Psalm 142, and I'm taking the
title for the message from what is said in verse five. I cried
unto thee, O Lord. I said, here's a confession of
a believer. Thou art my refuge. You see that
in verse five? Thou art my refuge. How many
times we read in Scripture where David said, I think of Psalm
23 where he said, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And then again in Psalm 27 where
he said, the Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall
I fear? He's my Lord and He's my salvation. Thou art my refuge and Thou art
my portion. He's my part, all my part. In
the land of the living, the Lord Jesus Christ is the believer
is everything. He's not something, he's everything. Christ is all and in all. So I'm entitling the message
from that verse five, the Lord is my refuge and my
portion. When you say that in your heart, the Lord is my, All
and in all. The Lord Jesus Christ, the believer,
is all our salvation, all our living, all our righteousness,
all our portion, all our inheritance. Christ is all, is he not? In him dwells all the fullness
of a Godhead bodily, and in Christ, in Christ we stand complete.
Complete. He's turned us from our Idols,
we've been turned to God from our idols that we might serve
the true and living God. Again, we see another prayer
that David prays and cries unto the Lord. We see this many times
in the book of Psalms, but I never weary of reading the prayers
of believers. written throughout the word of
God. What a blessing the Lord has
given to us to see in his word, the heart cry of other believers.
The heart cry of other believers. It is an encouragement unto us.
They all had the same problem that we have. They all have the
same troubles that we have. What is the trouble we have?
Our sinful self. Our sinful self. They all had,
that is all those believers who cried unto the Lord, they only
had one remedy, one solution, one way of deliverance, and that
is the Lord Jesus Christ. There is no other. There is no
other. There is salvation in no other.
We can be assured the Lord does hear our prayers, and he does
answer our prayers, according to His will. Our Lord taught
us to pray, Our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy
name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done, on earth as it is in heaven. I read another Psalm. Don't turn,
let me read it to you. I've got it jotted down here.
In Psalm 18, David cries, they're in my distress. I called upon
the Lord, and cried unto my God. He heard my voice out of his
temple, and my cry came before him, even unto his ears." The
Lord does hear our prayers. The Lord Jesus Christ, and I'll
tell you why. He ever lived to intercede for
us, doesn't he? When we pray, we pray unto our
living Lord Jesus Christ. He ever lived to intercede for
us. He's our surety, the surety of the everlasting covenant.
He's the savior who really saves us from our sin. He is our redeemer,
who's redeemed. We are redeemed with his precious
blood. He is our only mediator. There's one God and one mediator
between God and men, and that is the God-man, the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is our intercessor. There
is no other intercessor. No other intercessor. Listen
to Scripture, Romans 8. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who
is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea,
rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand
of God, who also makes intercession for us. Right now, the Lord Jesus
Christ is at the right hand of Almighty God, interceding for
us right now. What a blessing we have. So he's
our mediator, he's our intercessor, and he's our advocate. You remember
John writes, little children, these things I write unto you,
that you sin not, but when you do, we have an advocate with
the Father. Who is he? Jesus Christ, the
righteous. Jesus Christ, the righteous.
So let's look at verse one. I cried unto the Lord, Jehovah,
The everlasting God. Notice that's capital L-O-R-D. The everlasting Jehovah. I cried
unto the Lord. What a privilege we have. What
a privilege we have to take our burden to the Lord and call upon
his name. Whosoever shall call upon the
name of the Lord shall be saved. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice. As the abundance of the heart,
the mouth speaks with my voice unto the Lord. Did I make my
supplications, my heart cry unto the Lord? One thing we have certainly
have discovered about the prayers of David, that it was personal. He may have asked others to pray
for him, and there's nothing wrong with that, but the prayer
of the believer is personal unto the Lord. It's the believer crying
out unto the Lord, Look just across the page there, or across
the column, Psalm 141. Lord, I cried unto thee. Make
haste unto me. Give ear unto my voice when I
cry unto thee. Let my prayer be set forth before
thee as incense at the lifting up of my hands at the evening
sacrifice. I cry unto the Lord. I cry unto
the Lord. True prayer may differ in expression,
but not in direction. We look unto the Lord. We pray
unto the Lord. We take our burden to the Lord
and leave them there. Turn back a few pages. Remember
over here in Psalm 121? Psalm 121. Psalm 121, verse one. I will
lift up my eyes unto the hills from which come with my help,
My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth.
He will not suffer thy foot to be moved. He that keepeth thee
will not slumber. Behold, he that keepeth Israel
shall neither slumber nor sleep." The Lord's always on the job.
We can call upon Him all the time, any time, with any request. Call upon the Lord in prayer.
You have a burden of your heart? Call upon the Lord. Unburden
your heart before the Lord. That's what David's doing here.
Verse 2, Psalm 142. I poured out my complaint before
Him. I showed before Him my trouble. Now, was David teaching the Lord
anything? No, the trouble that David was
in was by the good providence of the Lord. The reason he's
running and hiding in the cave is the Lord would teach him to
be totally dependent upon the Lord. He said, I poured out my
complaint. And that word, if you look it
up, it means I poured out my meditation unto the Lord. I communed
with the Lord. I poured out my meditation, my
trouble before him. Before him, I poured out my heart. Let's turn back to Psalm 102.
Psalm 102, I'll keep you turning here. Psalm 102, look at verse
one. Psalm 102, verse one. Hear my
prayer, Psalm 102. Oh Lord, let my cry come unto
thee. Hide not thy face from me in
the day when I'm in trouble. Incline thine ear unto me in
the day when I call. Answer me speedily. for my days
are consumed like smoke. My bones are burned as a hearth. My heart is smitten and withered
like grass so that I forget to eat my bread. So, you ever been
so burdened with heartache and sorrow that you just didn't even
think about eating? Didn't even think about coming
to the dinner table? As we read in Philippians chapter
4, there he said, Paul prayed and told the people,
make your request unto the Lord. Make our request unto the Lord.
One of the old writers said, we may complain to God, but not
of God. When we complain, it should not
be before men, but before God alone. Take your burdens to the
Lord. That's a worthy goal, is it not?
To take our burden unto the Lord. And to pour out our heart before
the Lord. And not so much mention our burdens
to one another. I know we share one another's
burdens together, but mainly we take our burden to the Lord,
don't we? We take our request unto the
Lord. Look at verse 3. When my spirit was overwhelmed
within me, then thou, thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I
walked, have they, his enemies, privily laid a snare, a trap
for me. They're out to do me in. When
David was overwhelmed and faint, weak and feeble, His comfort
and hope was in the blessed fact that the Lord knew all things
about him. The Lord knew everything. He
knew the way where he walked. Turn back one page, Psalm 139. You remember this? We had this
a few weeks ago. Psalm 139, look at verse 1. O Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me. Thou knowest my down sittings,
my uprisings. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. Thou compassest my path by lying
down, and art acquainted with all my ways, for there is not
a word in my tongue but lo, O Lord, ye know it all together. He's
so acquainted with us. The Lord knows us through and
through. All things are of God, are ordered of the Lord. You
remember Psalm 37, it says, the steps of a righteous man are
ordered of the Lord. The Lord knows the way wherein
I have walked, and he knows the trouble. The Lord our God is
our guardian of unseen dangers, unseen snares laid secretly for
us. He will keep us in the way. How
much danger is out there that we don't know anything about?
And the Lord keeps us from it. We're kept by the power of God.
Remember John Newton's hymn, Amazing Grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. He writes, through many dangers,
toils, and snares have I already come. His grace has brought me
safe thus far, and his grace will lead me home. Many dangers
and many toils and many snares Yet the Lord keeps us in the
way. Look at verse 4. I looked on
my right hand and behold there was no man,
no man to help me. But there was no man that would
know me, love me, care for me, refuge failed me, perish from
me. No man cared, no man cared for
my soul. The marginal reference on that
word cared there is no man sought after me. You see something of
a loneliness of David here, a loneliness of David. It seems strange to say about
David He had known many. You remember when he killed Goliath,
the Philistine giant, they praised his name, remember? They said,
Saul has slain his thousands, but David has slain his thousands. He had known many, but now none
would know him, love him, or care for him. At one time they
sang his praises, now they all forsook him and fled. One old writer said, it's better
to be opposed by enemies than to be saken by friends. Better
to be opposed by foes than to be forsaken by friends. You know,
this is really what the Lord Jesus Christ went through too.
It's similar to what the Lord experienced. In Psalm 41 verse
9, remember he said, yea, my own familiar friend in whom I
trusted, which did eat my bread, had lifted up his heel against
me. Judas betrayed him, Peter denied
him, and they all forsook him and fled, didn't they? In Mark 14, it says there, they
all forsook him and fled. We can be assured of this, the
Lord will never forsake us. He will never leave us. He's
promised us. He said, I'll never leave thee.
I'll never forsake thee. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
was forsaken. by God, bearing our sin. You remember he cried, my God,
my God, why hast thou forsaken me? It was made sin for us. And because the Lord Jesus Christ
was forsaken by God, forsaken by his friends, he will never
forsake us who receive forgiveness of sins through the Lord Jesus
Christ. Because he was forsaken, we'll
never be forsaken by our God. Isn't that good news? In whom
we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sin.
Look at verse 5. Through His blood. Again, David
said, I cried. I cried. I cried. Oh Lord. And I said. Now David gets down to the meat of
the matter. Thou art my refuge. Thou art
my hiding place. Thou art the shelter in the time
of storm. Thou art my refuge. Other refuge
have I none. Hang my helpless soul on thee.
I have no other refuge but the Lord Jesus Christ. I have no
other portion in the land of the living, in the land where
we live. He is our refuge. We don't have a refuge of lies.
we have a refuge of truth, a refuge that God has provided for us.
You remember that city of refuge that those who were in trouble,
they ran into that city of refuge and they were protected there
by the priest? Christ is that refuge for us. He's our sure
hiding place. Turn back over here to Psalm
62. You remember Psalm 62. Look at verse, oh, about verse
six there. And while you're turning there,
let me read this to you. Over in Isaiah 32, you turn to
Psalm 62. Isaiah 32 talks about Talks about our hiding place.
A man shall be a hiding place from the wind, a covering from
the tempest, as rivers of waters in a dry place, as a shadow of
a great rock in a weary land. Christ is our refuge. Psalm 62,
verse 6. He only is my rock. He's that rock behind that refuge
there. He only is my rock, my salvation. He's my defense. I shall not
be moved. And God is my salvation, my glory,
the rock of my strength, and my refuge is in God. Trust in Him at all times, you
people. Pour out your heart before Him. God is a refuge for us. He says that more than one time.
Turn back to Psalm 46. You remember this Psalm? Psalm
46, verse 1. God is our refuge and strength,
a very present help. He's the present help in trouble
right now. He's our help. Therefore will
not we fear, though the earth be removed, though the mountains
be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof
roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake, the squaring
thereof. There is a river. The streams
whereof shall make glad the city of God, the holy place, the tabernacles
of the Most High. God is in the midst of her. He
is our refuge. He alone is our refuge. Thou
art my refuge. Over in, you remember, Hebrew
chapter 6. where he talks about we have
fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope that's set before us,
and that hope set before us is the Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly
this is true in the Gospel. Our Lord is our refuge and shelter,
is He not? And He is not only our refuge
and shelter, it says there in our text, Psalm 142 verse 5,
He's my portion. He's my part. He's all my part. Is Christ enough? If He's all
you've got. You've got everything that God's
provided for us. Christ is our portion, or we
can say it this way, He's our inheritance, now and forever. He gives us all grace now and
glory forever. We've been made heirs of God
and joint heirs with the Lord Jesus Christ. Turn back to Psalm
73. Psalm 73. Psalm 73, I believe
it is verse Psalm 73, look at verse 25 and
26. Whom have I in heaven but thee?
And there is none upon the earth that I desire besides thee. My
flesh and my heart faileth, but God is the strength of my heart
and my portion forever. He's my portion forever. And
ever and ever. And then there's another scripture
that's a reference to that if you want to look back at Psalm
16. I believe it's Psalm 16 verse
6. Psalm 16 verse 5. Psalm 16 verse 5, the Lord is
the portion of my inheritance and of my cup. Thou maintainest
my lot. So the Lord is our refuge. The
Lord is our portion. You see that? Now look at verse
6. Again, David begs to be heard of God
at 10. me. Attended to my cry for I
am brought very low. Now who brought him down? The
Lord brought him down. Attended to my cry for I am brought
very low. You know that's a good place
to be. To be brought down. To be brought
very low. down at the feet of the Lord
Jesus Christ, submitting and submission unto Him. I am brought
very low. Now, He said, deliver me. Thou art my deliverer. Deliver
me from my persecutors. I can't deal with them. Well,
they're stronger. They're stronger than I. It's
good to be brought down. It's good to be brought to a
low place. I've got a reference here written
down, let me just read it to you. If I've got the right one. Yeah. Don't turn, let me just read
this to you. Gracious is the Lord and righteous, yea, our
God is merciful. Psalm 116 verse 5. The Lord preserveth
the simple. I was brought low and he helped
me. It's a good place to be. David
said, The Lord is nigh them of a broken heart, and save us such
as be the contrite spirit. I was brought low, low. Who brought David to this place
of desolation, being overwhelmed? The Lord brought him there. The
all-knowing Lord knows how to strip us, and then to clothe
us. He knows how to bring us down,
and he knows how to raise us up. He knows how to empty us,
and then He fills us with His grace. David is not only saying
that Christ is our refuge and our portion. In verse 6, he says
there, the Lord is my Deliverer. He's my Deliverer. You know what
a Deliverer is? A Redeemer. That word redeemed,
often times, is rendered delivered. He has delivered us. The Lord
is our deliverer. Look at Psalm 140, right across
the page, verse 1. Psalm 140, verse 1. Deliver me,
O Lord, from the evil man. Preserve me from the violent
man. Who do you reckon David's calling
a violent man and an evil man? David talking about himself.
Deliver me from myself. I'm my worst enemy. Deliver me
from myself. I like the promise we have in
Romans 11. All Israel shall be saved as
it is written. There shall come out of Zion
the Deliverer and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob. He is the Deliverer. He is the
Redeemer who really redeems us from all our sin. He does deliver, He does defend,
preserve, recover, rescue, and save us. He's able to save to
the uttermost all that come to God by Him. And who are these
enemies that are stronger than I? Well, I've jotted down four
of them here. He delivered us from our sin.
That's a pretty strong enemy. I can't do anything about putting
away my sin. All the moral reformation I might
muster up, or all the righteousness I might bring forth, that'll
never put away sin. It's only the blood of Jesus
Christ that cleanses us from all our sin. We have many enemies, the law
of God, which is against us and contrary to us. that demands
absolute perfection. We cannot produce it. The Lord
has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse
for us. Satan himself, I'm no match for him. Michael the archangel couldn't
deal with Satan. He said, the Lord rebuked thee.
These false preachers will talk about how they're going to control
Satan and do this to the devil and that. They're fools. The
Lord is the only one that can deliver us from the power of
the prince of darkness. How about death? You see, you
get out of that one. Christ is our deliverer from
death. He redeemed us from the curse
of the law. Thanks be to God who's given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. He said, I'm he
that liveth and was dead, behold, I'm alive forevermore. I have
the keys of hell and death. He defeated death. We're more
than conquerors through Him that loved us. In the book of Psalm,
this word deliverer is found 44 times. Let's look at a few
of them. We won't turn to all of them. 44 times. Turn back to Psalm
71. Psalm 71, verse 1. Psalm 71, verse 1. In thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust. Psalm 71, verse one. Let me never be ashamed. Let
me never put to confusion. Deliver me in thy righteousness
and cause me to escape. Incline thy ear unto me and save
me. Be thou my strong habitation. One or two, I might continually
resort. Thou has given commandment to
save me. Thou art my rock, my fortress. Deliver me. You see
verse 4? Oh my God, out of the hand of
the wicked, out of the hand of the unrighteous and cruel man,
for Thou art my hope. Lord God, Thou art my trust.
That's our hope, is it not? He is our Deliverer. Look at Psalm 86. Here's another
one. I've got several of them written
down here. Psalm 86. Turn over there. Look
at verse 13. Psalm 86 verse 13, For great
is thy mercy toward me, thou hast delivered my soul from the
lowest hell. Aren't you glad you have a deliverer
like that? Can you turn to one more? Psalm 97 verse 10. Psalm 97 verse 10, Ye that love the Lord hate evil, He preserves the soul of his
saints. He delivers them out of the hand
of the wicked. Aren't you glad we have a deliverer
like that? Back to Psalm 142, look at verse seven. Bring my soul out of prison. David felt like he was in prison.
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. We have an abundance of grace.
Bring my soul out of prison, out of prison. Remember, the
Lord quoted this from Isaiah 61 and Luke 4, 18. He hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor. He has sent me to heal the brokenhearted,
to preach deliberate to the captives. He has brought us out of the
prison of sin, out of the prison of death, and given us life in
Christ Jesus. We were in such a prison of sin,
in bondage to sin, only God himself could bring us out, and when
he does, He puts a new song in our mouth. Turn over here to
Psalm 34. Psalm 34. This will be a blessing
to you. Look at Psalm 34, verse one,
and then we'll look at Psalm 40. Psalm 34, verse one. I will bless the Lord at all
times. His praise shall be continually
in my mouth. My soul shall make her boast
in the Lord The humble shall hear thereof and be glad. O magnify
the Lord with me. Let us exalt His name together."
He had delivered our soul from prison. Look at Psalm 40 verse
1. Psalm 40 verse 1. I waited patiently
for the Lord. He inclined unto me and heard
my cry. Boy, David just keeps crying
to the Lord, doesn't he? He brought me up also out of
a horrible pit, out of the miry clay, set my feet upon a rock,
established my goings. He put a new song in my mouth,
even praising to our God. Many shall see it in fear and
shall trust the Lord. He brought me up. He set me up. He established my goings and
he tuned me up and sent me in the way. Isn't that a blessing? Back at Psalm 42. The last part
of that. Verse 7. Bring my soul out of
prison, that I may praise thy name, nor the name under heaven
given among men, whereby we must be saved, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The righteous shall compass me about. That's Christ. The righteous. Help compass me
about. Without shout, deal with me bountifully. In abundance. In abundance. He's
plenteous in mercy. The Lord deals with us graciously
through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is plenteous in mercy. He
abundantly pardons us. Now one last Psalm. Psalm 130. Turn over there. I'll let you
go here. Psalm 130. He's plenteous in
mercy. What it says over here, He's
plenteous in redemption. Psalm 130 verse 7 and 8. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there is mercy, and with Him is plenteous. He's
bountiful. Bountiful. Plenteous in redemption.
He shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities. He has an abundant pardon. We're abundantly pardoned in
our Lord Jesus Christ.