The believer has always, it doesn't
make any difference of the time, the seasons, to rejoice. We always have opportunity
to rejoice. And we'll see in this Psalm chapter
20 this morning, same thing. Same thing. The world's going
to pot. What part of the world? But the
believer's confidence is always the same. It's founded in a remarkably
sovereign, remarkably unchangeable Lord. God the Father, God the
Son, and God the Holy Spirit. Let's look at this psalm. And
apparently, according to history and the older writers, they said
that this psalm was written obviously by David, but it was written
about a time or during the time when the Assyrians were about
ready to do battle against Israel. And the Assyrian army was at
that time the most advanced army in the world. So this is the
context of what we're reading here, this Psalm chapter 20. We're going to read the whole
thing and look at one verse. The Lord hear thee, in the day
of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob
defend us. Send us help from the sanctuary
and strengthen us out of Zion. Remember all Thy offerings and
accept Thy burnt sacrifice. Selah. Grant us according to
Thine own heart and fulfill all Thy counsel. We will rejoice
in the salvation and in the name of our God, we will set up our
banners. The Lord shall fulfill all our
partitions. Now, know I that the Lord saveth
his anointed. He will hear him from his holy
haven with the saving strength of his right hand. Some trust
in chariots and some trust in horses. but we will remember
the name of the Lord our God. They, those who trust in horses
and chariots, are brought down and fallen, but we are risen
and stand upright. Save, Lord, let the King hear
us when we call." Now this, as all Psalms could and do talk
about the Lord Jesus Christ, He does hear His people. He saves
His anointed. He saves us, but He saves the
Lord Jesus Christ. And He did all those things,
always did those things that the Father decreed for Him to
do. But I want to look at one verse,
and that is verse 7. Because this, in context of battle
and warfare, which we can take it, we're not being attacked
by the Syrians, but you name it, the flesh, Satan, and the
world, the trinity of evil, it's always pounding hard on the believer. And it's probably, I don't know
of anything more impossible, I'll just say it that way, than
a person to not trust in anything other than Christ. We've got
to add, that's our nature from birth, we've got to add something. And that's why That's why salvation with man
is impossible. But with God, He has to do it
for us. He has to completely strip us. We read something this morning
by Spurgeon or somebody. He said, no man comes to the
Lord erect. Didn't do it the Lord brings
us down because we are so full of ourselves Even after salvation
we got to fight this flesh. That's probably the most difficult
thing to do is to just As Tim James would say to not feed the
wolf just it's very difficult. It's impossible We're gonna look
at verse 7 verse 7 specifically Perhaps this psalm that's written,
this is the day of trouble. The Lord hear thee, verse 1,
in the day of trouble. Well, they're getting ready to
go to war, they're getting ready to go to battle. And the Assyrians
were, as I said, the most powerful and well supplied army at that
time. And just for reference sake,
some trust in chariots and some in horses. According to the law
in Deuteronomy, I think it's 16 or Deuteronomy 17, 16, 16,
17, and back in there, the Israelites were not to have very many horses. And the reason why is because
Egypt was probably the foremost supplier of bred horses, horse
breeding, and once they left Egypt, they were not supposed
to go back. Remember? And that's the arm of the flesh.
As long as I've got this opportunity, I'll just go back to the Egyptians. No, and the Lord did it for their
safety. But they had horses. but they
were outnumbered, they were outmatched. So chariots and horses, this
is what Mr. Spurgeon says, chariots and horses
make imposing shows of strength in the old world, but the child
of grace sees by faith the invincible God as our arm of strength and
thereby considers the name of Jehovah a far better defense. We just need to stop working. We need to stop
working, trying to work our way to heaven. Christ is the only
one that worked his way to heaven and he did it not for himself
but for sinners like you and I. So let us consider this verse. Some trust in chariots and some
in horses. This trusting in as it's put
here in chariots or horses or basically anything besides our
great God it's a utterly foolish errand. And it will lead to a
fool's death. Now, we're born trusting in chariots
and horses, works, religion, government, military. You know, the United States always
had the best military. It's like our military is going
to protect us. Well, not if God is against us. That
is as a nation. Simply put, to put our trust
in anything or anyone other than the Lord Jesus Christ is truly
to depart from the living God. Whether it's riches, whether
it's government, whether it's our intellect, whether it's religion
or other men, all will sink to the lowest parts of hell and
cannot reconcile one person unto God. And I know I don't, but
we don't appreciate the psalm as it's written, in a sense,
because the Syrian army, like I said, they had chariots, and
they had horses, and I was reading the historical accounts, and
they had these scythes, like sickles and scythes on the side
of these chariots, and they would just run through the men on the
ground and just pull them down like grass. So this was an imposing
figure. And so I can imagine the Israelites
were like, you know, can we get a few horses? How about a few
chariots? But no, the believer does not look to the world for
assistance, aid, or supply. Some trust in chariots and some
in horses. Were the Israelites outnumbered?
Yes, they were. Were the Israelites overmatched
humanly, militarily, and numerically? Yes, yes, and yes. But the person
who has Jehovah God for his shield, his righteousness, his peace,
his all in all, his everything, he has everything and more needed
to live a quiet and peaceful life, Isaiah, or that passage
in scripture you read, that's the effect. So a person says,
I have Christ's righteousness, and they're stewing about things
seen or things unseen all the time. Do you have the righteousness
of Christ? Because that righteousness has
an effect, and it's quietness, peace, in a world that is never
peaceful. It's always going to be upside.
It's always going to be contrary. And the older you get, the more
you'll see this. The more you'll see this. Remember, we cannot produce one
good thing in this old flesh. And it wants to cleave to horses
and chariots. That is, works. It wants to cleave
to self. It wants to cleave to its intellect. It wants to cleave to its position.
It wants to cleave to its wallet. First thing, you get into trouble,
I can take care of this. That's why Spurgeon said, you
know, nobody comes to God erect. They can knock us down. And we
need to be. And we continually need to come
and gather together and then read the Scriptures and pray
and acknowledge Him for who He is and what He's done.
Some, some trust in chariots and some in horses. And I see
this all the time. I see this in my family. I see
this in friends. I see this in acquaintances.
They just won't let it go. It is obvious to the believer
what they're trusting in. This but, Christ but, but, but,
but. No, no, no. Christ alone. Christ alone. But the second
part of this message, blessed, here's that but, like in Ephesians,
but God, here it is right here. Some trust in chariots and some
in horses. Would to God He would show us
what we're trusting in and shake us to the core. As He says in
the New Testament, shake us before that last day of shaking. But, but we will remember the
name of the Lord our God. Now, we will remember. This word remember, it means
to mark. It means to meditate. It means
to recognize. We will meditate, dwell upon,
not just on special occasions, and I'm so thankful that, you
know, I mean, I'd like to see visitors, but, you know, Easter,
Christmas, we don't usually have any extra visitors. That's fine.
Just plan to play religion a couple times a year. But we need to
look in our own heart and say, am I playing religion? The believer meditates. It says
in the psalm, meditate day and night. Recognize the name. I looked that up and it's used
a couple of times in this passage. Verse 5, we rejoice in thy salvation
in the name of our God. We set up our banners. Verse
5, the Lord fulfill all our petitions. But this right here, he says,
we will remember, we will meditate, we will mark, recognize the name. That specifically means the position.
Now, if you're a believer, what position does the Lord God hold? Okay, let's go to some other
church here in town. Let's hear what they say about
God. He's kind of like us. He gets mad. You know, more like
the gods of Zeus, And Athena, you know, more like those kind
of gods. He's waiting on you to do something for him. No,
the Lord our God reigns. We will meditate on His position. High, holy, lofty. Like I said several, maybe last
Sunday, Sundays, a couple ago, time ago, the word more often
used in the scriptures about the character of God is holy.
The Holy Bible. He's holy. His position is one
of supremacy, one of sovereignty, and yet also one of grace and
mercy and compassion. I suppose to trust self or our
self-importance or our own works is the most difficult thing.
It's impossible, as I said, for us to identify and reckon with. We can identify pride in everybody
else but ourselves. And that's the truth. So what's
wrong with that person? No, they don't. But time and
time again we are warned about false trust. Let's look at a
few passages. Turn to Deuteronomy chapter 20. Deuteronomy chapter 20. verse 1 the Lord writing to his
people when Deuteronomy 20 verse 1 when now goes out to battle
against your enemies and See his horses and chariots what
we're talking about and a people more than you Don't be afraid
of them. Why? For the Lord thy God is
with you which brought you out of the land of Egypt See, they
understood the gospel back then like we understood the gospel.
We understand the gospel now. There's only one gospel. One
Holy Spirit to quicken them and make the things of God precious
to them. But when you see this, you go
to work Monday, and you see something, and it's a
horse, it's a chariot, just smile and say, but for me, and only
by that grace, I will remember who I serve. I will remember
His position as high and lofty. Isaiah 31. Isaiah 31. I thought Matt was going to tell
on me here. Isaiah 31 and the first verse
there. Woe to them that go down to Egypt
for help. They've got the horses. They've
got the breeding program. And stay on horses and trust
in chariots because they are many. And in horsemen because
they are very strong. But they look not. There it is. They don't look. They don't consider. They don't mark the position
of the Lord. They don't look. They look not
on the Holy One of Israel, neither seek the Lord. So can't we do
that now? You're either for them or you're
against them. And I know our flesh is often against, and that's
the thing. The flesh will never, you can't,
we can't, the flesh, we can't beat it into sainthood. The flesh is always going to
be the flesh. Praise God, He's given us a new heart. We're new
creatures in Christ. And that, it says in the scriptures,
I can't do the things I would. How many times have you wanted
to do something that you know would honor and glorify your
Lord, can't do it. Something comes up, you get hungry.
Something comes up, something distraction. It's just little
things like that. But, woe to them. Woe. And I don't want to hear that
woe. And I don't want to preach the Gospel and myself have never
understood the truth of the Gospel. Jeremiah chapter 7. I'm sorry,
Jeremiah 17. This is a good one. Like the others weren't. They're
all good. Jeremiah chapter 17, verse 5,
6, 7, and 8. Jeremiah 17, Thus saith the Lord, Now it's not a woe, now it's
a curse. Cursed be the man that trusts
in man, and makes flesh his arm, and whose heart departs from
the Lord. For he, that person that does
this, shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not
see when good comes, but shall inherit the parched places in
the wilderness, in a salt land, and not inhabit it. Blessed,
there's the contrast, is the man who trusts in the Lord and
whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree planted
by the waters that spreads out her roots by the river and shall
not see when heat cometh, but her leaf shall be green and shall
not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease
from yielding fruit." Why doesn't the believer act
like the worldling when something bad happens? I'm not going crazy
because even though the world's crazy, we're planted by water. Christ is the living water. We're
planted there. And the roots spread deep and
wide. I've talked to several pastors
and they think basically what's going on in this country right
now is the Lord is sifting His church. Seeing who? In his church. And I'm not talking
about the Methodists, the Lutherans, I'm not talking about free will
works, two religions, Cain and Abel, and that the consensus
seems to be that in the Lord's church he's sifting. He's sifting his people. And I won't disagree with that.
Those who are professors will leave. And apparently quite a
few folks have left over certain things that have gone on. Herein
we stand, we can do no other. That's how I feel. And why do
I stand? Why do you stand? Because it's
grace. It's nothing in ourselves at
all. Not a single thing. And we see in the last verse,
Hosea chapter 14, This is the believer's language, Hosea chapter
14 and verse 3. This is what the believer says, Asher, Hosea 14.3, shall not
save us. We will not ride upon horses,
neither will we say any more to the work of our hands. You
are our gods. For indeed, the Fatherless find
mercy. We know that in Him is mercy. We're not going to trust
in these hands. We're not going to know what
the right hand is, we're going to let the left hand, we're not going to, we're not
going to trust in ourselves. But we're going to trust completely
on the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to say, this is almost,
you know, talking to yourself. And that's what the believer
does a lot of times. Who are you talking to? I'm just talking
to the Lord. Remember, I can't remember who
it was, Hannah, anyway, that she was moving her mouth, but
she wasn't saying anything, and the prophet thought she was kind
of, he said, no, I'm pouring my heart out for the Lord. These all passages are saying
the same thing. To trust, as it is said, to trust
in anything other than Christ is death, but to trust in Christ,
in His position, in His title, in Him is life. With this warfare, as we see
in Psalms, back to Psalms 20, this warfare that's about to
happen, it's the same as our own warfare. And our God, through
the blood and perfections of Christ, makes us to attain sure
victory before the first bow is drawn, before the first sword
is unscathed. We see the victory in Christ.
And you could look at examples. You don't need a turner, but
these examples. Exodus 14, the Red Sea incident. They didn't
have any weapons, the Israelites, they didn't have any weapons.
They were leaving. They were given gold by the Egyptians.
They didn't have any weapons. They weren't skilled. They were
slaves. They weren't skilled in warfare. And they turn around
and here comes one of the greatest armies at that time, the Egyptians.
Chariots, horses, There they are. What did Moses say? Stand
still and see the salvation of God. So he took this insignificant
group, they actually didn't even, they
went through the Red Sea, clean across as on dry ground, I don't
understand that, but it's what it says in the scripture, and
they turned around and they watched this massive army drown. Horses
floating, chariots floating, human beings floating. Another
example, we've talked about Samson. We'll be there in Judges 15 in
a few Wednesdays. Samson used an insignificant
jawbone of an ass and slew 10,000. He slew a lot of people. 1 Samuel 17, David overcoming Goliath. He didn't have any weapons. He
had a sling and some rocks. Judges chapter 7, we've already
seen Gideon. reduced his army of 24,000 to
300, and overcame thousands. How is that possible? He didn't
trust in chariots. He didn't trust in horses. But
he remembered. That's he worshiped. He marked. And every time we gather together,
and when you're at work, you can worship God. Every time you
remember, you mark, you recognize, God for who He is and we for
what we are. That's worship. That's what Gideon
did. And what about twelve men? Turned the whole world upside
down in the book of Acts. Twelve apostles. Shut up! Quit preaching this! Stop it!
We will not have this man to reign over us. And then time
and time and time again, he says, nope, we're going to preach more.
We're going to preach harder, louder and bolder. Twelve men. Armed, I suppose, each one of
these men, really and only with faith, are God and His Gospel. Same with us. Faith in Christ,
which is a gift of God. God Himself and His Gospel, the
truth about what God has done and who He is. Remember, let us therefore then
act like believers and meditate daily upon our Supreme God and
specifically let us mark, recognize His position as the only potentate
in the universe. He controls all things. He reigns
upon His glorious high throne. None can even question His designs,
decrees, or counsels. Let's continually keep our eyes
upon the Savior. pleading forgiveness and seeking
grace to help in time of need. Let us not trust in chariots
or horses, but remember, mark the Lord Jesus Christ. That's
what we're going to do in a little bit, but we do it every time
we gather together. So what's the result of those
who trust in horses? Well, we've seen it, but let's
just say in the passage, verse 8, they are brought down and
fallen. They are brought down and fallen
and never to rise up again. But, there's another contrasting
word, but we are risen and stand upright. We are risen. Now we
fall. I mean, we fall in the flesh. We put our confidence
in the flesh and then something happens. The Lord, however this
phrase, however the old timers would say, He withdraws Himself
for His presence or whatever, because He's always the same.
But we fall. But the righteous are risen up. He keeps us from stumbling, from
falling. And look at this last verse. What a petition for all
occasions. I don't know what to do. I don't
know how to petition the Lord. I don't know if I'm saved. I
don't know if I'm redeemed. Save, Lord, let the King hear us. Let the King hear me when I call. It's a cry for mercy. Even though
we have the Lord of Lords and King of Kings on our side, and
nothing can separate us from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus, save Lord, let the King hear us when we call. Not the
little baby boy in the manger, the little weak-kneed Jesus boy. The King. The King. a petition for every occasion.
Hear us, hear us as we pray our Father. Save us, Lord. I close with a story Mr. Spurgeon
tells. Niagara Falls, Canada. There was two men in a boat,
probably a small boat, and they fell in the water, heading towards
the falls. People on the shore saw it, and
they had a rope, small, insignificant rope. Chucked it out. One guy grabbed
it. Both of them grabbed it, actually.
The rope wouldn't have been very big, but it was anchored to the
shore, attached to the land. The second man also grabbed this
insignificant rope. However, when a large, extremely
large log floated by, he let go of the rope and grabbed the
log because he was thinking naturally. He was trusting in horses and
chariots. This rope, no matter how small
it was, was anchored to the shore. That man survived. The other
man, it says, they never heard from again. Now, the scary thing
about this is these two men, one of them was a barge hand. He knew water. He lived on water. The other man was a coal miner. And guess who grabbed the rope? The coal miner. He cleaved to that log to his
death. Such will be everyone who looks
to anyone, anything other than our blessed anchor to the soul,
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's us by nature. We don't
think. We just react and the flesh reacts. Well, here's this huge log. He
just floated on down over the falls. May God give us the desire
to speak the second half of that verse 7. But we, not boastful,
humbled, but we, I, me, pray that for your children, pray
that for your neighbors, pray that for your family. Oh, may
we, may they see, mark, recognize the supreme, glorious, sovereign
Savior. Bruce would you close?