Would you turn to the 42nd Psalm? I'd like to read verse 5. I read this psalm and I just
kept thinking about what he said, and I thought, I want to preach
this for this New Year's Eve service. Psalm 42 verse 5. 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." And my marginal
reading says, for his presence is salvation. His presence is salvation, the
help of his countenance. Now, I know this about any believer.
A believer must have the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. That
is absolutely necessary. I must have his presence. A religious person is content
with Christianity, but the believer cannot be content with anything
but Christ himself, his presence. His presence is absolutely necessary
to me outside my personal subjective experience. And his presence
is absolutely necessary to me in my personal subjective experience. Now, David begins this verse
with a, why art thou cast down? Oh, my soul. Why are you disquieted? Why are you troubled? Who's speaking? David. the man after God's own
heart. Now, David wrote this psalm while
he was on the run, fleeing from Absalom. When he complains about
not being able to be in public worship, it's because he was
fleeing from Absalom. Now, look in verse one. David says, As the heart panteth
after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. Now picture a deer fleeing from
the dogs and from the hunters, the people who are going to take
his life. He's been running long and he's thirsty and he pants
for the water brooks. This is David having lost the
sense of God's presence and longing for it. As the heart panteth
after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before my God? Now, David, has lost the sense
of God's presence, he's lost the sense of the light of his
countenance, and he longs for it. Charles Spurgeon said this
about this verse of scripture. He said, this is a mixture of
grace and sin. David longing for God's presence,
that's grace. David losing his grasp of God's presence, that's
sin. In verse 2, he says, My soul
thirsteth for God, for the living God. That's all that can satisfy
me. When shall I come and appear
before my God? He felt as if he'd been separated
and he longs to appear in his presence. He says in verse three,
my tears have been my meat day and night while they continually
say unto me, where is thy God? Now, David was in a state of
distress and his enemy said, I've heard you say things like,
if God be for us, who can be against us? We didn't seem to
be acting in your behalf. Where is your God? Look at you.
Your son's wanting to kill you. You're out on the run. You're
in trouble. Where is your God? Verse four. When I remember these
things, I pour out my soul in me. For I had gone with the multitude. He's talking about public worship
now. I had gone with the multitude. I went with him to the house
of God with the voice of joy and praise with a multitude that
kept holy day. He's talking about when he was
not on the run and he was allowed to enter into the worship of
God, the public worship of God. It's what we're doing right now.
Now there's something so very special about public worship. The Lord said, where two or three
are gathered together in my name, there I am in their midst. He's promised. We don't presume
on that, but he's promised. Well, can't we worship the Lord
in private? Sure you can. Sure you can. Sure
you do if you're a believer. You worship the Lord all the
time. You worship him in public. You worship him in private. But
when public worship is neglected, you can be sure private worship
has already been neglected. He'd long to be in the house
of God. He longed to be in public worship. worship, and it gave David intense
pain that he could not be there. He recalled the joy of it. And
I was thinking about this. The most private worship there
is, the most personal worship there is, in my experience, is
when the Lord enables me to meet with his people and hear the
gospel and the power of the Holy Spirit. There's nothing like
that. That's the most private worship
there is, is as you hear the gospel and believe. And you know,
this is the gospel that saves you. Oh, that's private worship. That's public worship. But, oh,
David longed to be back in a position where he could do that. Now,
he says in verse five, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? Well, I can understand why he
was, he was on the run. Absalom was trying to kill him. But still
he asked this question, why are you cast down, O my soul? Why
art thou disquieted in turmoil in me? Why are you depressed? Is what David is asking himself.
Why are you depressed? Now, the plain fact is that a
believer can be cast down. depressed, disquieted in her
very soul. You know what that is, nothing
but turmoil. You don't feel any peace. You
feel, you feel cast out, cast away. You feel like you're not
in the Lord's presence. Now, if you read the Psalms,
David, the man after God's own heart, much of the Psalms are
written in this particular demeanor, aren't they? Much of them. Now, there are so many things
that can cast us down. Physical sickness. You can't separate the soul and
the body. If you're sick, if you don't
feel good, if you're in pain, it's going to cast you down.
Calamities, disasters can cast you down. Bereavement, losing
someone you love to death can cast you down. I want to be careful when I say
this, but I've noticed, I guess it's only been in the last couple
of years, people call funerals a celebration of life. And I
don't get it. I don't get it. It's a time of
sorrow. And there's nothing wrong with
that. Not a thing wrong with it. We shouldn't grieve and sorrow
when we lose a loved one. And it's bereavement. That can certainly cast someone
down. Being mistreated can cast somebody
down. Being slandered. Having things
attributed to you by people that really aren't true. Oh, how those
can cast you down. Unconfessed sin will cast you
down. David said, when I kept silence
in Psalm 32, when he failed to confess his sin and that matter
of Uriah and Bathsheba, it went on over a year and he never confessed
his sin. And he said in Psalm 32, when
I kept silence, My bones waxed old through my roaring all the
day long. That can certainly cast down. Sin always has something to do
with being cast down, doesn't it? I realize that there's so
many variables involved. There's chemical imbalances.
There's terrible things that can happen. How can somebody
not be cast down? But you can never separate our
experience with our own personal sin. Now, being cast down and
being disquieted is a great blessing if it causes you to seek the
Lord, isn't it? It's a great blessing. Now look what David says in verse
five, after he asked himself the question, why art thou cast
down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted in me? And then
he makes this statement, hope thou in God. Hope thou. in God. When you're cast down, there's
always a measure of hopelessness, a fear that it's not going to
get better, but a believer is never altogether without hope.
And here's why. Hope thou in God. You know, I love that passage
of scripture in first Samuel chapter 30. As a matter of fact,
I might be preaching on Sunday. I've been thinking about it,
but it's where David has been in a, in a compromised position.
And the king of the Philistines finally lets him go back to Israel.
He goes back to Ziklag. And his wives and children have
been taken by the Amalekites. The entire city has been burned.
They've lost everything. And the people wept. weeping,
mourning, and then they said, we're going to stone David. It's
his fault that this happened. And I guess David knew it is.
But the scripture says David encouraged himself in his God. Now, I don't care what is happening. There's always reason to be encouraged
in the Lord God. Now, We hope in the Lord. And this thing of hope is a confident
expectation with regard to the future. It's not despair. It's
hope. I have a hope that I'm going
to be accepted on Judgment Day. I have a hope that I know the
Lord. I have a hope that everything
is working together for my good. It's a confident expectation
with regard to the future. It's not despair. It's hope. Not just I hope so, but a well-grounded
hope with regard to the future. Now, David said in Psalm 119,
eight, I hope in thy word. Now listen real carefully. This
is so important. I hope in thy word, every hope I have, I better
have a scripture to back it up or it's no good. I hope in thy
word. For example, I believe I have
a hope. that I am saved. Me. Me. I have a hope that I am saved. That the Lord has saved me. We just read about it in Hebrews
chapter 10 when Brian read that passage of scripture. I couldn't
help but think about one time Henry Mahan said he was getting
ready to preach from Hebrews chapter 10. And he said, well,
I sure hope the Lord gives me some liberty on it. And somebody
said, all you got to do is read it. That's good. And I thought,
yeah, Hebrews 10 is like that. What a glorious passage of scripture.
But the reason I have a hope that I am saved, and by saved,
That means God has forgiven me of my sins. That means God has
put away my sin. That means I stand before God
without guilt. That means I stand before God as perfectly righteous. That means that when God looks
at me, He sees no sin at all. That's what saved means. Perfectly
accepted in God's sight. What makes you think you're saved? Because 1st Timothy 1.15 says,
Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. And I'm one
of those. I know that. I can call myself
that. I'm one of those. He came to save me. You know
what? He did it. He did it. I have a hope that I'm accepted. Because Ephesians
1.6 says, He hath made us accepted in the beloved. I have a hope
with regard to Judgment Day, that when I stand before a thrice
holy God on Judgment Day, and that time is coming, and it's
coming soon. It's coming soon for you too. If it's another
50 years, it's still coming soon. But I have a hope that gives
me boldness at the thought of standing before God in judgment. Now, how can you have boldness?
Well, let's turn, hold your finger there in Psalm 42 and turn to
1 John 4. Herein, verse 17, 1 John chapter
4 verse 17. Herein is our love made perfect
that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. Now I want
you to think of that concept, boldness, standing before God
without a doubt. Standing before God boldly. Bold
shall I stand in that great day. For who ought to my charge shall
lay. Fully absolved from these I am from sins, tremendous curse
and shame. Now here's where that boldness
comes from. Because as He is, so are we in this world right
now. However Jesus Christ the Lord
is, righteous, holy, perfect, accepted, altogether lovely to
the Father, that's how we are right now in this world. Now, you see these hopes that
I express, I've got a scripture to back them up. Always be ready to give every
man that asks you a reason for the hope that's in you. And you
better be able to go to the scriptures to do it. It's no good if it's
not founded in the scripture. I have a hope that everything
is working together for my good. And there's all kinds of stuff
in my life and in your life that's painful, that's difficult, that
you wish it wasn't, that you always, Like one fella said,
if I had omnipotence, I'd change things. But if I had omniscience
or wisdom, I'd leave things just as they are. I like that. Now, I have a hope that everything
is working together for my good. The painful stuff, the stuff
that I'd like to get out of, and here's why. Romans 8, 28
says, and we know that all things work together for good to them
that love God, to them that are called according to his purpose.
I have a hope that Christ died for me. Now listen to me. If
Jesus Christ died for you, you must be saved. You understand
that? He can't die for you and you
wind up in hell. There won't be anybody in hell
that Christ died for. If Christ died for you, you must be saved. Now I know that Christ died for
me. And here's how I know. The scripture
says, for when we were yet without strength in due time, Christ
died for the ungodly. Now that describes me, somebody
without strength, somebody that's ungodly. And the word of God
says, those are the folks Christ died for. I know Christ died
for me because I fit that description. I have a hope that sin does not
have dominion over me. And you know why I have that
hope? Because the Bible says, sin shall not have dominion over
you. For you're not under law, but you're under grace. Now,
if you're under law, sin would have complete dominion and control
of you. But oh, under grace, we have
this promise. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. Now you've noticed every, all
of these things I say I have a hope for. I have a scripture
to back it up. We hope in his mercy. We hope
in his grace. I love to think of his mercy. You know, there's no limitations
to it. You can't be too bad. His atonement is infinite. He's
Oh, powerful, it's anything too hard for the Lord. Now, hope
thou. Hope thou in God. Oh, I hope
everybody will say this to your soul right now. Hope thou in
God. What a blessed hope we have in Him. Hope thou in God. Look what it says next. For I shall yet praise Him for
the help of his countenance. Psalm 42, 5, I shall yet praise
him for the help of his countenance. Now David was on the run and
nothing seemed to be going well, but yet he speaks with this kind
of confidence after being cast down, all of a sudden he hopes
in God and now he speaks with such certainty, I shall yet praise
him for the help of his countenance. Now, his countenance is his face. Who a person is is seen in their
face, isn't it? It's his face. And that word
help is the same word translated salvation. When it says salvation
is of the Lord, help is of the Lord, the help, the salvation
of His countenance, of His presence. This word is many times translated
in the Old Testament presence. Cast me not away from your presence,
O Lord, and take not your Holy Spirit from me. Do you remember
when The Lord, when Moses was praying for the Lord's presence,
if your presence go not with us, carry us not hence. We must
have your presence. That's his face. That's his favor. That's his favor. That's him
looking on you with favor and delight. It's not merely talking
about his. Omnipresence, although I don't
mean to say that's mere, like I wouldn't want to speak of that
as being merely because you know, God's a spirit and he's everywhere.
You can't go anywhere where God's not. He's everywhere. I love
that, but that's really not what it's talking about. It's talking
about his favor. His favor, the light of his countenance. Lord, lift thou up the light
of thy countenance upon us. Now when Adam fell, What did
he do? He hid from the presence of the
Lord. He didn't want to be around the
Lord anymore. There was a time when he relished his presence,
but no longer. He went and hid himself from
the presence of the Lord. What did Cain do after God rejected
his salvation by works attempt? He went out from the presence
of the Lord. He had no desire to be in the
presence of the Lord. But you know a believer, while
an unbeliever, you know an unbeliever would be miserable
in heaven. Did you know that? An unbeliever would be very unhappy
in heaven. That doesn't mean he'd be happy in hell. Of course
he wouldn't be happy in hell, but he would be just as miserable
in heaven because he has no delight in the presence of the Lord and
that's what heaven is it's being in his presence that that is
heaven being in his presence that's that's everything But
an unbeliever has no delight in that, but a believer cannot
bear the thought of being out of his presence. That's why David
said, cast me not away from thy presence, O Lord. David felt
like he ought to be cast away from his presence, but he prays,
oh, cast me not away from thy presence, O Lord. Now, I love
this marginal reading in my Bible, his presence, the help of his
countenance, his presence is salvation. That's a powerful
statement, isn't it? His presence is salvation. Now I can, that is true in so
many respects. First thing I thought about was
his presence in eternity is my salvation. Now, you and I cannot
comprehend this, but God dwells outside of time. There's not
a yesterday and a tomorrow for him. It's all in the eternal
now. Known unto God are all his works
from the beginning. That's who he is. He's the eternal
God. Nothing ever takes him by surprise.
He never has to respond to anything because he's in absolute control
of everything because he's decreed everything. In eternity, there
was a time when all there was was God. As hard as that is to
grasp, it's still so. All there was was God. And God
foresaw the fall of our first parents. It was all part of his
glorious plan. Anything that happens is all
part of his glorious plan. He's in control. And he foresaw
the fall of his people. And he said to his son, I'm going
to give these people who are going to wickedly fall in willful
rebellion against me and I'm going to give them to you and
you're going to be responsible for their salvation. And he responded
as Judah responded for Benjamin. I will be surety for this. of my hand shalt thou require
them. If I bring them not unto thee, and set them before thee,
let me bear the blame forever. He said, I take full... Now was
his presence salvation then? His presence in my behalf as
my surety? I think of what Paul said of
Philemon. If they have wronged thee, or
oweth thee aught, put that on my account. I will repent. That's what the Lord. Was his
presence salvation and eternity? All together. You know, in the. Fall of our
first parents, his presence was salvation. Now, I love to to
think about this. I don't like to think about the
fall so much, but but Adam and Eve run from God's presence. They hid themselves from the
presence of the Lord. There was no confession of sin.
There was no, I'm sorry. No, all of a sudden they didn't
want to be around Him. They hid themselves from the presence
of the Lord. And even when He comes to them, there's no confession
of sin. They blame God. The woman blamed
the servant. Adam blamed the woman. But what
mercy that the Lord came to them. He went, they wouldn't have come
back, but he went looking for them. And when he went looking
for you, and you know, he never looks for somebody and fails
to find them. The great shepherd never fails. His presence is salvation. In the Incarnation, when the
Word was made flesh, the angels cried out, Glory to God in the
highest, and on earth, peace, good will toward men. As he lived
before God, he lived before the presence of his Father. Can you imagine just the Lord
looking at His Son? The Father looking at the Son
for all those 33 years? And He was so pleased. He wrought
out a perfect righteousness. He loved God with all of His
heart and all of His soul. And He only loved His neighbors
Himself. Oh, how pleased the Father was
with Him. Now His presence before God working
out my righteousness His presence in his life is my salvation. That perfect righteousness he
worked out, that's mine. That belongs to every believer.
His presence is salvation. And oh, his presence on the cross,
when the sun stopped shining, You see, you and I could not
see what was going on. Couldn't possibly understand
it. Couldn't possibly enter into it. That's when he lost the presence
of his father. He lost all sensible presence
of his father. He was cut off. He felt no smile
from His Father. He felt nothing but His Father's
awful frown. Because my sin became His personal
sin. And He lost the presence of God. He was all alone. He was cut
off. And when He bowed His head and
said, It is finished. How His presence is salvation. His presence on the cross when
He took my place. Don't you love to think of When
he said it is finished, what happened? The veil in the temple
was rent in two, from the top to the bottom, showing us this
is God's work, and now we have complete access into the very
presence of God by virtue of what he did. Oh, his presence
is salvation. You know, when he was in the
tomb for those three days, who knows what was going on? People
speculate. I've heard so many weird, wild
things about what was going on. He was down there preaching the
gospel to people in hell, giving them another chance. Well, that's
ridiculous. That's ridiculous. I hope nobody here believes that.
It's ridiculous. But whatever was going on, I don't know, during
those three days of death. But after three days, he opened
up his eyes, alive forevermore. And His presence
is my salvation. When He ascended back to His
Father, oh, His presence is my salvation. As right now, He's
seated at the right hand of the Father, making intercession for
us. His presence is salvation. To think of Him Knowing my name. He knows Todd. It's not some
kind of generic thing. He brings my name before his
father. His presence before his father
as my great intercessor is salvation. And then on judgment day, my, don't you know his presence
is salvation? When my name is called and he
says, he's one of mine. He remembers me. He's one of
mine. I died for him. I wrought out a perfect righteousness
for him. He's without fault. Don't you
know you'll know that his presence is salvation? I love that song
we sing. When I stand before thy throne,
dressed in beauty not my own, when I see thee as thou art,
love thee with unsinning heart, then, Lord, shall I fully know,
but not till death, how much I owe. His presence is salvation. And you know, in our experience,
his presence is salvation. Would you want to sit through
a worship service without his presence? Would you have any desire? Can
you hear the gospel without His presence? You can't hear. Can you read the Bible without
His presence? No. Can you pray without His presence?
No. It's not even prayer. Oh, how
dependent we are on His presence. In faith, it's not a doctrine,
it's a person I'm trusting. I know whom I have believed.
I'm persuaded that He is able to keep that which I've committed
to Him against that day. in joy, in thy presence is fullness
of joy. In trials, trials are horrible
things to deal with. I mean, some are so painful. But if you have his presence, if you have his presence, it's
OK. Whatever it is, if you have his
presence, In temptation, I need thee every
hour. Stay thou nearby. Temptations
lose their power when thou art nigh. In seeking, when thou said, seek
ye my face, my heart said, thy face, O Lord, thy countenance,
O Lord. That's who he is. Will I seek? For God who commanded the light
to shine out of the darkness has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ. Thy face, O Lord, will I seek. Now heaven will be being in his
presence, won't it? Father, I will that they whom
you have given me be with me where I am. that they may behold
my glory. That is heaven. When by his grace I shall look
on his face, that will be glory, be glory for me. Now let's go
on reading. I want to read down to the 11th
verse. This is what I want to close with. David goes on to
say, oh my God, my soul is cast down within me. You know, one
thing that you can be with the Lord is honest. You don't have
to put on anything, do you? David is telling what he feels.
He says, Oh my God, my soul is cast down within me. Therefore,
while I remember thee from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites
from the hill Mizer, deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy
waterspouts, all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me.
And I have no doubt that this has something to do with the
Lord Jesus Christ speaking from the cross, but it's also David.
Yet the Lord will command His loving kindness in the daytime,
and in the night His song shall be with me in my prayer 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,
my enemies reproach me, while they say daily unto me, where
is thy 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. Now, not only do
we long to see the light of his countenance in his face. But
David also says he himself is the health of my countenance. Spiritual health is seen in the
countenance. Now I realize I can't infallibly
look into anybody's heart and see what's going on with them.
and you can't infallibly look into my heart and see what's
going on with him, I realize that. You can fool me and I can
fool you, but you know I have seen countenances fall. Just
like Keynes did. His countenance fell when God
rejected his works and he was made to find that the only way
into the presence of a thrice holy God is through the blood
sacrifice of the Lord Jesus Christ. His countenance fell. I've seen countenances that were
once bright and beaming. become seemingly dull and lifeless. And I've also seen countenances
that seem to be dead, that all of a sudden it's like the lights
come on and they see and they rejoice and they glory in what
they're hearing. But I know this, where there's true spiritual
health, it's His countenance. His countenance is the health
of my countenance. He Himself is the health of my
countenance. The scripture I thought of, 1
Corinthians 1.30, of Him are you in Christ Jesus, who of God
is made unto us. And this is how He's the health
of my countenance. He's made to me wisdom. You're looking
at a man and I'm looking at men and women whom God would say
they're wise, so wise I can have fellowship with them. Because Christ himself is my
wisdom. He's made unto us righteousness. God looks at me. He looks at
every believer and he sees one who is altogether righteous. There's no spot in thee, no shade
of sin. He sees one who is sanctified. He's because he's made into us
sanctification, holiness. He is my holiness before God.
He's the health of my countenance. And he's made unto us redemption,
full redemption, full deliverance. Now, my desire is that I would see
his countenance. And my desire is that his countenance
would be my countenance. Well, we're Closing out the year,
and some of us have been through difficult, painful, painful things. Some of us have been through
great blessing. But you know what? If we're a
believer, it's all blessing. Scott Richardson said, ever since
I heard the good news, I've never heard bad news. And it's a joy to be with you. Love you all dearly, so thankful
that I get to be your pastor. What a blessed privilege that
is to me. And I will enjoy taking the Lord's
table with you. What a blessing. You know, you
can't take the Lord's table by yourself, can you? We do it with
one another. Let's pray together.