Psalm

[0:00] As the Lord may be pleased to help me again, I would direct you to Psalm 40 and verse 17. Psalm number 40 and the last verse.

[0:16] But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Thou art my help and my deliverer, make no tarrying, O my God.

[0:33] Psalm 40 verse 17. But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.

[0:43] Thou art my help and my deliverer, make no tarrying, O my God.

[0:53] As most of you know, we tried to speak a few things from these words this morning.

[1:06] We noticed in the preceding verse of the pathway that the Lord's children walk in and taste of those things.

[1:21] But the pathway that the Lord's children walk in is a mixed pathway.

[1:34] There are ups and downs. And we are told in the word of God, be instant, in season and out. Which shows to us clearly that we shall not always be in season.

[1:52] The Lord will not always be near. We will at times be greatly tried and tempted as to the reality of our religion.

[2:06] But these changes, they come about. And they cause us to ask many questions.

[2:17] And this is one of the experiences where the Lord's children come when they feel at times to be different.

[2:36] Different to others. Not like the Lord's people. They say, if I am right, why am I thus?

[2:52] They come into these words, but I am poor and needy. And my friends, when we are poor and needy, then we shall seek for a remedy.

[3:15] And there will be a going to the Lord. There will be a seeking him.

[3:27] There will be a looking for him. In the word of God. In the services of his house.

[3:41] There will be a seeking. There will be a seeking. But I am poor and needy, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.

[3:55] We said that there are those times when we are enabled sometimes to look back. And see the way the Lord has led us.

[4:08] And see how wonderfully the Lord thinketh upon us. My friends, has the Lord been made precious to us?

[4:25] Has there been a sweetness, a blessedness seen and felt sometimes? Or as we sing the hymns in our hymn book?

[4:38] That which we have just been singing, my friends. Do you see any love in it? Do you know, do you feel a sweet unity sometimes with those things that are recorded?

[4:55] Oh, is there a little softening of the heart sometimes? Can we not say yet the Lord thinketh upon us?

[5:08] Has he not made the crooked things straight and the rough places plain? Has he not made the crooked things that are made of the way?

[5:24] Has he not made the crooked things that are made of the way? Yet the Lord thinketh upon us. Has he not raised us up from a bed of affliction sometimes?

[5:37] Has he not raised us up from a bed of affliction sometimes? When we feared we would never get up again? Yet the Lord thinketh upon us. His way is not our way.

[5:49] Our way is not his way. The Lord works. And who shall let it? He commands. And it is done.

[6:00] He hides his face. He tarries. But my friends, all these things in the Lord's hand are used for our soul's good.

[6:18] There's a drawing. There's a leading. There's an exercise. There's prayer. There's prayer. There's prayer.

[6:31] There's prayer. There's prayer. There's prayer. Can we not say, The Lord thinketh upon me? Thou art my help and my deliverer.

[6:50] What a wonderful thing, friends, if you and I have a God. A God that we can trust in. A God that we serve.

[7:04] I know we feel oftentimes, I'm sure you do. I do. Feel to come so short.

[7:16] We feel we do not serve him as we should. We feel we're unprofitable servants. Less than the least of all saints.

[7:32] Do you know what it is? Ah, my friends. Ah, my friends. It's not a bad place to be in.

[7:43] No, if we have a right spirit in these things, my friends. I believe it is glorifying to the Lord.

[7:57] God. Because we shall have, we shall feel our need of him. We shall realize in our hearts that we can do nothing without him.

[8:14] We shall, I believe, I know we are, we're brought into many paths, many circumstances, which we cannot manage ourselves.

[8:28] We don't know which way to turn, what to do for the best. And these things, my friends, they bring us to his feet.

[8:41] So that we have to call upon him. And we have to prove over and over again that our way is not hid from him.

[8:52] He leads, he guides. But all these things, they empty us of self.

[9:04] They take away our strength, our wisdom, so that we have become poor and needy. What a mercy it is, friends.

[9:17] Because this isn't our flesh. Our carnal flesh doesn't want to be poor and needy.

[9:28] It doesn't want to be dependent upon another. But this is the way that the child of God has to walk.

[9:41] This is the pathway that he has to learn. This is the pathway he's brought into.

[9:52] He's forced into it. Ah, but what a different, how different it is to natural things.

[10:08] Ah, my friends, we're brought dependent. We're brought to realise that we can do nothing without him.

[10:21] Poor and needy. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me, Thou art my help and my deliverer.

[10:37] My friends, can you go back to spots and places where the Lord has helped, where he's delivered.

[10:51] Take the services of his house. Why, my friends, I believe the Lord's children find more helps and deliverances than in any other place in the house of God.

[11:08] I know there are many other places that we find helps and deliverances. We find it in the word of God.

[11:20] We find it in providence, in our daily lives. Helps and deliverances. But my friends, all the soul is brought to those spots and places where it needs help, where it needs deliverance, where it can't go on anymore, any longer.

[11:51] They fell down. They fell down. There was none to help.

[12:02] They fell down. And he delivered them. Do you know what it is? Have you come in the house of God like that?

[12:14] Bowed down. Troubled. Don't know what to do. Can't take another step. Poor and needy.

[12:27] Weak. Helpless. Burdened. Heavy responsibilities. You need help.

[12:40] You need deliverance. Oh, my friends, haven't we proved, and I believe we shall yet prove that he will help, he will deliver.

[12:54] He has promised. He has promised to uphold his people. He has promised to be with them through the fires and the floods. He has promised that as their day, so shall their strength be.

[13:09] Has he failed you yet? I know the flesh and the devil will say, at times, it's too late.

[13:21] The Lord's failed. He's failed us. He hasn't come. But, my friends, we've had to eat our words.

[13:32] We've proved that even after we've said that, he has come. I have.

[13:44] Maybe you have. Ah, my friends, what a mercy. What a mercy he reigns. What a mercy he's almighty.

[13:57] What a mercy, friends. He doesn't despise the poor and needy. No, he doesn't despise them. No, he doesn't reject.

[14:36] The poor and needy. He comes right where they are. Right where they are.

[14:49] Oh, the love and the mercy, my friends, of our God. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me.

[15:00] There it is. Yet the Lord thinketh upon me. Have you proved it? Have you had a little of his love and mercy shed abroad in your heart?

[15:17] Has he been better to you than all your fears? Ah, yet the Lord thinketh upon me.

[15:28] I know you must bear with me. I know I go backwards and forwards, but it's just as it comes, my friends.

[15:39] It has to come out. Thou art my help and my deliverer. my help and my deliverer.

[15:52] My friends, when the Lord helps and when he delivers, oh, how precious he is.

[16:03] precious. Precious. Precious. Precious. Why? Because there's no one else that can help and deliver us.

[16:14] They're the times, they're the spots and places that we're brought. That's where the woman with the issue of blood was brought after 12 years.

[16:24] And many others that are recorded, why? They found help. They found deliverance.

[16:36] They jumped for joy. They rejoiced. They danced. They praised. They blessed the Lord. Because they had found him. Have you ever been there?

[16:53] Have you ever wanted to go to be with him forever and ever? Because he has been so precious. Sweet moments.

[17:09] We perhaps don't have many of them, but my friends, I believe they're foretastes of heaven to come. I don't believe we'd have those blessed foretastes, my friends, if we were the enemies of Christ, if we were not chosen of him.

[17:31] I believe they're evidences of being a child of God, one of the elect, one whom Jesus has come to save, one whom he has died for.

[17:50] All to be amongst those people, to have those blessed evidences in our hearts that he is ours. the Lord thinketh upon me.

[18:07] Thou art my help and my deliverer. deliverer. And my friends, oh, as we walk these things out, consider them, and as we come into new paths, new paths of perplexity, new paths of distress, as we do.

[18:35] Maybe there's someone there today, I don't know. But if you're there today, my friends, and there are new things that are distressing and troubling, there'll be a crying out, make no tarrying.

[18:54] Oh, my God. My friends, these things are real things. They're experience.

[19:12] It's an evidence of having a Holy Ghost religion, a religion that is of the Lord, that he is the author of, that he has begun.

[19:22] Ah, my friends, oh, to have the Lord, the author of our religion, the author of our faith.

[19:39] I like that word. It's lingered with me for some time, that he, the Lord, is the author of our faith, and the finisher of it.

[19:57] What a mercy. If he's the author of it, he'll be the finisher of it. He'll bring us through. Yes, he'll bring us at last to be forever where he is.

[20:16] The author and finisher of our faith. All to have that faith. To believe. To trust. To serve. To obey.

[20:32] Make no tarrying. Oh, my God. Make no tarrying. Or do you feel, have you an urgent case?

[20:45] Are you wondering how you're going to go on in the coming days? Perhaps something, a mountain lies before you.

[20:58] You need the Lord. You need the Lord. Make no tarrying. Oh, my God. My case is desperate.

[21:11] I can't go on without thee. I need thee. I'm ruined without thee. Death will overtake me without thee.

[21:24] The enemy will triumph without thee. Make no tarrying. Oh, my God.

[21:35] What a mercy, friends. If we can say it. Oh, my God.

[21:45] You know, these things are not lightly spoken by the child of God. He cannot lightly take them upon his lips.

[21:57] He's often afraid. Afraid to presume. Afraid to say.

[22:09] But, oh, there'll be those times, friends, when you're desperate. When you're desperate. And you'll plead with your God.

[22:22] Oh, my God. Oh, my God. What shall I do without thee? I cannot carry on without thee. Come where I am.

[22:37] Comfort my heart. Deliver me. Set me free. Cast out the enemy. Oh, my friends.

[22:50] Have you proved the mercy and the compassion of your God? You will. You will. As you come into these spots and places. As you have to walk these things out.

[23:03] Yes, we have to prove it in our walk. As we go forward. Not knowing where, not knowing where, how to go forward.

[23:19] There's a mountain in the way. It looms up. It looms up. A great mountain. We feel so helpless.

[23:33] How are we going? We're lame. Lame. Crippled. How are we going to get over that mountain? We come into the house of God feeling so destitute, so worldly, so sinful, so cold, so dark.

[23:57] However shall we get through, however shall we, can we expect to hear God's word? How can we expect the Lord to come and give us the hymns to give out?

[24:12] How can we expect a text? How can we expect it to be opened up? Dry, barren, empty, blind, dead.

[24:26] That's my friends. When prayer will be squeezed out of the heart, oh my God, remember me.

[24:43] The dying thief prayed it, remember me. Oh Lord, when thou comest into thy kingdom, I say, what a mercy, friends, if we have one, a God that we can appeal to.

[25:06] Yes. And thou art my help, my deliverer.

[25:18] Make no tarrying, oh my God. Ah, in other words, the Lord has helped, he has delivered, huh?

[25:30] But here we are, in a fresh scene, fresh trials, of various sorts, the enemy, the world, you sometimes feel you're alone.

[25:54] Alone. Surrounded by enemies, armies, disillusioned. Like the two on the road to Emmaus, we thought it would be he that would redeem Israel.

[26:12] Something to that effect, they said, disillusioned, you see. Couldn't understand the way, because of the things that had happened, the things that had been permitted to happen.

[26:30] Are you there? Are there things, have there been things that have been permitted to happen? And you can't understand why the Lord hasn't appeared, why he didn't deliver, why he didn't stop them, why he permits them to go on.

[26:47] My friends, the Lord can bring it to nothing. He'll deal with it in his own time and way, but my friends, you and I have got to be, we've got to come to the end of our own strength.

[27:05] We shall fall down, prostrate before him. We shall beg of the Lord not to tarry. Make no tarrying, oh my God.

[27:19] It's urgent. The Lord's children may have to walk these things out.

[27:30] You know, my friends, I've no time for a religion that has no experience. Religion, real religion is all experience. Real religion is.

[27:44] it's a pathway that has to be walked out. And our blessed Master walked these things out. Experience.

[27:57] And his children will follow in some measure, a little measure. Ah, my friends, many things.

[28:13] We do not understand. We have to leave him. We have to leave it in his hands. We have to trust him. There are many enemies that will rise up.

[28:26] But, you know, the Lord says regarding his children, he that toucheth you toucheth the apple of mine eye.

[28:41] or you think of it. My friends, there are many that will touch the Lord's children.

[28:52] There are many that will despise them, reject them, that hate them, that would bring them down, that would cast them into prison. They have succeeded sometimes.

[29:05] John Bunyan was cast into prison. So were many others. Did the Lord forsake them? No.

[29:18] The Lord blessed John Bunyan. The Lord used John Bunyan. The Lord blessed Joseph. The Lord used Joseph.

[29:30] The Lord blessed John the Baptist. He used him. And so there are many others who used to my friends.

[29:43] Don't think that because you and I serve the Lord, we shall be exempted from trials, from tribulations, from enemies, from imprisonments.

[29:59] Joseph was falsely accused, don't forget. It succeeded. he was cast into prison. But that was the way the Lord had appointed that Joseph must walk.

[30:19] And through that means he was delivered and brought out. It was through that imprisonment that he was used in the Lord's hand to interpretate the dreams.

[30:41] When Pharaoh found out he had dreams, he wanted his interpreted Joseph. They pointed to Joseph.

[30:52] Joseph was brought and Joseph was delivered. But you see, he had to go in the prison.

[31:05] There was no escaping it. Paul and Silas had to go into the prison. But there the Lord used them. That was the pathway.

[31:17] We do not understand God's ways. There is trials, there is suffering, there is tribulation. there is blessing.

[31:33] Yes, there's blessing. This is the way, walk ye in it. Thou art my help and my deliverer.

[31:48] Make no tarrying. Oh, my God. God. Ah, my friends, I believe the child of God needs these words and uses them more and more as he journeys along.

[32:08] The way seems to get harder. It seems to get darker. The very opposite of what we expected. the enemy gets more determined.

[32:23] It seems to get more powerful. We seem to get more weaker. At least, this is my experience. And, my friends, we have to cry unto the Lord, more and more, make no tarrying.

[32:42] Oh, my God. How shall I continue? The Lord, the word of God says, as I said this morning, the word of God sets such a high standard for his children to walk in.

[33:00] And, my friends, the word of God says this, he that endureth unto the end, the same shall be saved. And, our poor carnal heart says, however shall we endure, at this poor dying right, when we feel to be dead, and dark, and lifeless, and despondent, and the Lord hides his face, and the word looms up, he that endureth unto the end shall be saved.

[33:41] and my friends, they're crying out, crying out, make no caring, oh my God. The psalmist knew it, restore unto me the joys of thy salvation.

[34:05] He'd lost it, he wanted to taste it again, and haven't some of you tasted the joys of his salvation, and wouldn't you love it to come again?

[34:19] Perhaps some have not tasted it yet. Is that what you're yearning for, waiting for? Make no tarry, oh my God.

[34:34] Ah, my friends, the child of God is afraid, he's afraid of the future, he's afraid of the steps ahead, he's afraid of the enemy, afraid of the devil, afraid of his own heart.

[34:53] And they cry unto the Lord, oh, that he would deliver. Thou art my help, and my deliverer, make no tarrying, oh my God.

[35:12] Oh, may the Lord, my friends, use these few things, may strengthen and help us each, that we might walk these things out in our experiences, and prove the faithfulness of our God.

[35:30] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[35:44] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen.

[36:00] Amen. Amen.