in thy hot displeasure, for thine
arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. Before those two verses even,
we have a title at the beginning of this psalm that we usually
don't look at, the titles. It'll often tell you who wrote
it, not always. I understand it's not part of
the original text of the psalm, But it wasn't added by the translators
either. It's ancient titles that were
written by somebody a long, long, long time ago that apparently
knew what they were writing. But this is the Psalm of David
to bring to remembrance. And I got to thinking about that.
Remembrance is important in scripture. In 1 Corinthians 15, 1, Paul
said, Moreover, brethren, I declare unto you the gospel which I preached
unto you, which also you have received, and wherein you stand,
and by which also you're saved, if you keep in memory what I
preached to you. Don't forget, unless you've believed
in vain. You remember what Peter said.
I've quoted this often, because I think about it. I think about
what I'm doing and why. Peter said, I won't be negligent
to put you always in remembrance of these things. I hope I won't
be either. I don't want to be negligent
of that. Let's not get off on issues and current events and
things. Let's just remember what our
Lord did, who he is, and what he did for us. He said, as long as I'm in this
tabernacle, Though you know these things, and I know that you're
established in the present truth. I know that's true of many of
you. Should I preach, you know, one time to the new believer
and then maybe next Sunday to the... No, the ones who are established
in the truth are just wanting to hear the same thing. The same
thing that the new babe in Christ is wanting to hear. We have one
Lord, one faith, one hope of your calling. He said, I know
your steps. I know you know these things,
but, but he said, I think it meet. I think it's proper and
right. As long as I'm in this tabernacle,
as long as I'm here with you to stir you up by putting you
in remembrance, knowing that shortly I must put off this,
my tabernacle. That's going to be short for
any of us, all of us, even as our Lord Jesus Christ has showed
me. Moreover, I will endeavor that you may be able after my
decease to have these things always in remembrance. If I can
do something about it, I'm going to make sure that after I'm gone,
somebody's reminding you of him and his almighty love and grace.
First Corinthians 11, 24, when our Lord had given thanks, he
break that bread and said, take this and eat it. This is my body,
which is broken for you, this do in remembrance of me. And after the same manner also,
he took the cup and when he had supped, he said, this cup is
the new covenant in my blood. This do ye as often as you drink
it in remembrance of me. Remember. The amazing thing about you and
I is that we tend to forget what we need to remember, but we also
have a hard time forgetting what we need to forget. Boy, we're
messed up, aren't we? There's some things I ought to
just forget. I can't change them. I can't do anything about it.
Just forget it. Can't do it over. I can't forget it, though, can
I? And I forget so easily the things
that are so, so important. In this psalm, David remembers
his own sin. It'd be good for us to remember
what we are. We shouldn't dwell on past specific
sins. Like I said, we can't change
them. We can't do anything about it. But the Lord has a way of
reminding us what we are. And that's good. And one of the ways he does that
is by his word, by this Psalm, for one thing. David said in
Psalm 51.3, I acknowledge my transgressions and my sin is
ever before me. I can't forget it. I'll never
forget it. It's always before me. That can be good and bad. That can be a lack of faith.
If we dwell on our sin, if we look to ourselves for any hope,
we won't find any. We know that. If we look to ourselves
for any improvement, we're not going to see any. This flesh
doesn't improve. I forget who I was talking about just this
past Sunday about that. This flesh ain't getting better.
It's not getting better, it's getting worse. It's getting worse. It's getting harder and harder
to overcome this flesh. We tend, as we get older, unless
the Lord's gracious now, to become even less patient and more bitter
and quicker to anger Because we don't necessarily
always feel real good. You know what I mean? And that
can have a bad effect. The flesh ain't getting any better. I thank the Lord for his grace. That he reminds us what we are. Notice verses 1 and 2. We read
them there. Don't rebuke me, Lord, in your
wrath, neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. We don't
want to deal with our children when we're angry with them, do
we? Let it cool down a little bit, and then if they need a
whooping, give them a whooping. But don't, not necessarily always
good to do it when you're mad. And David's asking for that.
Not only does he not want what he deserves for his sin, sure
enough, but more than that, he asks God not to deal with him
in his anger. And we don't want him to deal
with us as he does with the wicked, and he doesn't. Listen to the
way... ...what he's worthy of, what
he deserves, what he requires from us. It'll scare you. Because you wouldn't think of
this as being the way things are. Have you experienced this?
David said, Lord, your arrows are sticking in me. What a picture
that is. Can you even imagine that? And he said, your hand is pressing
me sore. What that literally means is your hand is pushing
me down. We're not ever going to suffer
the eternal consequences of our sin. We know that. Never, never. Our Lord has taken our sins and
all of their punishment. But the Lord lets us feel some
of the temporal consequences of our sin to remind us what
sin is and what we are, what we're made of. And to cause us
to come and lean upon Him all the more. And to trust Him all
the more. And to appreciate Him all the
more. His precious blood is more and more precious as our flesh
does get... a lot better when we experience
it, don't we? You know that's right now. When we are free of
trouble for a little while, we tend to get proud. We tend to
start thinking pretty good about ourselves because, you know,
everything's going right. And the Lord has to do what? Just
what David said, bring us down. Bring us down, push you back
down where you belong. Because you're not really coming
up, you just think you are. And he has to adjust our thinking. Now shooting arrows into David,
that seems a little extreme, doesn't it? But let's remember
a couple of things about this. That's David's perception of
it. has ever said to one of his sheep
I'm gonna shoot my arrows into you that's that's what it felt
like to David that's his perspective on it and also this I know this whatever
this is faithful are the wounds of a friend whatever the Lord
does to bring us down whatever he thorn in the flesh that he
puts there and refuses to take away as he did Do we acknowledge that every
day? Look what he said. There's no soundness in my bones,
in my flesh, because of thine anger, neither is there any rest
in my bones, because Soundness in my flesh because
of thine anger neither is there any rest in my bones because
of my sin his anger and my sin are interchangeable in those
two parallel phrases there because It's my fault and let's remember
now God does get angry in a sense with his people you remember
when Moses the Lord spoke to him from the bush that was burning
and was not consumed and And the Lord said, here's what's
going to happen. I've heard the cry of my people, and I've come
to save them. He didn't make excuses, did he? He said, but
Lord, I can't even talk right. I pray you, Lord, send somebody
else. Tell me who you'll send. Not
me, not me. And the Lord, finally, he kept making excuses. And the
Lord, it says, the wrath of, or not the wrath, the anger of
the Lord was kindled against Moses. And he said, you're going
to do it. I'm going to go with the anger
of the Lord with his people at times. But this is not the anger
that the Lord has for those who are not his. When it says he's
angry with the wicked every day. God's wrath against all of the
sin of all of his people, all of his sheep for all time was
poured out on his son, their substitute. And there is therefore
now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. We're not
going to suffer. Are you weary and heavy laden?
You know who he was talking to? People like this who know, who
realize their sin before God and His holy law is too much
for us to bear. That's why he said in verse 15,
in thee, O Lord, do I hope. If this is on me, it's not going
to end well. I'm hoping in you. My trust is
all in you. Look at some of the ways that
David describes his sin condition here in these first verses. No
soundness, verse three, and no rest. You know, the first thing
that popped in my head when I read that, Before thinking about how
true that is of us by nature and what a terrible condition
that is, the first thing that popped in my head is this. What
a blessed condition. Because if you can rest in your
iniquity and sin, you're in big trouble. But if you can't rest
there, alienated from God, the prodigal son, he couldn't be
happy, could he? He said, look where I am. I'm
eating what the pigs eat, and there are servants in my father's
house that fare better than me. He couldn't rest there. He couldn't
stay. He had to go. He had to go home. God. I need God. If you have
20-40 vision, you need glasses. But if you're blind, you need
a miracle. Now which is it? You that know
this book at all, which is it according to God's word? But if you're dead, you need
God. Which is it? You hath he quickened which were
dead. Thank God for his power. Scripture don't pull any punches.
He probably smelled fine to those around him, but he smelled it.
Do you? Have you smelled yourself? And
again, this is grace now. This is grace if you can smell
your own filth. And we know the Lord can smell
it. You know what the first thing
Noah did was when he stepped out of that ark on dry land?
It says he built an altar unto the Lord and took of every clean
beast and of every clean fowl and offered burnt offerings on
the altar. And the Lord smelled the sweet
scent of the earth. And he did not again curse the
ground anymore. No more curse because I smell. All I smell
is sweetness. You know what he smelled that
day? It wasn't the burning animal he smelled. It was... Not only do I acknowledge my
sin, and I can't forget it, I'm troubled. I'm bowed down
greatly. I go mourning all the day long. Mourning all the day. Boy, David
sure sounds like a... You know what the word blessed
means? It means happy. It means doubly happy. So what
that beatitude there says is, happy are they that are sad.
Does that make sense to you? It makes perfect sense, doesn't
it? To those that know him, we're
troubled over our sin, but boy, when the Lord brings you to that
place where you're heavy laden, like David said, and you're sore
troubled over your sin, you're mourning. Blessed are they that
mourn. You know why? Because they're going to be comforted.
That's why they're happy. That's why the sad ones are happy.
Because when you're sad, the Lord will comfort you with regard
to your sin. And you know how he does that.
By that same precious blood, by Christ crucified, by the message
of his grace and love in the Lord Jesus. Some disease that has to do,
of course, with you can't get a clean thing out of an unclean.
Adam's loins were diseased, and so were mine, and so will whoever
is born of me, if any, and you, if any. There's no soundness,
no soundness in my flesh. He repeats that from verse three.
No aspect of our nature, he said, I'm feeble and sore broken. No
aspect of our nature, our the things that I do you compare
scripture with scripture of course but one of the things you can
do too is look at the original word listen to what he said you're
feeble and sore broken the word feeble there means numb have
you ever just been numb I understand that a little bit and sore broken
means crushed sin is just it's who know what their condition
is. They're going to cry to the Lord. They're going to flee to
the rock. They're going to seek refuge. They're going to seek the only
one that can heal, the only one that can give life. And he said,
by reason of the disquietness of my heart, the groaning of
my heart. Paul talked about that, didn't he, in 2 Corinthians 5.
He said, we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened. He's talking about exactly the
same thing David is, exactly. Oh, but here's hope, verse nine.
The Lord, all my desire is before thee. I'm not miserable. I mean, I'm miserable, but I'm
not miserable alone. The Lord knows about it. I'm
worthless and vile, but I'm not by myself. My groaning is not
hid from thee. The Lord knows about it. The
Lord is aware. He's not far. Not only does the
Lord see our secret sins and desires, but I believe that David
is saying here also, I openly lay all of this before you. My
desire is before thee. I'm putting it before you. And
that's important too now. John said, if we confess our
sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us our sin. He's not
waiting on us to do it. He causes us to do it. He brings
us to that place. But that's part of it, isn't
it? That's part of His providence in helping us and comforting
us and giving us peace through Christ. He brings us to that
place where we say, Lord, I'm vile. I'm wretched. Look at me. Have mercy on me. We don't hide
our sin from Him. We confess. He's faithful if
we do, and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from
all unrighteousness. Faithful, I understand. I understand
that about God, don't you? He's faithful in whatever He
does. But just to forgive sins? There's some gospel there, isn't
there? Of course, every word is gospel in His book. But listen
now, wouldn't it be just of Him to punish sin? That's what just
would be. Just to forgive? Then there's
something, there's some reason for that. It would be just to punish sin,
but not in Christ. Because in Christ Jesus, God
is just to forgive us because Christ satisfied his justice
by living for us and dying for us. By living as our perfect
representative and dying as our substitute, our sin offering.
This is how he can pray with authority from the cross. Father,
forgive them. Faithful and just to forgive.
He can say, Father, forgive them because it's just of God to do
it because he's shedding the precious blood that makes it
just for God to do it. And so we confess our sins, believing
that through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, as Paul said
in Romans 3, God can be just and justify us, forgive us. We have forgiveness through his
blood. And then in verse 10, David said, my heart panteth.
My strength faileth me, as for the light of my eyes, it is also
gone from me. What was David's heart panting
for? He said, my heart panteth. He said in Psalm 42, 1, as the
heart, H-A-R-T, not H-E-A-R-T, the heart, the little deer, panteth
after the water brooks. He's been running in the field
and playing, or chasing does or something. And he's thirsty
and he's panting. He's got to go get something
to drink. As that little deer pants after the water brook,
so panteth my soul after thee, oh God. That's a beautiful picture,
isn't it? My heart panteth. And my strength
faileth me. We saw that in verse four. I
can't do anything about this. I'm out of my depth. But not
only that, but the light of my eyes, the light of my, as for
the light of my eyes, it's gone from me too. We don't trust things
to be the way we see them. We need his light. My light is
darkness, unless it's his light. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet
and a light unto my path. Now in verses 11 and 12, we haven't
read through this, so let's read them. My lovers and my friends
stand aloof from my sore, and my kinsmen stand afar off. They
also that seek after my life lay snares for me, and they that
seek my hurt speak mischievous things and imagine deceits all
the day long. We see how others related to
David in this. Okay, he's cried out to God.
This is between him and God, but what about everybody else?
And he mentions in these two verses his friends and his enemies,
two classes of people. Those that love me and are my
friends, They're no help to me. They can't do anything for me. But also those who hated him,
they saw his trouble as an opportunity. Oh, this is what he said in Psalm
142, for he said, I looked on my right hand and beheld, but
there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed me. No man cared
for my soul. Isn't that the truth? Now I know
as believers, fellow believers, we care for one another, we love
one another, we're concerned for one another, we pray for
one another. He's talking about the world now. He said, no man cared for my
soul, and so what did he do? I cried unto the Lord. And said, you're my refuge. Isn't
that beautiful language? He said right before that refuge
failed me. I couldn't find any refuge in
this world. And so I looked up and said, Lord, You're my refuge. And my portion. In the land of
the living. Nobody cares about me but him.
That's okay. If he cares. If he loves me. Many take refuge and solace in
this world. That's the lesson here. Isaiah
31.1, he said, woe to them that go down to Egypt for help. The
world. And stay on horses and trust
in chariots because they are many and in horsemen because
they are very strong But they look not unto the holy one of
israel Neither seek the lord you're gonna do one of the other
you're gonna trust him And you're gonna look to egypt and trust
in men or You're gonna seek him In verse 13 he said but I as
a deaf man heard not And I was as a dumb man that openeth not
his mouth Thus I was as a man that heareth not and in whose
mouth are no reproofs. What's he talking about? He's
saying I shut my ears. I was as a deaf man to what?
Well, we saw it there in verse 12. At the end of it, they that
seek my hurt speak mischievous things and imagine deceits all
the day long. We know that the enemies of the
Lord have a lot to say, don't they? They got a lot to say about
us and about him. And David said, I'm not listening.
I'm like a deaf man. And this, you have to read verses 13 and
14, not only with verse 12 in mind, because that's what he's
deaf to, the things that the mischief, the mischief that the
enemies of the Lord speak, but also with verse 15 in mind, because
look what it says. He said, I, I'm not going to
hear him. I refuse to hear or say anything
But I'm hoping in you, Lord, you'll hear them. You'll hear.
You'll hear them and you'll hear me, as you said, in the next
verse. So you see how you have to kind of, you have to look
at these verses individually as good, one at a time and systematically. And let's think about this for
a while before we bite off more than we can chew. But you have
to see how they relate to one another too. He turned a deaf
ear to everything that the enemies of the Lord were saying. Two
things about this, and of course, he pictures our Lord Jesus in
this and in all of this. As the Lord bore our sin, it
was, it crushed his soul. And that word crushed is used
in Isaiah 53 regarding our Lord. It pleased the Lord to do what?
To bruise him. That word means crushed. You
look it up. So he pictures our Lord in all
of this. But here, when he was reviled, our Lord Jesus Christ,
it says he reviled not again. That's what David's saying here.
They're saying so many things about me and things that could
affect me, things that other people might believe. But I'm
not going to worry about it because the Lord hears what they're saying.
I don't need to hear it. I don't need to worry about it.
I don't need to recognize it or respond to it. The Lord will
settle it. That's so comforting to me. Aren't
you glad you don't have to straighten everything out in this world?
Set the record straight. He hears it. That and also, as I said, as
a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so our Lord Jesus opened
not his mouth. But also, as I said, these two
verses are leading up to verse 15. You see that word for in
verse 15, for in thee, O Lord, do I hope. That's why I don't
have to worry about them. Let them say what they're going
to say. Because I'm hoping in you and you'll hear, oh Lord
my God, nothing escapes his notice. My hope is not in winning the
debate. My hope is not that earthly justice will prevail. That may
never happen. There's not going to be justice
in this world. In the affairs of men, you know
what I'm saying, the Lord's going to straighten it all out eventually.
There will be. Every sin will be punished. Every
crooked way made straight. Every high place made low. My hope is not in justifying
myself before men. My hope is not in justifying
myself at all. My hope is not in convincing
men that I'm right and they're wrong. Thou wilt hear, O Lord
my God. I can pretend that I do not hear
them, because you, Lord, hear everything, and you'll do what's
right. All judgment is committed unto the Son, and I'll tell you
this, no flesh will be justified by the deeds of the law. Romans
3.20, not in his sight, where it counts. But if he died for
me, I can say, who is he that condemneth? He hears my accusers, and also
look at the next verse. As I said, he said, you hear
them, but you also, Lord, you hear me too. For I said, hear
me, lest otherwise they should rejoice over me when my foot
slippeth. They magnify themselves against
me. And the verse like this, now
you think about that. One of two things is gonna happen,
David said here. One of two things is gonna happen.
God is going to hear me or I lose. It's that simple. They're going
to rejoice over me. They're going to magnify themselves
over me and I'm going down. Or the Lord is going to hear
my cry and come and save me. For I'm ready to halt. I've come
to the end of my rope. Isn't that what that means? If
you ever, if you come there, I tell you this, if you've never
come to the end of yourself, to the end of your resources
and your ability, then you're not saved. You don't know the
Lord. I'm going to say, that's where you're coming. I'm done. I'm done. My sorrow is continually
before me. For I will declare mine iniquity,
I'll be sorry. And we're not just done, this
is important now, repentance. Judas, Judas was sorry, but he was just sorry for the
consequences of his sin. He said that Esau, he sought
for repentance and couldn't find it. You know why? Because you
don't get repentance by seeking that way. by looking for it on
your own, by looking for it in yourself, in your own heart.
It's not there. It's God's gift. He had no repentance. He was
sorry for the consequences of what he did. But David said then,
I'm sorry for my sin, not its consequences. And he didn't say,
I'm sorry for my sins. I am. I'm sorry for what I've
done. But more than that, I'm sorry
for my sin. Have you ever been just flat
sorry for what you are? I'll tell you what, that's rock
bottom right there. I'm sorry for what I am. It's
my fault. And I'm sorry. But my enemies are lively. They're
not sorry. They're not worried about their
sin. And they're strong. And they that hate me wrongfully
or multiply, they also that render evil for good are mine adversaries. Because, here's why, and this
is what I kinda wanna dwell on in this verse. Because I follow,
notice the thing that and is are all in italics. What that
really reads there in the original is because I follow good. And
we know who that is. We're not following some principle
around, we're following somebody. The Lord's my shepherd, we follow
the shepherd. That's what sheep do. Why do
the believers' enemies hate him? Matthew 10, 22, our Lord said,
you shall be hated of all men for my name's sake. Because I follow him, that's
why they hate me. Otherwise, they wouldn't have
any problem with us. But he that endureth unto the
end shall be saved. People hate you because of him
if they do. I guarantee you, if they know much about your
Lord, about who your Lord is, about your own confession or
whatever, and many don't, we don't go around just casting
pearls, do we? But those who By whatever providence
of our Lord knows something about who my Lord is. They hate him
unless they know him. We all do. Until we don't. Until we know him. And they don't like me much either.
Because of him. That's just the way it is. He
said it would be that way and it is. Does that bother you?
I pray that this will be my reaction to that. the hatred of men because
of him. Now I don't want people hating
me because I'm an idiot, which I am. I try to hide that because
I don't want people hating me for it. Or because I'm rude or
do them wrong. That's not good. It's not just
that people hating you is a good thing. Of course not. But if
we're hated for his name's sake, I want this to be my reaction
to that. Acts 541, his disciples departed from the presence of
the council who had just beaten them and commanded them not to
preach anymore, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer
shame for his name. And daily in the temple and in
every house, they ceased not to do what they just got beat
for, to teach and preach Jesus Christ. I want that to be my
reaction. You don't like my message or
the one that I preach? I'm sorry about that. I hate
that. I wish it wasn't that way. It's not going to change anything
by His grace. I pray it won't. Forsake me not, O Lord, verse
21. Oh my God. You know, we sit here, I stand
up here tonight in my comfortable clothes and it's a little warm
in here, but it's relatively comfortable. And, you know, and
we read these words, oh Lord, oh my God. You can't really read them like
that, can you? You have to read those words in your heart, because
I can't say them right. It wouldn't, it wouldn't sound
right if I tried to say it like he did. That's a cry. of the
soul. Paul said we don't even know
how to pray as we ought, but our spirit makes groanings that
can't be uttered. We can't even say out loud what
we need to pray to God. And I can't say that right. Oh
Lord, don't forsake me. Everybody else has. Even those
that love me can't help me in this. And those that hate me
are a whole lot more than those that love me. Don't you forsake
me. You're my only hope. Oh, Lord. Oh, my God. Don't be far from me. Don't leave
me. Stay close. And make haste to help me. oh lord of my salvation no he
didn't say that he said oh lord my salvation there's a difference
he is the lord of my salvation but he's more than that he's
my salvation oh god don't forsake me can you
imagine being forsaken of god That idea superseded all of Job's
other sufferings, didn't it? Have you read the book of Job?
More than anything else, he cried to God, oh Lord, why? Why have
you become my enemy? He feared that the Lord had turned
his back on him. Thank God for that precious promise. That speaks peace to our soul. Our Lord God said, I will never
leave thee, nor forsake thee. Do you remember the context in
which Paul quoted that in Hebrews 13, 5? He said, let your conduct
be without covetousness. Again, don't worry about everybody
else and what they have, what you don't have, what they're
saying, how it affects you. Be content with such things as
you have. For he hath said, I'll never
leave thee, nor forsake thee. Be content with such things as
you have, because he hath said, I'll make sure you have what
you need. He has said that. But that's not what this says.
He's what I need. That's what this says. He's what
I need. Listen to the cry of David's
heart. In verses 11 and 12, he said,
neither my enemies nor my friends are any good to me. Now don't
you, Lord, don't you leave me. In Psalm 73, 25, he said, whom
have I in heaven but thee? And there is none upon earth
that I desire beside thee. If you have him, you have all
you need. In Psalm 27, 10, David said,
when my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will
take me up. That old blind man in John chapter
9, they grilled him and accused him and talked bad about him
and doubted him, questioned him, kicked him out of the synagogue.
And then it says the Lord found him and said, do you believe
on the Son of God? And he said, who is he, Lord,
that I might believe on him? And he said, I suppose I've seen
him. He didn't say this part, but
I'm thinking it. Thou hast both seen him with the eyes that I
just opened a little while ago. And it is he that talketh with
thee. And he worshipped and said, Lord, I believe, I believe. Isaiah asked this question in
49, 15. Can a woman forget her sucking
child that she should not have compassion on the son of her
womb? You might say, no way, that would
never happen. Oh yeah. The Lord said they may. They
may. Yet will I not forget thee. He is my salvation. I just need Him. I'm still learning that. I know
it. But I'm still learning it. He
is the one thing needful. Oh, Lord, my salvation. Don't
forsake me. He's given us every reassurance
that he will not. He that spared not his own son,
but delivered him up for us all. Oh, thank God. For his presence,
his blessing, His infinite, immutable love. We can truly say with David,
we hope in Him. He's our hope, a sure hope. Let's
pray.