Take your Bibles tonight with
me, if you will, and turn to Psalm number 77. Psalm 77. We would have gone in to chapter
7 of John, chapter 10, or John 10, I'm sorry, of John. Chapter 7 of John, the Gospel
of John, but Since I'm going to be gone next Sunday, I decided
to wait to begin there in John 7. But tonight here in Psalm 77,
I want you to notice that according to the title that we are given,
this psalm was written by Asaph. Though we know that it was part,
or it is part, of the all scripture that is given by inspiration
of God. In 2 Chronicles chapter 29 and
verse 30 we read that Asap, the author of this psalm, was a seer. S-E-E-R. You say, well what was
a seer? Well, a seer was what prophets
were called until the time of Samuel. David, who wrote most of the
Psalms, he is referred to as a prophet in the New Testament. And out of the 150 Psalms that
we have, 12 of them were written by this man Asa. He was contemporary
of David. He was David's prophet, in fact.
That means that this Psalm is about 3,100 years old. It was written about 3,100 years
ago. And yet, it is relevant, as all
the Word of God is to those of us today. Can you imagine any
other book that you might find? A book of science, a book of
medicine, a book of law, that is 3,100 years old, that it would
have any relevance to those of us living today? I don't think
so. But the word of God is living. It's quick and powerful. Martin Luther's comments on this
psalm are, this psalm sets forth to us God and the ways of God. That is, how he works, what he
does in his church and in the saints. Charles Spurgeon in his
Treasury of David, he used the three times that we see the word
Sela, in this psalm to divide it into four sections. If you notice with me at the
end of verse three, we have the word selah. So verses one through
three would be one section. Then again in verse nine, at
the end of verse nine, we have the word selah. So verses four
through nine would be the second section. And then in verse 15,
at the end, we see the word Selah, that would be the third section,
and the remaining verses, 16 through 20, the last division
of the psalm. I looked up the word Selah again.
I've always been under the impression that it means to stop. and think,
stop and meditate upon what has just been written. But I learned,
as I read again this past week, most writers believe it had something
to do with the music to which the song was sung. And it indicated
something about singing the song. As we see in our hymn books,
sometimes the little symbols that tell the musicians, or tell
the singers, what they are to do. To hold that note, or to
sing faster, or sing louder, whatever. Sela. In this psalm, and in it, in
at least two other psalms that Aesop wrote, and I looked at
all of them, twelve of them, It seems that this man, Asap,
was a man who was given to what used to be called melancholy. Psalm 73, he wrote this psalm,
and it begins like this. Truly God is good to Israel,
even to such as are of a clean heart, but as for me, my feet
were almost gone. If you read between the lines
there, it seems like he says this, God is good to all of his
people. God is good to Israel, but to
me? God is good to all other believers,
but me? There must be something wrong
with me. He's good to Israel, his people,
there must be something wrong with me. And then the next psalm
that he wrote, Psalm 74, he begins with these words, O God, why
hast thou cast off forever? Then in this psalm, you notice,
he mentions his trouble three times in the first four verses. I cried unto God with my voice,
even unto God with my voice, and he gave ear unto me. In the
day of my trouble, in the day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. My sore, or hand, ran in the
night, his tears ran in the night, and ceased not. My soul refused
to be comforted. I remembered God and was troubled. I complained and my spirit was
overwhelmed. Thou holdest mine eyes waking. I am so troubled that I cannot
speak." Men are often divided into two groups, extroverts and
introverts. And I believe that's a very broad
division. I've seen those two divisions
divided again into four temperaments. That men are one of the other
of four temperaments. The point is that God saves sinners
of all stripes, of all temperaments. And all who are saved We're all
saved by faith in the one and only Savior. We're all washed
in the only fountain that was open for sin and for uncleanliness. We are all indwelt by the same
Comforter, God the Holy Spirit. We are all justified by the same
righteousness of God which is imputed unto all who believe.
And Jude, the apostle, he wrote of the common salvation. There's
one salvation for Jews, for Gentiles, for extroverts, for introverts. And salvation doesn't change
a person's temperament. And that's important, I believe,
to recognize. Salvation doesn't change a person's
temperament. And this brings me to my text
tonight, the words in verse 10. And I said, this is my infirmity. This is my infirmity. Now I'm not saying that only
those of a melancholy temperament have this infirmity. Because
this infirmity that he has referenced to here is common to all of God's
children of every temperament. And what is the infirmity? What
is the sickness? I believe it is failure to recognize. Failure on the part of a believer
to recognize that we have an enemy within as well as an enemy
without. And we tend to write hard things
against ourselves, and especially a person who has that melancholy
temperament. The Bible says examine yourselves,
prove yourselves. But there's a difference between
examination, self-examination, and self-introspection. Now, I'm not capable, I'm not
qualified myself to give a definition of self-introspection, so I've
borrowed one from someone who I believe was qualified, and
that was Dr. Lloyd-Jones. But he said this
about introspection. If we are always talking to people
about ourselves, and our problems and troubles, and if we are forever
going to them with that kind of frown upon our face and saying,
I am in great trouble, it probably means we are all the time centered
upon ourselves. Introspection, continually. Looking at our trouble, my trouble,
my situation, and not looking as we should at God's blessing. This is my infirmity, Asap said. This is my infirmity. Failure
to recognize that every one of us, we all have an enemy within. Most believers are assured there's
an enemy without. That is Satan. We've heard of
him. We know about him. He goeth about,
the scripture says, as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. But are we aware as we should
be that we all have an enemy within? You know, the Bible says
that when two people marry, A man and a woman marry, they become
one. I read an article the other day
about Job's wife. When Job was in the midst of
all of his difficulty, all of his trouble, his wife, who was
his other self, that's the point I'm making. We all have an enemy
within. His other self, his wife, she's
the one that told him, curse God and die. We all have an enemy
within. That is the flesh. The flesh. And we will have this enemy as
long as we continue in this world. A believer. I'm talking about
believers now. God's children. Someone pictured
a child of God like a mariner on a tempestuous sea. I remember
Brother Henry Mahan telling me when he was in the Navy at the
end of World War II that his ship was caught in a typhoon
or something like that out in the Pacific, and how high the
waves were. And there the ship would go up
high, but then it'd come down low. And this writer said that
a believer, child of God, is like a mariner on a tempestuous
sea. At one time, they mount up to
heaven and experience such comfort and such joy. But then at another
time, they sink down in apprehension to the depths of hell. And it
is while in such depths that they express themselves As Asaph
did here, if you notice with me in verses 7 through 9. Will the Lord cast off forever? And will He be favorable no more? Is His mercy cling gone forever? Doth His promise fail forevermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath He in anger shut up His
tender mercies. All hope in God seems to be gone,
and unbelief carried the day. Is there any medicine, this is
my infirmity, is there any medicine for this sickness, for this infirmity? Well, there is medicine, but
there's no cure as long as we live in this world. There's no
absolute cure. But I want to point out five
things, and I believe they're here in this psalm. But first
of all, concerning medicine for this infirmity, this sinful self
that we have with us, that's part of us, and suggests things
to us. whispers things to us. Sometimes maybe to turn back.
Sometimes to give up. That's what it seems like happened
to Asa when he expressed what he did there in those verses
we just read. Let me mention these five things.
First of all, know yourself. Know yourself. Just like Aesop
said, this is my infirmity. Know your infirmity. Know this
about yourself. You have this infirmity and it
is going to continue with you until you leave this body. Now
let me use an example with a physical infirmity. Suppose a person has
diabetes but doesn't know it. A person has diabetes, but he
doesn't know it. What would be the most important
thing, health-wise, for such a person? A person who has diabetes,
but he doesn't know it. What would be the most important
thing for that person, health-wise? Wouldn't it be this? To know? To know that you have this sickness? When you know it, then you can
do some necessary things to live the best life possible with the
infirmity because there is no cure as far as we know. There is no cure for this disease. We're going to live with it until
we die. If you know the infirmity, you
know that you have diabetes, then there's certain things you
can do. First of all, your diet. You can make some changes or
you can make your diet a certain way that will help. Exercise. And there's medicine. There's
medicine that you can take that will be useful. Now you take
those same three things concerning this spiritual infirmity. This
is my infirmity. Know myself. I have this sickness. Well, first of all, there's some
medicine for us to take. And it is the gospel. It's not a pill that comes out
of a bottle. It is the gospel. It's the gospel
of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must take this medicine every
day. Not just now and then, not just
once a week on Sundays, but every day we must take this pill, this
gospel. And that is we must hear and
believe and trust in the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, His
blood, and His righteousness. Number two, we must feed on God's
Word, our diet, the Word of God. And not only the Word of God,
but good books. Books which are written by godly
men in days gone by, or even contemporary men if you can find
them, that will help you to grow in your Christian life. I've
noticed this. I've been preaching now for a
few years, and I've noticed this, that believers who do not read
do not grow. That's just so. Believers who
do not read, who do not read good books, spiritual books,
do not grow. We need this. This is our diet. This is my infirmity and we need,
we need to set apart time and buy good books. You don't even
have to buy them anymore. You can read off the internet. Grace books, e-books I believe
it is, right? And you can find a library that
many of the men of God in days gone by, they didn't have near
what you have access to today on the internet. Good books.
Read. And then exercise. Take the medicine,
the gospel, your diet, exercise. Exercise your faith. The Christian
life is a life of discipline. If it is to be lived correctly,
The Christian life is a life of discipline. And we must discipline
ourselves. Discipline our time. Discipline
our actions. Discipline. That's what Peter
tells us. Let's see if I can find that
in I believe it's 1st Peter. No, it's going to be 2nd Peter. 2nd
Peter chapter 1. Beginning with verse 5, the Apostle
says, and beside this giving all diligence. Add to your faith. You have faith. God's given you
faith. You trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. Now add to your faith. Add virtue. and to virtue, knowledge, and
to knowledge, temperance, and to temperance, patience, and
to patience, godliness, and to godliness, brotherly kindness,
and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be in you
and abound, they make you that you shall neither be barren nor
unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. It's not,
well, I've become a believer and now everything's just automatic.
No, add. This is my responsibility as
a child of God. This is your responsibility as
a child of God. Add to your faith virtue and
to your virtue knowledge and to knowledge, brotherly love
and patience in these things that he mentions here. So first
of all, know yourself. This is my infirmity. I have
an enemy within. Number two. Number two. Back in the psalm, if you will.
Determined by the grace of God not to live on your feelings. Determined by the grace of God
not to live on your feelings. It seems clear to me, if you
look back again to Asaph here, what he says in verses 7 through
9, that that's what he was doing. He was living on his feelings. He felt, let's go through this
list again, will the Lord cast off forever? Well, he felt. He felt God had cast him off. If we go through these verses
and look at them and just turn them around, he felt like God had cast him
off. He felt like God's mercy was
clean gone forever. He felt that his grace, God's
grace had completely dried up. But when you look at these verses,
my feeling tells me that I have been cast off, but God's word
tells me that he will never cast off. Determined by the grace
of God not to live on your feelings. I feel cast off, but God's word
says God hates putting away. My feelings tell me that God's
mercy for me, it's all dried up. But God's word tells me that
God is a God of mercy, that He delights in mercy, and His mercy
is forever. God's promise, His word cannot
fail. His love cannot change. God knew
everything about you before you were conceived in your mother's
womb. He knew everything about you. Everything that you would do. Everything that you would be.
Everything that you would say. Every place you would go. He
knew everything about you when He chose you. And when His Son
bled and died for you, He knew everything about you, and when
He called you by His grace, He knew everything about you, and
nothing can separate you from the love of God which is in Christ
Jesus our Lord. Determined by the grace of God,
with God's help, not to live on your feelings. Live on the
Word of God. Number three. Remember the Lord's
works and wonders of old. Look in verse 11. And we see
in this psalm, and you can read it later, but you'll see how
many times he remembers. Now God has given us a memory. Use it, use it. Remember here, the Lord's works
and his wonders of old. I will remember the works of
the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders
of old." Remember the Lord's works. Remember his wonders. Remember God saved a man one
time by the name of Noah. And Noah was commanded to build
an ark. God shut him in that ark and
God saved him and his wife and his three sons and their wives
and God delivered him in a great way, didn't he? What a picture
of Christ, the ark. He comes out of the ark, plants
the vineyard, gets drunk. One of his sons committed some
kind of immorality with him. Did that
change God's love for Noah? Did that alter in any way God's
salvation of Noah? No. Remember God's works, his
wonders of old. What about Moses? You know, Moses,
he killed a man, didn't he? He killed a man, murdered him. God saved him, and God used him. You can't change what's behind.
Many times our past, let's remember these things that God has done,
his works. What about David? He was a man
after God's own heart, but let's remember that David also He fell into sin. But that didn't
change God's purpose, God's love for David. What about Peter? He was always the one. Now he
did not have a melancholy temperament. Peter had that temperament that's
bold as a lion. He usually spoke before he gave
a lot of consideration to what he was going to say. But he fell,
didn't he? He failed, and here's something
to remember. In the scriptures, usually the
ones where we are told they failed, it was at their strongest point. Moses was the meekest man on
the face of the earth. Where did he fail? He got mad,
didn't he? He got mad. And he struck that
rock twice when God said, speak to the rock. And let me say something else,
too. We always think about young people and pray for our young
people. And we should, and we do. But so many of those who
fell in the Bible, they weren't young people. They were older
people. Now, remember his wonders at
the Red Sea. When God opened up that sea,
each and every one that he brought out of Egypt all passed safely
through the sea. Not one was drowned in the sea,
but all of their enemies were drowned. Look in verse 16. The water saw thee, O God, the
water saw thee. They were afraid, The depths
also were troubled. The clouds poured out water.
The sky sent out a sound. Thine airs also went abroad.
The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven. The lightnings
lightened the world. The earth trembled and shook.
Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and
thy footsteps are not known. Thou leadest thy people like
a flock by the hand of Moses. and Aaron. All of God's people
came safely through the passage in the Red Sea, and all of their
enemies were drowned. All of Pharaoh's hosts were drowned. Number four, meditate on his
works and talk of his doings. Notice that in verse 12. I will
meditate also of all thy work. and talk of thy doings." Meditate
on His work of salvation. And talk. Talk. You say, well
I don't know who to talk to. Talk to yourself. If you don't
have anybody else to talk to, talk to yourself. And tell yourself
some things that you know. Some things that are true. Look
back just a few pages to Psalm 71. Now this psalm was written
by David. Notice what he says here in verses
15, 16, and 24 about God's righteousness. Verse 15, he said, My mouth shall
show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day.
For I know not the numbers thereof. Talk, meditate and talk of God's
work and His doings, His righteousness. Look down in verse 16. I will
go in the strength of the Lord God, I will make mention of thy
righteousness, even of thine only. I'm not going to be talking
about my righteousness because any righteousness that I have
is as filthy rags. I'm going to be talking about
His righteousness, His perfect righteousness, the righteousness
of the God-man that He worked out by His obedience to God's
law. And that righteousness is my
righteousness. That's your righteousness. It's
the righteousness of all who believe in Him. And then down
in verse 24. My tongue also shall talk of
thy righteousness all the day long, for they are confounded,
for they are brought unto shame that seek my hurt. So meditate
on his works and talk of his doings. Talk of his righteousness
and of his only. And then fifth, notice verse
13 in our psalm. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. And I'll use the word sanctuary
here to mean just like we are here tonight, the sanctuary. It's not a building, is it? But
when God's people come together to worship, I will, he said,
Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. And we have this promise. Now,
we sometimes pray. And we should pray. Because even
though God knows what we need, He tells us to pray and ask Him. But we have this promise. And
when you have a promise, you have God's Word. And God promised. The Lord Jesus Christ, He promised. where two or three are gathered
together in my name, there will I be in their midst. Now if He's
promised to be here, I want to be here. Don't you? In the sanctuary. In the sanctuary of God. Not
a building, but in the assembly of God's people. I know this
is my infirmity. I know it. I'm, by the grace
of God, I'm going to determine not to live on my feelings, but
on the word of God. I'm going to remember the Lord's
works and wonders. I'm going to meditate on his
works, and I'm going to talk, speak of his wonders. And I'm
going to be in the sanctuary. I'm going to be with the people
of God. So help me God. I pray the Lord would bless this
word to all of us here this evening. Amen.