Alright, let's open our Bibles
again to Psalm 74. I titled the message tonight,
Five Pleas for Mercy. Every believer often feels that
God has left us alone for a time. We know, up here we know, that
the Lord will never leave nor forsake His people. But we feel
like He's left us alone for a while. It's hard to reconcile what we
know and what we feel. We feel like God's left us alone.
And when we feel alone, the enemy starts to prevail, don't they?
And the enemy starts to prevail because we feel like our defender
is not there. And I tell you, the first enemy,
David speaks of enemies throughout this psalm, enemies of false
religion that have destroyed the worship of God in Israel.
other enemies of the world we still face, but the first enemy
that always starts to cause us so much trouble when we feel
like we're alone is our sin. Now, sin ravages us, doesn't
it? Sin ravages these bodies. Sin, when it's done, when it's
finished, brings forth death. It's always sin that starts to
cause us so much trouble. Sin would condemn us if it could
prevail against us. And that's what David is feeling
when he wrote this psalm. Now, it says a psalm of Asaph. Maybe the writer was Asaph, but
we believe David wrote this psalm to be sung by Asaph. And he begins,
he feels like God's left him all alone. Verse 1, O God, why
hast thou cast us off forever? Why doth thine anger smoke against
the sheep of thy pasture? David feels like that the Lord's
left him all alone. It feels like he's suffering
God's wrath. He feels like God's punishing
him and his wrath against his sin. And he doesn't feel the
presence of the Lord. What he thinks he feels is God's
wrath against his sin. And that's the reason it's so
easy for us to be convinced that God's left us alone, because
we know that's what our sin deserves. So we feel like, well, God's
given me what I deserve. He's left me alone. God must
hate me because of my sin. But the only reason I think of
that God's left me alone is God just doesn't love me. And you
know, that's not a very mature response, is it? Not at all. Doesn't David sound like a little
child here that's just not getting gotten everything his little
heart wishes from his parents? His parents have withheld One
thing from him, and he says, well, my parents don't even love
me. They just didn't love me at all. God must hate me because he's
not giving me everything my little heart desires. Do we sound like
that sometimes? The Lord just must not love me.
He doesn't even care about me. Well, Lord, don't you even care
that we perish? You're sleeping in the bottom of the ship. Don't
you care we perish? Who sent this storm in the first
place? That's so childish, isn't it? But that's the way we feel.
Verse 3, look what David says. He says, Lift up thy feet under
the perpetual desolations, even all that the enemy hath done
wickedly in the sanctuary. Lord, lift up your feet. Why
won't you come running to help me? My sin is destroying me. Why don't you come running to
help me? Verse 4, Thine enemies roar in the midst of thy congregations.
They've set up incense for signs. They've set up their idols for
signs. Now at one time a man was famous according as he had
lifted up axes upon the thick trees. Those men that went down
and cut down those thick trees, those big cedar trees to be used
in the temple, they were famous. But now they break down the carved
work thereof at once with axes and hammers. They've cast fire
to thy sanctuary. They defiled by casting down
the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. They said in their
hearts, let us destroy them together. They burned up all the synagogues
of God in the land. Idolatry is running rampant in
the land. I see it all around me and what's
worse, I even feel it in my own flesh. I feel my flesh looking
for a sign that God loves me. Looking for some sign, I'm looking
for some religious symbol, some ceremony that's going to make
me feel better, make my flesh feel better. At one time, Israel
gave so generously, they worked so hard to build the tabernacle,
the temple, and now they're tearing it down. They're removing a place
of worship for your people. That's what's going on out there,
but I'll tell you what's going on in my heart. I feel cold and
dead. I don't feel like I can worship
like I used to. I can't find the Lord. I can't
feel His presence. I can't find Him. I can't seem to worship
Him. Where is He? Verse 9, David says, We see not
our signs. There is no more any prophet,
neither is there any among us that knoweth how long. Now, this
must be one of the worst judgments that the Lord can put on a town
or put on a person, to take away the prophet, took away the prophet,
took away the preacher. Somebody took away the man that
he's appointed to point us to Christ, to preach the gospel
to us, to comfort our hearts by feeding us in the Word. That
could be the Lord hadn't taken away His preacher at all. But
maybe I just haven't been able to hear. That could be I've been
in the service, I've been in all the right religious ceremonies,
but I haven't been able to hear. I haven't been able to hear Christ
in the message. I haven't been able to rejoice
in the message of Christ. Because my heart is so cold and
so dead, and I wonder, how long is this going to last? Is this
going to be forever? Verse 10. Oh 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. David
says, Lord, how long are you going to make this go on? How
long are you going to let me suffer like this? I'm in trouble and
it seems like... You're standing there with your
hands in your pockets. That's what it seems like. He
said, pluck out your hand. You got it in your bosom. It's like,
you know, that famous picture of Napoleon. He's got it resting
there in his coat. He just, the Lord's just got
his hand in his bosom. He's resting it there. He's got
his hands in his pockets. Seems like he's done nothing.
Lord, why don't you take out the right hand of your power
and save me? Now, what's the right hand of
God? The right hand of his power? It's the Lord Jesus Christ. And
David's saying, Lord, don't leave me. Am I sin? But save me in
the right hand of your power. Save me in your Son. Comfort
my heart with the right hand of your power, with Christ's
presence. Revive my heart with the right hand of your power,
with the presence of your Son. I don't know why the Lord hadn't
done it, but David says, I do know this. I know the Lord's
able to do it. I know the Lord's able to save.
Look at verse 12. 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
dryest up mighty rivers. And you know David here is talking
about the day when the Lord delivered Israel from Egypt and he did
it right through the heart, right through the middle of the Red
Sea. Now, that's a picture of God delivering his people from
bondage to sin. That's what Egypt almost always
represents in scripture. It represents bondage to sin.
And the Lord delivered his people from that bondage through the
Red Sea. His people were delivered through
the power of the sea. And that power of the sea is
a picture of the power of the blood of Christ. The Lord delivered
Israel right through that Red Sea. They walked over on dry
ground. God and His power made that sea
stand up as a heap, as two walls, and they passed over on dry ground. And then Pharaoh and his army
decided to come down in the same place, and in the same place,
in that same sea, the power of that sea destroyed Pharaoh and
his army. In the same place. And this is
the picture, the sacrifice of Christ broke the power of sin,
redeemed his people from sin, set his people free from bondage
to sin. And at the very same time, in
the very same sacrifice, he defeated Satan forever. But David says,
I know the Lord can save me. I know the Lord can deliver me.
But why it? I know the Lord can deliver me
from this darkness because it's the Lord that creates light and
darkness for 16. The day is thine, and 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. Now, you know, it's the Lord
that sends times of darkness. It's the Lord that sends times
of winter to accomplish his purpose in the earth. Now, that's true
naturally speaking, and that's true spiritually speaking, too.
Darkness is good for the earth. You know that? I know we don't
like it, but it's good for the earth. Wayne, you don't like
it when the days start getting shorter, do you? I know you don't.
But darkness is good for the earth. It's just a time of rest. I do not like to see winter coming. I mean, I just despise it. But you know winter is good for
the earth. It lets the earth rest. It kills bugs and diseases
and things. It's winter that prepares the
earth for spring. for planting in the spring and
for harvest in the fall. So it's good, isn't it? And God
sends it when it's time. Well, you know, we hate a spiritual
winter in our hearts too. But you know, there are times
the Lord sends that spiritual winter into our hearts to prepare
our hearts for something. To prepare our hearts for a blessing.
To prepare us for spring. When God sends some rain and
some light and makes crops to grow that feed us. He prepares
the ground for spring when the flowers and the spices start
to grow to give us joy and beauty. My oh my, winter can be long.
A winter day can be a long time. It's hard to wait. Lord, how
long? How long will you deliver me
from this darkness in this winter? We kind of understand where David's
at here? He's been there? It's not pleasant,
is it? Well, let me give you five pleas
for mercy, five pleas for deliverance from a spiritual winter. God's
people can use these five cries till the Lord sends us spring,
till he sends us his presence again. And the first one is this,
and mostly it's, Lord, remember, remember. Remember your people. Verse two says, remember thy
congregation. Isn't that the simple plea of
the thief on the cross? How much did that thief on the
cross know? I don't know. Whatever he knew, the Spirit
taught him. But I do know what his cry was. Lord, remember me. Remember me. Don't forget me. Be mindful of me. Lord, don't
forget. Don't forget me. Don't forget
the weakness of my frame. Don't forget my sin. Don't forget
how much I need you. Don't forget how much I need
your forgiveness. Don't forget how much I need
your mercy. Don't forget how much I need
your presence. Part of the meaning of the word
the thief used there, remember, is Lord, remain with me. Lord, keep me with you. Keep
me ever near your side. Keep me in your presence. Don't
cast me out of your presence. And notice David says here, Lord,
remember thy people. Thy people. They belong to you.
Now you chose them to be yours. You bought them with your blood.
You called them by your grace. You birthed them by your spirit.
Well, Lord, don't forget them. Now they're yours. You've taken
us as yours. We're your responsibility. Lord,
don't leave us alone now because we need you. Verse 1 says, Remember,
Lord, we're the sheep of your pasture. Are you punishing the
sheep of your pasture? Whatever it is you're doing,
I know this, we're the sheep of your pasture. We're your sheep. You're the good shepherd and
we're your sheep. The good shepherd never leaves his sheep. Sheep,
from what I read, I've never been around sheep to know this
by experience, but this is what I read from folks that I think
know what they're talking about. Sheep are dumb animals. They
cannot take care of themselves. You can't leave. You just don't
find sheep out there in the wilderness, in the wild. Where do you find
sheep? In a pasture where there's a
shepherd watching over them. Because sheep can't function
on their own. They need a shepherd. Well, our Savior is the Good
Shepherd and He never leaves His sheep. So we're crying, Lord,
don't leave me alone. The Good Shepherd feeds His sheep
in the green grass beside the still waters. And the Good Shepherd
When he has a sheep that's lost, just one, he leaves the 99, he
goes out and finds that one that's lost. And he gently and carefully
and powerfully brings it all the way home. And this is what
David's saying, Lord, it feels like I'm out here all alone in
the wilderness and I can't feel your presence. Lord, come get
me. Come get me speedily and bring
me home. Because I need you. I belong
to you. I belong to you and I belong with you. Louis Davis says in
verse 19, Oh, deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove unto
the multitude of the wicked. Forget not the congregation of
thy poor forever. And what is more helpless and
more sorrowful than a turtle dove? What is more worthless
than a turtle dove? and the poor of thy congregation.
Lord, I'm helpless. I'm sorrowful. Don't forget me. I belong to you. Come get me.
Now look in Ezekiel chapter 34. Here is the Lord's response to
this cry. Lord, we're the sheep of your
pasture. We're lost. We need you. Lord, come get me. Ezekiel 34 in verse 11. For thus saith the Lord God,
Behold, I, even I, will both search my sheep and seek them
out. As a shepherd seeketh out his flock in the day that he
is among his sheep that are scattered, so will I seek out my sheep,
and I will deliver them out of all places where they have been
scattered in the cloudy and dark day. And I will bring them out
from the people, and I will gather them from the countries, and
I will bring them to their own land. And I will feed them upon
the mountains of Israel, by the rivers, and in all the inhabited
places of the country. I will feed them in a good pasture,
and upon the high mountains of Israel shall their fold be. There
shall they lie in a good fold, and in a fat pasture shall they
feed upon the mountains of Israel. I will feed my flock, and I will
cause them to lie down, saith the Lord God. I will seek that
which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away, And
I will bind up that which was broken. And I will strengthen
that which was sick. But I will destroy the fat and
the strong. I'll feed them with judgment. But my sheep, I'm going
to find them. I'm going to feed them. I'm going
to heal them. I'm going to bring them home. And look at verse
28 of that same chapter. And they shall no more be a prey
to the heathen. Neither shall the beast of the
land devour them, but they shall dwell safely and none shall make
them afraid. And I will raise up for them
a plant of renown, and they shall be no more consumed with hunger
in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more.
Thus shall they know that I the Lord their God am with them,
and that they, even the house of Israel, are my people, saith
the Lord God. And ye my flock, the flock of
my pasture are men, and I am your God, saith the Lord God. So we cry, Lord, do what You
promised for Your people. Come get us. Come get me. Come
heal me. Come heal my broken spirit. Come
bind up my wounds. Come bring me and feed me in
that pasture of Your Word. Feed me. Comfort me with Your
presence. I've said this many times. I'm
going to say it several times tonight. When we would plead
with God, I tell you what's always wise to do. Plead His Because
he's going to fulfill his word. You find a promise of God and
you hang on to it for all your worth and plead God's promise.
Plead it right back to him. Lord, you promised to save. Lord, you promised to comfort.
You promised to gather me up in your arms and plead his promise. That's always a good foundation
to receive mercy from God. All right, number two. Lord,
this is our plea. Remember your redemption. Verse
2, David says, Psalm 74, remember thy congregation, which thou
which thou has purchased of old, the rod of thine inheritance,
which thou has redeemed. This is what David's saying,
Lord, we're your people. Remember the great price that
you pay to redeem us. Remember, you paid the blood
of your son to redeem us. Mayor Paul told the Ephesian
elders as he was leaving them, he exhorted them, feed the church
of God. How important is the church of
God? It's the church which he purchased with his own blood. Now that's a price to pay. Oh,
what a price. Lord, don't let us perish after
you spent this great price to purchase us, to redeem us with
your precious blood. Don't let our sin destroy us.
Don't let our sin separate us from you after the blood of your
Son paid for it. Now that's a powerful plea for
mercy. Pleading the blood of Christ
is a powerful plea for mercy. Because God always honors His
Son. He always has respect to the
sacrifice of His Son. Peter called the price of our
redemption. It's not something worthless
like silver and gold corrupt things of this earth. The price
of our redemption is the precious blood of Christ. Now you can
just be sure of this, the Father is going to honor that price.
Now again, we're pleading God, remember those people that you
redeemed, remember the price that you paid. Let's plead God's
promise to His people. Isaiah chapter 43. Let's plead God's own word, His
promise to His people. Isaiah 43 verse 1. But now thus saith the Lord that
created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed me, O Israel, fear
not, for I have redeemed thee. And since I have redeemed thee,
I have called thee by thy name. Thou art mine. And here's the
promise to those he redeemed. When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee. And through the rivers, they
should not overflow thee. When thou walkest through the
fire, thou should not be burned. Neither shall the flame kindle
upon thee, for I am the Lord thy God, the Holy One of Israel,
thy Savior." Lord, it seems like my sin is destroying me. It seems
like I'm being overwhelmed in this trouble. Lord, be with me. Come be with me like you promised
and don't let me be swept away. Don't let the flame kindle upon
me and destroy me. Lord, be with me and deliver
me like you promised. All right, Isaiah 52, here's
another promise. Just remember this, in that dark
winter's night, daybreak's coming. Verse 9, Isaiah 52. Break forth
into joy and sing together, ye waste places of Jerusalem, for
the Lord hath comforted his people. He hath redeemed Jerusalem. The Lord has redeemed His people
with His own blood and He says, I'm going to comfort them. I'm
going to comfort them. And our plea is, Lord, You promised
to comfort those people You redeemed. I'm in trouble. My heart is being
just crushed within me. Lord, comfort me like You promised.
And back one more scripture, one page here, Isaiah 51 verse
11. We're going to go through some
tough Dark, difficult paths, but here's how it's going to
end up, verse 11. Therefore, the redeemed of the
Lord shall return, and they're going to come with singing unto
Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head. They shall
obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and mourning shall flee
away. The redeemed of the Lord are
going to have joy. They're going to have joy. Lord,
give me your presence. Give me, just restore to me a
sense of your presence. Sorrow and sighing will flee
away. He would just plead his word. Lord, you've redeemed me
from my sin. Now don't separate, don't let
my sin separate me from you now. Don't let your glory be taken
away because those you've redeemed would perish. All right, here's
the third plea. Lord, remember the people. in whom you dwell. The end of
verse 2 in our text says, this Mount Zion wherein thou hast
dwelt. Now, God did dwell there in Mount Zion. That's where they
had the temple. But all that's a picture of God
the Holy Spirit dwelling in the hearts of his people. God the
Holy Spirit dwells in the heart of every saved person. That's
what the Apostle Paul told the Church of Corinth, 2 Corinthians
6, 16. Don't you know that you're the
temple of God? As God has said, I dwell in them. God dwells in
the hearts of his people. Now, if you look back at Leviticus
26, this is the passage that the Apostle is quoting in Leviticus
26. And then mark your place here,
because we'll come back to Leviticus 26 before we end the message. But Leviticus 26, this is what
Paul was quoting, verse 12. God says, and I will walk among
you and will be your God and you should be my people. I am
the Lord, your God, which brought you forth out of the land of
Egypt, that you should not be their bondman. And I've broken
the bands of their yoke and made you go upright. I've delivered
you from the house of Egypt. I delivered you from those bondmen
that you wouldn't be under their boot anymore. You're my servant. You're my people. I'm going to
dwell in you that you go upright. The Lord said, I'm going to dwell
in my people. I've broken the yoke of the bondage of sin over
you by redeeming you with my blood, the blood of my son, and
I'm going to dwell in you. Now remember how David started
this? David started the psalm saying, I don't have any sense
of the Lord's presence. He says he's dwelling in me,
dwelling in my heart, I don't have any sense of his presence.
It seems like my sin is destroying me and keeping me from God. Lord,
don't forget your promise. Don't forget your people in whom
you dwell. Deliver me from the power of
my sin because you dwell in me. Deliver me from the power of
my sin. Don't let my sin reign. If you dwell in me, God, you
reign. That's what he's saying. You reign in me. God said in
1 Kings 6 verse 13, I will dwell among the children of Israel
and I will not forsake my people. I will not. Well, let's plead
God's promise. Lord, you promised you would
not forsake the people that you dwell in. Well, don't forsake
me. See, use God's word. Use his
promise as a powerful plea for mercy from God. Lord, remember
the people in whom you dwell. They're your people, they're
your tabernacle. All right, here's the fourth
thing. Lord, remember your covenant. Verse 20, have respect under
the covenant for the dark places of the earth are full of the
habitations of cruelty. There is no hope for me anywhere
in this earth. The earth is full of dark places.
The only place I've got any hope is God's covenant. so God remember
your covenant. Now pleading for mercy, pleading
for forgiveness, pleading for help on the basis of God's covenant
is perhaps the most powerful plea we have. Pleading God's
covenant. Spurgeon said, God's covenant
is the master key. Heaven must open to it. Heaven
must open to it because God cannot break his promise. Now remember,
a covenant is a promise. God's covenant is his promise
to save a people and to keep a people by his grace. So pleading
God's covenant is a powerful plea because God is a covenant
God. Everything God does, he does
because he promised to do it in eternity. God's not reacting
to what's going on in this world. What's going on in this world
is what God promised would happen, what God foreordained to happen
before He ever created anything. And all that's happening in human
time is this, God carrying out every promise He made in eternity.
And it'll end, human time will end, when every promise has been
fulfilled. God is a covenant God. He's doing
everything He's doing to fulfill His promise. And God has a covenant
of grace. Of all of God's promises, perhaps
His promise of grace is the sweetest. It's sweet because God's going
to fulfill it. He's going to keep His promise. Then here's our plea. Lord, remember
Your covenant. Remember Your promise of grace
and forgive me. My sin is ever before me, but
God, remember Your covenant. Don't cast me off. Don't cast
me out of Your presence. Because you remember your covenant
of grace. Lord, remember that you promised
grace for the guilty. Well, I'm guilty. I need grace.
Lord, remember you promised mercy for the miserable. Well, I'm
miserable. I'm miserable in my sin, I'm
miserable in myself, and I'm miserable without you. Lord,
remember you promised mercy. You know what? You can count
on it. You can count on God's mercy. You can count on God's grace
because God's covenant is an everlasting covenant, an eternal
covenant. It doesn't have any end. It doesn't
have any end. I know we worry. Well, I finally
sinned so much, God's fed up with me and going to cast me
off. You and I could find ourselves
in that place. or somebody sinned against us
and wronged us and done so many wrong things that we're finally
fed up, I finally had it to here, I'm severing all relationships,
I can't take this anymore. Aren't you glad God's not like
you and me? God's people will never sin so much that they'll
find the end of God's mercy. God's people are never going
to sin so much that they're finally going to reach the end of God's
forgiveness. because the blood of God's son
has already paid for it. It's already secured their forgiveness.
Now, God cannot lie. God cannot break his promise. Then our plea is, Lord, remember
your covenant and be merciful to me. I look back at Leviticus
chapter 26 again. Leviticus 26, this time verse
42. The Lord here talks about Israel
going out, and because of their sin, all they suffer because
of their sin. In verse 42, Leviticus 26, then
will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with
Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember, and
I will remember the land. The land also should be left
to them, and shall enjoy her Sabbaths while she lieth desolate
without them. And they shall accept her the
punishment of their iniquity, because, because, even because
they despise my judgment and because their soul abhorred my
statues. And yet for all of that, yet
in spite of all that, when they be in the land of their enemies,
I will not cast them away. Neither will I abhor them. I'm
not going to hate them. We can't say, oh, well, God couldn't
love me. God hates me now. No, God's promise is neither
will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly and to break my
covenant with them for I am the Lord their God. But I will, for
their sakes, remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought
forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen,
that I might be their God. I am the Lord. I am the Lord
Jehovah that saves. I will not break my covenant
with my people. No matter how sinful they are,
no matter how vile they are, no matter how unfaithful they
are, I'll not be unfaithful. Look at another scripture on
this, Psalm 106. Psalm 106, verse 43. And many times did He deliver
them, but they provoked Him with their counsel and were brought
low for their iniquity. Nevertheless, no matter how many
times they provoked him, no matter how many times they are brought
low for their iniquity, nevertheless, he regarded their affliction
when he heard their cry and he remembered for them his covenant
and repented according to the multitude of thy mercies. They kept receiving a multitude
of God's mercies because he remembered his covenant to his people. Now, somebody might say, well,
sounds like that's just giving God's people an excuse to go
sin all they want, just never worry about, and what they'll
do, they'll be forgiven. Well, that's true. No matter our sin,
we will be forgiven. But this I can promise you, nobody
who has ever experienced God's tender mercy and Him reaching
down in our iniquity, in our filth, and saying, I forgive
you. I'll wash you in the blood of
my Son. We'll ever want to go do that again. Now we will, but
we won't want to. That's not going to be the desire
of our heart. The desire of our heart is going to seek to be
in His covenant, to seek to be found in Him. Oh, and we feel
all alone out there in the wilderness and we can't get a sense of His
love. This is our plea. Lord, remember your covenant.
You've delivered your people in the past. Would you do that
for me now? Would you honor your covenant
and deliver me now? Right, here's the last thing.
Lord, remember the honor of your name. Verse 22, Psalm 74. Arise, O God. Plead thine own
cause. Remember how the foolish man
reproaches thee daily. The foolish man reproaches God's
name daily. And David's plea is, Lord, plead
your own cause. Defend your own name. Don't save
me because of who I am. Don't save me for my namesake.
Don't save me for the honor of my name. Lord, save me so your
name will be glorified. When we plead for Christ's sake,
for the name, for your namesake, what we're saying is, Lord, do
this so that your name will be glorified. Now that's another
powerful plea for mercy. And it's not the first time David's
used this plea. In Psalm 25, verse 11, he said,
for thy namesake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity, for it is great. Now what is, when David says
it is great, what's he referring to? Is he referring to the greatness
of God's name, or is he referring to the greatness of his iniquity?
Oh, goodness, my iniquity is great, and Lord, your name is
great. So pardon my iniquity for your
namesake, for the greatness of your namesake. Psalm 23, verse
3, David says, He restoreth my soul. He leadeth me in paths
of righteousness. Now, why on earth would the Lord
lead a dumb, dirty sheep like me in paths of righteousness?
Why? For His namesake. That He gets
the glory in doing it. Samuel told Israel this, 1 Samuel
12, verse 22. He said, The Lord will not forsake
His people for His great namesake. It's pleased the Lord to make
you His people and He won't forsake you. Not because you're such
a prize, but for His namesake. That His name will not be blasphemed
among the heathen. Now one more scripture, Ezekiel
chapter 36. We're going to plead God's, plead for His mercy, plead
for His help. Let's plead God's word. Let's
plead His promise to His people. Isaiah 36 verse 21. Here again, he's talking about
his people, Israel. His sin and they've been driven
into captivity and all sorts of trouble. Verse 21, he says,
but despite their sin, despite how far they've gone out, but
I had pity for mine holy name, which the house of Israel had
profaned among the heathen whether they went. Therefore saying to
the house of Israel, thus saith the Lord God, I do not this for
your sake, O house of Israel, but for my holy namesake, which
you have profaned among the heathen, whether you win. And I will sanctify
my great name, which was profaned among the heathen, which you
have profaned in the midst of them. And the heathen are going
to know that I am the Lord, saith the Lord God, when I should be
sanctified in you before their eyes. And I will take you from
among the heathen and will gather you out of all countries and
will bring you into your own land. Then while I sprinkle clean
water upon you and you should be clean from all your filthiness
and from all your idols, why cleanse you? A new heart also
will I give you in a new spirit. Why put within you? And I will
take away the stony heart out of your flesh and will give you
in heart of flesh. I'll put my spirit within you
and cause you to walk in my statues and you should keep my judgments
and do them and you should dwell in the land that I gave to your
fathers and you should be my people. And I will be your God.
I will also save you from all of your uncleanness. And I will
call for the corn and will increase it and lay no famine upon you.
And I will multiply the fruit of the tree and the increase
of the field that ye shall receive no more reproach of famine among
the heathen. Then shall you remember your
own evil ways and your doings that were not good. And you're
going to loathe yourselves in your own sight for your iniquities
and for your abominations. Now here He reminds us, not for
your sakes do I this say to the Lord God. Be it known unto you,
be ashamed and confounded for your own ways, O house of Israel. I'm not going to do this. I'm
not going to save you. I'm not going to cleanse you.
I'm not going to feed you. I'm not going to provide all
this stuff for your namesake. It's for my holy namesake. I'm
going to sanctify my name in the midst of the earth. And the
only response I can think of to that is this, Lord, That fits
my need. Save me for your name's sake.
Lord, get glory to your name by saving me. Lord, sanctify
your name. Get glory to your name by delivering
me and comforting me and be with me. Now, back in our text quickly. Psalm 74 verse 21. And after all that, don't let
me be ungrateful. Lord, come deliver me. And don't
let me be ungrateful. Then let me praise your name.
Remember the Lord said, blessed are the poor in spirit. Well,
that's me. I'm poor in spirit. I'm poor
and needy. Well, Lord, save me for your
namesake so I can praise your name. Verse 21. Oh, let not the
oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and needy praise
thy name. Lord, deliver me. And then let
me praise your name. Let's bow together. Our Father, how we thank you
for your word. How we thank you that you are
a covenant God who's promised mercy and grace to your people
and your son, our Lord Jesus Christ. And Lord, we plead for
Christ's sake, for the glory of Christ the Savior, that you
would save your people, that you would reveal yourself in
power, life-giving power to the hearts of your people. for your
namesake, that your name would be glorified and magnified. And
Lord, for your namesake, comfort your people. Get glory to your
name by revealing to us your power, your glory, your sufficiency,
your ability to save and to keep and to comfort the hearts of
your people. Father, bless us according to the riches of your
mercy and grace. In Christ Jesus, we pray.