This evening I want to take a
look at this familiar psalm, Psalm 90, it's called A Prayer
of Moses. A Prayer of Moses. Moses was
a man, a man, a sinner, saved by grace. Moses was a man of
like passion, just like you, just like me. But he was the
man that God used. He was the deliverer that God
sent. It says here that Moses, the
man of God, He was sent of God to deliver Israel from that Egyptian
bondage. But I'm taking the title for
the message from what is said in verse 12. Teach us, teach
us. Lord, be our teacher. Teach us
to number our days. We don't have years. We have
just days that we may apply or bow our hearts unto Christ. That's wisdom, it's Christ. So
teach us to number our days. That'll be the title of the message.
But notice also this little word in verse 12. So, so teach us. Seeing and knowing the frailties
and sinfulness of the flesh, the shortness of this life, Lord,
teach us thy way. Teach us thy way. Teach us thy
gospel. Reveal Christ unto us. He is
made unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Lord, teach us your way. Show us the way of salvation
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this psalm, as I said, We
know that all the Psalms are given of God, they're God-inspired,
but not all the Psalms are written by David. Some Psalms don't have
any title or a Psalm of David, notice Psalm 91, 92, 93 doesn't,
or Psalm 91 and 93 don't have any particular title to it, but Moses
is, the writer of this prayer or
this psalm of Moses. Remember our Lord said of Moses,
he said to those Pharisees, if you would have believed Moses,
you would have believed me. because Moses wrote about me. Moses wrote about the Lord Jesus
Christ. Moses wrote about Christ. Moses,
like all believers, only have one hope of salvation. It's a
good hope through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. He's all
our hope. Christ in you is the hope, hope
of glory, a good hope only through the grace of God. Now, most of
the commentators believe that Moses wrote this prayer while
spending 40 years in the wilderness. You can go back and read the
Book of Exodus. Boy, there was a lot went on
in those 40 years. There was a lot that went on
in that 40 years. And mostly, for the most part,
it was 40 years of Israel's rebellion against God. Watching the rebellion
of Israel take place and seeing the whole generation of people
die because of their unbelief and sin against God. They could
have entered in that promised land very soon, but they spied
it out and said, we can't take it. They're giant in the land. And God turned them back in the
wilderness for 40 years. All those we know from reading
the scripture, all those who were 20 years and older, the
men who crossed through the Red Sea and went into the wilderness,
that whole generation of those men, 20 years and older, died
in the wilderness. With the exception, remember
the exception? Joshua and Caleb. Joshua and Caleb entered into
the promised land. Even Moses himself, he went up
to Mount Pisgah and God let him look into the promised land But
he didn't enter into the promised land, did he? The law, Moses
representing the law, cannot inherit salvation. Now Moses
was saved, and I'm not saying that he wasn't, but Moses representing
the law didn't enter in. Joshua and Caleb, the savior
and the dog. Caleb means dog, faithful dog. Whenever you read about Caleb,
you always read about, and he was faithful. He was faithful
unto God. Now one thing is certain from
reading this Psalm, one thing is certain, we see the frailties
of our flesh make it personal. God's talking about us. The frailties
of our flesh compared and contrasted to the eternality of the most
high God, the most holy God. We know in Isaiah 40, it says,
all flesh is grass. And then he said, behold your
God. God is unchanging. We change all the time. We get
older each day. With God, there is no such thing
as time. He's not a creature of time.
It's the everlasting present with God. God, as Scriptures
teach, God, He inhabits eternity. He inhabits eternity. Now, let's
look at verse 1. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling
place, in all generations. The Lord Jesus Christ is our
dwelling place. You remember from last week's
study, Psalm 91 verse 1, He that dwelleth in the secret place
of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.
That secret place where we abide is the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. The Lord himself is our refuge. The Lord himself is our dwelling
place. The Lord himself is our hiding
place. We have no other hope but Christ
alone. Let me read this to you. Don't
turn. This is familiar to you. 27, for in the 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 our refuge. Christ
is our hiding place. We have no permanent dwelling
place here in this life, do we? We have houses to live in. but
one day that will be destroyed. We have this tabernacle of flesh,
this body we live in. One day that'll go back to the
dust. We're all headed that direction. But to the believer resting in
Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ has been our dwelling place from
all eternity. Think about that. He's been our
dwelling place from all eternity. Our names were written in the
land book of life before the foundation of the world, before
the foundation of the world. He's always been our dwelling
place. All who believe the Lord Jesus Christ, they dwell in him. And he in us, Christ in you is
the hope of glory. You remember our Lord prayed
in John 17, I in them and thou in me that we may be perfect
in one, in one. Whosoever shall confess that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, God dwells in him and he in God. We're one with him. We abide
in him. Now think about this. The elect
of God have dwelt in the Lord Jesus Christ from all eternity
as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world that
we should be holy without blame before him in love. So we have
dwelt with him secretly from all eternity in that covenant
of grace. We dwelt and were one with Christ
when he was crucified for our sin. When he died, we died. We're crucified with Christ.
And we dwell and we're one with Him even now in glory. We're
one with Him. We are seated together in the
heavenlies in the Lord Jesus Christ. Seated together with
Him. I got a preacher friend that
made this statement. He said, when we get to glory,
when we get to heaven, we shall realize we've always been there
in Christ from eternity. Think about that. as we dwell
in him from all eternity. Look at verse two now. Psalm
90 verse two, before the mountains were brought forth, God created
all things by the word of his power. He created all things. He sustained all things. All
things were created by the Lord Jesus Christ. In the beginning,
God made the heavens and the earth, but before the mountains
were brought forth, or ever thou hast formed the earth, or the
world, or the heavens, even from everlasting to everlasting, thou
art God alone. Thou art God alone, from everlasting
to everlasting. He said, I am God, beside me
there is no other. Before creation, when there was
nothing but God, he loved his own with an everlasting love.
When there was nothing but God, He determined to save sinners
before Adam ever sinned against God. When there was nothing but
God, when there was nothing but God, the Lord Jesus Christ stood
as a surety of the everlasting covenant of grace. David said,
it's ordered in all things and is sure. The God of peace that
brought again from the dead the Lord Jesus Christ through the
blood of the everlasting covenant. We're gonna look at that Not
this Sunday, but next Sunday from Hebrews chapter 13. God is unchanging in his eternal
purpose. Jesus Christ is same yesterday,
today and forever. Unchanging in his eternal purpose.
Unchanging in his eternal redemption. The Lord Jesus Christ is lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. Before Adam ever sinned,
the Lord Jesus Christ was the savior, the remedy. The Redeemer
to redeem us. What a comfort and what security
the believer had resting in Christ. Isn't that a good verse? Wherever thou hast formed the
earth or the world, the heavens, from everlasting to everlasting
thou art God. With God there is no time. We
are creatures of time. Isn't it amazing how, as we go
through our day, how many times do you look at the clock? I mean, I sit at my desk and
sit at my computer screen and it has the time right there.
If I wake my phone up, the time's right there. If I walk out that
door, first thing I do is look at that clock. We are creatures
of time. Time, time, time. What time is
it? What time to get up? What time to go to bed? Lunchtime?
Suppertime? We're creatures of time, aren't
we? God's not like that. God is eternal. God inhabits
eternity. Now, verse 3 down through verse
10, we see something of our frailty. We see the comparison between
God who is eternal and this sinful flesh is temporary. This sinful
flesh is temporary. It's passing away. It is fleeting
away quickly. Now you don't think about that
when you're young, when you're a teenager. You don't think about
getting old. You don't think about much dying.
But I know personally, myself, as I get older each year, the frailties of this flesh,
the medical issues that come up, It's really, when you get 70,
80, something, it's really just a life of taking care of this
medical issue, this health issue, this health issue, over and over
and over again. We see that God is eternal and
unchanging. We see that we are frail, sinful
creatures. Every time I look in the mirror,
reflection comes back. It doesn't lie. I'm getting old. I'm getting wrinkled. Back to
the dust, look at verse three. Thou turnest man to destruction. Who does that? Man, date, or
determined of the Lord. Who determines that? Thou turnest
man to destruction and sayest, return. Return, ye children of
men. And notice the reference there
is Genesis 3, 19. Remember Genesis 3, 19. In the
sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto
the ground, for out of it thou wast taken. Dust thou art, dust
thou shalt return. Man's days are determined of
the Lord. In our extended family, our grandson, his stepdad, Thirty-seven
years old. Last summer he got strep throat.
Went in a hospital. Went into a coma. Six months
later, Monday, he passed away. Passed away. They disconnected
his life support. Passed away. Man, day, are determined
of the Lord. They did all they could medically. They flew him. to Lexington,
UK, did all they could, the doctors all they could, he was on life
support, off life support, did all they could for six months.
He came back home at Christmas time, spent two weeks back in
the hospital, ICU. Man's days are determined of
the Lord. You may be young, you may be
old. 37 sounds pretty young. But age has nothing to do with
it, it's determined by the Lord. Man's days are determined by
the Lord. The Lord says this, I kill, I make alive, I wound,
I heal. Remember Ecclesiastes chapter
3 says this, there's a time to be born and there's a time to
die. Our times, as David said, our
times are in his hand. It's sobering, isn't it? For
a believer at the day, we look forward to, as I've often said,
the funerals that I've preached for our church family here. I've
done a lot of funerals in the last 40 years. Now I usually always say at a
funeral, when a believer dies, it's graduation day. It's coronation
day. We're going home to be with the
Lord. That's what happened when your brother died. Went home
to be with the Lord. That was God's appointment. God's
appointed time. Thou turnest man to destruction,
and sayest, Return back to the dust. Ecclesiastes chapter 12,
also notice that reference there. The spirit returns to God who
gave it, and the flesh to the dust. Dust
thou art, dust thou shalt return. Now look at verse 4. A thousand
years in thy sight, in God's sight, a thousand years, Oh buddy,
yesterday. What'd you do yesterday? Where'd
you go yesterday? It's gone, isn't it? A thousand
years with God, just one day. And when it's passed, and when
it's passed as a watch in the night, a watch in the night,
very short span of time, a thousand years, but one day with the eternal
God. Yesterday has come and it's gone.
I wonder how many people died yesterday. All of them died at
the appointed time. It's appointed and the man wants
to die and after that judgment, judgment's coming. You see the
frailty of the flesh. I'll have you turn to this one.
Turn back to Psalm 39. Psalm 39 verse four and verse
five. Psalm 39, look at verse four,
and it's along the same line. And David, this is the Psalm
of David, but David said the same thing that Moses said. Psalm
39, verse four, make me to know my end and the measure of my
days, what it is that I may know how frail I am. Behold, God has
made my days as a hand breath. You know what a hand breath is? A span is from here to here. That's a span. They say about
18 inches. A hand breath is just a span
of your hand. Very short space of time. Very short distance. Behold thou
has made my days like a hand breath. And my age is as nothing
before thee. Barely every man at his best
state is altogether vanity. Every man, every one of us. Vanity. Vanity. Emptiness. Emptiness. Man, days are like a flower that
blooms and is soon withered away. James writes this. We're gonna
go through the book of James when we get through Hebrew chapter
13. James says, what is your life?
It's like a vapor that appears for a little while, vanishes. like that fog in the morning. You wake up, it's there, and
then it's gone, isn't it? That's our life. It's just a
vapor, just a vapor. And then he mentioned just like
this, verse 5, it's carried, thou carriest them away as with
a flood, a mighty floodwaters. It just moves everything in its
path. God carries away. They are as
asleep in the morning They are like grass which groweth up. In the morning it flourishes,
it groweth up. In the evening it's cut down and withered. How
frail is this flesh! In the morning grass grows, in
the evening it's cut down. It's cut down. Frail! That's
why the Lord tells us often, don't trust in the flesh, right?
It comes forth and it's shortly cut down. It's cut down. God cuts it down. Now look at
verse 7 and 8. We are consumed by thine anger.
Now Moses in the wilderness, when those children of Israel
made that golden calf and started worshipping around that golden
calf, that displeased the Lord. And Moses watched the anger and
the wrath of God fall on those people for their idolatry and
unbelief. God had not changed. God had
not changed. His wrath and his anger still
falls upon those who refuse the gospel of Christ. We are consumed
by thine anger and by wrath we are troubled. The only way we
can be delivered from the wrath of God is in Christ, in our Lord
Jesus Christ. Look at verse eight. Thou hast
set our iniquities before thee. Those children of Israel, they
couldn't hide their idolatry, could they? We cannot hide our
sin from God. Thou hast set our iniquities
before Thee. I wrote a reference here, Hebrews
chapter 4 verse 13. You remember where it says there
all things are naked and open before the eyes of Him with whom
we have to do? Thou hast set our iniquities
before Thee, our secret sins. Our secret sins, the sins that
we just know about, that we don't confess our secret sins. But
the Lord knows every one of them. In the light of His countenance,
there is no secret. Now here's another Psalm. Turn
over here to Psalm 139. Psalm 139. About God being omniscient, who
knows all things. Psalm 139. Look at verse 4. Well, let's go back to verse
one. Psalm 139, verse one. Oh Lord, thou hast searched me
and known me. Thou knowest my down sittings
and my uprising. Thou understandest my thought
afar off. Thou compass my path and my lying
down, are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word
in my tongue, but oh Lord, but lo, oh Lord, thou knowest it
all together. You can't hide from God. He knows
the secret thoughts of your mind. Look at verse 9. All our days
are passed away in thy wrath. We spend our years as a tale
that is told. Moses is recounting what he experienced
there in the wilderness that happened to those who rebelled
against God constantly. You remember, how many times
did they tell Moses, why did you bring us out here to die?
Why don't you just leave us back here in Egypt? And they were
ready to pick up stones to stone him to death. Wrath and rebellion
against God. All our days are passed away
in thy wrath. We spend our years, what years
we have, just as a tale that's told. Very quickly, it's gone. It's gone. His anger and his
wrath is stirred in activity against sin. And sin deserves
nothing less than the holy wrath and anger of God, does it? The
wage of sin is death. God's a pure eye to behold iniquity. But Lord, our God must punish
sin because God is holy, isn't he? God is holy and just. There is nothing but wrath and
consuming anger for iniquities and rebellion against God. Psalm
7, verse 11 said, God's angry with the wicked every day. The
wrath of God abides on those who do not believe the gospel.
Remember, the writer of the Hebrew said, our God is a consuming
fire. Our God is consuming fire. Now, the only way we can escape
the wrath of God and the judgment of God is to be found in Christ,
to when Christ can be found in him. Look down to verse 10. So short
is human life, we see the shortness and frailties of the flesh. How
foolish to trust the deeds of the flesh. Paul said, we rejoiced
in Christ and we put no confidence in the flesh. Now look at verse
10. The days of our years, three
score and ten, that's 70. Now a lot of us here this evening
are 70 plus. The days of our years are threescore
and ten, and by reason of strength they'd be fourscore. Some of
us here are fourscore, eighty years old. Yet is there strength? If we have strength when we're
eighty years old, we have labor, labor and sorrow. Labor and sorrow. For it is soon cut off, this
flesh will soon be cut off. and we'll fly away. Fly away. We used to sing a song when we
were young. Remember that song, I'll fly
away, I'll fly away? I think it comes from this verse.
And that's true of a believer. It's soon cut off and we go to
be with the Lord, don't we? If we're blessed to live 70 or
perhaps 80 years, what is that in the light of eternity? I listened
to a message by my pastor, Brother Henry Mahan. And he preached
from this psalm when he was 70 years old. And he made a statement
in that psalm, I don't know how many years I have left. Well,
he had exactly 23. He died when he was 93 years
old. But he never ever dreamed about
being 93 years old or 90 years old. But if we live, 90 years
old. Sister Doris, now she's almost
100 years old, Doris Mayhem. But what is 100 years or 90 years
in the line of eternity? That's nothing. That's nothing. Moses was 120 years old when
the Lord took him to glory and buried his body so no one, he
buried his body on Mount Pisgah where no one could find his body.
Now why'd the Lord do that? You know what those Jews would
have done with the body of Moses? They would have made a shrine
into it and they would have worshipped Moses instead of God. The Lord buried Moses, his body,
not Moses. He buried his body. Moses went
home to be with the Lord. Remember when the Lord, we're
gonna see that in our study of Matthew in that transfiguration?
where the Lord was transfigured in His glory and appeared unto
Peter, James, and John, Elijah, and Moses, and the Lord. They
buried Moses' bones, but the Lord took Moses to glory. He's still there today. It's
soon cut off, and we fly away. The believer flies away to be
with the Lord forever, to be absent from his body, to be present
with the Lord. The Apostle Paul writes, for
me to live is Christ, to die is gain. He said, I'm a straight
betwixt two. To be with you or to be with
the Lord. You remember from our study in
the Revelation, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord. And
then Psalm 116, we studied that not too long ago. Excuse me, said the believer,
precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
The unbeliever also flies away, but not to eternal life, but
rather to eternal judgment. Eternal judgment, condemnation,
and punishment forever. In Luke chapter 16, when the
Lord gives that parable of the beggar named Lazarus and the
rich man who died, the rich man died in hell, he lifted up his
eyes being in torment in those flames. The beggar went to glory,
resting. in the bosom of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now here's a believer's hope.
The Lord Jesus Christ took our sin to Himself. He bare our sin
in His own body, consumed the wrath of God for us. He drank
the cup of wrath and damnation for all of His covenant people.
Christ consumed the fierce anger of God against our sin. That's
why he cried, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? God
made him to be sin for us. But because the Lord Jesus Christ
took all our sin, the sin of God the elect, and he took all
the wrath of God, satisfied the offended justice of God, there
is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ. God
who spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
how shall he not with him also freely give us all things in
Christ? Verse 11, who knows the power
of thine anger? Who really knows the power of
almighty God? The sovereignty of God. The holy,
holy, holiness of God. The power. But think about the,
we know something of the power of his love. Unmeasurable, isn't
it? How about the power of his anger?
That's unmeasurable too. Who knows the power of God's
anger and wrath against sin? The Lord Jesus Christ, he full
well knows the power of God's anger. as He hangs on Calvary's
tree. Who so knows the wrath of God
as to truly fear Him? Only those who were taught of
God. His love is beyond measure. It's unsearchable. So is His
holy wrath. That being so, look at verse
12. Teach us to number our days.
Teach us to number our days. So teach us, O Lord, to number
our days that we may apply or bow or submit our hearts unto
Christ. Christ is our wisdom. Christ
is our wisdom. Lord, be our teacher. Teach us
to fear thy name. Teach us the brevity of life.
Teach us the vanity of the flesh. And teach us to bow and submit
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Teach us to come to the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is our wisdom. He is our righteousness. Remember, our Lord said this
in John 6. No man can come to me except the Father which sent
me. Draw him. All those who have heard and
learned of the Father, they come to Christ. Be our teacher, Lord.
Draw us to Christ. Look at verse 13. Return, O Lord. How long? Return, O Lord. How long? There's a reference
there found in Deuteronomy 32 verse 6. Moses interceded for the children
of Israel when they were steeped in idolatry. And he asked the
Lord for mercy for them. Return, O Lord, how long? Let
it repent thee concerning thy servant. Change your Not to change
your character, but Lord, turn your wrath away. Turn your wrath
from our sin. And the only way that can be
done is through the Lord Jesus Christ. Repent concerning thy
servants. Now verse 14, 15, 16, and 17. I'll wind this up. Here we see
something. And this is our prayer. Knowing
that God's eternal, knowing the frailty of the flesh, knowing
that salvation is in the Lord Jesus Christ, satisfy us early
with Thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Moses asked the Lord, show me
your glory. You remember? He said, I'll cause
all my goodness to pass before thee, and I'll be merciful to
whom I will be merciful. God's greatest glory is my greatest
need. I need mercy. Oh, satisfy us
early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our
days. You remember, look right across
the page. Psalm 92, look at verse 4. For thy Lord has made me glad
through thy work. I will triumph in the work of
thy hand. O Lord, how great are thy works,
and thy thoughts are very deep. He's made us glad through his
redeeming work, hasn't he? O, satisfy us with thy mercy,
that we may rejoice in the Lord all our days. What days we have
left? Just a few, just a few. We have gladness of heart in
the Lord. Look at verse 15. Make us glad according to the
days wherein thou hast afflicted us. There are years of conviction,
but there's also years of comfort. And the years wherein we've seen
evil, show us your goodness. Show us your goodness. The Lord
is good. Verse 16. Let thy work appear unto thy
servants, and thy glory unto their children. Verse 17, let
the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us. Who's the beauty
of the Lord our God? That's Christ. He's altogether
lovely. Let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us and establish
the work, establish the work of our hands. Yea, the work of
our hands, establish, establish that work. Establish that work. Now what's he saying there? Let
me get to my note here on verse 17. Established thou the work
of our hands, And he's saying this, Lord, direct the work of
our hands. Direct the work of our hands.
We are His workmanship in Christ Jesus, created unto good works,
which God hath before ordained, that we should walk in them.
Direct the work of our hands. Or this, we could say this, bless
the work of our hands. We labor in the gospel. We strive
and labor in the gospel. Paul wrote this in 1 Corinthians
15. He said, my beloved brethren,
be you steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord. For as much as you know that your labor in the Lord
is not in vain. And then Paul writes this again
in 1 Corinthians 15. He said, by the grace of God,
I am what I am. And his grace, which was bestowed
upon me, was not in vain. But I labor more abundantly than
they all, yet not I, but the grace of God in me. God who has
begun a good work in you will finish it. For it is God which
worketh in you, both the will and the do of his good pleasure.
Let the beauty of the Lord, our God, be upon us. Let the beauty
of his righteousness, let the beauty of his redemption, let
the beauty of his person, to you who believe he's altogether
lovely, he's altogether precious. Let the beauty of the Lord, our
God, be upon us. Establish the work of our hands. And it only can be that work
that he gives us to do. As we labor in the ministry of
the Lord Jesus Christ, yea, the work of our hands, establish
thou it, or bless the work of our hands.