Turn back, if you will, to Psalm
38. Psalm 38. You may have never turned away
from it, but if you did, go back to it. I hope that you follow along.
I mentioned to Robin and Raj the other day, I wish, listening
to somebody preach, another fellow, I wish I could slow down. I think
I would be more effective. I've not been able to do it for
years and years, so I'll try today, but I don't know that
I'll succeed. But if you can keep up, please read
along. We've read Psalm 38 together
a moment ago. The Psalm of David to bring to
remembrance The title of my message is simply an abbreviation of
that. It's time to remember. It's time
to remember. Is there ever a time that that
wouldn't be so? For a redeemed sinner? It's time to remember. The article
I wrote for your bulletin today, titled David's Hope, are based
on these words from Psalm 38 here. In verse 15, for in thee,
O Lord, do I hope. For what? For everything. I can't live right, I can't talk
right, I can't think right, I can't... Jesus Christ taught his disciples,
without me you can do nothing. But we still tried on. We still
tried. And the result, we still lean
on the arm of flesh, we do it every day. After I pray, Lord
guide me through this day, I go out the door and lean on the
arm of flesh. And fall, and fall. What else could happen? Fall.
Oh, but still, still, it doesn't change this sweet, sweet truth. For in thee, O Lord, do I hope. It would have been easy, very
easy, to find many, many similar words as spoken by David to serve
as a text for that subject. Just across the page in my Bible,
the 39th Psalm, I glanced at it, verse 7, almost the same
words. And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. Although a different context,
different circumstances, regardless of the place and time, This was
always the conclusion that David made. For in thee, O Lord, do
I hope. And now, Lord, what wait I for? What wait I for? In Psalm 39. My hope is in thee. And in the same way, in the same
vein, in Psalm 42. I'll give you time to turn there,
I wish you would. In Psalm 42, David asked and then answers
his own question. Old Spurgeon said that the best
talk a man has sometimes is with himself. Instead of telling everybody
else, get along with God and ask yourself. David answered
this question in Psalm 42, verse 5. Why art thou cast down, O
my soul? You ever ask yourself that? Sure
you do. And why art thou disquieted in
me? Again, verse 11. Why art thou
cast down, O my soul? And why art thou disquieted within
me? And David didn't stop there,
did he? This is the sweetness of it.
If that would have been the end of the matter, we would put ourselves
in David's shoes, which would be proper to do, because we've
uttered the same thing, maybe in those very words, but meaning,
regardless of the words, we were asking ourselves that question,
and thank God for David, there was an answer for you and I,
there's an answer. Verse 5 again in Psalm 42, Hope
thou in God. Hope thou in God. For I shall
yet, I shall yet, It's not going to be like this
all the time. I'm not going to be this way all the time. Oh,
no. There's a better day coming,
Bobby. There's a better day coming. Oh, God, help us look to that
finish line. Hope thou in God, verse 5, for
I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance. David
had been in enough trouble in his life, enough trial, enough
sorrow, enough heartache, he had learned by experience, even
though I'm down in the dumps now, I'm going to yet praise
God. He's not going to leave me there. He's going to lift
me up or take me to glory, which would be even better. I shall
yet praise God. Look at verse 11. He answered
the question again that he asked. Verse 11 of Psalm 42, Hope thou
in God, for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance
and my God. And one that perhaps you don't
need to turn to. Maybe you probably should know
it by heart. Psalm 30, Oh my soul, I've said
this to myself many a night as I lay down to try to sleep and
couldn't. His anger, Psalm 30 and verse 5, for his anger endureth
but a moment. In his favor is life. Weeping
may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. I could pitch a tent there. You
wish I would, don't you? But joy cometh in the morning. There again I repeat, there's
a better day coming. Why do we think so much about
the weeping that may endure through the night, for a night, and seem
to think so little about the joy that's coming, that's promised
in the morning? And please note, please note,
I don't know why I really didn't notice this before, but there
in Psalm 13 verse 5, it says that the sorrow may be, the weeping
may be, for a night. It doesn't say it's gonna be.
It just may be for a night. I take that to mean maybe it
won't. Maybe it won't. Oh, but the next clause of the
verse, that's for sure. There's no maybe about this.
There's no maybe about this. The joy that's coming in the
morning, that sounds good to me. Doesn't it to you? It even
sounds like that joy, that everlasting joy, that eternal joy, when King
Jesus wipes every tear from my eye and everything that ever
broke my heart, when they don't come to remembrance anymore,
that's the joy that's coming that everlasting morning when
I enter that city that has no need of the sun because the lamb
is the light thereof. Sounds like it's already on the
way. And that's so. I started to choose
the hymn, the song, Eastern Gate. Of course, Dave has that on a
CD as well, but a verse of that says, Oh, the joys of that glad
meeting with the saints who for us wait. What a blessed, happy
meeting just inside the Eastern Gate. I will meet you in the
morning. I will meet you in the morning. I will meet you in the morning
over there. Again, from your bulletin article,
my article. What a story, is it not so? What a story David could tell
of the goodness and mercy of God that had followed him his
whole life. before he entered the world.
God set his love on all his chosen. What a story. It would sound
like a fairy tale, wouldn't it? Mine would. Yours would. David,
I wrote, I imagine, I wouldn't be surprised if David, there
wasn't times David had to pinch himself. Sure, sure. When he looked back over his
life, at the glorious providence God had done toward him. Oh, how he guided. He leadeth
me, he leadeth me. Oh, blesseth all. He leadeth
me, whether I realize it or not, know it or not, appreciate it
or not. He leadeth me. My soul, how David
proved those words with his last words on his deathbed. Now these
be the last words of David, 2 Samuel 23. David the son of Jesse. Doesn't this read like a fairy
tale? Too good to be true, but we know
that it was. David the son of Jesse said,
the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of God, the
God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel said. Man, all those
things were because of God's amazing grace. Every gift David
had, and he only mentioned a couple in verse 1, were given him by
the free grace of God. The Spirit of the Lord spake
by me, and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said,
The Rock of Israel spake to me. The Rock of Israel spake to me,
capital R. He that ruleth over men must
be just, ruling in the fear of God. And he shall be as the light
of the morning when the sun riseth, even a morning without clouds.
as the tender grass springing out of the earth by clear shining
after rain. Although my house be not so with
God, yet, yet, nevertheless, yet if he have made with me an
everlasting covenant, ordered in all things ensure, this is,
for this is, not was, might may be, no, this is, All my salvation
and all my desire, I want nothing else, I need nothing else, although
he make it not to grow. But doesn't, as we said, got
a little bit ahead of ourselves, but doesn't every child of God
have a story to tell of what God has done for their soul? I didn't take time to try to
find this, really wasn't necessary, but when I read those words of
David, I couldn't help but think of Spurgeon, because I remember
reading his biography, and he said much the same thing, and
I'm sure he perhaps was reading a song, but he said, looking
back over his life, my life seems almost like a fairy tale. No
novel of fiction can compare to the marvels of God's mercy
to me. To those who don't know any better,
would hear us tell the story of God's grace in our life, they
would think, That's fiction. But we know better. It's not
fiction. It's true. And all it reads better, more
glorious, more marvelous. My soul, when we think what God's
done for our soul, if that doesn't bow us down, if that doesn't
make us grateful, If that doesn't want us to just sing to the heavens,
as old John Bunyan said, after God saved him, he wanted to tell
the crows on the frozen field what God had done for his soul.
Spurgeon said when he left that little Methodist church that
morning where God spoke peace to his heart, that he wanted
to shout afterwards to every snowflake falling from the sky,
let me tell you, what God's done for me. Amazing! Amazing! Yes, indeed, every child
of God, every believer's biography is a story of grace and mercy. Is it not? Everyone, everyone. Mr. Spurgeon, when the time of
his departure was near at hand, More often than more often, he'd
have to go to France to recuperate. Sometimes he'd be there months
at a time before he could return to the time when he was not going
to preach again. Was he not just 58, I think, when God took him
home? But on one of those occasions,
he said, Oh, wifey. He said to his wife, Susanna,
he called her wifey. Oh, wifey. Hasn't God been good
to us? What a life we've had together. Has not the same goodness and
mercy that followed that hounded David, the very same goodness
and mercy that has followed you and me, child of God? Are we
not under the same sweet constraint to ask ourselves as David did
this question in another psalm? Another question, Psalm 116,
verse 12, David said, what shall I render
unto the Lord for all his benefits toward me? What can I render? What can I do? And if you read
the Psalm, the verses previous to what prompted that question,
you would see plainly why David would ask such a question. Verse
1, I love the Lord because he hath heard my voice and my supplication. because he had inclined his ear
unto me." Imagine that. He heard the cry of this sinner. When I said, Lord, thou son of
David, have mercy on me, he stopped dead in his tracks and had mercy
on me. Huh? What about that? What about that? Because he had inclined his ear
to me, therefore will I call upon him as long as he lives.
The sorrows of death come past me. The pains of hell get hold
upon me. I found trouble and sorrow were
not exempt. Then called I upon the name of
the Lord. Wouldn't have called on him if he hadn't sent trouble.
O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul. Gracious is the Lord
and righteous, yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth
the simple. I was brought low, and he helped
me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul,
for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. where thou hast delivered
my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from
falling. No wonder he asked himself that
question. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all his benefits to me? As amazing as it is, and
as wondrous as it may be, what a blessed truth. David's testimony
Sounds an awful much like my own testimony of God's dealings
with me. And you too. You too. If we could write a book, if
I could pass out a volume with just blank pages, I mean, And
every believer, start on that first page and write down something
about all God's benefits towards you. Tell us about what God's
done in your life. Tell us about that time when you didn't know
where to turn and you thought your world was caving in. When
you were going down for the third time and you thought to yourself,
surely this is it. The darkness had come and Jesus
wasn't around. How many times? When you were
convinced, this is it. This is it. I'm ready to throw
in the towel. This storm, these waves, I can
handle this. And that's the truth. And then
in that hour, Jesus comes walking on the waves and says, it's me. Don't you be afraid. Huh? Huh? How many times? Don't you be
afraid. I got this. I got this. I sent
the storm. Don't be afraid. Oh my soul, what shall I render? There is the equivalence, so
to speak, of that question in Psalm 116 verse 12. I immediately
thought of one in the New Testament that would just fit side by side
with that in the psalm. And for this cause, God shall
send him strong delusion that they should believe a lie This
is of course in 2 Thessalonians 2, I just read verse 11. That
they all might be damned who believe not the truth. God doesn't
send people to hell unjustly. People talk about unfair, that's
unfair, they're clueless. That they all might be damned
who believe not the truth. That's why God sent them to hell. But had pleasure, had pleasure
in unrighteousness. My soul, if there was ever a
day, it's always been so, but my, a man's blind if he doesn't
see on every hand the things they ought to be ashamed of that
they now glory in. They promote. The laws are passed
to protect them. It's shoved down our face left
and right. And I don't have to tell you
what, I'm sick of it. Tired of it. They can call me
homophobic or claustrophobic or any other phobic they want
to. But that's the day in which we're living. That they all might
be damned. But, are you listening to me,
child of God? But, we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God didn't allow you to be deceived. God didn't allow you to believe
that lie of free will works religion. God wouldn't leave you in that.
Therefore, as David said, what shall I render unto the Lord?
Paul says, we're bound to give thanks. We're obligated. Because
brethren, beloved of the Lord, because God had from the beginning
chosen you to salvation through sanctification and belief of
the truth, or until he called you by our gospel, that glorious
gospel that concerns the Son of God. to the obtaining of the
glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So we see that it wasn't those
sweet experiences. It wasn't those sweet experiences
of grace, as real and as sweet as they were, that David and
every saved, chosen, redeemed sinner called out of darkness
into God's marvelous light. Those sweet times of refreshment,
Oh, can't think of a better word but sweet. When God allows us
to, when he makes us, that's what the psalmist said, and he
makes us or we wouldn't. Lie down beside the still waters. Just lean back and remember. Oh, the Lord's my shepherd. Man, talk about pitch and tent. The Lord's my shepherd. I won't like anything. The Lord's
my, oh, those are such sweet times. But then there are times
like the psalmist described, the billows just rolling over
my head, wave after wave after wave. But where there's sweet
experience of grace, the reality of it, those things, those times are
not what we trust in. Not those gracious times, but
the God of all grace himself. There's a difference. The God
of all grace himself, who did them? What a blessing, what a
comfort those times are. Oh, but to be able to say, as
David said, I have no idea of knowing whether I'll have that
opportunity or not. To realize I'm leaving this world. Wouldn't it be wonderful to be
able to say with our last words, with our last breath as we pass
out of this world. In thee, O Lord, do I hope. And
now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. Bye-bye,
world. Hello, glory. Hello, hello, heaven. And King Jesus says, welcome
home. Welcome home. Listen to these words written
by another notorious sinner whom God was pleased to call out of
darkness and translate into the kingdom of his own dear son. This is taken from his diary.
March the 21st is a day to me to be remembered. I have never
suffered, I have never allowed it to pass wholly unnoticed since
the year 1748 because on that day the Lord sent from on high
and delivered me from deep waters." You may know who wrote that.
That was just a sentence or two out of the autobiography of old
John Newton entitled, Out of the Depths. Out of the Depths,
when he reached out his hand for me. John Newton's most famous hymn
includes these lines, through many dangers, toils, and snares,
I have already come. It is grace that has brought
me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home. The Lord has promised
good to me. His word my hope secures. He
will my shield and portion be, as long as life endures. The
earth shall soon dissolve like snow, the sun forbear the shine,
but God, who called me here below, will be forever mine. When we've
been there 10,000 years, bright shining as the sun, with no less
days to sing God's praise than when we first begun. Oh, yes, indeed, there is a better
day to come. David had his share of trouble
and sorrow. Sin reigned, yes, it did. But
it didn't overreign grace. Oh, my soul. Nathan told her. David, when
the sin he thought nobody knew about, the cover was snatched
off, and Nathan said, you know what, David, you did it in secret.
Oh, but God's, God's gonna do this openly. The sword's never
gonna leave your house. God's gonna forgive your sin,
but you're gonna pay the price. You're gonna suffer. The sword's
never gonna leave your house. And we could go on and on about
that, but the fact is, David had his share of sorrow. Sin
reigned, oh, but grace reigned much more. And the only reason
you and I are here today, it's not because we've reached a state
of sinless perfection, that utter nonsense. Oh no, we sin, we sin
every day. You've often heard it said, I
hope I'm sincere in saying it, there's enough sin right here
in this message I'm trying to preach, there's enough pride,
enough pride, I pray God will help me to glorify your son,
help me to brag on Jesus, and in the back of my mind I'm thinking,
oh, how am I coming to cross? And there's sin in the speaker,
and there's sin in the hearer. Don't tell me. I don't want to
hear it. I know it's not so. Your mind has wandered in 10,000
different directions since we started this earth. Absolutely. And so is mine, so is mine. Oh,
David had faith, no doubt about that, but he had none to spare,
did he? Because the devil was always
trying to snatch it from him. I was down at the parsonage of
the house the other day, and I saw my neighbor, which I often
do, up on the hill, Donald Duck, And he was up on the hill anyway,
so the flood didn't get him. Somebody with the name of Donald
Duck wouldn't have a worry. But I'd
seen him just a week before. Saw him in his backyard and walked
over and was talking to him. And just the last time I saw
him, man, he'd already had two or three surgeries. He had cancer
that turned out to be malignant. And I had to have it removed,
the spot on his face, and right on top of his head. He took all
his cap and showed me, man, the stitches. And I was kind of teasing
him. I said, well, I hope no gray
matter came out of there, because you can't afford that. You can't
afford to lose any. David needed every ounce of faith
he had, and so do you and I. Oh, thank God for grace. In whatever
state, in whatever place, in whatever condition we may be
brought this year, we just don't know. what a day will bring forth,
much less the year. Let us seek grace to follow our
Lord's loving advice and to look up, look up. David, again Psalm
42, Why are you cast down, O my soul? Well, is it any wonder he was
not cast down? The wonder would be if he wasn't.
Is it any wonder we don't get cast down, we don't get discouraged?
Huh? My heart's burdened with the
sense of my shortcoming. Every duty I perform is imperfect. And I'm reading something that
someone else wrote. I wish I'd have wrote it. Every
purpose I form is soon frustrated. Every hope of seeing better days
in this life soon seem to be clouded. My heart is so fearfully
depraved. My life is so unlike the life
of Christ. My temper is so unholy. That's
rock. My prayers are so brief and heartless,
and my praises are so feeble and fitful. I do so little good,
and I live so little purpose. A life of such little purpose,
it seems. My evidences are so dim. My prospects
seem overcast. I'm harassed sometimes with the
fear of death, and I cannot realize the glories of God, even though
I've tried to preach them today. I'm dissatisfied with the world,
and yet I'm glued to it. I talk about holding it with
a loose hand, and sometimes I grip it with all my might. I'm a riddle,
a mystery of inconsistency. Is it then any wonder that the
psalmist said, why art thou cast down, O my soul? Well, thank
God, as we said, that's not the end of the story. What time I
am afraid. Another Psalm, 56 verse three,
verse one, verse one. Be merciful unto me, O God, for
man would swallow me up. He fighting daily oppresseth
me. Mine enemies would daily swallow
me up, for they be many that fight against me. O Thou Most
High, what time I am afraid, I will trust in Thee. I think
I heard Bruce Crabtree in a message he was preaching, make reference
to this psalm, and then he, especially that verse three, what time I
am afraid, I will trust in thee." And he said, oh David, by God's
grace went a step beyond that. Because in verse 11, in God have
I put my trust. I will not be afraid. When I'm
afraid, I'll trust in you. Oh, but if I put my trust in
you, if I trust you like you deserve to be trusted, I won't
even be afraid. Speaking of Bruce Crabtree, I
read this in Donnie Bell's article, Donnie Bell's bulletin, I'm sorry,
by Brother Bruce. Three things I've learned, he
said, yet I find myself needing to be reminded of them. Remembrance. When I make the glory of God
my foremost concern, it doesn't seem to matter if I have little
or much of this world. I'm content. When I make the
worship of God, of Christ my ultimate attraction, I begin
to feel the disconnection from this world and its beauties.
I have found with with this, that the things of earth grow
strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace. And the
last thing, I have found for myself, when I make the service
of his kingdom my chief duty, I just don't have enough time
left to dilly-dally around into the affairs of this life. We may, as I said last week,
come back another time for the rest of the message, especially
since my iPad just froze up. Oh, brothers and sisters in Christ, I know, and I'm with you, trials
hurt. Tears fall. They're real. They're
not pretend. And, like the, was it on the
Wizard of Oz, or was it the Cowardly Lion that closed his eyes? I'm
not afraid he was shaking in his boots. No sense to deny that. Especially when there's a natural
proneness to pour over those things. One feels at times a
secret to indulge in gloomy thoughts. I had a dear, dear relation that
way. And the sad thing is, she seemed
to think It made her look spiritual. She professed to know God. I
knew that woman for years, since I was a child. Growing up until
the day she died. Before God saved me, the only
people I ran to profess to be Christian, she was one. One of
the few. And I looked at her and thought,
my soul of love. If that's what it is to be a
Christian, you can have it. She was one of the gloomiest,
saddest people I ever, day in and day out. Oh, I hope I make
it. Oh, what if we get to heaven?
It's no wonder she was miserable. I didn't understand it at the
time. I really didn't care. But after God saved me, I looked
back, and she thought she was working her way to heaven. No
wonder she was miserable. I talked to her practically on
her deathbed, and she said, oh, Larry, I'm afraid, I'm afraid.
What if I get to heaven? And there's one sin that I forgot
that I didn't repent of. And everything to her was a sin,
touch not, taste not, go not. It was all a sin. And I'll be
cast out. Isn't that heartbreaking? You
know folks like that. Isn't that sad? The brothers and sisters in Christ,
aren't you thankful? Aren't you thankful? Of these
words in Hosea 14 verse 4. This is God's word. I will love
them freely. Freely. You can't buy this. It's free. Free. It comes, this is Brother Donny
Vail. It comes on the blasphemer as
well as the child of God, the sun shining on the just and the
unjust. It falls on the farm of the wicked
as well as the righteous. The rain falls upon the rock
as well as upon the field. Such is the grace of God. It
does not come because we ask it, much less because we deserve
it. His love is always first. He
does not love because Christ died. Christ died because the
Father already loved. He comes from his own infinite
heart of goodness simply because he chose to do so. Thank God
he loves me freely. Donnie said, I can live with
that. Me too. I can live with that. In a couple
weeks, the Lord willing, of this month. I'm scheduled to go out
to Rescue California where Brother John Reeves is the pastor. Gene
Harmon was the pastor there for years. I was supposed to go and
preach in the conference with Brother Clay Curtis and someone
else, but about that time the flood, the second flood came
and I had to cancel. So anyway, the Lord willing,
we'll go out, Robin and I. But I loved, and I think, well
I'm sure, I put this in one of our bulletins. on every one of
their bulletins, on the front page. First on the cover, I like
what's written. Welcome to Rescue Baptist Church.
Sinners are welcomed at this church. We are a local body of
the Lord Jesus Christ. As you spend time with us, you'll
soon discover we're an imperfect church with an imperfect pastor. Yet by God's undeserved grace,
we preach, believe, and know the perfect gospel. and I would
add of our perfect savior, of our never failing Lord Jesus
Christ. We call his name Jesus for he
shall save his people from their sins. Save. Every sinner that trusts in Christ
is completing him, save to the uttermost. And I noticed when
I was reading it, what I hadn't noticed before under that article,
it says copied. So obviously they took it from
another church. And I thought to myself, I would
subscribe my name to that. I would gladly endorse that,
because I'm only a sinner saved by grace. That's all I am. That's
all I am. That's all I'll ever be. God
will have all the glory of saving us. And he will get great glory
by doing so, because we're all sinners. First John 1. Eight, if we say that we have
no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth's not in us. That's
pretty plain, isn't it? That's pretty plain. If we confess
our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us of our sins
and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Oh, yes, Donnie, I can live with
that. If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar,
and his word is not in us. My little children, these things
write I unto you that you sin not, Oh, but we will. We will. What's going to happen
when I sin against the God of mercy and grace? And if any man
sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. We have an advocate. The sinner's
cause is often lost with all his labor, pain, and cost, while
he regrets alas too late that he employed no advocate. No sinner's
cause is worse than mine, but Christ, my advocate divine, appears
before the throne of God and pleads the merit of his blood.
The plea my advocate can use is such as justice can't refuse,
for while he pleads, my soul shall live, and all the praise
to him I'll give. Not all that unbelief can say
shall fright my trembling soul away. I'll tell my advocate my
case and trust the riches of His grace. One more verse for
one more psalm and I'm finished. Psalm 48 verse 14. For this God
is our God forever and ever. He will be our guide even unto
death. Amen. Amen? Amen. God bless you. Thank you for
your time.