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[0:00] Seeking the Lord's help, I attract your attention to the words on my mind, which you'll find in Psalm 89 and verse 19. Psalm 89 and verse 19.

[0:13] Then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One, and said, I have laid help upon one that is mighty. I have exalted one, chosen out of the people.

[0:28] Then thou spakest in vision to thy Holy One, and saidst, I have laid help upon one that is mighty.

[0:41] I have exalted one, chosen out of the people. These words seem to come, as it were, from the very inner sanctuary, the heart and mind of God.

[1:00] They seem to be the words spoken in the Trinity regarding the work of salvation. They are words obviously spoken about the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

[1:14] And they are spoken here in this psalm, which refers to David. And they refer quite clearly to the Son of David, the Lord Jesus Christ.

[1:29] And they are undoubtedly revealed to the Church of God. Very simple words and very simple truth.

[1:41] But I believe the help that is spoken here is of great magnitude. The one upon whom this help has been placed, and who is the source and fount and center of it, is a person of great mind.

[1:58] It speaks here, I believe, of his Godhead, one that is mighty. It equally, I believe, in this verse, speaks of his humanity, chosen out of the people.

[2:11] I believe we have the sacred incarnation here of the eternal Son of God, revealed in the word of truth.

[2:26] And it is upon this truth that our mind centers to know. First, we would desire to speak of the hell.

[2:41] And then to speak of the one who is mighty, chosen out of the people, the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, as the eternal Son of God, and equally as the Son of Man.

[2:59] The Lord might help us, we would speak for a little while on this word, help. I have had this upon my mind, and the truth that is here, I have laid hell.

[3:14] Man in his utterly fallen state is helpless.

[3:28] He doesn't know it. It is a place that God brings his dear children, as taught by the Spirit, to know helplessness.

[3:38] They become aware that they cannot believe. They are brought in their helplessness to know that faith is the gift of God.

[3:53] That truth is deeply written into their souls. I believe it is written into their souls at the throne of grace, where they are aware of their inability to pray, their inability to come to God, and where they are brought into a knowledge of their helplessness and God's divine sovereignty.

[4:21] And until he grants the spirit of living prayer and access to himself, there is no coming to God. I honestly don't know where a lot of these people stand who give their souls to the Lord.

[4:39] Sometimes I think, you know, that there has been a use of a free will ministry by the Holy Spirit, overruling it all, the Lord has worked to gather some aid, and later to teach them that that way was entirely wrong.

[5:00] And yet, it was in that hour that the Lord brought them aid to the godless world and separated them to himself. But we are not made as judges to how the Lord works.

[5:11] In our own pathways, we know this, that this helplessness is something we have learned.

[5:25] And that we know nothing about coming to God in our own strength. We know nothing about responding. It means it's meaningless to us, utterly meaningless.

[5:35] The only way to God we know is for him to come to us and to call us out of nature's darkness.

[5:47] That is ground on which we can speak with experience. The power of God calling us out of nature's darkness.

[5:59] Calling us to himself. The power of his holy word which melted our hard heart. We can speak of a new creature in Christ. Of a hearing ear.

[6:13] Of the power of God's word found in all its sweet warmth in our heart. Do you know anything of that power?

[6:25] Because you see it precludes everything of the creature. And the more, the longer we live, the more we see a glory in this and a beauty in it.

[6:36] A right beginning. So vital. A right beginning. And really it's like a child. When a child was born into this world.

[6:48] What a helpless creature, a little child. Absolutely dependent upon its mother. For its food. Knowing nothing of its birth.

[7:03] Unaware of its birth. And the Lord spoke in this language except a man be born again. So helpful.

[7:15] And you know if I might just stop here and look at this from the point of view of truth and doctrine. No new birth without the atonement.

[7:29] That's a certainty. The Holy Spirit never moved outside the glorious circumference of the atonement of Christ upon the cross of Calvary. at the root of the helplessness of man is God's sovereign grace.

[7:47] And you know when that helplessness is known in the heart then there will be this teaching. And if my soul was sent to hell by righteous law approved it well.

[7:59] Whoever showed a man his fallen condition. Whoever brought him into a knowledge of his sin. I was reading very closely recently John Warburton's mercies and I followed I tracked him in his experience you can in his mercies for three weeks.

[8:19] He mentions Sunday by Sunday and almost day by day and Saturday night and all that he passed through in the solemn deep conviction of soul. And how under sermon after sermon he was dogged by the text.

[8:39] Brought down under condemnation under the curse of God. Couldn't escape the wrath of God. Brought to feel his helplessness.

[8:51] And couldn't obtain deliverance. If ever a man is brought to feel his helplessness is when he is seeking for pardoning blood and the atonement of Christ but realises that that depends on sovereign grace.

[9:07] Then he knows how helpless he is. And constantly he was brought under the mighty power of God's wrath to realise his utter helplessness and in fact went to a mill pond one night to throw himself in feeling that there was no hope for him whatsoever.

[9:27] when the Lord spoke. And he spoke with this little word who can tell? And it halted him. But all how we see in the work of salvation one vast helplessness of man.

[9:46] Inability. His duty faith. It's a solemn thing. Because it at root it lays a responsibility which includes an ability.

[10:04] Tells a man he should believe. He must. He ought to. And we're not far from saying he can. And yet those taught by God's Spirit know they can't.

[10:17] How true is the line in our hymn book? I would but can't believe. And only when the Spirit comes to a soul with mighty power and lifts them up and applies the atonement with almighty power in their heart do they know deliverance.

[10:35] Christ's parable of the lost sheep upon the mountain doesn't show any offer.

[10:50] It shows them helpless and the shepherd going to find them and bringing them back. It seems to totally preclude anything else except utter helplessness.

[11:02] And I do ask you this I mean was your beginning such that God came to find you? How sovereign is the Lord and you see I do believe there is something in this helplessness of mankind as under the teaching of the Spirit that it's God glorifying.

[11:28] God exalting its creature abasing but God is exalted the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day says the scripture and he will be.

[11:44] And I believe this that we shall have cause to thank him for our helplessness one day because nothing that defileth can enter heaven and I'm afraid with many people there's such a lot and amongst our own churches that defile us it's of a creature the Lord alone will be exalted in that day and you see in mercy if we're brought to heaven to have that which has stood the fire and I believe this that only that which God has done in us and given to us will stand the fire to mercy to be sifted and to be brought into that winnowing place where the wheat and the chaff is separated and to be brought to a place where we know the difference and we don't want the chaff we want to be separated from it to leave it behind now I say that in the light of this word

[12:56] I've laid help and what help it is the mighty arm of God the help that a sinner needs who is helpless the help that Moses knew when God overruled in divine providence before he ever knew him in the days of his own regeneracy what help that was when he put it into the heart of Pharaoh's daughter to take him and nurse him and send his mother to do it when the Lord preserved his dear servant and took him into the court of Pharaoh and brought him to that glorious day we read of in the epistle to the Hebrews whereby the divine gift of God he forsook

[13:56] Egypt not fearing the wrath of the king pre-endured as seeing him who is invisible all the mighty gift of God given to that helpless lad in that godless court the same divine help given to God's dear servant Joseph a work of grace in his heart both of those called by grace in their youth and led through great trial Moses before God used him walked on this earth eighty years forty years in the court of Pharaoh and forty years in the back side of the desert learning in preparation for his work and Joseph went nearly twenty years to be prepared for his work in the court of Pharaoh and God taught both those men well their helplessness and he had laid help upon one that was mighty and what help it was the help was redemption the help was atoning love and blood the help was that blessed truth my God shall supply all your need out of his riches in glory by

[15:27] Christ Jesus and the help is you in the heart and pathway of a poor sinner he knows the mighty help of his God if we can look at the very first kernel of it the seed of it the new birth God in the person of his dear son having brought to pass that glorious keeping of his holy law in the person of his son and brought to pass that glorious act of redemption upon the cross at Calvary had laid an eternal weight of glory up for his dear people as their help to lift them out of the ruins of the fall to call them out of the helplessness of their nature's darkness to open their blind eyes and to unstop their deaf ears to lead them forth in the right way to take away their rebellious will their stubborn will their bitter opposition their hatred of God and to make them gloriously willing in the day of his power to follow him you see

[16:52] God does everything in his dear church and for her and he has done everything never did he speak of this help in more simple terms than when he said it's finished it's procured it's done their great enemy satan is chained and they are delivered from a body of sin and death through redeeming blood and they have a spotless robe of righteousness which I have prepared for them and I will bring them from the north and the south and the east and the west when I gather them and I will never leave them nor forsake them I will prepare them and make them ready and gather them one day to glory you might come now to consider the one upon whom this help is laid none other than the eternal son of god the second person in the glorious trinity the creator of this world he who in the dawn of this world said let there be light he of whom we read without him was not anything made that was made in him was light and the light was the light of men he who is spoken of in the opening chapter of the gospel of john in the beginning was the word and the word was with god and the word was god this mighty person the eternal son of god in the deepest mystery of him is revealed through the eye of faith to his dear church the members of his body the world sees him not and knows him not until they meet him on his judgment seat in that last great day but the despised often forgotten unheard of people know him love him and worship him and he knows them and in this world he has a people whom he has eternally loved in eternity past for them he laid down his life and to them he reveals the fact that he died for them he goes further than that this mighty god brings his dear church into fellowship with him in his suffering unto them it is given to suffer for his name's sake and to have sweet fellowship with him in life's pathway to draw close to him and to commune with him it is given to them but again sovereignly they cannot command that blessing he regulates and rules their footsteps in life so that from time to time he sees fit to bring them to have a taste and a little communion and fellowship with this mighty god and he gives them in life to know his power he calls them to follow him he calls them to follow him in faith leaning upon him for their strength he calls them to do things that in and of themselves they couldn't do he calls them to walk in paths and in and of themselves they could never walk him and in these paths he gives them strength to do it they're brought to do the impossible as they feel and he gives them divine commandments and says unto them follow thou me and in that pathway they learn in their helplessness what it is to receive his gracious help this help is laid upon him as it were to distribute it is a glorious help in him which he disposes on behalf of his dear family he gives to them sweet taste sacred understanding of what he suffered for them he reveals to them blessed secrets that they are his and he is there all of it through revelation all of it sovereignly given sometimes given quite unexpectedly the greatest blessing which he has to bestow is pardon when a sinner is brought down to feel and know and possess the sins of a lifetime then under

[22:55] God's wrath and condemnation to no pardon is that which is described here as a mighty help I've laid help on one that is mighty you know this is not just some pardon in this world it's pardon regarding the day of judgment it's pardon that will enable them to stand before his throne it's a pardon that's perfect and complete it is to be washed in the fainting of his precious blood and know that lovely hymn redeemed with Jesus blood redeemed and it is to enter into it and there are things that flow in experience out of it and one of those is peace oh do you know him glorious divine gift when dear

[23:55] John Warburton went into Mr. Roby's chapel in Manchester in despair feeling the solemn burden of his sin crushed by him he said he literally could feel the weight of him and he dreaded that the minister would read a text of condemnation such as the wages of sin is death or curse it is every one that continueth not in all things written in the law to do them he had been plagued by these texts they had come as great hammer blows to his soul as he entered Mr.

[24:38] Roby's chapel he watched him open the Bible in Manchester to see if he opened anywhere near some of these texts but he discovered that he had known the Bible in that quarter and when he read his text he says that the sweetness of it overwhelmed him completely he had read the dear old man he hath led captivity captive and given gifts unto men and here a helpless sinner waiting for atoning blood and love new peace in his heart all that we knew more of these experiences today in our churches as you know of late years I've been in Holland and been in touch with quite a lot of young Dutch students I've heard things from the lips of one or two of them which I've never heard from anyone in our country let alone our young people

[25:41] I've heard the word lost two of them have told me quite distinctly one in particular is utterly lost without hope we don't hear that today there's a lot of religion about a lot of easy believism but doesn't seem there much of helplessness to lost those poor men who died in Scotland recently in the snow in the blizzards utterly lost they died lost buried in the drifts of snow utterly lost well it's the work of the spirit to reveal our lost condition and to bring us into a place where we catch a glimpse and know something what it is to feel lost and how do you help a lost sinner what do you say to a lost sinner do you say all you've got to do is believe do you tell them it's easy to come to

[26:47] Christ what does the scripture say well in the prophecy of Isaiah it speaks of him that walketh in darkness and hath no light what's he got to do he's got to stay upon his God what for mercy sovereign grace until the Lord but he's not amongst those who have kindled sparks of their own kindling who will lie down in their sorrow he's waiting at the mercy seat under a deep realisation of his helplessness for the Lord to move now that's just what Warburton knew what a blessed experience he had when suddenly the Lord moved and liberated his soul he said on that Sunday night walking home from Manchester to Whitefield where his home was at the time he just danced in the field rejoicing in the glorious peace and pardon that his soul had entered into

[27:55] I've laid hell upon one that is mighty you see this is a mighty work this is not the work of man this is not some easy believism all you've got to do is come forward tonight and give your soul to the Lord you haven't felt anything but you are now saved this is nothing of this nature this is the language of Joseph Hart true religion is more than notion something must be known and felt sacred joy peace power pardon mercy have you known anything of it deliverance liberty a lifting of the beggar from the dunghill to set him among princes dear Hannah in her prayer knew something of the reality of this hell that was laid upon one that is mighty Mary the Lord's mother knew something of it when she said my soul to magnify the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour well I don't believe that was confined to her it's the experience of the saints of God in all generations every joy the Lord set your soul at liberty you never gave that to yourself in it you learnt the truth of this glorious word

[29:33] I have laid help upon one that is mighty one who is able to deliver able to save what a word it is that's to deliver from hell unto the uttermost that's eternally all that come unto God by him and these are truths and happy he who can well receive him I mean by that who has passed through the blessed experience of him he's not able to put his amen to them until he has they're not read out of a book or out of an obituary or out of somebody else's life or out of an autobiography your amen to them and your view of the blessedness of them is because you've passed that way yourself and known the glorious nature of this redeeming love and blood and are able to say

[30:41] Jesus thy blood and righteousness my beauty are my glorious friends and I say this tonight because that's the only thing that will stand you in that great day when you're called to face the king of dread and you're called to enter eternity and come face to face with the lord god almighty then only this help of one that is mighty given here will save your soul and gather you to his immediate presence but we come to the next part of the text and that is this and I've exalted one chosen out of the people well dear friend he's not exalted in the eyes of the world he's despised and rejected of men so who is he exalted in who in whose eyes is he exalted

[31:42] I've exalted one and he's chosen out of the people this speaks to us of the lord's humanity of the glorious nature of his humanity and he's exalted in his humanity let me give you an example the two men on the road to Emmaus when he vanished out of their sight after he broke and breath he was exalted in their eyes all the blessedness of that view they had he'd gone but all the saviour of his presence remained and their hearts rejoiced he's risen they saw him the risen saviour the mighty god their hearts have been warmed burned within them in the ministry of the word that day as they journeyed with him and he opened them the scriptures have you known them sacred act of sovereign grace when the lord uses the ministry of his holy word to cause our hearts to burn within them oh what a mighty sign of divine life it is when our hearts are drawn out in love to the divine truths of god's holy word we live in a day of absolute blasphemy absolute blasphemy they get the blasphemies of our religious leaders get worse and worse the latest blasphemy of this dreadful bishop of durham has been that the lord is not coming back again so the words of the angels are not true this same jesus will come in light manner as you have seen him go they deny the authenticity of the truth of that glorious sight which john peter james and john had as he ascended he'll never return there's no resurrection there's no hell my dear friend it's an axe which poor man attempts to put at the truth and what's left I can't imagine but I had a feeling well the bishop might as well have been a buddy's he set himself up as a

[34:11] Christian leader and denied every truth and manifested not even the fire that hit the minister when he denied the resurrection and burnt out a roof of nearly a thousand years old they said at the time it took at least seven strikes of lightning to set some of those timbers in that roof alone they were so great and big as the old medieval minister but nothing shapes the heart of evil men and women he's not exalted in their eyes but in the hearts of a child of god he is exalted he's exalted in his humanity as that god who was a man of sorrow and acquainted with greed and they have a sight of him as their god in his humanity tempted in all points light as they are yet without sin weeping with them loving them in their hours of temptation and darkness and above all holding them as they pass through the

[35:25] Jordan of Death coming to receive them on the other side they have a glorious sight of an empty tomb and a merciful risen saviour who has gone to prepare a place for them and they have such a sight of his humanity as the place where he wrought aid for them their robe of righteousness in walking this earth and keeping his father's holy law they have a glorious sight of his imputed righteousness and they dwell on it it is that which will fit them for glory and prepare them Jesus thy blood and righteousness my beauty are my glorious dress mid flaming worlds in these arrayed with joy shall I lift up my head to have a sight of it sweet hope that one day they will reach that eternal city and know those sacred glories of his humanity and be certain of this as the angel said he's not here he's risen the great essence and substance of the salvation of the church of God is an empty tomb and the great high priest in his humanity in heaven there interceding for them that is our only hope his blood and his righteousness and you know because he was God and because he was a man born of the virgin his sacrifice was acceptable to his father that is the source of the divine health hymn writer says this my hope is built on nothing less than

[37:56] Jesus blood and righteousness I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus name now that is the foundation of the church exhorted one oh oh here we see Lord Jesus Christ taken from the ignominy and shame and spitting of the judgment hall and the curse of the cross and the tomb taken to glory there to intercede in heaven with dear children have you had a sight of that glorious intercession of the God man in heaven and for you him writer speaks of that when he says that

[39:00] Christ is God I can obey I was speaking to a young friend last Sunday and he said very simply to me but he said he spoke with such sincerity how good it is to have a few answers to prayer well yes it is Christ is God I can obey and for his people cares for I have prayed to him as so he has heard my prayers well there are prayers which he hears relative to this time state but oh what a mercy if the prayer that he hears is the prayer of the dying thief remember me then you will know something about intercession if he answers that prayer leave me not neither forsake me oh

[40:01] God God at my salvation the psalmist spoke in the psalm we read of the Lord being his God and that he would be able to say that that God was his God and we read in that chapter a verse that struck us forcibly in this psalm in the 15th verse blessed is the people that know the joyful sound they shall rejoice oh Lord they shall walk oh Lord in the light of thy countenance and then we read this he shall cry unto me thou art my father my God the rock of my salvation blessed mercy if we are enabled of God to say that my

[41:02] God my father says dear Anne Steele oh blissful name oh may I call in mind may I with sweet assurance claim a portion so divine I have at home a photocopy of her niece's diary recording Anne Steele's deathbed and in the light of that word which she wrote in her lifetime with such sincerity and truth oh may I call thee mine the prayer was answered her dying utterance as recorded in that diary is this I know that my Redeemer liveth and oh what a mercy if in a dying hour we are enabled before him who searches all hearts and knows all truth and all divine reality to say

[42:10]  I know that my Redeemer liveth my God my father blissful name oh may I call thee mine then thou spakest unto thy envision to thy holy one and said I have laid help upon one that is mighty I have exalted one chosen out of the people amen