in our prayer services and our
worship services. But worship and praise should
never lose its individuality, its personal fellowship. Praise
ye the Lord. Can we do that when we're meeting
as a group and singing as a group and listening to This song we
just heard, Jesus played it all. We must not lose that personal
fellowship with our Lord. Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord. Whom shall I
praise the Lord? The Lord Jehovah. Jehovah, God
my Savior. How shall I praise the Lord?
Read it. Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord. O my soul, David said in Psalm 103, O my
soul and all that is within me, let us set our affections on
things above, not on the things of this earth. Within me, bless
his holy name. Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, the only one
worthy of praise, and praise him with my soul. Worship and
prayer and praise is a hard work. I don't need a beautiful voice
to praise the Lord. I don't even need a voice to
praise the Lord. Hannah didn't. Hannah prayed such a beautiful,
God-honoring prayer, and God answered and gave her a son. And yet the scripture says she
didn't honor him. Her lips moved, but no voice. So praise the Lord for my soul. Now when shall I praise the Lord?
Verse 2, while I live. While I live will I praise the
Lord. I'll sing praises unto my God while I have any being. David said in Psalm 6, in death
there's no remembrance of God. In the grave, who shall give
him thanks? He said in Psalm 115, 17, the
dead praise not the Lord, but the living. Neither any that
go down into silence praise the Lord. In Isaiah 38, the prophet
said the grave cannot praise thee, O God. Death cannot celebrate
thee, O God. They that go down into the pit
cannot hope for the praise. So I'll praise the Lord while
I live. I'll sing praises unto my God
while I have any being. While I live, I'll love him.
While I breathe, I'll bless him. While I have any being on this
earth, I will ascribe all that I have to him. for by his grace
I am what I am while I live look back at this again verse two
while I live will I praise the Lord and why not it's because
of him that I live because of his will because of his purpose
because of his good pleasure that I live so why shouldn't
I praise the Lord I live by his will But I have another reason
for which to praise Him. I live not only physically, I
live spiritually. He has given me spiritual life.
He has brought me to know Him, given me a hope of being like
Him. So I have twofold reason to praise
Him while I live. I live physically by His grace. and I live spiritually by His
grace. And then verse 3, put your trust and your hope
and your confidence only in Him, only in the Lord. Verse 3, put
not your trust, put not your trust in princes, nor in the
Son of Man, in whom there's no help. It doesn't matter how high
or how gifted or how powerful me and I, even princes and kings
and rulers, put not your trust in princes. And David was a prince
when he wrote this. There wasn't a man on earth any
more powerful than this man David when he wrote these words. And
yet he says, don't put your trust and your confidence in men, even
princes, even rulers, because princes are only men. And I believe
that David felt a greater need, being a prince and a leader,
for the wisdom and grace of God than the ordinary man. Put not
your trust in princes. Princes have a greater need to
trust God than we do, and to wait upon the Lord than we do.
Put not your trust in princes, nor in the Son of Man, in whom
there's no help. Now, my friends, this is not
telling us not to trust one another in secular matters. That's not
what it's saying. That just wouldn't do. If we
couldn't trust one another in the kingdom of God, If we couldn't
believe one another, if we couldn't place any confidence in one another
in secular matters, that would be a terrible, terrible situation. But you can trust a believer.
You can have confidence in secular matters. But he's speaking here
of salvation. He's speaking here in the spiritual
realm. He's speaking in regard to spiritual
life and salvation and redemption and acceptance with God. Man
can't help us then. Turn to Jeremiah 17. Jeremiah
17. Listen to this. Jeremiah 17. He spells it out so clearly here. Jeremiah 17. Verse 5. Jeremiah 17 verse 5, now listen
to this, Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth
in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth
from the Lord. For he shall be like a heath
in the desert. What is a heath? It's a little
shrub. It's like a tumbleweed. has no root, just wind blows
it across the desert. Be thou like a heath in the desert,
shall not see when good cometh, but shall inherit, inhabit the
parched places in the wilderness, and a salt land not inhabit it.
For blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the
Lord is, not spiritually, for salvation, redemption, forgiveness,
for life, for understanding, wisdom. Trust Him, not me. Read the next part. He, that
man that trusts the Lord, he'll be like a tree. A man who trusts
me, he'll be like a tumbleweed. But a man who trusts the Lord
will be like a tree planted with the water that spreadeth out
her roots for the river and shall not see when the heat come to
But her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the
year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit." So
that's what he's talking about here in verse 3. Don't put your
trust in salvation, and redemption, and life, and acceptance with
God. And the leaders of men, even
the leaders, even the most gifted, most talented, the most knowledgeable,
on the Son of Man, in whom there's no help. There's no help. Spurgeon, on this verse, gave
three points. Spurgeon gave three points. He
said, trusting the flesh, number one, it dishonors God. It dishonors
God. Number two, it degrades us. Number three, it eventually disappoints
us. To put confidence in the flesh
and hope in the flesh degrades us, it dishonors God, and it's
got to disappoint you. And notice what it says about
the flesh, in whom there's no help. No help. No help, no salvation. You can
write this sign above all flesh, No help. No help. No help in trouble. No help in
redemption. No help in death. No help in
judgment. But you know where our help is?
The Lord our God is a very pleasant help in times of trouble. He's a very pleasant help. Now
look at verse 4. Why is there no help in men,
in princes and leaders? Why is it that we can put no
confidence in his flesh, not even in the flesh of princes
and kings? Well here it is, right here,
verse 4. His breath goes forth, his breath stops and he dies.
A want of a little air, he dies. Not much help there, is there?
Secondly, and then he returns to his earth. His breath goes from his body,
and his body goes back to the earth, to the dust. One of the
old writers said, no matter how important he was, no matter how
young he was, no matter how rich he was, no matter how intelligent
he was, for want of a little air, His body goes to the ground
and goes under the earth, and this is a mighty poor creature
in which to put your trust. He can't keep himself. And then here's the bottom line.
Listen to this. His breath goes forth, he returns
to his earth, and here's the bottom line. In that very day,
his thoughts perish. What are his thoughts? Well,
his plans, his purposes, his promises, his schemes, his ideas, his philosophies,
all his intellectualism, his accumulating wisdom, his thoughts,
everything. I think, I think, I think. That's
what men think. They all perish with him. Here's
the small estate of all men and women. What a small estate we
have. Number one is our breath. We
have our breath for a while. And then we have our earth. Our spot where they put our bodies
while they rot and decay and go back to the dust. And then
we have our thoughts. But when our breath leaves and
our body goes to the ground, that's the end of them. Is this
anything in which to trust? That's the reason he says, no
help, no help here. Breath, earth, perishing thoughts. Vanity of vanity. As far as the
flesh is concerned, all is vanity. Oh, it prances around for a while,
acts smart, shows off, and wounds and hurts, and all of these things,
accomplishes a few insignificant goals, and then it's gone. Well, it stops. Put under the
ground. And his thoughts perish, and
everybody's thoughts of him perish. The place thereof will know it
no more." Not much to it, it's not very much. But verse 5 says,
oh, happy, happy, twice blessed, happy. It's that man, that woman,
that boy, and that girl that has H-A-T-H, hath, the God of
Jacob. He hath the God of Jacob. I want
you to underscore three words in this verse. The word hath,
the word help, and the word hope. Three words that stand out here.
He hath the God of Jacob. I tell you, the true God is the
God of Jacob. That's the true God. The God
of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is the true God. Let me show
you that. Turn to Exodus. Now you turn
to Exodus. Let me show you God's... The
Lord God himself speaks to Moses out of the burning bush and identifies
himself. After that man that has this
God, he has this God by faith, by grace, by revelation. He has
this God. Listen, Exodus 3, 14, And God
said to Moses, I am that I am. And he said, Thus saith thou
unto the children of Israel, I am hath sent me to you. And God said moreover unto Moses,
Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, The Lord
God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the
God of Jacob, has sent me unto you. This is my name forever. This is my memorial unto all
generations. I am the God of Abraham, Isaac,
and Jacob." And David says, happy is that man that has the God,
Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. This world doesn't know anything
about Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And consequently, they do not
know anything about the God of Jacob. But oh, happy is the man
that hath the God of Abraham. He studied the life of Abraham.
He looked into the faith of Abraham and of Isaac, the supernatural
young man born from the old woman. The picture of Christ, the God
of Jacob, loved before he was born, chosen before he was born,
redeemed by God. He said, I'm the God of Abraham.
He called him out of the wilderness, called him out of idolatry, called
him by name. That's the God I am. Happy is
that name. That's a God. And secondly, that
God is his help. He's the God of redemption. He's
the God of election. He's the God of the covenant.
He's the father of the Messiah. But He's our help. I lift up
mine eyes to the hills, from where cometh my help. My help
cometh from the Lord, who made the heavens and the earth. He
that keepeth thee will not slumber. He's my help. My help. Let us come boldly before the
throne of grace that we may find mercy and grace to help. The
flesh can't help you. No help. All help. And then, happy is he that hath
the God of Jacob, for his help, his sole help, his complete help,
and whose hope, whose hope is in the God, the Lord, his God. Our present health is from him
and our future hope is in him. He is my hope, Christ in you,
that is the hope of glory. It's a good hope because it's by grace. It's a
living hope because he ever lives. It's a sure hope because he cannot
lie. It's a blessed hope because we
shall see him as he is and be made like him. Oh, happy is the man who hath
the God of Jacob for his help and his eternal hope. Now, we'll
give you this in closing this message. Here are the reasons
in these next verses, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. The psalmist gives us the reasons
why the Lord God is our help and our hope and our sure foundation. And verse 6, now just mark a
little 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and so forth beside these. I'll read
verse 5 again. Happy is he that hath the God
of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God,
number one, which made the heaven and the earth, and the sea and
all that therein is. He made the heaven and the earth
and the sea. He created all things. Now, He
who made heaven can make us a heaven. Right? We trust Him. He made the heaven. If He spake
all things out of nothing, then He can make us a heaven and us
fit for heaven. He said, I go to prepare a place
for you He who made the earth can preserve
us on the earth. He can protect and provide for
us while we walk on this earth. And then He can raise our bodies
from this earth. If He made the heavens and the
earth and the seas and all things therein, He can make us a heaven
and keep us on the earth and deliver us from it. And then
it says, secondly, He keeps truth forever. That's why you can trust
Him. He keeps truth forever. His promises
shall not fail. Man's a liar. All men are liars. Let God be true in every man
of life. No man or woman has ever gone a whole day without
lying. God's never lied. He cannot lie. It's contrary
to His nature to lie. His promises shall not fail.
He is the truth and He's the keeper of truth. To know Him
is to know the truth. To know the truth is to be free.
That's why you can trust Him. And then thirdly, verse 7, He
executed judgment for the oppressed. He's a swift, impartial administrator
of justice. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? God is so just and holy he pays
no attention to rank, to wealth, to power, or to person. He's a just judge, a righteous
judge. He executed judgment for all
the oppressors. His mercy is in Christ the Lord. And he laid that judgment for
the oppressed on him. And because he laid it on Christ,
being a just judge, he'll never lay it on us. There is no judgment
to them who are in Christ, and you can be sure of that because
he's just. God will not punish twice. Justice
cannot punish twice for the same thing. Just once. If I died in
Christ, never die again. He executed judgment. Look, he
gives food to the hungry. That's the next reason. Is that
for where he gives food to the hungry? That's why you can trust
him. I know he feeds the spatter on. I know he provides bread
for all his creation. I know that the children of God
will never beg for bread. But the reference here is to
the spiritually hungry. Those who are hungry hunger spiritually. Those who thirst, He give it
food to the hungry. Oh, everyone that's thirsty,
come to the water. If you're hungry, come buy wine
and milk without price, without money, free. He give it food
to the hungry. So whether you're hungry physically
or spiritually, He will provide. Oh, that's what Abraham said
to Isaac, my son. Jehovah-Jireh. Jehovah-Jireh. The Lord will provide food for
the hungry. Then look at this. Here's number
five. You can trust him because he
luceth the prisoners. He luceth the prisoners. The
Lord luceth the prisoners. Now most people don't understand
these words, I know that. I'm not hungry, that's what they
say. I'm not thirsty. I'm not a prisoner. I'm not laboring in heavy labor. Therefore they don't come to
Christ. They don't feel their need of Christ. Everybody who
came to our Lord when he walked this earth had a need. that he
couldn't meet himself, that no one else could meet. And having
spent all, like the woman with the issue, to come to Christ. Hungry, weary, laboring, heavy
laden, thirsty, weary, mind, soul, and body pressed down,
without help, without hope, to come to Him. But that's what
the old Jews said. Turn to John 8. They gave him
that same comment. Look at John 8. Why don't you
turn over there with me? John 8, verse 31. Listen to this. John 8, verse 31. Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, Now if you continue in my word, Then
are ye my disciples indeed, and ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free." And they answered him, Well,
we're Abraham's seed. We were never in bondage to any
man. We've never been in bondage. How do you say you shall be made
free? We've never hungered. We've never
been a prisoner. We've never been a captive. They
don't understand. But for those who do understand
that we were in bondage to the law, we were in bondage to Satan,
we were in bondage to our flesh, we were in bondage to sin, and
the sting of sin which is death, and the sting of death which
is bondage, and no But he loosened the prisoner.
He sets the prisoner free. That was a summary of his ministry
and his coming into the world. He said, The Spirit of the Lord
God is upon me. He hath anointed me to preach
the gospel to the poor, to heal the brokenhearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captive, to set the prisoner free. to appoint
for them beauty for ashes, the garment of praise for the spirit
of heaviness, that they might be called the
trees of righteousness, the planting of the law. All right, number
six, verse eight. Why trust him? The Lord opens
the eyes of the blind. That passage we read Turn to
John now. He opens the eyes of the blind. Are you blind, or have you ever
been blind? I'm not blind now, but I was
blind. And there's nobody as blind as
him who thinks he can see, and he can't. There's no darkness
as great as the darkness that men call light. In John 9 verse 39, and Jesus
said, for judgment I've come into this world, that they which
see not might see, and that they which see might be made blind.
They think they see, they claim to see, they brag that they see,
they say that they know, but my coming will further increase
their darkness and blindness. And some of the Pharisees which
were with him heard these sayings and they said, Are we blind?
Are you saying we're blind? That's offensive, isn't it? The truth is offensive to a natural
man. You call him a sinner, you offend
him. You call him ignorant of the mysteries of God, you offend
him. You tell him he's blind and deaf and dumb. Christ said they have eyes but
they don't see. He said they have ears, but they don't hear.
They have hearts, but they don't understand. But that's the truth. And he offended these Bibles.
He said, I'm come that those who are blind and know it and
grieve over it, can't see, can't understand, don't know the mysteries
of the kingdom of God. I've come that they might see.
They might have understanding that scales might be removed
from their eyes and the veil lifted and they might see the
glory of God in the face of Christ. I'm come that they might see
and I'm come that those who think they see and claim to see in
their own strength and natural wisdom might be made even blinder. God will give them strong delusions
that they might believe a lie and be damned for it. And Jesus
said these Pharisees said, are you saying we are blind? Are
you saying we are blind? Listen to our Lord, verse 41.
If you were blind, you'd have no sin. If you were really blind
and knew it, I'd give you sight. If you were really lost, I'd
bring you home. If you were really helpless,
I'd give you strength. If you were really dead, I'd
raise you. If you're really spiritually in need, I'll help you. But you
say, there's the key. You say, we say. You say, we'll make it ourselves. You say, we don't need blood
to cleanse us, righteousness to couple us, the sovereign grace
of God to raise us. the power of the Spirit to give
us life. We don't need that. Your sin remains. So just hang
on to it. Just hang on to your religion.
Hang on to your false hope. Hang on to your experience you
had back then. Hang on to your baptism. Hang
on to your church membership. Hang on to your dead works. Just
the old word is hang on to it. Just cling to it and say, I'll
see. You can't tell me anything. You're
right. You can't tell them anything. You can't. Even God in human
flesh couldn't tell them anything. They said, we see. But you can trust him who opens
the eyes of the blind. And in the next place, number
seven, he raises them that have bowed down. Bowed down. overwhelmed with sin, its guilt,
its troubles, laboring, heavy laboring, like that woman that
our Lord met in Luke 13. She was bent double, and she
couldn't straighten up. There's just no way. She just
bent double. Luke 13. Let me read it to you
here. Luke 13, verse 11. Verse 11, Luke 13, said, And
behold, there was a woman which had a spirit of infirmity eighteen
years, and was bowed together. Couldn't in no wise, couldn't
in no wise lift herself up. And Jesus saw her and He called
her and He said, Woman, you're loose from your infirmity. And
He laid His hand on her and she made straight. Glorified God. That's a miracle. But that's what He does. us bowed
down with sin and guilt and shame and reproach. Chains of Satan
have bent us double, and he raiseth up them that are bowed down.
And then next place, number eight, he loves the righteous. Well,
there's none righteous. Yes, there's one. There's one. He loves the righteous. This
is what I'm saying. This is what I've preached for
all these years. He loves the righteous. But there's none righteous. None of us are, but there's one,
the Lord Jesus Christ, and that's who he loves. Now, if you skedaddle
to him, and you get, by God's grace, in him, and you marry
him, and he claims you, then God loves you too. The love of
God is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. That's where it is. It's not
outside Christ. Christ is the ark. Christ is
the ark. And when that flood came in Noah's
day, God's love was in one place. God's love and mercy and grace
was on that ark. Nowhere else. God's wrath was
all around. Is that not right? Even a dumb
person knows that. that the wrath of God was everywhere
except one place on that earth, and his love was on that earth
and everybody in it. And the Lord, you can trust him
now, he loves the righteous. Christ is the righteous one.
He's the Lord, our righteousness. I've got to show you this. Give
me two minutes. Turn to Jeremiah 23. This is
his name, Jeremiah 23. This is his name. Look at it,
Jeremiah 23, 6. In those days, in his days, Judas shall be saved,
and Israel shall dwell safely. And this is his name whereby
he shall be called the Lord of Righteousness. The Lord loveth
the righteous. And that's Christ. That's his
name. Now look at Jeremiah 33. And if you're in him, that's
your name. If we're in him, that's your
name. Righteous. Jeremiah 33, 16. These two go
together. Listen. In those days shall Judah
be saved. That's where the other verse
started. And Jerusalem shall dwell safely. And this is a name
whereby she shall be called. The Lord our righteousness. He loves the righteous. You can
trust Him. And if you're in Christ, you're
righteous. Isn't that true? In Christ, we're righteous. He
loves us in Christ. All right, number nine. And the
Lord preserved it to strangers. You can trust him, you strangers.
Jacob was a stranger in a strange land. We were strangers, alien
from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenant,
having no hope without God in this world. He loved strangers. And now, Peter said, I'm writing
to the strangers. that is scattered above. He will
preserve us. He will protect us. He will provide
for us. The world hates strangers. The
world is reluctant to take in a stranger. But the Lord... Let me read you this. This is
beautiful. Deuteronomy 10. Listen to this.
I've never seen this, but I did today. The Lord your God is God
of Gods, the Lord of Lords, a great God, a mighty God, a terrible
God, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward. He doth execute
judgment for the fatherless and the widows, and he loves the
stranger in giving him food and rain. He loves the stranger.
Are you a stranger? The world is not my home. I'm
just a passenger. I'm a stranger. But he loved
strangers. He loved strangers. He preserved
the strangers. And then in the tenth place,
the Lord relieveth the fatherless and the widows. He loves the orphans and the
widows, and he cares for them. But the wicked, the way of the
wicked, he turned it upside down. So happy is he that hath the
God of Jacob for his help. Because verse 10, here's the
last one, verse number 11, the Lord shall reign forever. He
cannot die, he cannot abdicate the throne, he cannot lose his
crown or his power. He lives, he reigns, he does
his will in heaven and earth. And listen, the Lord shall reign
forever, even thy God. even thy God holds out unto all
generations. So what do we do? Well, let's
just praise the Lord out of gratitude and thanksgiving.