I don't know of another psalm
like this psalm, and I think you'll see that as we read it.
Psalm 44. There's a transition in verse
9, and look for that as we read this. We've heard with our ears, O
God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their
days, in the times of old. How thou didst drive out the
heathen with thy hand and plantest them. How thou didst afflict
the people and cast them out. For they got not the land in
possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save
them, but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy
countenance, because thou hadst a favor unto them." You can just
take that word favor and put grace. That's what grace is. Thou art my king, O God. Command deliverances for Jacob
through thee, Will we push down our enemies? Through thy name,
will we tread them under that rise up against us? For I will
not trust in my bow, neither shall my sword save me, but thou
has saved us from our enemies and has put them to shame that
hated us. In God we boast all the day long. and praise thy name forever. Selah. Meditate upon this. Now look at the transition in
verse nine. But thou has cast off and put us
to shame and go us not forth with our armies. Thou makest
us to turn back from the enemy. We're made to retreat and they
which hate us spoil for themselves. Thou has given us like sheep
appointed for meat and has scattered us among the heathen. Thou sellest
thy people for naught and does not increase thy wealth by their
price. Thou makest us a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and
a derision to them that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword
among the heathen, a shaking of the head among the people.
My confusion is continually before me, and the shame of my face
hath covered me. For the voice of him that reproacheth
and blasphemeth by reason of the enemy and avenger All this
has come upon us, all these terrible things, yet have we not forgotten
thee? Neither have we dealt falsely
in thy covenant. Our heart has not turned back.
Neither have our steps declined from thy way. though thou hast
sore broken us in the places of dragons and covered us with
the shadow of death. If we've forgotten the name of
our God or stretched our hands to a strange God, shall not God
search this out? For he knoweth the secrets of
the heart. Yea, for thy sake, we are killed
all the day long. That's quoted in Romans eight.
We are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, why sleepest
thou, O Lord? Arise, cast us not off forever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face,
and forgetest our affliction and our oppression. For our soul
is bowed down to the dust. Our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Arise for our help and redeem
us for thy mercy's sake. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for who
you are. How we thank you for all your
glorious attributes. How we thank you that you've
been pleased to make yourself known to us. How we thank you for the perfect
sacrifice of thy son. How we thank you for your word,
Lord. Would you be pleased to give each of us a hunger and
a thirst for yourself, for your word, for your gospel? We confess
our sins, we pray for forgiveness, we pray for cleansing for Christ's
sake. Have mercy on us. Save us by
your grace. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together and Lord those that are going through difficult
times of. Health of. Body or mind, we pray
for your blessing upon them. Be with all your people wherever
your gospel is preached. In Christ's name we pray, amen. I don't know of another psalm
that reads the way this psalm reads. And here's why I say this,
it appears that he is saying, we have been faithful and you've
not treated us as such. That's the way it sounds. We've
been faithful. We've not declined from your
way. And you have not treated us as such. Now, after that, Those first eight verses. He
makes such a clear statement with regard to God's grace. And
how salvation is of the Lord. There's not a clearer statement
regarding grace than there is in the first eight verses. And
then he makes that transition in verse nine, but. You've cast
us off. You put us to shame. You're not
going with our armies. We're turning our backs in defeat. We're running from our enemies.
Nothing good is happening for us. Now, I realize that in the
past you treated our fathers this way, but it doesn't seem
to be that way now in our experience. Our experience is not lining
up with these first eight verses. And then he makes this amazing
statement in verse 17. All this has come upon us. These
us running from our enemies, us being ashamed and so on. All
this has come upon us yet. Have we not forgotten thee? Neither
have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned
back. Neither have our steps declined from thy ways. Now he's
saying salvation is by grace. Our experience right now is contrary
to all that. And we have not stopped believing
the gospel. We have not stopped being faithful
to the gospel. Now, let's see if we can, if
the Lord will teach us just what all this means. Now he says in
verse one, we've heard with our ears, oh God, our fathers have
told us what work thou didst in their days, in the times of
old. Now salvation, listen to me real
carefully. Salvation is what God does. It's not a cooperative effort
between you and God. It's not you doing your part
and him doing his part. Salvation is what God does. Holy. Completely. Salvation is of the Lord. And the psalmist is acknowledging
that at this time. He says, here's what you did
in verse two. How thou didst drive out the heathen with thy
hand. It's talking about them taking
the promised land. God drove out the heathen. And
you plants just them like a tree planted by the rivers of waters
in Psalm one. You're the one that did the planning.
How thou didst afflict the people and cast them out, the people
who God drove out so his people could inhabit the land. And remember
at one time in Deuteronomy, he said, don't think I drove them
out because you're good. I drove them out because they're
bad. Don't ever think that this is for your goodness. I drove
them out because they were bad, but he's the one who drove out
the heathen. Look what verse three says, for they got not
the land of possession by their own sword, Neither did their
own arm save them, but thy right hand, and thine arm, and the
light of thy countenance, because thou hadst a favor unto them.
Now that is why God does what he does, by way of mercy and
grace. Here's the best way I know of
to interpret this thing of God's favor. Remember that scripture
in Genesis chapter 6, 5? And God saw the wickedness of
man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. But Noah found
grace in the eyes of the Lord in verse eight. Now let's read
it this way. And God saw that the wickedness of Noah was great
in the earth. You put your name there too.
God saw the wickedness of Noah was great in the earth and that
every imagination of the thoughts of Noah's heart was only evil
continually. But Noah found grace in the eyes
of the Lord. Now, if you and I are going to
have God's favor, we're going to be like Noah Yet God had favor,
because God is gracious. Aren't you thankful? God is gracious. God delights in mercy. Now, you
and I, of course, we don't deserve anything but justice. But God
has mercy, and God has favor. Thou hadst a favor unto them.
The favor he had to them, he didn't have to the rest of the
world. I mean, that's evident, that's clear. God's favor is
distinguishing. He has favor toward his elect. And now somebody says, that's
not fair. Whenever I say that's not fair, I've run into the realm
of merit. I'm saying God owes me this and
God owes me that. Don't do that, don't do that.
That's a denial of your own sinfulness and that's sitting in judgment
on God. Let's go on reading. Here was his response to this
special favor. Thou art my king, O God. Command deliverances for Jacob.
Now, when the believer hears who God is, you know what they
do? They bow. Thou art my king, O
God. They bow and then they cry out,
command deliverances. Lord, give, give commandment
concerning my salvation. I can't save myself. I can't
do anything to save myself. Give commandment to save me. I love, I love that. Lord, command
my salvation. If you don't command my salvation,
I won't be saved. Command my salvation. Now let's go on reading. Through
thee, Will we push down our enemies through thy name? Will we tread
them under that rise up against us? Here's another statement
of his faith. For I'll not trust in my bow,
neither shall my sword save me. My ability, my efforts do not
save me. I'm not gonna trust in those
things. But thou has saved us. You know, that's a summary of
everything we believe. Thou. has saved us. He saved us. Thou saved us from our enemies
and has put them to shame that hated us. In God, we boast all
the day long. Now you're going to boast in
something. I'm going to boast in something. Oh, we're a lot
better off if we boast in God. Well, what's that look like?
God forbid that I should glory. God forbid that I should boast,
saving the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now, that's where
the believer is, and we got nowhere else to boast, do we? We boast
though we glory in the cross everything God requires of me
I have in Christ because of his cross. In God we boast all the
day long and praise thy name forever. Now then we have this
but and this is not the but of but Noah found grace. This is
not the bud of, but God who's rich in mercy. This is the bud
of what I've just said, I don't seem to be experiencing. This
is not my experience. This is what the Psalmist is
saying. I know that you did this in times past, but I don't feel
like this is happening for me. Now I love the Psalms because
the Psalms express what we really feel and are probably afraid
to say. If I was talking to you and I
was saying, I believe grace, but I'm not experiencing it.
I just wouldn't say that to you. I might think it, but David is
giving, or whoever wrote this psalm is giving his experience. And I'm so thankful for the honesty
of the Psalms. He's telling how he felt. And here it is, verse nine, but
thou has cast off and put us to shame and go us not forth
with our armies. Now in the times of old, you
push down our enemies, but that's not happening for us. My enemies
are defeating me. Thou make us just to turn back
from the enemy. We run and retreat. And they
which hate us spoil for themselves. They just take spoils. And that's
not just talking about human enemies. I really believe that
when I read the Psalms, my enemies are my sins. Those are my enemies. I am the problem. And David is
talking about his enemies. They seem to be winning. Verse
11, thou has given us like sheep appointed for meat. We're mealtime
for everybody. We have no defense. You scattered
us among the heathen. We're so weak, we're so inconsequential. Verse 12, you sell your people
for nothing. And you don't increase our wealth
by their price while we're worthless. This is not helping you any to
do us this way. He's complaining. Thou makest
us to reproach to our neighbors. a scorn and a derision to them
that are round about us. Thou makest us a byword among
the heathen, a shaking of thy head among the people." These
are the people of God. Not much to them. They're making
fun of them. They're shaking their head. These
people, these are God's people. Wow. There's not much to them. If that's the case, there must
not be much to their God, if that's the case. My confusion, verse 15, my confusion,
and that is my shame. My shame is continually before
me. And the shame of my face hath
covered me, for the voice of him that reproaches and blasphemous
by reason of the enemy and the avenger. Now he makes this statement. All this has come upon us, yet
have we not forgotten thee. It almost seems like he's saying,
all this has come upon us, but we've remained faithful. We still
have remained faithful. Now, try to put yourself in the
psalmist's place. Could you, with all the stuff
the Lord brings your way, say, well, I've stayed faithful. I've
stayed faithful. All this has come upon us, yet
have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy
covenant. We've not dealt falsely. Though thou our heart is not
turned back, neither of our steps declined from thy way. Could you look at all your trials
and say that my steps haven't declined in thy way. Though thou hast sore broken
us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of
death, we're utterly defeated. But if we've forgotten the name
of our God, or stretched our hands to a strange God, shall
not God search this out? For he knoweth the secrets of
the heart. If we have done this, God will know." And then he quotes
Romans 8.36, is a quote from this. Yea, for thy sake are we
killed all the day long. We're counted as sheep for the
slaughter. And then he says this to the Lord. Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Now, this is how he feels. Why
do you sleep? Now, the scripture says he neither
slumbers nor sleeps, doesn't it? But yet he's saying, as far
as I can tell, you seem to be dead to me. You're no different
than somebody that's asleep. I cry out your name. Nothing
happens. You seem to be asleep. Arise.
Cast us not off forever. He felt cast away. He felt like
the Lord had thrown him off as rubbish. Get rid of him. There's
no use in even keeping him. And then he says in verse 24,
wherefore hidest thou thy face and forgetest our affliction,
and our oppression. You're not paying any attention
to us. Our soul is bowed down to the
dust. Our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Now this is talking about some
depression. That's the way the psalmist describes
this. My belly's bowed down to the
earth. I'm in the dust. I'm in the dirt.
Arise for our help. and redeem us for thy mercy's
sake." Now, what have we been seeing every time we read these
Psalms? Who is speaking? Who is speaking? These words
from verse nine on down really can only be understood in light
of Christ speaking from the cross. He's the only one who can truly
say, I've remained faithful. My steps haven't declined. Now,
I want you to turn, hold your finger there, I want you to turn
to Matthew chapter three. I hope that this verse will become
our favorite verse, one of our many favorite verses. But look
what it says in verse 15. This is after he came to John
the Baptist and said, I want you to baptize me. And John said,
that picture doesn't look right. I have need to be baptized of
you. You're asking me to baptize you. John knew he was a sinner. And here the Lord comes and says,
I want you to baptize me. I mean, I try to put myself in,
put yourself in John's place. What if the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Lord of glory came to you and said, I want you to baptize
me. You think you would feel a little bit unqualified for
the task? Verse 15 and Jesus answering
said unto him, suffer it to be so now. For thus it becometh. What's
the next word? us. Us to fulfill all righteousness. Everything the Lord Jesus Christ
did and everything the Lord Jesus Christ said he did as an us. When he said thus it becometh
us to fulfill all righteousness he wasn't just talking about
John the Baptist. He was talking about everybody
he died for. Everybody he represented. He
did everything he did as an us. Now, let's just briefly read
the last part of this song, realizing who is speaking. Verse nine. This is the Lord
speaking from Calvary's tree. Remember he said, my God, my
God, why have you forsaken me? But thou has cast off and put
us to shame. The shame the Lord experienced
on the cross. Now that's, that's a, that's
a great mystery, but the Lord was humiliated and embarrassed
and ashamed. That's how true these sins became
his. He felt shame. He felt cast off. And everything he did, he did
as an us. Thou makest us to turn back from the enemy, and they
which hate us spoil for themselves. This is the reality of the cross. The most glorious, the most sad
event, yet the most glorious event to ever take place. Everything
the Lord did, he did as an us. Thou has given us like sheep
appointed for meat. He was not separating himself
from his people. Thou scattered us among the heathen.
Thou sellest thy people for naught. Thou does not increase thy wealth
by their price. Thou makest us a reproach to
our neighbors, a scorn and a derision to them that are round about
us. We read so much of the scorning and the derision and the making
fun of Christ when he was on the cross. People making all
kinds of horrible statements with regard to him. He was a
derision. He was scorned. And so were all his people at
that time. In the beloved, I hope every one of us can say this.
In the beloved, I went to the tree. Now I want you to think
about that. In the beloved, I went to the
tree. My confusion, my shame is continually
before me. The shame of my face has covered
me for the voice of him that reproaches and blasphemous by
reason of the enemy and avenger." All this, this is the Lord speaking. All this has come upon us, yet
have we not forgotten thee? Neither have we dealt falsely
in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back,
neither have our steps declined from thy way, the way of the
gospel, the way of Christ. Now the Lord could say this,
but he's saying this as a representative of every one of his people. Do
you know your steps haven't declined from the way? Do you know you've
not dealt falsely in Christ? You are saved by being in him. Verse 19, the vow has sore broken
us in the place of dragons. And I have no doubt this is talking
about the cross and covered us with the shadow of death. If
we forgotten, even during that time, the Lord never quit believing. The Lord removes his presence
from us as far as the way we feel. We quit believing real
quick, real quick. We're prone to make all kinds
of accusations against God and all kinds of, uh, but in Christ,
we haven't. The vow has sore broken us in
the place of the dragons and covered us with the shadow of
death. If we forgotten the name of our God. My God, my God, why has thou
forsaken me? He didn't forget the name of
his God. You know, I think it's amazing at that time he's he
didn't say my father, my father, but he knew he was God. My God,
my God, why has thou forsaken me? If we've forgotten the name
of our God or stretched out our hands to a strange God, shall
not God search this out for he knoweth the secrets of the heart?
Yea, for thy sake we're killed all the day long. We're counted
as sheep for the slaughter. Now, Paul quotes that in Romans
8, 36 as the fact that nothing should separate us from the love
of Christ. For thy sake, we're killed all the day long. We're
counted as sheep for slaughter, but nothing's going to separate
us even though we're counted as sheep for the slaughter. Well,
the Lord said that and his people say that. We're not going to
be separated from him. We don't want to be separated from him. Verse 23. Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? Now this is Christ speaking and
he's dealing with the silence of God. He's been cut off. And he's dealing
with the silence of God. Have you ever felt the silence
of God? Where you try to speak. And he doesn't. That's what the
Lord is speaking of here. The silence of God. Awake, why
sleepest thou, O God? Arise, cast us not off forever. Wherefore, hidest thou thy face
and forget us of our affliction and oppression. Now, once again,
These Psalms are given to teach us something of what Christ experienced
on the cross. And I've learned more of the
cross from the Psalms than I think I've understood in the past.
You know, when the Lord was on the cross, what terror. And he loved his father and he
was cut off and he couldn't feel anything except God's awful wrath. And yet, he never quit believing. Our soul is bowed down to the
dust, our belly cleaveth into the earth. Oh, we're so earthbound. Arise for our help. Raise me from the dead for thy
help and redeem us for thy mercy's sake. God forgives sin for his mercy's
sake, for Christ's sake. Okay.