Psalm

[0:00] As the Lord may be pleased to help me, I would ask your attention to Psalm 40 and verse 17.

[0:16] Psalm 40 and verse 17. But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.

[0:34] Thou art my help and my deliverer, make no tarrying, O my God.

[0:44] Psalm 40 and verse 17. But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.

[0:59] Thou art my help and my deliverer, make no tarrying, O my God. My friends, this is the words of the psalmist.

[1:21] And I believe it is often the words of the Lord's children. And is it not, my friends, our words, some of us at least, this morning, as we come into the house of God, do we not feel that we are poor and needy?

[1:59] But my friends, I was looking and felt the preceding verse is quite striking.

[2:10] And I would just read it. It says, Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee.

[2:26] Let such as love thy salvation say continually, the Lord be magnified. Let the Lord be magnified. There we have faith in exercise.

[2:43] We have experience. And my friends, I trust we know a little of those things.

[2:55] But then, we have these words, But, I am poor and needy.

[3:10] But, I feel different. I am poor and needy. My friends, the but, there is a pause in, there is a staggering.

[3:33] There is a different feeling within our heart. We may have walked a little into the preceding verse. We may know a little of it.

[3:45] But, but now, things seem different. I seem so dark. So, so lifeless.

[3:57] I cannot feel any love in my heart toward the Lord. I cannot hear his voice. I cannot find him.

[4:08] And I have so many needs. But, I am poor and needy. I cannot hear his voice. I cannot hear his voice.

[4:18] My friends, my friends, does it include us? But, is that where we are this morning?

[4:32] Do we have to confess before the Lord that, but, I am poor and needy. I can do nothing without thee.

[4:45] I am helpless, utterly helpless. I cannot keep my soul alive. I cannot keep my mind stayed on thee.

[4:57] I cannot pray. My friends, do we not have to say from time to time that we can do nothing, nothing without him?

[5:11] but, I am poor and needy. It's personal. I am. And my friends, I believe this is the experience of a living child of God.

[5:32] I believe it is because they are brought to feel their dependence upon him.

[5:44] They're brought to realize that there's nothing in their selves. And they have to come to the Lord. But, I am poor and needy.

[6:00] My friends, is that how you and I have come in the house of God this morning? But, I am poor and needy.

[6:15] My friends, it's a mercy if we do come with an exercise, with a longing after him.

[6:30] if we have a case, but I am poor and needy. If that is the words of our hearts, my friends, then we have a case.

[6:45] A case that only the Lord can deal with. But, I am poor. I am poor.

[6:56] what does it represent? Why? We haven't got a store. We're not rich.

[7:11] rich. A rich man has plenty. He doesn't lack anything.

[7:25] But, I am poor. I have many needs. I haven't got the means to supply those needs.

[7:43] My friends, spiritually, are we poor? Do we have to say?

[7:55] Do we have to acknowledge that it's without money, without price, what we want?

[8:11] Is it salvation that we want for our souls? Is it a precious Christ that we're seeking after? Is that what we want?

[8:27] But, I am poor. I'm lacking. I haven't got these things.

[8:38] I haven't got the realization of them. Ah, my friends, we may have been blessed in times gone by.

[8:49] we may have had a sweet little hope sometimes. But, we don't remain in that blessed posture, do we?

[9:02] The psalmist didn't. He came into this experience, but, I am poor.

[9:14] I am poor. I am poor. Ah, my friends, the Lord sees the poor.

[9:28] He sees the dependent ones. And he, he hears their cries.

[9:42] the poor will go to the Lord. They've got nowhere else to go. Can I put it like this?

[10:01] They can't afford to be independent. They're not in that position. Spiritually.

[10:12] And, my friends, it is the work of grace. It's the fruit of grace in the heart. It's an evidence of the power of God working in the heart.

[10:30] He brings a poor sinner down. He makes him poor. Spiritually. I'm speaking of spiritual things.

[10:42] living things. I want the Lord, my friends, to give to us, each of us, those evidences of his blessed work in our hearts, the work of the Holy Ghost.

[11:02] If we're living souls, that's what we should want. We should want confirmations. we should want to know that we're born of God and that we're in the right way.

[11:16] So often it seems so utterly impossible that we can be the Lord's children. love.

[11:28] There's so much darkness. There's so many things that we wouldn't have. Feelings, thoughts, desires, longings.

[11:42] and the ones that we would have, they seem to be lacking. They don't seem to be there. They don't seem to be an exercise.

[11:57] Ah, but I am poor, poor and needy. My friends, that will stir up exercise.

[12:37] it will stir up prayer. Because of the, because that we are poor and needy.

[12:52] You know, naturally, if we, if one is poor and needy, what do they do? Do they sit down and do nothing and die?

[13:07] They'll do anything. They'll search, they'll seek, they'll pray, they'll beg. Because they don't want to die.

[13:23] And so it is spiritually, my friends, if a poor sinner is brought low, if they're poor and needy, they'll do something about it, they'll go to the Lord.

[13:44] Yes, they'll go to the Lord and they'll tell him just how they feel, how they, what their needs are.

[14:01] I say, my friends, do you and I know anything of these things? Do we know what it is to be poor and needy? And where does it drive us?

[14:15] Do you feel to be dark? Do you feel to be lifeless? Do you feel to be unlike the Lord's children?

[14:31] Do you read the Word of God? Are you troubled? Are you grieved? Because you close the book when you've read it and you have to acknowledge there has been nothing this many times, if we're honest, friends, at least there is with me, when I read it and close it and it's had no effect.

[15:07] It doesn't touch me hard. And my friends, it condemns us. It condemns us on one hand, life.

[15:24] But on the other hand, my friends, I believe it's an evidence of life. You say, how can this be? I believe it's an evidence of life because we know the deadness.

[15:41] And if we had not life, if we had not been enlightened, then we would not know the difference.

[15:56] And so, my friends, we won't be satisfied with this experience. It will drive us to the Lord.

[16:08] We shall want to feel his presence. We shall want to hear his voice. We shall want him to speak to our cases. we shall want him to calm our minds.

[16:22] We shall want him to assure us that we are his, that he is ours. Yes, we shall want to come where the gathering came, clothed and in his right mind, sitting at the feet of Jesus.

[16:43] Jesus, oh, that blessed man, he came to that place, but look at his past. Look at the things he had to pass through previous to it.

[16:56] And my friends, the Lord's children, each find the same. If they are going to enjoy a little peace, a little blessedness, a little nearness, there will be some bitter things to pass through first.

[17:21] And so, my friends, don't be surprised if you are found walking in this pathway, the gathering, look at his pathway.

[17:37] He had a legion of devils with him, in him. He could not do anything. he was violent. Ah, but my friends, the devils couldn't take him away from the Lord.

[18:00] The devils couldn't prevent the Lord Jesus from coming to him where he was. was. We don't know how long he'd been possessed of the devils.

[18:15] We don't know how long he had been in this terrible dark state, but the Lord knew him, and the Lord knew where he was, for he was one of the Lords.

[18:31] God did that God did you might be amazed, that the Lord should permit the devils to possess one of his children.

[18:48] God but he does. He did permit the devil to trouble Job and to take away many things that he had.

[19:04] But my friends, these devils are all chained. They can only go as far as Almighty God permits them.

[19:17] As only one God that is Almighty and that is our God, the God of Heaven. The devils are mighty but not Almighty.

[19:31] The Lord has conquered sin and Satan and he will conquer the hearts of his children. And my friends, he casts out the devil.

[19:47] He casts out sin. He cleanses from all sin. And there was the gallery closed and in his right mind sitting at the feet of Jesus.

[20:06] Oh, what peace, what rejoicing. me. But my friends, he had been poor and har跟, he had been poor and node.

[20:32] the Lord works in the hearts of his children. He brings them to feel their need of him.

[20:46] But I am poor and needy. But I seem to be alone. But I seem to be unlike the Lord's children.

[21:02] I am poor and needy. I cannot claim great things. But I am poor and needy.

[21:16] Ah, my friends, I say, what a mercy if we can enter a little into it, the realities of it.

[21:28] Because it won't end there. But I am poor and needy. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me.

[21:44] Yes, my friends, the psalmist had some evidences that the Lord thinketh upon him.

[21:59] of you and I, of you and I, my friends, we so often dwell upon our sorrows, our trials, our tribulations.

[22:16] you say, but I am poor and needy. But my friends, what about the other side?

[22:36] Does the Lord think upon you? does he appear day by day? Does he supply our needs?

[22:51] Does he... does he go before us? Does he ever bless his word to us?

[23:03] Has he given us any encouragement? Haven't we got any evidences that the Lord thinketh upon us?

[23:21] Has he left us to sink into despair? Has he left us to turn back and walk no more with him? Yet the Lord thinketh upon me.

[23:40] The Lord thinketh upon me. Oh, my friends, what a mercy it would be if we should prove it today.

[23:54] That the Lord thinketh upon us. My friends, you may have entered in to the opening of this verse.

[24:08] You may have readily acknowledged and agreed, but I am poor and needy. But my friends, does it end there?

[24:26] The Lord thinketh yet. The Lord thinketh upon me. Ah, my friends, we need to turn our eyes another way.

[24:40] So often we dwell on our sorrows and we get despondent. We lose sight of the blessings and the mercies of our God.

[24:57] Yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thinketh upon me. Oh, my friends, have you got anything?

[25:10] To bless and thank the Lord for? Have you got any evidences that he thinketh upon you? Haven't you got any evidences that he has helped you hitherto?

[25:27] How many times have you and I come into the house of God? We've dragged in. We haven't known how to come in.

[25:39] We've been dark. We've been dismal. We've been despondent. We've felt deserted. And yet, and yet, haven't we proved, haven't we proved, many times, that he hasn't deserted us?

[25:56] He's come right where we was. He has humbled us. He has touched our hearts. And we've gone away.

[26:08] And we've been able to enter a little into this world. Yet, the Lord thinketh upon me. He came where I was.

[26:23] He helped me. He strengthened me. My case was spoken of. Ah, my friends, what a mercy it is when our case is traced in the preaching of the word through the blessed spirit of God.

[26:47] Ah, my friends, we've proved, I trust at times, that the Lord has known just where we've been in our pathway, in our walk, in our thoughts.

[27:06] And perhaps no one else has. No one. Not even the closest to us. But, the preaching of the word has come where we were.

[27:25] The Lord has spoken of our case. Or, is there something so sweet, so blessed, so benefited, when the Lord speaks through the mouth of his servants into our hearts.

[27:47] When the word comes right where we are. When we see our own portrait, our own experience, our own pathway, and can we not then say, yet, the Lord thinketh upon me.

[28:10] He thinketh upon me. He has helped me. I can go a little further. Ah, we go out different to what we came in.

[28:25] Ah, my friends, there's a word that comes to my mind that, I think it was, Satan said to the Lord, wasn't it?

[28:45] Doth Job seek the Lord for naught. Of course he didn't. And neither do you and I.

[28:59] My friends, if we seek the law, we, it's because we have a need. It's because we're poor and needy.

[29:12] it's because we are dependent upon him. It's because we shall know, if not now, sooner or later, we shall know that we are lost.

[29:30] We're ruined in ourselves. And so, my friends, we shall come to the Lord.

[29:44] And these are the ones that will prove the faithfulness of our God. These are the ones that will find him.

[29:58] It's seekers that shall find him seekers. Yet, the Lord thinketh upon me.

[30:16] My friends, it's the very fact that these seekers are poor and needy that bring them to seek him.

[30:32] it's a solemn thing, my friends, if we have no appetite, if we have no feelings, if we don't know that we're poor and needy.

[30:48] My friends, we have no to say, neither know we what to do.

[31:01] Neither know we what to do. We don't know how to continue. We don't know how to come to the house of God. We don't know how to face the people of God.

[31:17] we don't know how to come in and take our place in the house of God. those that sit in the desk, those that stand in the pulpit.

[31:41] I say, we don't know how to continue. We don't know what to do. Ah, my friends, we have to painfully feel our unfitness for these things.

[32:03] We have to feel and know that we cannot carry on without him.

[32:20] Neither know we what to do, but, my friends, our eyes will be up upon him. Ah, and it's in these things, friends, that we shall prove yet, yet, the Lord thinketh upon me.

[32:44] And it's only these things, friends, that keep you and I going. It's only these blessed visits, these touches, that enable us to continue in his way, in his paths, to continue to come into the house of God, to continue to come with a who can tell.

[33:12] Will the Lord be gracious? Will he be merciful to me? Will he remember me? Will he come where I am? Will he touch my arm?

[33:24] Ah, yet, the Lord thinketh upon me. Oh, haven't there been times when we've come into the house of God feeling a poor, wretched, crooked person, evil, wicked, a hypocrite?

[33:49] will he say, surely, you don't feel these sort of things when the Lord once blessed you?

[34:02] I feel, friends, we feel them more and more as we journey along. we have to get and we will get, I believe, more and more dependent upon the Lord to keep our souls alive.

[34:25] we have to prove more and more our need of him.

[34:40] The way is dark, we know it's dark, the days are dark, they're evil days, they're solemn days, there are judgments abroad in the earth, many of them, and my friends, our attention is drawn to them again and again in our country here.

[35:18] And my friends, there is a voice in these things, but all for the most part that voice is not heard.

[35:30] They're dark days, they're evil days, but my friends, the Lord reigns. He has a people, a chosen people, and he has said that they shall come, they shall come, come to him, and they will be these people.

[35:59] They will be the poor and needy. They have a case, and none but God can deal with that case.

[36:14] Ah, what a mercy, friends, that we have a God, a precious Christ, that came to seek and save that which was lost.

[36:31] Do you know anything of it? What it is to be in that lost condition? Are you found amongst those that are poor and needy, that are seeking him?

[36:53] Have you had some little hopes and little helps by the way? Yet the Lord thinketh upon me. the Lord thinketh what a wonderful thing to be able to make such a blessed, humble declaration to declare yet the Lord thinketh upon me.

[37:24] Oh, my friends, do we honour him? Do we bless and praise his holy name for all his benefits and mercies toward us?

[37:39] My friends, don't let Satan suggest that are you presumptuous? Oh, my friends, we are to put the crown on the Lord's head.

[37:57] Have there been those times when we have come in the house of God, poor and needy, cast down, wounded, half dead?

[38:14] And my friends, has the Lord come? Has he lifted us up? Has he poured in the oil and the wine?

[38:28] Has he given us a little hope? Has he took care of us? Have we felt a little of his love in our heart? Then can we not say yet, the Lord thinketh upon me?

[38:48] Ah, my friends, it becomes us to acknowledge the goodness of our God. You may feel sometimes that it is such a small thing, but my friends, oh, it is a great thing, if it is the Lord, if he is acknowledging you, if he is blessing you, if he is attending to your needs, yet, the Lord thinketh upon me.

[39:31] Oh, my friends, I would that you and I might enter a little into these things. I would that the Lord might shine into our hearts and open our eyes, that we might see and remember the way he has led us and how and when he has appeared.

[39:55] Oh, may the Lord bless his word to us. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[40:17] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.