These are the signs of my days.
Come, Holy Spirit, fill me now. Fill up my daily life. Until I know my Saviour's love, there shall
be no end. That's a sad state, yes. But we all get there, all believers
do, groveling here below, fond of these earthly toys. Our souls,
how heavily they go to reach eternal joy. We ought to be running
with joy toward heavenly, eternal things, but they become things
of God and worship sometimes becomes almost a burden. In vain
we tune our formal songs, songs of praise and thanksgiving to
the God who gave us everything. And we have to strive to rise,
strive to get our hearts up to thank God and spend a few minutes
thanking without getting in a hurry to
go out and enjoy the things you get. Hosannas languish on our
tongue. Our devotion dies. Ah, Lord, shall we ever live
at this poor dying rate? Our love so faint, so cold to
thee and thine to us, so great. But where are we going to look
for help? Come, Holy Spirit. Heavenly love. A good song. All right, Psalm 143 is our text. Psalm 143. I was reading this psalm just
for my own personal enjoyment, and it sounded familiar to me. It
should be, because I've preached on it twice. But that's all right. The last time was in 1992. I
got the notes out when I put it back. Old manna breeds worms. You got
to have new manna. And it was fresh and new to me
as I studied it. The title of this message is
Prayer for the Down and Out. Prayer for the Down and Out.
The first six verses of this text, the first six verses of
this psalm, David is It's describing his down-and-out condition. He's downcast. He sits down to the ground, down
in the dust. He's downcast and he's out, out
of fellowship. And this is a sad condition that
every believer gets in at times. And then David looks for help,
and the only place he can really find it, or that is, and the
only one that he can confide in And the only one that can
really help him. And I hope you'll get some help
from this, too. This may be one of those that
you might not need it right now, but you will later. All right,
Psalm 143, verse 1. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Give
ear to my supplication. Why should God hear us? Here, stop and think about that.
We get in trouble. We don't call on him like we
should all the time. Times of prosperity and times
of everything's going well. We don't call upon him like we
should. Then we get in a little sad state, shake. Then we call. It reminds me of so many psalms,
doesn't it, Henry, but psalms, I think 104 is one of them, 107
and others. But Israel got down and, you
know, and then they cried. And he answered them. Why should
he? He shouldn't. He really shouldn't.
We don't deserve it, do we? We don't deserve him to hear
us. Answer us. But he does. Why does he, Terry?
Look at the next word. In thy faithfulness. Answer me. Because he's faithful. He's faithful. and his righteousness. He God's
faithful. See God's merciful. God's gracious. God's loving. God's compassionate. God's kind. He'll ever remember
his covenant. God will always answer because
he's faithful. He's faithful. And again, I remind
you that text over in Second Samuel, David. David hadn't been
paying much attention to his Lord and Nathan came to him.
and with a message from the Lord and reminded David of where the
Lord brought him from, following sheep, made him king, greatest
man on earth. And David said, is this the manner
of man? Is this the manner of man? No,
but it's the manner of our God, who is faithful, faithful to
his character, and he's Faithful to hear sinners. He's heard sinners
from the beginning. From the first sinner who called
on him until the last one that does, he'll hear them. Why? He's faithful. And he's righteous. In his righteousness. Answer
me in thy righteousness. What's that? What does the Lord
answer in his righteousness? What does that mean? Answer me
in thy righteousness. What is God's righteousness? What is God's righteousness?
That's right, he'll always answer up in Christ. He will. Christ, my righteousness. He'll
answer us in Christ. That's the reason he answers
sinners. Because they're considered righteous in Christ. Oh, wayward
children. Disobedient to some degree children. But children. And you'll always
hear your children, won't you? Nancy, if that one goes to prison,
or that one. Sorry, Sam. Maybe that one. He already looks the part. If
he goes, will you turn your back on him? No. You'll always hear
him. I know someone right now who
has two. Two in prison. And they keep calling dear old
dad. Only time they ever call him when they need a little money.
And dear old dad sends them some money. Well, our God does the same thing,
doesn't he? He's faithful. And it's because
of Christ. It's because of Christ. Christ's
sake. If it wasn't for Christ... Verse 2, he says, "...enter not
into judgment, would I, servant?" Oh, don't judge me. Don't judge
me. "...in thy sight no man living
shall be justified." If God were to mark iniquity, Psalm 130 says,
if he were to mark iniquities, who would stand? Who would stand? If God would judge any of us
according to our works, every one of us would be cast into
hell, wouldn't we? Every one of us, starting with
the preacher. Don't judge me, Lord. Judge Christ. May my judgment have been in
Christ. Verse 3, I mean, David's describing himself
here. The enemy has persecuted my soul. The enemy has persecuted
me, smitten me down to the ground. He made me to dwell in darkness.
Those that have been long dead. Satan is the arch enemy. He really is. The arch enemy. He says he's persecuted me. That
is, with temptations. I want to put an article in the
Bulletin this Sunday about And it is, oh my, talking about Satan
dealing with our nature, knowing us well, and knowing how to manipulate
us. And he does. He brought the first
man down, the first man and woman who were far superior to us,
weren't they? Weren't they? He knows us inside and out, and
he knows what to use upon us. And David calls on the right
one, doesn't he? The one stronger than he. Oh,
Satan has persecuted me with temptation daily. Hourly. Right, John? Hourly. He tempts
me hourly. Smitten me. And I've succumbed
to those temptations too many times. Brought me down in the
dirt. Down and dirty. You ever gotten
down and dirty? Are you? Down and dirty. In darkness, he said, when you
get down in the dirt, having succumbed to temptation, you
feel like you're dead in the darkness. You feel like you're
one who's never been enlightened by the gospel. Enlightened, led
by his Spirit. Not me, you say, when you get
down like this. Verse 4, Therefore is my Spirit
overwhelmed within me. These temptations overwhelm me.
I can't stand up under them. My guilt overwhelms me. My shame
overwhelms me. I'm full of shame. My heart within
me is desolate. How often does your heart get
desolate? Desolate means barren. Empty. Desolate. The heart, Lord,
that you broke before is stony all over again. The heart that
you broke before And I thought, well, surely I'll never get hardened
again. It's hard again. Break it again. Right? That heart that you warmed
by the word and you thought, oh, I'll never forget this gospel. It's cold again. That heart you
filled. You thought, like David, you
said, my heart is like a bottle of wine, new wine, ready to bust. You thought, I'll never get over
this. I got over it, and it's empty, and it needs filling again. Desolate. Verse 5, I remember
the days of old. I remember the days of old. I
remember Job one time said, old that I were, as in months past.
You've been there? Oh, that I were as in months
past. I could say, oh, at times, so
many times, oh, that I were as in years past, way on back then,
when the gospel was so sweet every time I heard it. I remember
the days of old. I meditate on all thy work. You
know, if a man would do these three things, if a woman would
do these three things, it would help a great deal. God's mercies and days of old
and where he brought you from. Remember the pit from which you
were dug. Remember. Remember. Son, remember. It's a good thing to remember
now. Son, remember. Because that's
the worm that doth not inhale. Son, remember. I meditate on all thy work. That's a good thing to do. Think
about what God has done for you, what Christ has done for you.
Think about that. I, Muse, remember meditating,
Muse, on the works of thy hands. Oh, Lord, I remember. Verse 6,
I stretch forth, I stretch forth my hands unto thee. I stretch
forth my hands. Scripture says let's lift up
holy hands. Well, my hands feel dirty. said, Who shall ascend unto the
holy hill of the Lord, he that hath clean hands? But I lift up these old dirty
hands, cleanse them. I lift up my hands unto thee,
my soul thirsteth, my soul. Who shall ascend unto the holy
hill of the Lord, he that hath clean hands, a pure heart, who
never lifted up his soul unto vanity? It doesn't seem like I've ever
lifted my soul up to anything but manatee. But, Lord, I lift
my soul. Take it for all it's worth. Change it. It is thirsty. That
much it is. It's thirsty. My soul thirsteth
after thee. And I don't even thirst as much
as I ought to thirst. My soul thirsteth after thee,
though it does as a thirsty lamb. Pray that right now, people.
God will give you soul thirst, like a thirsty lion, and every
drop of this word will be like a dry, parched ground. I haven't
had rain in years, you know, just more, more. Remember that drought, Henry?
Oh, the rain. The ground was just like, let
me have days of this rain. Oh, if our hearts and souls would
be that way. Selah means think about it. You
don't read sealant. Whenever it's in the scripture,
you don't read it. That's pause, like a musical pause. It means
you just stop. Pause, you think. Now that's David's condition. That's David's condition. And
that has been my condition, and will be, if not now. And will
be yours, and has been your condition. That's David's condition. And
here's David's prayer. Let's see if he can't enter into
this. I can. Seven things he asked for. Seven
personal requests. He keeps saying, me, me, me. We can use this prayer personally.
Because everything he says is for me. This is for me. Yeah,
because he says, hear me. It's for you, Joe. You, me. Me,
hear me. Look at it, he says, seven things,
hear me, cause me to hear, cause me to know, deliver me, teach
me, lead me, quicken me. He's calling on the only one
that can do these things. And the one without whom we can't
do anything, can't do any of these things. Right? Without
him we can do nothing. Without him we can't do any of
these things. So he calls upon the Lord to
do it all. I lift up mine eyes unto the
hill, from which cometh my help." All right, let's look at these
seven things. Verse seven, he says, "'Hear me speedily, O Lord,
hear me speedily, or in a hurry, now.'" You ever call on somebody
in desperation? Huh? Hurry, I need you. Quick. Women are guilty of that all
the time. When they shouldn't do it. My
wife is called out more. And I think she's dying. And I come running. Your wives don't do that. Sure. But there are times when you
call out and you need somebody in a hurry. Come here quick.
I need you. This is the way David's calling
from the heart. Hear me speedily, O Lord. Hurry. Hurry. And as I said before,
Lord, you don't have to hear me. You shouldn't hear me. You should turn your ear or your
face. That's what he says next. Hide
not your face from me. You should turn a deaf ear. You
ever been angry at your children? You ever been mad at your children
and turned a deaf ear to them? Have you? Sure you have. Everyone
has. But you heard him. Didn't you? But you acted like
you weren't hearing him. And you turned your face to him. Dad? Dad, did you hear me? Yeah, I heard you. You ever done that? Mom? Mom, I'm sorry. Did you hear me? Are you going to do something?
Maybe. But you've got to let them think
about it a little bit. All right? It helps to think
about it. Hide not. David said, Don't hide
your face from me. I'm going to be like them. Go
down into the pit. I already am. It says in the margin, I
am become like them down in a pit. What a pit is? A rut. I'm in a rut. I am down there. Not I'm going to be, I am in
a rut. And if you don't, oh good Samaritans,
if you don't come and lift me up and pour in oil and wine,
I'm going to die in this ditch. That's the desperation of somebody
that's in a bad shape. And it's a gift of the Holy Spirit
to let a man see that condition. Often we get in a ditch in a
pit and don't realize it. Get in a rut and don't realize
it. Might be, maybe even enjoy it. Boy, that's the worst condition
to be in. But it's a good condition to
be in to realize you're down in the pit because you'll cry.
Hear me, Lord. Hear me speedily. If you don't
hear me, I'm a goner. Those that don't cry, they may
be gone already. I've been there. You been there?
Down, discouraged, down, depressed, down and dirty. If the Lord didn't
hear my cry for mercy and relief, I felt like I was going to be
gone, gone, gone, gone. But I tell you what, you can
always, as we said in verse 1, hear me in thy faithfulness and
thy righteousness. That's the way to get God to
hear you. You can always count on God hearing you, sinner, if
you pray this one way. What's one way? What's the one
way you can get God to hear you every time? One way. What is
one way? Who's the way? One way to get God to hear you. Just say that name. Just plead
Christ. Don't plead, I'm a, I'm a, I'm
a. He knows. He knows. Plead blood. Right? Plead righteousness. Don't
even plead your lack of one. Plead his righteousness. He knows
you're unrighteous. Somebody said don't always dwell
on your sin. Talk about your sin. I'm a, I'm
a. Plead Christ. Get to the remedy real fast. Lead Christ, lead Christ's name,
the intercessor, because God always hears him. Doesn't he? Christ said it. He always hears
me. Well, then I know somebody you
ought to talk to. It's somebody you ought to go
through, a go-between, a daisman betwixt you. You want to be heard
by God? It's somebody you need to call
on, who's there of ever present help
every time you call him. So go to the Father and the Father
will hear your prayer through him. Oh God in the name of Christ. God loves to hear that name as
we should. He loves to hear that name and
he'll always answer you. He'll tell you what happened
to me when we were in Lexington. I've been waiting to use this
illustration. I was sitting in Brother Todd
and Ivers' study. Maybe I have used it. I was sitting in Brother Todd
and Ivers' study after the morning conference and waiting to go
back to Todd's house, and just sitting there reading, looking
through some of his books and all, reading. And I heard somebody,
a little voice at the door, saying, Hannah! Hannah! Hannah!" And I finally
looked up, and there's a little boy standing there at the door,
hollering at me. He didn't know my name, but he
knew that I was Hannah's dad. And that got my attention. That's
all he knew to call out, Hannah! Hannah! Christ! Christ! He'll hear that
name. I raised up my head. I smiled.
I said, Hi, son. Come on in. Hannah. Hannah. I'll go by that name. I love that name. I love to hear
that name. And so does the Heavenly Father.
Hear me, O Lord. Hear me. Speedily. Verse 8. Cause me. Cause me to hear. Caused me to hear. You hear me,
but now here's where all my trouble started. Caused me to hear. I didn't listen
to you. That's where the trouble starts,
Nancy. That's where we get into the mess we get in. We didn't
listen to dear old dad or our heavenly father. That's where
my trouble started. I don't listen to the Lord. That's
where it starts. I need to hear Him. I need to
hear His Word. I need to heed His Word. I'd
get in less trouble if I'd hear Him. And that's where my trouble
starts, and this is where my troubles will end, if He causes
me to hear what? His loving kindness in the morning. Come Saturday night, you pray
that prayer. cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning."
Let me hear the gospel in the morning. Better yet, just pretend
it's Saturday night. Right now, I need to hear the
gospel. I mean really hear it, Lord. I need to hear this lovingkindness
all over again. I need to hear about mercy and
grace and lovingkindness in Christ in thee. Look at it. In thee
do I trust. I do. I do. Calls me to hear. Look at the
next thing. Third thing. Calls me to know
the way. What's that? Calls me to know Christ the way. As Paul said, Oh that I might
know him. Christ the way. And that's what
this is all about. That's what these meetings are
all about. We gather together in Christ's name to study his
words that we might grow in grace and in the knowledge of Christ
Jesus our Lord. Know the way. Know Christ. Cause me to grow in grace and
the knowledge of Christ. Cause me to fall in love with
Him. And I'll follow Him. I'll follow
Him. If you cause me to know Christ,
the way wherein I should walk, oh Lord, I lift up my soul unto
I lift up my soul unto death. Cause me, cause me. Number four,
verse nine. Deliver me, O Lord, from mine
enemies. Deliver me from mine enemies. The disciples asked the Lord,
Lord teach us to pray. And evidently we haven't learned
the lesson too well. Oh, everybody can quote it, can't
they? Can't they stand? Everybody takes it on their lips,
the Lord's Prayer. Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven. And so on. We haven't learned
it too well if we don't cry it first thing in the morning. Lord,
lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil
one. That's what the Lord said for
us to cry for deliverance from, the evil one. Deliver us from
evil, the evil one. That's who he's talking about.
Our tempter. Our tempter. When I fall into
his snare, it seems like daily. Don't you, John? Daily. That'll
be the first words out of our mouth when we wake up in the
morning. Deliver me from the tempter, from his snares. How many times has David talked
about snares in the scripture? Nets, snares, laid waiting for
me during the day. Lord, deliver me from my enemy,
a stronger than me, O thou stronger than he. Deliver me, deliver
me, O deliver me. You tell us, Rick, I don't know
if you were little when you were little, but I've always been
little. And there's some bullies around.
And I was thankful I had some older brothers, because I could
always call them my older brothers. But you know, you ever have a
bully after you, and you run home and tell Your big brother,
your dad, he's bullying me. That's exactly what David's praying,
Lord, deliver me. Deliver me. Oh, deliverer, deliver
me from the tempter. Verse 10, deliver me. Verse 10,
teach me. Teach me. Don't just deliver
me, but teach me a lesson. Teach me to do thy will. You're my God. You're my God. I'm not the pilot,
and you're the co-pilot. You're my God. Thy will be done
on earth as it is in heaven. What he's saying for us to pray
there is, Thy will be done in my life as you do in all things. I want you to reign over me. Thy will to be done. Teach me
to do thy will. Lord, I want to be an obedient
son. I want to be like Christ, who
delighted to do the Father's will." Isn't it? Even like as a boy. Brandon was
twelve years old, and he said his parents were looking for
him. You remember that story? His parents were looking. He
said, you knew where I'd be. You knew, you should have known
where to find me. In the temple. Worshipping. Inquiring into the
things of my God. He said, I must be about my Father's
business. Oh Lord, teach me that. Let me
be in the family business. I want to be, I want this to
be God and sons. Don't you? If Joe had a good
business, Sam, it'd be honorable to him, or Steve, honorable to
him if you'd join right in the business with him and treated
it as if it were your own. Well, Lord, make me a dutiful
child. Make me an obedient son. If you
would teach me and cause me to walk in thy will and thy way,
I'd be so much better off. I'd be so much better off. Teach
me to trust and obey. Thou art my God, always, always
right. Thy spirit is good, he said.
Thy spirit is good. I want to heed thy spirit, not
grieve thy spirit. I want to follow thy spirit. I want to be led by thy spirit,
not go my own way. And that's the next thing he
said. Lead me. Lead me into the land
of uprightness. And here's another source of
my problems. I take the lead too often. Right? Every man goes
his own way. Every man in his heart thinks
There's a way that seems right to me. Well, this is the way
I ought to go. Is it? Have you inquired of the
Lord? No, but... No buts? Well, there ought to be no buts
about it. Should I do this? I think, what
does he think? What does he say? That ought
to be the criteria for doing something. Everything should...
Lord, lead me. If you don't lead me, I'm going
to go astray. And if he doesn't lead me, I'm going to go astray. Right? If he doesn't lead me,
Henry, I'm going to make every step going to be a wrong one.
Going to be a wrong one. Every one. Right? lead me into the land of uprightness. Lead me, O Shepherd, Savior,
Savior, like a shepherd lead us." I like that song. I take
the lead too often, and I fall in it. That's reading them down
the ditch. David said, I'm down in this ditch. I'm down in this
ditch. Why? I took the lead. I didn't follow. Oh, Lord, you
lead from here on out. You ever done that? Do you ever
do the opposite? I remember we were down in Mexico.
I told you this, too, but who cares? It's good. We were down
in Mexico, and my dad and everybody, we were walking downtown in Mérida,
and that city is like, oh, I can't, it's like an ant colony, just
thick with ants, shoulder to shoulder with people and shops.
We were down there and Dad, Dad was out in front, walking ahead
of us. We were heading somewhere, some
shop or something. He was walking along, we were all following,
trying to keep up, and suddenly he stops and says, wait a minute,
what am I doing? He said, I'm just like one of
these Armenian preachers. He said, I mean, I'm leaving
and I don't know where in the hell I'm going. If that didn't edit, you edit
that. He said, I'm leaving and I don't
know where I'm going. He's like an Armenian preacher. He said, Walter, get up here.
Walter, take us. That's us, isn't it? Here I go. Where are you going? I don't
know. Lord, where am I going? Lead
me, O Savior, O Shepherd, like a—O Savior, like a shepherd lead
me. Lead me into the land of uprightness,
land of uprightness. And he will. Well, what's the
land of uprightness? Well, it ain't here. There ain't
many upright in this land, is there? Well, that's got to be
the land that is fairer than day. And by faith, we can see
it afar. My father waits over the way
to prepare us a dwelling place there. We have here no continuing
city, and we look for one whose which hath foundations, who builder
and maker is God." A land of uprightness. That's—I'll be satisfied,
Ed, when that's—that's my destination. And to you, that's our destination. The land of uprightness I've
had. I want to soar—as one would say,
I want to soar on the wings of eagles. I'm tired of walking
with these turkeys. And he will. He says, lead me
into the land of uprightness. He will all the way. my Savior
leads me. Oh, the fullness of his love!
Perfect rest to me is promised in my Father's house above. When
my spirit, clothed immortal, wings its flight to realms of
day, this my song through endless ages my Lord led me." All the
way. Verse eleven. Last thing, quicken
me, O Lord, quicken me. That word quicken means bring
to life, bring back to life the dead. Oh, he's the only one that
can. Renew, David said, a right spirit
within me. Regenerate me again. Refresh
me. Revive us again in the midst
of the year. Create new life in this dead
heart, O Lord. Make the gospel the words of
life again. Make Christ my all in all. Make
the message the best news I've ever heard again. For thy righteousness' sake,
he said. There he goes pleading his righteousness' sake. That's
for Christ's sake. Bring my soul out of trouble. O Lord, speak to this Lazarus. Speak to this Lazarus. Say, Come
forth. Come forth. Bring me out of the
grave of sin and darkness. Verse twelve. And one last thing. He seems to say one more thing,
Lord. May I impose upon you for one
more thing. He says, Of thy mercy. And you've
got lots of it. According to the multitude of
thy tender mercy. Of thy mercy. Would you do this? Cut off my enemies. Just get
rid of them. Just get rid of them. And destroy
all them that afflict my soul. Well, I'll tell you one enemy
that he has. Cut off and destroy them. Our sins. Our sins. There's three enemies, basically,
that persecute us. And he's on a chain. He only does what God allows
him to do. And he'll soon be, we'll soon see that old boy put
in his place, cast into the lake of fire. Sin, that's my enemy,
too. Well, Christ, He dealt with that,
didn't He? My sin, they plagued me, God doesn't hold me accountable
for. That ought to rejoice your heart. But self. That's that other enemy. This evil trinity. Self. That may be arch-enemy number
one. Right, Sam? Henry! Henry said, I sometimes want
to run. run from myself, and he said,
wherever I get to, he said, I find that I'm still there. I run from
my enemies, but this body of death, who shall deliver me?
I thank God. Through Jesus Christ my Lord,
I will yet have the victory. Ah, boy. Destroy them, Lord,
that afflict my soul. I am thy servant. I hope that me some help to you
and I hope you can enter into that and get some help. All right.
Sherry, good song to sing after that. 295. 295. He lead it.