Good evening. Mom told me there's
an address out there on the table for Pam, Debbie's sister. I guess not recovering very well
from her hip surgery, which has been some time ago. Somebody
wants to send her a card. That address is out there. Psalm
86. Psalm 86. Very familiar psalm, I'm sure,
to you. I'd like to read the whole psalm
and then we'll ask God to help us as we enter into worship tonight
and study a portion of this psalm, deal with some of it, but I'd
like to read it in its entirety to begin with. Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear
me, for I am poor and needy. Preserve my soul, for I am holy. O Thou, my God, save Thy servant
that trusteth in Thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord,
for I cry unto Thee daily. Rejoice the soul of Thy servant,
for unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For Thou, Lord, art
good and ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy. unto all
them that call upon thee. Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer,
and attend to the voice of my supplications. In the day of
my trouble I will call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me. Among
the gods there is none like unto thee, O Lord. Neither are there
any works like unto thy works. All nations whom thou hast made
shall come and worship before thee, O Lord, and shall glorify
thy name. For thou art great and doest
wondrous things. Thou art God alone. Teach me
thy way, O Lord. I will walk in thy truth, unite
my heart to fear thy name. I will praise thee, O Lord my
God, with all my heart, and I will glorify thy name forevermore. For great is thy mercy toward
me, and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. O God, the proud are risen against
me. and the assemblies of violent
men have sought after my soul, and have not set thee before
them. But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious,
long-suffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. O turn unto
me, and have mercy upon me. Give thy strength unto thy servant,
and save the son of thine handmaid. Show me a token for good. that
they which hate me may see it and be ashamed, because thou,
Lord, hast opened me and comforted me." Let's pray. Oh, our kind and gracious and
merciful Heavenly Father, we bow before you and are humbled
at the thought of thee. We are humbled that you think
on us and you hear us when we pray for Christ's sake. You hear
us in our blessed substitute. As we approach the mercy seat,
the throne of grace, your ear hears the cries of your people.
Oh, how we thank you that you're mindful of us and your word gives
us hope and assurance of that. Thank you for every heart that's
gathered tonight. We ask Lord that you would fill
our hungry souls with your word. Cause all of our faculties to
be engaged tonight as we sit and read your word and think
on it and think on our dear Savior. Engage our minds and our hearts,
our affections, our whole being in this short time of worship.
We look to you to supply our need. We look to you to come
and visit with us and use us and speak to us in power. Help us to honor you. Help us
to worship. Bring honor to yourself, we pray,
in Christ's name. Amen. I ran across an article that
Charles Spurgeon wrote. It's in one of the church's bulletins
that I get by email. I just want to read one or two
statements. He's talking here about indwelling
sin of a believer, the two natures. as it was the company of two
armies, Spurgeon calls it. You've got the nature of God
and the nature of Adam in one person. And it says this is not
always known by the believer when he commences the new life.
He starts knowing that he's a sinner and that Jesus is his Savior.
But as he proceeds, he finds that he is more a sinner than
he thought he was. Is that your experience? That's
my experience. I'm surprised. And he goes on
to say many surprises await him and some things which if he is
not prepared for them will stagger him as though some strange thing
had happened to him. And I said, that's my experience. That's my experience. And I don't
find any rest for my soul in considering myself or anything
that I am or hope to be or try to be in my life. I don't find
any rest there. And I don't know that my need
for mercy is greater than it ever has been. Our need for mercy
is infinite. We need daily mercy, the mercy
of God. But I see more of a need than
I did in years past, and I continue to see more of a need for God's
mercy to cover my sin. And this Psalm that we just read
spoke to my heart, I think it put into words the moanings and
groanings of my heart, which oftentimes as we read the Scripture,
especially the Psalms, when we don't know the words to utter,
it utters them for us. It speaks to us, and we say amen
and echo that to God and cry out to Him. But I want to start out and introduce
this message and ask this question. Most of us are believers here
tonight, and I know the answer to this question, but are there
any mercy beggars here tonight? Mercy beggars. You never graduate
from that position. Does anyone here need a Savior?
Does anyone need and desire forgiveness? Does anyone need and desire mercy? Well, I do, and you do, don't
you? We need it. It's our earnest prayer. God,
forgive my sin. Have mercy on me. Have mercy
on mine, those that I love, those that I know. But this prayer
of David that we have before us as our guide, I pray that
it echoes the cry of our heart tonight. It's a great example
what this psalm is, and a believer can read it and say amen to it.
When the groaning of the soul produces no words, the scripture
oftentimes gives us the words and tells us what to say. And
although God, he knows our thoughts, he interprets our groanings,
we don't have to pray an eloquent prayer. But when God's word is
read by us or to us, that witnesses to our spirit, what our spirit
feels. That's what I feel. Right there
is what I feel. And that's what I want to say.
That's what I want to plead. That's a wonderful thing. What
a help that is to us. How the Scripture helps us in
this matter of prayer. You know, the Scripture tells
us that we ought always to pray and to pray without ceasing.
A believer does that. A believer does that. Because
we are keenly aware of our great need and needs. Philippians 4 verse 6 says, Be
careful for nothing, but in everything, by prayer and supplication, with
thanksgiving, Let your request be made known unto God in everything. But I've been thinking about
rest. You know, rest is dependent upon
something being certain, and eternally certain. And there
is nothing in this world or in this life that is certain, because
nothing in this world and nothing in this life is eternal, thereby
it cannot be certain. But if I'm to truly rest, what
I'm resting in and who I'm resting in, it must be an eternal, certain,
everlasting thing. It depends on eternal certainty.
I don't have any use for a perhaps religion or a maybe salvation. I have no use for it. It does
me no good. It gives me no comfort, no rest,
no peace. You know, I know in this world,
everything that we build up, God's going to tear it down.
Did you know that? We know that. And we need to
be mindful of that. Whether it's houses and lands
or bank accounts or whatever it might be. Sometimes when I
get a burst of energy, I'll jog, I'll lift weights, build up this
body. I can't help but think, I'm building
this up, God's going to tear it down. And that's the way it
is. So there's no rest to be found
in this world. But I want you to turn with me
to Isaiah chapter 41 and verse 17. Oh, I love the language of Scripture.
And this is a perfect verse that just speaks to my heart beyond
any expression. Isaiah 41, 17 says, When the
poor and needy seek water, and there is none, and their tongue
faileth for thirst, I, the Lord, will hear them. I, the God of
Israel, will not forsake them. First of all, it speaks to me
because he says the poor and needy. And God's taught me that
I'm poor, I have nothing, and I need Him for everything. And
I've been given some light that my soul thirsts for what this
life and this world cannot provide. Thirst for salvation, for righteousness,
to live eternally, to have my sin put away. And he says to
that person, I, the Lord, will hear them. I, the God of Israel,
will not forsake them. There's certainty in that. There's
something that I can lay hold on. God has promised. God Almighty
has promised. The poor and needy And I, the
Lord, will hear them, and I will not forsake them. Consider Him
who it is that speaks." Now turn back to Psalm 86 where we started
and compare what the psalmist says in verse 7 with what we
just read. He said, in the day of my trouble,
I will call upon thee, for thou will answer me. How did he know
that? God promised. You say, well,
you're just a man, and saying God will do something, that's
awful presumptuous. Brothers and sisters, that's
not presumption. That's faith, isn't it? That's
faith. That's not proud presumption.
That's faith. that God will do what He said
He would do. And I'm staking my never-dying soul on what God
has promised. So that's what our psalmist expresses
here. But it brings joy to your heart. And in verse 4, it says we can't
bring joy into our own heart. cause our heart to rejoice. And
the psalmist here says, praying to God, God, you rejoice the
soul of my servant, of thy servant. So that's what the word of God
does for his people. But it's a blessed thing to read
of God and his attributes and to know experientially and personally
to some degree, to a measure, What's being talked about here,
what's being said, to have God's Spirit bearing witness with our
spirit as we read these words, and that they're true and they're
faithful, and we've experienced them in our own lives. We've
experienced this need, this crying out of the heart. You know, in
Psalms it says, in verse 8 it says, among the gods there is
none like unto thee. There are no gods, that's a small
g, but God is capital G, Almighty God. There's none like thee.
And there are no works like thy works. And then in verse 10 we
read, for thou art great and doest wondrous things. Thou art
God alone. But let's begin back up in verse
1 and take another look at this. Behold a sinful man, David, a
sinner, calling on God to bow down. Bow down thine ear, O Lord,
he says. Condescend to where I am and
hear me. That's first of all a confession
that God's got to come where we are. We cannot get to Him. If we're to have access to God,
He must condescend and come down and bow down Himself to hear
us and humble Himself. And again, that's another thing
that on the outside, it seems to be a presumptuous thing that
God would even look in our direction. And he won't outside of Christ.
We'll see that here in a minute. But it's faith that we believe
God and he hears the cries of his people through Christ, our
blessed substitute. And notice that the writer does
not utter his request in proud presumption, but rather in woeful
need. We read on there in verse 1,
bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me, for I am poor and needy. No proud presumption there. Isaiah
66 verse 2 says, but to this man will I look, the Lord says,
even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit and trembleth
at my word. And I love this. This is so encouraging
to me that our claim upon God lies in our need. Not, Lord,
help me, for I can do much, but, Lord, help me, for I can do nothing. I'm poor and needy. God will
never condescend to your pride and to your arrogance, but he
will bow his ear to your grief. Isn't our God a wonderful God? We read this psalm. Our God is
full of compassion, slow to anger, plenteous in mercy, and delights
to show mercy. the prayer of groans and cries,
which expresses our utter need, as opposed to a prayer full of
eloquent so-called words. God responds to the cries of
His people, the heart cries. You remember our Lord heard the
words of that blind beggar, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy
upon me, and the scripture says Jesus stopped immediately. And
these are the characters to whom our Lord looks, and he stoops
to hear their cries. I remember something that Bruce
said one time, Bruce Crabtree, I hope I get this right. You
know, something like this, men despise sovereign election, the
God of election. And Bruce made this statement,
he said, well, Have you ever asked for mercy? And men by nature
never pray a prayer like this. Cannot, because of their pride.
Never become a mercy beggar. Come to God knowing that if they're
to get anything from God, it's going to have to be a hand of
mercy that gives it to them. But have you ever asked God for
mercy? Well, no. Men don't do that. then you will fault God because
He doesn't give you mercy? So that's the way men think. They hate God because He withholds
mercy. But our scripture says God is
ready to forgive and plenteous in mercy to all that come to
Him. And that is an encouragement
for a sinner, a man who's a sinner and needs mercy. Look at one
of my favorite verses of Scripture over in Isaiah 65, verse 24. Just to show you that God is
ready, He hears the cries of His people
and He's ready to forgive. It says, And it shall come to
pass that before they call, I will answer. He knows they're going
to call out to Him. Before they call, I'm going to
answer them. And while they're yet speaking, I will hear. Our
God is engaged with His people. His people that are in His Son. So what a great encouragement
to attend to the throne of grace continually. Now let's turn over to Psalm
116 for a minute. Another demonstration of God's readiness. You know, it says in another
place that He waits to be gracious. And we know that God doesn't
wait on man to do anything. That means He's long-suffering.
He waits to be gracious. He's long-suffering to us and
gives space to repent. Space for a man to repent. But
Psalm 116 verse 1, we read, I love the Lord because He hath heard
my voice. Heard my voice and my supplications. Because he hath inclined his
ear unto me, he bowed down. I called on him to bow down,
and he bowed down. He inclined his ear to me. Therefore,
I will call upon him as long as I live." Oh, my. You know,
I sometimes visualize God, you know, leaning down toward his
loved ones with his hand cut behind his ear, not as though
he was hard of hearing, but to present us an illustration to
our minds of the great care and concern for His own, or His anxiousness
to hear their hearts' cries. You see, God's not like us. Most
men think God's like me. He's got a little more power
than I do, and He knows a few more things than I do, but He's
pretty much like me, and He acts like me. God's not. We're nothing
like Him. He's in the heavens, we're on
the earth. He's eternal and all-wise and all-mighty. We have no power,
and we're the earth, and we're earthy. But our God is not like
us. He does nothing half-hearted.
He's fully engaged in everything He undertakes, in every purpose,
in every one of His people, He's fully engaged. And all His faculties,
all that He is, is fully engaged in His care of those He chose
in Christ at all times. And it's a blessing to see this
in Scripture. And it's a blessing to experience
it and to know it and have the Word of God confirm us in our
faith of that. Oh my, God Almighty fully engaged
as to the well-being of his people. You know, the preacher said,
Aaron said Sunday, something that stuck with me, I thought
was so good. He said, God loves his people and he provides for
them. That just, you know, men say
God loves everyone. Well, he's provided, if he loves
them, he provides them a righteousness and they cannot, they'll never
perish. So that just puts to rest the
fact that God loves everybody, but those that he loves, he provides
everything for them from all eternity. Oh my, that's just
a delightful thing. David pleads the fact in verse
two. Let's go back over to our text. He pleads this fact. He said,
preserve my soul for I am holy. Now we know that David's not
a holy man in himself. My oh my. He's a man like we're
a man. And he can't mean that because
he's pleading for mercy. But if you look in the margin
there, it says, one whom thou favorest. David's
one who God favored. Highly favored. chosen one, chosen
in Christ before the foundation of the world. That's why you
can say down here, I'm going to call and you're going to answer
me. I know that. You don't ignore the cries of
your people. Christ intercedes for us and
prays in God's presence for us, intercedes for our prayers. And
God hears those prayers and He answers those prayers. There's
certainty that God hears our prayers. But He set apart His
people as vessels of mercy. And He bows His ear to hear the
cries of their heart. He made an eternal covenant with
them in Christ before the world ever began. And He is personally
vested in their security. His honor is at stake. His glory
is at stake. His honor and His glory. And
then David pleads, he says, save thy servant that trusteth in
thee. Oh, what a plea. Lord, I'm trusting
you. My sole reliance is upon thee.
You're my only hope. Faith in God, hope in God, trust
in God. You've caused me to hope in you.
It's all of God. And the Scripture says, Cursed
be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm. But
blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the
Lord is. Lord, save me. Save me, the one
that trusts in You. Your Word says, I'm blessed because
I trust in the Lord, and You're my hope. David looks to God alone. trusting Him for the preservation
of his soul. He said there in verse 2, preserve
my soul. We need preserving. We need kept. And we're no match for sin. Talked about those two natures.
The nature of God shall overcome. And we're no match for the devil. We're no match for the world.
God must preserve us and keep us. or we'll fall finally and
fatally. But that's not possible if we're
one of his. There's certainty. I can rest. I don't have to battle the devil. He fights for me. And the outcome's
already established. Your warfare's accomplished,
it says over there in Isaiah 40, is it? Your warfare's accomplished. There's certainty in that I can
rest. I'm resting with all my ability that God gives me. Oh,
doesn't God inspire confidence? Doesn't our God inspire resting
in Him and encouraging folks to go to Him, to cry out to Him
for mercy? Oh, me. He gives me some confidence. Psalm 3740, and the Lord shall
help them and deliver them. He shall deliver them from the
wicked and save them because they trust in Him. And God gives
us that faith. But that faith He gives us trusting. That's what faith is. Believe
in Him. And Dirk Smith reminded me Sunday
night, I forgot what Scott used to say, it's never a presumption
to believe God. Believe God with all your heart
and all that you are. Believing. Trusting. They that trust in Him shall
be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abideth forever. There's certainty. There's rest.
Eternal certainty. And in verse 4, rejoice the soul
of thy servant. I said a little bit ago, There's no lasting joy in this
life. What heart rejoicing can only
be given by God. He must give us a rejoicing heart. And boy, once He does, there's
nothing like it. In the midst of all that goes
on around us, in turmoil and trouble and trial, we can be
rejoicing in the midst of all that. We can be on our deathbed,
saying goodbye to those we love, and all the things we love, and
rejoicing. Whoa! I want to be rejoicing
when that time comes. When He tears down this fleshly
tabernacle, this fleshly life is taken away, I want to be rejoicing. And we can, and we will. if we're
resting in Him. Oh, me. Isn't this a good psalm? And then how sweet are these
words? Verse 5. Oh, this is sweet. The Lord is
good and ready to forgive. He's ready to forgive. He stands
ready to forgive all sin to all who come to Him through His blessed
Son. And He waits to be gracious.
He delights to show mercy. I think He's not slow to forgive. I think that's noteworthy. Scripture says He's slow to anger.
He's not slow to forgive. He's ready to forgive. And our sin deserves swift, righteous
wrath. But God holds it back, doesn't
He? God holds back wrath, because
if He didn't, the wrath of God would fall on us right now. Whether
we're in Christ or out of Christ, He's holding back His wrath.
He'll hold it back. He placed it on His Son for His
people. And he provides space to repent
for those that are yet to come into the fold and holds back
his wrath. Ready to forgive. There is a
day appointed that the wicked shall be cut off, but God now,
today, he's ready to forgive. What another great encouragement
to come to him if you need mercy and forgiveness. Our God's ready
to forgive. He's the Father of mercies, Scripture
says, and He's plenteous in mercy. You know, there's so much here
and in this Scripture and throughout all of Scripture to encourage
sinners to come to God in Christ and find in Him all you need
for time and eternity. And Job said this, he said, though
He slay me, yet I will trust Him. And God slew Job, didn't
He? God turned the devil loose on
him. He said, but I'm going to trust
Him. I must trust Him. I can trust Him. Even though
He's now slaving me, dealing with me and chastising me, whatever
He's doing in my life, I'm going to trust Him. And look down there in verse
6, He says, Give ear, O Lord, unto my prayer, and attend to
the voice of my supplications. In the day of my trouble, I will
call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me." We're not on a fool's
errand. We're not crying out to a God
who will not hear us, who turns a deaf ear. You know, why would
we expect anything less from God If any of us had a promise
from a friend that upon sending them a note, he would give you
such and such a thing. If you sent the request and he
fulfilled his promise, somebody you know, would you say, I'm
greatly surprised that he answered my request. So why would we be
surprised if God would answer the cries of his people? And
we say to God, do as thou hast said. David said, in the day
of my trouble, I'll call upon thee, for thou wilt answer me.
He said as much in his word. We read that in Isaiah 41. But
God's goodness to man is only by and through Christ, the blessed
substitute, who took away the enmity between God and man, whereby
mercy and grace is given unto man and bestowed upon us. And
through Christ our substitute, we're given access to that throne
of grace where God hears our cries and Christ intercedes on
our behalf. And we dare not approach God
but through Christ. God won't even look at our direction
because of our sin. We must have our substitute intercede
for us and we must come to God through Christ. And he'll hear
us for Christ's sake. because he loves his son. He
loves those that are in his son. God, through Christ, can, in
righteousness, commune in fellowship with you and can hear your cries
and consider us because of his son. And he can dispense mercy
and forgiveness. He can righteously and justly
bow down and hear the cries of his people, sinful though they
be, yet perfect and complete in Christ, and accessed to the
throne of grace by and through the blood of Jesus Christ. Ah, whither could we flee for
aid when tempted, desolate, dismayed, or how the host of hell-defeat
had suffering saints no mercy seat. And then, last of all, Have you ever been in a place
that you come to the realization that there's nothing I can do
for myself, there's nothing I can do to improve my condition, there's
nothing I can do to deliver myself, that if I'm to be delivered,
if I'm to have anything, it's solely dependent upon mercy?
and having some realization of what mercy is. I cannot draw
it out of someone. I cannot draw it from God. I
cannot cause God to show me mercy. He must have already chosen me
in Christ for the foundation of the world, outside of myself,
outside of my existence, outside of time. He must have already
done something for me or there's no hope for me. That's the truth. And just to bow down and say,
here I am. You've set my bounds. You brought
me into this world. You've appointed a time of my
departure. And if I'm to go to be with you, you're going to
have to bring me. I can't make you bring me. I
can't do anything. All I can do is fall down. Here
I am. and cry for mercy. And here's what had to take place. I hope I'm not being too long,
but Aaron gave a good illustration Sunday, too. I want to bring
our thoughts back to that for a minute. God the Father chose
those who hate Him and said, punish my son, kill my son, shed
his blood, drive nails through his hands and his feet, spit
in his face, push a crown of thorns down on his head, stab
him with a spear, mocking, rail on him, accusing, and killing. so that these that hate me go
free. You see, salvation is not just a flippant decision like
we would do. Well, I'm just going to overlook
some folks that are trying their best. Or I just feel like I'm
going to overlook some folks. This came at a great cost. And
it came with the purpose of God, the love of God, And we was talking
about this Sunday night, this love of God that would move him
to give his son for those who hate him. That's a love that
we know nothing about. That's divine love. No cause
in those that are the recipients of that love. We don't know anything
about it. That's what had to take place.
And that's my only hope, that God did that for me. And I can't
say, God, you got to do that for me. No, he doesn't. I pray that he did. And bless
his name, I believe he did. Because he didn't leave me to
myself. And I pray this prayer. I don't
know if I pray it every day. I hope I do. But it speaks what
my heart is trying to express. And I heard Paul Mahan say this.
It kind of made me ashamed. And I've said this to some of
you. We'll hear a good message, like a gospel message, and I'll
just say, oh, that was just too good to be true. Paul said, that's
not right. It's just true. It's not too
good to be true. I mean, we're talking about God's
salvation. So the next time if you hear
me say that again, Dirk, you can slap me, all right? I just
felt bad about that. It can't be too good. We're talking
about God. It's true. This is true. What a blessed
hope we have. We can rest. There's certainty. And when there's eternal certainty,
we can rest. And rest eternally. We'll just be dismissed. I might
have went too long. Hope I didn't wear you out. Good
night. We'll see you Sunday morning.