Psalm (Quality: Poor)

[0:00] For thy name's sake, Psalm 79, verse 9. This psalm seems to imply that the Church of God must expect to share in that which has been the portion of the people of God who figure so largely in their experiences that which shall be the portion of God's people.

[0:40] And the psalm shows that the time was a time of captivity, invasion, damage done to holy places, much bloodshed of those who feared God.

[0:58] The saints of God are mentioned as having been killed and their flesh given to the beasts of the earth. And so it was indeed a time of exceeding sorrow, even among God's national people, and it does portray in measure the events that have occurred through the Church throughout its history.

[1:28] And then we find that there is reproach, scorn and derision by those that are roundabout, God's people, and inquiring how long would, while we today are in a more favoured condition as regards bodily safety and preservation from outward persecution.

[2:04] To an extent, we suffer scorn, derision, and reproach with every indication that this could become still more increasing as time goes by.

[2:18] And sometimes we wonder, seeing that we are also described in the last clause of the preceding verse, for we are brought very long, is there not at times going up from the various sanctuaries this feeling if it isn't expressed?

[2:42] How long, Lord, before they will return as we have it in the next time, called Thy face to shine as we shall be saved.

[2:58] I believe, as a church and people, as a denomination, and more generally, in the Church of God, we do need for the Lord to return to us and so work that we may return more wholeheartedly to Him, seek more grace to serve Him more diligently, be found that His will more zealous for the truth and be enabled more clearly to witness whose we are and whom we would find through while we remain here.

[3:43] So the psalmist, by divine inspiration, is led to speak unto Him who alone can effectually help God's people in their distresses, and while, as I've already hinted, it isn't necessary to be brought into the actual circumstances of the psalm, there are doubtless many who, in their private lives, are just ready and do need to say, help us, O God, of our salvation, more particularly, and more personally, if the appeal, the prayer will be likely to be, Lord, help me, and only say, you will be privileged and so have I.

[4:45] if this is the case, and this is our desire, we'd be privileged in great measure to discover, I hope, in an experimental and practical way, where help must and does come from.

[5:07] Great mercy to have a sufficient confidence in God granted to us to still call upon Him when matters look the most desperate and hopeless.

[5:24] I do feel this, and I believe some of you have proved it, that when man reaches his extremity, it is indeed the very time when God appears and often works wondrously for those who entrust all their cares and this particular trouble into His gracious hands.

[5:55] I believe, too, that we shall live to prove that we are in a more healthy condition spiritually considered when the Lord's feet fit to lower their shoulders in such a way as we find the burden too heavy for ourselves to bear than if we were proceeding in a smooth and comparatively troubled path.

[6:21] I believe one wrote or gave expression to a profound truth when he uttered this or wrote it, for more, the treacherous calm I dread and billows bursting all my head.

[6:40] One thing seems to me to be quite certain. If your plea this evening on any account for any particular or private reason is help me Lord, I need thy help, I can go to no other, no other could help in this, you were obviously nearer to him than you would be if matters were going smoothly.

[7:06] You see, we sometimes refer to the drawing power of God. And I believe we are unaware very often of the means he uses to draw us to the mercy seat.

[7:22] I believe that we are apt to think that it's a comfortable inward, sweet persuasion with no particular trouble, but in actual practice, you know, you will prove, I believe, that the Lord loads their shoulders well as well as he gains his end.

[7:41] You're forced to go to him. he draws you because he does show by various means that he is the helper of the helpless, and then he gives you every reason to go to him and seek his help.

[7:57] It's a great privilege. Yes, it's a great privilege. You see, this word is so true, not more than others we deserve, but if we fear God, he has given us so much more, refuge, hiding place, haven, himself, to whom we may go and lay our case to him, and if it is help we need, well then, how suitable is the word this evening, help us, oh God their salvation in this trial, in this particular difficulty, in this affliction that has come upon us, or perhaps in the family, must avoid being personal, but obviously I am concerned with the afflictions that abound among us as people, and I do realize that those who are near and dear, they feel these trials and trying afflictions very keenly, miss sometimes those who are afflicted and their daily health and great concern so much that they feel constrained and indeed compelled to say, help us, oh God of their salvation in this their time of need, and help us to bear the trial of the way, without complaining, without repining, help us, oh God of their salvation to be patient in this, forbearing, watching by hand, looking to see it, from this despantation, some blessing may yet appear, there is a word, if only I could quote correctly, who can tell that what the

[9:56] Lord will return and leave a blessing. And I feel that in many cases God has done this, to the surprise of the recipient, and the support that he has given has been such that they have been constrained to say at the end of the matter, and in looking back upon it, this was what the Lord was doing, this was the Lord, the help given, it must have come from him, because without his immediate support, I should have sunk under the load.

[10:36] I believe the Lord's people do come there, help us, oh God, their salvation, but I shall have to come a little lower down.

[10:50] I believe it is possible in deep trouble and great distress, and sometimes women's keen pain consistently impossible to pray.

[11:04] It seems that one is so weak, so distressed, so burdened, and indeed at times so exhausted, pain seems, the prayer seems to be, impossible through pain and distress.

[11:28] Well, my dear friends, the word before us this evening contains all that is necessary. Indeed, I have already quoted it in that little petition, question, and you need only think it before God.

[11:46] If it's in your heart, the Lord notices it, and indeed I believe he has many times heard prayer uttered or unexplested.

[12:00] We have a very, a very perceiving God whose eyes penetrate into the inner thought of the heart and nothing is hidden from his view, this will sometimes greatly try, at other times greatly encourage to feel the Lord knows all and that the desire was toward him and the plea was up to him even when words were not possible.

[12:35] when the Lord grants relief and sends help from the sanctuary, when he hears the poor prayer or the desires unexpressed, what a privilege it is to feel a soft heart and a feeling of gratitude got to him who had once more delivered and heard and answered.

[13:02] But there should be encouragement in that which I have not yet tried to speak of, help us, O God of air salvation.

[13:17] Well, I believe the God of air salvation is indeed a three-one God and I believe we have here God the Father, the designer of air salvation and I am sure in my own mind that this appeal will reach the greatest ears of that precious Savior who I am sure when the word salvation is mentioned our hearts and thoughts, minds and desires and I trust their worship will go immediately to him.

[13:55] For he is our salvation, there is no salvation in any other, so it must be right and scriptural and proper for the people of God to look immediately to him who has wrought salvation for us.

[14:14] Are we not also indebted to God's experience who has revealed salvation in all its wonderful suitability to our needs?

[14:26] Then if he has graciously assured us of our interest in it, this will enable us reverently and in deep humility yet with gratitude of heart to reuse this expression O God of air salvation.

[14:45] May it please God to receive the tribute which any might desire at this time to lift to him for revelation of his great salvation.

[14:59] One might feel assured from this clause, O God of air salvation, assured of health in time of need. Do he neglect his children?

[15:11] We leave them helpless to the power of their enemy or enemies? Certainly not. He who sent his son to die for poor needy sinners who were after all his own people whom he loved, would he send the son to do as he did and leave them helpless at the power of their enemy?

[15:38] Never. Yet he will be honoured by their petitions and will be inquired of by his people to do these things for them even to say in their times of necessity help us.

[15:54] O God of air salvation, it may be that you will add yes again as I was privileged previously to receive thy gracious undeserved help, I'm still in the same case of undeserving and unworthiness and yet still in great need, Lord help.

[16:19] I can't see any poor sinner crying to God in vain. He may delay a while, who has often delayed and greatly tried the patience of his people, but I believe he will come at length at the right time.

[16:39] there is such a thing as having to carry his leisure, and some of us have already had to confess many times that we are very, very forward at waiting and are to get very impatient, and when this occurs, when impatience is experienced so often, it is closely followed by self-picking, and this will lead to a rebellion unless the Lord in mercy check it.

[17:13] And I believe that sometimes you have had to pray as I have. Help me, Lord, to overcome this evil tendency. Help me, O Lord, to avoid this terrible feeling of self-pity called that I might turn my eyes to thee.

[17:34] And view as faith may be given thy suffering for a moment. O Hiltrure says that at most we do but taste the cup reeling.

[17:49] He, the Lord Jesus, alone, drunky to the very dregs, and his way certainly was much rougher and darker than ours.

[18:01] Yet we do refine as the Lord suffered, so keenly. So help us, Lord, I feel a need to pray for myself more patiently to wait for thine appearing, and yet you'll say, do appear, Lord.

[18:19] For until there does, I am helpless in the matter, know not what to do. do. But there is here a reason expressed in the verse why the Lord should do this and in, I might say, I think, in what way?

[18:42] Well, let us try to look first that's why. And I believe I may say scripture, and let in any way utilizing any scripture, that what the Lord does in and for his people, it is intended by himself to redound to his own honor and glory.

[19:09] He has determined to bless his people according to his wisdom as he sees they're needed at any time. But he requires that we should give unto him the honor, give unto his name, and glorify him to the utmost of our power when he appears for us.

[19:35] This is the outcome, or should be the outcome, of the petition when heard, and the blessing when received.

[19:49] For it is for the glory of our name. Yes, and I believe there will be, no, I believe there has been heard, many occasions when poor helpless sinners have felt it sweet among their happiest moments to be enabled to sing praise to God for the mercy is conferred upon them.

[20:19] And this song will be sweeter, the praise will be more sincere when you find that God has blessed you and heard your prayer and helped you when you felt to be the least worthy of it.

[20:39] You'll bless him then. The thing is paid then, and you will be willing to say, as I said so often, who is so great a God as her God, and you want to say, it's my God.

[20:54] God, and I say, you may, certainly you may, if the Lord has heard your prayer and blessed you and helped you, and then enabled you to bless his name, you may say, my Lord and my God without presumption, and he will be honored by it.

[21:16] You will seek to glory by him. You will realize that this special favor flows to you from mercy's stream, which flows freely and yet sovereignly to all who fear God and have trust themselves to him sanctified affliction has often been a great blessing to God's people.

[21:48] When passing through these piles of affliction, the keenness of the heat has often been as much, and sometimes for their feelings more than they could bear, and yet they have been known afterwards to say, if I might have the same rich blessing flowing into my soul as I had then, I would be willing, if it was the Lord's will, to go through it again.

[22:21] That is sanctified affliction. You can see the purpose of God in it, and my desire is, that is, and where affliction abounds at the present time.

[22:33] It may be the privilege of those concerned therein to enter into this blessed experience. God's consolation, they are mentioned in the, it's a little to the Corinthians, the second of it, or first chapter, God's consolations are very precious.

[22:57] They so richly repay, so richly compensate for all through which you have passed when the Lord drops sweet consolation into the soul and heart of his people, their sorrows in deep turn in joy, and they do have, for a little while, the garments of praise for the spirit of heaven in us.

[23:24] They are comforted, though mourning before, as the prophecy is in that blessed word. for the glory of thy name.

[23:36] That isn't in this life alone. No, I believe that this will be continued. You see, the help of God will be needed to the end.

[23:49] I should be very surprised if any of us reached the stage while we are pilgrims here below, when we could sigh and no longer need the Lord's help. I believe it's a great mercy to start the day realizing that we do need it through the day and seek for it.

[24:08] And I believe the day will come and perhaps the moment when we should say, Lord, help me now. Ever I need it be it is now, at this moment. If you do need it, he will appear.

[24:22] He will still sustain and still support and graciously help you through all that he has appointed for you. I do feel that God is a God of great wisdom as well as God's knowledge.

[24:38] Seeing that he appoints the pathway, how could he be other than adequately suited to provide all that he needed for it. And he has engaged himself to do this through the salvation of Jesus Christ, which justifies his people and calls them to be in the position of love to God, how can he deal otherwise with them in his justice and his mercy combined together than to treat them as his own children.

[25:14] Since he has hidden then in the word of God permission to call upon him as their father. God's love to be in the way.

[25:26] And so I believe that if we're spared, and as we may be helped, to still call upon him through life until we reach the last moment of life and find that still he is there, God our helper, it will be the continue to glorify his holy name.

[25:51] And we shall find that all his dealings in life and through life have been finally to this end that we have matter and willingness and finally ability to give glory to God peacelessly in eternity.

[26:14] In preparation for this, I said before that true worshippers here and at any time must have some reason to worship God something to worship him for it, if it's to be sincere and acceptable to him.

[26:35] and so if God helps us for the glory of his name, may he also help us, still as we should still need, praise him as we ought and when we ought.

[26:54] Now that we return to prayer and deliver us, I had the ability this evening to go into all the varying circumstances in which the people of God will need the Lord to be their deliverer, but if they are feeling, as he said before us in this psalm, the oppression of the enemy and the apparent prosperity of those who do not fear God, who seem to increase both in number and power, I feel that they will be constrained to plead within and deliver us.

[27:47] Deliver us from those who seek our downfall, deliver from all who hate us because we desire to fear thee, and yet you see we must not be too surprised if the world hate us, we are exalted to remember by the Lord himself that the world hated him before it hated us.

[28:16] Nevertheless, he was divine in his person, though human, and we, forethings are human entirely, and so we should be sure to cry out of him and deliver us.

[28:32] There is a certain burden mentioned here too, and I feel sure we should need deliverance from this. If there is one thing more than another from which the people of God feel to need to be delivered, surely it is contained in the next clause, and purge away, as said, purge him away.

[29:02] Well, I've said before I cannot claim any knowledge of the original languages, but I do try to gain some instruction concerning the original language by those who do understand it, and I am told that this phrase, purge away of sin, could be interpreted, cover them with an atonement.

[29:35] Well, this little position then has a forward look and a prophetic signification, hasn't it? Cover them with an atonement.

[29:47] moment. Now, my dear friends, all of us here this evening who hope we fear God, are interested vitally in this petition from this point of view, however point of view, take it which way you will, purge away our sins, cover them with an atonement, just what you and need and will need constantly, till we're relieved from a body of sin and death, until need that our sins be purged away, and it will be an atonement for them, and we'll reproduce it.

[30:26] know it must be covered by one who is able by his atonement to give full satisfaction to God the Father, so that the sin may be so covered as to be unbearable, seen by him no more.

[30:49] Now, he doesn't give us an indication in prophecy, he might maybe, that he would cast all their sins into the depths of the sea, a figure, of course, but how effectually the sins of God's people will be covered if that is what is to be done with them in a figurative sense.

[31:16] They'll be covered then with a volume which will hide them from the view of him that sits on the throne. their privilege indeed if we're included in this.

[31:29] So David sings in Psalm 32, Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered.

[31:42] Yes, my dear friends, this, I believe, is one of the most urgent of the fleas of God's people, people, that they may enjoy, I believe I have concluded my prayer this evening with that desire, to feel that we are both guilty or given sinners, that the charge is no longer held against us, that no condemnation is possible against us because of this great atonement or this sweet, blessed, effectual, so necessary purging.

[32:24] psalmist in his distress of soul under a dreadful feeling of guilt, trouble brought upon himself by his guilty action, pleaded this with his God, purged me with hithop and I should be clean, wash me, and I should be whiter than snow, you can be the only one, by I suppose an illusible number of people who pleaded with God for this purging and cleansing.

[33:06] Well, when that atonement was offered at Calvary, there was the fulfillment of the prophecy, in that day, there shall a fountain be opened unto the house of Judah and Israel for synonym cleanness.

[33:27] And I believe that the children of God will come in their experience earlier or later to use this petition, wash me, Savior, or I die, purge my essence.

[33:47] these are the key burden from which we seek deliverance and deliverance will be felt sweetly experienced when the Spirit, by his power, graciously assures the Savior made atonement of Calvary for you, for me.

[34:22] Hope you'll excuse me for repeating this just once more. It was sore of Tarzan. Suddenly, he must have been overcome by what Jesus has done for him when he said, he loved me and gave himself for me.

[34:48] Sweet truth and may the Spirit seal it hold on many a troubled heart yet which his people have to endure under conviction of sin and the application of a broken law in the beginning very often of a work of grace.

[35:10] Nor is there exemption from this as we journey on through life. There is a feeling at times and the conviction is brought home again with power of fresh contracted guilt and you will feel I believe the keenness and pain of sin committed against life and knowledge and it will bring you and it will bring me in a very lowly and humble condition before Jesus Christ and his mercy seat deliver us deliver us purge away our sins those wonderful mercy that he has encouraged such as are laden with sin for there's no definition of what the burden is that they're laden with in that blessed gospel invitation

[36:13] I've been privileged to quote it already today I hope to have the favor of quoting it again come unto me it may be that the labouring is caused through the guilt on your conscience and the heavy laden state you are in may be because of the weight of the burden of your sins but come come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden and I will give you rest I can assure you from some very small experience that when the Lord gives rest in the conscience and in the mind it is sweet peace which he alone can give if it doesn't last very long I believe you'll never forget it and you often ask to be favored with renewing and reviving of it help us oh God their salvation for the glory of my name and deliver us for you when you have a comment on the psalm says that the approach to God in this psalm differs from some approaches made by the people of

[37:50] God when they emphasize that they have endeavored so far as possible to keep his commands and walk in the path of his appointments and so they ask that mercy may be extended to them on these grounds occasionally but it's different in the psalm different in the psalm they are prepared to come and confess as we have solved and had to do confess with shame or faith that what we are seeking to be delivered from and helped in is self-procured and richly deserved but they do have one plea which is outstanding oh remember not the days but our former things former iniquities they might be said the iniquities of them that were before us there you know in Moses time and in the days of the commandments the rule said he would visit the sins of the people even to the third and fourth generation they are seeking in this psalm to be relieved from the former iniquities that they may not be visited upon them in addition to that which they are already suffering but I turn to a word in

[39:18] Jeremiah where there is free compassion and still there is petition and I hope that may encourage us if we feel to be in the same condition before God at any time we acknowledge O Lord our wickedness and the iniquity of our fathers for we have sinned against thee do not abhor us for thy name say do not disgrace the throne of thy glory remember break not thy covenant with us but what is this how would you describe this that I have just read isn't it free heart felt confession of former things and present guilt freely confessed before the

[40:20] God of mercy at his mercy seat or throne of grace and isn't there prayer along the same lines as in this verse which now concludes for thy name thank you very great name may honor to the crew to thy name and a God who forgives who delighted in mercy who will have compassion upon his confessing heartbroken contrite repenting people supposed to be made by Moses in time past by Joshua also and what would thou do to thy great name that is the faithful prayer the Lord will ever have regard to the honor of his own name and when e'er three go up to him for the honor of his name and the glory of it the rain is here and for the vindication of his own honor he will appear and justify the prayer that has been offered to him by answering it in his mercy there is forgiveness with God that he may be feared he's a

[41:40] God of mercy he says he delights in mercy and we have need to feel extremely thankful that this is so help us O God of your salvation still to look up for it still to trust in thee still to rely upon thy faithfulness still to believe that thou art an unchanging God and do so work for us that we may be found walking in a way and living witnesses of the wonders else wrought for the glory of our name deliver us as often as thou seeest we are under the power of the enemy or being lured tempted to side in mercy deliver us from his power and deliver us from our native unbelief of heart purge away our sins for without this we cannot hope to stand before thee in that great day purge them away Lord and grant that we may stand in that great day justified through faith in Jesus

[42:54] Christ and clothed in his precious so greatly needed righteousness for thy name thanks for the glory and honour of thy great name thou hast engaged in thy word to save completely this whole election of grace and may thy name be honoured in the performance of this and may we be among those tending to water even joining in this glory of thy great and holy name may the Lord forgive all this being amen amen