Psalms

[0:00] Please to help me I shall call your attention to a subject you will find in Psalm 50 and the 15th verse and call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me Psalm 50 and the 15th verse This is a wonderful word to encourage any sinner who has the mercy to be born again to hope in God In this word to such a character there is a gracious invitation for that sinner to do what godly David declares in another Psalm he was enabled to do

[1:17] I showed before him my trouble and it is a great privilege to get grace to do that dear friends a very solemn experience it is to be in a day of trouble and find no concern concern to get in touch with God and get some good for your soul out of it and above all to be delivered from it it is a very painful place to be in when you have a day of trouble and in the midst of it you feel you are of the earth earthy and realize your utter helplessness in things divine find our soul can neither fly nor go to reach eternal joys and that will intensify that day of trouble to a sinner born again and now I want as the Lord you help me to look at this word from one or two viewpoints and it might be with some of you it is a day of trouble and if it should be well I do hope you may get some help by the way some gracious instruction and above all that you might be encouraged to heed this injunction and call upon me in the day of trouble

[3:08] I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me and that brings us to this line of things that I often lay before you that every sinner who is born again will find in journeying on through life that he will be shut up to God in every day of trouble that comes upon him and his then are they brought to their wits end margin reading all their wisdom is swallowed up then then they cry unto the Lord in their trouble and he saveth them out of their distresses

[4:08] I like that word in Solomon's song who is this that cometh up out of the wilderness leaning upon her beloved and that is a beautiful picture of the life of the righteous the word of God says the just shall live by faith and it is a life of dependence upon God as we are born there is in us a very sad a very solemn independence that we would if we could do without God according to what we are by nature who is Lord over us is the attitude of man we will not have this man to reign over us depart from us we desire not the knowledge of thee or thy ways but when a sinner is born again he gets as a blessed outcome of it a new heart a new nature a new spirit a new will and he finds another concern wrought in his breast then reign o'er me as king and accomplish thy will and powerfully bring me forth from all ill is that how you feel this sabbath morn regarding the dealings of God with you accomplish thy will it is a great attainment in things divine dear friends you will often be more like the hymn writer puts it father thy will be done in words we often express but in our hearts we want our own and wish our sufferings less but it is a sweet frame of mind a very desirable frame of mind to be in accomplish thy will in me and mine and that reminds me of what you sometimes sing about but very difficult indeed to reduce it to practice thou my dross and tin consume let thy inward kingdom come you remember thy kingdom come thy will be done in earth as it is in heaven and that kingdom that comes is the kingdom of God within you the savior said the kingdom of God is within you the kingdom of God is not in word only but in power the kingdom of God cometh not with observation margin reading is not outside show it was this great truth that Nicodemus could not enter into when the savior first of all proclaimed it except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God which is to say he cannot see what is the nature of the kingdom of God that it is a kingdom within where grace predominates where sin hath abounded grace shall much more abound much might be said along that line of thought as I looked at this word hoping it might be the right subject to bring before you

[8:21] I thought what a wonderful mercy it is that such a word as this can be proclaimed in the gospel of the grace of God I have told you many times oh I oh many things I have had to tell you many times and I am very much afraid some of you do not know those things as they are to be known even although you have heard them so often and now the glory of the gospel is that it makes plain to us that he whose gospel it is is approachable and that is not just a commonplace statement a trite remark God is approachable all but what had to be done before his holy majesty could be approachable by sinners like you and me

[9:28] God had to do that which he alone could do God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life and now the word of God declares there is one God and one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus and God is approachable and he says to poor sinners born again none others will listen to it but sinners born again and of such characters the saviour said blessed are your ears for they hear but I must add this speaking with great reverence I must remind you of what James says in his epistle be not hearers of the word but doers also oh how often you have heard such a word as this call upon me in the day of trouble

[10:46] I will deliver thee look at the guarantee who is the speaker in the text he whose word is yea and amen and never was forfeited yet speak we of strength his arm is strong and his word is to you and me I will deliver thee and in doing it thou shalt glorify me and that is a concern I would like you to be the subject of much deeper down than you are oft times preacher and people alike must all plead guilty here there is a word whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of

[11:50] God ask God to help you ponder that word in your heart and as you ponder it I can tell you what you will want to do as speedily as you can you will want to stand where the publican stood and smite your breast and say God be merciful to me a sinner whatsoever ye do do all to the glory of God how little do you and I think about the glory of God in what we do there are many things we do because we must do those things the things of everyday life which are lawful to do and they must be done but how often are you doing those things and your heart is concerned in what you do to do it to the glory of God is it not the truth that sometimes in the doing of it you are weary in body jaded in mind and saying oh my

[12:57] God my soul is cast down within me because of what you think is the monotony and drudgery and the difficulty of everyday life that you have got to live oh you and I do need more grace and remember this is the way walk ye in it let let us run with patience the race that is set before us looking unto Jesus looking up all beside consider him that endured such contradiction of sinners against himself lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds and now let us look at this subject as grace is given and remember what a blessed privilege it is and what a great truth it is which the gospel makes known

[14:03] God is approachable and to sinners born again what does he say let us therefore come boldly margin with liberty you are welcome to do so although you are such a sinner you are welcome to go just as you are let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace to obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need and call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shall glorify me and now the text tells us about the day of trouble and now when a sinner is born again his religion must inevitably begin with soul trouble it may not be easy to define it especially if one should have the great mercy to be born again in life's early morning you would not expect a child to be able to tell out much about deep conviction of sin and yet there would be in that child's soul reality and there would be soul trouble a concern to have to do with

[15:46] God and that matters might be made right between one soul and God but as a rule when he the spirit of truth is come he shall convince the world of sin and that bespeaks a day of trouble coming into a sinner's life and such a day that he has never lived in before or whenever that day dawns in a sinner's life whether it be in life's morning or afternoon or in evening time it is a day of trouble soul trouble and very solemn it is when he the spirit of truth is come he shall convince the world of sin and it means this if I can make it plain as grace is given in thy light shall we see light and it makes known to a poor sinner what he is by nature and there is no more terrifying sight to be seen on the earth than to get a glimpse in heaven's own light of what you are by nature news or youیں the spirit of it and it ruins but when the terrible doctrine of it is wrought in our soul's experience you find that you must inevitably take up scripture language to describe it

[17:28] You cannot find words of your own to do it. And you say with Isaiah, From the sole of the foot, even to the head, there is no soundness in it, wounds and bruises, and putrefying sores, and you take up the language of Job, Behold, I am vile.

[17:50] And it is very humiliating, and it is very enlightening, and it is, as I said, a terrifying consideration, that when you see the wicked doing wickedly, that it is only by the grace of God you are not doing likewise.

[18:11] And to know that in your breast, you have got the very same nature that would do it, unless God enabled you to stand fast, and to live the life of the righteous as you desire.

[18:31] It is well to weigh these things up. And remember, when that is opened up to you in your soul's experience, it will be a day of trouble.

[18:49] And then, it will be helpful to remember such a word as this, and call upon me in the day of trouble. Sinner, if thou wert taught to see, how great thy guilt, thy misery, in every thought and act impure, the blood of Christ thy soul can cure.

[19:10] It imports a day of trouble in a sinner's soul's experience when he is under the law and being taught out of it by the law is the knowledge of sin.

[19:32] To realize the law demands a righteousness and he cannot produce one stitch of it which will be acceptable to God. And yet, there must be a meeting of the demand of the law for righteousness or the sinner must inevitably take the consequences.

[19:55] The soul that sinneth, it shall die. Cursed is the man that continueth not in all things written in the book of the law, to do them.

[20:07] A very solemn place to be in. To hear the law's loud thunder and pay me that which thou owest. And the Spirit leading you into the truth shows you righteousness to full perfection must be brought lacking naught fearless of rejection.

[20:31] And you are just before God in your undone state. And as you seek to do what this word enjoins call upon me in the day of trouble you can only say naked I come to thee for dress.

[20:52] And that is a good place to be in. Blessed are the poor in spirit who their native vile nest see their all-taught sins demerit gladly own salvation free and from Sinai to the wounds of Jesus flee.

[21:15] Call upon me. I am Jehovah Sid King the Lord of righteousness call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee.

[21:31] What a good word it is. How sad it is that you and I have not made much more use of it along life's way. How many a time in a day of trouble have you and I been prayerless nor teach us to pray.

[21:54] Here is such encouragement to do it. Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me.

[22:06] Look at this word in here I will thou shalt sometimes it is a day of trouble as you journey on because you come into that scripture you will come into it if you are taught of God which you know every man the plague of his own heart and it seems such a paradox that while you are trying to pray and ask for more grace and that God would give you his fear to super abound over all that you are by nature that you might live unto him live for him and then you seem to go deeper down than ever into an unfolding of your sinnership crowds of ill thoughts their bane diffuse proud envious false unclean every ransacked corner shows an unsuspected sin and now the question arises can ever

[23:20] God dwell here and he does dwell there whatsoever doth make manifest is light but it makes a day of trouble for you when you get what you are by nature more and more opened up call upon me in the day of trouble such a day as that day will be poor sinner and remember this what though bad is thy condition and thy wounds you can't endure he the sinner's wise physician will effect a perfect cure it is a wonderful encouragement oh for faith to believe it the blood of Jesus Christ God's son cleanses us from all sin it may be a day of trouble with some of you because you are in heaviness through many full temptations it is very solemn how much

[24:37] Satan has to do with some people who were sinners born again and there is in them such a tendency to credit the devil's lies the apostle Paul speaks of those being delivered out of the hand of Satan who were taken captive by him against their will and that is how it will be with sinners taught of God when they are in heaviness through many full temptations or they have it in their hearts to live unto God live the life of the righteous yes but there comes this sifting time to poor sinners born again

[25:38] Simon Simon Satan hath desired to have thee that he may sift thee as wheat but I have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not but when you get into Satan it is a day of trouble you look back over what you hope God has wrought for your souls and you begin to be ready at least if not altogether to question whether God did do it do I possess any religion that he is the author of when you come to that place the church was in as you read in the Psalms we cannot see our signs zeal extinguished to a spark life is very low all our evidence is dark and good works we've none to show it will be a day of trouble to you and it will not help you in that day to be reminded that you have had your name on the church role 20 30 40 50 years but you will be concerned to enter into that word of the saviors and ye now therefore have sorrow but

[26:58] I will see you again and your heart shall rejoice and again. If you can believe, ask God to help you to believe it.

[28:11] If you can believe that God has laid the affliction on you, it will be a wonderful help to you in calling upon him in the day of trouble which that affliction will bring on you or yours.

[28:29] I do like that word of the Apostle Peter. It has been a great help to me at times. Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls unto him in well-doing as unto a faithful creator.

[28:49] As a rule, when afflictions come on us, we contemplate the affliction and how it came and we may reason as to what brought it.

[29:01] Oh, but if you have the mercy to be taught of God, you will have to come to this. It is the Lord. Let him do what seemeth him good.

[29:16] And when you get there, you will be in that frame of mind to realize what this word means. Call upon me in the day of trouble.

[29:31] I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me. Sometimes afflictions are of such a nature that the earthly physician comes and he says, you must be in a hospital ward, a whale.

[29:49] Maybe you must go down to the operating theater and then your affliction will be alleviated. But if you are a sinner, born again, you will come back to the starting point.

[30:10] Wherefore, let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls unto him in well-doing.

[30:22] And now you watch this in your soul's experience, my friends, that if such a time should come to you, such an affliction that means, as I have hinted, a spell in a hospital ward and the operating theater too, it will not be the affliction itself that will be uppermost in your thoughts.

[30:43] The thing that will be uppermost will be whether your religion is going to stand the test of it and it will prove to be as you hope it is, that which God has wrought in your soul.

[30:57] Or whether in that trouble you will sink to rise no more. And now that is an exercise unto godliness which none but sinners born again for the subjects of.

[31:13] Remember that. And call upon me in the day of trouble. And you will be concerned that whatever the affliction is, whatever its nature, you will say, let my soul live and it shall praise thee and let thy judgments help me.

[31:37] The word judgment there has got this meaning. Not always what the dictionary says about the word judgment. Remember that. And the psalmist says, elsewhere, my soul breaketh for the longing which it hath to thy judgments at all times.

[32:00] And now that means this. Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law, that thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity.

[32:17] When the psalmist says in that prayer I have quoted, let thy judgments help me, the dear man means, Lord, whatever affliction is laid upon me and mine, let it be the outcome of it that I shall have the mercy to get some good for my soul and that I might grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.

[32:50] There is the help afforded by the judgment when it is sanctified by grace. And you cannot have a bigger evidence of being a sinner born again and being a pilgrim to kin and bone than to have sanctified trouble standing out along life's way wherein you have proved the Lord is good a stronghold in the day of trouble and he knoweth them that trust in him.

[33:24] Afflictions make us see what else would escape our sight how vile and full of sin are we and God how pure and bright.

[33:40] Once in my life when I had a breakdown long years ago I got a glimpse of God for a few moments. The awful unutterable indescribable holiness of God.

[33:58] and I said as I stood before God O God thou art unspeakably holy and I am unspeakably vile and that is just how you would be.

[34:15] The more thy glory strikes mine eyes the humbler I shall lie. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time.

[34:34] Call upon me in the day of trouble I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me.

[34:47] It may be a day of trouble with some of you because you are much in the dark about the dealings of God. You are alongside that scripture as it were who is among you that feareth the Lord and obeys the voice of his servant that walketh in darkness and hath no light.

[35:13] It is a day of trouble when a poor sinner who has lived near to God feels to be at the ends of the earth and realizing as he is there his utter helplessness in things divine and his soul dark and benighted yet he has walked in the light of him who is the light of the world in bygone experiences.

[35:44] oh that means a day of trouble to such and one alas the Lord my light is gone my savior hides his face I am left to walk alone in this wide wilderness a day of trouble and how good it is if you can call upon him who is the light of the world in your dark benighted state the psalmist was enabled to do it oh send out thy light and thy truth let them lead me let them bring me to thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles I will deliver thee and that means this weeping may endure for a night but joy cometh in the morning unto you that fear my name shall the son of righteousness arise with healing in his wings oh but the psalmist said in one place when wilt thou come unto me and that may be just how some poor sinner feels this sabbath morn what are you to do this is the word of the lord to you and call upon me in the day of trouble

[37:10] I will deliver thee and thou shall glorify me and you will understand this day of trouble is not a 24 hour day it may go on for years between the pouring of the anointing oil upon David's head by Samuel and the time he ascended Israel's throne there was over seven years elapsed and in between it was just a day of trouble for godly David and what a long day of trouble it was for poor Job when he was assailed by earth and hell and that ran on for years ere he got a gracious deliverance then think of Joseph and what a long day of trouble he was called upon to endure ere this word was fulfilled

[38:15] I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me your day of trouble as to its length is known to god and when in his time that day of trouble ends he will fulfill his word to you I will deliver thee a time he has set to heal up thy woes a season most fit his love to disclose until he is ready to accomplish his will be patient and steady and wait on him still much might be said about the day of trouble and the nature of it and call upon me in the day of trouble you might be in a day of trouble in your circumstances you hardly know what you are to where you are being in uncertainty in your mind as to what the future will unfold for you or it may be yours and it is a day of trouble and now this word is a word to encourage you to hope in

[39:50] God and he can make known to you his will and he can say to you as he unfolds it this is the way walk ye in it when we cannot see our way let us trust and still obey he who bids us forward go will not fail the way to show and when all is said and done the right way for you to tread at any time is the way of prayer he knoweth the way that I take and the way that Job was enabled to take was this I would seek unto God and unto God would I commit my course he knoweth the way that I take when he hath tried me

[40:54] I shall come forth as God which is to say I shall be delivered I shall see the hand of God upon me for good I shall realize the why and wherefore of his dealings I shall see whatever my thoughts have been and sometimes I have thought all these things are against me but I shall see who so is wise and will observe these things even they shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord let us look at this subject from another viewpoint and call upon me in the day of trouble or we might pause there call upon me what a helpful word that is because sometimes in a day of trouble you cannot put what you feel into words and sometimes a day of trouble comes upon us very speedily some troubles seem to show that they are coming as it were by clouds coming up on life's horizon and you can tell trouble like a gloomy cloud is gathering thick and it will thunder loud air long but sometimes the day of trouble comes oh so speedily what then you are reduced to this

[42:32] Lord help me Lord save for I perish yes and call upon me call pray if thou canst to canst not speak but pray with faith on Jesus name call upon me with words or without call upon me in the day of trouble in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your request be made known unto God and now look at this viewpoint of the subject and ask God to help you to reduce it to practice I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me God in God in the psalm he says elsewhere give unto

[43:35] God the glory that is due unto his holy name bring an offering and come into his courts glory what is it to glorify God in a day of trouble in the context you will read this offer unto God thanksgiving and pay thy vows unto the most high and it says in the psalm at the end of it whoso offereth praise glorify it me and to him that order with his conversation aright will I show the salvation of God margin to him that disposeth his way ordereth his conversation aright the word conversation there means words and deeds all that our profession of the name of

[44:40] Jesus entails in making it our conversation whereby you speak before God and man as it were what you do what you say what is it to order our conversation of rights it could be summed up like this in the day of trouble as you appear before God to be able to say to his holy majesty thou art our potter we are the clay let but my faint in heart be blessed with thy sweet spirit for its guest oh God to thee I leave the rest thy will be done and here is a word not much thought about it may be offer unto God thanksgiving when you help to do that you do glorify

[45:45] God but it says and pay thy vows unto the most high and now I judge if I understand this word right the emphasis is on the word pay and pay thy vows unto the most high it came to me like this in thinking on it especially to those of you who have got names on a church roll and now you remember what you had in your hearts when you went through the baptismal waters to follow Jesus what seemed to flood your breast at such a time Jesus and shall it ever be a mortal man ashamed of thee and in your heart you had then a sweet holy blessed determination to show you were on the

[46:46] Lord's side to show in your life whose you were and whom you desired to serve and those feelings are the equivalent of vows oh Lord I would be thine alone and wholly live to thee oh may I hope that thou wilt own a worthless worm like me and so you felt but many days have passed since then and you do not always feel like you did when you set out in your profession of Jesus name and now when a day of trouble comes to you when you are helped to do what this word enjoins and call upon me in the day of trouble and then comes this sweet mercy I will deliver thee and then it should be and thou shall glorify me and now that will bring you back to where you were in your soul's feelings when you first set out to follow on to know the

[48:02] Lord and you will have an increased exercise unto godliness that you might follow him much closer than alas you have done often times pay thy vows unto the most high hoard up the sacred word and feed thereon and grow go on to seek to know the Lord and practice what you know not only so and thou shalt glorify me and now if you help to do that in a day of trouble you will justify god whatever the trouble is in that day as it comes into your life and that means you will have something like this righteous are the ways of god all his works are holy just his judgments fit his rod to correct our folly maybe in that day of trouble you will discern that there is something like reaping in accordance with what you have sown maybe god will say to you your sins and your iniquities have separated between you and your god and when you are helped then to fulfill this injunction call upon me in the day of trouble it will be this if we confess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness and thou shalt glorify me and you will want to give unto

[50:02] God the glory that is due unto his holy name to solemnly declare thou hast not dealt with us after our sins neither hast thou rewarded us according to our iniquities it is of the Lord's mercy that we are not consumed and because his confessions fail not but I must come to thee amen