Give us help from the sanctuary for vain is the help of man. (Quality: Very good)

[0:00] As the Lord may help me this evening, I would bring before you a word found in the 108th Psalm.

[0:12] Psalm 108, and words that are found in the 12th verse. Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man.

[0:33] Psalm 10, this was evidently something that laid a very great deal upon the heart and mind of David.

[0:54] He expresses exactly the same words in the 60th Psalm. And when we find such a word as this repeated, we may well gather that there was some degree of significance.

[1:19] Some feeling in David's heart of the importance of this word.

[1:31] And we may well also believe that it was a prayer that was very often found upon his heart and mind.

[1:48] Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man. We might almost wonder sometimes why it was that David should feel as he did and pray as he did.

[2:09] Because of any man in the scriptures that seems to set forth before us, a man of strength, a man of great understanding, and of great integrity.

[2:32] Surely, surely it is this man of God, David. And yet he prays this prayer.

[2:44] He knew what the help of God was. Not just the kind of help that a good many people may feel they need and sometimes ask God to give them.

[3:03] When they are in trouble, providential trouble, they run then to the Lord and ask him to help them. But David knew that kind of help very wonderfully and blessedly.

[3:19] But he also knew the wondrous help that the Lord gives to his people. He knows the source from whence that help comes.

[3:30] And he knew the nature of the help. And he knew it to be a vital, precious need in all his life.

[3:47] You might almost wonder as well that David should so much emphasize the vanity of man's help.

[4:01] Because there's no one in the scripture who had more help from man than David did.

[4:12] You dear young people that are here this evening, you may be interested in what I am about to say to you tonight.

[4:26] David is an outstanding character in the word of God as one that was helped in all kinds of situations by man.

[4:39] God sent man. They were God's instruments. But David never failed to recognize the importance of an instrument.

[4:55] But he was one of these men, one of these people that did not look at second causes alone.

[5:08] He was a kind of man. And if you and I have anything of the grace of God in our hearts, we shall be the same as David was in this respect.

[5:19] We shall trace all the help we have. Whatever means it may come through and whatever instrumentality it may be, God may use in bringing us that help.

[5:35] We shall trace the source of it to our God. And that is what David did. Now let us just look for a moment of the help that David received from man.

[5:54] When he was a very young man, he was taken out of the privacy and seclusion of a home at Bethlehem.

[6:05] Where he had not been subjected to the dangers and temptations of this world. And he was introduced into a court.

[6:21] The court of the king of Israel. We're fraught with many dangers and many difficulties. This young man found himself suddenly confronted by all kinds of temptations, adversities and difficulties.

[6:43] And when we, as we read in the word of God, Saul took a great envy in his own heart and mind against David.

[6:58] So much so that he was bent on destroying him. We find that Saul's own son, Jonathan, united himself to David.

[7:18] And was drawn to him with deep affection. And jeopardized his own interests and even his own life in order to defend David.

[7:36] And to protect him from the great dangers he was in. We know how his own father condemned Jonathan for this attitude towards David.

[7:56] But we see in the scriptures that there was a unity between those two men that was very wonderful indeed. Considering one had everything to lose by befriending this young man who had come into the court of the king.

[8:17] And yet Jonathan helped David. Stood by David. Defended him. Gave him.

[8:29] Gave him. Knowledge of the attacks and intentions of Saul, his own father. Well then, when David was in exile, we read that when he was in the cave at Dalam, there came to him men from all parts of the land of Israel.

[8:56] From the tribe of Manasseh and from other tribes of Israel. And they came, and this was the one language with which they came.

[9:07] David, they said, we've come to help you. They came, therefore, and we read in the scriptures, that as they came, they increased in numbers until it was like the host of God.

[9:28] All these people had come to this lonely man, this outcast, this exile. This man, if you associated with him, it would only bring trouble upon your own head.

[9:44] And yet they came until it was like a great host of God. And they had all come with one great object, and that was to help, to help David.

[10:01] And then when David came into the king, into the, on the throne, how many times do we read in the scriptures there were those who came to help him?

[10:17] One of the most touching incidents in the scriptures, in my mind, about loyalty and friendship, is that incident in respect to Itai, the Gittite, he was a Philistine by nature.

[10:39] He had been attracted to David's service when David undoubtedly was in, sojourning in the land of Philistine.

[10:52] And he'd come and devoted himself to the service of David. But when Absalom came with his rebellion, and David had to flee from Jerusalem and from his throne, as he crossed Jordan, we read in the scriptures that he noticed this Philistine accompanying him.

[11:25] This Itai, by name, and he said to him, Itai, go back. I cannot claim or ask you to come with me in my great trouble and sorrow.

[11:38] I can't ask you to share my dangers. You are not an Israelite. Go back to your own people and to your own country.

[11:49] A great many people would have seized the opportunity. But this is what Itai said to David, one of the most touching utterances in the scripture.

[12:04] He said this, David, David, my lord and king, where thou dwellest, where thou goest, whether in life or in death, there also will thy servant be.

[12:23] And David could hardly reply to that wonderful demonstration of love and readiness to help.

[12:39] All he could say was to Itai, pass on, pass on. And then when we find in writing throughout the whole of David's life, there were from time to time men who came to help David.

[13:04] Now you may wonder, therefore, why David does twice repeat a word like this, give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man.

[13:16] David knew that nothing could be of help unless God had given the power and the willingness and the opportunity.

[13:30] You see, there's a great difference, my dear friends, between the help of man and the help of God. One is very valuable the other is vital.

[13:46] We should never for one moment despise the help of our dear friends. It's a good thing in church life or in our own private experience, a great thing to have help from one and another, especially if that help is rendered without any motive, about what we shall have to learn and understand, as David did, that God's help is the exceedingly precious thing, so that is vital, vital to all our needs, while man's help is very valuable.

[14:39] And again, the difference between God's help and man's help is this, man only can help when the opportunity is given him to help, but God helps his people whenever his people have need.

[14:59] There's the great difference. And oh, how wonderful that is, in the experience of the people of God, the helping hand of the Lord.

[15:15] Well, that's my subject tonight. I want us to look into it in several ways, if we may be enabled, but what needful creatures we are.

[15:30] And there's one thing that we need more perhaps than anything else, and that is the help of God. We need this because we are fallen creatures.

[15:46] Of all God's creatures, man needs help the most. people of God's people of God are spoken of and described as sheep.

[16:05] God speaks of them as the sheep, his sheep, his flock. And of all creatures, there are none that need the help of man more than the sheep.

[16:24] They need them, they need man's help in their feeding, in their protection. In every respect, whereas other wild creatures may get on without man's aid, in fact, they avoid man at all times.

[16:47] They are totally independent of man. The sheep are never independent. And how much so are the sheep of Christ.

[17:05] And what a great and wonderful thing it is to find help by the Lord. The Lord has raised for his people a throne of grace.

[17:20] And what is that throne of grace for? We are told and exhorted to come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain grace to help in every time of need.

[17:40] Do you know what it means to find help from the Lord? I think some of the things that Lord teaches his people first of all is their own helplessness.

[17:55] And that's a good beginning when we come to this point and know fully and truly that we are helpless, cannot supply our own need, cannot do anything whatsoever for ourselves.

[18:16] Our help must come from God. These are the lessons, simple lessons, but profound and precious and invaluable lessons that every child of God has to learn.

[18:33] God's help is the great necessity. And how often have you not found in your experience and pathway when your weakness has become so real and all your reserves as it were have gone and your strength diminished.

[19:06] You find help in the time of your need. Wonderful help that comes unexpectedly and surprisingly and sometimes comes even before you have asked for it to come.

[19:25] Because the Lord sometimes before his people ask, he answers their prayers and he even sends them help to ask for the things they need his help in.

[19:39] This is a wonderful experience and pathway which the Lord leads his dear people. the Lord help me.

[19:53] Now Paul whom we were reading just now, he acknowledges before the King Agrippa that one great asset in his life, the one thing that kept him against all opposition, nations, that maintained him in that way which he had been brought into.

[20:21] The one thing was this, the help of God. Having obtained help of God, I continue unto this day. You may say sometimes, I feel I shall never last out, I shall never be able to maintain my hold, or to continue a profession of Godliness.

[20:47] But my dear friend, if the Lord has placed you among his people, you will find like Paul did that you will obtain help from God.

[21:00] God. It may not always be sensible help, may not always be conscious of the appearance of that help or where it may come from, but you will be conscious, you will experience the reality of it.

[21:23] Having obtained help of God, I continue. one of the dear people in the scriptures whose case has been a great encouragement to a great many poor sinners is that Syrophoenician woman.

[21:44] She came to the Lord and this was the one prayer she had, Lord help me. I think when people find that their prayers are contracted to one single vital expression of need, it's a very good thing, it's a mark of reality.

[22:10] Lord help me, she said. And how did the Lord appear to meet her in this urgent, needy condition?

[22:26] First of all, he answered her, never a word, he became silent. That tries a believer more than anything, the Lord's silence.

[22:41] If only the Lord would speak, if only the Lord would say one word, it would be a relief at least. But when he is silent, the psalmist says, be not thou silent unto me, O Lord, for if thou art silent, I am like those that go down into the pit.

[23:04] And then she comes again, and the Lord said, it is not lawful to give the, I am not sent, first of all, he said, I am not sent but to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.

[23:21] Israel, if she knew, and perhaps she did know this, that that was a wonderful word of encouragement really, because she was one of the lost sheep.

[23:37] She was the lost sheep of the house of Israel, the spiritual house of Israel, though she was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician woman, she was one of the family of God.

[23:53] And then when the Lord said, I am only sent to those that are the lost sheep of the house of Israel, he was really, what he was doing was this, he was embracing her in the arms of his omnipotent love and grace.

[24:11] And while we may well think that the Lord was hard and cutting in his words, he was really indicating to this poor soul that she was one whom he would bless and whom he would help.

[24:32] She said, Lord, help me. Then, he says, it is not lawful to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs.

[24:46] And she came with the very word, using it, turning it around, so desperate was her need, and so powerful was her faith that she said this, Lord, yes, and yet the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master's table, children's table.

[25:09] And he said, O woman, great is thy faith, be it unto thee. And her daughter was healed at that very moment.

[25:22] Help, oh, the wonderful help of God. But it's in trouble.

[25:35] Give us help from trouble. what is your great trouble? Oh, some would have to give me a long catalogue of difficulties which they're passing through.

[25:55] Others would say, well, it's the people with whom I have to deal with. love. But I believe if you are one of those whom the Lord has taught by his grace, you will say this, my great trouble is my own unbelieving heart.

[26:22] you will then, you may find a companion in the scriptures because there was a man who had a poor son, lunatic son, who was in desperate condition and state.

[26:41] He had brought this child in his terrible condition, he brought them to the disciples but they couldn't help. help. Their help was vain.

[26:53] They would have done if they could but they couldn't. And when the Lord had come down from the Mount of Transfiguration he saw this crowd here gathering around at the foot of the hill and he heard that there was the trouble, this poor man with the terrible condition of his son.

[27:16] He says, bring him to me. and he begins to ask questions. How long has this child been in this state?

[27:26] Since a child, since his birth. And then the father of the child bursts out and says, Lord, if thou canst do anything, help us.

[27:39] The Lord touches the very point, you see, probes into that man's heart. He said, if thou canst believe all things are possible to him that believes us.

[27:51] You see, that only brought him to a greater degree of helplessness. It made him know and see fully and clearly that the only help now that he could have that would save him and deliver him from his terrible plight was the help of the Lord.

[28:11] He said, what did he say? Lord, I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Give us help from trouble.

[28:24] Vain is the help of man. Oh, my friends, you will want help from your unbelieving heart. You'll find that it works in every possible way.

[28:37] It discredits the goodness of God. God. It will deny the promises of God. It will belittle the mighty power of God.

[28:52] It will raise all kinds of objections to your path and progress. It will hinder your prayers.

[29:03] If anything will hinder prayer, it will be unbelief. And this will be your greatest trouble. And no man can ever help you in that trouble.

[29:19] If man intervenes in it in any way whatsoever, it will only be to increase, not to diminish, your trouble concerning your unbelief.

[29:34] This will be the prayer prayer that you will need, and this will be the prayer the Lord will answer. Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man.

[29:51] Then again, how unaware we are of the Lord's dealings with us. We are sometimes quite unconscious and insensitive to the touches and mercies and the goodness of the Lord.

[30:16] And we get into trouble, we begin to fear and complain, full of distress, oh, what a plight we're in, and we faint, or are ready to faint, in the day of adversity.

[30:44] You remember the young man that was with Elisha? When Elisha and this young man was in Dothan, the both of them were surrounded by the army of the Syrians, Elisha was calm and quiet, unperturbed.

[31:09] the young man was full of fear. He said, oh, master, what shall we do? We're hemmed in, he could see the armies of the Syrians around him, and he thought his end must be near, everything was lost.

[31:30] lost. And Elisha, he asked the Lord to open the young man's eyes, and when the Lord had opened those eyes, they saw chariots of fire round about the Lord's servant, Elisha.

[31:52] Do you see, Elisha was aware of the Lord's protection. protection. The young man was unaware of it. We do need help, my friends, to make us more aware of the doings and dealings of the Lord.

[32:12] I look back along my life, and I feel one of the great blemishes have been my unawareness. We've been the subjects of many, many mercies, and how few of these mercies have we really recognized.

[32:36] And we have to chide ourselves on account of our own littleness in faith and understanding, and how many times have we misjudged the Lord, and we have judged him by feeble sense.

[32:53] there's been but very little trust in our troubles because there's been little help in our troubles.

[33:08] We want help. We want help in all our troubles. We want God's help. And when we are sometimes inclined to look to man for help, to lean on the arm of man, and on the arm of the flesh, we come back to this point that David had to come to, give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man.

[33:38] Now, let us just think of one or two ways in which there may be trouble. Well, providential trouble is bound to be an experience.

[33:54] We should not go very far without some kind of trouble providential. Some seem to have a larger portion of it than others, but God measures it all out.

[34:11] None are overdone by trouble of this kind, and none will ever escape completely the various experiences of trouble.

[34:30] But, as I said just now, what a wonderful thing it is in our providential trials to have the help of God.

[34:44] It will immediately lift up the heart from all the distresses, and it will virtually solve the trouble.

[34:56] storm. When the disciples were on the lake, and the storm was beating down upon their little ship, the Lord comes to them, walking on the waters, and they bid him welcome into their boat, and immediately the storm was turned into a calm, and they were at the destination nation to which they were journeying.

[35:25] And that is an illustration of how often the Lord deals with his own people in their troubles, providential troubles. He comes with his help, and it solves the whole thing in a moment.

[35:40] then there are spiritual troubles, and it's a great thing if we know something about spiritual trouble, because if we never know what spiritual trouble is, we shall never know what the healing virtues are that come from our beloved Lord.

[36:09] We shall never know what it is to be lifted up. Hannah knew this. She was one of the saints of God. She said, the Lord killeth, he maketh alive, he bringeth down, he lifteth up.

[36:29] Never to know the troubles of a soul, of the anguish, and the concern, deep concern, to whether we are right, and the great trouble of whether we have our sins forgiven, our sins removed, and pardoned.

[36:51] This is a real trouble to a real spiritual soul, and it's a trouble that only God can deal with, and only the health of God can in any measure whatever relief.

[37:11] Give us help from trouble, spiritual trouble, Lord. Give us help. Vain is the help of man. you know, man's health in many instances, we can see it in the church.

[37:31] When man comes in and thinks that he has all the power to render health, you know what the end of that is, almost inevitably, it ends in legality.

[37:52] If we depend upon man, we will do so at our own peril. and again, what a trouble it is to the people of God when they find that they have a lethargic spirit, a spirit that has but very little exercise or movement, something that seems to be dead and benumbed, insensitive, God.

[38:31] Oh, you say, Lord, lift up this lumpish heart of mine, make me to run sprightly in the race that is set before me, give me Christ or else I die.

[38:48] Stir me up, oh Lord, and animate my spirit that I may go out after the things of God. Do you find one of the great troubles is lethargic?

[39:05] There are church troubles. We need the help of God in all such troubles and if God's help was sought where there are church troubles more readily there would be less trouble, there would be more solutions of the church's trials and troubles.

[39:27] there always have been troubles in God's church right from the very beginning of it. Satan will ever be aiming at the overthrow of God's work.

[39:44] Where his church really is, you may depend upon it. Satan will have his designs and his objects to overthrow and undermine.

[39:59] If he can cast in the root of bitterness. you see, Satan was cast out himself from heaven. He was the morning light, but he was cast out.

[40:14] And why was he cast out? Because he sought a place that God had never designed for him. He sought to underthrow and undermine the authority of the dear Son of God.

[40:31] He desired to be the pre-chief one in Zion. He sought to have a place higher than the Son of God.

[40:47] And thus Satan was brought down. But he ever seeks now to undermine the authority and the glory of the dear Son of God.

[41:02] This is trouble. And all the troubles of church, where do they come from? They come from man, not from God. It's man's influence, it's man's asserting his rights love.

[41:20] Or putting forth self unduly causes all the church's troubles and Satan uses it.

[41:34] But give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man. And then perhaps you will feel this, your great trouble, how will it be with you when you come to tread in the waters, the verge of Jordan.

[41:56] That's a real trouble to many of the Lord's dear people. We read in the Hebrews how the Lord Jesus was manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil and deliver them who through fear of death, where all their lifetime subject to bondage.

[42:20] And it's a real fear and it's a great trouble to the many of the people of God. How will it be when called to tread the verge of Jordan?

[42:35] But here's the answer to this. Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help of man. Man can never help us there when we come to that last hour of our mortal life.

[42:52] It must be then and then only the Lord to help us. Well, I hope these few remarks may have been of help to you tonight.

[43:04] Perhaps encouraged you to press on, to look to the Lord for all the help you need and to know this, that that help that he gives is sufficient for every requirement and there's an abundant supply of it, immeasurable, incomprehensible, but wonderfully real, the help of God.

[43:37] O, may you and I know the help of the Lord in every trouble. Amen. Amen. Thank you.