The 77th Psalm. And just by way of introduction in reading
this psalm, Matthew Henry called this psalm the psalm of the melancholy
man. And I think you'll see why as
we read this psalm together. I cried unto God with my voice
even unto God with my voice. And he gave ear unto me in the day of my trouble. I sought
the Lord. My sore ran in the night and
cease not. My soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God and was troubled. I complained and my spirit was
overwhelmed. Thou holdest mine eyes waking. I am so troubled that I cannot
speak. I've considered the days of old,
the years of ancient times. I call to remembrance my song
in the night. I commune with mine own heart
and my spirit made diligent search. Will the Lord cast off forever?
And will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean gone forever? Does his promise fail forevermore? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his
tender mercies? And I said, this is my infirmity. But I will remember the years
of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works
of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders
of old. I will meditate also of all thy
work and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Who is so great a God as our
God? Thou art the God that doest wonders. Thou hast declared thy strength
among the people. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed
thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah. The water saw thee, O God, the
water saw thee. They were afraid. The depths
also were troubled. The clouds poured out water.
The sky sent out a sound, and thine arrows also went abroad.
The voice of thy thunder was in heaven. The lightnings lighted
the world. The earth trembled and shook. Thy way is in the sea. and thy path in the great waters
and thy footsteps are not known. Thou leadest thy people like
a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
with thanksgiving. We're so thankful for who you
are. We're so thankful that there's
none like you, that you're all together who you are. We thank you for all your glorious
attributes. We thank you for your holiness,
for your power, for your wisdom, for your justice, for your grace. We ask that we might be enabled
by your grace to worship you in spirit and in truth by thy
spirit. We ask that you would unite our
hearts together to fear your name. Accept our thanksgiving through
thy son. Lord, we confess our sins. We pray for forgiveness
and cleansing in your gospel. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together, and Lord, we ask that you would be with
those of our number that are sick. We pray for your blessing
upon them. In Christ's name we pray. Now one thing that's very clear
in reading this psalm is that the writer was depressed. God the Holy Spirit inspired
him in everything he said, but it is very clear that the writer
of this psalm was depressed. And I'm not talking about having
the blues. Everybody gets that every now
and then. But I'm talking about the depression of hopelessness
and the depression of despair. That is seen in the reading of
these first nine or 10 verses. And God the Holy Spirit inspired
Asaph to write this psalm. Now you might be here with the
psalmist. This psalm of depression. And that is what it was. And
it almost appears in the first part of this psalm that he has
no faith at all. Now, look in verse one. I cried unto God with my voice,
even to God with my voice, and he gave ear unto me. Now, he's
speaking in the first verses of this psalm of his great depression. And it was great. And then he
speaks of how he was relieved from this depression in the latter
part of this psalm. So he says, I cried into God
with my voice, unto God with my voice, and he gave ear unto
me. In the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. The day of
my trouble. Now you're gonna have a day of
trouble. I'm gonna have a day of trouble. Man that's born of
woman is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. You're gonna have trouble in
your heart. I'm gonna have trouble in my heart. I'm gonna have trouble
with my circumstances. I'm gonna have troubles in my
family. I'm gonna have troubles within, troubles without. He says, in the day of my trouble,
in the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord." He says, my sore ran
in the night and ceased not. Now, when I read that right off
the bat, I think of an open wound weeping continually, but that's
really not what it means. The word sore is the word that's
generally translated hand. What he's saying is, I was in
the night in utter darkness with my hands helpless. helpless, without light, utterly
in the dark. Now that's how he feels. He doesn't
feel any comfort in the gospel. He doesn't feel the presence
of God. He feels all alone. He feels cut off. He said, my
soul, in verse two, refused to be comforted. Now the scripture
says, comfort ye Comfort ye my people. And the psalmist says,
I wasn't comforted by that. I found no comfort at all in
the gospel. This is how I felt. No comfort, nothing but trouble. Now, one thing I know about what
he's talking about, And he doesn't mention any circumstances that
brought it on. There might not be any circumstances
that bring these thoughts on. But when I am depressed like
this, when you're depressed like this, there are two things that
are true. Number one, we're completely self-absorbed. Number two, we
can't get ourself out of it. We can't pull ourselves up by
the bootstraps. We can't do it. There we are. We're totally self-absorbed. consumed with self, and we can't
change that. Somebody says, you ought to believe
God. I know you should, but don't you know that all things work
together for good? Yeah, I know that, but what the, I'm just,
here I am, here I am. And that is where the psalmist
was. He says in verse three, I remembered
God and what? I was troubled. He didn't say
I was comforted. He didn't say I believed him.
He said I was troubled. I was, I didn't know what to
do. I was troubled. There wasn't
any comfort. There wasn't any light in my
soul. I felt cut off. I was troubled. I complained.
And my spirit was overwhelmed. I felt like a complete dysfunctional
loser is what he's saying. That's where I was at. No light,
no comfort, completely overwhelmed. Verse four, thou holdest mine
eyes waking. I can't get to sleep. And I know
why you're keeping me up. That's what he's saying. You're
keeping me up. He says, I'm so troubled that
I can't speak. That's how troubled I am. I don't
even know what to say. I'm without words. My words are, I have no
words to describe this or to explain this. He says in verse
five, I've considered the days of old, the years of ancient
times. And I believe that he is, this
is when light begins with him. Just a glimmer of light is when
he thinks about when there was no time. When he thinks about when there
was no time, the years of old, the ancient times, when he wasn't
even around. He's going to get back to that
in just a moment, but he says in verse six, I called a remembrance,
my song in the night. Now we think, is he remembering
good times when he believed God? Well, the word song here is a
song of sadness, not of mirth, but a song of sadness. And he's
remembering this song of sadness that he experiences in his heart.
And you know, when you're like that, he says, I commune with
my own heart. I'm not communing with God right now. All I'm doing
is talking to myself. I feel cut off from God. And
you're going to see how strongly he felt cut off from God in the
following verses. He said, my spirit made diligent
search and then he asks six questions. And these seem to be so full
of unbelief and they are full of unbelief. And God, the Holy
Spirit inspired him to write these questions. And I'm sure there are times
when you said the same thing and I've said the same thing.
Now look what he's saying. He says in verse seven. Will
the Lord cast off forever? Will he be favorable no more?
That's how he felt. Is it verse eight, is his mercy
clean gone forever? Does his promise fail forevermore? What a horrible thing to say,
yet he says it and he feels it. Is his promise failing? Is it
not happening? Now somebody says, this is unbelief.
Yeah, I reckon it is. You got any of that? Sure you
do. You've got an old nature and filled with, you know, the,
the old nature never believes and the new nature always believes. And there are times when all
you feel is the old nature. And that's what he's talking
about. All these groans, verse nine, Hath God forgotten to be
gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his
tender mercies? Now, he's talking about, is the
Lord mad at me? Is he punishing me? Is he just
cutting me off and leaving me to myself? Am I being punished?
Which is the ultimate thought of unbelief, isn't it? There's
no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus. And this
is what we forget. You see, in Christ, I am sinless. I wish we could get hold of that.
In Christ, I've never sinned. This is better than being forgiven.
This is being perfect before God. When God looks at me and
sees nothing but that which is pleasing to him. But here is
his feeling at this time when he's overwhelmed He says, hath
God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his
tender mercies? Verse 10. And I said, this is
my infirmity. This is my weakness. I'm recognizing this right now
by the grace of God for what it is. This is my weakness. You know, it's a blessing to
see that here's where light begins. This is my weakness, but verse
10, I will remember the years of the right hand of the most
high. Now, The best thing I can do when
I'm like that is to try to think about the years of the right
hand of the most high. Now his right hand, that's his
son, that's his power, and that's talking about thinking of him
before there was a creation. Before I was ever around. When
my problems hadn't happened yet, God was altogether glorious before
time began. Think of God the Father, God
the Son, God the Spirit, that's all there was. and how the three
persons of the Godhead delighted in one another. And he made the
universe for his glory. And everything is for his glory. Now, somebody says, how can I
start thinking that way? Well, the Lord will have to enable
us to, I know that. But the first cure for this What
he's expressing, this horrible depression, this horrible unbelief,
is by the grace of God, quit thinking about yourself. Now,
I know you can't do that, and I can't do that unless the Lord
enables us. I'm sure of that, positive of that. But I know
this, here's what the psalmist does at this time. He quits thinking
about himself by the grace of God, and he's able to think about
who God is without even a reference to his own thoughts, his own
belief, unbelief, his own problems. He thinks of God before time
began. And you know, that's a comforting
thought, isn't it? Before you were ever around, Before your
problems even existed, God is, and he controls everything. What a comfort. I will remember the years of
the right hand of the Most High, and that's talking about his
power. His power, and I think of his power in creation, his
power in providence. You know, everything that takes
place, he's the first cause of everything. Now, somebody's saying,
are you saying he's the first cause of evil? He wouldn't be
here for what for his will, would it? Are you making God the author?
I hate it when people say that. I'm not making God anything.
God's God. I can't make him anything. He
is who he is and he rules and reigns and controls and everything
he does is right and he brings good out of evil. This is who
God is. He says in verse 11, I will remember
the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders
of old. Now here, he starts thinking
of his works. Think of his, I love to think
of creation when God just willed the universe into existence. Light be, light was. I like to
think of the brightness of that light, and I have no doubt that's
speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ, because the creation of the sun
and the moon didn't take place until the fourth day of creation.
Somebody says, explain that to me. Yeah, I can really explain
that. Just believe it. You know, the
Bible's not a science book in the first place. It's a book
of God. It's a book to reveal who He is. But what a glorious
thing to think of the glory of God in creating the universe.
And I love to think of his works of providence, the steps of a
good man are ordered by the Lord. Everything, every step you take
is ordered by the Lord. Even this unbelief. Listen, unbelief
is evil. And if you and I are unbelieving,
it's evil. But the steps of a good man are
still ordered by the Lord. He's the first cause behind everything
that takes place. And oh, don't you love to think
of his works of salvation? I love to think of Jesus Christ
being the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. I don't
know if anything thrills me more than that. First, the Savior,
then the sinner. First the Savior, then the sinner,
and everything that took place in his salvation. The works,
the wonders of old. Verse 12, I will meditate also
of all thy work and talk of thy doings. Oh, would the God that
he would enable me to simply meditate on his work. Forget
about yourself. I like that. that chorus, forget
about yourself and concentrate on him. Somebody says, well,
tell me how to do that. He's got to enable us. I realize that,
but that's the best thing you and I can do. Forget about yourself. You know, in the grand scheme
of things, me and you aren't very important, are we? Forget
about yourself. Concentrate on him and worship
him. I will meditate, verse 12, also of all thy work and talk
of thy doings. Thy way, O God. Now he's talking about the way
of salvation. He's talking about the way of
Christ. Christ said, I am the way. He's talking about the way of
righteousness, the way of peace, the way of truth. God's way. I look, Christ said, I am the
way. He's not a way he's the way. And I love the way he says thy
way. Oh, God is in the holy place. The sanctuary turned back to
Psalm 73, we looked at this a few weeks ago. Verse 16, when I thought to know
this, It was too painful for me until, verse 17, I went into
the sanctuary of God. Where's the sanctuary of God?
Well, it's where he is. Where's that? Well, can you go
anywhere where he's not? And where he is, is his holy
place. He's altogether other. And David
said, I was so pained, didn't understand what was going on
until I went into the sanctuary. Then I understood their end.
These people who seem to be prospering, you've set them in slippery places. His way is in the sanctuary. And that kind of reminds me,
I don't really understand what he's doing, but he does. And
I'm fine with that, aren't you? I'm fine with that. He rules. He's the Lord. He's in his holy
place. And you know a believer can truly,
and this is spoken of quite often in the scripture, give thanks
at the remembrance of his holiness. I love his holiness. By his grace,
his otherness, his altogether only thou art holy. Amen? Only thou art holy. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Who is so great a God as our
God? Thou art the God, verse 14, that
doest wonders. Thou hast declared thy strength
among the people. This one is glorious in omnipotence. What would God be without omnipotence? His will would not work, would
it? But he's got the power. to make sure his will always
comes to pass. What is he without omnipotence?
What good would the work of Christ on the cross do if he didn't
have the power to put away sin and the power to make us righteous?
All-powerful. Thou art the God that doest wonders.
Thou hast declared thy strength among the people. Verse 15, thou
hast with thine arm redeemed thy people. the sons of Jacob
and Joseph. Now, there isn't anything that
lifts up the soul any more than remembering Christ redeemed his
people. He didn't make redemption possible.
He didn't make it available if you do your part. Oh, the effectual
work of Christ in redeeming the elect. Thou shalt call his name
Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins. I despise
And I want to say that as strongly as I can. I despise that teaching
that says that Jesus Christ died for everybody, but it may be
that his death won't save you. You've got to do something to
make it work. I despise that. There's no gospel in it. There's
no good news in it. Here is the remedy for sin. He redeemed his people. Effectual redemption. Now let
me say this as strongly as I know how. I want everybody to hear.
Somebody that preached that Jesus Christ died for everybody, with
that exception, but it's up to you to make what he did work
for you, that person does not preach the gospel. There's no
gospel in that message. Thou hast with thine arm redeemed
thy people, the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Verse 16. The water
saw thee, O God, the water saw thee. They were afraid. The depths
were troubled. Now this is talking about the
Red Sea. When the Lord parted the Red Sea. The water saw thee. I know this is speaking metaphorically.
Can a water see? Well, I like the way this is
spoken. The water saw thee. They were
scared to death. At thy breath they parted. And the people of
Israel, the children of Israel, I love thinking, do you think
They were, for lack of a better word, freaking out when they
were walking through the Red Sea, seeing the walls on either
side. Maybe they could see fish in
there, I don't know. But here they were walking through the
Red Sea, and they were amazed. And when the children, when the
Egyptians tried to do the same thing, what happened to them?
It came down upon them. The water saw the They were afraid
the depths also were troubled. The clouds poured out water. The sky sent out a sound. Thine
arrows also went abroad. The voice of thy thunder was
in heaven. The lightnings lighted the world and the earth trembled
and shook. God has his way in the whirlwind. In the tornado. In the trouble. in my darkness, in what seems to be chaos, God
has his way. The lightning, the thunder, the
storm, all come from him. Verse 19, thy way is in the sea,
and thy paths in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known. Point is, when the Lord is walking
on the water, you don't see His footsteps, do you? They're not
known. And what that is reminding us
of, and I love it this way, we don't get it, but He does. And we're fine with that, aren't
we? We don't get it. What's the Lord doing? I don't
know, but He does. I am so fine with that. He rules, he reigns. Verse 20, thou let us thy people
like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron. Now, what that reminds
me of is the Lord is my shepherd. We sing that song, He leadeth
me, O blessed thought. What words of heavenly comfort
wrought. The Lord's my shepherd, I shall
not want. He leads me beside still waters. I'm not going to
want peace. The Lord is my shepherd. As a matter of fact, let's just
close by reading that Psalm 23. Remember, he leads his people.
The Lord is my shepherd. I shall not want, he makes me
lie down in green pastures. I'm not going to want rest. He
leads me beside the still waters, waters of quietness. I'm not
going to lack peace. He restores my soul. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness for his namesake. Yea, though I walk through the
valley of the shadow of death, I'll fear no evil, for thou art
with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort
me. Thou preparest a table before
me in the presence of mine enemies. Thou anointest my head with oil,
my cup runneth over. Surely, goodness and mercy shall
follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the
house of the Lord. forever. Amen.