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e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e [Music] [Music] welcome to everyone it's good to be back in the house of Our God this evening it's a joy to have Dr Jim renihan preaching for us this evening it's been great to have him and Richard barcelos with us over the last few days for the conference all the reports I've received everybody seemed happy with the conference so that's a good thing to hear uh one announcement before we begin tonight there is a signup sheet on the back table to cut the grass umen it's that time of the year again so if you're willing and able to do that put your name down and then we'll give a schedule set up well for our call to worship tonight you can turn with me in your Bibles to Psalm 122 Psalm 122 I'll begin reading in verse one a song of asense of David I was glad when they said to me let us go into the house of the Lord our feet have been standing within your your Gates oh Jerusalem Jerusalem is built as a city that is compact together where the tribes go up the tribes of the Lord to the testimony of Israel to give thanks to the name of the Lord for Thrones are set there for judgment the Thrones of the House of David pray for the Peace of Jerusalem May they Prosper who love you peace be within your walls Prosperity within your palaces for the sake of my brethren and companions I will now say peace be within you because of the house of the Lord Our God I will seek your good amen we please turn in your hymb book to Psalm 46 Psalm 46 c as in Charlie and we'll stand as we sing together 46 C hel ever near we will [Music] not for God is to us all the [Music] mountain Earth Foundation sh the angry B and break against the shore our might will us is forever with [Music] wers she and all his from more the Nations the Lord of host is our father's God high is [Music] oural what God has done on Earth is his to every na still for is Lord by all the Earth the Lord the Lord of host is our father is our strong [Music] amen well let us let us pray our great and Holy Father what a joy again to gather on your day with your people we ask that you would be blessed and glorified As We Gather in this glad hour we thank you for your graciousness to us we thank you for your handiwork in the created order we thank you for your wisdom and your power and your goodness in the providential order we thank you for that same wisdom and that power and that good goodness and especially that grace and mercy that we see in the Redemptive order how we praise you for the sending of the son of your love into this world Sinners to save and we thank you that you have given us that new life in our Lord Jesus Christ we thank you for the means of Grace for the blessing of church attendance and for the privilege to sing Psalms and hymns to you our great God to gather around the word of God and to hear the proclamation of it we pray for your blessing upon our brother tonight that you'd set him heart you'd fill them with your holy spirit that Spirit of Truth and that you would instruct us and God give us that Grace to receive these things for our edification for our sanctification our growth in the the knowledge of our blessed savior we ask that you would look with favor upon any and all who've come here tonight that are dead in their trespasses and sins that you would awaken them you would show them their need for the Savior and set before them Christ and all of his offices to save even Prophet priest and King we ask God that you'd bless our children and our young people we thank you for these many gifts and we pray that you would give us the grace to receive that admonition to bring them up in the fear and training of the Lord as well God we pray for the ladies that are pregnant we ask that all would go well with these little ones in the womb and one day these babies would be born again by the grace of God Almighty we confess our sins to you now as we enter into your presence we know that you are holy that you are righteous and that you are a God who demands from your creatures exact entire In Perpetual obedience we know God we don't have that by Nature we don't even have that by your grace and so we confess our sins to you thanking you for the righteousness of our Lord Jesus Christ imputed to us and received by faith alone thank you for that forgiveness of sin not only in terms of justification but even now as we confess we are we are confident that you cleanse us and wash Us in that precious blood we ask that you would look with favor upon other churches here in our community we thank you that we're not alone here we pray for your blessing upon our brothers and Ministry that they would know the presence in the power of the spirit as they Proclaim Your Truth God in a special way we pray for the Saints in Suri and in Armstrong and in dren and as well God for all the several churches that are represented here tonight that the brothers that were here this morning that presented uh introduction to themselves and to their local bodies it has been a rich and encouraging weekend to know that we're not alone in this in this nation we know that this nation uh faces several challenges we know that this is a a Godless generation yet we are encouraged and we are comforted thought that even in rural areas throughout this land there are faithful men that are proclaiming Jesus Christ and him crucified God may you do a great and glorious work in our day may you bring us together in association may you give us that wisdom and Grace as we proceed and may you cause us to do all that we do in obedience to to Christ our our our head in authority and God may it be the case that we can share those blessed uh privileges in the ministry of the Gospel we want to help one another in terms of church planting we want to help one another in terms of of of of missions and evangelism and identifying men and seeing them trained for gospel Ministry we know these are are big Ambitions and these are are are Great Expectations but we have a great God The God Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills and The God Who has a special love for the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ we know that Christ at the right hand of the father has authority over all things comprehensive absolute Authority but he has a specific reference to the church as the head of the body and in this we greatly Rejoice so God we commend these things to you and again praying for wisdom as we proceed praying for the Holy Spirit to take the scriptures and make them uh uh uh such that we we we follow them and and we obey our our blessed Lord and as well God we pray that this church and other churches represented here would be here for succeeding Generations we genuinely desire that our children and our grandchildren and their children after them would have faithful churches and an Unfaithful time that they may be able to gather for the worship of the Triune God to be able to sing your praises and to hear your word so God as we worship now help us to do so with that reverence that is fitting for such a holy and awesome God but as well with that great joy and Thanksgiving that is so often mingled in scripture to serve the Lord with fear and to rejoice in trembling may that be the case tonight and we pray through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen will you can turn with me again in your hym books to number 440 440 and we'll stand as we sing together s for and we Jesus stand to save you with he is a he is a he is able he is glor true Grace I praise to with our might with our Mighty might to Jesus [Music] Christ we bru broken by the if you to your you will never come at all the right the right the rightous S Jesus [Music] to cons you of all the he reir is to GL of he you you [Music] you with his love on him holy let no in true Jesus Jesus Jesus and you mer [Music] please be seated may turn in your Bibles to the book of Deuteronomy as we continue our reading our consecutive reading through the Old Testament we're in Deuteronomy chapter 29 so last time we saw the curses associated with Covenant breaking blessings for obedience but as well well the emphasis falls on curses for disobedience in chapter 28 essentially what God through Moses is announcing when you go into the land if you're faithful and you do what God commands then you will be blessed if you go into the land and you disobey then you will be cursed remember that what we have in the old Covenant is a covenant of works and it basically serves a a whole host of functions one of them of course to point and direct Israel to the coming Messiah and so as we come to chapter 2 9 we see summary and renewal of the Covenant in fact the new King James gets that that statement right the Covenant renewed in Moab so that's the emphasis so I'll begin reading in chapter 29 at verse 1 these are the words of the Covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the children of Israel in the land of Moab besides the Covenant which he made with them in HTH now Moses called all Israel and said to them you have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to aroh and to all his servants and to all his land the great trials which your eyes have seen the signs and those great wonders yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see and ears to hear to this very day and I have led you 40 years in the wilderness your clothes have not worn out on you and your sandals have not worn out on your feet you have not eaten bread nor have you drunk wine or similar drink that you may know that I am the Lord your God and when you came to this place sihon king of heshbon and OG king of Bashan came out against us to battle and we conquered them we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the reubenites to the gadites and to half the tribe of Manasseh therefore keep the words of this Covenant and do them that you may prosper in all that you do all of you stand today before the Lord your God your leaders and your tribes and your elders and your officers all the men of Israel your little ones and your wives also the stranger who is in your Camp from the one who cuts your wood to the one who draws your water that you may enter into Covenant with the Lord your God and into his oath which the Lord your God makes with you today that he may establish you today as a people for himself and that he may be God to you just as he has spoken to you and just as he has sworn to your fathers to Abraham Isaac and Jacob I make this Covenant and this oath not with you alone but with him who stands here with us today before the Lord Our God as well as with him who is not here with us today for you know that we dwelt in the land of Egypt and that we came through the Nations which you passed by and you saw their Abominations and their Idols which were among them wood and stone and silver and gold so that there may not be among you man or woman or family or tribe whose heart turns away today from the Lord Our God to go and serve the gods of these nations and that there may not be among you a root bearing bitterness or wormwood and so it may not happen when he hears the words of this curse that He blesses himself in his heart saying I shall have peace even though I follow the dictates of my heart as though the drunkard could be included with the sober the Lord would not spare him for then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy would burn against that man and Every curse that is written in this book would settle on him and the Lord would blot out his name from under Heaven and the Lord would separate him from all the tribes of Israel for adversity according to all the curses of the Covenant that are written in this book of the law so that the coming generation of your children who rise up after you and the Foreigner who comes from a far land would say when they see the plagues of that land and the sickness which the lord has laid on it the whole land is brimstone salt and burning it is not sown nor does it bear nor does any grass grow there like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah adma and zeboim which the Lord overthrew in his anger and his wrath all nations would say why has the Lord done this to this land what does the heat of this great anger mean then people would say because they have forsaken the Covenant of the Lord God of their fathers which he made with them when he uh brought them out of the land of Egypt for they went and served other gods and worshiped them gods that they did not know and that he had not given to them then the anger of the Lord was aroused against this land to bring on it every curse that is written in this book and the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger in Wrath and in great indignation and cast them into another land as it is this day the secret things belong to the Lord Our God but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever that we may do all the words of this law amen so as the Covenant is renewed here it is reemphasized that Covenant cursing will end in judgment from God Almighty and as we know from subsequent history from this point on Israel does exactly what God calls them not to do they go into the land of Canaan and they ape the Canaanites and as a result God ultimately dispossesses them from the land we see the land vomits them out but what we have in Chapter 30 I think transcends even that chapter 30 is a promise of the New Covenant in fact Jeremiah 31 I think is picking up on Deuteronomy chapter 30 so all is not lost the Covenant curses have been pronounced we know from the rest of the Redemptive history old Covenant Israel that they do suffer they do uh incur the Wrath and fury of God but God always has his purpose he always has his plan and in this particular vantage point it's upon the Lord Jesus Christ coming in the fullness of the time sent by God born of a woman born under the law to redeem those under the law and we ought to appreciate that we are in this Covenant of Grace which was a covenant of works for our Lord Jesus Christ it's not that God suspended his demand for obedience it is rather that the Lord satisfied that requirement on behalf of all who All Those whom the father had given him and in this we greatly Rejoice well let us pray Our Father in heaven we thank you for your word we thank you that it is given by inspiration of God that it's profitable for Doctrine for reproof for correction and for instruction in righteousness and we thank you that all of the scriptures we heard or were reminded over the last couple of days have its Terminus on your glory and we know that glory is achieved by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Incarnation the Assumption of our Humanity the life the death the the Resurrection The sufferings and the glory and we give you praise and honor and Thanksgiving for that we remember tonight our uh Marty and Shannon we just commend them to you and to the word of your grace as they move up north God I pray that you would bless them cause them to find a good church to settle into and may it be the case that they would have great joy great prosperity in that part of the world and we ask in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ amen well for our final hymn before the preaching you can turn to Psalm 130 Psalm 13A as in Alpha and again we'll stand as we sing together Psalm 13A to you I oh Lord to me and give atten to my voice my for Mery all should [Music] our be found with you you I great my soul I the Lord my hope is in his word for my soul the the Lord for Mery is with with great Rion will sing please be seated I had mentioned this morning that there was no one else I'd rather be here for this weekend than Richard barcelos the other one would be Dr renahan uh I don't know him or I haven't known him as long or the same sort of a relationship but in the early 2000s and you'll have to forgive me for the dates uh the early 2000s were not a fun time in our church or in our life I'm looking at lesie as she's smiling brightly at me uh we've come a long way but in the early 2000s I had a friend and he lived in Washington and I it must have been Tacoma or Kirkland he said oh we should go he this this drct renahan preach I said sure So it was Hebrews 11 or no Hebrews 10 you pointed out the Triad faith hope and love I don't know if you remember this time but the thing that struck me was I knew he was a seminary Professor I knew he was a very intelligent academic but he could preach that's what that's what first you know enamored me with Jim renahan is that he wasn't a stuffy old you know Professor that didn't have any fire he has both heat or light and heat and so he preached and that was a great encouragement to me because I think the word of God is to be preached but then I also had the priv privilege in probably I'd say 2004 2005 uh he taught symbolics at the church in Tacoma and I was able to attend that if you look at my copy of the confession I have all your outlines in there uh so uh Rich gave me that I still have the same confession of faith that rich gave me way back in 1990 uh but it took meeting Jim renahan to flesh it out fill it out and I've been indebted to your work and to your help to the churches all this time so brother it's a privilege to have you with us so please come and preach well that was very kind thank you Jim for those words I bring you greetings from Heritage Baptist Church in mansvi Texas I was asked to do that it is wonderful to be with you what a a great couple of days we've had we can thank God for that would you turn in your Bibles please to Psalm 8 88 Psalm 88 and I want to preach from this text this evening Psalm 88 listen to the word of God a song A Psalm of the sons of Kora to the chief musician set to mahalath leano a contemplation of Heman the Ezra oh Lord God of my salvation I have cried out day and night before you let my prayer come before you incline your ear to My Cry for my soul is full of troubles and my life draws near to the Grave I'm counted with those who go down to the pit I'm like a man who has no strength a drift from the dead like the slain who lie in the grave whom you remember no more and who are cut off from your hand you have laid me in the lowest pit in darkness in the depths your wrath lies heavy upon me and you have Afflicted me with all your waves Sila you have put away my acquaintances far from me you've made me an Abomination to them I am shut up and I cannot get out my eye wastes away because of affliction Lord I have called daily upon you I've stretched out my hands to you will you work wonders for the dead shall the dead arise and praise you CA shall your loving kindness be declared in the grave or your faithfulness in the place of Destruction shall your wonders be known in the dark and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness but to you I have cried out O Lord and in the morning my prayer comes before you Lord why do you cast off my soul why do you hide your face from me I have been Afflicted and ready to die from my youth I suffer your Terrors I am distraught your Fierce wrath has gone over me your Terrors have cut me off they came around me all day long like water they engulfed me alt together loved one and friend you have put far from me and my acquaintances Into Darkness let's pray oh God we ask you by your grace through the power of your spirit to allow us now to hear the voice of our savior guide us into the truth help us as we wrestle with this Psalm to understand it and apply it to our lives we ask humbly in jesus' name amen amen Darkness often it's an ominous word children are frightened when parents send them to bed in a shadowy room accidents happen when light is obscured crimes are committed under the cover of Darkness as the calendar moves toward winter nights are longer and when clouds hide the moon the result makes our world seem even dimmer in October our societ soy takes advantage of the threatening nature of Darkness to underguard the haunting scenes of the season I don't know if you have what we have in Texas but we have these Halloween lawn displays and I've noce noticed that they look silly during the day even though at night they look ghoulish there one in our neighborhood It's actually an electric chair with a skeleton in it and it buzzes all through the evening it is ghoulish but during the day it looks really silly in scripture Darkness often bodess trouble or evil the first creative act described in Genesis 1 records that God said let there be light since Darkness was over the face of the deep Hebrews 12:18 referring to the Deep Gloom at sin says that the darkness there was so profound it could be felt the absence of light has great spiritual significance Isaiah Likens it to prison two two times in his prophecy do you remember the story of Job in the account of his profound troubles the idea of Darkness appears 35 times in the disasters of his life he metaphorically encountered Darkness Paul tells us that we are to take no part in the works of darkness he calls our spiritual enemies the powers of darkness and he asks the question what communion has light with Darkness and our lord Jesus as he approaches his crucifixion says this is the hour of the power of Darkness you'll remember that during that horrible event Darkness reigned for three hours from noon until 300 p.m. hours that are normally the brightest of the day well here in Psalm 888 heeman the Ezra describes his own experience using this word in fact in the original and in most English translations the last word that we hear or read is the word Darkness the psalm begins with God but it ends with this disturbing word it's not immediately uplifting but rather turns our thoughts to unresolved Gloom and anguish I was paying attention as I read the psalm to the emotional temperature in the room and I could see even in your C as the psalm was read a sense of difficulty facing the words that were being read I could see it on your faces let's be honest this is an emotionally charged Psalm to read it any other way misses its power and undermines its usefulness when you consult the commentaries there's Universal agreement that the 88th Psalm is the most sorrowful of all the songs in the book it is the honest cry of a disheartened Saint in the midst of melancholy and misery and pain now someone might ask the question why are you preaching on it well the answer ought to be obvious it's inspired scripture speaking of the Old Testament the Apostle Paul says this whatever things were written before were written for our instruction that through endur and through the encouragement of the scriptures we might have hope so my desire for you today is that Psalm 88 will assist your endurance and encourage you to have hope several commentators point out that this 3,000-year-old inspired poem has been the means of aiding God's people for Millennia and I pray that that might be true today now we might think of the Salter in a couple of different ways if an artist were to paint various Psalms in different colors according to their themes we would find a v wide variety of shades on the canvases Psalms 1 and 23 might be predominantly green as they portray streams of water running through Green Pastures Psalms 2 and 45 and 110 would be golden and purple for they describe Messianic royalty Psalms 22 and 69 and other crucifixion Psalms might be Crimson reminding us of the death of the Son of God but the most common color tone used in the Psalms would be blue since at least in our culture blue reflects the realities of lament did you know that there are more Psalms of lament among the 150 than of any other kind they outnumber all the rest there is more sorrow and complaint in the Psalms than there is joy joy and these many Psalms of lamentation would be blue and among them Psalm 88 would be the deepest possible Hue of midnight blue it would be only one shade away from black or since the Psalms are intended to be sung we might conjecture about appropriate tunes for them some comforting Psalms such as 23 or 91 and 92 could have pleasant Melodies and harmonies to support report their encouraging words the Royal Psalms might incorporate fanfares the final five Psalms 146 through 150 should reflect the jubilant and triumphant scene portrayed in Revelation 4:5 when our lord Jesus is welcome to the Eternal Throne these would be written in a major key with all the beauty and resolution of that kind of music but once again the largest segment of the Psalms the laments should be different the appropriate musical setting for most of them would be a dominant minor key and perhaps a slow tempo with melancholic and evocative Arrangements making them beautiful in themselves but contemplative have you ever noticed in our Himel I'm glad that you sing the amend but have you ever noticed that when a tune is written in a minor key it almost always is resolved into a major key in the final amen and this is a musical way of saying there is hope hope even when there is sadness if this principle were to be applied to the Psalms many would be set to a minor key moving to a major key at the end but Psalm 88 is different Not only would it be written in a minor key but its musical setting would be discordant and perhaps even harsh and it would not naturally resolve into a major key rather it would leave us waiting for something else some musical element element to bring us out of the depths because you see Psalm 88 is a cry from the depths hemon the Ezra writes from the lowest place he wants us to think about that now probably you're familiar with famous medieval European castles the ancient dwellings of powerful Kings and princes and Dukes these great buildings are surrounded by high walls and battlements sometimes by moates and may only be accessed by drawbridges the castle was a place of power and authority and its size and strength reflected the high rank in society that was held by its Lord we know that many of these castles had dungeons dark underground rooms where enemies or criminals might be placed for punishment It's Not Unusual to watch a movie set in a medieval Fortress and see a scene that's filmed in a dungeon but did you know that often the dungeon was not the most horrible place in the castle for an out of favor person to be abandoned there was another site much worse than any dungeon could possibly be usually at the lowest point of the deepest dungeon there would be a metal grate in the floor it might look to us like a drain or a sewer cover but it was not it had hinges on one side and a great locking mechanism on the opposite side and it marked the spot of what was called an oet an uet was a small chamber often no wider than the space of a human body think about your body that's its size while you are standing at about 8 or 10 ft deep being at the foundation of the castle all manner of runoff would come through the great and puddle at the bottom it would have been a disgusting terrible unsanitary place and into this tiny deep dark space someone would be dropped and most frequently left to die No Light No Room to Move No Escape the name for this lowest and worst prison prison is French oblet it comes from the verb OA which means to forget and it describes the Hopeless situation of anyone who was placed there no food no water no human companionship no rest the prisoner was forgotten left to die alone and deprived of all comfort and the only thing that the prisoner could do while in the ubet was cry out for Mercy would anyone hear would anyone respond help over and over so long as there was life and breath help have mercy save me you see in many ways hean the eite describes his life in these terms we don't find him in a physical oblet in the lowest place of a dungeon but his language very much describes this kind of experience think about the words that we have read I am counted with those who go down to the pit you've laid me in the lowest pit in darkness in the depths I am shut up I cannot get out Heman is in God's uat that's where we find him now what are we to make of this how shall we understand and apply his experience that's our task this evening so first I want to look at what we know about the psalm and what we know about hean the Ezra because these things will help us to enter into Psalm 88 there are several clues that are given to us we Begin by thinking about the place of Psalm 88 in the Book of Psalms and we need to look at the information that's provided in the superscription as well so Psalm 88 in the Book of Psalms the 150 Psalms in this collection have not been placed together randomly they're not arranged by authorship they're not arranged by chronology but rather they're placed into five books you've seen that as you've read your Bibles and these five books books speak primarily about David and his kingdom the first book Psalms 1-41 largely though not exclusively tell us about David's life and experiences before coming to the throne book two Psalms 42- 72 contemplate the Kingdom at its high point culminating in Solomon's Psalm of Praise but the third book Psalm 73 through 89 turns in a different direction for it speaks of the failure of the davidic kingship because of the sins of the Kings and the people it sends the book of Psalms in a New Direction the fourth book Psalm 90 which begins with the psalm of Moses the man of God and runs through 106 those psalms turn the reader away from Earthly Kings to contemplate the only true and righteous King for God's people the Lord himself and then the final book Psalms 107 through 150 leads the reader to praise the god of heaven and and Earth in all of his glory our Psalm is in the third book Palmer Robertson gave this third book the title Devastation for it honestly depicts the trouble that came from the heavy chastening hand of God in some cases it reveals the sins of Believers in others the sins of the nation in fact Psalm 89 ends that way but it honestly portrays the consequences of putting one's trust in human princes this next to the last Psalm Psalm 88 carries forward this Theme Life in this world is hard even for those who know and love the Lord they must endure God's chastisements and sometimes they do so for reasons beyond our understanding it shouldn't surprise us that this is the lowest point in the entire Salter because from here one can only look up and go up take a look at the superscription of the psalm it gives us some help by the way the superscription of the psalm ought always to be read when the psalm is read the New Testament authors view uh quote it they view it as if it is inspired scripture in the Hebrew text the inscript the superscription is the first verse they need to be recognized as part of the psalm itself so don't read by it read it and contemplate it sometimes it might be as simple as a Psalm of David but in our case it gives us more information a song A Psalm of the sons of Kora to the chief musician set to mahalath leono a contemplation of heeman the Ezra I let's think about each of these portions the first section of the superscription a song uh a Psalm to the sons of Kora to the chief musician set to mahalath leono tells us that this poem was intended to be used in public worship the sons of Kora were a guild of musicians responsible for leading Worship in the temple in Jerusalem along with a chief musician and the untranslated Hebrew words are probably the name of the tune that would have been used in public worship secondly we notice that this is called a contemplation or if you have an ESV in front of you it's untranslated and it says masil that Hebrew word seems to suggest meditation or instruction that means we are intended to think deeply about the contents of this Psalm we are to pause over it and meditate on it and think about what it says thirdly we notice in the superscription that the author is identified as heeman the Ezra Ezra is his family name like renahan or Butler that's what the Ezra means but his name heeman his given name means faithful he only appears here in the Psalms but we find him in other places in scripture in 1 Chronicles 255 he's appointed to serve in the worship of God under David and we're told in that text that he was a seer in the things of God the old name for prophet he was a seer in the things of God this tells us that he was a man of faith and prominent in the the spiritual life of Israel you see the Lord chose him to be an instrument of the inspiration of scripture and today we're able to enter into his experience so if we look at the superscription what do we have we have a Psalm that is written by a prominent spiritual leader that was intended for public worship so that the people of God might be instructed in one of God's ways with his people we can learn that much just from the superscription now we look at the psalm itself the psalm divides quite simply verses 1 and two are an example of the classic beginning of a Psalm of lament they directly address god with great urgency verses 3-5 summarize heeman's cry and verses 6 through 18 pick up the theme and describe it in Greater detail now what do we find when we look at the psalm simply that our psalmist has been and continues to be in agony like a man in an uet he cries out to God day and night and he uses the language of Faith Lord God of my salvation calling his master to hear and to respond when we read this Psalm we need to hear the complaint in his voice he has shouted his plea to the Lord over and over again and yet there has been no reply he is still trapped in the pit unable to be free enduring great pain and sorrow heeman is before the Lord there's some Doctrine that's important that he understands he understands that God is present in all places he understands the omnipresence or the immensity of God and though God is there God is silent so he's asking the question where is the Lord where is the god of my salvation oh Lord hear me oh God save me now do you see that despite the delay and the ongoing Agony this man's faith has not weakened he trusts the Lord will hear him and that the Lord will save him from his prison of misery look at verses 3-5 again my soul is full of troubles and my life draws near to the grave I'm counted with those who go down to the pit I'm like a man who has no strength a drift among the dead like the slain who lie in the grave whom you remember no more and who are cut off from your hand these words are full of pain in Soul and in body hean is almost like a Walking Corpse and his soul might as well be dead now we might ask the question I think it's a reasonable question to an to ask what specifically is is heeman's Affliction was it some kind of physical disease did he suffer a profound loss such as the death of a spouse did he encounter a Judas in his life betrayed by a trusted friend well the answer the honest answer is we don't know and we can't tell much of the language in this song obviously is symbolic or metaphorical now there are some who speculate that perhaps he was enduring one of the skin diseases such as leprosy that required physical separation from family and friends but I don't find that convincing it relies on the most circumstantial bits of evidence certainly these diseases could produce the kind of lament we find here but to state that this was heeman's Affliction presses the evidence Beyond credibility I would suggest you this the fact that the psalm along with the other mentions of heeman in the Old Testament does not describe a specific cause of suffering is really to our benefit if this Psalm were to identify a particular cause we might be tempted to limit its usefulness to those who endure a simal similar circumstance but because it's open-ended the psalm becomes a means of help for every believer who faces deep and profound troubles in life you see it's a universal description of deep pain among God's faithful people people it is for you and it is for me now in the long section from verses 6 through 18 there are several things to notice the first is that this section is bracketed by the idea of Darkness look at verse six you've laid me in the lowest pit in darkness in the depths and then notice Verse 18 the word the psalm ends with the word darkness in verse 6 the Lord metaphorically places hean in the ubet in utter Darkness the following verses should be read under this dark shadow and verse 18 concludes with a similar thought but it is very difficult actually to translate one commentator rendered it like this this is Verse 18 you've put loved one and neighbor far from me my acquaintances Darkness the nkjv or the commentators acknowledge that the final few words are challenging the nkjv The New American Standard Bible and the ESV render it similarly but when I look at it I wonder what does this mean you've loved one and friend you've put far from me and my acquaintances Into Darkness what does that mean is it that From heeman's perspective his loved ones and friends have been taken away so that he cannot see or hear them well that would seem to be the sense in this rendering but if you have an ESV in front of you there's an interesting footnote suggesting another way to translate these difficult words and it makes a great deal of sense to me especially in the context the footnote says Darkness has become my only Companion now I would prefer to keep the word order of the original and say my only companion is Darkness but this translation fits the psalm well as he ends the psalm heon's prayer has not yet been answered he waits for the Lord in the depth of the shadow of the oblet and stands as an example to us of continued cries and pleas to the Lord for help in the midst of the most difficult trouble that in itself ought to give us encouragement heeman remember his name means faithful Heman does not give in utter Despair and fall into silence rather he constantly raises his voice to heaven to seek help and deliverance may I speculate just for a moment it's always a dangerous thing for a preacher to speculate but I'm going to do it no one has objected yet is it possible that the inclusion of Psalm 88 in the Book of Psalms and thus in the word of God implies that at some point the Lord did answer hemon's cry someone I have my ideas of who put the alter together probably Ezra or Nehemiah or someone else after the Exile but someone recognized the inspired nature of this poem and Incorporated it into the third book of the Salter where it fits perfectly the language of the psalm is evocative and consistently depicts a believer in great distress he's alone he's imprisoned he wonders if death is nearby he repeatedly emphasizes calling on God look at verse 9: 13 verse4 Lord I've called daily upon you I've stretched out my hands to you 13 but to you I have cried oh Lord and in the morning my prayer comes before you Lord why do you cast off my soul why do you hide your face from me these are the words of a child in great danger pleading for a parent to come help in verse 12 shall your wonders be known in the darkness and your righteousness in the land of forgetfulness in verse 12 hemon sounds like a man who wishes to continue leading worship the temple is the place of adoration it's the place of light not of Darkness or forgetfulness it was in the temple that the wonders of God were made known twice heeman uses that Hebrew word that we don't Translate ca he calls us to pause and meditate over his trouble and the pictures really are frightening in verses 6 and 7even we have mixed metaphors a pit The Depths depths waves Breakers these things are drowning him and in verse 9B and 10 he contemplates death CA now we notice as we read the psalm heeman tells us that his sorrow originates with the hand of God notice these verses with me 6 7 and 8 you have laid me in the lowest pits in darkness in the depths your wrath lies heavy upon me you have Afflicted me with all your waves CA you have put away my acquaintances far from me you have made me an Abomination to them I am shut up I cannot get out look down at verse 14 Lord why do you cast me off why do you C cast off my soul why do you hide your face from me I've been Afflicted and ready to die from my youth I suffer your Terrors I am distraught your Fierce wrath has gone over me your Terrors have cut me off Verse 18 loved one and friend you have put far from me human tells us that his trouble is not a result of sin his own sin but rather the Lord's providential way in his life now there are other Psalms in this third book which speak of Affliction because of sin Psalm 73 at the beginning when Asaf was slipping and stumbling because he envied the prosperity of the wicked that's true of him but there's no hint of sin here hean is like job or Paul or even our lord Jesus who endured the deepest possible suffering as he faced the horror of the cross for his own purposes the good Lord of Heaven and Earth the Lord who loves his people send some of them into the darkest and deepest trouble and he gives them this Psalm in other examples such as job and Paul and the Believers in the book of Hebrews and our lord Jesus to help them you remember earlier I quoted from Romans chapter 15 we've heard Paul's voice he was not afraid to admit that he despaired even of life in the midst of his affliction the Hebrew Christians endured a great struggle with sufferings and they were reminded that some were tortured not accepting Deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection still others had trial of mockings and scourgings yes and of chains and imprisonment they were stoned they were saw in two they were tempted they were slain with the sword they wandered about in sheep skins and goat skins being destitute Afflicted tormented of whom the world was not worthy they wandered in deserts and mountains in dens and caves of the earth even of our sinless savior it is said in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplication with vehement cries and tears to him who was able to save him from death and was heard because of his Godly fear though he was a son yet he learned obedience by the things which he suffered you see Psalm 88 is part of a great theme of scripture we are strangers and aliens in this world and it is full of trouble we are called to endure suffering all the while crying out to the Lord for deliverance our rest and our comfort is not in this present evil age but rather it is in the world to come so heeman the Ezra ites experience is a reminder to us that we should expect trouble now Psalm 88 weans us from the love of the world and turns our attention to heaven now you might ask the question is there any light in this Psalm about darkness and my answer is yes indeed there is we've already noticed much of it the fact that the psalm is included in the Canon of scripture tells us that the Lord wants us to know and to understand to contemplate and to be instructed by its words but that's not all we have here is a man whose name means faithful who addresses the Covenant Lord notice how the psalm begins Lord written in all uppercase letters the Covenant Name by which he reveals himself to Israel and not to the Nations the man whose name means faithful addressing the Covenant Lord by his most intimate appellation an a name revealed only to Israel calling him the god of his salvation and seeking his help in trouble though Faithful is in God's ubet he never forgets God three times he uses Lord capital L O R D Yahweh a reminder that he is in Covenant with God and that the one who is always faithful greater than any human commitment listens and hears in a physical medieval dungeon oblet the cries of the prisoner would go unheeded the guards would ignore the prince was so far removed from the dungeon that he would never hear the fervent pleas of the prisoner but heeman knows that the Lord will hear though he may delay the psalmist must continue to cry to the great king trusting that at the right time he will hear and he will deliver and even if the king keeps him in the ubet until his death there's a better hope that awaits and this strengthens hean in the midst of his trouble so what then should we say about this Psalm let's say several things let's reflect on it for a few moments the first thing is this this Psalm validates the experience of believers who endure suffering suffering is a genuine Christian experience and I want you to contemplate that with me for a moment I can hear someone say but brother that was the Old Testament we live under the New Covenant we have the spirit who produces Joy well it's certainly true that we live under the New Covenant and we have received the spirit who works joy in us but this in no way negates the realities of Psalm 88 consider these facts number one we've already heard Paul's words from Romans 15 which tell us that the writings of the Old Testament are given for our benefit secondly we must remember that for much of the apostolic era the only scripture available was the Old Testament and Paul tells us that it is inspired and profitable for Doctrine reproof correction and instruction in righteousness all of God's word belongs to us and we need it in its fullness you know I'm more convinced of this than ever and I hope you are as well the Old Testament is a Christian book it is a book for us thirdly we've noted the fact that many New Testament Believers those who lived under the New Covenant and knew the spirit who brings Joy many many New Testament Believers endured suffering similar to hemans this is not an isolated Old Testament experience but rather one vignette in a tapestry that extends from Genesis to Revelation you know even the Saints in heaven no sorrow did you ever notice John says I saw under the altar The Souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held do you know what comes next he says and they cried with a loud voice saying how long O Lord holy and true until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth that a white robe was given to each of them and it was said to them that they should rest a little while longer until both the number of their fellow servants and their Brethren who would be killed as they were was completed you see it's it's not until the end the final resurrection that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes see I fear that we have been too easily and readily deceived by Prosperity preachers so that we think that the life of Christ's disciples is one of continuous and increasing comfort and joy but the Bible teaches us a very different story We ought to expect trouble in this life and sometimes it will be as profound as the trouble that came to hean the the eite so brother or sister this means that when you face a circumstance such as we've mentioned a critical illness or bereavement or abandonment or betrayal or any other dark Providence this is not an indication that you have sinned but rather an opportunity painful though it may be to draw near to God through texts such as Psalm 88 think about it like this would you be so bold simply by yourself to address God in the terms that heeman uses most of us would be quite reluctant to do so but remember this a song a psalm for public worship a prayer to God for deliverance is given to you you may take these very words boldly to the throne of grace you may bring them before the Lord you may say Lord God of my salvation hear the words you have given to me why have you laid me in the lowest pit why do you cast off my soul why do you hide your face from me and when you say those words to the Lord you may be comforted by the fact that the Lord himself is glad to hear his own word coming from the mouths of his people these are words given to you that you might pray I wouldn't be bold enough to say these things on my own but because they're revealed in scripture I can bring them to the Lord in prayer one wonders if Psalm 88 might have been on the lips of Jesus when he was in Gethsemane the Psalms were his prayer book and this may be the case we'll talk about that in a few moments certainly both Mark and Luke seem to have Psalm 88 in mind when they describe the events of the crucifixion but in any case be comforted by this Psalm receive its instruction and through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures have hope that's what Paul says it's there for secondly there's an important word in Psalm 88 for those of us who do not endure sufferings such as Hons did you notice as we read the psalm how he complains of being alone of his companions being far from him and even that translation that I offered to you of the very end my only companion is Darkness the ubet is a solitary is solitary confinement at its extreme now while we don't know the circumstances of human separation from friend and loved one we must learn from his isolation Christian love calls us to be be companions to brothers and sisters in their times of Darkness we have obligations to them on the one hand we must overcome our tendency to think of Trials as punishments and thus keep our distance from those who endure them rather we are taught to weep with those who weep and this is the time and place where we must do this the false Doctrine which denies sorrow in the Christian Life and promotes prosperity and happiness must be rejected rooted out of your think thinking have compassion on sisters and brothers who endure hardships and difficulties and sufferings in a Christian church we have obligations to one another we ought to make it our aim to see that no believer we know endures suffering alone as did heeman the ezrael so far as it is within our power let us comfort and encourage one another speak a word of Love remind your friend of the key of promise to overcome giant despair as bunan describes it in the Pilgrim's Progress and pray for the Deliverance of your brother or sister remember what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13 love suffers long and is kind that's a a legitimate translation but it doesn't really bring to us the sense of what Paul says because in English it doesn't work I made up a word I coined my own word word to try to describe what Paul says he doesn't say that love is kind as if kind is a characteristic of Love really what he says is love kindnesses That's the Way Love acts it kindnesses it looks to others and reaches out to them and helps them it acts according to the needs of others seeking to Aid them in their troubles and so I read Psalm 88 and I say beloved let us love one another that's what Psalm 88 says to us let us love one another but thirdly let us think of how Psalm 88 points us to our Lord Jesus Christ and his gospel now we've stated that the book of Psalms was jesus' prayer book God in his kindness prepared everything for his son and it served him in many ways if Martin Luther is correct and saying that all of the Psalms are about Jesus may we read this as his prayer think about the Garden of Gethsemane Jesus knew and understood the horror that was before him listen to how Matthew describes the scene in light of Psalm 88 then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane and said to his disciples sit here while I go and pray over there and he took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee and he began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed then he said to them my soul is exceedingly sorrowful full even to death stay here and watch with me he was in Terror he went a little farther and fell on his face and prayed saying oh my father if it is possible let this cup pass from me nevertheless not as I will but as you will then he came to the disciples you remember what he found he found them sleeping and said to Peter what could you not watch with me one hour Watch and Pray lest you enter into temptation the spirit and is willing but the flesh is weak again a second time he went away and prayed saying oh my father if this cup cannot pass away from me unless I drink it your will be done and he came and found them asleep again for their eyes were heavy so he left them went away again and prayed the third time saying the same words you know when I read that much of it is reminiscent of Psalm 88 we're told that Jesus was sorrowful and deeply distressed even to the point of death he was profoundly exercised in his soul by The Dread of the events immediately before him and I asked the question who could do otherwise what man could view it differently he knew that the physical sufferings of crucifixion would be horrible crucifixion was the ultimate torture and the Romans were experts at it but even more so he knew that facing the wrath of God against sin and draining to the drgs the cup of the wrath of God would be the greatest trial anyone could ever know our Lord did not go to Calvary unaware he was fully conscious of everything he would encounter and as he comes to the Garden he's accompanied by his closest friends Peter James and John they were brought along to Aid him and what did they do they fell asleep and they left him alone and three times times he prayed alone we might even go beyond the garden and consider the entire experience of his ordeal abandoned by friends exhausted without sleep beaten by enemies and finally crying out an echo of Psalm 88 my God my God why have you forsaken me do you hear Heman of course that's a quotation from Psalm 22 but do you hear hemon's words in those words of Jesus I don't want to diminish heeman's sorrow in any way but we might read Psalm 88 as a transcript of Jesus experience as he walked toward and endured the cross and brothers and sisters this gives us much hope because it reminds us of a great truth seeing then that we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens Jesus the son of God God let us hold fast our confession for we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses but was in all points tempted as we are yet without sin Let Us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find Grace to help in time of need it's not an empty promise that's a promise based upon Our Savior and his own experience when you pray Psalm 88 you come to God by way of an intercessor who has experienced deeper and darker sorrow than you have ever known and I don't mean to diminish your sorrow and difficulty but because of this because of his endurance he is sympathetic with your trouble he knows he understands he hears so you may come boldly into the throne room of Heaven bring your request before the Majestic throne of grace and there find Mercy Mery The Cry of one in the oblet and find Grace to help in your time of need now this is not a promise of immediate resolution but of divine assistance the Savior will give you Grace to endure and you will find help you are not alone you have loved ones and friends but even better you have a compassionate high priest and the ear of the Lord of Heaven and Earth when you come to him finally let me remind you of the Gospel of Jesus Christ he endured the cross despising its shame he made himself of no reputation taking the form of a bonder servant and coming in the likeness of men he and being found in appearance as a man he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death even the death of the Cross therefore God also has highly exalted him and given him the name which is above every name that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow of those in heaven and of those on Earth and of those under the Earth and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the father so I ask you this question have you bowed the knee to Jesus Christ you will now or you will at the last day there are many in this room who can say he is a wonderful savior a compassionate Redeemer a forgiving Lord he took our sin upon himself he endured the wrath of God so that we might be forgiven he died so that we might have life and he gives everything freely to all who will place their faith in him so if you have not placed your faith in him why do you wait because if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead you will be saved that's a promise that is always true for everyone who comes to him so will you confess and believe Psalm 88 is dark there's no denying this fact but as we have seen it has some light and when said in the context of the whole of scripture the darkness begins to dissipate God's oblet is undoubted ly a difficult place to be and none of us should want to be there even Jesus asked the Lord to take it from him but Psalm 88 may also be encouraging it reminds us that we need the Lord and that he hears us even when we cry out to him in the darkest moments of Life the color tone of the psalm may be the deepest shade of blue and the tune may be in a dissonant minor key but there is light for those who look up and there is Melody for those who will listen glory be to God Amen let's pray oh Lord we do cry to you thanking you that you have given us a book that is honest it doesn't hide from us the realities of life but provides help and courage encouragement strength for the difficulties that we face in this world we pray for one another for those in this room now who are enduring the kind of Darkness that hean the eite faced would you draw near to she or he would you draw near to that one and give encouragement and strength and help and help them to look up and find in you a God who loves and who cares would you help us to endure in this life recognizing that it is not our home but we look for a city whose Builder and maker is God we will We anxiously wait for the day when we will gather around your throne with all of the Saints of all of the ages and sing your Praises so thank you for giving us the Lord Jesus Christ thank you for giving us the holy spirit thank you for giving us your holy word thank you for giving us heon the Ezra and his record of his own experience which is an assistance to us as we walk in this world we give you thanks in jesus' name amen well I know our esteemed Brethren didn't conspire but uh our brother Richard preached the soul trouble of Christ connected to the hour in John 122 27 and you preached the soul trouble of Christ in the alter but as he said it's not just Christ's Soul trouble that we find there but Hans as well and hallelujah what a savior that he delivered us from our sins well we'll close by singing doxology of praise to our God you can stand and turn to page 568 all praise him all [Music] cre Praise Him heav prise father son and the Lord bless you and keep you the Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace Father thank you that in your kind Providence we were reminded of our blessed savior this morning morning with reference to the hour and the trouble of his soul thank you as well for this encouraging word from Psalm 888 tonight and how it does show us more of the savior in Gethsemane and golgatha but as well it shows us the reality of the Christian life thank you for our brothers thank you for these men thank you for their visit for their encouragement to us as a church I pray they'd go back to their respective churches with joy in their hearts they would pass on our greetings and our love to them that you would continue to strengthen your work on the face of this Earth and may Christ be exalted and praised among your people and we pray that you would go with us now and that the truths of of number six would be ours and we pray in jesus' name amen amen well please be seated for a brief time of meditation e e e e