The Lord's continual presence (Quality: Very poor)

[0:00] Lord help us, we will speak again from the 71st Psalm and the third verse. Psalm 71 verse 3.

[0:17] Be there my firm habitation. For round 2 I may continue in the door. I have written her mouth not to save me, but thou art my wrath and my soul.

[0:40] And again this morning you will still remember my saying that only a child of God could really use such a prayer of faith.

[0:51] But only feel such a desire to see it's right without the heart. You see the nature of the life of the child's God by this word continually.

[1:10] Where do I may continue on any of the door? The word that's used at all times, as if it were, well, minute to minute.

[1:31] But it does stand for a continuing in the right direction and in the right way.

[1:44] And after the right thing. Now this was not ready to change. The heart did not wiggle.

[2:01] He was tossed to and fro. Either did he stagger, though he was in trouble, often times. And in this time also.

[2:14] As he was always speaking, trying, resting place. Trying, hiding place.

[2:27] It is crying experience and crying language to those who have not had their eyes open.

[2:40] to their emotions, feel their need. There is just one message for them. To this continuing nature of prayer. But for those who have not had their eyes open to their emotions. But for those who have, and this isn't treating in any detrimental way, those who have had their eyes open to their decisions, feel their need.

[3:05] So that same one without any variance or sort of a change, do they desire to come?

[3:18] Put this in a chair. We look back over our lives. David is looking back over his life, isn't it? And looking back to the day before.

[3:36] Now, he says, as I'm old and grey-headed, O God, for thanks to God. A strange prayer for an old and aged child.

[3:50] May the day this experience that he should ever use such a language of sin, past in or not, the time of old age?

[4:07] Are we showing too clearly what a solemn time old age is? This is our brutality. Grow young and strong.

[4:23] The old age seems along all my way. The way different matters come down through these years.

[4:35] And find that there is an ever-grown need of being right. That that step should overtake us utterly.

[4:49] It is nature's natural order to cast the mind forward to the end of life.

[5:02] When the time-games begin to shut in. Father is looking from one end of his life to the other.

[5:16] Now, it is generally a spectrum that, as Absalom's rebellion took place in the latter days of his life.

[5:29] He is referring here in particular to this. The tremendous upheaval in his life when Absalom rose up to his sharpest throat.

[5:43] When David so quietly recited it. And there was, one might almost say, a peaceful transition.

[6:00] Had it stood and thought it would have been a different story. But he was kind of a strong.

[6:13] And I had of the persuasion that David knew why. That was because God's time of judgment had come.

[6:30] For his growth in some ten or more years earlier. And it's blotted. The holy name of God and brought to honour.

[6:44] The name of God and the cause of God. Given the enemies of God caused to blaspheme.

[6:55] That thing, God doesn't hurry, but his judgment. He said it is well knew that this time would come.

[7:07] And it would appear from the time that had come. And how willingly he bowed to his guilty head.

[7:26] And pledged not against this God, but those for this extremity. In asking that in his older age the Lord would not cast him off, nor persuade him when his flesh sank.

[7:51] So that the time of these events is always important to us if we can advertise it.

[8:06] Although that we may know the surrounding circumstances of dealing with his people.

[8:18] And the time of these events are not immediate in the wise judgment. And he also preferred his anger as he did.

[8:29] Whilst Noah was still in the ark for all those years of the hundreds. People went on in their iniquity.

[8:40] When the retreat, that day of the moment большое in the forest over the 선배Is. The fountains of the great Roberto Ser OMário and oiktesible saints. The holy of mankind who came this earlyushmore first that it is worthy of their souls. Even in Shem Mooji, and this원이 is no more worthy of greatness.

[8:55] We must believe that Jesus was an orphanage that had becomeape about their worship. The real chakra to me, Allah creates a barbaric evidence for those of us and others that there is not a number of monsters.

[9:07] A strong wisdom that we may have seen. When it is, in proclaiming is robustoo of нашей国 and its łatW persons. and for forty days the brain and the earth was flooded after the judgment was blown that started to die and has been through generations God has not done with our iniquity and not done with you as an individual after your iniquity he has as the word now just flows and pierce and last so it's powerful and youth if we mention the small people look back over it and say how the Lord had preserved him in those dangerous times and it is only as you get away from childhood and youth that you can possibly believe what the scripture says of them that they are very negative nothing can cancel in them of a despised nation the prayer of this third life is to be out of school being shut a sentence of this be thou my strong habitat whereon do I may continue this walk and the Lord Jesus is dooted a high priest continually we don't hold our services continually we hold them continually in the sense that we hold them on the Sabbath and in the week continually that there's not that unbroken continuity which might be thought to be intended but not so but with the Lord Jesus and the tremendous well he had to do to sound of praise he is exalted a high priest contingent the ancient pattern of this was in the lamp in the temple and it had to be kept burning contingent and also in the table of showbread the loaves had to be fresh in the morning and so on so that the answer behind all this is that there will be a continual need for the work of the Lord Jesus as an advocate to speak and there always is never a day can pass not an hour can pass not a minute can pass without his leaders continue as the very high priest of his

[13:07] people's protection and whether you need him continually or I do and see their need of him continually is another matter but this does not break the truth in any degree whatsoever there he is forever at the mercy seat there he sits as the advocate the intercessor for his church in the earth and has done and ever will will right down the end his promises are such that this shall be so prophecies are such that is made a high priest forever after the order of electricity he has ascended up on high and laid captivity captive not for some temporary season but forever until the last vessel of mercy shall be gathered home he shall be then able to say that every one of whom he laid down his life has been called out and started into his marvelous life as Peter called it so that the glory of this lives in his continual of inability we are governed by the clock our days are measured by hours and no clock no hours in heaven time is not no it is spoken of as eternity the Lord the Lord

[15:34] Jesus Christ is revealed as being unchangeable the same that is yesterday today and forever he is always at his offers and always needed at his offers and he is never absent from it and for this reason the church of God has such great cause rejoice he can join in this availability of the Lord Jesus Christ at all times there is no such thing closing down time there is no such thing as prayer being offered at certain hours there is among men you will remember that

[16:52] Peter and Samuel they turn their face and show a break three times a day this remarkable regularity is completely understood so you could if you wanted to and had the grace to and like the practice of it there will be nothing to inform that the beauty of this continual coming is that there is a continual availability is it midnight is the Lord Peter as Elijah said to the prophets of Baal concerning their God perhaps he's sleeping perhaps he's on a journey cry louder and poor men they lack them and them tell that they're not just for nice in their agitations no thing as in the sweet economy of grace in your wakeful hours in your weak hours in the times when you are in great need the Lord is available he is a high breeze then and as will take then you have not to think within yourself but is this time for me to pray is this a suitable opportunity for me to pray is this a week day am

[18:54] I at work am I in the busy scenes of life can I turn aside to pray there those who thus walk this way in a vicious life or you mothers in your whole life you don't have to stop the things of time there is such a beauty in the ability of the Lord Jesus Christ that this word continually stands so prominently that Christ accepts it at every moment of life even in the dying breath death and therefore we rejoice that the prayer stands of this down and it is a strong habit place habit and habit is a living place your habit is where you gravitate through diabetes death be there my strong habit home resting place called by so many different names in the scripture is the home of the believer his tabernacle we know that his the earthly house the bad tabernacle were dissolved we have a building of growth a house distinct from a tabernacle a movable uh uh home we have a house not made with hands turtle in the head and this is the general and thorough teaching of the gospel that there is a strong habit now this covenant of which we were speaking this morning has revealed to us this uh strong habit but it is not the habit of uh uh dragons which the scripture speaks but the habit of the home it is heavenly cell thus

[21:51] Paul calls it now to appear in heavenly cell the presence of God for us this is the habitation the Lord needs I go to the same place for you and where that place is he is also don't you see how sweetly this falls on your ears to a distressed esteem and often overcome one until the only thing you can do is cry and find your help and you're suddenly perhaps confronted with some terrible temptation brought into some place where there is only one thing you can do that is cry it hurt like Nehemiah did when he was before the king and the king said to him how sorrowfully looked and that his face indicated nothing more he says than sorrow of heart if it's some ordinary trouble

[23:20] Nehemiah what's the matter we read that Nehemiah prayed unto the Lord his God and the elbow and the royal palace with all the sumptuous feasting that there must have been so I prayed unto the Lord my God this is the beauty of this righteous habitation of the Lord Jesus where e'er thy people seek this as I just watch our house and what a thing this is isn't it and look how some of you are unable to put it into practice you don't spend your days prayerless prayerless is

[24:27] I know you have the time to seclude yourself and find some place where no one can see you you can pray it's a busy scene of life prayerless says Montgomery the burden of a time the falling of a tear the upward glancing of an eye when none but God is near for let us not put these things on one side as if they were of no value they are the breathings of the soul and there are no limitations exclusion or anything to devour Christ day or night in season or out of season and you know some of you through grace and mercy how true this is and when even it might be at school some of you children and some of you in the university have these problems and some of you who directly work a fight with something of a really hard nature what can you do what do you do that the point and only

[26:12] God and your own soul know whether you struggle on and say well I'll do what I can or whether you seek the Lord Christ this lasting continuity of the Saviour's advocacy in heaven is a great blessing of his people there is never a time when it's not there not available it isn't as if it were like the feast of the Passover once a year or as if it were the feast of Tabernacles once a year or any other of the ancient feast are called unawaited now this is David's belief therefore in that feast be now my strong habitat the mercenary

[27:22] God it has two names the town says elsewhere the name of the Lord is a strong town the righteous run it into it and is same they're not used to the expression wearily as regards the ritual fitting a strong tower in those days was a place of safety that's what the tower was built for it was man-made that it was a place of safety these places referred to here the a rock and the fortress are both those caverns or places of great security so with the habitation of the mercenary where

[28:43] Christ is at the right hand of God is home by my spirit there he enjoys as psalm 16 says the pleasures of God forevermore thine right hands are pleasant forevermore which is his divine pleasantness and there's no ground and no scriptural authority for you withholding your upward glancing of the eyes there is no argument that you can advance thereby you were taught only to cry at the time and if not something formal but something sparsitian so that the habitation is the merciless the throne of grace those are the two general names by which it is called and both have their separate and yet similar meaning the throne made the reverence of which

[30:17] I was speaking last Sunday it has a reverence this reverence of the throne ten minutes once we seem to feel the spirit of reverence as you approach the throne of grace do not just merely uttering words that are examples that there is a cry pressed out of your heart reality or something itself it is called a mercy seat indicating someone sitting on it that the sign of the throne implies someone sitting on the throne throne and whatever name we call this habitation it is strong to the point the ancient cities of refuge were appointed for the security of the man in trouble though he known and they weren't experts of their city they were naive for a special purpose but there was something about them that was strangely guarded by divine command he would not he wouldn't call the city of refuge impeccable fortresses but they were appointed by

[32:29] God six of them in all three on each side of Jordan for a place of refuge man in trouble to take his case if it was a good one he was frightened if he was genuine and his case had to be torn out and he was given hospitality and taken into the ship and this must have been in Israel to the godly a very very pleasant pleasing ordinance of god we do not read a great deal about it in actual practice we have another one of which there is not a great deal said that is laying hold of the falls of the altar a man in terror lay hold upon the halls of the altar that he was not nearly so secure there because it wasn't on command here the city is a refuge no man there approached so that this city was strong and this mercy seat is strong and the throne of grace is strong and this habitation to which

[34:13] David resorted was strong for this reason that there should be security and that it should be as we are told here available whereunto I may continually resolve now if we look at the circumstances as I said with regard to the time and period that this happened I believe was in indeed a sore strike that lastly was available the Lord's judgments had gone out against him the rebellion was now fighting him at the throne of grace and still available to him the

[35:20] Lord stood there ready to forgive his sinful servant after all these years so that his prayer is be thou my strong habitate a person not a place as good as it is right and proper as we could call it a place but a person of occupation John speaks of this in his genuine official if any man sins we have an asso case with the father not without the father no vitally important connection here for you to ponder over we have an asso case with the father

[36:23] Jesus Christ the righteous and this is the purpose Jesus Christ the righteous to whom David undoubtedly refers though he saw him not as we now see him and there's also one or two other things here that David mentioned found up in this he says in verse seven I am as a wonder unto many but thou art my strong refuge he was a wonder unto many he had been a wonder unto many pretty well all for his life

[37:29] I mentioned and there's no need to go with again tonight this early day he was a wonder when the stone from the sling entered the forehead of Goliath he was a wonder when the Lord preserved him in the wilderness and he was fulfilled over the mountains the wonderful way in which the Lord preserved him but not only so he was a wonder and a miracle of grace because of his sorrow sin oh yeah he hadn't been a a spoof runner in the pathway to heaven he'd been plunged in the pit of adultery murder he had been his own witness against the dreadful deceit of his own heart he was one who declared a plainly makes of unbelief

[38:57] I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul when he swept everything aside what God had done for him and said it will all be over he was a wonder at this occasion when Absalom rose up against him on other occasions as you may see and know of already in this life he was a wonder a miracle I am a wonder unto him as if to say there are those that look at me as cats and wonder how I was ever delivered however I find true that I was such a traitor of all crimes as far as men are concerned among the greatest

[40:03] Judas was a traitor David was a traitor you can't escape it sinner as black as you may feel and as arguable as you are against yourself and as sure as you are that you are not a vessel of mercy you cannot escape the characteristics of a sinner in the scripture for they were vile characters and if you have been a traitor there is hope for you and there is if you have turned your back upon God there is hope for you where does this hope come from and how what does the scripture say of it verse 14 in this same psalm

[41:06] I will hope continually now what a parallel this is to continual resorting to continual hoping you may well be tried with the past life and the years gone by and how a dark your character is being and how you have sinned with a high hand against God and the enemy might tell you there is no hope for you you are beyond the reach of divine mercy and the gospel is sent to you to declare and ask the devil to prove it and if he can prove that there is no hope for you then you will be lost but there is hope for traitor

[42:26] David and there is hope in continual now why should this be do you hope continually day after day time after time you find this springing up in your heart there comes a black time down you go a time of unbelief I shall one day cherish my own nature will get the upper hand I shall prove at last a cast away to get into those pits of unbelief then what is your actual hope hope hope that you'll come out of it hope that the Lord will pardon it hope that he will receive a returning runaway a prodigal who have returned to him with repentance or here it is you can tear this page out of your

[43:54] Bible with a clear conscience do so but I will hope continue now how beautiful this is in the immense huddle in the wilderness from early days all through life right down to grey hairs a time when the prairies cast me not off in the time of old age will thank me not when my strength fight it when your enemies say God hath forsaken him now is our opportunity now we shall get what we've long waited for persecute and take it there is none to deliver it oh God be not far from me oh my

[45:03] God make haste for my help these were squeezed out of the heart of Jesus they were not composed as formal poetry or poets or poems they were the very practical and diabolical scenes too the enemy had him within his clutches as he thought hope was springing in Christ in the perpetual habitation and he resorted there at the time when he lost everything and sick legs and all was gone he agreed that

[46:10] David encouraged himself as the Lord is God that all he could do for that was everything he needed to do he used best to look anywhere else but to an unchanging faithful God now David says therefore thou who is in this low place I will hope continually and will yet praise thee more and more it is clear evidence of deliverance now how attractive this is to hold this day will come when you will come back to the Lord with praise the very thing that you have said could ever happen has happened the very deliverance which you have long sought now come and what are you going to do as we go out this sit silent and dumb or are you going to return to give thanks you can do no other your heart will be overflowing with the utmost gratitude

[47:48] I can tell you that you can't control praise when the Lord touches the cord the heart will spring into harmony and praise so without going further into oh God thou hast taught me from my youth hitherto have I declared thy wondrous work now also when I am old and great in it oh God forsake me not until I have showed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to every one that is to come psalm is fool not only of the personal experience of

[48:49] David and the rock Christ Jesus but also prophetically of the gracious and great work of the Lord Jesus Christ himself so take this with you be thou my strong habitation where unto I may continually resort for thou hast given commandment to save me for thou art my rock and my fortress thank you amen I would thank you to hearْ