Amen. Let's turn to Psalm 20. We've reached the 20th Psalm this evening. We welcome you again. Thank you for joining us. We do appreciate you. You've been out on Monday night, you've been out on the Lord's Day, and now you're out again Wednesday. We appreciate that. You know the Lord will bless you for it. And your families need you to be in praying ground. And certainly the church does as well. So let's read Psalm 20. Not too many verses here. It is a Psalm of David. And he begins with the words, The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. The name of the God of Jacob defend thee. Send thee help from the sanctuary. Strengthen thee out of Zion. Remember all thy offerings. and accept thy burnt sacrifice, Selah. Grant thee according to thine own heart, and fulfill all thy counsel. We will rejoice in thy salvation, and in the name of our God, we will set up our banners. The Lord fulfill all thy petitions. Now I know, now know I, that the Lord saveth his anointed. He will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength of his right hand. some trust in chariots and some in horses but we will remember the name of the Lord our God they are brought down and fallen but we are risen and stand upright save Lord let the king hear us when we call amen and the Lord always encourages us as we read the scriptures of holy truth the day of trouble It's never that far from any one of us. No sooner are you out of a day of trouble than you find yourself heading into another. We thought about that day of trouble a few weeks ago at our midweek prayer meeting when I drew your attention to the words of Psalm 50 and the verse number 15. Call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me the amazing thing was that the very next morning having preached on that text i opened my daily light little devotional book i've mentioned it a few times and printed across the top of the page for the morning readings was sam 50 and the verse 15 call upon me in the day of trouble and I will deliver thee and thou shalt glorify me and as I read those words I said to myself and I thought to myself well at least I was in the center of God's well last night we can very easily get out of God's well but at least I thought to myself I was in God's well How we respond to the day of trouble is certainly a matter that we need to give some consideration to once again because it is this day that the Psalmist David speaks off again. It is another day of trouble. It is a reminder to us that simply because you have had one day of trouble does not mean that that's it. You've reached the quota. You've had your lot. certainly not to be the case. Days of trouble happen to us in this world and will happen to us until we find ourselves free from all earthly troubles, when we find ourselves in God's heaven and so we want to consider what to do in the day of trouble as we consider david's day of trouble now in the day of trouble i want you to notice first of all the one david and treat it the one that david and treated you will know well that it was his god jehovah himself that david first made recourse to in the day of trouble yes david was a son But it wasn't to Jesse that he went to in his day of trouble. He didn't seek the advice and the counsel of his father. Now that's good to do if you find yourself in a day of trouble and your father is a Christian. no harm and seeking counsel and advice from an earthly father but it wasn't to Jesse that David finds himself going to making his first appeal to in the day of trouble not only that was David a son David was also a husband but it wasn't to his wife Michelle that David went to in the day of trouble Remember Saul gives to David this woman to wife, but it isn't to her that he goes to in the day of trouble. And it's no bad thing to have a godly wife, a wife who loves the Lord, a wife who prays, who seeks the Lord in prayer. No bad thing to share your burdens, your cares, your troubles with, with regard to your wife. Not only that, but David was Israel's king. but it wasn't to Samuel the prophet and what a man of God he was Samuel who would pray for David who said that he dared not to cease to pray to God for God's servant and for the nation what a godly man he was we would say it he was really David's minister or David's pastor but it wasn't to David's minister to David's pastor that he went to in the day of trouble it wasn't to Abner his army general What a trusted man he was in David's great government of the nation. It wasn't to any of his tried counselors or friends that he took himself to. David was also a friend to Jonathan. Jonathan was his friend, a close friend, but it isn't to Jonathan that he turns to. Jonathan is, I believe, dead at this particular moment of time, but I'm sure David had other friends. But it was to none of them that he turns to. It was simply to the Lord, to Jehovah, that David makes application to in the day of trouble. And now he encourages those whom he has come to rule over, and subsequently all who will then read this particular psalm, the 20th psalm, that we would also do the same. The Lord hear thee, the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. Now you all have to bear trouble. saved and unsaved alike we live in a fallen world trouble follows us man is born onto trouble as the sparks fly upward but the believer the child of god the christian has a god to go to in their trouble and that's a tremendous comfort that's a tremendous encouragement to the heart of the child of God. It is to Jehovah that we can turn to in the day of our trouble. The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. You know, maybe tonight you're in a day of trouble. Maybe child of God, your day of trouble has taken the form of some want or some need in your family or in your own personal life. Well then take yourself to Jehovah Jireh. Thinking about now the compound names of Jehovah. We're thinking about the one that we're going to in the Day of Trouble. And remember the Day of Trouble takes different forms. Your Day of Trouble may not be my Day of Trouble and my Day of Trouble may not be your Day of Trouble. And so the Days of Trouble, they take on a different form, different fashion for us all. But maybe your Day of Trouble is a Day of Want, a Day of Need. We'll then go to Jehovah Jireh. And you'll find that he's the Lord who provides. He's the Lord who will see to it. That's what his name means. He'll see to your needs being met. My God shall supply all your need according to his riches and glory by Christ Jesus. But maybe your day of trouble isn't want or need. Maybe your day of trouble is sickness. Well, then take yourself to Jehovah Rapha. You'll find that he is the Lord who heals. Maybe there's someone in your family, maybe it's your own self. Sickness plagues the body. Well then go to him in the day of trouble. He is Jehovah Rapha. Maybe your day of trouble has taken the form of some kind of distress. And your mind is full of fear and anxiety and worry. Maybe about something up ahead. Maybe some test that is up ahead. I'm not talking about a test with examination. I think everyone has done their exams by now. And maybe some doctor's test or something in the families causing you great distress. You're looking into the family and you're seeing troubles and problems and heartache and disappointment maybe with regard to your children. And there you are lying on your bed at night. Well, if you're in distress, take yourself to Jehovah Shalom. The Lord our peace. He'll give you his peace. A peace of passive all understanding. Maybe your day of trouble has taken the form of defamation. Things are being said about you. Slander, gossip is being broadcast in the church and beyond the church. Well then you take yourself to Jehovah Shafat. Because it's he who is the Lord who judges. He'll judge. He'll deal with those who are defaming you. Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. I will repay. Maybe your day of trouble has taken the form of failure in your Christian life, and you think yourself to have disappointed the Lord and failed the Lord. Well then, tonight, take yourself to Jehovah Sikhenu, and remember that he is the Lord your righteousness. You remember that His righteousness is the grounds of your acceptance before God, not your performance. Though at times our performance or our Christian living can be not what it ought to be and not come to the standard, thank God He is Jehovah, say, can you, to His people, maybe tonight your day of trouble has taken the form of some kind of weakness, then take yourself to Jehovah-Gabar. He is the Lord. who is mighty. His strength made perfect in your weakness. He who gives power to the faint. He is Jehovah-Gibbor. Maybe your day of trouble has taken the form of loneliness. Well then take yourself to Jehovah-Shammah, the Lord who's there. He's there for you. He's with you. You'll find that He is the Lord who is ever present. Maybe your day of trouble has taken the form of not knowing what direction to take. Then take yourself to Jehovah, and you'll find that He is the Lord, your shepherd, who goes before and shows you the way. Maybe your day of trouble has taken the form of countless enemies who seek your downfall and your destruction. Then take yourself to Jehovah's Sabbath, and you'll find that the Lord of hosts will defend you. What a blessing, then, it is to be able to call on the Lord, He who is almighty and he who is all wise, the covenant keeping God, Jehovah himself. And what are we to do in the day of trouble? As we said on the other occasion a few weeks ago, we are to pray. How often we give ourselves to complaining and murmuring in the day of trouble. But here we're encouraged by David to pray. The Lord hear thee. The Lord hear thee in the day of trouble. Wonder, did you pray today? Did you pray to the living God? To the God who hears and answers prayer, not like the false gods of the nations and of man's imagination, who have ears but they cannot hear? Did you pour out your soul to God in prayer? Did you bow your heart before God and ask Him for His help before you went out into the day? Did you commit your day to God in prayer? Did you ask Him to fill you with His Spirit and to guide you throughout the day and as troubles arose and problems arose that you lift your heart to God and ask him to help you the Lord hear thee in the day of trouble a preacher by the name of WL Watkinson he said this in the deepest darkest wildest distress Jehovah is a refuge of his people. And his name soothes the keenest anguish and lifts up the most despairing. Oh, to find that out in the day of trouble, Jehovah being a refuge for us. Remember, he is the covenant-keeping God. And so in the day of trouble, we see the one that David entreated, it was the Lord. That was his first port of call. I trust that it's ours in the day of trouble. In the day of trouble, in the day of David and the nation's trouble, notice with me in the second place the request that David entered in prayer. He enters these into prayer. David, though a king, though a man of business, though a man of war, was a man who nevertheless was constant in his devotions. He finds himself in a day of trouble, but he could still praise. Though he had prophets, priests, many good people among his subjects to pray for him, he did not think that that excused him for praying for himself. And so we find him here praying for himself and I believe also providing a pattern for his subjects to follow when they came to pray for their king. You know, while it's good to call on others to pray for us, such should never be a substitute for our own prayers for ourselves. You're here to pray for your family, your sons, your daughters, your nieces, your nephews, your brothers, your sisters. You're here to pray for them. It's good to get others to pray for them, but you're here to pray for them. And that's a good thing. We must not substitute our prayers, or let's put it another way, outsource our prayers to others, and we ourselves not pray. Well, the minister will pray for my children. The minister will pray for my husband, my wife, my brothers, my sisters. But you're to pray. You must not outsource prayer. you must do it yourself. God loves to hear you pray. Matthew Henry said, let none expect benefit by the prayers of the church, or of their ministers or friends for them who are capable of praying for themselves and yet neglect it. The prayers of others for us must be desired, not to supersede, but to second our own for ourselves. Now notice these requests that David then enters as he comes to address God in prayer. He prays, first of all, that God would defend. Verse 1, The name of the God of Jacob defend thee. The word defend has the idea of setting up on high, like setting upon a rock or setting up on a fortress or on some kind of high place. a tower, a mountain, or a rock, where his enemies could not reach him, and where the enemy could not assail. And this is what we need in the day of trouble. We need someone to defend us. God is the defense of his people. In Psalm 59 verse 16, David writes, but I will sing of thy power, yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning, for thou hast been my defense and refuge when in the day of trouble. There it is again. Psalm 59 verse 16, this marrying together a death trouble and yet one who is the defense, the refuge of his people. And David comes to prove this in the death trouble that God was his defense. Now David had his valiant men. Do you remember them? Think of some of their names. Shammah being one, Ananiah being another. These valiant men. David had these men. They could have defended him. He could muster armies at just a word, calling together armies of fighting men, and yet David understood that ultimately it was God who was going to defend him. The Lord defend thee. Then he prays for something else, not only for God to defend him, but also he prays that God would help. Verse 2, from the sanctuary, help from heaven. This is what David prays for, not from earth, but from heaven, from the very sanctuary of God, from the very place of meeting, from the very throne of God, send thee help from sanctuary. And is this not what we need in the day of trouble? And thank God that help comes to us in the form of God himself. Psalm 46 verse 1 God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble oh and then he says in another place our help is in the name of the Lord who made heaven and earth as well as good as all other helpers and helps our let us never feel to secure the help of our God in the day when the day of trouble breaks. Help. The psalmist comes to request something else. He comes to request that God would strengthen him. Verse 2 again, send thee help from the sanctuary and strengthen thee out of Zion. Strength is something that we need in the day of trouble. it seems that all strength drains from us when troubles abound in our lives we just can't seem to go on it's as if the tap has turned on and all strength has just drained out of us like an oil change whenever the bong is taken out And the oil just drains out. It seems to be in the day of trouble. There's no strength. No strength to pray. No strength to read the scriptures. No strength to go on in the Christian life when troubles abound. And in such times we need the impartation of strength. And again, such is found in our God. Because what do we read in Psalm 46 verse 1? That God is our refuge and strength. He's strength as well. He has promised to give power to the faint. To them that hath no might he increases strength as we wait upon him. In fact, he said, we know the verse well. They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up with wings as eagles. They shall run and not be weary. They shall walk and not faint. Does it feel tonight that your strength is almost gone because the day of trouble drags on? If so, then make this your prayer. Lord, strengthen me out of Zion. Put strength in me that I might face tomorrow, next week, the month ahead, and then into Christmas, and in the will of God into the new year. Lord, put strength in me. The words of the hemorrhoid are to come to mind when we have exhausted our store of endurance, when our strength has failed, ere the days have done when we have reached the end of our hoarded resources our father's full giving has only begun ask him for strength strength for the battle strength for the day and as thy day so shall thy strength be the psalmist requests god that requests that God would then remember and accept. Verse number three, remember all thy offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifice. You know, these words remind us that God takes notice of our religious practices. He takes notice of our attendance at the means of grace. While we may not bring books and sheep as offerings and sacrifices unto God, we do bring to Him the offering and the sacrifice of prayer and praise. Did we offer that offering today? Did we offer up that sacrifice to God today? Was prayer, was praise found on our lips today? When we come before God in prayer, we can ask Him to remember the greatest offering. And the greatest sacrifice, that of our Savior when He offered up Himself to God as a sacrifice for sin. Remember the greatest offering. Remember the greatest sacrifice God. Remember the sacrifice of your Son, and on the basis of His sacrifice, on the basis of that accepted sacrifice, Our sacrifices of prayer and praise come up also with acceptance to him through the virtue of Christ's sacrifice. Remember the sacrifice. Remember Calvary. Remember the blood. Remember it, Lord. And on the basis of that, then he comes to say, grant and fulfill. That's what he requests. He also prays. In verse 4, grant thee according to thine own heart and fulfill all thy counsel. Now here is David submitting to the will of God with regard to all that he's praying. You see, only whenever a child of God's heart is in tune with God could we pray such a petition. Otherwise, we would ask God for things that are not according to his will. If this prayer, as some believe, Template prayer for the people to pray for David their leader Then they could pray such a petition because they knew that David was a man after God's own heart They would have been praying grant be David according to David's own heart and fulfill all David's counsel How could that take place at David? His heart was out of tune with God out of fellowship with God We note here that our hearts desires are really completely dependent upon God for their fulfillment It was only if God wills it, will it come to pass. This is something that we need to understand always when we come to pray. It's simple, it's basic, it's rudimentary. And yet, brethren and sisters, we need to remember that God may or may not grant our request. And in this, we need to be submissive to his will. I thought about two sick men, two godly sick men in the Bible. how we come to see how God gives and grants one man's petition and yet not another's. For in the case of Hezekiah, God will grant him his request for healing in Isaiah chapter number 38. He adds to Hezekiah another 15 years to his life. He prays for it. He prays that God would heal him and touch him. The prophet comes back and tells Hezekiah that Health would be restored and 15 years would be an added 15 years to his life. However, for Paul, it was going to be very different. Despite him praying for that thorn in the flesh to be removed, that physical ailment that many people believe it was, God refuses that request. Why the difference? Were both men not righteous? Were both men not godly? Of course they were. The difference can only be but traced back to the will of God for each man's life. For Hezekiah, God's will was that health would be restored. For Paul, God's will was that he would be given added grace to endure the sickness. Two men, godly, righteous men, praying the same petition, God granting. petition of one and refusing to grant according to the prayer that was offered with regard to the apostle Paul. And so, whenever we come to pray, we must ever remember to say, nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done. The Lord's will be done. These are, therefore, the petitions that he enters. In the Day of Trouble, I want you to notice, thirdly, the truth that David comes to express. Verse number six. While many eyes in the nation were on David in the Day of Trouble, David had his eyes firmly fixed on the Lord. The king of Israel would look away from himself and look away to the king of kings. With his eyes now fixed on the living God, David is able to declare that God would save, that God would deliver him with the saving strength of his right hand. And what moved God to do that? It was the prayers of God's servant. Notice what he says, he will hear him. This is why He comes with His saving strength, and the saving strength of His right hand. He will hear Him from His holy heaven with the saving strength of His right hand. You know, there are those who ask the question, well, if God has purposed to do everything in this world, why pray? If God has ordered all things, why pray? Well, the problem with such reasoning is that the person divorces prayer from the purposes of God. Yes, God has purposed all things in this world. But often, in His purposes, prayer plays an integral part in what God has purposed to do. God has purposed you to pray. And in that purpose, he then intends to fulfill his purposes in the world. Look at prayer in that way. In answer to prayer, God purposes to fulfill his will. God hears and answers Prayer and so we are to pray And then his purpose that hidden that secret purpose of god in that there is that integral part Of us praying that is part of the purposes of god He purposes us to pray and in answer to prayer then he comes and brings salvation See prayer like that Not sort of well everything's going to happen anyway, so why pray No God has purposed in His purposes to involve you and prayer in it. We could say that, well, why preach? But in God's purpose, He has purposed men to preach the gospel and thereby sinners to hear the word and therefore believe on them of whom they have heard through the preaching of God's word. God has His means. And prayer, though at times we may not see it, plays a vital, integral role in the purposes of God. Isaac Ambrose was an English Puritan, and he was a man who saw the value of prayer, especially others praying for him. This is what he said on one occasion. He says, I would be, I would be glad if the prayers of all the churches of Christ O that there were not a saint on earth, but that I were by name in his morning and evening prayer. Whosoever thou art, that readest thy beseech thee, pray for me. But above all, let me have a property in those prayers and intercessions. that are proper only to Christ. I am sure then I shall never miscarry. Christ's prayers are heavenly, glorious, and very effectual. The prayers of the saints and the prayers of the Savior were a great comfort to God's servant. Now, did you pray for your minister today? Did you pray for him? May God hear your prayers. May God come with the saving strength of his right hand and save our loved ones and our friends in answer to our prayers tonight. In the day of trouble, note, fourthly, the confidence that David exercised. Some trust in chariots, verse number seven, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God. We would say today, some trust in their nuclear submarines. others trust in their tanks and in their aeroplanes. But we will remember the name of the Lord. There were those within the nation who misplaced their confidence, who misplaced their trust. They placed it in the machinery of war, chariots and horses. David expresses in verse 7 where his confidence is firmly placed in the name of the Lord our God. It's just another way of saying his confidence was in God, because the name is but the representation of the person, especially when it comes to God. As sophisticated and as modern as their war machine was, David chose to place all his confidence in his God. Now that does not say That does not mean that David disbanded his army simply because he had faith in God. But neither did he put his trust in his troops as his first and main line of defense. David undoubtedly had some of the most skillful generals and men like Joab and Shaman, Benaiah. But David's trust went far beyond men like them His trust was in the name of the Lord his God. Brethren and sisters, God uses man. There's no doubt about that. We must be very careful that we don't diminish the role of human instrumentality when it comes to the spreading of the gospel. God uses man. But if our confidence is placed simply in the talents and the abilities and the gifts of men, then we're going to be sadly disappointed. The arm of flesh will always feel. God will never and can never feel. And so let's not think anything less of our God, for such is a slight on Him. We will remember the name of the Lord our God. That's why we're here to pray. year to ask him to intervene finally very quickly the victory david expected regarding his enemies david said in verse 8 they are brought down and fallen but we are risen and stand upright the language that david employs is indicative of his conviction that his enemies would be vanquished and that he would ultimately triumph over them. And child of God, our enemies will be vanquished. Be in no doubt about that. United to Christ, our living head, all his and our enemies will be brought to heel. They'll be brought to heel, 1 Corinthians 15, 25. For he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet. Hebrews 10, 12, and 13. But this man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down in the right hand of God from henceforth, expecting till his enemies be made his footstool. Victory is sure. Victory is certain. The child of God is on the winning side. So away with this pessimism and away with this defeatism and away with this negativity and let us stand still and see the salvation of our God. Let's take the closing words of the psalm then as our prayer tonight. Save Lord. Not very complicated, is it? Let's pray it. Save Lord. Let the King hear us when we call. The King of glory. Happy is a thought in the day of trouble that we have one on the throne of glory who never casts out prayer. So let us then come to him. Let us come to him in prayer. Present to him all our petitions and all of our requests. May God send us help. May God defend us and may God strengthen us. May God grant according to our own heart and fulfill all of our counsel and all of our requests according to His perfect will as He comes and answers prayer. May the Lord bless this word to our hearts and may it be to the encouragement of your soul tonight for Christ's sake. Amen. Let's stand for a word of prayer very quickly. Our loving Father, our gracious God, we bless Thee, that Thou art God in heaven, We thank Thee that Thou art the one who comes with deliverance, comes with the arm of His own right arm, bringing salvation. We pray that Thou wilt pluck out that arm, pluck out Thy hand, Lord, and make it bare in these days. And come, Lord, and deliver us in our day of trouble. Come and deliver us, we pray, and answer prayer according to Thy will. And may we wait upon thee until the answer is given.