Psalm 42. I'm taking the title
for the message from what is said in verse five and what is
repeated in verse 11. Hope thou in God. You see that in verse five? Why
art thou cast down, O my soul, or bowed down? Why art thou disquieted
in me? Hope in God. Is there hope anywhere
else? No hope anywhere else. in God. Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him. I'll praise him. Again, in verse
11, why art thou cast down, O my soul? Why art thou cast down? Why art thou disquieted within me, my soul? Hope thou in God, for I shall
yet praise him who is the help of my countenance and my God.
David preaches to himself, doesn't he? Talks to himself, doesn't
he? You ever do that? I do that all the time. I preach
to myself all the time. I think every believer has that
going on in his heart, his mind. We do, as believers, we do have
a good hope. We do have a good hope, and we
know that Christ is our hope. We have a good hope, as Paul
says, to the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We have a good
hope now and forever. God is unchanging, therefore
his grace is the ground for unshaken hope. The hope we have is an
everlasting consolation and a good hope. David truly was the sweet
psalmist of Israel, as we read a moment ago. David was truly
a man after God's own heart. David was used of God, the anointed
king of Israel who faithfully ruled in Israel for 40 years. As a prophet, of God to declare
God's truth. We read in 2 Samuel 23, he said,
the Spirit of God spake by me. When you read Psalm 42 or any
of the Psalms that David was able to pen, he did so by the
Spirit of God. You remember our study in 2 Peter,
holy men of old spake as they were moved by God the Holy Spirit.
But let us never put David or any other of God's dear saints
above what every believer truly is. A sinner saved by the grace
of God. We never graduate above being
a sinner, do we? Saved by the grace of God. I
am what I am by the grace of God. Subject to trials. Subject to heartache. Our Lord
was called what? The man of sorrows, acquainted
with grief. We're subject to trial. We're
subject to heartache, aren't we? and depression, even spiritual
depression. Sometimes you feel like, Lord,
have you forsaken me? Have you forgot? Have you forgotten me? No. He
said, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake you. Thinking God's mercy is clean
gone, that there's no hope for such a wretched man as me. You
ever have those thoughts? David truly expresses that in
this psalm, but he also truly expresses, as he preaches to
himself, why are you cast down? And then he corrects himself,
hope in God. Hope in God, hope thou in God,
the living God, unto the God of my life, the God of my salvation. He is the health of my countenance,
and my strength. Here's another Psalm. Turn over
here to Psalm 77. I believe it's Psalm 77. Here's another Psalm that kind
of echoes that sentiment. Psalm 77 at verse seven. Psalm 77 verse seven. Will the
Lord cast off forever? And will he be favorable no more? Is his mercy clean gone? Does His promise fail forevermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath He in His anger shut up
His tender mercies?" And I said, oh, this is my infirmity. This
is my weakness. But I will remember the years
of the right hand of the Most High God. Remember, I will remember
the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders
of old. I will meditate also on all thy
work and all thy talk. Is His mercy clean gone? No. No, it's not. You see, it's our
problem. It's our thoughts, our weakness.
that we have these thoughts. Now, look at verse one. Here's
every believer's true desire. Now, this is not the desire of
all men. I'm saying this is the true desire
of believers, as the heart, or as the deer running from a wild
pack of dogs, as the heart paneth, paneth, paneth, after the water
brooks, after that cool, refreshing water, so panteth
my soul after God. David says, I seek to drink the
mercies of God. The believer's soul and his heart
longs for and craves after and earnestly desires to be found
in Christ and to be one with him. That's why the Apostle Paul
said, I count everything else lost, ruined, that I may win
Christ. that I may win Christ and be
found, be found in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, be found in Him
alone. Listen to this Psalm. Psalm 63,
I'll go verse 1. O God, Thou art my God, early
will I seek Thee. My soul thirsteth for Thee. My
flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and thirsty land where there's
no water to see Thy power, Thy glory as I've seen Thee in the
sanctuary. Because Thy lovingkindness is
better than life, my lips shall praise Thee. Thus will I bless
Thee where I live. I'll lift up my hands in Thy
name. I long to see the power and glory
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We see that through a glass darkly
here, but as we sang just a moment ago then, face to face, face
to face. This is our desire, and it's
not a desire that we have naturally. This old rotten flesh, as it
says in Job 15, man drinks iniquity like the water. We don't thirst
for the true living God by nature. Loving darkness rather than the
light because our deeds are evil. It's only by the sovereign grace
of God that we desire to know him. If you have a desire to
know the true living God, you didn't just arrive there naturally.
God put that desire in your heart. It's only by the sovereign grace
of God that we desire to know him and to thirst after him and
to want him. Who makes you to differ from
another? What do you have that you didn't receive from God? Our gracious Lord commands us
and encourages us, encourages all that are thirsty to come,
he says, come unto me and drink. In John 37, excuse me, John 7,
37. If any man thirst, let him come
unto me and drink. Remember he told the woman at
the well, you drink of that natural water, you thirst again. But
if you drink of that living water that I give you, you'll never
thirst again. You remember Isaiah 55, our Lord
said, oh, everyone that's thirsty, come eat to the waters. Come
and drink, eh? Come buy wine, milk without money
and without price. Free grace, free water. Matthew 11, we studied all. Our
Lord said, all you who are laboring, heavy laden, come unto me. Come
unto me and rest. Rest for your soul, rest in him. Now look at verse two, Psalm
42, verse two, my soul thirsteth for God. Not just any God now,
the living God, the living true God, God who is God. When shall
I come and appear before God? He desired the presence of God,
doesn't he? When shall I come and appear
before my God? This is our continual desire. My soul is thirsting after God. Not for the mere religious idols
of men or the ceremonies of men or the religious traditions of
men. nor for the prospering of the
flesh, but for the true and living God. Who is God? 1 Thessalonians,
Paul writes, you were turned to God from idols to serve a
living and true God. We were turned to God from idols
to serve a true and living God. We must drink of him or die in
our sins. We must have him or perish under
the guilt and judgment of our sin. This is the believer's perpetual
appetite to drink him up and to feast upon him. Our Lord said,
I'm the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never
hunger. He that believeth on me shall
never thirst. I'm the bread of life. We feed
upon Christ, his person, his work. A dead, impotent God, a
dead, impotent idol cannot save those who were dead in trespasses
and sin, but the ever-living God does, can, and will. He's able to save to the uttermost
all that come to God by him. seeing he ever liveth to make
intercession for us. You have to be quick until we're
dead in sin. James, we studied the book of
James not too long ago, of his own will begat he us. What's
the word of truth? It's the will of God. It's not
of him that runneth or willeth, but it's God that shows mercy.
The Lord Jesus Christ is a fountain of life, liberty, light, love. He's a fountain of everything.
He's a wellspring of salvation. Therefore, we desire him, don't
we? Salvation's in him. in him, salvation
in a person. He that hath a son hath eternal
life. To see him face to face, when
shall I come and appear before God? Think of that. Think of
that. To look upon the Lord Jesus Christ
face to face, that will be glory, will it not? When we shall come
before him, When we come in the presence of the Lord in a way
of worship, we come together and assemble in His name, study
His Word, read His Word, and preach His Gospel, we come before
Him, and we see Him through a glass darkly, but one day we'll see
Him as He is. David writes about that. Look
back at Psalm 17. You remember Psalm 17? Paul writes in 1 Corinthians
13, you look at Psalm 17, verse 15. I'll read it in just a minute.
He said, for now we see through a glass darkly, but then face
to face, face to face. Psalm 17, verse 15. As for me,
I will behold thy face in righteousness. I shall be satisfied when I awake
with thy likeness. What a glorious resurrection
morning that will be. Look at verse three, my tears,
Psalm 42 verse three, my tears, my tears have been my meat, my
food, day and night, weeping, weeping before God, day and night,
tears of grief and tears of joy. My tears have been my food, my
meat, day and night, while they continually saying to me, David,
where's your God now? Why are you cast down, David?
Why are you running from your own son Absalom? They ask him
that question repeatedly. Look over here at Psalm 115.
Psalm 115. Psalm 115, 11 verse one. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto
us, but unto thy name. Give glory for thy mercy and
for thy truth's sake. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? David, where is your God? I love
this answer. For our God's in the heavens,
he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their gods are idols,
cannot save the flea. They that make them are like
unto them. They have eyes, they don't see. The gods of the heathens,
the idols, they have ears, they can't hear. They have hands,
they don't work. Feet, a dead, cold idol, can't
save a flea. David said, I cry unto the true
living God. My tears have been my meat day
and night while they continually, the enemies always hounding him. Where is your God? Where is your
God? Every believer is grieved and
cut to the bone, cut to the heart by what's going on in our day
in the name of God, the mockery of a true and living God. David,
where is your God? Where is your God? As repeated
down in verse 10, as with the sword in my bone, my enemies
reproach me while they say daily unto me, where is thy God? Doesn't that remind you of The
Pharisees mocking the Lord Jesus Christ as he dies on Calvary
Street. Where is your God now? If you're
the son of God, come on down and we'll believe you then. You
reckon they would have? Not apart from God's grace. David, where is your God? Well,
our God is in the heavens. I like the lesson that he taught
old King Nebuchadnezzar. He doeth according to his will
in the army of heaven among the habitants of this earth, and
none can stay in his hand, or say unto him, Lord God Almighty,
what doest thou? The living and true God is in
heaven, and he does as he pleases. He saves whom he pleases. When
he pleases, that's when a sinner will be saved. When will a sinner
be saved? When it pleases God. as Paul said, who separated me
from my mother's womb and called me by His grace to reveal His
Son in me, Christ in me, according to His will. Now, look at verse
4. Psalm 42, verse 4. When I remember,
when I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me. For I had gone with the multitude
I went with them to the house of God. You remember he said,
I was glad when they said to me, let's go to the house of
God. I remember the sweet times of fellowship around the gospel
with the house of God. I remember these things. I pour
out my soul. David desires to have this again.
Sweet fellowship with the Lord's people around the gospel of Christ.
I went with them to the house of God with a voice, and I went
with a voice of joy, I went with the voice of praise, with the
multitude that kept the holy day. The holy day. Every believer enjoys and looks
forward to, with eager anticipation, to worship the true and living
God, in the house of God, with the people of God, around the
gospel of God. Turn back here to, remember Psalm
27, turn back over there. Psalm 27, verse 4. One thing have I desired of the
Lord, and that will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of
the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. For in time of trouble
he shall hide me in his pavilion, in the secret of his tabernacle
shall he hide me, he shall set me upon a rock. Christ is that
rock. Christ is that foundation, that
foundation. How do we come before the Lord? We come with a voice of joy,
rejoicing in the Lord Jesus Christ. We come with a heart of praise
and worship, as David said in another psalm, bless the Lord,
O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name, keeping
that holy day. to observe or to hold fast the
feast day. Talking about the sacrifice of
Christ, the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Every sacrifice
under the law and all those different feast days, the day of Passover,
the day of atonement, always the day of tabernacles, the first
fruits, all those different feasts. We're all typical of the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ, our Passover, is sacrificed
for us. Now, verse 5 and verse 11, we
can read together. This is repeated for our admonition
and for our instruction. David here is talking to himself.
He lets us in on his own heart's thoughts before God. Verse 5. Why art thou cast down, O my
soul? Why art thou disquieted in me?
He's preaching to himself. And then he gives himself the
answer. Hope thou in God. For I shall
yet praise him for the help of his countenance. Or his presence
is salvation. You see that marginal reference?
His presence is salvation. He that hath the Son hath life.
David here is talking to himself. Preaching to himself. One old
preacher said this, I believe it was Charles Spurgeon, he said,
his faith reasons with his fears and his hope argues with his
sorrows. We as believers have no reason
to be cast down, do we? But often we feel that way, don't
we? Our sins have been completely
put away. Our sin. Oh, the blessed, that
glorious thought, my sin not the part, but the whole is nailed
to the cross. I bear it no more. Praise the
Lord, O my soul. We sing that often, don't we?
Our sins have been completely put away. He appeared once in
the end of the age to put away sin or the sacrifice of himself. Righteousness had been freely
imputed to us. My sins put away, I have an atonement
for sin. Christ has imputed to me His
blessed, perfect righteousness before God. We have every reason
to rejoice in Him, don't we? He's established everlasting
righteousness for us. Now, what should we do? What
did David say there? Hope thou in God. Don't hope
in yourself. Don't hope in your hope. Hope
thou in God. You see that? If every evil be
let loose against us, this is the grace that swims through
them all. Hope thou in God. His grace is
sufficient. Hope thou in God. The Lord Jesus
Christ is all our hope. Hope of pardon? What's your hope
of pardon? The governor's not going to give
you any pardon. Our hope of pardon is Christ.
What's our hope of redemption? Christ. Our hope of righteousness? Christ. Our hope of salvation?
Christ. No wonder Paul writes, Christ
is all and in all. He's all our hope. God is unchanging. I am the Lord, I change not.
Therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. His grace is the
ground of unshaken hope. Christ is our hope. We have a
good hope. I quoted that already. We have
a good hope through grace, don't we? Christ in you, Christ in
you is a hope of glory. Now he goes back preaching to
himself. Verse six, oh my God, oh my God. My soul is cast down within me. Therefore, He goes back to his
memory, doesn't he? I will remember. I will remember
the days of old when the Lord was so merciful unto me. I will
remember. Therefore, I will remember thee
from the land of Jordan and of the Hermonites and from
the hill Mazar. Now, nobody knows particularly
what David's talking about, but you have to think in your mind
he's having sweet remembrances when he had sweet Unbroken fellowship
with the Lord. Maybe out on the hillside, defending
his father's flock of sheep. And he was able to defeat the
lion and the bear and protect his sheep. And he's thinking
about the sweet communion that he had with the Lord in those
days. How God blessed him and how God
sustained him. In favor to our soul, it is good
to reflect upon all the Lord's merciful dealings with us in
the past and to press on with confidence to the future. You
remember we read this often, Lamentations chapter 3, His mercies
are new every morning. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. Because His compassions fell
not, His mercies are new every morning. New mercies. New mercies
I see. His grace toward us. His promises
never fail. They're exceeding great and precious
promises. I'm persuaded like Abraham, aren't
you? What persuasion are you? I'm persuaded that all that God
has promised, He's able to perform. His love knows no measure. Paul
writes about, oh, the depth, the length, the height of His
love is everlasting. He's loved us with an everlasting
love. His grace has no beginning. Think about this. His grace,
His mercy, His love has no beginning, has no end. Has no end. He's the Alpha, the Omega, the
first and the last. Look at verse 7. Here He's talking
about trial and heartache and trouble deep. Deep waters, deep
calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water spouts. Notice,
thy water spouts. All thy waves and thy billows
are gone over me. Notice the reference there, Jonah
2 verse 3. Jonah cried that from the belly
of that whale. When the billows and the seaweed
compassed him about, and he looked toward that holy temple, and
he confessed, what? Salvation to the Lord. Salvation
to the Lord. Thy waves and thy billows. Now
notice, notice, deep calleth unto deep, thy water spouts,
thy waves, thy billows. Who sent the waves? Who sent
the billows? Who sent the trial? Who sent
the heartache? The Lord did. The waves and the
billows and trial and heartache come from the hand of our loving
Father, whom the Lord loveth. He chasteth and scourgeth every
son whom he receiveth. You remember we studied in 1
Peter, where Peter says, if need be, you are in heaviness to manifold
temptation. The trying of your faith being
more precious than gold that perishes. Trials are precious. The Lord sends our way. Again,
Peter writes, 1 Peter 4, verse 12, think not it strange concerning
the fiery trial, as though some strange thing happened unto you.
God sends those trials our way on purpose. Well, we know that
trials do not produce true faith. They don't produce faith, trials
don't, but they reveal faith, don't they? Trials don't drive
us away from the Lord, they drive us to the Lord. That's why he
sends them. One of the reasons he sends them.
Verse eight, yet he said, yet, even though I have trial and
heartache and trouble, yet, I'm cast down, my soul's cast down,
yet the Lord Jehovah will command His loving kindness
in the day, in the daytime and in the night. His song shall
be with me and my prayer unto the God of my life. Now I love
the language in this, Jehovah, Almighty God, the everlasting
God, Jehovah Jireh, Jehovah Sid Canu, Jehovah Ramah, Jehovah
Shepher, all the names of Jehovah. He will command loving kindness. Now who commands things and they're
done? He spake, and it was done. He commanded, and it stood fast.
Here we see our God, the Lord God Almighty, act as the sovereign
God. He commands salvation for His
people. Did you know that? He commands
salvation for His people. I'm thinking of a verse over
here, if I can find it. I'm thinking of, well, God is
the King of all the earth. God reigneth over the heathen.
God sits upon the throne of His holiness. He shall choose our
inheritance for us. He commands his loving kindness.
That's sovereign love. We often sing that song. Daniel
Parks has made it well known. Bridget sings it sometimes. Jim
sings it sometime. Hail sovereign love that first
began. Escheme to rescue fallen men. Hail Bacchus free, eternal grace
that gave my soul a hiding place. You remember? He will command
His loving kindness. He's loved His people with an
everlasting love and He will never forsake us. He will never
leave us. In the night, in the daytime,
in the night song, There's no day and night with the Lord. It's everlasting presence. And
my prayer, the Lord shall be with me and my prayer, my prayer
unto the God of my life. I like that statement. He's a
God of my life. He's a God of my salvation. He's
a God of my life. Prayer and praise cannot be separated. Where you find the one, you find
the other. Like faith and repentance, both
are the sovereign gifts of God. Both freely confess that salvation's
of the Lord. They acknowledge the truth, don't
they? He will command his loving kindness
unto us. Verse nine, I will say unto God,
my rock, I will say, you're my rock. You're my foundation. I will say unto my God, my rock, Why have you forgotten me? Now,
has God forgotten him? You know, he hasn't. As he said
in that Psalm 77, Lord, is your mercy clean gone? Have you forgotten
me? Well, often, due to our frailty
and sinful depravity that we still have, we often think that
God has forgotten us. He's not forgotten his people.
I will say unto my God, my rock, why hast thou forgotten me? Why
go I mourning? Because of the oppression of
my enemies. He wants his enemies to be put
away, doesn't he? God has not forgotten his people.
God has not forgotten his people. Why hast thou forsaken me? I
want us to turn and read this. I was looking at this earlier
today. Isaiah 54. Isaiah 54. Will the Lord forsake his people? Never. Never. But often we may
have and entertain foolish thoughts of that. Isaiah 54. Look at verse
five. For thy maker is thy husband,
the Lord of hosts is thy name, and the redeemer of the Thy Redeemer,
the Holy One of Israel, the God of the whole earth, shall he
be called? For the Lord hath called thee
as a woman forsaken, grieving spirit, and a wife of youth,
when thou wast refused, saith thy God. For a small moment have
I forsaken thee, but with great mercies I'll gather thee. In
a little wrath I hid my face from thee, for a moment, but
with everlasting kindness, Will I have mercy on thee, saith the
Lord thy Redeemer? For as this is as the waters
of Noah unto me, For as I have sworn that the waters of Noah
should no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I would
not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. Now look at verse 11, one
of my favorite verses in Isaiah. For the mountains shall depart
and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart
from thee, neither shall the covenant of my peace be removed,
saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee. God has made with me
an everlasting covenant ordered in all things and is sure this
is all my hope and all my salvation. Verse 9, I will say, back at
Psalm 42, I will say unto my God, my rock, why have you forsaken
me? We often might feel that, but
it's not so. Why go I mourning? because of
the oppression of my enemy. As with a sword, verse 10, as
with a sword in my bones, my enemy reproach me, or they say
daily unto me, and here's that constant chiding, where's your
God? Your God is God, you say God's over all, then why are
you suffering so? It's good for me to be afflicted
that I might learn thy statutes, David said. Thou and thy faithfulness
hath afflicted me, While they say, David, where is your God?
Well, David answered that question, didn't he? Why art thou cast
down, verse 11, O my soul? 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. In the light of eternity, we
know that all things, we'll see that in the light of eternity,
that all things are working together for our good. To them who love
God, to them who are called according to His purpose. Don't turn, let
me just read this to you. This is 2 Corinthians 4. For all things are for your sake,
that the abundant grace, verse 15, might through the thanksgiving
of many redound to the glory of God, for which cause we faint
not. But though the outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day. For our light afflictions,
which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and
eternal weight of glory. They work for us. The afflictions
the Lord sends our way, whether it be whatever affliction you
want to put in there. It may be health, it may be depression
of mind, or whatever it may be. Hope thou in God, who is the
health of my salvation. He's my God and He's my Savior,
all of my salvation.