We are looking in Psalms and
reminded of the abundant grace of our God this day. And I can
think of no better psalm that we are given than to remember
that amazing grace. that is set forth actually in
the title of this psalm, to the chief musician, Maschkel, for
the sons of Korah. Now, we are not 100% certain
what the term Maschkel has reference to. Some have said that it has
to do with a tune. Perhaps it is, because we do
know that the psalms, the word psalm means song, So there are
no doubt musical ramifications to that, and it of course plainly
says to the chief musician. But the line says, for the sons
of Korah. Now that's amazing as that is
listed there because Korah would not go down in the annals of
the history of faithful and obedient men, because Korah was one who
led a rebellion against Moses. challenged Moses as to whether
or not he had the right to be the leader of the nation of Israel,
whether or not the Levites were indeed the tribe that God chose
to be the priests over the house of Israel. And so Moses, under
the direction of the Lord, he said, well, we are going to have
a little test here. And he said, you're going to
load up your sensors with incense and you're going to set these
things up before the Lord and we're going to test it out. We'll see who's the Lord's and
who's not. And Dathan and Abiram, who were
cohorts of Korah, They wouldn't even pay any attention to Moses. They just went off to their tent
and left, and they wouldn't come out. And they didn't want to
even have anything to do with it. They just said, this is just
a bunch of baloney. And so Moses said, you know,
if these men, he said, if the Lord is going to show something
today, that is going to be a miraculous thing that you will know for
a certainty that these men are not from God. And when that time
arose, the Scripture says that the earth opened up and swallowed
up Dathan and Abiram and all of their families, little children,
goats, calves, I mean, the whole bunch, it just swallowed them
up in the earth. And then the men that were with
Korah, he did at least take up the challenge. And these men,
they had their censers and they were going to burn incense unto
the Lord. And the Scripture says that the
Lord sent down fire from heaven and burnt a whole bunch of them
up. But then it goes on to say that he spared the sons of Korah. He didn't kill the children of
Korah. Now that's an amazing thing,
and the only thing that I can see why the Lord gave us that
is to illustrate the fact that He'll save whom He will. And
it doesn't have anything to do with men, because here was Dathan
and Abiram, and he swallowed up their whole family, the whole
shooting match and the thing. Why didn't he do the same thing
to Korah? I mean, Korah was the ringleader of the whole bunch.
Now, he did kill Korah, but he spared his family. What a mercy! Now, you know, of course, the
children of Israel, they got mad because They thought the
Lord did the wrong thing. Isn't that kind of the way it
is today? I mean, when you come preaching sovereign grace in
an election, I mean, the people get mad. They don't want to hear
that. Why, that wouldn't be right. Well, God doesn't have any right
to do that. But God will do according to the good pleasure of His will.
And the people of God that will worship Him will say, Even so,
Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight. Whether I like
it or whether I don't, do I like everything that I see the Lord
does? No. I tell you, I want to like it.
But I have to confess to you some things, it just doesn't
seem quite right that this old natural man does it. But oh,
we fall down and worship him because whatever he says is right
and good. And this thing we know for sure
is that the Lord will do right. He may show mercy. And He has
demonstrated in the Scriptures that He will show mercy. And
the sons of Korah are a good illustration of the fact that
He does show mercy. And of course, if we go to read
on in 1 Chronicles, some of the sons of Korah were musicians. They were singers. And so this
is no doubt why this psalm is set forth as it is for the sons
of Korah, that they might remember that the Lord does show mercy. As the heart panteth after the
water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth
for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? My tears have been my meat day
and night while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things,
I pour out my soul in me. For I had gone with the multitudes,
I went with them to the house of God with the voice of joy
and praise with a multitude that kept holy day. Why art thou cast
down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted in
me? Hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him for the help of
his countenance. Oh my God, my soul is cast down
within me. Therefore will I remember thee
from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites from the hill
Mizor. Deep calleth unto deep at the
noise of thy waterspouts. All thy waves and thy billows
are gone over me. Yet the Lord will command his
lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the night his song shall
be with me, and my prayer unto the God of my life. I will say
unto God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why go I mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a sword in
my bones mine enemies reproach me, while they say daily unto
me, Where is thy God? Why art thou cast down, O my
soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God,
for I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance
and my God. Now, again, as we look at this,
the psalm, this is indeed the sole cry of
the Lord Jesus Christ as He walked among men as a perfect man. He did pant after the Lord. I mean, He did seek the Lord. He prayed. Went up into a mountain
to pray. Prayed all night sometimes. I
mean, he was a man who hungered and thirsted after God. He desired to know when he was
twelve years old. While other little boys was running
around and playing chase and doing all sorts of things that
little kids do, where was he found? He was found in the temple.
He was found reasoning about the things of God. Why? Because
he pitted after God in his soul from the womb. Now you know that's
an amazing thing. The childhood of the Lord Jesus
Christ has always been a thing that has really intrigued me.
We don't have any real record of it except that he grew in
favor with God and man. as a child, that's the only thing
it tells us about him, and that one incident there when he was
in the temple. But until he got to his adulthood
and his place of his, the beginning of what we call his earthly ministry,
now we know his earthly ministry began when he was born, or actually
when he was conceived in the womb. But nonetheless, we don't
know anything really about what happened or what went on in there,
but I've often been intrigued by it. I'm sure it must have
been a glorious thing to have known him. Because here was a
young man that did everything like it was supposed to be done.
I mean, here was a man that there was nothing that could be said
against him. Now, we know that as he grew
up, And there was really nothing that could have ever been said
against him anyway if a man loved the truth. The only thing that
could ever be said against the Lord Jesus Christ is that he
told people the truth. And they didn't like it. It's
been that way since the beginning. Adam didn't like it. The Lord
said, Adam, in the day that you eat that fruit, you're going
to die. He said, it ain't going to happen to me. What happened
to me? I'll show you. And when the time
came, what did he do? He did exactly what the Lord
told him he was going to do. He ate the fruit of the tree.
And what happened to him? He died. He was brought to death
as a result of it. But anyway, as the heart panteth
after the water broke, so this is the plaintive cry of the man
who longs to know the Lord. And when the Lord begins to work
in a man, to draw him from darkness to light, that becomes a desire. Now, it is surely just as an
infant has a desire for the things that an infant can desire, and
as a man grows in grace and the knowledge of the Lord, his desire
becomes more fully developed. But nonetheless, it is the work
of the Spirit of God in the sons of God to draw them unto the
Lord, to cause them to desire the things of God. a person that, you can't help
them with that or whatever. It is the work of God that causes
a man to desire to know the things of God. Now you can tell somebody
what they ought to do. But you see, that's what we ought
to do. There's not a person in here
that doesn't know what you ought to do. I mean, it doesn't matter
what they ought to do. I mean, that's not really much
use. What we need is somebody that will cause us to do the
things we ought to do. And that is the work of the Spirit
of God. And He does give the sons of
God a desire after the Lord, as the heart panteth after the
water brooks. In other words, the picture here
is as a deer a heart, that's what the heart is, like a deer,
I guess the closest thing to what we would understand it to
be, as the deer who's running through the woods, perhaps being
pursued by the hunter or by a pack of dogs or a pack of wolves or
something, and he's running and he's running away from that,
but he's panting for something. He's got to have something to
nourish him. He's got to have something to
refresh him. And dear brethren, we are indeed called to a battle,
called to a warfare, but you can't perform that. You can't
do it. I don't care what you think or
how strong you might be, you cannot perform the battle to
which you are called. It is only by His might and by
His power that the sons of God are unable to stand against their
foes. And it is the desire of the sons
of God to have this refreshing scent from the Lord. We need
that. We want that. Nobody has to tell us, to want
that. We just want that. We either
want that or we don't want it. As the heart panteth after the
water broke, so panteth my soul after that. Can you imagine that
deer when he's running and he's thirsty? You've probably been
in a situation where you were just thirsty and you just wanted
to get a cool drink of water. If you could just get a cool
drink of water, that was all you could think about was a cool
drink of water. I mean, you know, when you want
a cool drink of water and somebody comes and says, well, here, take
and have a chew of tobacco. You know, you don't want a chew
of tobacco, you want something that'll sweat your thirst. No,
you've got to have something that will benefit you. And so it is, as the heart panteth
after the water broke, so panteth my soul after thee. My soul thirsteth
for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? Thus o'erthirsteth for God, for
the living God. Now this is kind of in contrast
to the children of Israel. See, they wanted a God, didn't
they? But they didn't want a living God. They wanted one they could
form and fashion and set up on a pedestal and they could worship
Him. And see, that's the way men like God to be. They like to fashion God after
their own image. They like to make Him like they
want Him to be. Because if you've got Him If
you can make God in your image, if you can put Him up and design
Him to be just like you, you'll always know where He's at. And
when you get ready for Him, He's always there. Now, isn't that
what we hear today? Oh, He's always there. Well,
according to the psalmist, He wasn't always there. Because,
you see, what he's talking about is the living God. He's not talking
about the stationary God. He's not talking about the God
that dwells in temples made with hands. He's not like Dagon sitting
up there with the Philistines. They knew where their God was,
didn't they? I mean, they knew right where He was. Well, go
down and see Dagon today. They knew He hadn't gone anywhere.
Why? Because He wasn't alive. But you see, our God is a living
God. And he is not in the same place
all the time. And you do not know where he
is at sometimes. And he is pleased to hide himself
from you and not let you find him. People talk about, well, I found
God. Well, if you did, it is because when you were a kid,
I remember playing hide and seek with my kids. And, you know,
I could hide and they would never be able to find me, you know,
but I would do something so they could find me. And that's how
it is with God. I mean, you'd never find Him
if He wasn't pleased to show you where He's at. My soul searches
for the living. See, I am not interested in the
God that people can design, the one that fits every little criteria
that you like. See, people have designer gods
today, and you can go down through the yellow pages and you can
find one just like you want. You can go somewhere where they
will tell you about one that will just make you happy, and
it will just satisfy your every whim and desire. But see, the
people of God cannot be satisfied with such as that. We desire
to know the Living God, that One who does according to His
will in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the
earth, who hides His face from time to time and cannot be found. Oh, but who is merciful and kind
to all who call upon His name and comes in the night seasons
to those who are in places of need. You see, this is the Living
God. When shall I come and appear
before Him? When can I know Him? When can I find Him? How can
I come into His presence? My fears have been my meat day
and night while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? Now, the psalmist is here describing,
and I believe the Lord Jesus Christ is describing those enemies
from without that constantly harass Him. And of course, David,
he could testify to this. But you know, the greatest enemy
that we face, the enemy that comes to us in saying, where
is now thy God, where is thy God, is not external. I mean, you probably very seldom
ever have anybody confront you and say, yes, where is your God
now? Because most people do not care. I mean, they are not interested
in talking about that anyway. But I'll guarantee you this,
that if you're a child of God, your old sinful flesh will rise
up within you and say, yeah, where's God now? Where's God
when you need Him? Yeah, you really think God's
going to do anything? You really think God can control
this? Where's now thy God? See, that's the way of the flesh.
When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. You
know, when this old sinful flesh rises up and it would question
the truth of God and it would hound me with doubts and fears,
what can I do? I can't do anything. I can't
prove anything. You know, because if you could
prove this to your flesh, You'd have the total victory a long
time ago. You'd already told. But see, you can come to the
Lord and He'll show you the truth, but your flesh doesn't get it,
doesn't believe it, hates it. And so it's constantly going
to be questioning you about it. But when I remember these things,
I pour out my soul in me. I come to the Lord. Oh Lord,
help me. For I had gone with the multitude. I went with them to the house
of God with the voice of joy and praise of the multitude that
kept holy day. They told me, if you'll come
gather with us, brother, we're having a Holy Ghost meeting down
here and you're going to get it. You can get it. I've got
it. We've got it. All you've got
to do is come and be with us. I went with them. I kept Holy Day. I went through
the religious motions. But guess what? It didn't do
me any good. Oh, it might have helped me for
a little bit, you know, in the flesh, in my weakness or whatever.
But listen to what it says. Why art thou cast down? See, that can't help the sons
of God. Why art thou cast down? And why
art thou disquieted within me? Don't hope in religion. Don't
hope in the things that men can do for you. Don't hope because
you heard a good sermon and, buddy, you're going to just try
to put it in place in your life and all that kind of stuff. Hope
thou in God. I mean, that's the place where
the sons of God find their comfort, is it not? It's not in what the
Lord did for you. I want you to tell me what the
Lord did for you. It encourages me when you tell
me what the Lord did for you. But you know, that won't help
me. That won't minister to my need, because I need the Lord. Hope thine in Him, for I shall
yet praise Him for the help of His countenance. Now see, this
is kind of like a rhetorical question. Why are you cast down? We ought to ask ourselves that
question when we get cast down. When we are having trouble and
doubts and fears come upon us, we ought to go look in the mirror
and say, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted
with me? Why is that? Why shouldn't we
be? Dear brethren, the Lord Jesus
Christ has promised life, health, Hope and happiness to the sons
of God. Not in the flesh, but in the
Spirit. Because He would have us to worship
Him in the Spirit. Spirit and truth. Not in all
these external things that men get all worked up about. Hope
thou in God, for I shall yet praise Him for the help of His
countenance." We shall praise God. You know, I praise Him,
sometimes I think about how weak and beggarly my praise to the
Lord is, and it's just pitiful. But oh, dear brethren, we shall
yet praise Him. He designed us for the purpose
of bringing glory to His name through the ages to come as we
exalt and honor the name of Christ forever. That's what He called
us to. What a glorious privilege it
is. We shall yet praise Him for the help of His countenance.
That is, when we see His smiling face, that is the help of our
soul. When we hear Him say to us, come
unto Me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, I will give
you rest. Take My yoke upon Me, you and
learn of Me, for My yoke is easy and My burden is light. Oh, what
sweet, comforting words! Oh, my God! My soul is cast down
within Me. Therefore will I remember Thee
from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites from the hill
Mizar. Regardless of where I am, regardless
of what the circumstances I'm in, that's the place where the
Lord will help me. Jonah can testify to that. I
can't think of another man in all of the Scripture that was
in any more of a tight situation than Jonah. I mean, he was in
an impossible situation, was he not? You know, have you ever
heard or known of anybody that got swallowed by a fish and lived
to tell about it? Now, I was reading the other
day about some guy that one got him in his mouth and, you know,
he went about halfway down his throat, but he didn't get swallowed
all the way into the fish's mouth and be down in there with the
seaweed wrapped around his head. And looking around, can you imagine
what it must have smelled like in there? Probably smelled like
death, didn't it? And I don't believe Jonah had
any expectation that he had one shred of ability to do anything
about his situation. He was probably kind of cramped
in there, don't you imagine? It wasn't like, I've seen pictures,
you know, people's artist rendition of what Jonah was in there, and
it's like he's in this big room, you know, and he's sitting in
there wearing... No, it wasn't like that. He was in a mess. He couldn't extract himself from
it. But what happened? The Lord brought
the message to Jonah that He sent him with. See, Jonah... He thought he was
going one direction. The Lord knew the whole time
which direction he was going, and he knew how he was going.
He wasn't going on the boat Jonah bought the ticket to. It wasn't
a path marked out on the ground. I've heard men say, you know,
Jonah could have took another path. No! Jonah took the only path
that was available to him. Because the Lord prepared the
fish. Before Jonah ever said, I'm not going, the fish was swimming
around out there just waiting. He said, man, I wonder when this
guy is coming. But Jonah, in the belly of the
fish, was in a sad situation. But you know what the Lord caused
him to remember? Salvation. is of the Lord. And dear brethren, that's the
only thing that a man needs to know, is that salvation is of
the Lord. It's not in his hands. It's not
in his ability. It's not in what he knows. It's
not in who he knows. It's not in what church he belongs
to or how long he's been going or all those things. It's not
any of that. It's in the Lord. Salvation is
of the Lord and the Lord Jesus Christ has given us this supper
to remind us of that. He said, Remember my death till
I come again. And that's exactly what we do. We confess the same thing Jonah
does, salvations of the Lord, every time that we take this,
because you and I didn't have one thing in the world to do
with bringing this to pass. The Lord sent His Son. He designed the world. He made
men just like they are. And He designed it for the purpose
of bringing glory to His name through the redemption of that
people which He loved in Christ from the beginning. And He has
given us the privilege to come here this morning and remember
that death which He ordained for our sake. I could have never
come up with that. I could not even imagine You
know, a remedy, I mean, if somebody just said, you know, man's in
this situation, what would you do to help him? You couldn't
have ever thought of a thing. You'd have never come up with
that. But the Lord, in His mercy, has shown us the way of salvation,
and it is in Jesus Christ and none other.