Well, good morning, everyone. Good morning. Oh, is this on? Good morning, everyone. That's really low. Might have to go up there and turn it up a little bit. Can you hear me, Finley? Yeah, I don't know what's going on with that. Our microphone is not working too well. Good morning, everyone. That's very nice, a nice, loud good morning. I was ready to quote Henry V and say, we few, we happy, happy few. But there's a lot more people here than I thought there would be this morning. It's good to have you all. Welcome to Old Providence. Already, you know that today is a different sort of day. Given the threat of winter weather, which I think it's now snowing here, it was interesting to me when we first moved here. Several times I would be in Stanton for something and it would be just cold rain in Stanton. And then I would get to Greenville and I'd say, oh, that doesn't feel like rain anymore. And then I'd turn on to whatever the road is over here and I'd see that the trees were frozen and then I'd. Turn on the old Providence Road and it was the fences that were frozen and then I'd get here and everything was frozen. So it's a different kind of day because we're doing this. It's very different kind of order of worship. But we appreciate you working with us on this. For those of you that are joining us online, we have lots of visitors that come. We do a one call system. If you're not signed up for that and you would like to be a part of that, let me know. But we didn't want to just cancel church outright. So instead, We wanted to find a middle ground, and hence what we are doing today. And we said, we might have egg on our face, it might do nothing at all. What are you gonna do, right? So instead of having nothing, we're gonna do some prayer, and then I'm gonna do some preaching, and then we are going to go home. And that's okay, that today is a different sort of day. No choir, just preaching and praying. We're not taking up the offering, but the plates are available as well. In just a moment, I'm going to open us with scripture and then offer the pastoral prayer. After that, children will be dismissed for children's church. So Elizabeth and Bella will be right over here. If you want your children to go to children's church, they will take them. Let's go to the Lord now as he brings us together. Our God and our Father, we praise you for this time that you have given to us and we pray that you would work in our hearts now and guide us by your Holy Spirit that this time would be pleasing to you. Father, it's a different sort of day, different than our normal worship service, but we are delighted that you have given us this time together, that you have brought us to this place. that we even have a place such as this, a nice and warm and dry that we can come together and worship you. So please be with us now and guide us and we pray it in Christ's name. Amen. Well, my friends, as I said before opening us in prayer, I'm gonna preach and I'm gonna pronounce the benediction and then we're gonna go home and that's okay because the Lord designs it that way. He works that way from time to time. Listen to what his word tells us as our call to worship, which is found in the book of Job in chapter 37, where Elihu is responding to Job saying, chapter 37, verse one, at this, my heart pounds and leaps from its place. Well, what's the this, right? It's kind of like the therefore, Ask what the therefore is therefore. The this. is Elihu reflecting on God's sovereignty, His power, His might. And he says, at this my heart pounds and leaps from its place. Listen. Listen to the roar of His voice, to the rumbling that comes from His mouth. He unleashes His lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth. After that comes the sounds of His roar. He thunders with His majestic voice. When His voice resounds, He holds nothing back. God's voice thunders in marvelous ways. He does great things beyond our understanding. He says to the snow, fall on the earth, and to the rain shower, be a mighty downpour, so that all men He has made may know His work. He stops every man from his labor. The animals take cover, they remain in their dens. The tempest comes out from its chamber. The cold from the driving winds. The breath of God produces ice and the broad waters become frozen. He loads the clouds with moisture. He scatters his lightning through them. At his direction, they swirl around over the face of the earth to do whatever he commands them. He brings the clouds to punish men or to water his earth and show his love. Listen to this Job stop and consider God's wonders My friends job 37 gives us an invitation It stays like today that this invitation is rather fitting where we are reminded that in all the things that we can plan And all the things that we can anticipate how we like to have life just tidied up everything fits into its own little spot The Lord is the one who is sovereign All things point to this, but certainly the weather points to us this idea that he lets snow fall on the earth to stop us from our labors or from time to time to have a different kind of worship service where we go home and remember him. This invitation is issued to Job, but God issues this invitation to you as well, to consider his majesty, to bask in his glory, to see his hand at work. And so in light of these things, let's go to our Lord in prayer now. Our God and our Father, we praise you for this time that you have given to us. I thank you for those who are here in our midst right now in our sanctuary, for those who are watching online. Father, what an amazing thing technology is, and we thank you that we can use it for this purpose. But Father, as we are gathered here on this different kind of day, let the truth of your word ring in our hearts that you are the sovereign one. We know all throughout your word that this message is the same, that all things point to you. Certainly the heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows your handiwork and even days like today, Father. So in this time where we come together, where we are lifting up prayers now, where we will very soon go to your word, we ask that you would be with us and guide us. Last week, in light of what you have said remains in your word, faith, hope, and love, we prayed for faith and now we pray for hope. As we think about the world around us, as we see everything from natural disasters to political upheaval to economic situations going on, and as we think about our own lives, things that might not even allow us to look at what's happening on the national or international scale, we pray that you would work in our hearts that we would be people characterized by hope. Hope that is not vain wishing, but instead hope that is based on planning. Hope that is based on the assurance of your word that, again, you are the sovereign one. That you not only know what is best for us, but you are working at all times, ordaining, maintaining all things on a grand, national, international, cosmic scale. But even the things in our lives, by the fact that we're here right now, with this opportunity to spend this time together. They all point to your gracious provision, and yet, Father, from the temptation of life, from the difficulties we face, that maybe it's medical, maybe it's relational, maybe it's other things, it's so easy to lose sight of you. Not that you go anywhere, but we wander. We are prone to wander. Forgive us, Father, and draw us back to yourself. Remind us that our hope is not based on our circumstances. Our hope isn't based on our power, on what we think we can do and can't do, on where we think we can go and can't go. Our hope is based on you, for you are our God and our creator. You are the one that changes our hearts. And so Father, we pray that you would do just that, that we would be captive to your word. that our desire would be what you desire for us, for what you want us best. We pray this not only for ourselves here at Old Providence, we pray it for your church universal that we would go into the world being the witnesses that you have called us to be, being ready to testify to your greatness and all the while praising you and turning to you again and again. So Father, please work in our hearts that we would have real hope based on you. And we pray it all in Christ's name. Amen. Now at this time, Elizabeth and Bell are going to head out this way. And so if you have children that are going to be going to Children's Church, they will be dismissed right over here with them. Well, my friends. Again, different kind of day, no offering, no choir, nothing like that. Instead, I'm going to preach and then we're going to go home and I'm going to tell you up front, what I plan to do today is not what we are going to be doing, but I shall next week. As I said to several people last week, we'd be getting back to Revelation today, but I didn't want to jump back in on a day where our numbers would be perhaps limited. And so after making the final decision yesterday afternoon, I sat down and and put paper to pen, as it were, and instead of Revelation, instead we're gonna be in the book of Psalms, okay? The book of Psalms. Now, why the Psalms? Well, again, today is a different kind of day, but in addition to that, there's a fitting message that we find all throughout the book of Psalms that is particularly relevant to our resuming the book of Revelation next week. Now, what might that be? Consider the world around you right now. The Book of Revelation is a very hot topic these days, and for a lot of different reasons. Will you show the girls where, there we go. Oh, maybe, maybe not, okay. Oh, okay, so we're in good shape, all right, very good. All right, now, the book of Revelation, very hot topic for discussion today. And it's because of what's going on in the world. Now, that's one of the reasons that I decided to preach through the book of Revelation, in fact, because don't we find ourselves in one of these times where if you had to say where people are at, you see people that are lost, confused, unsure, unclear, perplexed. It's because of a lot of different things. Now think about what we've been through over the last few years. Think about what we faced with COVID, right? Worldwide epidemic shutdown, all that kind of stuff. I don't know if you heard, maybe you did, there's this new virus. I don't know what it's called, but it's out of China. And I heard about this just the other day. There's something new going around right now. There always will be. When's the last time you were worried about the bird flu? But y'all remember when that's what it was? That was the thing. and the swine flu, y'all remember that? Which one was it where you're supposed to look for dead blue jays in your yard? Does anybody remember that? That was like a sign of, no, that was the West Nile virus and that was supposed to be the thing that destroys. My point is, there's always something in this world of ours, isn't there? There's always the next great threat. And this causes angst in people. It causes fear and worry. And I'm not trying to say that COVID wasn't serious or anything like that. My point is, that's the nature of the world that we're living in. There's always going to be that next thing. Or maybe it's other things that lead to this doubt and confusion and wondering and wondering. Maybe it's the economic upheaval that we face as of late. Everything from inflation to fuel prices, grocery prices, right? The housing market that goes up and down. Stock market's doing its thing. Maybe it's that. I don't know. Maybe you heard. Maybe it's the fact that we had a presidential election recently that caused some turmoil, didn't it? Some upheaval. And then you got the natural disaster stuff going on, things like the wildfires. that are raging in California. And we can't forget what just happened in North Carolina, the hurricane and its devastating effects. And natural disasters abound. And the end result of this upheaval, this turmoil, this is again, this uncertainty, this fear, this confusion, people being perplexed. And sadly, it's in that environment that the best word I could use is opportunist. The worst word I could probably use is downright heretics, right? False teachers rise up and they start cracking open the book of Revelation and they start trying to scare people to death. And as we're gonna talk about next week, that's not why we were given the book of Revelation. We were given the book of Revelation to encourage us, not to discourage us. We were given the book of Revelation for the purpose of hope and readiness. And yet the book of Revelation is kind of like a brick, right? You can use it to build something mighty and powerful, or you can toss it through a plate glass window. And many are fond of doing that. And so today, instead of going to Revelation with our limited numbers, not that you all aren't important, I'm not saying that, but instead of just getting back into our regular series, there is a message from the book of Psalms that is very, very fitting. And it's fitting in light of what's going on on the national and international scale, but it's also fitting based on what may or may not be going on in your life. As I've remarked on before, the reality is is that sometimes the national and the international stage, you might have something going on in your life that, quite frankly, you haven't even had time or enough care to notice what's going on nationally or internationally. Sometimes it's things like health situations, where maybe you have a surgery that's coming, or maybe you've had one, maybe it's a diagnosis that you face, and you're not really worried about what the next big thing is that's coming out. You're dealing with the situation that you face. Maybe it's a relationship situation, something interpersonal between you and somebody else that is taking center stage. Maybe it's vocational. Maybe it's financial. I mean, there are so many different things in life. It's like I talked about last week, right? When you're making hay, you know, the grass is just fine. And then it ends up getting chewed up and spit out the other end, looking nothing like it did. Y'all, that's what life is like sometimes. And if that's what you're going through, you know, You don't have time to worry about things like politics or what's happening on the national stage because life hurts and you don't see a way forward. In light of these things, in light of the turmoil of the world around us, in light of the personal things, what are we to do? How are we to go forward? In this world of ours that's so confusing, including those that are false teachers that would misuse the book of Revelation and other books to take us down paths that God would never take us down. But even in light of the personal situations that you face, what are we to do? My friends, thankfully God's word is not silent on what we are to do when life hurts, when things are difficult, when we don't know up from down. Take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Psalms 71, Psalm chapter 71 or the 71st Psalm. I'm actually using the Pew Bible translation. I don't know what page that's on, but that's the 1984 and it's a very good translation. So if you don't have your Bibles, grab one and use it because Psalm 71 is way too long to put up on all the slides here. Instead, I'm just going to be reading it. So get those Pew Bibles and I think it's the right hand side. If you open to the dead center, you're probably going to be in the book of Psalms. I'm using the, not the King James version, but the other one that's in there. But that being said, Psalm 71 is one of my favorites because David, who wrote Psalm 71, really puts his heart, oh, there it goes. Now the sound is up. You might have to turn me down a little bit there. Don't know what's going on with the sound system this morning. Maybe he didn't think we were meeting either. I don't know, something like that. Anyway, all right, so Psalm 71 is one of my favorites because David's the author, and what we see here is David's heart on display, right? There's no pretense. There's no wall that he puts up. We see his heart. He just lays it out for us. Now, not a lot of, a whole lot of things are known about the occasion of Psalm 71, except for the fact that the psalm was written, actually, that was David when he was younger. The psalm is written really towards the end of David's life. And it was written during a very uncertain time in David's life. It's a time of conflict. We don't know exactly when, but we know that it's a time of conflict. It could be when Absalom, his son, rebels and tries to take the kingdom for his own. It could be during Sheba's rebellion where again someone comes and tries to take the throne from David. We know he's in harm's way but we don't really know how. But we do know this, realize that God always keeps His promises. I'll make that note again. What we find out in 2 Samuel Chapter 12 is that God made a promise to David. about his house after his sin. He said, now therefore the sword will never depart from your house because you despised me and took the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your own. This would not be the only problem that David would encounter because of this. It would be also his honor was removed in that he would not be the one that could build the temple. That honor would go to his son, Solomon. But nevertheless, God made this promise to David that the sword would never depart. And God always keeps his promises. So whatever the occasion is for Psalm 71, we know that it involves the sword and we know that bad things are happening, that danger is present. And along with it, a myriad of emotions from David. Those emotions that I talked about before, loss, hurt, heartache, confusion, being perplexed, all of these different things and more. But what we find here is David still. Yes, he's got blood on his hands. He's been forgiven. Yes, the sword is never gonna depart, but he's still David. He's still the man after God's own heart. Remember what God said to Saul through Samuel? Through Samuel, God said to Saul, but now your kingdom will not endure. The Lord has sought a man after his own heart and appointed him ruler of his people. And before you say, yeah, but that's before David and Uriah, the Hittite and Bathsheba. Yeah, well, it's repeated again in the book of Acts. God through Luke says after removing Saul, he made David their king. God testified concerning him saying, I have found David son of Jesse, a man after my own heart. He will do everything I want him to do. Y'all, David was not perfect. In fact, we've talked about his sin, and there were even more problems that he faced. But I believe that God said this about David, being the man after his own heart, because despite his sin, David was never haughty. He never hid his true heart from God. He was genuine when trouble came, whether it was in the form of Goliath, or whether it was later in life when he's an old man and he's in harm's way. No matter what's going on in Psalm 71, God through David shows us what our response to danger and uncertainty, fear and apprehension, trouble in general. God shows us through David what our response ought to be. Now, what are we to do? Let's read Psalm 71 and we'll find out for ourselves, but first, let's go to the Lord in prayer. Our God and our Father, would you be with us now and would you guide us by your Holy Spirit? As we consider these things, as we talk about what it is to face fear and apprehension, not knowing the way forward, if there's a way forward, and why things happen as they did in the past, and as we face life and ponder what are we to do, we know that your word tells us But Father, this is not just a matter of reading comprehension. We need your spirit to work in our hearts, to change us, to transform us. So please, fill us now with your spirit. Illuminate your word that we would read, that we would know, that we would understand what you would have us do. And we pray it all in Christ's name, amen. Again, what are we to do in light of the world around us? Psalm 71, beginning in verse 1, hear now the word of the Lord. It says, in you, O Lord, I have taken refuge. Let me never be put to shame. Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness. Turn your ear to me and save me. Be my rock and my refuge to which I can always go. Give the command to save me for you are my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, O God, from the hand of the wicked, from the grasp of evil and cruel men. For you have been my hope, O sovereign Lord, my confidence since my youth. From birth I have relied on you. You brought me forth from my mother's womb. I will ever praise you. I have become like a portent to many, but you are my strong refuge. My mouth is filled with your praise, declaring your splendor all day long. Do not cast me aside when I am old. Do not forsake me when my strength is gone, for my enemies speak against me. Those who wait to kill me conspire together. They say, God has forsaken him. Pursue him and seize him, for no one will rescue him. Be not far from me, O God. Come quickly, O my God, to help me. May my accusers perish in their shame. May those who want to harm me be covered with scorn and disgrace. But as for me, I will always have hope. I will praise you more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure. I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O sovereign Lord. I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone. Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come. Your righteousness teaches or reaches to the skies, O God, you who have done great things. Who, O God, is like you? Though you have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again. From the depths of the earth, you will again bring me up. You will increase my honor and comfort me once again. I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, oh my God. I will sing praise to you with the lyre, oh holy one of Israel. My lips will shout for joy when I sing praise to you. I, whom you have redeemed. My tongue will tell of your righteous acts all day long. For those who wanted to harm me have been put to shame and confusion. And we'll stop reading right there. May God bless the reading of His holy, inerrant, and infallible word. Amen and amen. Now, I want to start out by saying something. Obviously, I believe in the importance of preaching the Word of God. After all, I are one, a preacher that is. But even so, there are some passages that kind of sort of preach themselves, I think, that read you as much as you read them. And so because of that, Psalm 71, I believe, is one of those passages. Instead of going word by word through this with so many of them, y'all, again, you don't have to be a master expositor to understand Psalm 71. You don't have to be an ace at reading comprehension. It says what it means, and it means what it says. So instead, I want to bring out what's going on here with David. What is this really all about what he's going through? Well, first off, if you had to summarize the 71st Psalm in a single word, I believe that word would be hope. Hope. Now this is a subject that we focused on not too long ago if you recall. It was a little bit more than a month ago. It was the second week of Advent. We focused on the hope of Christmas. And I spent a lot of time back then, right, a little bit over a month ago, talking about the difference when people use that term hope between worldly hope and real biblical hope. I talked about the fact that when we say, I hope, usually it's the simple stating of a preference, right? Our wishes, as I said, modern hope, often enough, is wishful thinking. It's like me saying, I really hope that the weather isn't too bad today, because I've got to go meet somebody in Stanton. But basically, when I say that, it's maybe it will be, maybe it won't be. When I say what my hope is, in the modern context of that word, it's really just kind of like a statement of want. You know, to say I hope could also be interchangeable with fingers crossed, you know, or some people do the knock on wood thing. We're not superstitious. We're Presbyterians. We believe in the sovereignty of God, okay, so deal with that. But anyway, the question is the modern idea of hope being wishful thinking, is that the hope of Psalm 71? when David stops and says in verse 14, but as for me, what David's doing there is he's comparing himself to all of his detractors. He's comparing himself to all those who would fall into despair. He stops and he says, but as for me, I will always have hope. You think he's talking about wishful thinking? You know, going to the wishing well and tossing in a quarter and maybe it'll happen, maybe it won't happen. Y'all, we know the answer to that. Of course not. Biblical hope is far different than worldly hope, but still we face the question, what are we to do? You see, as we read Psalm 71, David is quite clearly facing some very serious and real dangerous problems here. He writes of his enemies. We just read about what his enemies are saying. Here, look at verse 10 again. He said, for my enemies speak against me. Those who want to kill me conspire together. But notice what his enemies say. This is verse 11. He says, they say God has forsaken him. Pursue him and seize him, for no one will rescue him. Very clearly, David is facing some serious problems here. And his enemies are convinced that they're going to be able to overrun him and take the kingdom. And yet, what is his response? He says he's going to have hope. But more than just having hope, David does something else. And the first thing that he does is that he takes refuge. He takes refuge in the Lord, asking for help. Look again at verse three. As he talks to God, he's not just saying things in general, he's addressing this to God. This is a prayer, it's a song of praise, but it's a prayer too. He says to God, verse three, be my rock of refuge to which I can always go. Give the command to save me, for you are my rock and my fortress. Deliver me, oh my God. When David's in a situation that he doesn't know up from down, left from right, where to go, what to do, what happened, what's gonna happen, his first response is that he took refuge in the Lord and he asked the Lord for help. That's what he did. And we can see this in verse one. He starts out with this, in you, oh Lord, I have taken refuge. Let me never be put to shame. Rescue me and deliver me in your righteousness. Turn your ear to me and save me." One thing should come to mind for us as we review this, David's refuge was God. You know what that term means? I remember being a kid and I was reading a book and I always read books that were too old for me. And I remember talking to my third grade teacher, Mrs. McCandless, about this. And it was a wildlife book and it talked about a wildlife, I don't even know if I could pronounce refuge then, but I said, what, what's that? Right? And I remember Ms. McCandless telling me, your refuge is the place you go to be safe, right? And if you look at a definition for it, a refuge is a safe place, a shelter from danger or hardship, something or someone turned to for assistance or security, an act of turning to for assistance, right? And there's practical applications for this. Your basement in a tornado is your refuge. You're high ground in a flood. That's your refuge. You're hiding place when the intruder comes. Again, David's refuge was God. And this is a man with an entire kingdom at his disposal. Think of all the things that the king of Israel could have done, could have angled for. But where does he turn to first? He turned to the Lord first. Why? Well, when you got a problem, don't you normally do the thing that you think will work first? I mean, seriously, if you have a problem, if something's broken, you don't say, eh, this probably ain't gonna work, but I'll give that a whirl. No, you do the thing that you think will work. David went to God because David's refuge was God and in taking refuge in God David's responses is very simple as we just read David asked God to save him to protect him to watch over him Why because David knew and believed what we need to know and believe. I And what we need to know and believe is that our refuge is God. No matter what's going on in the world around us, we have a refuge. We have safety, and that refuge is Him. And we need to turn to Him in our time of need. Y'all, there's a phrase that I'm guilty of saying, and I can't stand it. But I've said it before, you've probably said it too. You ever faced a difficult situation, and then after you've done every single thing you know to do, you've said it. I guess all I can do now is what? I guess all I can do now is pray. Y'all, if we start with prayer, then maybe we don't get to the point where all I can do now is pray. Start with turning to the Lord. He's not a last resort. He's the first one to turn to, and David shows us that in the middle of an extremely complicated time. In his life, we're to do the same. And in the middle of an extremely complicated time in the face of the earth right now, and what's going on in our nation, and what's going on in the world around us, you see, we have to navigate life. And I'm not saying that we don't. We have to be wise. God's word tells us to be wise. We make decisions we proceed forward. I talked about it in a daily devotional this past week God never tells you to pray for a hole while leaning on a shovel Okay, you got to go you got to keep on moving. You got to keep working But that doesn't mean that you abandon God and just blaze forward and do your own thing instead Our refuge is God our hope should be in the Lord first and this is where we come back to hope This is not wishful thinking Biblical hope is not wishful thinking. It's resolute planning and trust. It's taking God at his word and moving in light of what God has said he would do. If you watch the daily devotionals, there's a prime example of this in the scriptures, and it's Abraham. Where God called Abraham and said, hey, get up and go to the place where I'm going to show you. I don't know how many spur-of-the-moment people we have. It tends to be that people are either spur-of-the-moment people or they're planning people, right? If you're a planning person, the idea of, hey, just go. Oh, OK. Where am I going? How long does it take to get there? What do I need to take? Is it going to be hot? Is it going to be cold? Is it going to be rainy? Do I need to take cash money? Will they take cars or credit? Yeah, I'm kind of a spur of the moment guy, y'all. Amanda will tell you we go on these trips. She knows and she does a lot of the planning and I find the house of mud and drive 300 miles to get to it, right? But if you're a planning person, the idea of just going really bothers you. But even if you're not a planning person, the idea of just going and not knowing anything, not having any idea. I know you're saying, that's Abraham. It's not like life is like that. Really? If you've lived any sort of life at all, you know that there are times when you look around and you say, where do I go from here? You may have things in life that are normal, right, that are parts of life on a regular basis, the steps, the stages that you go through, but if you've ever really faced something, you know what it is for your mind to be one place but for your obligations in your body to be elsewhere and to look up and say, where am I really going? Where does this really end up? But my friends, this is why the scripture calls us to do what it does. This is why David shows us to do what we are to do. Our hope should be in the Lord and it is a hope of resolute planning and trust based on the truth that even if the whole world seems to be falling apart, God's in control. Do you know that? that God is in control. That's one of those theological ideas that's easy to have at the forefront of your vision in a general sense. But when life gets difficult for you, when you get that scary medical diagnosis, when you find out you're gonna have to have surgery, or when you hear this job is ending, or when you find out this person is leaving, That general idea that, oh yeah, everybody knows God is in control. Sometimes it's hard to live in light of that. And it's easy to feel like the whole world is falling apart. But my friends, the calling of scripture is to remember that God is sovereign. God is in control. And not only is God in control, the scripture calls us to remember that you belong to God. This is why God gives us the promises that he gives us. And there's so many of them. I happen to like 1 Peter 5, 7, which when difficulty comes, we're told to cast all your anxiety on him. Why? Because he cares for you. Nobody cares for you like God cares for you. But do you realize that in his caring for you, God invites you? He invites your fears. your worries, your hurts, your apprehensions. He invites you to bring those to Him because He's your refuge. You're called to trust in him. You're called to ask him to save you, protect you and transform you. What did David do? Number one, he took refuge in the Lord, asking for help. But that's not all that David did, because you see, when difficulty comes, there always comes with it opportunity. Opportunity to trust, yes, but also opportunity to praise, to proclaim and to testify. And we learned that from David here too, because the next thing David did was he praised God. And y'all, let me just tell you something. If you think it's hard to trust the Lord, when difficulty comes, if you think it's hard to trust the Lord, for him to be your refuge, when it seems like the whole world is falling apart, when everything seems like it's falling apart, it's even more difficult to praise God. But in so doing, David shows us what we're to do. We'll come back to this idea of praising God, but let's answer the question now. What are we to do? We should take refuge in the Lord, asking for help. We should praise God. Not only should we trust Him in the midst of all the confusion, we should turn to Him, praising Him. Why? Look at verse 14 again with me here. What we see from David in the midst of him asking for help is a declaration. He says, but as for me, I will always have hope. I will praise you more and more. My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long, though I know not its measure. You know, pausing for just a second, what does he mean there? Is David talking there when he says, I know not its measure. Is he saying there that he doesn't know yet how the Lord is going to save him? Or is he saying there that God's salvation is so great that nobody can really comprehend it and know it? I think the answer is yes. We read the end of the psalm, we know that David is confident that the Lord is going to redeem him, right? He says, again, verse 21, you will increase my honor and comfort me once again. David knows that God's gonna answer his prayer, but he says here, though I know not its measure. I think this is more than him just saying, I don't know how you're gonna save me, but you are. I think this is David pondering the salvation of God and all of its majesty. Pausing again for just a second, we're gonna continue reading in just a second, but do you take the time to ponder God's salvation? What I mean by that is not only in the general sense, and you can do this in a general sense, do you take the time to think about heaven? I believe that we spend far too little time focusing on heaven, which is a shame because you know, the number one thing that Jesus talked about was the kingdom of God. Number one, go read the gospels. The number one thing that Jesus talked about to people is the kingdom of God at hand. The number two thing he talks about is the alternative, which is hell. Number three thing is money. But nevertheless, that's for a different sermon altogether. But do you take enough time to contemplate heaven and glory? Because y'all, we're going to be there one day. Life is fast. For some people, much more quick than others. But going beyond the broad scale, do you ever take the time to ponder the salvation of the Lord that you, like David, could say, I know not its measure? What I mean by that is, have you ever stopped to think about the way that God has worked in your life? And if you struggle with that, think about your sin. Think about those things that only you and God know about. And I don't mean just actions, you know, sin is not just the things that we do, it's the things that we leave undone, the things that we should that we never get around to. And it's even the things that are the right things that we do that we do for the wrong reasons. I'm not telling you to dwell on your sin, but you need to know your sin because my friends, if you have no idea of this, then there's no way that you can appreciate the grace that you have in Christ. Think about your sin and the fact that it's been paid for. Now, whether it's Hebrews, it doesn't matter, whether it's Romans 8, think about the fact that when God looks at you, Christian, He does not see your sin. He doesn't see that thing that you're so ashamed of. He sees the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. Do you know that that's how the gospel works? That's one of those things we can know about in theory, but in practicality, we have to be like David and say, I know not its measure, because who can begin to understand how much grace he's been shown? Not me, not you, but that's how wonderful God is. I don't know who said it, but realize the difference between God and Satan. I love this saying that Satan knows your name, but calls you by your sin. God knows your sin, but He calls you by your name. And He does so because He loves you and because His salvation is so great and in light of this, David concludes. Verse 16, look at it with me. Again, verse 16, he says, I will come. and proclaim your mighty acts, O sovereign Lord. I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone. Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds. Even when I'm old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come. What does David want more than anything else? Why does David want salvation? It's a puzzling thing when we hear that David is the man after God's own heart. Because David's got a lot of issues. Yeah, there's the Bathsheba thing. That's only part of it. He's got a temper and he's got problems. Sometimes people wonder, how can he be the man after God's own heart? This is why. because David doesn't want salvation for just his own sake. David isn't asking for God to shame his enemies because David's vain or embarrassed or anything like that. No, David wants to be saved. David wants to keep on going, not for himself, but instead he wants to keep going, the end of verse 18, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come. This is why David is the man after God's own heart, because his great desire is to honor God. Now in light of that, what should be our greatest desire? Our greatest desire should be God's glory to And he speaks true here. As we just read, he talked about, verse 17, since my youth, O God, you have taught me. Consider David. This is at the very end of his life. It's one of the last things he ever wrote. But I think it's fitting because what we find at the end with David is what we find at the beginning with David. You remember where we first find David, where we first hear him speak? Where we first hear him speak is on the battlefield with Goliath. Do you remember what he said? Goliath comes out every day to taunt the Israelites. David shows up and he hears it. And his brothers who he looks up to are running back from the battle lines with the rest of Israel. And David hears this and he says, who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should dare insult the armies of Jehovah? That's the first thing we hear from David. And this is one of the last. That he desires to see God glorified. My friends, our greatest desire should be the same. Why? Because David understood something. That's where he actually begins. He understands taking refuge in the Lord, but bigger than that, he understands that the Lord's love endures forever. He understands that the Lord is his refuge because of the Lord's love. That even if the world fell apart around him, even if the world falls apart around us, God is still reigning on high. David understands that God alone is worthy and that our God reigns. And David understood the opportunity that the adversity in his life brought him. We have that unique opportunity as well, you know. In this time of discord and darkness, we can be lights. In this time of wondering and wandering, we can proclaim the Lord's greatness too. What should we do? What are we to do? Take refuge in the Lord, asking for help and praise him. and do so in the hope and the assurance that he is true to his word. If you are here today and you know that you don't know him, this certainty, this hope, this assurance, it can be yours, but it will only be in Christ Jesus. David says here, as we read, that you will increase my honor and comfort me once again. David, of course, was not only pointing to himself, he was pointing to his line forever and ever, which finds its ultimate fulfillment in Jesus. the shoot out of Jesse, the one seated on David's throne forever. If you want this truth, this assurance, this hope, it will only be in Christ that you find it. So believe on the name of Christ and be saved. If you want to talk, I'll be under the portico. See me after and we will talk about this. But if you've done that, what is your refuge? Are you trusting in the Lord? You don't have to see where the Lord is taking you to trust that he can take you there and to ask him to. Will he be your refuge? Let's pray. God and our Father, we thank you for Psalm 71 and all the other places in your word that are like it, that point to your faithfulness, that point to your mercy and your love, that point to the fact that our hope is you and you alone. Thank you, Father, for your magnificent glory, for your loving kindness, for this calling you have given to us, and for this promise that you never leave us alone. And sometimes that's through the power of your word and your spirit. Sometimes it's in lonely places. Sometimes it's through one another, the people that you bring into our lives. It's your business how you work, Father, but we know that you are, and we praise you for it. And we pray it all in Christ's name. Now receive the benediction. May the Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord cause his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift his countenance upon you and give you peace, both now and forevermore. Amen. You may go in peace, but it's been snowing a lot out there, so be careful going home. Let me get out to the portico before you take off.