Transcript (may contain errors):
We will turn again to the Psalms that we read, to Psalm 143. And as the Lord may be pleased to help us, consider verses 8 through 10. Psalm 143, verses 8 through 10.
“Cause me to hear thy lovingkindness in the morning, for in thee do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies. I flee unto thee to hide me. Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Thy spirit is good. Lead me into the land of uprightness.”
These Psalms set forth important aspects of Christian experience; that is, the experience of the child of God on his or her way to heaven.
And they particularly show what the content of their prayers is like as they are going through this world. What is, how does the true child of God pray? The answer is found in the book of Psalms and in other parts of scripture. We are to bring everything as you know to the touchstone of scripture.
We are to make sure that all doctrines are scriptural doctrines. We are to make sure that our way of worshiping God is scriptural. And we are to make sure our practice is founded firmly on the word of God. And we are bound to believe all the doctrines of the word of God. Not just the fundamental ones, but all of them. We are required to believe all that God says about doctrine, about the way in which he is to be worshiped, and about the way in which we are to live our lives.
And that is why you hear the phrase, reformed in doctrine, worship and practice. A church that professes that is professing that its doctrinal beliefs have been reformed or brought back to the Bible. And its form of worship has been reformed according to the Bible. And its practice too has been brought back to the Bible.
But there is another thing which is included in practice, and that is experience. Are the professed experiences of members of the church biblical? And what is largely forgotten today is whether the prayers of the church are biblical. We come to church and we expect to hear a biblical sermon.
But there is more to it than that. Are the prayers that are offered up, do they resemble, at least to some degree, the prayers of the Bible? You might be able to go to a church and hear a sound sermon. But how does the minister pray? Does he pray at all like David, the inspired psalmist? And that is very important.
It gives a window into the spiritual health of the church. And not just public prayers but our own private and secret prayers. We have to be examining ourselves.
Do I pray like the psalmist? Do I know something of the desires, the struggles and the faith of the psalmist expressed in his prayers? Well, here we have a prayer which, if offered up today, would be very strange in the years of many. If David were present in many churches today and he offered up this prayer, people would be saying, what a strange prayer. We’ve never heard a prayer like it.
He sounds like a very depressed person. I thought, people would say, I thought that prayers must be full of joy and thanksgiving and gladness. And there must be that in prayer.
But too often the prayers of today are like the prayers of the Pharisee. God, I thank Thee. And there’s no petition, there’s no supplication.
We find in this prayer, we find in this prayer many supplications. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Give ear to my supplications. In other words, we find many, many requests in this prayer. We find the language of someone who is poor in spirit, someone who feels keenly his spiritual poverty.
And it is not a backslidden man that is praying. It is the prayer of a man, a holy man of God, speaking as he was moved by the Holy Ghost. That is what Peter says about the inspired writers of the Bible. They were holy men of God who spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.
We have a man who was, you might say, the favorite of heaven. He was the man after God’s own heart. God could, as it were, look upon the sons of men. And after reviewing them all, he could say, There is none like David. He and I have far more in common than so many others in the world. He is after my own heart.
And so we have a godly man praying here. And his poverty of spirit is very evident. We would like to consider in the first place a few things about his experience that drove him to pray this prayer.
His experience that drove him to pray this prayer. And then, having learned a little about his experience, we can ask whether we can in any way relate to this experience. It’s the experience of a man who is in heaven today.
And he was moved by the Holy Ghost to put his experience on record so that all the Lord’s people can examine themselves as to whether they have something of these experiences themselves. This is the language, the experience of those on their way to heaven. In other words, all true Christians on their way to heaven can read this psalm and say, I know what he is talking about.
I can relate, at least in some degree, to what he is saying. So that in the first place, his experience that drove him to pray this prayer. And then secondly, we would like to look at some of his requests in this prayer, particularly in verses 8 through 10.
We may not be able to go through all of them, but we would like to look at least at some of his requests in this prayer as we have them in verses 8 through 10. These two things, as the Lord may help us, his experience that drove him to pray this prayer. And secondly, the requests in his prayer.
Firstly, let us consider a little of the experience that drove him to pray this prayer. Clearly, he is a very tried man in this psalm. And so it must be for all who go on their way to heaven.
As we noticed in the morning, there are many different ways to hell. An idolater will go to hell if he does not repent. An unrepentant murderer, an unrepentant adulterer, an unrepentant thief, an unrepentant liar.
Those who fear man more than God, they will go to hell. Those who do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, they will go to the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. Covetousness is idolatry, Paul says.
So all the covetous will go to the lake that burns with fire and brimstone. There are many different ways to that lake which burns with fire and brimstone. But there is only one way to heaven.
It is by receiving Christ in the water of life. And then engaging lifelong in spiritual combat, whereby we must overcome the world, we must overcome the flesh, and we must overcome the devil. And so we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God.
And as some of you have heard me say already, this was one way that Paul confirmed the souls of the new disciples. He went to one place and he confirmed them by saying that we must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. You must steel yourself.
You must prepare yourself to expect tribulation on your way to heaven. And you are not to faint or be discouraged at that, because your Savior will be with you every step of the way. And through him you shall push down your foes that stand up against you.
You have one who will strengthen you again and again to overcome the world, the flesh, and the devil. You may fall seven times, but you will rise up again. As Solomon says in the proverb, the just man falleth seven times and riseth up again.
Or to use the psalmist language in Psalm 37, though he fall, yet shall he not be cast down utterly, because the Lord with his own hand upholds him mightily. And it is pleased God in his sovereignty to make the way to heaven, a way through much tribulation. We are not to find fault with his method of going to heaven.
That is a mark of the child of God. They find no fault with God. They find no fault with his word.
They find no fault with his law. They find no fault with his gospel. They find no fault with the terms of the gospel.
And they cannot find any fault with the way in which he brings them to heaven, though they may be filled with perplexity at times, and though they may be tempted to think hard thoughts of the Lord, as if he is dealing harshly with them. Yet they know that it is a sovereign and gracious God that has redeemed them, and he will lead them by a way that is right. It is a way that will not be identical to any of the other children of God.
They will be in the main, like all the experience of the other children of God. But there will be twists and turns in that way to heaven. There will be certain trials and troubles on that way to heaven, that perhaps others will not have to experience.
But they know this, them also in a way that right as he did guide, that they might to a city go, and there they shall abide. And they know this also about their tribulations. They work experience.
Knowing this, the tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed. Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. And so, tribulation sets off, you might say, a chain of blessings.
That is the beginning of many blessings for the child of God. Tribulation for the ungodly in this life is just a foretaste of that tribulation that awaits them in a lost eternity. But tribulation for the believer is working for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.
Tribulation worketh patience, and patience experience, and experience hope, and hope maketh not ashamed. Well then, David’s experience here is one of sore trouble. And he begins to pour out his soul to the Lord about his trouble.
But he begins with a sense of unworthiness. He says, Enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. And that is how he concludes his prayer in the psalm.
He concludes his prayer with a sense of unworthiness. He says, And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies. You see that there? You see how he begins saying, Enter not into judgment with thy servant, though I am thy servant, though it is my desire to please thee, though it is my desire to walk uprightly.
Enter not into judgment with thy servant, because sin cleaves to all my prayers, sin cleaves to all my praises, sin cleaves to my reading of the word, my hearing of the word, sin cleaves to my best actions. So enter not into judgment with thy servant. There is nothing that I have done, even by grace, that is unspotted by the body of sin and death.
And so he begins his prayer, deeply sensible of his unworthiness, of any blessing from God. Enter not into judgment with thy servant. And he is deeply tried by his enemies, but he sees that nothing less than divine mercy must cut off his enemies.
And of thy mercy cut off mine enemies and destroy all them that afflict my soul, for I am thy servant. Now then, he moves to pour out his troubles. He says, For the enemy has persecuted my soul.
He has smitten my life down to the ground. He has made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been long dead. Now someone who was a complete stranger to David’s experiences, if they overheard him praying, they might be inclined to pity him.
They might be inclined to look upon him with a proud condescension. They may not have had the boldness or the impudence to scorn him, but they may have looked upon him with disdain. This poor David having one trouble after another.
I am so thankful I’ve never had any such trouble. He’s saying that his life is smitten down to the ground, but I am strong. I am full of good cheer. I’m full of optimism. I am not at all inclined to consider myself weak. David is describing himself in pathetic terms. And I am thankful that I do not have to speak of myself in that way.
And that’s of course what the Pharisee would say of David. A Pharisee saying, I am strong, I stand. I am full of good cheer. I’m full of optimism. God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, smitten down to the ground like this poor man named David.
Well, why is it? Why is it that so many in the world, yes, so many gospel hearers even, are not at all mourning this way? They have never said their whole life. He has smitten my life down to the ground. There’s no sense in which I’ve ever had an enemy. There’s no sense in which I’ve ever encountered any foe who has struck such a blow that I am smitten down to the ground. And why is that? Because for the soul that is apart from Christ, there’s no life to smite down. They have no spiritual life.
They do not know what it means to have their life smitten down by the enemy. And by now you realize that the enemy that David speaks about does not need to be a human being like Saul. The child of God has enemies that are unseen.
And these are far more formidable, far more powerful than any visible enemy. Man may persecute, the world may scorn, the world may vex and harass, but while these are real enemies that the child of God faces in life, they are nothing in comparison to the unseen enemies, the enemies that Paul calls principalities and powers, the rulers of the darkness of this world, spiritual wickedness in high places. These by far are the greatest enemies.
And David no doubt saw through Saul. He looked beyond Saul. And he said, It’s not so much Saul that I need to be so vexed about. It is the one that is using Saul. That is the one that I need especially to be on guard against. Yes, I need to be sober. I need to be vigilant because Saul is always hunting me in the wilderness. But there’s a far more sly and cunning foe. And that is Satan who is using Saul.
Well, Satan knows that he cannot destroy the child of God, but he will do his utmost to smite down spiritual life in the soul. And he will do as much as he can to estrange the believer, believing soul from the Lord Jesus Christ, the source of his strength, the source of his life. And he will do his utmost to entangle the child of God in the cares of this life so that he becomes estranged from the prince of life.
He does his utmost to turn him aside to by path meadow. He does his utmost to turn him aside to this sin and that sin and all with the hope that he will smite down spiritual life in our souls. The enemy hath persecuted my soul.
He has smitten my life down to the ground. He has made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been long dead. Well, do you have any spiritual life in you that Satan can smite down? That’s a great question that you and I must put to ourselves.
Do I have any life within me? A godly minister in Scotland by the name of Henry Scougal wrote a book called The Life of God in the Soul of Man. The Life of God in the Soul of Man. And Paul speaks about Christ being formed in the child of God.
Christ himself says, if a man will keep my words, I and my father will come unto him and make our abode with him. And so there’s a principle of spiritual life put within the soul. It’s called the life of God because God puts it there. The God, the Holy Spirit implants this principle of life in the soul. And it’s been described as a body of graces. All the graces of the spirit, love, joy, faith, long suffering, meekness, patience, forbearance.
All these things, all these graces are implanted together in the soul that is born again. And it’s called the life of God because it’s planted there by God and it’s maintained by God. And it is Satan’s goal to smite down this life as much as he can because he knows that the believer is an epistle known and read of all men.
And when the life of God is flourishing in the soul of the believer, then his very life is a sermon. His very life cannot but be read by others. You can give a tract to someone. You can give them something to read, but you can’t make them read it. But for the believer who has the life of God flourishing within them, they have a life then that cannot but be read. Ye are the epistle of Christ, known and read of all men. All men, everyone that comes in contact with you will be reading a letter. You might say reading an epistle that was written by God. They will be hearing, they will be seeing a sermon. They won’t be able to avoid hearing that sermon, which is a godly life.
And so Satan especially fears this, a child of God that is revived, a child of God that is growing in grace, a child of God that is ripening for heaven, a child of God who has set his face heavenward. He is going and weeping, as we find in Jeremiah. They shall ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward, going and weeping to seek the Lord their God. And that is the way the child of God goes to heaven. They are asking the way to Zion.
They are asking, what is that right way? What is that God-glorifying way to heaven? What is that way by which I can bring most glory to God? And so they are asking the way to Zion all the time that they are on earth. Well, that’s a child of God who is aiming heavenward. It is a great threat to Satan and his kingdom of darkness.
That person, Satan says, has the life of God in him, and I must smite him down. I cannot keep him out of heaven, but I can at least smite down spiritual life and bring it to such a low end that he or she will win no one else to Christ. They will be too backslidden, they will be too despondent to be of any use to Christ and his cause.
Well, that is how David feels here. He has smitten my life down to the ground. He hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been long dead.
So the great question, as I said earlier, the great question for you and I to ask is, is there any life, any spiritual life in me that Satan can smite down to the ground? Take heed if you’re saying, I’m thankful, I know nothing of these troubles. I know nothing of such harassment. I’ve lived such a peaceful, happy life, and I intend to live the rest of my life like this.
It may be because Satan has left you alone. He says there’s no life to smite down in this person. There are many different ways to hell, Satan says, and he’s on one of these ways. I will leave him alone.
But those who have had a principle of life implanted in their souls by the Holy Ghost are painfully aware when it was not, when their souls are not as lively as they used to be. And this is a great grief to them. And it may come to this level where they feel that they have been dwelling in darkness as those that have been long dead. Therefore, is my spirit overwhelmed within me? My heart within me is desolate. And we find in this psalm as we go through it, David multiplying expressions to describe his sad condition.
I am persecuted by the enemy. He has smitten my life down to the ground. He has made me to dwell in darkness as one that is long dead. My spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate. My spirit faileth. Hide not thy face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the pit.
Well, what is the believer to do when they’re in such a low condition? David provides the answer here in the request that he offers up. You might say, I’m in a low, low condition. The enemy has made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been long dead. My spirit is overwhelmed within me. I do not know the way out of this.
Well, look here at the request that David offers up in verses 8 through 10. That is the second thing that we want to consider: some of the requests in his prayer.
Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk. Teach me to do thy will.
Notice all the infinitives here. To hear, to know, to do. These again show the poverty of spirit that is plainly evident in David. I need the Lord to cause me to hear. I need the Lord to make me to know. I need his grace to enable me to do his will.
The one that is a stranger to his own heart will say, what I need is some help. I can do a little myself. But as long as the Lord helps me somewhat, I can do the rest. But the believer is poor in spirit. He has such a spiritual poverty that he’s saying the Lord must do it all. He must cause me to hear. He must cause me to know. He must teach me to do.
You see why this prayer would be very strange language in many churches today. How many would hear such a prayer and say, we’ve never heard such a prayer. The carnal mind would be ready to say, it’s the prayer of a very pathetic creature. It’s the prayer many would say of someone who has no faith. Surely if he had faith in Christ, he would never be in such a low condition. Surely if he were in Christ, he would never have such a feeling of helplessness. He would be rejoicing in the Lord all the time.
That’s what many would say today. But that’s because they don’t know the extent of their depravity. They have not been taught by the Holy Spirit that they are lost and ruined creatures. They have not been taught that in their unregenerate nature there dwelleth no good thing. They have not learned that not only must the Lord implant within me a principle of grace, but he must send forth his Holy Spirit to stir up this grace that he has implanted within me.
David is aware of this, and that is the secret of his strength. That is the secret of his godliness. That is one reason why he is a man after God’s own heart. He sees his own fallen nature as God sees it.
God knows it better than himself, of course, but he fully agrees with his God that in his flesh there dwelleth no good thing. I take no offense at how God describes my nature, deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Out of it proceed evil thoughts and murders and adulteries, thefts, false witness, blasphemies. All these things are in my own heart. He says that my soul is dead in trespasses and in sins.
We instinctively recoil from something that is dead, even if it’s just a dead animal and it is decomposing and rotting, putrefying. We see the sight, we start back from it. It is a sight that perhaps reminds us that death is unnatural. God did not create a world to be… He did not create a universe to be filled with death and disease and decay.
He created his universe full of life. But here is death before my very eyes. But David agrees with God about the rottenness of his nature. I am dead in trespasses and in sins. And he will then gladly look to the one who must bring him to life, the one who is the resurrection and the life, the one that must bring the dead soul to life as the spiritual resurrection and the one that must maintain and increase life.
That’s how Christ describes himself. I am the resurrection. I bring souls alive. I spiritually resurrect them so that they’re no longer dead in trespasses and in sins. And once I have brought them to life, I maintain that spiritual life in them. And I increase that life in them. Yes, I increase it until their souls are full of life and there’s no remnant of death left within them. I make their souls perfect in holiness so that their souls are full of life, full of joy, full of delight in God to all eternity. That’s what I do as the resurrection and the life. I lay down my life on Calvary, Christ says, to be the resurrection and the life, to beget a dead soul to life, to fill that soul with spiritual life, and then at the last day to raise up the body and fill it with such life and such vigor and such strength as it never had in this world.
How many spend so much of their life on their appearance, upon their physique, but it is a body that is made of dust and it will return to dust. It is a tabernacle of clay and there’s nothing you can do to maintain life in your body, much less life in your soul. You need Jesus, the resurrection and the life.
He alone can fill your soul with life and he can fill your soul with life and vigor and vitality and strength and beauty such as it never had in this world. David says, Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning at the very beginning of the day. Cause me to hear thy loving kindness.
And this word loving kindness is sometimes translated mercy and it refers especially to covenant mercy. And David is desiring to hear it. God conveys covenant mercy through his word. Incline your ear and come unto me. He says in Isaiah 55, Incline your ear and come unto me here and your soul shall live and I will make an everlasting covenant with you even the sure mercies of David.
Cause me to hear thy loving kindness. Cause me to hear thy word. Hearing is such a simple act. It’s such an effortless act. It’s the last faculty that goes before death, as some tell us. People lose their ability to move. They lose their ability to speak. But they still retain their ability to hear in their last moments very often. And that’s because it requires so little effort. And that’s how faith is described. It’s described as hearing. Listening to the voice of him who is offering you the sure mercies of David. Listening to him who is offering to make an everlasting covenant with you.
But you see David says, I need the Lord to enable me even to hear. Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning. Otherwise I will read thy word in the morning. But I will get no good from it. I will get no encouragement from it. I will get no light. I will get no comfort. Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning. And why? For in thee do I trust.
This is what encourages him to pray that the Lord would enable him to hear with faith and benefit from the word. I have put my trust in the Lord. I have put my trust in the Triune God, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, because I trust in thee. Thou knowest what I need in order to hear effectually. I need the Holy Ghost to help me to hear effectually. And to benefit and receive thy covenant mercies conveyed to me through the word. Have you ever heard someone offer such a petition? Enable me to hear. It’s a good petition if you’ve heard it.
But it’s a rare petition today. Cause me to hear thy loving kindness. How many assume they have no ability to hear with prophet the word of God. Ah, that is an easy thing to do. To hear or read the word of God to my own spiritual prophet. But if you’re in the school of Christ, you’ll learn you need the Holy Spirit just to hear with profit. Just to read the Bible with profit. No longer how long you’ve been a Christian. No longer, no matter how many experiences you’ve had. No longer, no matter how well you know the scriptures. No matter how much doctrine you know. No matter how many good deeds you’ve done. If you’re in the school of Christ, you’ll be taught: I need the Holy Spirit to enable me to hear effectually. May the Lord’s loving kindness conveyed to me through His word.
Then he says, Because the enemy has smitten my life down to the ground. I need more than just this. I need more than just ability to hear thy loving kindness. I need to know the way wherein I should walk. The enemy has discovered my weakness. That is why he has smitten my life down to the ground. He has discovered where I’m most vulnerable. He knows what kind of temptations to put in my path in order to smite me down again. And so Lord, I pray thee, may cause me to know the way wherein I should walk.
The Lord leads his people by a way that is right. He leads them by a way that seems altogether different from any of the others of the children of God. And they are ready to say, no one has ever trodden the path that I’ve had to tread.
But that may be because the Lord is leading you away from a temptation that is too great for you to resist. Satan says, I would like to lead them in that same path that Peter was on. Because when Peter was on that path, I was able to sift him as wheat and get him to deny his master.
And so the Lord may say, I will not lead you to have that same eminent position that David and Peter and others had. Because that way that they were on was a way that made them a target, a special target of Satan.
Satan had his eye on David. Satan had his eye on Peter. He saw that Peter was the leading spokesman. We read of Peter being called the first in Matthew’s Gospel. Not because he had an office that the other eleven did not. The twelve of them had the same office. But he is called the first because he was particularly eminent in gifts.
Satan saw that. And Satan targeted him in particular. And so the Lord may lead you away from that eminent position that Peter and others have had. Because the Lord says, if they go down that path, they will be smitten down to the ground. Cause me to know. It’s an acknowledgement of blindness.
We are ready to pride ourselves in how well we know ourselves, what we’re capable of. The believer might think that he’s attained to some measure of discernment. “I know how to watch against temptation. I know what I need to be on guard against. I know what places I need to avoid. I know what things I need to avoid in order to fall into sin. Yes, I know the way in which I should walk, the believer might say in his pride.”
But he will discover that he needs daily light to know exactly the way in which he should walk. The way wherein he is safe and fruitful. Cause me to know the way wherein I should walk. For I lift up my soul to thee. We find these words in the psalm that we sang, Psalm 25, To thee I lift my soul, O Lord, I trust in thee. No doubt many things are contained in this expression, lifting up the soul to the Lord. But one thing that is in it is a desire that we would be at the Lord’s disposal. I lift up my soul to thee. That is the reason he gives for requesting that the Lord would cause that he would know the way wherein he should walk. I lift up my soul to thee.
Thou art able to wash it, thou art able to purify it, thou art able to enlighten it, and thou art able to direct it. My soul is thine. And can we say that? Our soul belongs to the Lord. We and all that we have are the Lord’s. That is the happiest possible condition to be in. To be able to say, Lord, I am thine, O save thou me, thy precepts I have sought. Not possible to be in a happier condition than that. To be the Lord’s. To be only his. It’s the outcome of the spirit being poured out. I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground, and then what? One shall say, I am the Lord’s. Yes, I am thine. I have lifted up my soul to thee to be redeemed, washed, enlightened, directed. Therefore cause me to know the way wherein I should walk.
So now he’s prayed to be enabled to hear. He’s prayed to be enabled to discern the way in which he should walk. But he needs more. He needs grace to do the Lord’s will. The Lord may lay out for him very plainly the way wherein he should walk. And he may, in his ignorant zeal, be ready to run forward in his own strength. But when the enemy smites down his life to the ground, he says, I need more than just a desire. I need more than just a resolve to do the Lord’s will. I need grace actually to do it. Teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God.
And there you see what encourages him to make that petition. His petition is, teach me to do thy will. And why? For thou art my God. Thou art mine. I am thine and thou art mine, he is able to say. That’s what we find too in the Song of Solomon. My beloved is mine, she says, and I am my beloved’s, and his desire is toward me. Thou art my God. And therefore, all that is in thee is for my own benefit. All that is in thee is for my everlasting benefit and happiness. Thy wisdom is for my benefit, to direct me. Thy goodness is mine to satisfy my soul. Yes, and thy power is mine to strengthen me for every good work.
And that’s what you can say if the Lord is yours. And that is the offer that he makes in the everlasting gospel. That is the great promise of the word of God. That is the great gospel offer. I will be thy God. That is what Jesus, the mighty God, the one who is the everlasting Father, the mighty God, and the Prince of Peace, that is what he is saying. He’s saying, I will be thy God, I will be thy Savior.
And all the powers and all the perfections of deity, I will employ for your benefit and everlasting happiness. You need divine power to do my will. You may be encouraged to expect it from me, for I belong to you. I belong to you. Take hold of my strength, the Lord says. Take hold of my strength. Lean upon my mighty arm, which alone gets the victory.
Some of you have heard the story of the little child that somehow learned about the gospel. Perhaps he went to church and heard the gospel once. We don’t remember the details, but the minister heard that he was dying, and so he went to where he lived. He lived in an attic, dreadful poverty. He was lying on a bed of straw.
And as soon as the minister came in, the child lifted up his head and he said, “His right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory.” And he fell back and died. His right hand and his holy arm hath gotten him the victory.
And that is what will happen in your case when you lean upon the right hand and the holy arm of the Lord Jesus Christ, the one whose name is Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the Prince of Peace. May he bless his word to us. Let us pray.
Speaker: Rev Caleb J Hembd
Congregation Gisborne
Text: Psalm 143:8-10
Date: 21 December 2025
Series: