Now we're going to consider in
our study this evening Psalm 13. Psalm 13, the title to our
message is found in the first two verses. And it's repeated
four times. Did you notice in those first
two verses what's repeated over and over and over and over again?
Four times it says, how long? How long? How long? How long, O Lord? Now I found, and I didn't really
realize until I started looking at this a little bit more closely,
this phrase, how long, is repeated several times throughout the
Psalms. I actually found 15 different Psalms where that phrase is repeated,
how long, Lord? Let me show you a few of them.
We've seen one already if you turn back to Psalm 6. Verse 3, my soul is also sore
vexed, but thou, O Lord, how long? How long? Return, O Lord, deliver my soul,
O save me for thy mercy's sake. How long, O Lord? How long? Now, let's turn to a couple more,
find Psalm 35, 17. 35, 17, how long? Psalm 35 verse 17, Lord, how
long wilt thou look on? Rescue my soul from their destruction,
my darling from the lions. How long, Lord? Help me, I'm
in trouble, help me. And then a couple more, find
Psalm 74, This is not all of the Psalms. Like I said, there's
at least 15 that I counted. Psalm 74, 10. Psalm 74, 10. Oh God, how long shall the adversary
reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy
name forever? Lord, how long? Psalm 79, 5. Here's another one. How long, O Lord? Wilt thou be
angry forever? Shall thy jealousy burn like
fire? How long, O Lord? And then right
on the other side of the page, Psalm 80, look at verse 3. Turn us again, O God, and cause
thy face to shine, and we shall be saved. O Lord, God of hosts,
how long wilt thou be angry against the prayer of thy people." How
long? It's quite a complaint against
the Lord. How long? How long? Well, we'll talk about that in
just a moment. Let me give you the three different
parts of this Psalm. In verses 1 and 2, we see The
questions of anxiety or the believer's anxiety, Lord, how long? How
long? Sometimes we get overly anxious
waiting upon the Lord. And then in verses three and
four, we see the cry of the believer looking to God for help, considering,
hear, hear my prayer, oh Lord. And then the last thing is the
song of faith. In verses 5 and 6, I've trusted
in thy mercy, my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. Now this psalm, like many psalms
that we have studied already and many more that we will study,
Lord willing, in days to come, this psalm, like many psalms,
begins with a note of despair, doesn't it? It begins with a
note of anxiousness. Lord, how long? But it ends in
rejoicing in the Lord, rejoicing in His salvation. It ends in
verse 6 with singing unto the Lord. Quite a drastic change,
isn't it? From anxiety to rejoicing and
singing in the Lord. Is not this also our own experience
in salvation? We begin in despair and conviction
of sin, knowing something of our sin and guilt, and then by
His sovereign grace, we rejoice in the Lord Jesus Christ and
all that He has made to us, wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption, and He causes us to sing unto the Lord. for that great mercy that he
has given unto us in Christ Jesus. I believe that's every believer's
experience. We start with a conviction of sin and a condemnation of
knowing what we are in Adam and what we are in ourselves, but
when God is pleased to call us and bless us and teach us the
gospel, We rejoice and we sing unto the Lord for His great mercy
that's given unto us. Now, let's look at the first
thing that I mentioned in verses 1 and 2, questions of anxiety. Anxiety. Well, we are instructed
in the Word of God to wait upon the Lord. You remember in several
places, don't turn, let me just read this to you, but in several
places, here's one of them, Psalm 27 verse 14, it says, wait on
the Lord and be of good courage. Heal strength in thy heart. Wait,
I say, on the Lord." Wait. Wait on the Lord. We are instructed
to wait on the Lord, but sadly, when things don't come to pass
when we expect that maybe they should, we are tempted to complain
and say, Lord, how long? How long, oh Lord? How long? Oh, my friend, for grace, that
while we wait upon the Lord, and he is worth waiting for,
he's worth waiting on, to be kept from a murmuring, complaining
spirit in our heart saying, Lord, how long? How long, O Lord? Now, let's consider these four
things that he says. Actually, four questions. Four
times he poses this question. How long, O Lord? How long wilt
thou forget me, O Lord, forever? Now, can God forget His covenant
people? It's really, it's an anxiety
and an anxious question that has no basis, does it? Can God
forget His covenant people whom He's loved with an everlasting
love? Well, certainly not. Those for whom the Lord Jesus
Christ shed His blood and paid their sin debt, can God forget
His covenant people? Certainly not. Can the omniscient
Lord fail in His memory to forget His people whom He loves, whom
He has chosen? God forbid. Absolutely not. Let us drive away such vain thoughts
and read His precious covenant promise. Let me show you. Turn
to Isaiah 49. Isaiah 49. Let's dismiss our thoughts of
anxiety and let's read his word. And rest in his word. Isaiah
49, look at verse 13, sing. Sing, O heavens, and be joyful,
O earth. Break forth in the singing, O
mountains, for the Lord hath comforted his people. He will
have mercy upon his afflicted. But Zion said, the Lord has forsaken
me. Zion has said, the Lord's forgotten
me. Look at verse 15. Can a woman
forget her sucking child that she should not have compassion
on a son of her womb? Yea, they may forget. We see
that happen all the time, don't we? People that would abandon
babies. Yet God said, I will not forget
you. Look at verse 16. Behold, I've
graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually
before me." God will not forget his people, so it's needless
to suffer over anxiety. Now stay right here in Isaiah
and turn to Isaiah 54. So it's needless to fret over
that. The Lord's not going to forget his covenant people. He's
given them everlasting salvation in Christ Jesus. Now the second
question here, don't turn back to Psalm 13. I want you to be
turning to Isaiah 54. And we'll read there in just
a minute, but let me read this second question. How long wilt
thou hide thy face from me? How long will you hide your face
from me? Perhaps this is a more reasonable complaint. For the
Lord may hide His smiling face, the glory of His face, for a
moment to make us realize our complete and total dependence
and our reliance upon Him. Look at the promise here in Isaiah
54, verse 7. Isaiah 54, look at verse 7, and
I trust you have this marked in your Bible with emphasis on
verse 10. But let's begin reading at verse
7. For a small moment have I forsaken thee, but with great mercies
I will gather thee. For a small moment I've forsaken
you, but with great mercies I'll gather you. 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 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
sworn that I will not be wroth with thee nor rebuke thee. Look
at verse 10 now. For the mountains shall depart.
and the hills be removed, but my kindness shall not depart
from thee, neither shall my covenant of peace be removed, saith the
Lord that has mercy on you.î So when weíre tempted to think
that God has forgotten us, that the Lord has hidden his face,
read his word, read his covenant promise, he said I'll never leave
you, I'll never forsake you, no, not never, now look back
at Psalm 13 once again and consider this third question of anxiety,
how long, verse 2, how long shall I take counsel in my soul, having
sorrow in my heart daily, how long shall I take counsel in
my own soul. How long shall I put counsel
in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? Now, nothing
can be worse, now listen to me, I know this by experience, nothing
can be worse for a believer under trial of heart to take counsel
with his own heart. which is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked, and will surely lead to despair
and desolation. For the heart is deceitful above
all things, and desperately wicked. It is much better to take counsel
of God and His word, for He is called the Wonderful Counselor,
the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace,
and the increase of His government, there shall be no end. So let us not take counsel in
our own heart, but let us look to the Lord of glory for all
comfort. He said, I've studied this, over
in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, there's a glorious verse in that
chapter, verse 9, where Paul talks about this thorn that he
has in the flesh. And he asked the Lord earnestly,
begs the Lord three times that that thorn in the flesh would
be taken from him, and the Lord comes back and says this. You
remember? My grace is enough. My grace is sufficient for you,
Paul. And if it's sufficient for Paul,
you know what? It's sufficient for Chris. Or do I? for David. It's sufficient
for all of his people. It's best to take counsel of
God, His Word. He is the wonderful counselor. And then the fourth question,
he says here in verse 2, How long shall my enemy be exalted
over me? Not long. Not long. David had
natural enemies. among his own family. Some of
you read that record recently. Within his own kingdom he had
some traitors in his own family, his son Absalom and others. How
disheartening it is when in despair to have those who are opposed
to you and those who despise you take delight in your misery. I think the prime example of
this is seen in the greater David, the Lord Jesus Christ as he hangs
on Calvary's tree. Remember what they said to him
in his pain and his agony, how they mocked him and how they
thought they had the victory over him? Turn over to Psalm
22. The Psalm of the cross, Psalm
22. Oh, they that see me, laugh me to scorn, verse 7. They shoot
out the lip. They shake their head, saying,
this is hundreds of years before the Lord Jesus Christ died. Exactly
what is said here, what's prophesied here, it came to pass. You remember
those Pharisees, they taunted and jeered him, saying, he trusted
on the Lord. You remember what they said?
They said, you come down from the cross and we'll believe you.
What have they? No, not apart from the grace
of God. Oh, they did see me, laughed
me to scorn. They shoot out the lip. They shake their head, saying,
he trusted on the Lord. that he would deliver him, let
him deliver him, seeing he delighteth in him. How the enemies like
to rejoice over the believer when he is suffering and thinking
in their hearts, surely he is not the Lord's anointed, he is
not a believer. Thank God that the Lord Jesus
Christ for us has destroyed all of our foe, all of our enemies,
that we might have the eternal victory in him, For we read in
the scripture, he always causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus. And thanks be to God who has
given us a victory over our Lord, who has given us a victory through
our Lord Jesus Christ over our enemies. So think about this. Next time we are tempted to say,
how long, oh Lord? How long? How long? And let us be encouraged to trust
Him and to rest in His good providence. Now, the second part of this
is the believer's cry, or the cry of the believer. The believer's
prayer, and that's what a praying is, it's crying unto the Lord.
In verses 3 and 4, consider and hear. Hear me, O Lord, my God. Lighten my eyes, or enlighten
me, lest I die on the spot, lest I sleep in death, lest my enemies
say I've prevailed against them, and those that trouble me rejoice
when I am moved. It is profitable when our afflictions
and our complaints lead us to call upon the Lord in sincere
prayer. Remember the Lord in the garden
of Gethsemane? And being in agony, it said the
Lord fell on His face and cried unto the Heavenly Father and
came to this conclusion, Lord, Thy will be done. O Lord, my God, He says, consider
consider and hear. My afflictions are many, my troubles
are real, O Lord, consider. My enemies are many, mighty,
malicious. O Lord, consider my weakness,
my sin. O Lord, consider, hear me, have
mercy on me. O God, O God. I need Him in every
way, at all times. And then His cry is this, Couple
things here. Lighten my eyes. Lighten my eyes. What does that mean? It means
to enlighten me. Give me understanding. Let my
eye of faith be clear that it may be fixed upon Him looking
to the Lord Jesus Christ. Let my understanding be illuminated
to see the right way of salvation in Christ Jesus. Now let me show
you another place where the Apostle Paul prays this for The believers
in Ephesians, turn to Ephesians chapter 1. Let my understanding
enlighten me, O Lord. Command the light to shine out
of darkness and cause it to shine in my heart that I might see
the glory and beauty of the Lord Jesus. The Apostle Paul prays
that way for these believers here in Ephesus. You've got chapter
1. Luke verse 16, cease not, cease not to give thanks for
you making mention of you in my prayers, that the God and
Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give
unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge
of him, the eyes of your understanding being enlightened, that you may
know what is the hope of his calling. What is the hope of
his calling? and the riches of the glory of
His inheritance in the saints, and what is exceeding greatness
of His power to us who believe according to the working of His
mighty power. Lord, hear me, consider me, enlighten
my eyes." The Apostle Paul prayed that way for believers. And I
found another man in Scripture that prayed that way. His name
is Ezra. Sometime mark this down or write
it down. Sometime read Ezra chapter 9. Ezra is a historical record of
when the Jews were released from that captivity there in Babylon
and they came back to Jerusalem and reconstructed the temple.
You remember? Ezra and Nehemiah. But in Ezra 9, there's a great
prayer there. In Ezra 9, also in Nehemiah chapter
9, and also in Daniel chapter 9, those three nines. 3 chapter
9, Ezra, Nehemiah, and Daniel. But Ezra prayed this, And now,
for a little space, grace hath been shewed from the Lord our
God, to leave us a remnant to escape, to give us a nail in
his holy place, that our God may lighten our eyes, and give
us a little reviving in our bondage. In our bondage. When in the dark,
He is the light. When in trouble, He is our peace. When in the dark, He is our light.
The Lord Jesus spake unto them, saying, I am the light of the
world. He that followeth me shall not
walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. The light of life. When in trouble,
He is our peace. He gives us the peace of God
being justified by faith. We have peace with God through
our Lord Jesus Christ. It is the Lord's work to enlighten
us, to quicken us, and He enlightens and He quickens whom He will.
He commands the light to shine in our hearts. But that's our
prayer, is it not? Lord, consider me. Lord, hear
me. Oh, Lord, you're my God. Oh, Jehovah, you're my God. Light
my eyes, quicken me from the dead, lest I sleep, lest I die
on the spot. My trouble is so great. And lest
I die in despair, lest my enemies prevail against me. Oh, Lord. Look at verse 4. Lest my enemy
say, I have prevailed against him, and those that trouble me
rejoice when I am moved. How precious it is when looking
out of ourselves unto the Lord Jesus Christ, that faith finds
strength to rely upon him who is the Lord our righteousness. No wonder he says unto us, seeing
that we have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens,
Jesus Christ the righteous, who is tempted, tried, and tested
in all points like as we are, yet without sin, and then you
know what he says? He said, come boldly to the throne
of grace that you might find mercy and grace to help in time
of need. Lord, help us to see Christ as
all of our salvation. And may we come boldly unto His
throne as mercy beggars and cry out unto Him, Lord, save us. Have mercy upon me, the sinner. Lest the enemy say I prevailed
against him and those that trouble me rejoice when I move. Now, let's consider this last
thing here, verses five and six. But I've trusted in thy mercy.
My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I will sing unto the
Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully, he hath dealt bountifully with
me. Now, stay with me for a couple
minutes here. What a change is wrought here.
What a growth in grace we see from verse 1 down through verse
5. What a change is wrought here
and what a growth in grace we see from despair to praying,
from praying to believing, from believing to rejoicing, from
rejoicing to singing. That's growing in grace and in
the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The beginning of it, someone
said it's as though the beginning of a psalm and the end of this
psalm were written by two different men. One in questioning the Lord
how long, and the other rejoicing in the Lord. No, it's the same
man, just growing in grace and in the knowledge of Christ. Look
at verse five, I've trusted, I've trusted in thy mercy. I've
trusted in God's mercy, not my merit, but rather God's mercy
revealed in His plenteous redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ
and His precious blood. I want you to turn to Psalm 130.
Psalm 130. I've trusted thy mercy. Look at this here, Psalm 130
verse 7 and 8, I trust you have this marked. If not, I would
encourage you to do so. Psalm 130 verse 7 and 8, Let
Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy,
and with Him is plenteous redemption. He shall redeem Israel from all
his iniquities. I've trusted in his mercy. There is mercy with the Lord. There is plenteous redemption. You remember that Lamentation
chapter 3? It is of the Lord's mercy that
we're not consumed because his compassion fail not. They're
new every morning. Great is thy faithfulness, O
Lord God Almighty. You see, it's not by works of
righteousness, which we have done, but according to God's
mercy, He saved us. He saved us. I've trusted in
thy mercy. And the fruit of that is this.
Trusting in God's mercy, verse 5, the second part of verse 5,
my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. It's His salvation. My heart does rejoice in thy
salvation. Now this is a message of the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is a message that believers
have declared since God was determined to call them out of darkness
into His marvelous light, that they might show forth the praises
of Him who called them by His marvelous grace. This is the
message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, is it not? Salvation
of the Lord, my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. I like the words of Paul when
he was sitting in a Roman prison, writing back to his beloved son
in the gospel, Timothy. You remember? He reminds Timothy,
he said, ìTimothy, donít be ashamed of me, or the gospel, or of these
bonds. Donít be ashamed of me because
Iím a prisoner in Rome for the gospelís sake.î And then he says,
ìFor itís God who saved us.î and called us with a holy calling,
not according to our work, but according to his own purpose
and grace, given us in Christ before the foundation of the
world. My heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. Now, considering
his salvation, he is the author of this salvation. Before there
was a sinner, the Lord Jesus Christ stood as the Savior. He is the author of this salvation. Salvation of the Lord in its
origination. Not only that, salvation, this
salvation is of the Lord. He is the author of it. Secondly,
He is the accomplisher of it. He accomplished His salvation.
He prayed that in John 17, didn't He? Father, I've glorified You
on the earth. I've finished the work You gave
me to do. And then on Calvary's tree, what
did He say? He said, It is finished. It is done. So he's the author
of it. He's the accomplisher of it.
Thirdly, he's the applier of it. He applies this salvation
to whom he will. He said, I will have mercy on
whom I will have mercy. God who has begun a good work
in us, he'll perform it. He'll perfect it. He'll apply
this salvation. Something else. Fourthly, he's
the administrator of it. He is administrator. He has power
over all flesh that He should give eternal life to as many
as the Father hath given to Him. So He's the author of it. He's
the accomplisher of it. He's the applier of it. He's
the administrator of it. And you know what else? He's the author and finisher
of it. He's the advocate of it. He's
the advocate of it, isn't He? John writes about that, he said,
my little children, these things I write unto you, don't sin,
don't sin. But he says, when you do, we
have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So
I've trusted in thy mercy, my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. Now look at verse six. Therefore,
see how this progresses? I've trusted. in thy mercy, my
heart shall rejoice in thy salvation, and then leads to singing, it
leads to worship, I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath
dealt so wonderfully with me, bountifully, bountifully, I will
sing unto the Lord, he hath dealt graciously with me, turn over
here to one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 103, Psalm 103, And look at verse 10. Remember
the word dealt. He had dealt, given to me, bound
to flee. Psalm 103, look at verse 10. He hath not dealt with us after
our sin. Aren't you glad he dealt with
our sin in our substitute? He hath not dealt with us after
our sin, for the wages of sin is death. Nor rewarded us according
to our iniquities, For as the heaven is high above the earth,
so great is his mercy toward them that fear him. As far as
the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgression
from us. Like as a father pitieth his
children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. He knows
our frame. He remembers that we are but
dust, but dust. The Lord hath dealt graciously
with us. One other psalm here, you might
want to mark this. Psalm 116, verse 7, something
similar is said here, how God has dealt bountifully with His
children. Psalm 116, remember verse 15,
Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints.
We've quoted that over and over, haven't we? But look at verse
7. Return unto thy rest, O my soul,
for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. Thou hast delivered
my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, my feet from falling. Oh, the Lord has been so gracious
unto his people. through prayer faith is encouraged,
through believing the heart is filled with joy, and this joy
is expressed giving all honor and glory unto God alone for
that salvation that He has accomplished. Now I want you to find that Psalm
I mentioned earlier when we read from 2 Samuel chapter 7. I want
you to find Psalm 66 verse 16. You remember Samuel prayed in
that psalm he prayed For thy sake and according to thy own
heart thou has done all these great things to make thy servant
to know them Now look at psalm 66 verse 16 come in here You
got it psalm 66 verse 16 come in here all ye that fear God
shall And I will declare what He hath done for my soul. You see, salvation is a declaration
of what He has done for us. It's not a declaration of what
we do for Him, but it is a declaration of what He has done for us. In
closing, let me give you this. I'll let you go. What has the
Lord done for us, for his covenant people? He assumed human nature
as our representative, as our substitute, so I could partake
of his divine nature in Christ Jesus, being made a new creature
in Christ. He became poor so that the believer
in Christ can be made rich you remember the scripture for you
know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ that though he was rich
yet for your sake he became poor that you through his poverty
might be made rich he was born of a woman so I could be born
of God he became a son of man that we might become the sons
of God you see this is a declaration of what he has done for us He
was born under the law, so I could be free from the law of sin and
death. He redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made
a curse for us. He was made sin for us, so that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. You see, we declare
what great things, how great things, you remember that's what
he told that wild man of Gadarene, go home and tell your friends
how great things the Lord hath done for you. He was made sin
for us so we could be made to righteousness of God in Him.
He was condemned so I could be justified. In Christ Jesus there
is no condemnation. He endured God's wrath so we
could enjoy God's grace. He died so that we could live
in Him. He suffered the wrath and the
hell of God's justice He suffered the hell I deserved so I could
enjoy Him in glory forever. He saved His people by His grace. and he gives them faith to believe
in him. This is a declaration of all
that God has done for us. That's what it says in this psalm.
I will sing unto the Lord because he hath dealt bountifully with
me. And the gospel is a declaration
not what we have done, it is a declaration of what he has
done for us in the Lord Jesus Christ and by his almighty grace.