The 42nd Psalm, it's another
of those Psalms where we see through the psalmist's experience
in type and figure the sufferings and the death of Christ our Saviour. We see the great torment which
Christ felt as he was offered up upon the cross in the place
of sinners. And we see the great opposition
of man unto Christ and all those who are in Christ with very descriptive
language the psalmist writes in verse 10 as with a sword in
my bones mine enemies reproach me while they say daily unto
me where is thy God? where is thy God? as with a sword
in my bones mine enemies reproach me while they say daily unto
me where is thy God? Oh to feel a sword in your bones
what a vivid description of the pain of the sharpness the hatred
caused by the reproach of Christ's enemies. Oh the depth of their
hatred and the pain it causes. It comes at Christ and it comes
at his people like a sword in their bones. Man hates God. and His Son, the Saviour. Fallen man, sinful man, the enemies
of God so hate God, His Son and His people that their hatred
is manifested with such degree that it comes as a sword in the
bones. O child of God, do you know reproach
of your enemies do you know what it's like to have them say daily
unto you where is thy God to mock you to cause you to doubt
that you have a God and a Savior to make you feel like you're
alone and abandoned to make you feel like you've got it all wrong. You live by faith, you look up
in hope unto God to deliver you, yet they come along mocking with
the intent of causing you to doubt all that God has shown
you and all that you have hoped in. Where is thy God? Where is he? You're on your own. There's no God. You've no hope. You're a fool to go in the path
you're going in. Give it up. Join us. Eat, drink and be merry for tomorrow
you die. It's all a lie. It's all fairy
tales. It's all myths. Everything you
hope in. It's for fools from a former
generation. You can't be so foolish today
to really trust in God, can you? You can't be so foolish to really
believe in Jesus Christ. You can't be so foolish to really
think that after death you're going to dwell with God, to really
think it matters. You don't really think that man's
a sinner, do you? You don't really think that there's
a place called hell and that God, if he exists, would be so
angry with sinners that he'd actually cast them into hell
for their sins. You don't really think these
things, do you? And if you do think these things,
if you do believe in your God and you do believe in your Jesus,
where is he? Where is he now? Where is he
when you need him? Why then are you on your own? Why then are there so few like
you? Why has your God left you here
in this situation? Where is thy God? So they come
with their scorn and their mockery. and their hatred and their despising
and their ridicule and they come at you as it were with a sword
in your bones. Have you been there? Do you know
that? The Psalmist did and Christ did. When Christ came into this world,
when He came unto His own, His own received Him not. All men
rejected Him and at the end they all cried out, crucify Him, crucify
Him! Away with this man! We will not
have this man to reign over us. And they beat Him and they scourged
Him. And they nailed Him to a cross.
And they spat on Him. And He died. And they said as
he died, well where is thy God? He said he was the Son of God,
then where's his God to save him when he's dying upon the
cross? He said he was sent of God. He
said he was one with God. Then where's his God when he
needs him most? Where is thy God? they mocked
and they scoffed and they will mock and they will scoff you
child of God and yet when he died his God looked on and the
purpose and the will of his God from eternity was wrought and
completed and brought to pass in fulfilment of all the prophecies
leading up to Christ's coming. And where men thought that Christ
was gone and dead and buried and at his weakest, Christ in
fact wrought his greatest victory and brought about the destruction
of all his enemies. The psalmist opens with these
words. As the heart panteth after the
water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul first if for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God? I shall first live for God for
the living God when shall I come and appear before God how desperate
this is a real first a desperate first the intent need for life-giving
water and a first for the living God
who gives such life and gives the water of life. As the heart
panteth after the water brook, so panteth my soul after Thee,
O God. Here was a man who needed God. He was dead. He was hungry and
thirsty. He needed life. He needed to
drink as it were. But not the water we have on
earth. Not just natural life. Not just
that which brings natural life. But he needed the water of life
from his God. He needed God. and his words
at the beginning of this psalm show his great need of God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. He didn't just want a knowledge
of God. He didn't just want to hear about
God. He didn't just want to know the
facts of God. He needed to know God. He needed
that experience. He needed to drink. He needed
to live. And by nature he knew that he
was dead. And that there was life only
to be found in God through his grace. Now that's what set this
man apart from his enemies. They knew nothing of his God. They knew nothing of the life
that comes from his God. And they knew nothing of their
own state. They weren't thirsty. They weren't hungry. They weren't
desperate to know God. So when this man came amongst
them, they couldn't understand him. What's the matter with you? Where's your God? And if you're
thirsty and you're hungry for God, then where is He? You're
so desperate for God, well where is He? He's not here in you.
He's abandoned you, He's left you. But whatever man said, He knew
he needed God. Do you? Do you know anything of a hunger
and a thirst for the living God? Or are you content with what
you have here in this world? Are you content with what fills
the natural senses? Are you so foolish as to think
that the 70 or so years that you may live in this world if
you're spared and if you're granted good health is all that there
is? Soon you will discover that those
years are fleeting. and will soon pass you by and
then what? Then you stare death in the face,
then the grave beckons you, then your life which was but a vapour
is gone and you have nothing left and if you've no desire
for the living God what have you? Nothing. You're dead. So you may taunt the child of
God and you may mock and you may scoff in your heart and you
may say in your heart there is no God but what have you got? Oh you have a few memories perhaps when you're young you
have a few experiences but soon you'll be old and all you will
have are the memories are the reminiscences looking back but
it's all gone, it's all slipped through your fingers and you
didn't care for God and you didn't seek after life and you weren't
thirsty and it's all gone, well what have you got? Where is your
God? You bowed down and worshipped
many things. You worshipped pleasure. You
worshipped riches. You worshipped your own self
and your own desire and your own will and your own thoughts.
You bowed down and worshipped yourself. Well where is your
God? You set yourself up as a God
and here you are. Age creeping up upon you. Death awaiting you and there's
nothing. And yet man in his darkness will
continually turn unto the children of God, will continually turn
unto Christ and his people and mock and scoff in their folly. But outside of Christ they have
nothing. Has God taught you that there
is nothing outside of Christ? Has he made you hungry? and made
you thirsty? Has he shown you the emptiness
of sin? The emptiness of this world? The barrenness of the desert
through which you pass? Has he made you hungry? Has he caused the sun to shine
and the ground to dry up around you? and what seemed like a green
and peaceful land dries up under the heat of the sun and becomes
desert and what seemed like it was waters have all gone and
all you have is desert and sand and nothing and suddenly you
begin to thirst. Has he shown you your state by
nature and your sin? Has he made you desperate? and
thirsty for life and for the living God. The psalmist goes on, secondly,
my tears have been my meat day and night. My tears. That's all
he had to drink, all he had to eat, his own tears, his own sorrow. 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 multitude. I went with them to the house
of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude
that kept holy day. The psalmist looks back. He has known the presence of
God. The reason he's hungry for God is because he's known him,
he's met him. He knows who God is, he knows
what God is like. He's tasted of this life. that comes from his God. And
he's gone in the past with others, with the multitude, with the
people of God. He's gone into the presence of
God, into the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise,
with a multitude that kept holy day. He's gone there. He can
look back. He can look back at his life
and remember, there was a day when I went with them, and where
we met, and where we met with God, and where we heard God.
and we brought the voice of joy and praise before him and there
was God but now I'm alone now that's just a memory now
my God seems afar off he looks back but now there's nothing
and he's thirsty and all he can consume are his own tears all
he has to drink comes out of self and his own sorrow and in
his desperation he's eating himself up as it were because he's looking inwardly and the more you drink your own
tears when God seems to remove himself And when your enemies
gather around and mock and scoff and say, well, where's your God?
Where's he gone? Where's he gone now? He's not blessing you now,
is he? Oh, you might say one day this
and that happened, but where is he now? You're alone now. The more they scoff and the more
desperate you become, the more inclined you will be to look
inwardly. and to drink your own tears,
and to be cast down. So the Swami says, when he finds
himself in such a state, 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. He finds himself
by these circumstances cast down and he realises I've been cast
down and yet I know my hopes in God, I know I won't find it
in self, I know that I can be alone, I know that the taunts
of my enemies mean nothing. Why am I listening to them? Why
does it matter that I'm alone? Why does it matter that God seems
afar off? I know that there is a God and
I know what he's done for me in the past and I know that he
will hear me one day. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? I shall yet praise him and his faith rises up in the
midst of trouble when everything seems like it's come to disaster. when everything seems to be as
bad as it can be. Everyone's abandoned him. There
used to be others who he walked with as brother and sister. There used to be others who he
spoke with about Christ and his salvation. There used to be others
who would meet with him and hear him. But now even they have abandoned
him. And his enemies rise up and say,
where's your God? Where are you now? And he's caused
to be cast down. But his faith, if there's faith,
from the depths rises up. It will not leave him there.
Natural faith would. if all he ever had was a natural
consent to the truth, if all he'd ever heard were the facts,
then as soon as he's put through the fires, as soon as he's brought
in the desert, as soon as God withdraws, as soon as people
go away, as soon as the multitude, the congregation has deserted
him, as soon as he finds himself in the midst of trouble on his
own, if all he ever had was a knowledge and a natural understanding.
If all he'd ever heard was the gospel in the letter in word
only then he would be crushed. But true faith, God-given faith,
that faith that the Spirit puts in the heart within, that work
of God that brings forth life out of death, that causes dead
sinners like you and I to hear the gospel and live, that faith
which brings us firstly before the living God, that faith which
makes us live, will never die. And in the depths, in the very
depths, when naturally we'd be cast down, when naturally we
would give up, faith rises up and says unto self, and says
unto our cast down soul, in the midst of trouble, it says unto
self, why are you cast down? Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? And why art thou disquieted in
me? Who are you listening to? Are
you listening to self? Are you listening to the enemies
of God? Or are you listening for Christ? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him for the help of his countenance. I shall yet
praise him. fourthly the psalmist goes on
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 miser my soul is cast down therefore will i remember thee
from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites and from the hill
Mizah. What's the answer to being cast
down? To look up by faith and remember
God. He'd been brought there. The
continual cries of his enemy and the continual panting after
the water brooks The continual solitude, the continual trial,
will bring you there. But the child of God, through
faith, remembers. He remembers. He sees his soul
cast down. He sees the desperate situation
that he's in. And he says, therefore, as a
consequence, I will remember my God. Out of the land of Jordan,
in whatever circumstance I'm in, out of the Hermonites and
the hill of Miza, even though I'm in desperate straits, from
that place I will look up by faith and I will remember thee
my God. That's the answer. Now child
of God are you cast down? Are you bruised? Are you battered? Are you alone? Do you look upon
the state of the church? Do you look upon the state of
the world? Do you feel oppressed? Do you
look upon your own soul? Do you look upon your own natural
state? Do you look upon your own sin
and feel like you're a worthless creature? Yes, you love God. Yes, you've known God. But every
day you fail Him. Every day you feel the apathy
and the coldness in your heart. Every day you wonder that God
could have anything to do with you. Surely He would cast you
out. you're worthless there's no good
in you and you despair when you see your sin you despair when
you find yourself reacting to circumstances in ways you didn't
think you would react you see the sin manifest you see the
anger and the impatience and the frustration and you're cast down but if you are Where are you
going to look? Where's the answer? Where's the
hope? If you're God's, you cannot and
you will not give up. You cannot and you will not consent
to the cry of the enemies. Where is thy God? Because you
have an answer. and when they say where is thy
God you will say yes he's in the heavens he's done all things
well and I will remember him and I may feel alone, I may feel
abandoned, I may feel like he's not hearing my cries but I know
he's there and I know that this trial that seems to go on for
years is but a light affliction that's but for a moment and it
worketh in me a far greater weight of glory I know he's doing it
for my good, he will hear and in the end i will be delivered
and in the end i will be raised up i will remember my god therefore
will i remember thee from the land of jordan faith rises up
it looks up even from the worst of situations and the psalmist
goes on here in verse 7 to speak of the worst of situations fifthly
he speaks Here in verse 7, in figure of the depths of suffering
at the cross. As a man he was brought to fill
depths of suffering. But it was to teach him something.
what Christ suffered and you child of God will know what it
is to be cast out by many. You'll know what it is to be
cast out by the world, you'll know what it is to be cast out
by the religious, you'll know what it is to be cast out by
friends and family. It's the common path of the child
of God to know what it is, to be deserted because God will
have you to understand and to empathize with what his son suffered
for you, that he should deliver you from your sins. He'll bring
you to feel in measure something of what Christ went through to
deliver you and save you and by so showing you the depths
to which his son had to stoop, by so showing you something of
what his son suffered, your love for him will be kindled. You
cannot comprehend what Christ went through to deliver you unless
you've been there yourself. So the psalmist was shown and
the psalmist felt and the psalmist describes here what Christ felt
during the judgment of God against sin upon His Son at the cross. 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. Here is where faith is seen. When all the waves of God's judgement
are gone over. When Christ was plunged into
the darkness upon the cross, when God's wrath was kindled
because of the sins of His people that Christ bore, when Christ
was made to be sin in their state, and God poured down His anger
and His fury from on high, the deep called unto the deep at
the noise of his waterspouts when the waters came crashing
down upon Christ when he as it were as the as the ark in which
Noah and his family were delivered when that ark was lifted up upon
the waters and the rains of God's judgment came down upon it and
the waters went over it Christ felt the judgment and the deep
called unto the deep because even in that depth of suffering
he was God's son and the son loved the father and even though
the father's hand was gone out against his own son because of
the sin And because of the righteousness of God in judging sin, even though
God's anger was set upon his own son, the son's faith remained. His love for his God, his Father,
could not be broken. And the depths of his heart cried
out unto the depths of God, the Father's heart. Deep calleth
unto deep. all thy waves and thy billows
are gone over me. Here is where this faith is seen. If you want to see the faith
of Jesus Christ, if you want to see the faith of the believer,
you will see it in the worst of situations. It's when Christ
went down into the depths of suffering. It's when he was nailed
to the cross. It's when he was in the darkness.
It's when the fires and the rains of God's wrath poured out upon
him and when he was as far off as he could be. Then his faith
rose up and cried, God remember me. And you, child of God, your
faith, truly tested, will be seen when you're in such a state. When everyone's abandoned you,
when all natural hope is gone, when everything is as bad as
it could be. Then, even then, your faith will
look up and deep will cry out unto deep. And even though the
waves of God and his billows appear to have gone over you,
you'll still cry out, Lord help me, help me, remember me. Because your love for your God
and your faith will remain. These are the circumstances that
make faith visible. It's easy to speak of faith in
a pleasant time. It's easy to say this person
has a strong faith when everything's going their way. It's easy to
speak of people of faith when they're all gathered with the
congregation and all going as a multitude on holy day to the
house of God and all is well. It's easy to be supported by
everybody else's faith. or supposed faith. It's easy
to seem like you've got faith then but that's not faith. Faith
is seen when all else is gone, when all natural help is gone,
when you're in darkness, when it's desperate, when you're in
the worst of places, the worst of times. Deep. Call if unto deep. at the noise
of thy waterspouts all thy waves and thy billows are gone over
me this for Christ was the worst of times it was also the best
of times and child of God when you're in the deepest of trial
for you it will be the worst of times but it will also be
the best of times You will know your God and his help when you're
brought through such a trial. And your faith will be brought
to shine when you're brought through that pathway. And the psalmist proved it. He
says, yet the Lord will command His loving kindness in the daytime
and in the night His song shall be with me. In the night, in
the darkness, His song shall be with me. And my prayer shall
be 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? Here he is in the worst of times,
in the night. He feels forgotten. He's mourning because of the
oppression of the enemy. He feels their hatred as a sword
in his bones. And in the darkness they say
where's thy God? The worst of times and yet the
best of times. See sixthly here we see Christ
in the night upon the cross. with a sword in his bones a sword
of his enemies cutting through him and a sword at the same time
of God's righteous judgment of God's justice slicing through
him because of the sin that he bore oh what a sword it's one
thing to feel the sword of his enemies It's another thing to
feel the sword of his father in justice striking him. See Christ in the night to you.
See him in the darkness. See him in his suffering. See
him saving sinners such as you and me. See the price. See what it cost him. see the
pain, see the length, see the quiet, see the agonising hours,
the eternity contracted to a span, the eternity of God Droth passing
over him as billows of water that rushed above and below,
see the deep calling unto deep, see the faith of Jesus Christ
in the midst. Where is thy God they said as
they mocked Christ at the cross as the enemies of God walked
past Christ and taunted him and mocked him and scoffed him and
said where is his God? He said he's the son of God.
He made himself equal with God, well where's his God now? Why
doesn't he just call a legion of angels to take him down? And
they laughed and they mocked. Oh the agony. Oh the pain. As with a sword in my bones. Do you feel the same hatred?
Have you tasted something of the same opposition? Do you feel
the darkness that sin brings? Do you feel the darkness that
your sin has brought? Do you feel the separation between
you and God that your sin has brought? Christ was plunged into
darkness because of that sin. Because of that sin of his people.
Has your sin brought you into darkness? Is God afar off? Do you feel a sword in your bones? Has God put faith in your heart
to look up out of the darkness out of the depths out of the
sorrow away from the sword under He who brings salvation in the
midst of that suffering Christ's faith shone it shone oh won't
you see the most important moment in history and the most important
quality of a man Here's the man, the just man, the righteous man,
the son of man, the son of God, the man of faith. Here's the
just who live by faith and here's the faith of Jesus Christ shining
out of the darkness. When all men deserted him, when
he was in darkness, when his own father was thrust in a sword,
through him because of the sins that he bore as the substitute
and sacrifice of his people. That moment in the darkness his
faith shone and it's that faith and out of that faith that brought
salvation. There's no salvation apart from
that faith. There's no salvation apart from
the faith of Jesus Christ, for it's that faith that manifested
the righteousness of God in judgment, it's that faith that took him
to that place, it's that faith that caused him to bear that
sin, it's that faith that brought about that transaction where
he bore the sins of his people that they through him might be
made the righteousness of God. It's that faith that took him
through the darkness to the other side. It's that faith that gave
him the hope to endure. It's that faith that brought
about the salvation of all his people. And have you seen that
faith? And has He given you that faith? Has He given you the same faith? The same faith of the Son of
God? Has He given it to you to endure
the darkness and to endure the pain and to endure the suffering
and to endure the trial? So that you should no longer
be cast down but that you should look up and hope in God. For
he rises up in faith at the end. Seventhly, his hope was in 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. Though he went to this place,
Though it brought him down, he hoped by faith in God. and he knew that he would yet
praise his God who is the health of his countenance. He knew all
his hope was in his God. God would raise him up. God would
deliver him. God would bring him forth. He
would rise again on the third day and he did rise again on
the third day and he came forth victorious with all his people. having blotted out their sins
in the darkness, having taken up and swallowed up the judgment
of God, having taken the sword of God's justice, having drunk
the cup of God's wrath to the dregs, he rose up the third day
and his hope was in God and he praised his God. he led his people
out of death into everlasting life out of sin into everlasting
righteousness he led his people into the presence of the living
God and he said unto that people first no more take of the water
of life and live forever never be cast out hope in God
and He brought them in and He saved them. Thou shalt call His
name Jesus for He shall save His people from their sins and
He did and He has and He does. Has He saved you from your sins? Has He put faith in your heart?
Has He brought you through this place to trust and rest in God? Where is thy God, thine enemy
say? In glory! on the throne with
a victorious son and saviour with all his people gathered
around the throne throwing their crowns before him and praising
him forevermore. Is that where you're going to
be with them? Never to be separated, never
to be cast down, never to be put back in darkness but to dwell
in light forevermore. Is that where you are? Is that
where you're going? As with a sword in my bones,
mine enemies reproach me, but for a moment. They say daily
unto me, where is thy God? But those days come to an end. And the child of God with Christ
enters into that day, the day of the Lord, the Lord's day,
where the light never goes, where there's no more darkness and
no more night, where there's an everlasting day, an endless
day. where there is no more cry of
the enemy, where's thy God? For thou dost dwell with God,
the living God forevermore. And the enemies of God have been
separated. Separated the goats from the
sheep, the righteous from the wicked. Separated, never to be
mingled again, never to be brought into contact again. The people
of God will live and reign with him forevermore, are you with
them? Do you hunger to be with them? Do you long to be with
them? Do you long to be with their God? Are you with them?
Has God given you faith to look and to rest in Christ thy Saviour? 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. Amen.