Psalm 20, the Lord hear thee
in the day of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob
defend thee. Send thee help from the sanctuary. Strengthen thee out of Zion.
Remember all thy burnt offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifice. Grant thee according to thy own
heart and fulfill all thy counsel. We will rejoice in thy salvation. In the name of our God, we will
set up our banners. The Lord fulfill all thy petitions. Now know I that the Lord saveth
his anointed. He will hear him from his holy
heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust
in chariots, some in horses, but we will remember the name
of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen,
but we are risen and stand upright. Save, Lord, let the King hear
us when we call. I've titled my subject this evening,
this twentieth Psalm, Prayer and Confidence. Prayer and Confidence. David
starts out here praying. The Lord hear thee. And all of God's people pray.
It's as natural for a child of God to pray as it is for a soul,
for a man to breathe. It's just as natural for him
to call on God, to look to God, to seek the Lord, as it is for
a man to breathe. It's just natural to him. That's
part of our spiritual life, just calling on God continually. And
in fact, prayer is the very breath of a regenerated soul. When a
man gets regenerated, he begins calling on the Lord. He begins
looking to Christ. He begins praying. He begins
seeking. And it's good. It's really good
when we pray for ourselves. But, boy, it is gracious. It's
so gracious when we pray for others, to pray for other people.
Intercessory prayer. Intercessory. Interceding for
somebody else. Oh, what a blessed privilege
God gives us to do that. And he gives us this privilege
to call upon our God on the behalf of others. Other people in need. Todd and Lynn need prayer. Lynn
is in very bad condition. Very sick woman. She's had a
bad few days. And there's always somebody in
need. George was telling me that doctors
told her when she was a specialist shift, they said, don't do a
thing, don't drive, don't do nothing, don't exert yourself.
So see, it's our what a privilege to be able to take these saints
before the throne of God. Lord, thy servant, your children,
whom you love, sick. So it's a what a privilege to
go to God on the behalf of other people. And it's to follow our
Lord's example when He said this, when they was even crucifying
Him, nailed to that tree, He looked down on them, looked down
on all those people, crying, crucifying, mocking Him, deriding
Him. And He says, Father, the one
of His Christ from the cross, Father, forgive them, forgive
them, forgive them. And that's to follow our Master's
example. And I'll tell you, when someone offends you, or you may
have a hard feeling towards someone, pray for them. Pray for them. It's awful hard to stay angry
or feel bad at somebody when you're praying for them, ain't
it? When you start praying for somebody, them feelings go away. That's what our Lord says, you
know. You have heard it said, you shall love your neighbor
and hate your enemies. He said, I'll tell you. Love
your enemies and pray for them that despitefully use you. Bless
them that curse you. And if you do that, that's what
our Master did. Stephen, when he was being stoned
to death in Acts 7, when they stoned him to death, when he
preached his message there, you know what he said? He saw the
Lord Jesus standing up to receive him into glory. He said, Father,
or Lord Jesus, Lay not this sin to the charge, which is the very
example of His Father. Lay not this sin. Forgive them
of this sin. Forgive them. And a powerful
incentive to intercede in prayers for others, I tell you, a powerful
incentive that God gives us is when we have a satisfied and
a thankful heart. If God satisfies us, satisfies
us with the things of this life, satisfies us with a heart of
peace and comfort and assurance, and a very thankful heart. It's
easy, and that's what an incentive to pray for others. And David
gives us here an example of intercessory prayer. Here the psalmist makes
seven, seven requests, asks for a sevenfold blessing which God
is able to bestow, which God's able to give. And look at the
first one. We'll go down through here. We'll hear seven requests.
And David makes, David makes, the Lord hear thee. The Lord
hear thee in the day of trouble. You see, the Lord hear you. When
you're in trouble, His arm is not short, neither is His ear
heavy. He can hear us, and He does hear
us. John says, we know that the Lord
heareth us. if we ask anything according
to His will. And look over here in Psalm 40,
just a moment. You know, for God to bend down,
and I talk about this all the time, for God to bend down and
hear you like a mother would a child. You know, every once
in a while you'll hear a timid child or a child that can't speak
very loud, and you get down, what are you saying? What are
you saying? And you get down real, real close to hear what
they're saying. Well, David says this, I waited patiently for
the Lord. He inclined unto me. I waited and waited and waited.
And he heard, he inclined unto me and heard my cry. Now, this
is the trouble we get in. He brought me up, and I flew
out of a horrible pit, out of a miry plain, set my feet upon
a rock, and established my going. And David began to be in trouble
and felt like he was in that pit and he's stuck and he can't
get himself out. Gary was talking last winter
about he's walking through the mud and that, trying to feed
cows. And the boots just pulled right off of his feet in that
old sticky mud. Just walked right out of it. And that's why David
says, Lord, hear me. And he just waited and waited
and waited. And in God's time, he rushed
down and picked him up out of a horrible pit. And you know,
for God to bend down and hear you like a mother would a child.
And I'll tell you something else about mothers. Mothers know the
difference in how a child cries. If they're just crying because
they're hungry, crying because they are spoiled, or if they
cry because they're hurt, you can tell the difference just
that quick. When they're hurt, there's a different sound to
them. If they're just whining around and crying around and
spoiled, You know you don't pay much attention to them. But boy,
whenever they get hurt, boy, you're right there. You know
that's a different sound. What happened? What happened? And
that's the way God is. The Lord hear thee in the day
of trouble. The Lord hear thee. Then look
what He said in verse 1 again. The name of the God of Jacob
defend thee. To be defended by the name of
the God of Jacob? There's two people's names here. The name of God. God's character. The name of the God of Jacob
defeats you. Now, the way that God did for
Jacob tells us about God and tells us about Jacob. And he
says the name of the God of Jacob defeats you. Jacob was a supplanter. but he was a covenant child of
God. Jacob was a deceiver, but he was one of God's elect. Jacob
was a conniver, but he was one of God's. And God one day, because
of God and His sovereign mercy, because of His blessed grace
and because of His covenant, one night He laid a hold on Jacob.
And may the God of Jacob defend you, He laid a hold on Jacob.
And he changed Jacob's character, he changed Jacob's name, he changed
Jacob's walk. And from then on, God said he
called himself the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The God of
covenant, the God of grace, the God of election, the God of mercy,
the God of essential calling, the God of regeneration, the
God who does for you that nobody else can do for you. And that's
the God, He said, defend you. If He'll defend somebody like
Jacob, surely, surely, since we're all sons of Jacob, since
we're all Jacobs, don't you reckon He'll defend us? Oh, He says,
He says, because you're the sons of Jacob, and I am God, because
I'm God and I change not, therefore you're sons of Jacob, you're
not conservants. Oh, he is the God of promise.
He promised Jacob that I'll be with you. He's the God of faithfulness. Oh, he blessed Jacob all the
days of his life, gave him twelve sons. And Jacob had power with
God and prevailed. He said, the Lord defends you.
Oh, if God defends you, what else does it make of what anybody
says or does to you? A dear, dear, dear preacher friend
of mine the other day, some folks got to talking about Brother
Henry. He said, you can say all you
want to about me, and they're saying the same thing about him.
He said, say all you want to about me. But now, when you get
on Brother Henry, you done got on a sore spot. He said, you
know, he said, I ain't going to defend me, but I'll sure defend
him. And they was accusing him of the same thing. The Lord defends
you. He says, if God don't defend
me, I don't need defending. Ain't that right? God defends
you. Then look what he says there
in verse 2. The Lord help thee. The Lord
send thee help. Where do you want Him to send
you help from? From the sanctuary. Where's the sanctuary? That's
where God dwells. That's His dwelling place. that
sanctuary, that place of the mercy seat, that place of the
offering, that place of the sacrifice, that place where the high priest
went in behind and God dwelt between the cherubims, the Lord
sent thee help from the sanctuary. Psalm 84 says this, and now you
don't have to look at it. He said, How amiable are thy
tabernacles, O Lord, that even the sparrows Even the sparrows
find a home there. Even the sparrows find comfort
there. Even a little sparrow enjoys
himself sitting at the tabernacle. making his nest in the tabernacle.
And he says, the Lord helped thee. Send thee help from the
sanctuary. From that place of rest, that
place of holiness, that place of righteousness, that place
where he dwells, that place where he accepts sacrifices, that place
where the mercy seen is. Oh God, send your help out of
the sanctuary. Oh, that's three things he's
asked for. Look what the fourth thing is that he asked for. Oh,
I love this right here. Send thee help from the sanctuary
and strengthen thee out of Zion. You know what Zion is in the
Scriptures? Zion is the church. Zion is the church. God dwells
in Zion. Zion's the place where God dwells. And this Zion, Mount Zion, the
city of Zion, The Lord strengthened thee out of his church. The Lord
strengthened thee out of his body. You see, we're one in Christ. And here's the truth of the matter,
and we know it, and we learn it more all the time. If one
member suffers, all suffer. When one's hurt, they're all
hurt. And the deeper the trouble, the
harder the times, the more I want to go and dwell with Zion. The
more I want to be with the children of God, to meet with the people
of God. And this is where we get help.
I never have understood people that when they get in trouble,
they start having burdens to absent themselves from the worship.
This is the place where we get our strength. This is the place
where we get our food. This is the place where God gives
us comfort. This is the place that God gives
us our abilities and our graces and strength to go on and face
another few days. And you know, the deeper the
trouble, the more you want to be with the Lord's people, the
more you need to be with the Lord's people. And God said the
Lord strengthened thee out of Zion. How much strength have
we gotten out of Zion? How much strength have we gotten
out of meeting with the saints of God, meeting with the Lord's
people? I said, Todd's going to have a meeting November 22nd,
and I'll tell you some of the people that's going to be there.
Don Fortner, Greg Amquist, Joe Terrell, Paul Mahan, somebody else, and then me. But
I said, if the Lord will, and if I can stay over until Sunday,
I'll preach first, and boy, then I'll get to hear Six more, seven
more messages. Oh, my. I'm looking forward to
hearing somebody preach to me for seven times. Seven times!
Oh, my goodness. How can you stand that much preaching?
Man, that ain't a drop in the bucket to what I mean. Oh, to
hear those men preach? Oh, to feed me, to feed me, I'll
go there and dwell in Zion, sit down there with the children
of God, and the strength that God will give me out of Zion
as those men begin to preach. I'll come back here the next
Sunday and I'll be about that high off the floor. You think
I've ever preached before? I'll really be preaching then. Go get fed and strengthened.
Oh, my. Oh, the Lord strengthened me
out of Zion. And then look what else he said here in verse 3.
Here's another request. The Lord remember thee. There
in verse 3. The Lord remember thee and all
thy offerings. The Lord remember thee. Now what
kind of offerings do we have? What kind of offerings do we
make? You know, I want you to look with me over in Matthew
25. Offerings. The Lord remember
thee. In Matthew 25. You know, the scriptures tell
us often about the sacrifices. Paul, Peter says that we offer
spiritual sacrifices acceptable unto God by Jesus Christ. Our Lord said, if you give a
cup of cold water to a disciple in the name of a disciple, just
give a cup of cold water. Absolutely, that's the least
you could do is just give a cup of cold water. And the Lord says
you won't lose your reward. Now what reward would it be?
I don't know. It would be some kind of a blessing
you would get here. So because our Lord said whatever
you do to Me, you do to all My people. And look what He said
here in Matthew 25 in verse 34. The Lord remember thee. Then shall the king say unto
them on his right hand, You, blessed of my Father, inherit
the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
For I was hungry, and you gave me meat. I was thirsty, and you
gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took
me in. Naked, and you clothed me. I
was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came
unto me. Then shall the righteous answer
him and say, Lord, This is the thing about the difference between
a hypocrite and a child of God. Somebody they want to talk about
what they do, and the believer don't even know if he's ever
done anything worth mentioning. Then shall the righteous answer
him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry? When did we feed
you? When did we see you thirsty?
When did we give you to drink? When did we see you a stranger?
When did we take you in? When were you naked? Or when
were you clothed? Or when were you sick? Or when
you was in prison? And when we came unto you? And
listen to this, And the king shall answer and say unto them,
Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as you've done it unto one of
the least of these my brethren, you've done it unto me. My, my. You think the Lord don't take
notice of His people? and how you treat them and what
you do for them. Oh, my, and you say, a stranger? How many
times have I went somewhere to preach? First time I've gone
there, as far as I was concerned, only the preacher knew me, and
everybody else was a stranger to me. Took me right in. Took
care of all of my needs. Look with me in Hebrews chapter
6. I want you to see these things. To treat the Lord's people, to
do for the Lord's people. And I have been around so many
people, and you folks are one of them. The things you do for
one another and the way you wait on one another. Oh boy, Hebrews 6.10, For God is not unrighteous to
forget your work and labor of love which you have shewed toward
His name. Now listen to this. That you
minister to the saints, and do minister. Again, when you've
done it in my name, you've done it for me. You've done it for
me. I want to show you one more in Philippians chapter 4, verse
18. I want to show you one more in
Philippians. You know, Paul told the Colossians, or the Galatians, Well, well, boy, I tell you,
I'm having a time for it. Here we go. Here we go. Philippians
4.18. Oh, the Lord remember thee, and
thou thy offerings. Look in verse 18. But I have
all, and the martyr said, I have received all. I have all, and
abound. I am full, having received of
every the things which were sent from you." Now listen to how
he describes them. The things they sent to Paul
to minister to his needs. An odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice
acceptable, well-pleasing to God. They may have sent him some clothes,
may have sent him some food, may have sent him some money,
may have sent him some books, but whatever it was, Paul said it's
an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable to God. So the Lord
remember thee. The Lord remember thee. Then
back over here in Psalm 20. Let me show you. Here's the sixth
thing. The Lord remember thee. The Lord
hear thee. The Lord defend thee. The Lord
send you help. The Lord strengthen thee. The
Lord remember thee. And then watch what he says here.
The Lord supply thee. There in verse four. Grant thee
according to thine own heart. Grant thee according to thine
own heart. Whatever your heart's desire, what it is that's in
your heart that you're asking for, whatever it is in your heart,
the Lord grant it to you. The Lord grant it to you. You
know, the desire, and whatever's in a man's heart, to call on
God for, that from the heart. John Bunyan said, your heart,
it's better to have heart without words than words without heart.
And boy, when it comes from the heart, when it comes from that
very depth of your being, and you call in your heart, he may
even say to you, the Lord grant thee what's in your heart. What is in your heart? What's
the desire of your heart? What is in your heart to get
from God? What is in your heart? That's
what David said. Whatever your heart's, you're
crying out for, whatever you want, whatever you need, the
Lord grant it to you. He says that the Lord hears the
grimping, the desires of thy heart. And what is the desires
of the righteous? We're righteous people. What
is our desires? What is the desires of our heart?
I have many desires in my heart. I thought about this today. What
does my heart desire? First and foremost, right now,
and I'll be as honest as I know how, I desire God and His strength,
and I desire more time on this earth with my wife. I desire
just a few more days, just a little more time. Thank God for the
time, but just a little more, just a little more. Is that a
wrong desire? The Lord loves her. The Lord's
going to take her at His time. But I sure would like to have
a few days. I've had a wonderful few days. But oh, the desire of my heart.
I thought at that time, I said, Lord, I've got to be honest.
Would You give us a few more good days? Good days. And you know I believe the Lord
will I just asked for a spring this time last year. Just asked,
Lord, let's have spring together. Then He gave us the summer. Here
we are another fall. But Lord, just give us a little
more. That's what I want. That's the desire of my heart.
And I desire to be able to continue preaching the gospel, but right
now, that's my number one desire. And for her to suffer as little
as God will allow. That's selfish? I hope it ain't. But God knows, that's my desire
tonight. All right, let's look here at
verse 5. The Lord supplied thee, grant thee thy hearts, and fulfill,
at least look what he says. And didn't the Lord fulfill all
thy counsel? There in verse 5, down in the
last part of verse 5, look what he says. The Lord fulfilled all
thy petitions. The Lord fulfilled all thy petitions. We start out, we finish up where
we started. He said, Lord, hear me. Then
he says, the Lord, whatever you ask him for, we'll hear. Let
him fulfill your petitions. You're petitioning for something.
Whatever your petitions are, may he fulfill them. Not only
hear you, but grant your request. to His glory and for your good,
the Lord, the Lord fulfill all your petitions. The Lord, whatever
you ask Him, whatever petitions you pray, the Lord do. We petitioning
for our children, petitioning for our grandchildren, petitioning
for the Lantana Grace Church, petitioning for individuals,
and the Lord fulfill your petitions. And then look at this confidence
that this psalmist talks about. You know, prayer begets confidence.
When you pray, and you pray from your heart, and you ask the Lord
to hear you, look what it begets, confidence. Look at the confidence
it begets in us. He said in verse five, confidence
in the salvation of God. We will rejoice in thy salvation.
And in the name of our God, we will rejoice in this. It gives
us confidence in the salvation of our God. You know, when you
pray, He gives you confidence. We rejoice. He says, we will
rejoice in thy salvation. Well, what else are we going
to... This is the only salvation there is to have any confidence
in. Free will salvation, you can't have any confidence in.
Word salvation, you can't have any confidence in. We've got
to have a salvation like Jonah said. The salvation is of the
Lord. We've got to have that salvation
that says the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord. And
it's a salvation worth rejoicing in because of who gave it to
us, who gave it to us, the greatness of it, because it is of grace,
because it costs God, His blessed Son, and the blood of His Son.
We rejoice in it because of its fullness. I mean, it's a full
salvation. It's complete salvation. It's
a perfect salvation. And it's free, free, free to
us. God never Has or ever will require
anything from us in our salvation. We render unto Him praise, we
bless His holy name, we call on Him, we want to honor and
glorify Him, but we can never, ever pay for one iota of the
salvation that God give us. And that's why we rejoice in
the salvation Then look what he said here. We have an example. We have confidence in the salvation
of God. And we have confidence in the
cause of God. Look what he says there again
in verse 5. We will rejoice in thy salvation
in the name of our God. We'll set up our banners. We'll
set up our banners. Everybody knows what a banner
is. A neighborhood, you know, people,
they'll have a banner out for Tennessee on Saturday and a banner
out for Michigan, a banner from, you know, have all these different
banners out and the flag. We all fire flags. But I'll tell
you, God gave us a banner to fly. Look over here in Psalm
60 with me just a minute. We got a banner to fly. Oh, what
a banner we've got to fly. It's the banner of truth. We
fly the banner of truth. There's a magazine called that,
a publishing company called Banner of Truth. But oh, look what he said here
in Psalm 60 and verse 4. Thou hast given a banner to them
that fear thee, that it may be disclaimed because of thy truth. A banner of truth? Paul said,
I'll give you a banner, and it's a banner of truth. It's a flag. I'll give you this banner, and
I'll tell you this banner of truth. We fly a banner of victory. We fly a banner that's because
of the blood and righteousness of Christ. We fly the banner
of sovereign mercy. We fly the banner of the cross. We fly the banner of accomplished
salvation. We fly the banner that honors
our Lord Jesus Christ, the banner of truth. Why you got that banner
of prayer for? That's the banner of truth. We're
going to tell the truth. We're going to manifest the truth.
We're going to be honest with men and women because of the
banner that God gave us. Let me show you another thing
we have. We have confidence in the salvation of God. Confidence
in the cause. We're going to fly His banner.
And look what else is said here. Oh, we have confidence in the
faithfulness of God. Look in verse 6. Now I know. Now I know. Oh, my. David, you surely don't
know anything for sure, do you? Now I know that the Lord Savior
is anointed. I know. Why? Because He has saved me. How
do you know He saves His anointed? He has. How do you know He saves? He has. How do you know He saves
David? He does. How do you know David? He will. He has saved us. He will save us. And He does
save us. Salvation in three tenths. And
one of these days, and Paul said our salvation is nearer than
when we believed. And all the things that He saves
us from, I know the Lord saves you as anointed. He saves us
from self. Oh, from self. Self-pity, self-confidence, self-righteousness,
love of self. Saves us from sin. Oh, how many
times. Saves us from temptation. Saves
us from troubles. And I'm going to say something.
You know, He has saved us more than we can possibly ever know. He has saved us more than you
and I can ever possibly know. How many times has He went before
us? How many times? When Israel got
to the Red Sea, they had no idea that God was going to save them
by parting the Red Sea. They said, this is the end of
the road, Moses. Why in the world did you bring us here for? We're
all going to be killed now. No, no, you ain't even close
to it. They didn't have any idea that that's what God's going
to do. And his disciples walked with
him for three years and had no idea exactly what was going to
happen when he went to Jerusalem to be crucified. They said, Oh,
Lord, be it far from this. And one day they got sad about
it. And then when it happened, they were astonished and run
and give for fear. But David says, Now I know. Peter said, Lord, is that you?
Is that you? That's what we often say. Lord,
is that you? Call me, and I'll walk on the
water. Old Simon Peter stepped out and started walking. And
when the troubles came, he said, Lord, save me out there. And
that's the way sometimes we walk on water, and sometimes we're
sinking below it. But the Lord saves his anointed.
Saves his anointed. And oh, look here, in the name
of God, verse 7. We have confidence in the faithfulness
of God, the salvation of God, the cause of God, His banner.
And look here, some trust in chariots and some in horses.
And this is talking about going into battle. So some trust in
the chariots. Get these big, strong, stout
chariots Got these great, big, strong horses, pulled them, and
riding into battle in these horses. Said, let them trust in their
cherished love and trust that we're going to remember the name
of our Lord. That's what we're going to do.
We're going to remember the name of our God. And you know, His
name is His revealed character. Look in Exodus 3 with me just
a moment. Exodus 3. His name is His revealed
character. All is in the name. All is in the name. Our Lord
said, you know, God said there's no other name whereby a man must
be saved. He's got a name above every name.
Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
But look what he said here in Exodus 3 in verse 13. Moses said unto God, Behold,
when I come unto the children of Israel, and shall say unto
them, The God of your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the
God of your fathers, Abraham, has sent me unto you. And they
shall say to me, What is his name? What shall I say unto them? And God said unto Moses, I am
that I am. I'm the self-existent, eternal,
I always have been, I am, always been, and always will be. I am. Tomorrow I'll be I am. I was
I am before he asked me. I'll be I am after the world,
and I'll still be the great I am. And he said, Thus shalt thou
say unto the children of Israel, I am. Sit me under you. I am. I am. And then last of
all, let me show you something where you have confidence in
the power of God. Look what he said in verse eight. They are brought down and fallen, those people that trust in horses
and in chariots. But look what he says, but we
are risen and stand upright. You know, that man that exalts
himself, he will always be brought down. But that man who humbles
himself, God said he'll raise him up. He'll be risen up. God giveth grace. Resist the
proud and giveth grace unto the humble. So, beloved, in light
of this psalm, our petition, seven full requests, five different
confidences. Hold fast the beginning of your
confidence, fast unto the end. Amen. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, thank You for allowing us to be here tonight.
Thank You for Your abundant mercy and grace given us in Christ.
God bless these dear saints as they go home, go to their jobs,
give them a good night's rest. Give them peace of heart, comfort
of mind, assurance. Meet their needs. Meet the needs
of their homes, their children. Lord, You're able. You're able. And we believe You're able. God
bless. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen.