Psalm 43. I've often said that
if you need a blessing and you need a word from the
Lord, you need more than just a Scripture reading.
You need the Lord to speak to you. You can always go to the
Psalms and find something. You've learned that from experience.
You can always go there. The Psalms will always speak
to you. Long enough, hard enough, you will find something to speak
to your heart. David, who is a man after God's
own heart, is the principal writer of most of the psalms. And I
find him to be a man after my own heart. Don't you, Sam? I
find he speaks to my experience so very much. Though he was a
king, I can relate to him. Poor and needy. It was my case
in reading the Scriptures the other day. I had a couple of
texts, I had a couple of sermons I was going to work on, but I
needed a message. I needed a word from the Lord. I needed something
to speak to me and bless me. So I began to read the Psalms.
And the thing about the Psalms reading, and you men do this
when you pick out Scriptures to read, it's not trouble finding
something. It's what not to read. There
are so many, aren't there, that bless you. And this one I stayed
with. It really caught my attention. Psalm 43. And the title is found
in the text. Why, oh why? That's the title. Oh God, my God. So, David is
talking to God here. He's talking to himself also.
He's communing with God and he's communing with his own heart,
which he says that we should do. Commune with thine own heart
upon thy bed and be still. Be still, my soul, she prayed. Commune with thine heart. Commune
with thy God, and commune with thine heart upon your bed, and
be still, and you'll see His salvation. He'll speak to you. Verse 1 begins
like this, Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly
nation. Judge me, O God. Now, do not always think of God's
judgment in a bad way. Don't do that. So much is said
in Scriptures of the judgment of God, of His people. The Lord
shall judge His people. Isaiah 42 says, His righteous
servant, His elect, will bring forth judgment to the Gentiles. Don't think of judgment always
in the sense, in a bad way, that I'm guilty and God's going to
judge me and condemn me. Don't think of that in that way.
We need a judge. And you want God to be your judge. Yes, you do. You don't want man
to be your judge. You want God, the One who judges right. Isn't
that what Abraham pleaded? When God was going to destroy
Sodom and his son, his nephew was in Sodom, what did he plead?
What was his hope? Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Yes, he will in every case. Always, in every circumstance.
He is righteous. He is righteous. Go to 1 Corinthians
4 with me. 1 Corinthians chapter 4. Christ is the judge. Our Lord
said this, He said, Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all
judgment unto the Son. Didn't He? He said, I'm the judge. We're in good hands, aren't we? The judge. Shall not the judge
of the earth do right? Yes, He is our just God. Savior. Savior. All judgment is committed to
the Son who is both the Judge and the centered Advocate. I'm laughing, I'm sorry. That's
holy laughter, isn't it? It's joy. How can you not laugh
when you're joyful? You see, we do stand before the
law of God guilty. Guilty. Christ stood for us and was judged
and condemned and sentenced, and the sentence was carried
out, Brother John. Justice was served. And there is therefore
now no condemnation to them that are in Christ. So in Christ,
who is my judge, He is also my advocate. The judge is also my
lawyer. And He always exonerates, always
justifies every single guilty person that comes to Him. See,
we don't want man to be our judge. You don't want to even judge
yourself in this sense. One day you may think pretty
good about yourself. That's bad. The next day you
may think, I'm lost, I'm not a child of God at all. That's
bad too. You want someone to know you
better than you know yourself to be your judge. Look at 1 Corinthians
4. Paul said this, verses 3 through
5. With me it is a very small thing that I should be judged
of you. Paul had many enemies. He had some that were at Corinth
who said he's not an apostle. He's doing this for his own glory.
False charges all over. There were some men who wanted
the preeminence and they were trying to bring Paul down before
the people. And he said, it's a small thing
for men to judge me. Read on. That I should be judged
of you or of man's judgment? Yea, I judge not my own self.
You see that? Read on. I know nothing by myself,
yet am I not hereby justified. But he that judges me is the
Lord. That's good. That's good. Very good. Judge me, O God. John Newton said this, "'Tis
a point that I long to know. Oft it gives me anxious thought.
Am I the Lord's or am I not?" And he went on to say, you decide
the doubtful case, Lord. Lord, you decide the case. That's
a good person to decide on. The judge is the one that says,
this is the way it is. And he says, there is therefore
now no condemnation of them that are at Christ. He that cometh
to me I will know where I was cast out. He that believeth on
me shall not come into condemnation. He that hath the Son hath life.
I leave my case right there. Don't even judge yourself. Now,
our Lord did say that. If we would judge ourselves,
we will not be judged. Here's the thing, if we find
ourselves guilty all the time, we go to Him guilty with ropes
around our neck, the judge of Israel is merciful.
He's merciful. And everyone that comes to Him
guilty goes away scot-free. Justified from all things from
which you cannot be justified by the law of God. David one
time said, let us fall into the hands of our God, for He is merciful. Don't let us fall into the hands
of man. Don't let me fall into the hands
of man. Man's not like God. God said, I'm not a man. Judge
me, O God. Go back to our text. Psalm 43. It says, plead my cause against
an ungodly nation. Plead my cause. I immediately thought of young
David when he went down to where Goliath stood, taunting Israel,
mocking the God of Israel. Remember? Defying the armies
of Israel and the God of Israel. Remember that? And all the people
were cast down and afraid and terrified by their adversary.
And young David, remember, as a type of Christ and of every
believer. But as a type of Christ, he said,
is there not a cause? He stood for it. Is there not
a cause? Is there not a cause to fight
for? The cause of God and truth. Is there not a cause to defend?
In defense of the gospel? Is there not a cause to speak
up for? Is there not a cause to be bold for? Courageous for?
Is there not a cause for rejoicing rather than sorrow? For faith,
not fear? Yes, there is a cause. The cause
of God. The cause of Christ. The cause
of the gospel. Who said it? Christ Himself said
it. What shall I pray? Father, deliver
me from this hour. No, for this cause came I unto
this hour. And for this same cause, we come
to this hour to hear the gospel. That's why we come here. Isn't
that why you come here? Because you need the Gospel? Because you need to hear from
the Lord? You need a word from Him? You
need to worship the Lord? Well, if you do, He'll plead
your cause. But for an ungodly world, a world
that doesn't give Him a thought, God's not in all their thoughts.
Against, as opposed to, sort of against me. As opposed to
the ungodly. Judge me, O God. Plead my cause. Is this my cause? I believe that's why I'm here,
don't you? Not always here for just the right reasons, but God
looks on the heart. And that's where you rest your
case, don't you? That's why I'm here, O Lord.
That's why I'm here. Verse 1, Oh, deliver me from
the deceitful and unjust man. There's three sorts of men that
believers need deliverance from. Men in general. The world in
general that is unjust and unfair would persecute us and treat
us, God's people, unfairly. Okay? But there's that man of
sin in particular. The world, men in general, but
that man, I'm talking about our adversary, first of all. That
man of sin who is our adversary, who seeketh whom he may devour,
assaults God's people more than anybody. And then, yes, then
there's that man in here. He's probably the worst of all
of them. that we need, that unjust and
deceitful fellow, that old man in here that we need delivering
from. So we run to our Lord and cry
unto our Lord, O Lord, deliver me, deliver me from the deceitful
and unjust man, from the world, from Satan, from self. More than
anything, deliver me from myself. Deliver me. Verse 2, Thou art
the God of my strength. Without him, I can do nothing.
I'm no match for the world. I'm no match for Satan. Even
Michael, the archangel, wouldn't contend with him. Adam and Eve
were no match for him. David was no match. David could
stand against Goliath, but not the adversary. And couldn't even
contend with himself. Oh, thou art the God of my strength. The world says God helps those
that help themselves. That's not true. The living and
true God helps those who can't help themselves. He helps the
helpless. That's who He is. He's the God
of the weak, not the strong. Christ came not to save the righteous,
but sinners. What kind of sinners? What kind
of sinners did Christ come to save? Those that have some faults? Or those that don't have anything
good in them? Those that can do some good thing and just can't
help the bad? Or those that in their flesh
dwelleth no good thing? That's who Christ came to save.
Is that who you need? Well, your cause is in good hands.
He's the God of our strength. When Paul the Apostle, a much
better man than me, He said he asked the Lord three times to
remove something from him, and he wouldn't. And it was a messenger
of Satan, he said, to buffet me. Just buffeted. Have you ever been buffeted?
I mean, punched. Just like being pounded on, pounded
on. Paul said, a messenger of Satan
buffeted me, and the Lord said to me, my grace is sufficient
for that. He said, for my strength, the
Lord said to him, that my strength is made perfect in your weakness.
Remember Jehoshaphat and the people that stood before the
Lord and said, we're at our wits end with all our eyes, we look
to them. That's who the Lord held. That's
who He's strong for. He's strong for the weak. Thou
art the God of my strength." The disciples summed it up with
one short prayer. When they all thought they were
goners, they said, every one of them, Lord, save us. We perish. That's our case at all times. We're helpless all the time. Without Him, we can do nothing. So that's who this is for, the
weak. Lord, You're my strength. Look at this, verse 2. David is calling on God. He's
crying to his God. He says, Why dost Thou cast me
off? Do you know how often David says
this? His mercy is clean gone. Why dost thou cast me off? David said. You know, the heavenly
Father never casts off His children. Ever. He can't. He can't do it. Any more than
you can. Generally speaking, men just
don't do that. Men and women just don't do that
with their children. It takes the most corrupt person
to cast away their children. Well, how much less would God
do? But the Heavenly Father never casts away His children. In fact,
our Lord said this. He said, All that the Father
giveth me shall come unto me, and him that cometh to me I will in no wise. I'm going to elicit some laughter
out of you. I will in no wise, for any reason
whatsoever, no matter what they do, cast him out." Man, that's
good news, isn't it? That's so good news. I can't
do it. It's not possible. Your father and your mother may
cast you away, he said, but I can't. I can't do it. I've graven you
on the palms of my hand, he said. Here's what happens up. He never
casts us off. But we leave Him. Don't we? Like sheep prone to
wander, we want to cast off. Don't we? Like the prodigal son.
Just like that prodigal son in his desire for independence, in his pride and conceit, taking
his father's wisdom and his father's care and his father's house for
granted. thinking himself to be self-sufficient, wise in his
own conceit, left his father and his father's house. He's
the one that left it. The father was right there and
stayed right there. And the prodigal son left. He
cast off. The prodigal son cast off on
his own. And that begins with us at an
early age. Right now, she's at the stage
where she doesn't want me to do anything for her. Doesn't
she? Whenever we're doing something,
she says, I do it myself. And I try to show her, I do it.
Doesn't she? That's natural to all of us.
I do it. I want to be on my own. No, you
don't. When you're young, you may. When
you're young, you say, I do it myself. The older you get, You
cry, would somebody do it for me? Don't you? I wish somebody
else would do this. So we're the ones that forget
God. We're the ones prone to wander until we end up thinking,
until we get so far off, wondering, have I sinned away His grace?
Is His mercy clean gone? Has He cast me off? Cast me out? No, He didn't cast you out at
all. You left. You didn't think about Him. You
took Him for granted. And it's good for the Lord. The Lord is going to make us
feel that. The Lord is going to make us
feel our sinfulness and our rebellion. And that's a good thing. He's
going to make us feel His displeasure. And that's a good thing. Because
we'll come back sorrowful and repentant like the prodigal son,
not taking His mercy for granted. And asking him like a prodigal
son, if you'll just make me a hired servant, that's all I want. But
he can't do that. A son is a son forever. But David
asked that. David got so down. You know,
I love Psalm 119. It's the last verse, isn't it? It says, I've gone astray like
a lost sheep. Seek thy servant. Seek thy servant. The Lord doesn't
cast us off. We cast off from Him when we
should have stayed anchored at shore. We should have stayed
tight to the post. Verse 2, he says in Psalm 43,
Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the intimate?
David asked himself a searching question. Why go I mourning because
of the oppression of the intimate? Now, I don't know about you,
but you probably are like me. Just like me. But I find myself
mourning more than I rejoice. And that just shouldn't be, should
it? Is that you? I find myself sad
and sorrowful more than I am happy. And that just should not
be. Our blessings far outweigh our
trials and our inconveniences. Trials are a blessing. I find myself downcast more than
uplifted. And that just should not be.
It's a good question, a searching question. I find myself being
more negative than positive. Do you? More unbelieving than
believing. When we've got no reason to doubt
Him. He's never given us one reason in my 55 years, and you're
70-something. Not one reason to doubt Him,
Brother Henry. Not one. Give me one good reason
you should not trust Him implicitly. Take Him as His Word. Just one.
One time He's failed you. So David said, why am I mourning?
Well, it's the oppression of the enemy, it really is. The
oppression of the enemy. He talks about his enemies so
much. That's another reason I do like
the psalms so much, don't you? Enemies, all around, enemies.
David said, I'm for peace, they're for war. Wolves in me, I dwell
in Meshach. I'm among lions. My soul is among
lions. God's people are lambs among
wolves, aren't they? Yeah, they are. Strangers and pilgrims in the
earth. Objects of the world's scorn and wrath, just like the
Lord Himself. That's why, yeah, we do. The
oppression of the enemy is great. It really is. The enemy within
is the worst. The enemy without oppresses them. And David asked this throughout
Psalm 42, and he asked it again, Why art thou cast down within
me, O my soul? Look at Psalm 62. I almost preach
from this. Psalm 62. This is such a blessing. Psalm 62. This, like I said,
it's not finding a psalm. choosing between them. Psalm
62, we stay downcast, we get depressed,
we get sad and sorrowful, mourning so very often. But look at Psalm
62, verses 7 and 8. In God is my salvation and my
glory. The rock of my strength and my
refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, ye
people. Trust in Him. Believe Him. Look
to Him. Trust Him. Hope in God. Hope thou in God. Just wait. Wait. How often does it say that
in the Scripture? Wait. Wait, I say. We can't wait. That's the whole problem. If
we wait, we'll see the goodness of the Lord right now in the
land we live in. We're sure going to see it there. Wait, trust in the Lord at all
times. In happy times, it's easy to
trust the Lord in happy times, isn't it? Well, in sad times,
trust in the Lord at all times. In good times, in bad times. And who's to say what's really
good and what's bad? Our worst times, our times that
we're most downcast, might be the best times of our life, causing
us to call upon God, be nearer to God at that time. In light times, times when we
can see clearly, see the Lord's hand. In dark times, when we
can't see the Lord's hand, we don't know. Trust in the Lord
at all times. And as far as that oppression
is concerned, Satan, our Lord said to Peter,
hath desired thee to sift you like wheat. I can't pray to that laughing,
Brother John. But, our Lord said, I've prayed
for you. And just like Job, every one
of God's people are just like Job. When our Lord Jesus Christ
mocked Satan, Brother Henry, he mocked Satan. He said, where
are you being? Walking around? Yeah, I'm trying to find something.
He said, I can't get to Job. You've got to hedge about it.
That's right. It's the same with every one of God's people. He's
hedged us about. Nobody and nothing can touch
God's people except what He allowed for our good and His glory. That's
right. He's God. Nobody else is. He reigns. He rules. He's in
control. We're in His hand. In Him we live and move and have
our being. He's our shield, our buckler. He's our God. He's our
refuge, our fortress. In Him. We're in Him. And he
said, no man can pluck you out of my hand. Isn't that good news? Oppression? Yes. You feel it?
You need to. Until you run to Him. That's
what David says in the next life. He says, oh, send out thy light
and thy truth. Let them lead me. Let them lead me." You know,
so often we don't know who we are or where we're going or what
to do. The disciples, first of all,
what is God's light and truth? It ain't a what. It's a who. Christ is the light of the world. The people that sat in darkness
have seen a great light. He said, I am the light. He that
walketh in me shall not walk in darkness. The truth. He's the truth of the matter.
What matter? Ask something. Anything. He's the truth of who God is,
what man is, what salvation is, how you get to God. He's the
way to God. He's the life. It's in Him. He's all in all. Truth, send Your Son to me. Let me see Him clearly. In Thy
light we see life. Let Him, the truth, come to me.
The truth does, it sets you free. Send Him to lead me. Savior,
like a shepherd, lead us. Lead us. The disciples, I love
thinking about this. When the Lord came and called
the disciples, He just said, follow me. He never told them
where He was going except in the end. He said, I'm going to
Jerusalem. Remember that? He said, we're
going to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man is going to
be delivered into the hands of wicked man. They're going to
take Him and mock Him and spit on Him and crucify Him and kill
Him and bury Him. But the third day He's going
to rise again. And they didn't hear a word of that. But most of the time, they didn't
have a clue where he was going. Didn't need to. Didn't need to. Just follow. You see? Just follow. Follow me. And often
it was in the darkness. They were sailing in darkness
through fears and storms and all that. And they thought the
Lord had left them then, didn't He? No, He had His eye on them
all along. Came walking on the water. And all through their lives,
through their life with Him, they had to follow the Lord.
And that's good. He's a good one to follow. Because
the Scripture says this, in Him is no darkness at all. The night
shineth as the day. Darkness and light are both a
light to Him. The Lord is my light and my salvation. Of whom shall I be afraid? He's
our God and our Savior. Verse 3, he says, Lord, lead
me and let your light and your truth bring me unto thy holy
hill and thy tabernacle. This is where the Lord always
leads His people. The Lord always leads His people. They're full of doubt and fear
and trouble and mourning and oppressed. He leads them to Mount
Zion, to the church of the living God, to the tabernacles of God,
amiable tabernacles, where God's people are. He said, I'm the
Good Shepherd. I know My sheep and have known
of Mine. He said, I call them, they follow
Me. And there will be one Shepherd and one fold. He brings them
into the fold. He brings all His people all
the way. Look across the page at Psalm
46. Psalm 46 verse 3 says, Though the waters thereof roar and be
troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof.
And this world seems to be in turmoil. Brother Stephen, this
world is literally shaking. God is shaking it and flooding
it and blasting it and whirlwinds and tornadoes, isn't He? He says,
once more, now on the ends of the earth, I will shake everything,
but things that can't be moved. What's
that? A foundation. which God hath
made, the city of God that is firm as God, that is built on
Him. Look at verse 4. There is a river
the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy
place of the tabernacles of the Most High. God is in the midst
of her. She shall not be moved. We come here shaken, don't we? We come here full of fear. We
come here mourning because of the oppression of the enemy,
don't we? We come here because this fellow is hounding us. We
come here like going to a sea of refuge, don't we? We come
here where we know Christ is promised to be. And what does
He do? Settles us. You never have peace quite like
you do when you come and sit in the flock. See, amongst people
just like us, just like us with fears and doubts and so forth,
just like us, no one. A bunch of sheep prone to wander,
scared to death, and the wolf is howling at them. And we come
with people just like us, don't we? And this is the only time
there's strength in numbers. You just need two or three. But
you still, you huddle up with God's people, don't you? And then the Lord, if He's pleased,
meets with us and speaks peace to our heart. We never have peace
quite like when we're worshiping together. You see, we have peace
at times when we're in communion with God personally. Yes, we
do. But not nearly as much as when we gather together. Do we?
Why is that? Because heaven, nobody's going
to be alone up there. Everybody's going to be in the
midst of a people, a vast number of people just like that. Isn't
everything more enjoyable anyway when you're with somebody? Food
and whatever, a good story, you know? Oh, yeah. Lead me to your holy hill and
your tabernacle, the city of refuge where Christ has promised
to be, where He's promised safety for manslayers. Sheepfold where
we find green pastures. That's why we come here. Oh,
lead me. Look at this. He says, then,
verse 4, will I go unto the altar of God. We have an altar. We have an altar. You'll notice
there's not one down here. That's not an altar. Those that
have one of those have missed it. They don't know what the
altar is. Those that come down front, you
might as well stay in the back. Hebrews 13 says, verse 9 I believe
it is, we have an altar. And that altar is Jesus Christ
Himself. Like every piece of furniture
in that tabernacle of old represents Christ. This altar is speaking
of it. And that old tabernacle, that
altar, that brazen altar had horns on it. And quite often,
fellas would be guilty of something and run in and lay horde of the
horns of the altar and say, if you're going to slay me, slay
me right here. Well, that's what we do. David
said, though He slay me, I'll trust Him. I'm going to lay hold
of the power of God, the horn of God, the altar of God, which
is Jesus Christ Himself. The power of God. The salvation
of God. The altar of God. Oh my, that's
where He drives us. That's where we go. The altar
of God. Now look at it. Things are changing
for David. Verse 4. Now he's a changing. He says, verse 4, Yea, unto God
my exceeding joy. He started out mourning. Now he's joyful. What happened? It was like Psalm 73. He was
looking around before in this at the prosperity of the wicked.
Worried about this. Worried about that. He said,
I was foolish. I was like a dumb beast. I was so ignorant. He
said, until I went into the tabernacle of God, and God in His light
and His truth, He showed me Christ reigning and ruling and me in
His hands. It doesn't work that way. I ought to be joyful. Joyful. Joy in the Lord. Rejoice in the
Lord. And again I say rejoice. Yay! He says, somebody give me
a harp. Give me a harp. Yay! Upon the
harp will I praise Thee. Oh God, my God. Oh God, my God. God's people are the only ones
that fear His name. And we say that from the heart,
don't we? Oh, my God. God will not hold them guiltless
who takes His name in vain. And the opposite is true also. That those that fear His name,
He will not hold them guilty. He delights in them that fear
Him and those that trust in His name. He that make mention of
the Lord, make mention His name is exalted. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. He's my God. Is He
your God? Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? He asked Himself. Why art thou
disquieted within me? I'll tell you why we get disquieted.
Disquieted is the opposite of being peaceful and quiet and
calm and reassured. Why? Because we're listening
to other people. We're looking at things that
are seen and not things unseen. We're not listening to our Lord.
We're listening to too many voices. And there are a bunch of confused
people out there. Don't listen to them. Don't listen
to them. That poor, pitiful fellow, Stephen
Hawking, nuclear physicist, rocket scientist. You know who he is?
Good. You don't need to. Everybody
else does. The world knows him and they
esteem him so highly and they listen, they hang on his every
word. And he said recently, heaven is a myth. It's just a myth. Who are you going to believe?
Stephen Hawking or Jesus Christ? Christ is the truth. That other
fellow is looking at black holes in Spain. Now, who are you going
to follow? Who are you going to follow?
Who are you going to listen to? And that disquiet system. Who could possibly
disquiet? Who or what could disquiet God's
people? It shouldn't be anybody. Be still
and know that I am God. That's what he said. Be still,
know, I am God. In all cases, under all circumstances,
I am God. There is none other. And I am
your God. So, hope in God. Hope in God. He says if you do like Him, you
will yet praise Him. In the saddest of times, you
hope in God you'll end up joyful again. Yes, you will. There are
people in here that have gone through the saddest of the saddest
times, the hardest of the hard trials. Yes, they have. And they're
rejoicing. He said you would. He said you
would. He said, I'll never leave you.
Hope in God. You'll yet praise Him. And He's
the health of your countenance. He said, He's the health of my
countenance. Our countenances get down, don't
we? It's pretty easy to read some people. It's pretty easy to read some people.
Some of you I look at, I've known you for a pretty long time now. You're well readable. Real readable. Some are not. Some are pretty
much the same countenance all the time. But those that are,
you know, easily the countenance has fallen. I can tell at times when you've
heard the good news. I can tell. Because then you
brighten up. Your countenance picks back up
again. I've seen many of you. You've
seen me dragging in here. Whoa is me. And then hopefully
when it's over, you know, dancing out of here. Skipping over a
wall like a stripper said. Leaping over a wall. To get down
again and come dragging back. He's my God. David said, He's
my God. He's your God. Is this your God?
Is thy God God? Hope in Him now. Trust Him at
all times. Okay, stand with me. Our Lord and our God, we thank
You so much for Your Word. Your Word is our help, our hope,
our comfort, our consolation, our strength. It's our light. It's our meat, our drinks. It's
our bed. It's our rest. Especially because it speaks
of Christ who is our rest, our Sabbath, our Lord, our bread,
our water, our peace, our joy, our comfort, our King, our Lord,
our Savior, our Christ. He is our Savior. Let Thy Word come to us. Send Thy Word and cause us to
rest in it and to lean upon it as we see the promises of our
God that cannot fail. And all the promises of God are
in Christ and are yea and amen. True and sure and certain. So
let us rest upon Your promises and hope in our God. in the Lord
and Savior Jesus Christ, our God and our Savior. Let this
word sink down deep in our ear and plant it, write it on our
hearts, and let us remember it. Bring it back to our memory in
the next few days until we meet again to do the same thing. It's
in Christ's name we ask these things. I'm at here tonight.
Amen. Thank you.