He says, O God, why hast thou
cast us off forever? Why doth thine anger smoke against
the sheep of thy pasture? Remember thy congregation which
thou hast purchased of old, the rod of thine inheritance which
thou hast redeemed, this Mount Zion wherein thou hast dwelt.
Lift up thy feet unto perpetual desolations, even all that the
enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. Thine enemies roar
in the midst of thy congregations. They set up their ensigns for
signs. A man was famous, according as
he had lifted up axes upon the thick trees. But now they break
down the carved work thereof at once with axes and hammers.
They have cast fire into thy sanctuary. They have defiled
by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. They said in their hearts, let
us destroy them together. They have burned up all the synagogues
of God in the land. We see not our signs. There is
no more any prophet. Neither is there among us any
that knoweth how long. O God, how long shall the adversary
reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy
name forever? Why withdrawest thou thy hand,
even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy bosom. For
God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the
earth. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength. Thou breakest
the heads of the dragons in the waters. Thou breakest the heads
of Leviathan in pieces, and gavest him to be meat to the people
inhabiting the wilderness. Thou didst cleave the fountain
and the flood, Thou driest up many mighty rivers. The day is
Thine, the night also is Thine, Thou hast prepared the light
and the sun. Thou hast set all the borders
of the earth. Thou hast made summer and winter.
Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and
that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. O deliver
not the soul of thy turtle dove unto the multitude of the wicked.
Forget not the congregation of thy poor forever. Have respect
unto the covenant, for the dark places of the earth are full
of the habitations of cruelty. Oh, let not the oppressed return
to shame. Let the poor and needy praise
thy name. Arise, O God, plead thine own
cause. Remember how the foolish man
daily reproaches thee daily. Forget not the voice of thine
enemies, the tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth
continually. Now, the psalmist here is speaking
forth out of the consideration that men often find themselves
in, especially those that have cast their care upon the Lord.
Because a lot of times it does not seem like that the Lord is
listening to us. you know the man that says god
always hears and answers his prayers uh... is not acquainted
with what the answer to prayer is or he's not acquainted with
god or he's not acquainted with himself because it is often true
that the lord does not answer our prayers as we would like
to see them answered now the lord heareth our prayers he can
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities He just does
not always come to our aid at the moment that we would desire
for Him to come. But He always is there, and He's
always watching over us. When He was asleep in the vessel
that the disciples were crossing the Sea of Galilee in, He was
as much concerned in His sleep as He was when they awoke Him.
He said, what are you fearful for? Why are you afraid? Because you see, the Lord is
the shepherd of His sheep. But He is not always, because
of the nature that we have, the needs that we have, He does not
always quickly come to our aid. When a baby cries, We do not always just immediately
go to see about them. Now, when they cry enough, you
know a mother, they know when a baby is just crying to be crying
and they know when a baby needs to be picked up and held. And the Lord knows that. He's
not going to cast off His people forever, but He is going to tenderly
deal with His people as they need to be tenderly dealt with. Sometimes we don't need to be
tenderly dealt with. We need to be kicked in the seat
of the britches. And the Lord knows when we need that, and
He knows when we need to be comforted. And so many times, we'd like
to be comforted always, wouldn't we? I mean, you know, when our
kids, when they were growing up and they would come to us
and they'd have this complaint or that and somebody wasn't treating
them fair or this, that or the other, many times we had to tell
them, look, you know, that's just the way that it is. And
you have to learn to deal with that. But the Lord is kind in
all of His ways, but it does seem as though, and the psalmist
says, why hast thou cast us off forever? Why doth thine anger
smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? Why is it that it seems
like sometimes you don't hear our prayers? Why is that? That's
a legitimate question, is it not? Remember thy congregation
which thou hast purchased of old. Now what does that stir
up the people of God to do? See, when a man has no faith
in God, he asks God for something, God doesn't get it, and he turns
aside and he says, I don't have nothing to do with Him, He doesn't
ever do anything for me anyway. But you see, the children of
God, they don't have anywhere else to go. The children of God
are moved by the Spirit of God with the gift of faith. Now the
gift of faith does not always mean that a person gets what
they ask for. But it always means that they
know the one to whom they are calling. And they will call upon
Him, My sheep hear My voice, I know them and they follow Me. And the sons of God don't have
any other one to whom they will make their complaint but unto
the Lord. because they know He is the only
one that can hear them. He is the only one that will
hear them. Remember thy congregation, the people of old. Now isn't
that the place where we come, Lord? Help us. Are we not the
sheep of thy pasture? I mean, He says here, Remember
thy congregation. Now look at this, which thou
hast purchased of old. Thou hast purchased of old. You
know over in the book of the Revelation it speaks of those
whose names were written in the Lamb's Book of Life, the Lamb
which was slain from the foundation of the world. Now there's two
ways in which we can understand that verse. One is that in the
purpose of God, He is indeed that Lamb which was slain from
the foundation of the world. God created the world with redemption
in mind. He didn't create, He didn't redeem
as a result of anything that happened. Some people think that
He created the world and then He had to decide what He was
going to do after the fact, after things happened. No, God had
ordained the Savior of centers before there was ever a center.
Because He purchased His people from of old. Those that were
written in that book of the lamb slain from the foundation of
the world. It was written before time. The Lord has purchased
His people and these are those who call upon His name. These
are those who seek Him. How can a man know if he is one
of the elect of God? if He is one of those that calls
upon His name. If He is one of those who has
no others to whom He can turn, who has no desire to turn to
any other. He is not looking for help from
men, He is looking for help from God. And to Him He cries night
and day. Remember thy congregation which
thou hast redeemed." He bought His people with His own blood. He purchased them. They belonged
to Him. See, the Lord has a people. Those
are those for whom He prayed in the garden. And He prayed,
Father, I pray for them which Thou hast given Me out of the
world. Thine they were and Thou hast
given them to Me. I pray not for the world. but
for those whom Thou hast given Me, those that belong to Me.
And these are those of whom the psalmist speaks, those who are
Thine inheritance, which Thou hast redeemed, this Mount Zion
wherein Thou hast dwelt. The Lord has always had a purpose
to dwell with His people, and they've always been the apple
of His eye, and He loves them with an everlasting love, and
He draws them unto Himself, and they call upon His name. And
He manifests His love to them. And He shows them that Christ
is the Savior of sinners. And it is to Him that they flee. For the Lord did say, as I said
a moment ago, My sheep hear My voice. I know them and they follow
Me. That's what Peter said on the
day of Pentecost. He said, This promise is given
unto you to as many as the Lord our God shall call. And the Lord's
calling His children at the present time. He calls. He says, Come
unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give
you rest. And you know what? They come. And they call upon His name.
And they fall at His feet and they worship Him. And they say,
O God, be merciful to me, a sinner. Yes, He is the Savior of sinners.
And He has indeed purpose to save His people. This isn't a
happenstance thing. God's not waiting to see what
you're going to do. He's not giving you a chance
to do anything. God in mercy is saving His people. Do you call upon Him? Do you
love Him? Do you love His way? Do you say,
Help me. What must I do to be saved? Lift up thy feet unto the perpetual
desolations, even all that the enemy hath done wickedly. Look
on these things that take place. See, God's people are concerned
with the wickedness that is in the world because they know that
the wickedness that is in the world will be in their heart
and is in their heart apart from the grace of God to restrain
them. I mean, Lot lived in the town of Sodom, an awful place
to be, but the Scripture says that he was vexed in his soul
for the wickedness of Sodom. And you know, all of the religious men can say, well,
Lot should have moved away from Sodom. Well, maybe he should
have. I don't know, but that's where he was. The Lord said he
didn't take people out of the world, his children out of the
world, but he would deliver them in the world because we're not
of the world. This world is not our home. We
are indeed vexed with the ways of this world. Thine enemies
roar in the midst of thy congregations. They set up their ensigns for
signs. A lot of people think, well, the devil is down there
in the ballroom. And well, maybe he might have
sent some of his demons down there to deal with that. But
the devil is not in the ballroom. The devil is in the church. Because
you see, he would try to destroy the people of God. I mean, he's
already got those that's running after the ways of the world.
They already belong to him. So what's he not worried about
them? But he would destroy the work of God. And this is what
the psalmist is speaking of here. Thine enemies roar in the midst
of thy congregations. They are deceivers that are sent
out among God's people. Satan has transformed himself
into an angel of light that he might deceive men. That is his
purpose. And he will go forth. And dear
brethren, the greatest of errors are those that appear to be closest
to the truth. And we live in a day and age
when error is around us on every side. And men would exalt the
free will of men to a point where it's worshipped. There's men
that will get fighting mad with you if you tell them that men
are not saved based on their free will, but they're based
on the sovereign mercy of the Holy God. They don't like that. Because you see, man wants to
be in control, but God's in control. And men are at the mercy of God.
He said, I'll show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and whom I
will, I'll harden. And what can a man do about that?
And you tell a man that, and they don't lie. A man doesn't
like that in the flesh. No sir, that can't be true. Why? It's up to me. No, brethren,
it's not up to us, it's up to Him. He's a God full of mercy
and kindness to all who call upon His name, but He will destroy
His enemies. And He will destroy those that
denigrate the work of Christ, that make a mockery of the Gospel. He will destroy them, and that
is our prayer, lying enemies roaring amidst the congregations.
A man was famous, according to it, lifted up axes upon the thick
trees. In other words, men had done
things, and in the work of men, the way of man, it appears to
be a good work. You know, the men got out there,
it says they chopped these trees down with their axes, but then
once they got all of that done, and it all appeared good, then
they started to chop down the way of God. Because that is the
nature of men. Men will use the same instruments
that they would praise God with to turn around and destroy God.
Or seek to destroy God. They can't do that, of course.
But upon the way of God, the work of God. Now they break down
the carved work with axes and hammers. That which the Lord
has made beautiful, they've sought to tear down. They have cast
fire into thy sanctuary. They have defiled by casting
down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. And I don't
believe that there is any greater error that has crept into the
churches in the world today than this one concept that God is
God. Men think that everything that
God does He has to run by a committee of men. In other words, He's
got the weight on men. Well, you know, you need to serve
the Lord. And God's just hoping you'll serve Him. He's hoping
you'll give Him some money. He's hoping you'll do this. He's
hoping you'll do that. And you need to be doing this,
and you need to be doing that. God doesn't need anybody. Now
in His mercy and His kindness, He's pleased to use men. And
He sends them great blessing in the giving of their time,
talent, money, or whatever unto Him. He blesses men in that,
see. See, some people, and there's
plenty of preachers, they'll tell you, if you'll send me some
money, God will bless you. Well, that's not the way it works.
God's not needing your money, and He's not going to bless you
if you send Him some money. But if He gives you a cheerful
heart, To give, that's a blessing in itself. There's the blessing. It's not in what you're going
to get because you did something. It's because of what God did
in His mercy and kindness, in showing you that mercy and kindness. What a glorious God we serve. They have cast fire into the
sanctuary. They are defiled by casting down the dwelling place
of thy name to the ground. The vast majority of people today,
unfortunately, think that God is dependent on men. And that's
not something that easily came into being because, you see,
there have been times down through the history of the Christian
church when people have declared the absolute God that the Bible
talks about. But gradually, a little bit at
a time, it's come to the place where men don't really think
of God like that. They think of Him as this great
big teddy bear type figure who wouldn't hurt a flea, and He's
just waiting for you to do something so He can turn around and open
the windows of heaven and pour out a blessing to you. And everybody's
feeling good and everything about it. But that's not the God of
the Bible. He said, I do according to my
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth. There's none that can stay my hand or say unto thee,
what doest thou? David said that the heathen,
they have gods and they can't speak. You ever heard anybody
say God has no hands but your hands? He has no mouth but your
mouth? Well, let me tell you something,
that's a lie. Our God's in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever he is pleased. He's not waiting for you to be
His mouth or you to be His feet or anything else. He's the God
of glory. And the enemies of God, they've
said, we'll destroy the synagogues of God in the land. We will tear
down the glory of God. We'll make men to be glorious. And we see that on every hand
as the the ways of man is exalted. I mean men have departed from
the foundational truths of the Word of God which in a measure
have permeated the foundation of our society in times past. But I mean it's just about almost
who would have ever thought that some of the stuff that's going
on now that's totally acceptable would have ever even been spoken
of in the light of day. Why? Because men knew what the
Word of God said about these things. And they weren't ashamed
to say God said it, and that's the way it is. But now it's,
well, you know, if it feels okay to you and you're not hurting
anybody and it's okay, then you just go on and do whatever you
do to make you happy. Now what people think, well wouldn't
God want you to be happy? Isn't that what we hear? Wouldn't
God want you to be happy? Well I don't know if He'd want
you to be happy or not. He wouldn't want you to be happy
on the road to hell. Would you want to be happy? A
lot of people are. Happiness is not a sign of anything.
but oh, the mercy of God and the glory of God. They said in
their hearts, let us destroy them together. They have burned
up all the synagogues of God in our land. We see not our signs. There is no more any prophet.
Neither is there any among us that knoweth how long, oh God,
how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme
thy name forever? Now isn't that what it seems
like sometimes? I mean, When you look around
you and you see the pathway of our society in general, and it's
going, do we not say, how much further can it go? I mean, where
is the end point here? I'm not sure where it's at. We
don't know. I mean, the Lord has, it does
seem like in many ways that the Lord has withdrawn His hand from
us. I mean, men think that these sins have brought on the judgment
of God, but the reverse of that's actually true. The judgment of
God has brought these sins upon this nation, because this nation
has forgotten God, turned its back on God, and said, we will
not have him to rule over us. Why withdrawest thou thy hand,
even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy bosom, O
God, hear us. let your right hand be made strong
before us for God is my king of all working salvation in the
midst of the earth. Now we know who it is that has
the power and we know if we belong to him
that we desire to see his power and his might made known in our
land. Oh that God might Rend the heavens
and come down. The prophet of old said, Lord,
revive thy work in the midst of the years. In the midst of
the years, make known. In wrath, remember mercy. You
know, we look at this disease thing that's going around the
earth, and of course, men are in a panic, you know, and worrying
about what's going to happen and who's going to die and all
of that kind of stuff. Well, know this one thing. that
this disease is not coming on anybody by chance. The Lord directs
every disease that's ever been in the earth, and it can't infect
anybody except those whom the Lord has ordained for it to infect. I don't know who they are. I
don't know who it'll be. I might be one of them. I might
get it, but I guarantee you this, that unless God ordains that
I get that, I won't have it. And if he ordains that I get
it, there's nothing I'm going to do to keep me from having
it. And that doesn't mean that we
don't take precautions any more than it means we don't put our
seatbelt on when we drive in the car, but we know for a fact
that nothing's going to befall us except God is pleased to bring
it to pass. Our help is in the Lord. It's
not in the government. I was listening to some people
today on the radio and they were just lamenting, oh, the government
hasn't done enough about this thing. Well, what on earth? Why
are we even concerned about what the government's going to do?
How's the government going to do anything? They don't keep
anybody from getting a disease or anything else. Vain is the
help of man. Dear brethren, our help cometh
from the Lord. And if we're going to be helped,
it's going to be from Him. Now what should we do? Well,
you know, we do what we must do, and that's call on His name.
Because you see, if the Spirit of God is in a man, he can't
do anything else but call on the Lord. He must call on the
Lord. Because he knows that's the only
help he's got. May the Lord help us. What a
glorious Savior we have in Jesus Christ. He died for sinners. And the scripture says from before
the foundation of the world He is that Savior. And He will save
His people. What a glorious thing. Are you
one of His? Do you call upon Him day and
night? Do you love His way? Do you love the brethren? See
John said by this that we know that we are His disciples because
we love the brethren. We love one another. I don't
know of any other way that it says in the scripture than that.