Sherry, go back there now to
Psalm 57. Let's read those verses. Psalm 57. Read the first three
verses with me again. Be merciful unto me, O God. Be
merciful unto me. For my soul trusteth in Thee. Yea, in the shadow of thy wings
will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpassed. I will cry unto God Most High,
unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send
from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that would
swallow me up. God shall send forth His mercy
and His truth. What a psalm. This is another
prayer of David, another cry of David to God for mercy. It would be interesting to go
through and count how many times David speaks of God's mercy. I haven't done it. It would be
a good study for somebody Just how many psalms that he doesn't
speak of God's mercy. I bet you can count them on one
hand. Another song to God for His mercy. A song of praise. He begins by crying, praying
unto God, Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me. If you really need something,
you'll keep asking for it. And he asked twice, be merciful
unto me, O God. Be merciful unto me. If you're
really desperate, you'll keep crying again and again. Bartimaeus kept crying, didn't
he? They told him to be quiet. They
must not have been blind. But he was. He was desperate. The Lord was about to leave.
And he kept crying. And when they told him to be
quiet, he cried that much louder. Be merciful unto me. Oh, Jesus,
our Son of David. That widow, it says, with her
continual coming. She kept coming. She needed to
be heard. So she kept coming. And we're
not heard for our much speaking, the Lord said. That is, not heard
because of repetitious prayers. Many do that. Many just pray
the same things over and over again like a mantra. But we are heard for our continual
coming, our constant crying unto Him. A broken and a contrite
heart, too, will continually cry for mercy. I know you're like me, that the
thing you ask God most for is mercy. When you can't seem to
ask for anything, don't know what to say. About all you can
spit out is, Lord have mercy on me. Mercy. Will God be merciful? Yes. Because God is merciful. That's His name. He's told Moses,
He said, you go tell them that I am that sent you. Tell them
that I am that I am. He said, proclaim my name before
them. He said, tell them that I am
the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious. Merciful. I am the Lord. Merciful and gracious. That is my name. He said, tell
them I keep mercy. I reserve mercy for thousands. Lord, be merciful. Will He be
merciful? Our greatest need is God's greatest glory. This is
His glory. This is His mercy. And the Lord
is good and ready to forgive, Scripture says, plenteous in
mercy to all that call upon Him. Who will the Lord show mercy
to? A good man? A righteous man? No. No, to all
that call upon Him. All that hope in His mercy. I
can do that. I can call on Him. Can't you? Be merciful unto me, O God. Be merciful unto me, David says,
for my soul trusteth in Thee. My soul trusteth in Thee. David doesn't plead anything
in himself. He doesn't say, I'm sincere.
He doesn't say, I'm a good man. He doesn't say, I'm trying my
best. He doesn't plead anything in
himself. He pleads what's in God. He said,
Be merciful unto me, O God, because I trust in You. I trust in Your
mercy. I hope in Your mercy. David's
hope and trust was in God. That He is merciful. And He promised. Listen to this. Listen to this.
Listen. Okay? This is Isaiah 55. God says this. This is His promise.
This is God's Word. You can't lie. He said, let the
wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts,
and let him return to the Lord. Who's he talking about? The wicked,
the unrighteous, the chief of sinners. Well, what if they have
a believer and they leave? Well, he said, let him return
to the Lord. And he will have mercy on him. He will have mercy. Then he returned
to our God and it says, he will abundantly pardon. And then he went on to say, because
his thoughts are not our thoughts, and his ways are not our ways.
And David said this one time, I love it, I'll never forget
when I first read it. When Nathan told David of all
the mercies of God to him, his household, for generations to
come, David said, is this the way of man? No, this is just
not the way man is. I'm so glad God is God and not
a man, aren't you? My thoughts, he said, my ways
are not your thoughts and ways. As the heavens are higher than
the earth, so are my thoughts and ways. And he's talking about
his mercy. So great is his mercy toward them that fear him. So
will God show mercy? Yes, he's promised. He's promised. There's this proverb that says
this. A man's glory is to pass over
a transgression. In other words, it's proof that
a man is merciful and gracious and kind and Christ-like, godly, if he passes
over a transgression. If you transgress against him,
if you offend him, and he passes over, it's his glory. Well, God's
glory is his mercy. Moses said, show me your glory.
He said, okay, I will be merciful. I will be merciful. To whom?
To all who call on Him. To all who trust Him. I can do
that. Can't you? I can call. That's
all I can do. I can call. I wish I trusted
Him more, but I do trust Him as much as life within me. And
I trust His mercy even to my unbelief. Lord, I believe the
man said, help my unbelief. He will. He's merciful. And to
whom will the Lord show mercy? To the merciful. To all who call
on Him. To all who trust Him. and all
who are merciful, like Him. To the merciful, He shall show
Himself merciful. That's the least we can do, isn't
it? For His mercy to us. Be merciful unto Me, O God, He
said. Be merciful unto Me, for My soul
trusteth in Thee. Yea, He says, in the shadow of
Thy wings will I make My refuge until these calamities be overpowered.
Calamities. The word means deep distress.
Calamities. Not a little trouble. It's deep
distress. Deep misery. Great distress. Great sorrow. Deep soul-felt
sorrow. David said, my soul, my soul
will trust in Him because I'm in deep calamity, deep distress. David is running from Saul here.
Saul is his sworn enemy. Saul says, I'm going to kill
him. And Saul has many thousands of men at his disposal. Saul
is the most powerful man on earth. And he has all that the earth
has to offer to destroy David. And this most powerful and formidable
foe that hates David and everything in his power, he's after him.
Can you imagine? Yeah, you can imagine. Because
we've got such a foe. We've got a formidable foe. We've
got an adversary. And our Lord, down in verse 4,
David said, My soul is among lions. Peter one time said, Satan is
a roaring lion. Seeketh whom he may devour. Didn't
he? David said in verse 3, Deliver me, save me from him that would
swallow me up. seeketh whom he may devour. But
here's what our Lord said. I pray for you. Satan hath desired
thee. But I pray for thee, that thy
faith fail not. Faith is just trusting the Lord.
Trusting the Lord. David said these calamities. David is hiding in this cave. Adrum. That's where he ran to.
This cave. You remember the story. Four
hundred men ran down there to be with him. Well, they're in
this cave. They're hiding in the shadows
of this cave. But David's not trusting that
cave to save him, is he? He's not trusting the cave to
hide him. He's in that cave and he says,
I'm not trusting in a place. I'm not trusting in a thing.
I'm trusting in a person. I'm trusting the only real refuge
for us is God. Psalm 46 says, God is our refuge. That's right. God is our only
refuge. A very present help in trouble.
David says, in the shadow of thy wings. Until these calamities
be overpassed, I'll make my refuge in the shadow of thy wings. Has
anybody in here heard that story about that hen and her chicks
that I told? Anybody? Anybody? Raise your
hand if you haven't heard. Okay. Eyes open, just one person. We had some chickens and one
of those hens had some little bitties. And that's in the dictionary. Bitty. It is. It means a little
chick. B-I-D-D-Y. And you know what
it also means? It means an Irish maid, a poor
Irish maid, a cleaning woman. That's a good ending. At any
rate, this hen had some bitties, little bitties. And we had one
of the worst storms that we've ever had. And they were all out
there, the chicken. Well, all of them got in except
that mother hen. And I went looking for her with
her little bitties. I went out looking for her everywhere,
and I found her under my tractor. That hen. There she was. I said,
where have you been? Come on, I'll take you in. I
picked her up and said, now where are your bitties? Where are your
little bitties? What did you do with your chickens? Where
are your chickens? Couldn't find them anywhere.
And finally I started to set her down, and they fell out from
under her wing. She had them both. She had two. One under each wing. Hiding them
until the storm had passed. That's what Wesley wrote. Hide me, O my Savior, hide me.
Our Lord said this. How often would I have taken
you under my wing as a mother hen doth gather her brood, and
you would not. But every one that will. Whosoever
will, whoever trusts Him, He'll hide you. He'll hide you until
these calamities be passed. Notice David said, until these
calamities be overpassed, they're going to pass. David knew that. He'd been in calamities before.
He'd been in deep distress before. And everyone that Scripture says
is in this That's in Christ. This fellowship. We'll have this
fellowship of suffering. Every single one of His people
will suffer. Our Lord said so. In the world
you shall have tribulation. Deep distress. Calamities. That's what calamities are. Deep
distress. Deep sorrow. Deep trouble. Deep fear. David is really afraid. In the psalm, right across the
page in verse 3, he says, What time I am afraid. Is David afraid? David who fought Goliath? David
who faced the Horde? Yeah, David's afraid. David's
just a man. He said, when I am afraid, I'll
trust in Thee. In God, I'll praise His Word.
That's who I trust. David put his trust in the same
place that we might. Until these calamities be overpassed,
these deep distresses, they will come. These distresses will come. Those that go down to the sea
in ships, they do business in deep waters. David said, out
of the depths of our pride and fear. Oh, Lord. They will come to pass. They will come to pass. These calamities are temporary.
That's why he says that his mercies can do it forever. These calamities
are temporary, but His mercy... Look that up sometime. Sherry,
look that up. How many times He says, His mercy endures forever. In Psalm 136, He says it how
many times? 26 times. To remind us. These calamities come to pass,
but His mercy will never cease. Endures forever. Well, David's
in great distress, and he cries unto the Lord for mercy, and
so do we. Until these calamities be overpassed,
he said, I will cry, verse 2, unto God that most high, unto
God that performeth all things for me. I noticed somebody smiling
when I read that. I will cry unto God. I will cry. I have cried. I do cry. I will
cry. We'll need to continue to cry.
Without ceasing, for mercy, for help, in time of trouble, in
time of need, keep coming. Cry unto the Lord. Unto the Lord
God Most High. He said, I'll cry unto God. Unto
God Most High. You know, we have an old saying,
I need a shoulder to cry on. Well, don't cry on each other's
shoulder because we can't do anything about it. It may feel
good for a time, but you can't get any real relief from somebody.
You can't. Vain is the help of man, the
Scripture says. If you want to cry on a shoulder,
cry on His shoulder. His great shoulder. Cry unto
God Most High. God Most High. And we do. We
do. We cry unto Him. We pray. We
call. We cry to God our Lord like a
baby cries for its mother, don't we? We cry unto God most high
like a baby crying for its mother. Though that child can't see its
mother, it knows she is there, doesn't it? And so she cries.
You know, we wouldn't cry if we didn't believe Him. Do you
find yourself calling on God? Whosoever shall call on the name
of the Lord shall be saved. And whosoever shall call has
been called. You cry, we cry because God has
given you this spirit of adoption whereby we may cry, Father, have
mercy. Brother Ron prayed for us in
the study and the first thing he said was, merciful God, merciful
Father. Merciful and gracious Father.
We have this spirit of adoption whereby we may call on Him, our
Heavenly Father, like a child cries for its mother. And it
knows that she is there. And it knows that she will hear
her. And so she cries. That's why we cry. You keep crying. He hears you.
Listen to this. Listen. Listen. Listen. He will be very gracious unto
thee at the voice of thy cry. When he shall hear it, he will
answer that. He had his word on it. And there's
another psalm that says, before they call, I'll answer. I will cry unto God most high.
He need not call on anybody else. He go to God in the highest.
The highest one. None other able to save. None
other higher than He. And there's none more willing. I received a letter from a man
on death row in San Quentin this week. And I don't know how he
got our name, but he did. He sent us a letter. And he began
to write in it, because he was on death row, and I was a little
bit hopeful at first. And then he started asking for
money. Money. I thought, oh my. My, my, my. You know, a fellow on death row
has got only one place to resort. If you're on death row, if you're
sentenced to die, by the court. There's only one person that
can free you. The highest ranking person in
this land. There's one person that can free
you. The President of the United States. If he's willing, he's
able. And if you ask him, he might. Probably won't. But our Lord
said, If you ask Him, He will. Every one of us. Who's on death
row? That's the problem. Men don't
believe that, do they? They don't know they need mercy.
And it's the Lord's mercy if you know you need mercy. Well,
look at it. Verse 2, he said, I will cry
unto God most high, unto God that performeth all things for
me. The God who created all things
is the Lord God who worketh all things for me. Everything works
together according to His purpose. He worketh it together. The Lord
hath spoken it. The Lord hath purposed it. He
said, I'll do it. He's called the author of salvation.
He's the one that purposed it. He's the one that wrote it, wrote
the book on it, and He's called the finisher of salvation. He's
the God who begins a good work in us, and what does it say?
He's the God that finished it. He will perform it. That's what
Philippians said. He that hath begun a good work
in you will perform it. Will finish it until He comes. And it says in verse 3 that he
will send from heaven and save me. In the volume of the book,
it is written of the one that God sent from heaven to perform
this work. Who's going to perform this work?
Who performed this work? I should say. In the volume of
the book it is written, Christ said, Lo, I come to do thy will,
O God. I come to bring in an everlasting
righteousness. I come to save my people. I come to call my sheep, all
that the Father hath given me, to give unto them eternal life,
and they shall never perish. He came and He said, I came to
seek and to save that which was lost, and He did just that. He performed it. On the cross,
later on, He said it's finished. The word perform means accomplish.
Moses and Elijah, remember, met with our Lord on that Mount of
Transfiguration. Remember what they talked about?
The death that He should accomplish. The death of death. The removal
of the sting. The removal of death. The bringing
in of life. The Lord performed that. He performed
it for His people. Jesus Christ is the God Most
High who performs all things for all things. Look at verse
2. It says He performs, and the
word all things is in italics in it. That means it wasn't in
the original Hebrew. It's blank. It's blank. So you know what you can do there?
You can write in there, it's carte blanche. There's a saying,
carte blanche. Is that Latin? Help me here. It's a saying, carte blanche,
means a blank piece of paper that God has signed. And whatever
you need doing, write it in there. And it wasn't in the original. God who performeth whatever for
men. What do you need? He's made unto
us. Wisdom. You need wisdom? He's
made unto us. Righteousness? He performed it. Sanctification? He performed
it. Redemption? He'll do it. He did
it. Provisions you need providing
for? Write it in there. You need safety? You need to be kept? Write it
in there. Cares? You have any cares you
need to cast on Him? Write it in there. How about
your family? They need taken care of? Write
it in there. Carte blanche. The Lord who performeth
all things for me. And He sent from heaven the Savior
to save from our adversary. Look at verse 3. He sent the
One who is stronger than hate. He sent the Lord Jesus Christ
to save us from the reproach of Him that would swallow us
up. The only reason we're not right
now full of fear and trembling is because of the Lord's mercy.
We don't realize how strong our... David, as I said, David was in
this cave. And this happened over and over
and over and over and over. David, all of his life was running
from somebody. You know, David is a type of
Christ here. You could look at this psalm, this whole psalm,
as the Lord Himself crying, Be merciful unto me. The Lord Jesus
Christ who trusted in His heavenly Father, committed Himself unto
His care, made the Lord His refuge until these calamities were passed,
who cried unto God. God who sent from heaven. Remember,
He sent His angel. to save him. Well, we have an
adversary, a very real adversary, and the only reason we're not
more conscious of him is the Lord's mercy. The Lord's mercy. Who would swallow us up. That
word, Selah. Now, I did look this up 73 times. That would be a good message
by itself. Selah. It's a musical pause. I told Sherry before we sang
tonight, I said, we're going to slow it all down. We're going
to slow down. We're going to sing these hymns
slower so that we can understand what we're singing. Under His
wings, depth of mercy can there be. Mercy still reserved for
me. Me the chief of sinners spare. God His wrath will bear. Slow
it down. Selah means stop. And consider
this. Stop and ponder death. Stop and
think about it. Stop and take a breath. And think
about what you just read. God will send from heaven. Nobody
on earth can save you. You can't save yourself. Someone
must come from heaven to save us from this powerful foe. And
he did. And his name is Jesus Christ.
And he still is saving us from that thought. Satan who still
would swallow us up. Who would bring us in reproach.
If the Lord Jesus Christ doesn't save us, we'll fall into reproach. Our sins will bring reproach
upon our God, upon our church, upon God, upon us. Our sins will
bring us in reproach. Satan seeks to bring us into
reproach, to swallow us up. Stop and think about it. But God sent from heaven. Sent
from heaven His Son. And that's the first thing He
did, didn't He? Isn't that the first thing our Lord did when He came here?
What was the first thing He did when He became a man? A full
thirty-year-old man. What was the first thing He did?
Anybody know? He faced Satan. Remember that? He went out in the wilderness.
He was tempted in all points, like as we are, for forty days
and forty nights. When he was without food at his
weakest point, that means at our weakest point, we can trust
him. And he faced Satan, his temptations,
the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of
life, and he defeated him. And then, what was the last thing
he did on this earth? What was the last thing he did?
Anybody want to tell me? He crushed his head. He said, now is the
God of this world cast out. Now is the judgment. Now is the
prince of this world judged. Now is he brought under his feet
and condemned. And look at this, the last line.
This is when I quit with this. It says, God sent from heaven
to save us from him that would swallow us up. God shall send
forth His mercy and His truth. What did God send to save David? He sent His mercy and His truth. That's what He asked for and
that's what God sent. Well, what is God's mercy? You're looking at it. You're
hearing it. You know, it's the greatest mercy that God can show
you is to bring you to hear this message. Most people don't know they need
mercy. They don't even care. Most people believe lies. Most
people fall for every lie that Satan, who's the father of lies,
is telling them. Satan whose ministers are ministers of righteousness,
but they're all telling lies. And people are falling for them
all, aren't they? It's a great mercy. God's greatest
mercy is to bring you to hear the truth. To give you a love
of the truth. Many receive not the love of
the truth. And God sends them strong delusions that they believe
a lie. Oh, bless God for this. It's
truth. God's mercy is His truth. God's mercy is His gospel. We hear it so much, we take it
for granted. Mercy and truth. It's His word. It's His word of truth. That's
His mercy. The God of our salvation wrote
a book of truth. You can trust Him. It tells us
about the true God. It tells us about what we are.
It tells us truth about us. We need to be told the truth
about ourselves. Somebody needs to tell us we're dying. Don't
they? So that we'll go to the great
position. It tells us the truth of how man's saved. There's only
one way to be saved. What's the way? Christ said,
I am the way, the truth. Mercy and truth are met together,
he said, in Psalm 85. Mercy and truth are met together. They're found in one person.
Christ. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. I told you this before, too,
but it's such a good illustration. Think about that verse in Psalm
85 every time I look at this picture. Mind you, there's a
picture of Gabe and Hannah and Isabella when she was a little
infant in her bathroom. And Gabe and Hannah are holding
up Isabella between them. And Gabe is on one side kissing
one cheek and Hannah is kissing the other. Righteousness and
peace kissed each other. The Lord's mercy is Christ's. The Lord's truth. You want to
know the truth? It's Him. You trust Him. You go to Him.
Righteousness? You need it. We need it. Righteousness?
You want to be righteous? It's Him. Peace? You want peace? Peace with God? It's Him. Peace of mind? Trust
Him. Peace? Thou wilt keep Him in
perfect peace. because mine is stayed on thee.
Trust ye in the Lord Jehovah, for in him is the everlasting
rock of ages." Oh, trust him. The Lord Jesus Christ. When God
sent mercy to David, he sent his word. He said His Word. I read that
to you, didn't I? What time I'm afraid, I'll trust
in thee. In God, I will praise His Word.
He said, Remember thy word unto thy servant, upon which thou
hast caused me to hope. I trust in you. How did David
find out about God? His Word. How does David know
God will be merciful? His Word. How does God speak
to David? The same way He speaks to you. His Word, His truth. God shall
send forth His mercy and His truth. What God sends us from
heaven. This is the manna. This is the
Word come down. The Word made flesh and dwelt
among us. The Word of truth. The mercy
of God is in a man. The truth of God is in a man.
Christ Jesus. Well, how did it end for David?
Did he stay in that cave? Did Saul kill him? No, he said,
he's made a pit for me. David knew God. That God was
going to cast his adversary into the pit that he made. And David
ends up by singing. That's what this is, a song,
to sing, to sing. Look down at verse 10. He said, verse 9, I will praise
thee, O Lord, among the people. I will sing unto thee among the
nations, for thy mercy is great unto the heavens and thy truth
under the cloud. Mercy and truth.