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[0:00] As the Lord may be pleased to help me this morning, I direct you to a word in the 79th Psalm, Psalm 79, and the 9th verse.

[0:17] Help us, O God, of our salvation for the glory of thy name, and deliver us and purge away our sins for thy name's sake.

[0:27] The 9th verse of Psalm 79. Help us, O God, of our salvation for the glory of thy name, and deliver us and purge away our sins for thy name's sake.

[0:44] Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. What a wonderful thing it is that the Lord has seen the fit that these many petitions which sprang up in the heart of the dear psalmist as he was indicted by the Holy Spirit are recorded in the word of God.

[1:08] and in this verse before us together with other verses we have words in the form of a prayer a prayer I believe which sprang from the heart of the dear psalmist as he thus addressed the majesty on high and what a help it has been to many of God's dear people I believe in seeking to come before the Lord and express their desires that they find that the language of the word of God is the language of their heart and dear friends a great mercy if we come within the compass of this word before us and being the language too of a praying soul it's a great mercy to be a true praying soul it might seem a very simple statement to make but you know it's a great mercy to be taught to pray to know something of the indicting of the Holy Spirit in the heart and how the Lord is pleased to so deal with his dear people in teaching them to pray and how to pray and often it is in that way wherein they are made to realise how helpless they are in themselves and how hopeless in themselves and we find that this prayer here before us in this psalm is indeed the language of poor sinners the gist of the petition reminds us doesn't it it is the language of those who know something of what it is to feel to be poor defiled sinners and these are the ones who are brought into the experience of what it is to call upon their God remember how even the Apostle Paul when the Lord was pleased to deal with him and call him by grace in that remarkable outstanding way that it was made known to Ananias who was to receive him as a brother that the Lord had dealt with him graciously and the Lord gave Ananias that indication of a work being begun in Saul's heart for behold he prayeth

[3:53] I've sometimes thought of that dear friends because you know Saul of Tarsus he was a eminent religious man in his way and in his estimation too no doubt he had professed to pray many times maybe he was like some of those Pharisees and scribes that the Lord Jesus Christ speaks of when he was here upon earth even such as loved to pray standing in the synagogues and in the streets to be seen of men no doubt as a a professor of religion he professed to pray but when the Lord dealt with him when the Lord cut him down and laid him low it was then he was taught to pray it was then he began to pray as he never did before and so the Lord informed Ananias of this that he might have been able to receive Saul who had been such a a persecutor of the church that seeing that he he prayed that was the evidence that

[5:18] God gave to Ananias that there was a a work begun in his heart then we see to the importance of this don't we really surely here is the secret and life of a religion true religion I know there are many aspects of this that could be considered with regard to the life of God's due people and the experience but how often everything really ranges around this they are brought to the throne of grace yes often in a felt sense of deep need and it's very clear in this psalm before us that it was so with the psalmist and the language of his heart is this he says I remember not against us former iniquities let thy tender mercies speedily prevent us for we are brought very low or do notice that we are brought very low it may well be dear friends that in ways in which the Lord has been pleased to deal with you there have been those times when you like the psalmist have had to confess brought very low and yet this is the place where the Lord brings his dear people he brings them there he lays them low he may deal with them in various ways to bring this about but he will lay them low and to bring them as it were to the foots of his mercy it is very clear that it was thus with the language of the psalmist before us here at this time as he expresses his desires as it were in a corporal way he says help us oh God of our salvation it was of course the that he himself needed the help and those in like experience and need help us oh God of our salvation maybe some of you can look back to the time when you had a first call upon God like this yes to help you was it not a time when you were brought low yes when the Lord began to to deal with you and it may have been perhaps in a in a very solemn way and you may to realise how you stand before a hole in heart searching God as a guilty sinner and that you're possessing an ever dying soul facing eternity and these are tremendous matters when they're brought home to a soul and you had to cry for help now it is a mercy to be brought there and while we might think of it perhaps in one sense as being one of the early yea the early experience of a sinner wrought upon by the spirit of God yet here is something in this text

[8:45] I believe that is so fitting as it is expressive of the exercise and desires of God's dear people not only in the beginning but all along the pathway and right to the end of the journey yes and we think of it too particularly at this time perhaps in the midst of the journey help us oh God of our salvation for the glory of thy name let us think first then of God who is the helper of his dear people help us oh God of our salvation here we find the suppliants their desires are toward the God of salvation he who is the helper of his dear people he is the helper of the helpless he of whom we read elsewhere in the Psalms

[9:46] God the Father is speaking in this way concerning his beloved son I have laid help of the one that is mighty and what a wonderful mercy what a wonderful provision there is to be discerned in that that God the Father did he laid help upon one that was mighty even his own beloved son he who came down this world yes to undertake for the salvation of all his dear people and that they might come to know him as the God of their salvation laid help upon one that is mighty you know who are the ones that will know something of the preciousness of the Lord Jesus Christ who are they those who are brought low those who have to learn that they have no help in self and when at length they come to realize that their help and their hope is alone in the

[11:01] Lord Jesus Christ he will become precious to them because he is that one that is mighty there are some wonderful scriptures in the word of God concerning the Lord Jesus Christ sometimes think of that word in the prophecy of Isaiah where it is as though the dear Lord Jesus Christ speaks through the prophet I that speak in righteousness mighty to save or how it becomes as we may be helped to exalt the dear saviour as the helper of the helpless and to be helped to think upon how how low he stooped to help his dear people fallen sinners as they were and are what ruin sin brought and all mankind are partakers of the

[12:04] Adam fall and all are helpless sinners in themselves but the mercy is this dear friends there are those from the Lord is Peter deal with and single them out as it were by his sovereign grace and mercy and these are the ones that begin to learn that they're helpless sinners quite likely if you were to perhaps speak to one another around in the world and suggest they were helpless sinners they'd probably be highly offended highly offended but poor sinners were convinced of their sin and taught by the spirit would not be offended if they were approaching that wine and it suggests they were helpless sinners you see through the teaching of the

[13:09] Holy Spirit poor sinners come to know something of this and while it is a humbling truth to learn humbling truth to learn yet how needful and so then help us oh God of our salvation we think then of God who is the salvation of his dear people God in Christ Christ and here are these poor sinners looking to him yes in their helpless condition and not themselves but looking to one who is able to help he was the helper of the helpless he was able to exceed him abundantly above all they can ask or even think oh the Lord would grant us more faith than exercise as we call upon his name for help to come believing that he's that one who is able to help do we not read in one instance in the gospels concerning some particular cases where the

[14:25] Lord Jesus Christ put the question to them believe you and I that I'm able to do this I think it was the two blind men wasn't it he said believe you that I'm able to do this they said yea Lord yea Lord you see where there is true prayer wrought in the heart indicted by the Holy Spirit there will be that faith I know you may feel sometimes your faith is weak and feeble and there's unbelief and many things that crowd in as it were which proved to be such a great hindrance and yet is there that grain of faith yes to call upon God for his help help us out God of our salvation you see these poor sinners they cannot look anywhere else can they find the help of man and they cannot rest in any outward profession of religion that is not that which meets their need they need the help of

[15:37] God help us oh God of our salvation or may we be enabled then to think upon the wonder of this there is one who is the help of his people and he undertook to help them in their helpless condition to deliver them to save them with everlasting salvation there's a great truth in that word and Israel shall be saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation and that salvation is of God yes the Lord Jesus Christ is the saviour when the dear son of God took upon himself our nature when he was born of the virgin took upon himself our humanity in union with his divinity he was named wasn't he and he bore that name

[16:46] Jesus thou shall call his name Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins oh here is the helper dear friends oh have you had to look to him and in looking to him to look away from everything else you may have kind friends dear ones near near and dear to you those who help you in many ways but when it comes to the need of the soul there's only one who can come to your help and that is the Lord Jesus Christ he who was pleased to leave the heavenly glory and come down to this world and stoop so low yes and to do all that required to be done for the complete salvation of all his dear people it is to him you have to look isn't it help us oh God of our salvation and now we think of the suppliants and the language of them they help us and deliver us and purge our sins you see there is help desired there is deliverance prayed for there is cleansing sought and it is in these ways poor sinners come to realize that the help alone is in him so then we think of the suppliants help us you remember we read of many instances in the gospels concerning poor people with their deep needs their sad complaints and how they need to help and the

[18:48] Lord Jesus Christ in his compassion and his wondrous ability dealt with their cases and these things are recorded dear friends I believe for the encouragement of poor sinners down to the generations who know what it is to be spiritually sin sick yes fear to be leprous diseased sinners and how the Lord Jesus Christ was pleased to graciously help and deliver to heal restore and he is that wondrous physician to help these helpless ones and so then here is the petition help us do you find it finds a place in your heart as it were is it that which expresses what you feel to need whatever your particular pathway may be now or your particular experience and you may have perhaps at this time some pressing need

[19:57] God only knows but here it is here's the here's the plea help us and you see we do need to be humble don't we to pray for help for the summingness by nature yes there's pride in our hearts isn't there there is that which would be self sufficient the word of God tells us that him that thinketh he standeth take he lest he fall and we're in a solemn condition if we think we can stand our own strength did not Peter have to learn a very solemn lesson with regard to that and although he was right at heart the root of the matter was there yes yet the dear man had some solemn lessons to learn when he had to realise his help was alone in his saviour not in himself and while he boldly proclaimed he would never deny or leave the Lord

[21:07] Jesus Christ yet when he was put to the test how sadly he fell he had to learn a lesson there and the mercy was this dear friends that there was still the Lord Jesus Christ who was his helper and poor Peter though he sadly fell was graciously restored and so then it is the expression of a humbled sinner yes one who has to learn of his own helplessness his own insufficiency his own folly help us oh God of our salvation and then we notice too there's a measure of urgency in this it brings to consider a spirit of importunity help us yes only two words are there but something about this is very urgent isn't it rather like one perhaps as it were ready to sink under the water in a drowning condition help us was not

[22:25] Peter again we think of him when he walked on the water to go to Jesus and he was given that strength to step out of the boat and walk to Jesus and he walked on the water for time but when he began to think of the deep beneath him and the storm he began to sink and how he had to cry for help then didn't he and think of the help that was afforded him immediately Jesus put forth his hand and caught him you see sometimes help is needed urgently and when that urgent need is there the Lord will not forsake his people he will put forth his gracious omnipotent helping hand but then there's the other aspect of the matter help us though God of our salvation in many ways the

[23:36] Lord keeps his dear people here often that is in their felt helplessness looking to him for help and it may be sometimes and it is so sometimes that it seems as though help is not forthcoming help seems to be delayed and yet help is not denied it may sometimes be that the Lord sees fit in his wisdom to keep his dear people as suppliants before his footstool of mercy still waiting upon him and waiting for help help us oh God of our salvation and it is profitable to be kept here friends I know it can be very humbling and we need to be humble don't we there's no room here for creature elevationist or creature boasting but rather we see here humble suppliants at the footstool of mercy and sometimes still calling for help as it were and it seems as though help does not yet appear oh no concerning one case in the gospels that poor woman and she had a deep need and she came to the Lord

[25:04] Jesus Christ that he would help her and she no doubt the dear woman felt fully persuaded that she was before one who could answer her need the distress with regard to her poor daughter and yet you read that outstanding record of how the Lord Jesus Christ saw fit to deal with her and to try her faith there seems to be so much as it were to discourage her really and it would seem that the Lord Jesus Christ spoke somewhat strangely to her but it was to try her faith and you see there may be strange things sometimes that come into your experience but it is to try faith and wherever there is a little faith God given faith in the heart that which the Lord is pleased to implant he will try that faith and sometimes it's tried in this way that help is delayed help is delayed but you see that brought that poor woman to this didn't it yes then came she and worshipped him saying

[26:22] Lord help me yes and then at length the dear Lord Jesus Christ answered her plea yes and although the help was delayed it was not denied only sometimes when it may well be there are those things in which you have to seek the Lord for help and it seems as though as yet the help does not come how often those very seasons are when Satan may come with his evil suggestions yes suggesting that the Lord does not hear your prayer that you're too big a sinner to seek for mercy all sorts of things you may put into your mind as it were yes to distress and to perplex and to discourage and Satan is a wily foe and if you can hinder a poor sinner and he does would call upon the name of the Lord yet what a mercy dear friends that in spite of all the hindrances and temptations and the delays the Lord does not despise his people poor sinners who cry to him for help no he may see fit in his wisdom to delay the deliverance but it is sure the Lord

[28:04] Jesus Christ is speaking about all his dear people the whole election of grace gives a gracious word of encouragement doesn't he all that the father giveth me shall come to me and they come like this help us oh God of our salvation all that the father giveth me shall come to me and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out I like to ponder that I will in no wise cast out Satan may come and suggest you're cast away but he's a liar Jesus said I will in no wise cast out what encouragement then for a poor sinner to seek this help help us oh God of our salvation and you see we need help in so many ways don't we in every way one lesson I believe that people who are taught of God have to learn is this their dependence upon him their dependence upon him yes help us oh God of our salvation for the glory of thy name you see everything to do with the experiences of God's dear people and the manner in which the

[29:33] Lord is pleased to deal with them to bring them to his feet it is that which will and does redound to the glory of his name and these poor sufferings have to learn this don't they and in their plea you see help us oh God of our salvation for the glory of thy name you may have noticed in those psalms which you read just now and the dear psalmist David there he knew what it was to have to cry for help didn't he but he did learn this there were those things that did redound to the glory of God's name and he says oh magnify the Lord with me let us exalt his name together you see that's not magnifying the creature is it but it is magnifying the Lord not that we can add to the Lord's greatness and majesty no but the expression is so suitable isn't it oh magnify the Lord with me let us exalt his name together and why psalmist

[30:45] I called upon him and how did he have to call upon the Lord he says doesn't he this poor man cried this poor man this poor helpless man this poor hurrying one this poor man cried and the Lord heard him and saved men of all his troubles you see it redounded the glory of God there was no room for creature boasting the dear psalmist had to learn that didn't he because he he'd acted in rather strange ways at times we dare not sit in judgment on him we were not in his position but you see when he resorted to the land of the Philistines he went astray really but how he realised the Lord was pleased to mercifully deliver him there there were difficulties then weren't there and he had to learn some lessons indeed he did and on one occasion we read this he was greatly distressed he needed to help then because even his own people spake of stoning him that is when six but there was that which did return to the glory of God's name and the dear psalmist had some intimation of this

[32:16] I believe you read the record yes he was discouraged distressed indeed but there's another side to it something secret you see but David encouraged himself in the Lord his God and he was brought into that as he realised that it was the Lord's help not David's scheming no the Lord's help and the Lord's deliverance indeed was that which did return to the glory of his name not unto us oh Lord not unto us but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and for thy truth say beautiful language the language of sinners who know the secret of what it is to call upon God for help yes indeed then in various circumstances and it may well have been as I try and bring this word before you here this morning you've been brought from time to time into those places where you've had to realise your need of help and had the

[33:30] Lord not helped you where would you have been not here today no you had to call upon him and the Lord was pleased to deliver yes and it is that wherein his name shall be glorified and so it is expressed in the desire doesn't it here before us help us oh God of our salvation for the glory of thy name and then the nature of the help in this way and deliver us deliver us yes one aspect of God's salvation is that in deliverance yes the Lord delivers his dear people poor needy sinners yes he delivers them from the ruins of the fall he delivers them from their sad lost condition he delivers them from the bondage of sin and

[34:34] Satan he delivers them as those who are imprisoned as it were in captivity and delivered in this sense that the captives are made free and deliver us yes we delivered from the demands of God's holy law and the Lord Jesus Christ who is a salvation of his dear people you see has honoured and obeyed the law for his dear people so that his answer all demands and while you have to learn what a transgressor you are and have been your help is in the saviour yes he fulfilled the law for his dear people magnified it made it honourable it could not be bypassed as it were the justice of God and the demands of the law must be satisfied and the

[35:40] Lord Jesus Christ did this so that his dear people should be delivered yes from the curse and the condemnation and because of that deliverance the apostle could write couldn't he to the Romans in that way where he says this there is therefore now no condemnation to them for in Christ Jesus no condemnation the condemnation fell upon the dear son of God he was condemned as he stood in the sinner's place he paid the penalty that his dear people might be delivered but what a deliverance and for sinners in their felt need I have this privilege to call upon the Lord yes that there might be this deliverance and then you see this embraces all the various troubles and trials that come into the pathway you need to be delivered don't you maybe brought in some places sometimes where it seems that you may fear perhaps sometimes that you will sink under this but every child of

[37:02] God will prove this sooner or later that the Lord is a deliverer the apostle Paul touches on this precious truth doesn't he he who hath delivered doth deliver and we trust he will yet deliver us such is the delivering mercy of God help us O God of our salvation for the glory of thy name and deliver us how we do need to be delivered yes in times of temptation yes how we need to be delivered in the sense that we might realise there is a hiding place a shelter in the Lord Jesus Christ for poor tempted souls you see the dear saviour when here upon earth experienced fierce temptations in such a way that we cannot measure it we cannot fathom it it's a deep mystery but it reveals this the dear saviour stood so firm didn't he against those fierce temptations of the enemy and the scripture tells us that he himself was tempted and he is able to succour them that are tempted and it means deliverance doesn't it yes support and strength to be a shelter from the enemy the hiding place then how we do need to be delivered don't we from the charms of this wicked world and when you consider that there's that in your nature that would go with the world and we need to be delivered from it don't we remember the dear saviour in his prayer for his dear people and his disciples to his father says this

[39:04] I pray not thou shouldest take them out of the world but that thou wouldest deliver them from the evil yes and here his safe keeping and deliver us and in so many ways deliverance is needed isn't it we need to be delivered from ourselves our own spirit sometimes when perhaps we may be fretful or even self pitying it may be we need delivering from it or we need this delivering mercy and then perhaps when fears seem to abound when faith seems weak when unbelief seems to prevail we need deliverance and the Lord Jesus Christ with the salvation of his dear people he is that one as the hymn writers put it strong deliverer yes and the deliverance you see is so effectual and deliverance and purge away our sins hear these suppliants pray for cleansing if the

[40:20] Lord has been pleased to convince us of our sin we have to realise do we not that sin is a defiling nature has a defiling nature is a defiling effect yes sin defiles described in the word of God very clearly as that in that disease of leprosy but a fearful disease yet it is a picture of what sin has done and you see the solemn truth is this dear friends the leprosy lies deep within we need to be cleansed we need that mercy that the Lord Jesus Christ was pleased to exercise in the case of those poor leprosy and how they were delivered weren't they cleansed he put forth his hand and touched them one particular we read of in

[41:23] Luke's gospel who was full of leprosy there seems to be an emphasis on that case full of leprosy now that really describes the case of a sinner doesn't it but the Lord Jesus Christ put forth his hand and touched him and said I will be thou clean and immediately his leprosy departed from him oh there's cleansing there is that precious fountain open for sin and uncleanness in the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ here is cleansing you see no tears can wash away guilt good it is if there are spiritual tears of repentance and godly sorrow god grant us this may be given a humble and contrite heart and know something of what it is to be true repentance sinners but tears don't wash away sin it is the precious blood of the

[42:33] Lord Jesus Christ and what a provision the Lord has made for poor sinners defiled with their sin that there is that cleansing this purging you see it signifies an inner cleansing true too you read psalm 51 when the dear psalmist was brought to repentance and the language of the language of that psalm and the desires he expresses in that psalm and amongst them there is this isn't there purge me with hyssop and I shall be clean wash me and I shall be whiter than snow he had to mourn over the defilement of sin he had to look to the fountain pray for help deliverance from the guilt of his sin and from the power of it and to be cleansed from the defilement of it there is something about this petition which is very embracing isn't it it takes in the needs of poor sinners who feel to be defiled with their sin deliver us and purge away our sins for thy name's sake

[43:49] I like that sentence there for thy name's sake here is the ground of the sinner's plea you see not for the Lord said to his people not for your sakes do I this so host of Israel be it known unto you but for my name's sake and you see here is the ground of prayer isn't it the foundation of prayer the Lord Jesus Christ taught his dear disciples didn't he that when they prayed they were to pray and to ask in his name for thy name's sake what a mercy dear friends there is that name to plead one as well said in the hymn this is the name the father loves to hear his children plead and all such pleadings he approves and blesses them indeed help us thou God of our salvation for the glory of thy name and deliver us and purge away our sins for thy name's sake amen so we conclude this morning by singing hymn number 214 the tune is

[45:34] St. Swetham at 558 hymn number 214 dear lord remember me a sinner weak and vile full of impiety and fraught with sin and guile I cannot hope but in thy blood remember me oh lord for good 214 vem can

[46:48] I am dead, and to the world's reset, I am dead, and to the world's reset, I am dead, and to the world's reset, I'll see you in thy cloud, We will make theeЗ chamF poison.