Psalm 142. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice. With my voice unto the Lord did
I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before
him. I showed before him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed
within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I
have walked have they privily laid a snare for me. I looked
on my right hand and behold, there was no man that would know
me. Refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul. I cried
unto thee, O Lord, I say thou art my refuge and my portion
in the land of the living. Attend unto my cry, for I am
brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of prison,
that I may praise thy name. The righteous shall compass me
about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
word. We ask in Christ's name that
you would use your word to speak with us this morning. Lord, we don't want to hear from
a man, but we want to hear you speak through your word. Lord, we confess our sins. We
pray for forgiveness. We pray for cleansing. We pray
that you'd unite our heart together to fear your name. Lord, we're so thankful that
salvation is by grace and not by works. We're so thankful for
the righteousness of your son. Our righteousness before you
were so thankful for his intercession. We're so thankful for his beauty
and his glory. Make him known to each one of
us according to your will. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. Lord, we would remember our dear
friends who are sick, suffering. We pray for your blessing upon
them. We pray that you would guide
and direct our steps in your word and order our steps in your
word. Bless us for the Lord's sake. In his name we pray. Amen. Now notice in the title, A Massacle of David,
a prayer when he was in the cave. Now these are inspired, these
instructions and titles. This is part of the original
psalm. Now let's go back to what he's
talking about in 1 Samuel chapter 22. This was David's prayer when
he was in a cave. 1 Samuel 22. David therefore departed thence
and escaped to the cave Adulam. Now this is the cave that he
was writing this psalm from, the cave Adulam. Now look up
in verse 10 of chapter 21 and see what brought him to this
cave. And David arose and fled that
day for fear of Saul. Remember Saul was out to get
him. And he fled for fear of Saul and went to Achish the king
of Gath. Now do you remember Goliath was
of Gath. He went to the Philistines at
this time and he went to find refuge with a king called Achish. What does Akish mean? Only a
man. Only a man. Whatever trouble
you're having, remember, it's only a man. God's in control. It's only a man. But here David
goes to flee to this place. Verse 11, And the servants of
Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land?
Did they not sing one to another of him, and dances, saying, Saul
hath slain his thousands, and David his tens thousands? And
David, this is a very dark place in his life. He has left Israel
and gone to the Philistines in hiding. And David laid up these
words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of
Gath. And look what he did, this mighty warrior. And he changed his behavior before
them and feigned himself mad in their hands and scrabbled
on the doors of the gate and let his spittle fall down upon
his beard. Now this is the man after God's
own heart. Look at the way he's conducting
himself in fear of this man who's just a man. And Achish said unto his servants,
Lo, you see this man is mad. Wherefore then have you brought
him to me? Have I need of madmen that they brought this fella
to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fella come into my
house? What are you doing bringing this guy to me? He's a madman. David therefore departed thence
and escaped to the cave Adalom. which means justice of the people. This is a type of the gospel.
Christ went to the tomb, the cave, and absolute justice was
done. God made the way to be just and
justify the ungodly. These names are all important,
but let's go on reading. And when his brethren at all
his father's house heard it, They went down there to him and
everyone, now look at this verse, everyone that was in distress,
the word means disabled, everyone that was in distress and everyone
that was in debt. They had debts and they couldn't
pay them and everyone that was discontented gathered themselves
unto him. And he became captain over them,
and there were with him about 400 men, the 400 men of David. Now, look at this description
of these men, and this is who comes to Christ today. Everyone
that's distressed, disabled, in debt, and they can't pay their
debts, and they're discontent. They're dissatisfied with themselves.
They're dissatisfied with the world. They're dissatisfied with
religion. They can't find contentment in
that. What do these people do? They
gather themselves to the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ,
and he becomes king over them. Now, David was very low at this
time. acted like a madman in fear of
this man who was only a man and he was at his lowest. Now turn
back to Psalm 142. This is when he prays his prayer. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice. Now he was in this cave alone.
I think maybe these 400 men must have heard him from outside,
but he was in this cave alone and he was praying audibly. I
cried unto the Lord with my voice. With my voice unto the Lord did
I make my supplication. Now, a supplication is an entreaty
for favor, an entreaty for grace, a desire for mercy. Now, let
me tell you and let me tell myself when we'll ask for mercy and
grace. When our sin is all our fault. And when my sin is my fault.
That is when I ask for mercy and for grace. I can't blame
it on my circumstances. I'm thinking that David in this
cave had been brought down to his lowest. And he was thinking,
this is all my fault. How did I get myself in this
mess? What did I do? This is all my fault. Now, when
your sin is all your fault, and you can't blame somebody else,
when you're not a victim, but it's your fault, You don't have
anything else to do but to make a supplication for mercy and
grace to the Lord. And that's what David is doing
at this time. He says in verse two, I poured
out my complaint before him. Now, this gives us the idea of
something being poured out till there wasn't anything left. He
poured it all out. pouring out his complaint before
the Lord. And I think of what Peter said.
He said, cast all your care upon him, for he careth for you. And that's an incredible thought,
isn't it? That in my complaints, the Lord
cares for me. That is an overwhelming thought.
It's true of every believer who is in Christ Jesus. There isn't
anything unimportant about your complaints. David poured out
his heart in making his complaint to the Lord. I poured out my
complaint before him. I showed before him my trouble. Now what a blessing it is to
be able to pour your heart out to the Lord. You can't really
pour your heart out to anybody else. No one. But you can before the
Lord. The thing is, he knows the truth
about us anyway. It's not like we have to act around him. He
knows. And David understood. And he's
poured out his heart. He showed the Lord his trouble. Now look at verse three. When my spirit was What's that
next word? Overwhelmed. That's a strong
word, isn't it? Overwhelmed. Completely weakened
to where there was no strength. Have you ever felt overwhelmed?
David did. Completely overwhelmed. Aren't you thankful for these
Psalms? If you act Would talk to the average religious person
they wouldn't of course, you know, I'm good But here David
is pouring his how his heart out before the Lord. He said
when my spirit was Overwhelmed I was powerless. I Was without
strength. I was knocked down I was overwhelmed
that I have no doubt that he was just ashamed of himself the
way he conducted himself He was supposed to be The man after
God's own heart, here he is acting like a mad man, letting spit
go down his beard, filled with fear, escaped to a cave, all
alone, overwhelmed. What a statement. When my spirit
was overwhelmed, utterly enfeebled within me, I felt so weak, so
alone, then, Thou knewest my path. Now. One of the glorious things about
being a believer. Even when you know you're nothing
but weakness. Overwhelmed. Sin. Unbelief. Fear. You also know this. He knows
your path. You see, the path you're on is
the path He placed you on for your good and His glory. And
no matter what takes place, even though I'm overwhelmed, there's
the knowledge of Him. He knows my path. He put me on
this path. He knows me. He knows me. When my spirit was overwhelmed
within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I've
walked, they have privily laid a snare for me. Now, David had
many enemies. Many people trying to lay a snare
for him, trying to cause his fall. Saul and those people who
were in line with Saul. And look what he says in verse
four. I looked on my right hand and
behold, there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed
me. No man cared for my soul. Now
he's speaking of feeling lonely, isolated, all alone, left to
himself. Now, first of all, there's no
one who has ever felt as lonely and isolated as the Lord Jesus
Christ when he was on the cross. He really was forsaken by God. You never experienced anything
like that. He was alone, forsaken by God, forsaken by his friends. He was all alone. Talking about
isolation, when he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken
me? So you and I are not gonna really
enter into that. We're not going to understand
it, but you understand what it is to feel alone. to feel isolated. That's what David felt at this
time. He said, I looked on my right hand and behold, there
was no man that would know me. Refuge failed me. Now I think
this is interesting. The word refuge is escape. Escape. Now what David is saying,
all my ways of trying to manipulate my circumstances have failed. And I have no doubt he was talking
about what had taken place in the land of the Philistines when
he acted the madman and was in such a low, helpless place. He says, everything I've tried
to do to manipulate my circumstances have failed me. Have you ever
experienced that? all going down the tubes. Nothing
is working for me. Refuge, escape, my manipulating,
my circumstances, it's all been a failure. It has not worked,
and no man cared for my soul. Now, even then, It's true. All things work together
for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according
to his purpose. When David was in this low state,
this was all of the Lord. Verse five. I cried unto thee, O Lord. I said, thou art my refuge and
my portion in the land of the living. Now what a blessing of
grace when we're enabled to cry unto the Lord. What grace? And you know when
you cry unto the Lord when you're in this position David's in at
this time. He cried unto the Lord. This wasn't some half-hearted,
indifferent kind of saying my prayers halfway in between being
awake and being asleep. No, he cried in the earnestness
of his soul from this position of want and lowness. I cried unto thee, O Lord." Now,
you cry unto the Lord when there's no place else to go, when there's
nowhere else to cry. All of his acquaintances, he
seemed isolated, alone. There was no man to help him,
no man to care for his soul. That's certainly the way he felt.
Now, was it true? No, there are a lot of people
that love David. But this is the way he felt.
And I guarantee you, every one of us have felt this way before.
He had felt like he was alone, isolated. Nobody cared for his
soul. And that's when he cried unto
the Lord. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord. That's who he is. That's the
person behind the name. Think of this name we're calling
upon. He knows us. He's all powerful. He's merciful. He's just. He's
gracious. He's all wise. He never changes. Utterly faithful. The name of
the Lord in whom we call. He said, I cried unto thee, O
Lord. the self-existent one. That's
what the Lord is, Jehovah, the self-existent one. And I love
to think about this. That one I cry on has no needs. He doesn't need for something
to happen in order for him to respond in some certain way.
He has no needs. He's independent. I have such
need of this one who has no needs. I cried unto the Lord. I cried
unto thee, O Lord Jehovah. I said, Thou art my refuge and
my portion in the land of the living. Thou art my refuge. Thou
art my hiding place. That's what a refuge is. It's
a hiding place. Now, here is my hiding place.
First Corinthians 130, of him are you in Christ Jesus. That is my hiding place. who of God is made unto us wisdom
and righteousness and sanctification and redemption. Now what a hiding
place to be in him. I know exactly what Paul meant
when he said, oh, that I may win Christ and be found in him,
my hiding place. And here's what a hiding place
he is. He's made unto me wisdom. He is my wisdom. I'm a fool, and I know it. He
is my wisdom. In him, I have the wisdom to
have fellowship with God. Oh, the wisdom of Jesus Christ.
He's made unto me righteousness. don't comprehend that I really
am, I believe it, I don't comprehend it, but I believe this because
of what Christ did in my behalf, only because of what he did in
my behalf, I am the very righteousness of God. It's scary to say that,
isn't it? And we wouldn't say it, did not
the Bible say, for he hath made him to be sin for us who knew
no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
Now, this is what Christ accomplished for every believer. My sin became
his sin. Do I understand all the implications
behind that? Of course not. But my sin became
his sin. Did he ever commit sin? Of course
not. But he became guilty on the cross of the commission of
my sin. Now, I don't understand that,
but I believe it. That's why God forsook him. God's
just. But just as truly as he took
my sin to himself, he gave me his personal righteousness. What a hiding place. He's made
unto us sanctification. He is my sanctification. He is
my holiness before God. What a hiding place. He's my
full deliverance, redemption. I've been redeemed. Now what
a hiding place. He said, thou art my hiding place. And this hiding place is so secure
that no sin can be found because it's gone. No imperfection can
be found because there is none. He is my hiding place. Thou art my refuge and my portion
in the land of the living. I love this. He's my portion.
Now he's gone. And how often do Psalms begin
so low and then all of a sudden they're up here. He is my portion. I am my beloved's and he is mine. Now if the Lord's your portion,
you've got everything. You've got everything. You don't
have just a little bit. You don't have the minimum requirement.
You have everything. The Lord is my portion. That's
where I find my significance. The Lord is my portion. You know, the scripture says
in, I think it's Deuteronomy 32 verse nine, the Lord's people
are his portion. You're his portion. You're his
delight. He's your portion, you're his
portion. What else can you say about that? Oh, may the Lord enable me to
just rest in this. The Lord's my portion. I cried unto thee, O Lord, I
said, thou art my refuge and my portion in the land of the
living. Attend unto my cry, for I am brought very low. Now, I can see these as the words
of the Lord from the cross, but these are David's words. And
he says, attend unto my cry, because here's my experience
right now. I am brought very low. Deliver me from my persecutors,
for they are stronger than I. Now, he was talking about Saul
and those people who were in league with Saul, and he felt
utterly weak before him. That's why he escaped to Philistine,
the land of the Philistines, and became so low. But I have
no doubt that my persecutors are my sins. And David says, they're stronger
than I am. Look what he says next. Bring
my soul out of prison. Now this is what his sins made
him feel to be. He's in prison. He's in prison. The door's locked and he cannot
get out. And the only way he can be brought
out of prison is if the Lord brings him out. You know, if
you're in prison and the door's locked, you can't get out. And
your only plea is that the Lord would bring you out. And I think this is what Paul
says, when he says in Romans chapter seven, who shall deliver
me from this body of death, this prison that I am living in. Now, these are David's words. This is inspired by the Holy
Spirit. And in his feelings, he felt captured, imprisoned. His persecutors, his sins were
too strong for him. The reason he was in prison was
because his sins were too strong for him and he has only one way
to cry, Lord, bring me out of prison. He's able to do that. He is able to save me with no
contribution from me. Isn't saving faith believing
his ability? Bottom line. He is able. Do you believe I'm
able to do this? Yay, Lord. Yay, Lord. Bring my soul out of prison that
I may praise thy name. This is what he wanted to do.
He wanted to praise the Lord for who he was. His name is all
of his glorious attributes, his holiness, his righteousness,
his justice, his grace, his love, his mercy, his Immutability is
faithfulness. I want to praise your name and
I know I won't do it unless you bring me out of this prison that
I'm in. Bring my soul out of prison that
I may praise thy name. The righteous shall compass me
about. Now can't you see that primarily
is the words of the Lord. Yes, it's the words of David.
He was feeling isolated and he knew that because of the Lord's
grace, the righteous would end up encompassing him about, but
this is more than anything else, the words of the Lord. I think
this is the words of the Lord from the cross. The whole Psalm
is like this. He's brought very low and he
knows because of what he's doing, the righteous. People he's making
righteous will compass him about and circle him in worship because
of what he's doing for them, but this is David also. Remember
when you read the Psalms, every Psalm is first Christ speaking,
every one of them. And after that, though, it's
David speaking and pouring out the heart to the Lord. He says, bring my soul out of
prison, that I may praise thy name. The righteous shall encompass
me about, for thou shalt deal bountifully with me. Now, when the Lord was on the
cross, utterly forsaken, he never quit believing God. Isn't that
amazing? He never quit believing God.
Somebody had to believe God perfectly. He did. Now, when me and you
are in trouble, we think we're forsaken, we're all alone, but
the Lord, even from the cross, could say, thou shalt. Even when he was in utter darkness
and couldn't see. Even when he was so isolated
on the cross, he could still say, thou shalt deal bountifully
with me. I love that scripture, though
he slay me, yet will I trust him. You know the only one who
could ever say that really? It's the Lord. He trusts all. He trusted His Father even when
He was forsaken by His Father. What faith He demonstrated. And every believer can say this,
He shall deal bountifully, graciously with me.