Psalm 138. When do you need comfort? When
do we need comfort? In trouble. We need comfort,
don't we? David talks about that in verse
seven. Though I walk in the midst of trouble, thou wilt comfort
me. Christ is our comfort. The Holy
Spirit is called to comfort her. What does he comfort us with?
Christ. He takes the things of Christ
and shows them unto us. Now, I'm entitling the message
from the words found in verse 1, I will praise thee, my God,
I'll praise thee with my whole heart, my whole heart, or my
whole being, all that is in me. That's the believer's desire,
isn't it? to praise the Lord, and that means to worship him
as it says in verse two, I will worship, I will worship toward
thy holy, holy temple. Wholehearted praise for who he
is, almighty God, high and lifted up, and for what he has done. He saved us by his grace. Another blessed psalm of David
and expresses every believer's desire. As David says in another
psalm, turn over here, hold your place there, and turn back a
few pages to Psalm 103. He expresses this wholehearted
praise in Psalm 103. Look at verse one. Bless the
Lord. Bless the Lord. He says this often, doesn't he?
Bless the Lord. 103 verse 1. Oh my soul all that
is within me bless his holy name bless the lord oh my soul and
forget not all his benefits who forgiveth all thine iniquities
who healeth all thy diseases he's put away all our sins who
redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving
kindness, there's that loving kindness again, and tender mercies.
That's our desire, is it not? To praise the Lord with my whole
heart, my whole being, all that is within me. Bless his holy
name. Let's read verse one again. I
will, I will. Now, we know man by nature won't. It's only as God gives us a new
heart and new desires that we say, I will. I will praise the
Lord. He makes us willing in the day
of his power. I will praise thee, the Lord,
with my whole heart and before the gods, the gods and idols
of this world, they said, I'm not ashamed to sing praises unto
the Lord. I'm not ashamed of the Lord.
I will praise the Lord with all my being or all my When we read
about the heart of a believer, he's talking about not this organ
we call the heart. We often say we love God in our
heart, but it's not the physical organ he's talking about. When
he's talking about the whole heart of a believer, he's talking
about the believer's will. I will praise the Lord. Talking
about the thoughts of his mind, his affections, his understanding,
what his whole being is made of. God given us an understanding,
hadn't he? Of what value would half-hearted
praise and half-hearted love and half-hearted worship be?
There wouldn't be any value to it at all, would it? God said,
give me your heart. Half-hearted praise and half-hearted
worship is nothing but hypocrisy. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
is not half-hearted. We're in this thing lock, stock,
and barrel. We've committed the whole of
our salvation unto the Lord Jesus Christ. So, faith in the Lord
Jesus Christ is not half-hearted. We really do believe him and
trust him for all of our salvation, but rather a sincere, hearted,
total commitment, total surrender, total submission unto the Lord. As David says here, and as Paul
says in another place, I know whom I have believed and I'm
persuaded he's able to keep that that I've committed. We've committed
to all of our salvation, our whole soul, body, and being unto
the Lord Jesus Christ. We're kept by his power. We need
a broken heart to mourn over our sin. He said, I deny them
of a broken heart, but we need a whole heart, a new heart, given
in regeneration to praise him, to believe him, to love him,
and to worship him like he ought to be worshiped. We believe the
Lord because we've been begotten of God, begotten of God. Well, our worship here is not
perfect, not like it will be one day. One day we'll worship
Him without any hindrance of sin. While our worship here is
not perfect, believers can say it's certainly sincere. I wholeheartedly
believe the Lord Jesus Christ as all of my salvation. The Father
seeketh such to worship Him in spirit and in truth. We can only
worship God through the Lord Jesus Christ in the truth of
the gospel. Our new heart that he gives in
regeneration is one who thinks upon the Lord, who meditates
upon his word, whose affections are set on things above, not
on the things of this earth. I know we have to live here.
We have to deal with things in this earth, but our heart, our
mind, our affections are set upon Christ. He's all of our
salvation. Our understanding has been enlightened,
whose will is not, whose will is not my will be done, but thy
will be done. Thy will be done. Submission
to his will. Our Lord, when he's teaching
his disciples to pray, often they call that the Lord's Prayer.
It's not the Lord's Prayer in Matthew 6, that's the disciples'
prayer. He said, thy kingdom come, thy
will be done. Thy will be done. He makes us
willing to submit to the will of the Lord. Oftentimes, David
talks about waiting upon the Lord. I don't know what the will
of the Lord may be in this matter or that matter, so we have to
wait upon the Lord to see and find out what the will of the
Lord is, don't we? But I like what he says here,
I'll praise thee with all my being, all my heart, I think about that occasion when
David, you remember the Ark of the Covenant was taken away by
the Philistines and when he went and recovered the Ark and brought
it back, how he marched down the street and how he danced
and sang praises unto the Lord and he did that before all Israel
and before all the Philistines. He was not ashamed of the God
of the Ark of the Covenant. Covenant mercies. Before the
gods, the idols of men, Well, I'll sing about the Lord, who
is the Lord our God. The Lord our God. This is an
interesting scripture. Hold your place there and turn
back over here to Psalm 115. Psalm 115, look at verse one.
Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory. Psalm 115, verse one. for thy
mercy and for thy truth say. Wherefore should the heathen
say, where is now their God? Our God is in the heavens. He
hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. The idols of men, their
idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have
mouths, but they speak not. They have Eyes, but they do not
see. They have ears, but they cannot
hear. Noses, have they, but they smell not. They have hands, but
they handle not. Feet, have they, but they walk
not. Neither speak they through their
throat. And they that make them are likened to them. So is everyone
that trusteth in them. Their idols are dead, dead, dead. Our God's the living, true, almighty
God. David was not embarrassed or
ashamed to declare and sing praises to the Lord of Lords in the face
of opposition, in the face of his enemies. As Paul said, I'm
not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. That's the power of God
and salvation to everyone that believes. While David was contending
for the truth, he poured contempt upon the idols of men And upon
those that trusted in them. I like what he says, as we read
in Psalm 115, they that make them are like unto them. Those
who make idols are like unto them, cold, dead, lifeless, lifeless,
lifeless. Paul, or rather in the book of
Jude, he writes about, that we are to contend for the faith
once delivered unto the saints. We don't need to be contentious,
but we do contend for the truth of the gospel, don't we? You
see, he's turned us. He's turned us to himself. We've
turned to God, and when we turned to God, we turned away from idols,
our idols, our idols. This word praise here also has
a meaning of confession. Confession, I will praise thee.
Our confession of the gospel is wholehearted confession. We
own all that he is, all that he has done before this ungodly
world. Whatsoever the Lord has pleased,
that's what he did in heaven, earth, seas, and all deep places.
And we do this publicly, as we meet together publicly. How important
is public worship, publicly owning and praising and confessing the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ? I know this, he doesn't have
any secret disciples. they openly, publicly confess
the Lord Jesus Christ. And we do not forsake the assembling
of ourselves together, but how important is this confession
before this ungodly world? You remember Matthew 10, whosoever
therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess before
my father. But whosoever shall deny me before
men, him will I deny before my father, which is in heaven. I
want to confess the Lord Jesus Christ as all of my salvation.
When the enemies of the gospel rail against us, we shouldn't
be silent, but rather plainly declare the truth of God. As
he says so many times in the book of Psalms, he said, I am
God, beside me there is no other. There is no other. Turn over
to Psalm 40, or excuse me, Isaiah. Isaiah 45. Isaiah 45. I am the
Lord. Look at verse five. Isaiah 45, verse five. I am the
Lord. Isaiah 45, verse 5, I am the
Lord, there is none else. There is no God beside me. I
go to thee, though thou hast not known me, that they may know
from the rising of the sun and from the west that there is none
beside me. I am the Lord, though there is
none else. I form the light. I create darkness. I make peace. I create evil. I, the Lord, do all these things. He even uses that wickedness
of men to accomplish his purpose. Turn one page, Isaiah 46, verse
nine. Remember the former things of
old. I am God beside me, and there is none else. I am God.
There is none like me. What's he like? Declaring the
end from the beginning. from ancient times to things
that are not yet done, saying my counsel shall stand, I'll
do all my pleasure, calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that
executes my counsel from a far country, yea, I've spoken it,
I will also bring it to pass, I've purposed it, I'll do it. God is God over all things. What you believe, What you believe is determined
by who you believe. What you believe is determined
by who you believe. God is God. He's the God of all
the earth, the universe, and over all things. He's either
absolute sovereign God over all or he's not God at all. And we
know the scriptures teach that he's God over all things. Now
look at verse 2. I will worship, I will praise
thee, I will sing praises to thee, I will worship, worship
toward the holy temple, thy holy temple, and praise thy name for
thy loving kindness and for thy truth, for thou has magnified
thy word above all thy name. Believers worship him and confess
his name. We worship toward the holy temple
And as I said, when David writes his psalm, we know the temple
wasn't even constructed yet. Solomon did that many years later. But what David's saying here
is that he will worship toward that which is within the holy
of holies, and that was around the Ark of the Covenant. Remember
in the tabernacle where the mercy seat And on the day of atonement,
that blood was put on the mercy seat. God said, when I see the
blood, I'll pass over you. David, in his day, approached
God by the prescribed manner, was an appointed priest with
the appointed sacrifice on the appointed day. alter God's mercy
seat. And all that is typical of the
Lord Jesus Christ. He's our priest. He's our altar.
He's our sacrifice. He's our all in all. We have
a great high priest, and that is Christ. We also confess his
name. We confess his name. I praise
thy name. Boy, there's a whole lot in his
name. I did a series of messages Oh,
20 years ago or so, I went all through the Bible, A through
Z, with pointing out every name that the Lord was called by.
And it's an interesting study. But his name, God has given him
a name above every name. His name is Wonderful, Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.
Call His name, what? Jesus, Savior. For He shall save
His people from their sin. No other name under heaven given
among men whereby we must be saved. I love His name, don't
you? The Lord Jesus Christ. He's the Lord. He's the Savior.
He's got our Savior. He's the anointed Christ of God,
the Messiah. Because He's Almighty God, He
answers our prayers in a way that He sees fit. I worship and
confess his name. As David says here, I worship
toward thy holy temple and praise thy name for thy loving kindness
and for thy truth. I got my pages messed up. We praise him for who he is and
for what he's done. We know that salvation is of
the Lord. We also confess and celebrate
his character, his attributes, as it says there, his loving
kindness, his loving kindness, his sovereign love and grace
is everlasting to us. From everlasting to everlasting,
thou art God. And we celebrate his truth. Mercy
and truth are met together. Righteousness and peace have
kissed each other. For thou has magnified thy name,
thy word, and thy name, thou has magnified the word above
thy name. Here's the reason why that we
praise him and worship him. Because the word of the Lord
is magnified above or rather over all. his name and all that
he does and all that he is. This includes his written word.
He said heaven and earth will pass away, my word will never
pass away. It includes the written word
is magnified above his name, over all his name. All of his
promises of God in him are yes and in him an amen. So whenever
you see that the word, he's talking about the word written, and the
word incarnate, the living word, the Lord Jesus Christ. The incarnate
word, the incarnate word of God is magnified and glorified. God's glorified, God's glory is manifested in
his incarnation. The angels declared glory to
God in the highest on earth, peace, goodwill toward sinners,
God's glory is magnified in his crucifixion. God forbid, actually,
glory saved in the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ. How about
in his resurrection? The glory of the Lord is shining
forth when he came forth from the tomb. Now verse three, verse
three. Look at verse three there for
a minute while I shuffle my pages here. In the day when I cried, thou
answered me and strengthened me with strength in my soul. When I cried to the Lord. How
many times have we read in scripture that David cried unto the Lord? Lord, hear my cry, hear my prayer,
hear my voice. You remember, turn one page,
look at Psalm 143. Hear my prayer, O Lord, give
ear to my supplications, and in thy faithfulness answer me,
and in thy righteousness. Lord, hear my prayer and answer
my prayer. Here's one of the many distinguishing
characteristics of a true living God. He hears our cry. He hears our prayers, and he
answers them. He answers every prayer. He answers
them according to his eternal will and purpose. We pray, Lord,
make this known unto us. He answers our prayers according
to his will. Now, we pray for this and we
pray for that, but we have to say, Lord, if it's your will,
Lord willing. Because he is the living God,
he hears our prayers. He hears our cry because he's
a living God. Because he's the almighty God,
our prayers Because He's the Almighty God, He answers our
prayers in a way that He sees fit, according to His own will
and purpose. And He strengthens us, not physically,
but inwardly in our soul. I'll show you a couple of scriptures
on that. Turn back to Psalm 27. Psalm 27. First of all, verse
1. Psalm 27, verse 1. Psalm 27 verse 1. Notice, the
Lord is my light and my salvation. Whom shall I fear? The Lord is
the strength of my life. He's the strength of our salvation.
He's the strength of our redemption. Of whom shall I be afraid? When
the wicked, even my enemies, my foes, came upon me to eat
up my flesh, they stumbled and fell, though a host should encamp
against me. My heart shall not fear, though war shall rise against
me. I'll be confident. I'll be confident
in my God. He's a strong God. Turn to one
other scripture I'm thinking of. Turn back over here to Psalm
46. Psalm 46, talking about the strength of the Lord. Psalm 46
at verse one. Psalm 46 at verse one. God is
our refuge and our strength. of every present help in trouble. 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 are
troubled, though the mountains shake thereof with the swelling
thereof, there is a river whereof shall make glad the city of God,
the holy place, the tabernacle of the Most High. God's in the
midst of her. God is our refuge. God is our
strength. Not only in the time of trouble,
but all the time, all the time. Look at verse four, Psalm 138
verse four. All the kings of the earth shall
praise thee, O Lord, when they hear, when they hear a word from
the Lord, when they're taught of the Lord, they'll praise thee.
The way of salvation for a prince or a pauper A king or a convict
is the same. The way of salvation is by grace
through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. As Paul said, I am what
I am by the grace of God. When any, regardless of position
or place, are truly blessed to hear the words of the Lord, they
shall praise him for such great salvation we have in Christ. Faith comes by hearing the word
of the Lord. So all the kings of the earth shall praise thee, O Lord, when
they hear the words. When they really, truly, doesn't
matter if he's a king or a servant, all who hear his words will worship
him in spirit and in truth. When they hear him that way,
when they hear him that way, look at verse five. Yea, they shall sing. in the
ways of the Lord, for the Lord, for great is the glory of the
Lord. They shall sing in the ways of
the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. Those who are blessed
to hear shall worship, praise, and sing of the ways of the Lord
and his great glory. Blessed are your ears for they
hear, blessed are your eyes for they see. Here's another psalm I want you
to look at. Turn back to Psalm 98. They shall sing of the ways
of the Lord, for great is the glory of the Lord. Psalm 98,
verse 1. O sing unto the Lord a new song,
for He hath done marvelous things. His right hand and His holy arm
have gotten Him to victory. Sing unto the Lord. We sing unto
Him, you remember Revelation 1, we sing unto Him who loved
us and washed us from our sin. In His own blood, He has made
us kings and priests unto our God, and we shall worship Him
forever. In all the ways of salvation,
God bring great glory to His name, and the greatest glory
God's greatest glory is my greatest need. You remember Moses asked
the Lord, show me your glory. And he said, I will have mercy
on whom I will have mercy. God's greatest glory is my greatest
need. I need mercy. I need mercy. Now look at verse six. Though
the Lord be high. How high is he? Higher than we
can imagine. He's high and lofty. He's high
and mighty. He's high and holy. Yet, yet
he's mindful. He hath respect. Hath he respect
unto the lowly, but the proud, the proud he knows afar off. The Lord be high and exalted.
Someone in the past, preacher of the past said, you cannot
preach God too high. You cannot preach God too holy. And you cannot preach man too
low, too sinful, too guilty. You cannot preach Christ too
great and Christ too mighty to save. And you cannot preach salvation
too free in the Lord Jesus Christ. Though the Lord be high, yet
the Lord Jesus Christ came to save who? Sinners, this is a
faithful saying. Worthy of all acceptation, the
Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners. Now here's a reference
I told you to write down and let's turn and read it. Isaiah
57, 15. Isaiah 57, 15. Isaiah 57, verse 15. And I believe that's the reference
that's given there on that verse. For thus saith the high and lofty
one that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is holy, I dwell in
a high and holy place with him that is of a contrite and humble
spirit to revive the spirit of the humble and to revive the
heart of the contrite one. Though he's high and holy, yet
he's mindful of those who are humbled by the grace of God. But the proud, he says here,
he knows afar off. He knows them at a distance,
but not with infinite, intimate love as he does his elect. For he's loved us with an everlasting,
everlasting salvation. Verse seven, though I walk in
the midst of trouble. Isn't that where we live? In
the midst of trouble? Man that's born of woman's few
days and full of trouble, trouble, trouble, trouble. We've had that
all of our life, haven't we? We live in the midst of trouble.
We're either in trouble, coming out of trouble, or headed for
trouble. That's our life, isn't it? Paul
writes, we're troubled on every side, yet not distressed. We're
perplexed, but not in despair. Persecuted, but not forsaken.
Cast down, but not destroyed. Our Lord said in this, these
words have I spoken unto you that in me you might have peace
in this world. You shall have trouble, but be
of good cheer. Be of good cheer, I have overcome. Our light afflictions here work for us. Our light afflictions, which
are just for a moment, work for us in exceeding an eternal weight
of glory. The trials that we endure come
from the hand of our loving father. They're called precious trials.
Whom the Lord loveth, he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom
he receiveth. The trials we endure come from the hand of our loving
father. That's why they're called precious
trials. And that's why they work to our
eternal good in God's glory. Believers do not despair for
three reasons, he says there in verse seven. We do not despair
when trouble comes because God said, I will revive thee. I will enliven thee. I will quicken
thee. David said, the Lord is my shepherd.
I shall not want for any good thing. Thou wilt revive me. You hath thee quickened who were
dead. And then he says, I will defend thee. Thou shalt stretch
forth thy hand against the wrath of my enemies. Could you have
a better defender who's the captain of our salvation, who has defeated
all of our enemies? The last enemy to be destroyed
is death. Our sin is against us. He put
it away. The law of God is against us.
He satisfied it. Everything that was against us,
the Lord Jesus Christ said, if God be for us, who can be against
us? Who can be against us? thou wilt
revive us, thou wilt defend us, and it says there in the last
part of verse seven, thy right hand shall save us. Boy, that's
good news, isn't it? He will revive us, he will defend
us, and then he'll save us. That will save us. The Lord saves
us with an everlasting salvation. He says, I give my sheep eternal
life and they'll never perish. Isn't that good news? Though
I walk in the midst of trouble, the Lord will revive me. The
Lord will defend me against the wrath, the wrath of my enemies. Thanks be to God who has given
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ, and thy right hand
shall save me. The right hand of the Almighty
God in saving mercy is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. The
Lord's hand is not shortened that he cannot save. Look at
verse eight. I like this part too. The Lord will perfect that which
concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever. Forsake not the work of thine
own hands. God will perfect that. That word
means complete that. God doesn't start a work and
then leave it undone. Paul said, being confident of
this very thing, God who hath begun a good work in you, he'll
finish it. In him dwells all the fullness
of the Godhead bodily and we are complete in the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Lord will complete his work
for us. Turn to one other psalm. I like
this psalm. It's one of my favorite verses
here. Turn back to Psalm 57. He will perfect that which concerns
me. Psalm 57, and I believe that's
the reference that's given there on verse eight. Psalm 57, verse
two. I will cry unto God most high,
unto God that performeth all things for me. He shall send
from heaven and save me from the reproach of him that will
swallow me up. God shall send forth his mercy
and his truth. Isn't that a blessing? The Lord
will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endures
forever. Now look right across the page,
Psalm 136, and we may come back and look at this next week. But
in every verse, he talks about the mercy of the Lord, enduring
forever. Oh, give thanks unto the Lord,
for he is good. His mercy endures forever. Oh,
give thanks unto the God of gods. Excuse me, for his mercy endures
forever. O give thanks to the Lord of
Lords, for his mercy endures forever. Look down to verse 23, Psalm
136. Who remember us in our low estate,
for his mercy endures forever. And hath redeemed us from our
enemies, for his mercy endures forever. Who giveth food to all
flesh, for his mercy endures forever. O give thanks. and to
the God of heaven for His mercy. It's of the Lord's mercies that
were not consumed. They endure forever according
to Thy loving kindness and according to Thy mercy, O Lord. The Lord
will perfect that which concerneth me. Thy mercy, O Lord, endure forever.
And then the last part of verse 8. You reckon He'll forsake the
work of His hand The work of His hand is complete salvation.
Salvation is to the Lord. He said, my meat is to do the
will of Him that sent me and to finish His work. The Lord
will never forsake us. We are His workmanship created
in Christ Jesus. He said, I'll never leave thee.
I'll never forsake thee. Forsake not the work of thine
own hand. Salvation is by the hand of the
Lord. the hand of the Lord.