know, am I
yours or am I not? I need to know. Search me. Judge me. Go back to Psalm 43
now. Go back there. So he says, Judge
me, O God. and plead my cause. Does that
sound familiar? We just heard that from Brother
David. It's Friday night, I believe it was, from Nahum, Micah 7,
verse 9, where he said, Until he plead my cause. Remember that?
Plead my cause. Plead my cause. Now, John said
this. He said, If any man sin, And
who doesn't? There's not a just man on the
earth that would do us good and sin us not. Not one. He said,
if any man sin, before that he said, if we confess our sins
to Christ, He's faithful and just to forgive us all our sins.
And the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all
sin. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous. The
righteous judge. God is righteous. God is just.
He will by no means clear the guilty. God is just. He's a just
judge. He's a right judge, a righteous
judge. He will by no means clear the guilty. But now, if Christ
was made guilty for me, if Christ died, Scripture says, who is
he to condemn me? God won't condemn me. He's just. Plead my cause through Christ
our Lord. He's my advocate. He's the one
who came into the world to save us from our sins. So that's what
David, I believe, is saying. Dare judge me, O God, unto myself. And plead my cause against an
ungodly nation. Look at this. Plead my cause. What is our cause? What is David's
cause? What is our cause? John Gill wrote a book called
The Cause of God and Truth. Big old thick book, great book.
The Cause of God and Truth. The Cause of God's Glory. The Cause. This is why Christ
came, Christ said for this cause, came out into this world. To
glorify God. To glorify His name. to save
His people, to declare the truth. Remember David. I couldn't help
but think about David, young David as an 18-year-old boy. The people of God were being
taunted by Goliath and the enemies of God. And all the people of
God were cowered down and afraid and couldn't do anything against
this formidable giant. They couldn't do anything. They
were all scared to death, including King Saul. and all of David's
brethren. They were scared to death. And
young David, who is a picture of Christ Himself, that's why
the story happened. Young David came down there and
went out in front before all of them, and what did he say?
Is there not a cause? He said, who is this uncircumcised
Philistine that he should defy the living God? He said, I'll
take his head. And he did. That's Christ, isn't
it? The Son of David. Is there not
a cause? David's cause was Christ's cause
is my cause, isn't it? Our cause. Why does this building
stand here? Why do we meet here? What's this
all about? What's the cause? For what cause
do we meet here together? For God's glory. For Christ's
glory. That sinners might be saved. Look to Him. This cause. It's
a just cause. It's a worthy cause. God's glory. In the world of the ungodly,
verse 1 says, plead my cause against an ungodly nation. We
live in an ungodly nation. I don't believe this nation has
ever been a godly nation. I'm sorry, but I don't believe
that at all. Do you? Anybody here? The founding fathers,
like Thomas Jefferson, he was an ungodly man. Like Israel, though, there was
a remnant, according to the election of Graham. There are some godly
people here. The gospel is preached. There
are some of God's people. The elect of God in this nation
always has been, like Israel, though. But for the most part,
this is an ungodly nation, and increasingly so, isn't it? It's
becoming worse and worse and worse. And our cause, the cause
of God and truth, David's cause, our cause, we say, plead our
cause against an ungodly nation. The truth in these days is so
foreign, like Isaiah 59, and it's just like Isaiah 59 said,
truth is backward. Judgment is backward. They're
calling evil good and good evil. And the truth, they turn away
their ears from the truth unto lies, unto fable. And what we
say is, Lord, plead our cause against an ungodly nation. We're
in the minority. The truth has always been in
the minority. And look at this. Oh, deliver me from the deceitful
and unjust man. Deliver me from the deceitful
and unjust man. Who's that? Who's he talking
about? Well, I'm sure David is talking about King Saul, if that
happened. We're not sure when he wrote
it. But had he been talking about Saul, he was certainly an unjust,
ungodly man, wasn't he? Saul. Absalom, maybe. Other wicked men. But I believe, you know, there's
three men that we need delivered from. There are three evil men
that we need delivered from. There's the evil within. There's
this evil man within us. And he's going to be with us
till the day we die. And we need the Lord to deliver
us from this old man, this evil man within. And there's the evil
without, the world. people in the world, ungodly,
and then there's the evil one, the evil one, our greatest adversary
of all, Satan himself, our chief adversary. We need deliverance
from them. And so David says on our behalf, oh, deliver us
from the deceitful. Satan is called the great deceiver,
isn't he? The old man within us is a great deceiver. The world
is a deceiver. The things of the world deceive
us. The riches of this world. Sin will deceive us. The God
of this world who uses that deceives us. The deceitful and unjust. There is no justice in this world.
There is no judgment. So deliver me. He calls upon
God. Oh God, deliver me from perishing
with this ungodly nation and from the deceitful and unjust
man within, without, and my adversary the devil. In verse 2 he says,
For Thou art the God of my strength. Our brother prayed tonight and
you said that. I heard you say it three times.
Do you hear that? Three times he said, you're my
strength, you're our strength. Oh God, you're our strength.
We don't have any strength. We don't have any strength against
this old man, none whatsoever. We don't have any strength against
the world, overcome the world. We don't have any strength certainly
against the God of this world, none whatsoever. So David cries
out, oh God, Thou art my strength. My strength, I can't handle myself. I can't handle the world. I can't
handle my adversary. Help me." Really? Really? How could he not? No one's ever cried unto the
Lord for help. Brother David said that, didn't
he? Nobody's ever cried to the Lord for help, and he'd not answer.
In fact, as Isaiah said, before they cry, I'll answer them. But
listen to what David said, why dost thou cast me off? You know, a believer's greatest
fear The world doesn't think about God. They don't even believe
God. They don't believe there is a God, don't know God, don't
need God, don't worship God. All their hope and help and strength
and who they trust is the world and politicians and themselves
and all of this. But the believer is only hope
and help and strength and salvation. And the one he turns to and the
one he or she calls upon is the Lord always. And the thing they
fear more than anything else is that He will cast us out. Right? Because of our sin. Because of our unfaithfulness.
But we may feel that way often. And we do. Don't we? David did constantly. He said
this constantly. He said this same thing constantly.
Why hast thou cast me out? Another place he said, are your
mercies clean gone? The same one that wrote, His
mercies endure forever. A little while later, is His
mercy gone? The thing is, we may feel like
God has cast us out, but it's not possible. It's not possible. God cannot
lie. And what did He say? All that the Father giveth me
shall come to me." All right? You come to God, that means you're
crying to Him, you're calling upon Him, you're worshiping Him,
you want to hear from Him, you come to Him. And what do you
cry? Like David, don't catch me yet.
All that the Father giveth me shall come to me, and Him that
cometh to me I will, what? In no wise, under
no circumstances, for any reason, ever, their whole life, they
keep coming, it doesn't matter to whom coming, they go away,
they come back, they go away, they come back, they go away,
they come back, they fall away, they stay away, but they come
back, and I will never cast them out. Never. There will never be a time where
he says, not you again. No, that's it. I'm not taking
you back in this time. Not, there will never be a time.
He cannot lie. He said, I will never. Didn't
he say that? Cast them out. I give unto them eternal life
and they shall never perish. But we feel like it, don't we?
And we need to. We need to feel like it. Because
our sins often separate us from our God. No. They cause us to
wander and we go away. Be honest. Are there not times
you go, periods of time, maybe even days, without giving God
much thought? Anybody? Huh? And so He's going to make us
feel that. He's got to make us feel that.
He's got to make us feel that. Then we come back. And we need
to feel cast out. We do. We do. We come back, but
he says he'll never cast us out. Look at the next thing. He says,
why go out mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?
I mourn all the time. We love that Psalm 38, don't
we, brother? We love it so much. David said,
oh, he said, don't rebuke me in your wrath. He said, I know
there's no soundness in my flesh. There's no rest in my bones because
of my sin. My iniquities are over my head.
They're a heavy burden for me. I'm troubled. I'm bowed down
greatly. I go mourning all the day long. Why, David? Because my loins
are filled with a loathsome disease. There's no soundness in my flesh.
He said, Lord, my desire is before You. My groaning is not hid from
You. My heart panteth. My strength faileth. And people
around me aren't even aware of it. I feel like I'm such a rotten
sinner. I feel like I'm lost and I'm
cast out. Anybody? Mourning. What did our Lord say
about those that mourn? He said, blessed. Blessed are those that mourn.
They'll be comforted. You won't be comforted unless you mourn. There's no comfort unless you
mourn. And he says here, it's the enemy
that oppresses me. This is a good question, really.
There's nothing wrong with asking the Lord questions. David did.
Why, Lord? Why? How long, O Lord? How long?
He said. Why does the enemy oppress me? Why does the Lord allow sin and
Satan and self to oppress us? Why? Have you ever thought, if
I could just be rid of this, Have you ever thought that? If
I could just be rid of this besetting sin or this problem or this turmoil
within, I'd be so much more, whatever, spiritual. Anybody? I hope I could just be rid of
that. No, you'd be self-righteous, would you? You'd be self-sufficient. What these things do to us, the
Lord allows Satan to sift us like wheat. Like he did Peter. How did Peter
act before he allowed Satan to sift him? He said, these fellows, they
may leave you nothing. Oh Peter, I'm going to let Satan
have you just a little bit to show you, you're not one whit
better than the worst sinner on the face of the earth except
for my grace. And I'm going to let Him have
you, just to show you how rotten you are, and to show you how
much you need Me. If I don't show you what you
are, you won't need Me. See that? That's why He allows
Satan to oppress us. That's why He allows the old
man to lift up his head all the time. And we won't love ourselves,
so we'll loathe ourselves. That's why He allows the world
to attempt us. Oh, my. To keep us looking to
Him. To keep us hoping in His mercy. To keep us calling. To
keep us seeking. Like Psalm 107. Why is it we
love Psalm 107 so much? Why is it? Because it's us. They're
us. This is what it says about the
people of God. It says they cried unto the Lord
in their trouble, and He delivered them out of their distresses.
It says they were brought down with labor. They fell down, none
to help, and they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and
He saved them out of their distress. It says they were fools because
of their transgressions and their iniquities. And it says they
cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and He saved them out
of their distress. It says they went through a stormy wind and
a raging billow, and they were up and they were down, and their
souls melted because of trouble. They reeled to and fro, and they
were like at their wits' end. So what do they do when they're
at their wits' end? What do you do when you're at
your wits' end? In other words, you can't think
of anything else to do. in the pride of the Lord, and
he delivered them. So that's why, that's why, that's
why the Lord allows these things, and they're good for us. David
said, when he said, it's good for me that I've been afflicted,
that doesn't just mean troubles and sorrows, but that means in
every way, afflicted by Satan, by sin, by the world, as well
as difficulties. that I might learn thy stature,
that I might look to him." Keep calling upon him. Look at the
next line in our text. He says, Oh, send out thy light
and thy truth. Let them lead me. My light and
my truth? What is light? What is truth? Well, God's Word is light. David
said, The entrance of thy Word giveth light. The world walketh
in darkness. They don't have a clue. They
don't know where to turn. They're turning to everyone and
everything but light, because they're lovers of darkness. What
about you? No. No. God's people are not lovers of
darkness. They're lovers of light. And we call, Lord, send out Thy
light and Thy truth. Oh, Pilate, that phony, The Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember He said, I find no fault
in this man. He kept saying that, didn't he?
I find no fault in him. But I'll scourge him and then let him go. You can't scourge him if there's
no fault in him. And then our Lord stood before
him and Pilate is examining him. And he said, what is truth? He
didn't want to know the truth. He didn't want to know the truth.
They that will do the truth, we just read that, will come
to the light. God will show them. Walk in the
light and He'll give you more light. Seek the truth and you'll
find it. Truth. Alright? What is light? What is truth? It's the Word
of God. What is light? What is truth? It's Christ. Christ is the light. He said,
I am the light of the world. If any man walk in my light,
he won't stumble, he won't fall. I am the truth. I am the way.
I am the truth. Send your light. Oh, Lord, send
your truth. Send Christ. Send His Word. Send Him. And He did. And He
does. Let them lead me. Verse 3. Let
them lead me. Let them lead me, guide me, direct
me, make me, show me, keep me. You know, sheep want to be led,
don't they? Most people don't want anybody to lead them. Sheep
lead. That's a characteristic of sheep.
Oh, Lord, send out Thy Word. Lead me in paths of righteousness
for Thy namesake and Thy truth. Lead me in Thy truth. Send Christ. Let me follow Him. I want to
be a follower of the Lamb. I want to be a follower of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Let Him lead me. And here's where
He'll lead us. Here's where the Word of God
will lead us. Look at it. Verse 3. Here's where
it will lead us. He will lead us. Bring me into
thy holy hill and to thy tabernacle. What's that? That's the church. where Christ is. That's the temple
of God. That's the people of God. That's
where Christ is found, where two or three are gathered. He
said, that's where I'll be. And that's where He leads His
people to. He brings them into Mount Zion, the church of the
living God, to His tabernacles. Yeah, He has churches everywhere.
There are people all over meeting right now in little buildings
like ours, doing what we're doing. Calling on the Lord, doing what
we're doing. Calling on the same Lord, the same God, Ask Him the
same thing. Sing the same song. The Lord
has led them, led them to His holy hill, to the fold and to
the fold. He said there will be one fold,
one shepherd, and one fold, and He brings them into the fold.
This is His will that they all might be gathered together in
one, even in one, even in Christ Jesus. The holy hill and the
tabernacle. To do what, David? Verse 4, I'll
go to the altar of God. See that? Lead me to the holy
hill, to your tabernacle, that I may go to the altar of God."
I want to go to the altar. Now, we have an altar. Modern religion has for years, and some of you
were in it, and they had what was called a mourner's bench,
didn't they? They had an altar down front, what they called
an altar. where after some silly little sermon, the preacher would,
in a motion, while the choir is playing, while the piano is
playing, the choir is singing, and nobody moves. And won't you
accept Jesus? Won't you come down the aisle
and accept Jesus as your personal Savior? He wants to save you
for letting me know. And come down, if you have accepted,
and you're backslidden, and you want to dedicate, re-dedicate,
and re-concentrate, come to the altar. Don't they say that? Didn't
they say that? Come to the altar. Didn't hear me. And some of you
probably did. Come down. You kneel down at
the mourner's bench. We don't come to a place like
that. Besides, we don't accept Him.
We're calling on Him to accept us. He's not trying to save anybody. He effectually saved His people.
The altar that we have is a person, not a place. The altar that we
come to, and this is what the Hebrew says, we have an altar.
It's the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our mercy seat. He is the
one we come to. Not a thing, but a person we
come to confess our sin. We keep coming to Him. And this
altar, back in the Old Testament, David, in the time of David,
the high priest, as from the beginning, when the Lord told
Moses, would go into the tent, the tabernacle, and before he
went in, he did what? He killed a lamb. There was an
altar outside on which he slew a lamb and burnt its body and
took the blood of that lamb and entered into that tabernacle,
and went all the way into the Holy of Holies, within the veil,
and there was an ark, and he poured the blood of that innocent
lamb, that substitute, on the mercy seat, and God was propitiated. And he came out, smiling, and
he said, God, accept the sacrifice for us sinners. And the people
shouted with joy. You know what that represents.
You know what that altar is. David said, I need to see that.
I need to see Christ in Him crucified. I need to see the blood of the
Lamb. I need to see the blood before the Lord. I know it's
there. And I know my hope is that he sees it all, blood. But
I want to see it. Don't you? I want to know that
he shed his blood for me. Bring me to where the Gospels
preach, and have the man stand up and tell me about our altar,
and have him tell me about the blood on the altar, on the mercy
seat, that Christ crucified, His blood was shed for sinners
like me. I want to see that again. I know
it's so. I know it's for sinners. I want
to know it's for me. Bring me to the altar. David
delighted in that more than anything else. He knew it wasn't by the
blood of bulls and goats lambs, sacrifices of bodies. No, no,
no, no. But he knew it was Christ. It
all represented Christ. He needed to see it. Look at
this. He said, I'll go to the altar
of God, unto God my exceeding joy. See, he rejoiced in God. He rejoiced in the Lord. He rejoiced
in the Lord. He rejoiced in the Lord his God,
the Lord his Sovereign, the Lord his Prophet, his Priest, his
King, the Lord his Righteousness, the Lord his Wisdom, the Lord
his Salvation, the Lord. He rejoiced in the Lord. And
he tells us to do the same thing. Let me ask you, is God your joy? Do you find exceeding great joy
in God? I believe you do. You're hesitant
to say that because you know how weak your faith is and how
fickle you are and how you're up and down and all that. But
I believe he is because the only thing we do here... You want something good to say
to people about what we do here? I thought about this the other
day. You know, Philippians 3 says,
we worship God in spirit. And we do. We don't have any
of these things to carry on, worship God in spirit. Rejoice
in Christ Jesus. Don't we? We preach Christ. We really do. Every time. We hold up the serpent on the
pole. Every time. Don't we? Whoever's standing
up here is going to do that. That's all we do. We have no
confidence in the flesh. None. We don't want flesh. We don't want this thing, do
we? Tell people, if you're interested in knowing God, if you're interested
in knowing Christ, if you're interested in knowing the truth,
come. We don't do anything that appeals
to the flesh. Don't come here if you're looking
for something to appeal to the flesh. We don't have anything
to appeal to the flesh, do we? We don't have anything to appeal
to the flesh. But now if your soul is thirsting
after God, you need to hear about God. You need to hear what God's
Word says. You need to see Christ. I sat
there listening to Jeanette and Sherry sing, Robin play. And I thought, and they'd be
the first to tell you that they're not polished, flawless, perfect players or singers? Not at all. Not like the music of religion
of this world. They have it all. They have all
the biggest, latest sound. It sounds so good, but there
isn't much gospel in it. I sit and listen to two ladies,
one playing the piano and two singing, who were singing in
sincerity. who were singing a message, not
trying to bring attention to themselves, but singing a message,
trying to glorify the Lord, and ashamed, ashamed that they weren't
doing it the way they wanted to. Right? Am I telling you your
feeling? And I thought, this may not sound,
you know, the world wouldn't think this is the best special
ever, but I do. I know the message. I know the
Messiah they're singing about. I know the women. That's a good thing to tell people. We don't have anything to appeal
to the flesh. Nothing. Don't come here if you're looking
for entertainment. We don't have any. If you're
looking to know who God is, if you're looking to know the truth,
if you're looking for the way to God, we'll tell you that. I'll tell you that. Oh, my exceeding
joy. When I said that, was all that,
was because you keep coming. And this is all we do. And you
keep coming. You must rejoice in God. You
must. Exceeding joy. And so David says,
he says, and upon the harp will I praise thee. Oh my, oh God,
my God. Upon the harp. What made me come to this psalm
was, like I said, Psalm 84. He said, How amiable thy tabernacles,
O Lord of hosts. Here he speaks of the tabernacle.
And in that Psalm 84, it says, Upon Githath. David was a harpist. He played a lute. And that Githath
was a guitar, a harp made in Gath. Upon Githath. That's what the psalm He said,
we play this upon the heart. And David played this upon the
heart. And what it is here is he's mourning,
he's oppressed, he's downcast, he's wondering, he's asking the
Lord to help him. He's feeling low. And by the
time he considers and thinks about God and his mind, Thou
wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind has stayed on thee.
And so he starts thinking upon his God. And the Lord did send
out his light and his truth, led him back to the holy hill.
And he saw that sacrifice on the altar. And he said, get my
harp. You know, in another psalm, he
said, we hung our harps on the willows. Remember that? Psalm
1, I forget, one of the last ones. We were in Babylon, he
said, we're in captivity, and they asked us to play us one
of those songs. And I said, we can't do it, we're
too sad. We can't do that, we're not going to do it. We're not
going to do this for your entertainment. He said, we hung our harps on
the willow. Well, here he says, get it out. I want to play. I play the guitar. And some of
you play instruments, don't you? When you're real sad and downcast
and upset and depressed, do you go sit and play the piano? I don't. That wasn't the answer
I was looking for. The point is, if you're too sad,
you won't. You're too sad. David was too
sad, but he lifted back up and he says, get my harp out. That's
the point. And so the next verse, he says,
why am I downcast? He starts out real low, he starts
out real depressed, he starts out real upset, and he starts
out asking, why, why, why? Then in the end, he asks himself
a question. Why are you so downcast, O my
soul? Why are you disquieted within?
What could disturb your quiet? What could give you such grief?
I tell you what, you're listening to everyone but God. You're looking
around, you're looking at everything but God. You're looking within
instead of looking to Him. That'll disquiet you. Remember
what I quoted in Isaiah 30? He said, your strength is this,
in returning where? To him and rest shall you be
saved from whatever, sin, from distress, from depression, from
doubts and fears and troubles, and quietness and confidence. Quietness means sitting at his
feet and listening to his word quietly. He said, be still and
you'll know I'm God. Be still. Mary sat at his feet. What was she doing? Talking?
No, listening. And she heard him just truth
after truth after promise after promise after promise. And she's
the most contented person on earth right there, sitting in
his bed. And that will be your strength,
he said. That will be your strength. Their strength, he said, is to
sit still. Come and just sit still and I'll
lead you beside the still water and restore your soul. And you
go out of here. Better than he came in. He won't
be disquieted. Why do we get disquieted? Because
we're listening to everyone and everything but God and His Word. Looking everywhere for help.
Look at this. Hope in God. He's talking to Himself. We need
to have a good talk with ourselves like David. Hope in God. Those that trust in Egypt, that
go down to Egypt for help, or to the United States government,
the most powerful nation on earth, the Egyptians are men. Those
that trust in Pharaoh, those that are looking to Barack Obama
for hope, your hopes are going to be dashed. I myself, I'm not speaking evil
of my ruler, I'm just speaking the truth. I believe he's one
of these men he's talking about, these unjust men. I'm just telling the truth. I'm not
speaking evil of them. I wish you no evil. But the Egyptians
help is vain to no purpose. Pharaoh can't save you. campaigned the first time with
a big poster, a picture of himself with four letters on there, HOPE. And when I saw that, I went,
oh, we don't need that man. We're not going to hope in him.
Hope in God. Hope in God. At what? Hope in His love. Hoping is love. Like a father loving the pity
of his children. You love your children? How much
more? You haven't even thought. Hoping
is love. There's love in everything. True love. Perfect love. Cast it out here. Do you have
perfect love? Who does? Who does? Hoping is love. Hoping is love. He will not cast out somebody
to love. Hope in His mercy. Hope in His mercy. He delights
to show mercy. He delights to show mercy. David
said, it makes me smile, but it makes me laugh. He delights
to show mercy. My greatest need, God delights
in it. He's the one who has it. He delights
to show it. Hope in His mercy. It says that none of them that
trust in him shall be desolate, not one single sinner that has
ever hoped in his mercy. It takes great pleasure in them
that fear him and in them that hope in his mercy. That's about
all I can hope in. Hope in his word, his covenants,
his oath, his covenant, his blood supporting him in that way. Oh,
when all around my soul gives way, He then is all mine. Hope and stay. Hope thou in God. Religion's God is not like our
God. Their rock's not like our rock.
Our God is the rock. He's the rock upon which we stand. Hope thou in God. And so look
what he says here in closing. I will yet praise Him. Didn't
think I would. I sow far down. I sow full of
doubts and fears. I will. Get out of my heart.
I want to praise Him. I forgot. I forgot His mercies.
I forgot His works. I'll yet praise Him. Like Psalm
73. You remember Psalm 73? He said,
I was a fool. I was fretting. I was distressed
until I went into the sanctuary and I heard. Oh, he said, I'm
ever with you. He said, I'm ever with the Lord. I'm continually with Him. He
says, you hold my right hand always. How could I have been
such a fool? You'll guide me. You'll receive me up to glory.
Whom have I in heaven but thee, and none on earth besides thee?
My flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my
portion. So you look to Him and come back.
Gather with the saints, you'll praise Him, and He's the health
of your countenance." Verse 5, He's the health of my countenance,
David said. You know, a sad countenance, sorrow and sadness
brings you down, makes you physically ill, doesn't it? If you're sad
and sorrowful, it makes you physically tired. and you want to go to
bed. I know. We all know that. You've
been through such sorrow and sadness and depression or whatever,
and it makes you want to go to bed or whatever, take a pill
or something. Doesn't it? It does, doesn't
it? But he says, don't do that. Hope
thou in me. He gives his beloved sleep. How?
Rest. How? Come into me, I'll give
you rest. It's the only place you'll find
rest. The only place you'll find strength and peace and comfort
and allow you to go to sleep. Because He that keepeth you never
slumbers or sleeps. And it's the health of your accountant.
He's the health of your accountant. When we're not trusting Him,
we're just... You know? Don't we? Many of you,
if not most of you, are just like me. You wear your heart
on your sleeve. When you walk in the door, I know something's
wrong. I can't hide it. Some can. Some are just straight-faced
all the time, and most of you aren't. Boy, if you trust Him, a smile
of laughter does a heart good. It actually will do you good,
whereas sadness does you ill. He's the health of your countenance.
You want to have your countenance lit, He's your health. And He's
my God. Is He your God? David said, He's my God. My God. I own Him as my God. I worship
Him as my God. I love Him as my God. I love
that He is God. I love Him because He first loved
me. But I own Him as God. I worship Him as God. And I bow
to Him as God. And I follow Him as God. And
I believe everything He said is true because He is God. My
God. OK. Stand with me.