It wasn't so very long ago that we took up Psalms 42 and 43 for our meditation. And so this evening we turn to Psalm 44. And having read that Psalm already, and it's still fresh in our memory, I think friend, you and I, we can leave that Psalm and ask ourselves two questions, really, I suppose, one question in substance. We can ask ourselves, to what extent does the cause of God have an existential connection with myself? How personally interested am I in the cause of God in the place in which I live? Another cognate question to that is, does the condition of the church, does it weigh upon my soul? I said that those questions are really one in substance and they are. And friend, both of those questions are integral to this text. As you and I leave our meditations this evening, I trust that that's what we will see perhaps most of all. We see that this Psalm asks us those questions quite directly. But it's important for us to see how. Why does the psalm present to us what it does? And what does it present, of course? So we begin, first of all, by noticing that there is, well, there's something of a mirror that we have in the text. Two parts of a timeline, if you will. In the very first verse, you and I were told of the days of our fathers, or of the time of old. And so the psalmist continues to describe in the subsequent verses to what he's referring. In verses two and three, he describes for us the blessing that he has primarily in view in his forebears experience. And then in verses four to eight, he gives to us what is a historical confession. What did this blessed generation say to God? What was their response to the great mercies they were shown by the Lord? And you see that in verse seven, the psalmist is reporting to us what was their confession in that time of blessing, when God had saved them from their enemies and from oppression. That's the first part of the mirror. The reflection is given to us in what you find after verse nine. It's the perfect inversion. of how the psalm began. But he says in the ninth verse, the idea there is, but now, before he talked to us about the days of our fathers, the days of old, now he's talking to us about his present experience. And there's a real contrast. And the force of that contrast is given to us in verses nine to 16, in which he presents to us what is truly a perfect reversal of the blessedness that he previously described. And to make the Psalm even more symmetrical in verses 17 to the end, we have what is the present confession and the present petitions of this afflicted generation. And so the Psalm is a study in contrast. The days of old, the days in which the church was in a flourishing condition, the days in which her praise was renowned, compared with those days in which the church is languishing. And her primary note that is sounded is that of pleading, pleading for mercy. And so that is the soul, the church in two conditions. But I suppose we need to ask the question, Who is the psalmist? We know, of course, that the psalmist here in this particular text is somewhat eclipsed. We don't see, we don't know much about him, but he does represent a particular group. Of course, the plural pronoun is found throughout. So who are the ones who are taking up the psalm? Who are those who are making the petition that you find from verses 17 to the end? Well, the answer is really straightforward because in verse 17, we're given their character, aren't we? These are those who have not forgotten the Lord. These are those who have not dealt falsely in God's covenant. They're not covenant breakers. A friend, you know this as well as I do. Wherever you place this particular epic, this very moment in redemptive history, in which you have the church under age and a languishing condition, wherever you place that, whether it's, perhaps before the fall, maybe in the times of the judges, or perhaps you'd put it sometime after the fall of Israel to Assyria, or you make it especially related to the Babylonian exile, or even sometime after the return from exile, wherever you put it, you and I know very pointedly that the reason why Israel faced those national calamities was because of her covenant breaking because of her general and her gross defection. So friend, this Psalm is not, it is not the prayer of the generality and certainly not the prayer of the totality of the nation. This is the prayer of a remnant within. It must be. This is the prayer of that remnant, that spiritual people who were faced with the tokens of God's wrath. the cry of the remnant. And in this cry, friend, what you and I have is a picture of their desires. If you like their worldview, and of course, we get a glimpse of their character as well. Why is it so important to note that this is a remnant? Friend, the obvious answer is because this is a point in which we're asked, are we of this number? are our desires, is our perspective, and does our character align with what we find in this text? And friend, for a generation such as ours, where the tokens of God's wrath are not hard to find, when the church most certainly is in a languishing condition, those questions are of the utmost importance. The theme of this psalm then is that God's remnant desires the return of blessing for his sake. And very briefly, as we meditate on this psalm together, I want us to do so under three headings. I want us to see first of all, the blessing, the blessing that is here described, the bleeding of God's people. And then finally, their bleeding as they make their petitions known to the Lord. So take first of all, their blessing. And again, you have that given to us in the first eight verses. Here, the psalmist recalls quite directly how the Lord had wrought redemption for his people in the past. We with our fathers, we heard with our ears, oh God, our fathers have told us what work thou didst in their days and times of old. And what did he do? Well, as we find in the text, it is God who planted them. God who routed their enemies. God who subdued the nations before them. God wrought redemption. That's the theme. And even within that theme, there's something of a contrast, a contrast between how God dealt with the heathen and how God dealt with his people with regard to the heathen. He drove them out, he afflicted them, he casted them out. For the people of God, they knew the blessing of being planted, of having possession, of a people being saved. That's the blessing that's described there. But as you go throughout these verses, down to the eighth verse, you begin to see that there is something of a climax. The people of God there are looking at all of the blessedness that they have known. The Lord has put to shame them that were their enemies. But then this, in God we boast all the day long. Did you catch the significance of that connection between verses seven and eight? At the end of verse seven, you have the idea that the nations are as it were silenced before the people of God. Came faced because they've seen what God has done for them. And do you see the return of God's people? It's like as the nations are looking at them, this is their response. In God, says the people of God, we boast all the day long. As they're cowering and shame faced, the people of God reply that it is God in whom they boast and Him alone. The nations in this text are presented to us as a people who are captivated. No, really made captive to the praise of God's people. And that's the note in which this first section of the Psalm ends. This is presented to us, friend, as it were, the pinnacle, the climax of the blessedness of this generation. The nations were captive to her praise of the living God. Yes, she enjoyed possession. She enjoyed safety and security, but most of all, she delighted in this occasion. in which the enemies of God, their mouths were stopped. And she had opportunity to boast in the Lord God before them. This was the chief element, the capstone of the blessedness of this generation. God's public glory. What you learn from this friend is that God's people, they count God's exaltation on the earth. as a blessing unto them. Friend, this is not a by-path and this is not something that should be considered new to us either. You remember how the church of God responded to the Exodus. The people shall hear and be afraid, Exodus 15. The idea is there as God has wrought redemption, the church delights that the nations are silenced and made captive to the praises of God's people. You see this in the very prayers of God's people afterward in Psalm 102. Thou shalt arise and have mercy upon Zion, so the heathen shall fear the name of the Lord. Yes, she delights that she has been shown mercy, but what is it that the psalmist aims at as he petitions the Lord for saving help? It's so that the heathen, that the nations, would be silenced as God is lifted high. Again, friend, that is the cry of Psalm 67. God be merciful unto us, cries the church, that thy way may be known upon the earth. The chief end of man is also the chief delight of God's people, to glorify God and to have this special occasion when the enemies of God must be silent. as the name of God is lifted high. Here you have a people that delight that they have been shown mercy because they have such an occasion thereby to glorify the Lord. Friend, is he not worthy? Is he not worthy to have a people who just counted their greatest joy to see his name exalted? who count it not only their chief end, but their greatest privilege to be those who are employed in his praise. Is he not altogether worthy for him? One who intrinsically is altogether lovely, righteous, holy, wise. Here the people of God in their blessedness, they see their greatest blessing. being this occasion to exalt his name. Now, if that is the blessing, what of the bleeding condition of the church? What of her affliction? Before that, we turn down to verse nine. Again, the contrast between the two epics, the epic of blessing now contrasted with present affliction, but thou has cast us off. And that begins the first of many reversals. You remember in verse two, the Gentiles, they are the ones who are cast out. But in this section in verse eight, sorry, verse nine, it's the people of God who are cast off. In verse eight, the nations are put to shame. In verse nine, the church is put to shame. In verse five, the enemies of God's people are put down. In verse 10, the people of God are turned back from the enemy. Before the people of God were planted like a tree, verse two, now in verse 11, they're like sheep for the slaughter. Friend, what you and I have in this text again is a perfect reversal of the blessing that's previously been described. Now you have a people who have a perfect inversion of their father's experience. And this becomes even more poignant as you look down to verses 13 and following. For there you have something of a crescendo of misery, warming to its end. They're made a reproach, a byword, a shaking of the head among the people. They're brought to a condition of confusion. Shame covers them. But note, friend, what you have in verse 17. That shame and that confusion stems primarily, he says, sorry, in verse 16 from this. The voice of him that reproacheth and blasphemer. Here's the pinnacle of this affliction. The name of God is blasphemed. Just as the greatest blessing that the church knew at the end of verse eight was that it was an occasion to boast in God before the nation subdued. Now, note how this section ends. Her greatest affliction is to see the Lord's name reproached and blasphemed. What you find in this text is then that the remnant of God's people are grieved most of all at God's public dishonor. And friend, again, this is something that we find right throughout the scriptures, isn't it? Psalm 74, oh God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever? It's actually quite very much a parallel to the cry of verse 16 in our text. Note what the people of God cry, how long. Not a moment longer would they desire to hear these kinds of things. They want it to come to a speedy end. They are grieved and they're in most being as they see God's name reproach. That is the chief misery that they feel most keenly. Wherefore should the heathen say, where is now their God? That's Psalm 115, and you remember in Psalm 115, it is a petition for God to rise and to deliver His people. And the point, friend of the psalmist, is he longs for that deliverance so that the heathen are silenced. And their atheistic and their deistic thoughts are removed from the earth. And that God's name is no longer reproached. That's why he longs most of all for the church of God to be visited with mercy. Because he hates the reproach of God's name. And friend, you see this in the scriptures. This is one of the things that the Lord God promises to the church that he will do. Because it's such an affliction to them, the promise that God will arise and so clear his name is also to be a promise of great comfort to God's people. In Jeremiah 33, God says, I will pardon all their iniquities whereby they have sinned and whereby they have transgressed against me. And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise and an honor before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them. and they, that is the nations, shall fear and tremble for all the goodness and all the prosperity that I procure unto it." That promise in Jeremiah 33, friend, it lies really very much in line with our text, in that it tells the people of God, the remnant in Jeremiah's day especially, that God would do this very thing. God would so arise with healing under his wings, not only friend for the good of his people, but for the vindication and exaltation of his name, which they crave most of all. It's a striking thing friend when you look at it throughout the scriptures. how God has tied his name to the condition of his people. It's by his own free and good pleasure that he's done so. But whenever God's people are in a flourishing condition, when the church of God is strong, then you notice, friend, and this is right throughout the scriptures, both by example and also by simple teaching, that in such a case, the wicked tremble. They fear even to take the Lord's name in vain. But when the people of God are brought to a languishing condition, then the name of God is reproached. As we've seen just in the text previously quoted. God has bound his name freely to his people in such a way. And because of that friend, when the people of God contemplate, When they contemplate the church's languishing condition, what grieves them most is that in such a condition, God's name is reproached and blasphemed. That friend is chief among the church's afflictions and her bleeding condition. But in verse 17 and to the end, what of her pleas or her bleeding? In verse 17, you have, a very clear confession, a striking one, to be truthful. Yet, says the psalmist, have we not forgotten thee? He says, we have been faithful. And if you read throughout that text, you follow line after line of statements about faithfulness and adherence to God's cause, such that by the time you get to verse 22, We already recognize this is a people unlike the generality of the people who brought these national judgments upon the church. This is the faithful remnant, who for thy sake, they say, we are killed all the day long. For thy sake, that is, and that is for thy cause. Here you have a people who are saying quite pointedly that they have chosen rather to suffer than to sin. They have not abandoned the cause of God. No, they would rather be counted as sheep for the slaughter for his cause than to deal falsely with God in covenant. This is the remnant that speaks to us here. And that final note of the psalm, is of course that petition of verse 26, arise for our help. Now friend here, you and I, we are so very thankful that this is how the psalm ends because it shows us, doesn't it? That this is not a despairing remnant. She turns to the Lord God with petition, knowing that an errand to the throne of grace is never in vain. And then friend, furthermore, she takes with her something of an argument. This remnant in her bleeding condition cries that God would do so, redeem her by her back for his mercy sake. Friend, wonderfully, here you have a moment where you find the remnant describing any claims of meriting God's goodness toward her. Yes, as we find from verse 17 to the end, this is the faithful remnant, but she doesn't say, for my righteousness sake in this text. No, for God's mercy sake, that is his free mercy, visit me. And ultimately friend, not only is that the ground of her petition, that's also the great objective, isn't it? Exalt your free mercy. by visiting me, by redeeming me. Even now, friend, you have a people killed all the day long, says the psalmist, who most of all mind the glory of God and the exaltation of his mercy. This is the remnant, a faithful people who are pleading for God's sake to return in blessing. This is a people who have not taken, friend, her affliction as either the norm or an occasion for despair. No, she goes back to the Lord God, to a throne of grace, pleading for mercy. Pleading that God, for his own mercy's sake, would visit her. The word redeem there is striking, isn't it? You know as well as I do what that word means. It means to buy someone or something back. But beloved, she makes such a petition, doesn't she? Because it has been promised that God will always and ever do this. For his people will never always and absolutely be in a languishing, in a forlorn and wasted condition. So she prays from the promise. from the promise of a God that has promised. He will visit his people. And so friend, as we leave this text this evening, we learn here that God's remnant desires the return of blessing for God's sake. The greatest part of her blessing is God's public exaltation in her deliverance. And the most painful part of her bleeding condition is God's public reproach. so that in her bleeding, she cries for deliverance for his mercy sake, for his exaltation. As we leave this text and seek to apply it to ourselves, I go back to the questions with which we open. How much is the cause of God your cause this evening? How much does the church's condition way upon your own soul. That question is necessary, friend, because it shows us from our song that the remnant, the remnant are a people who are not indifferent. They're not apathetic to God's public glory or to his public reproach. The remnant are not so individualistic in their thinking and their desires. that they could be indifferent as they see the church in a languishing condition. As we see in the psalm, you find a people whose souls are bowed down in this case. So friend, I think the question that we have to ask ourselves in this building, but also just as a generation, if the church is in a languishing condition, Why is there not more mourning among us? Why is the tenor of Psalm 44 so rare among us? In the 1650s, the church in Scotland was under all kinds of affliction. Obviously, Cromwell had invaded. And so the kingdom was no longer autonomous. And the church laid that to heart, but she laid heart to heart, especially the divisions that were amongst her. Also the great wickedness that had broken out, a lack of restraint in civil and ecclesiastical courts against sin. Let me read to you how one Synod responded to all of that. This is the Synod of Fife, in which Samuel Rutherford and Robert Blair were ministers. The Synod recommends it seriously to ministers and elders, before the rise of this assembly, that presently, after their return home, that they give and set themselves to keep private fasts in their several families, and that they be earnest in pressing others in their several congregations to the like holy and religious practice. The Synod came to the conclusion that because of the church's languishing condition, they needed to be in a condition of mourning. And what's striking is, friend, as you go throughout Scotland throughout that decade, you find that not only was there a yearly fast, a day of fasting and humiliation called by synods, then there was also separate ones called by all 65 of the presbyteries at that time. And among the 980 parishes in Scotland at that time, most of them had individual fasts for their congregations. A friend, I'm not saying I'm not preaching a sermon about fasting here this evening, that's not my point. I suppose I point to that only to say, there's empirical evidence that our generation is not a mourning generation. Not like our forebears were. And the question has to be as we leave this psalm, how much does the church's languishing condition weigh upon our souls? Am I really bowed down as I see God's public glory? rather as I see God's public reproach so often before me. But I want to leave you friend with this, because the note of this psalm is not, it's not a morose note, is it? That final note, that concluding line is actually one of incredible hope. And it's one that you and I ought to leave on as well. The people of God here cry for the Lord to redeem. to buy back. It's striking Christian, isn't it? Because if you look back to the beginning of the psalm, you recognize that the psalmist describes a church that was saved, was rescued, was redeemed in such a way that no one was tempted to credit the church. Again, note this. Verse three, they got not the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own right arm save them. The church wasn't saved then because of her own strength. No, she was redeemed by a unilateral act of God's free mercy. And what the psalmist is crying for here is for God simply to do it again. When the church asks for God to revive her as it does in this psalm, she's not asking for God to do something new, something novel. God has oftentimes done this with his people. And all they're asking in this psalm is for him just to do it again. Christian, that's true corporately. That's true of the church through the running centuries. The church is often delivered. One might even argue always and only delivered when she is brought to a point where there seems to be no human help that could support her. It's also true of the individual Christian, isn't it? And how many times has the Lord God brought you out of pressing, pinching afflictions from which you nearly despaired of any deliverance. And he did so for the exaltation of his own name. Christian, if you're in a languishing condition this evening, you're simply asking God to do it again. Not to do something new, even in your case. A friend, he did that first of all in bringing you from death into life through the Lord Jesus Christ. Spiritually, you're languishing and you're asking for reviving. You're not asking for him to do anything new with you and what he's already done. And as we pray for the church of God in this place to be revived, we too are not asking for God to do anything novel. He's done it before. And he will do it again. So friend, as we leave this text, the exhortation for us, of course, first of all, is to meditate on God's public dishonor. You and I will not be a mourning remnant like we must be, unless you and I lay to heart how God's name is reproached now in the church's languishing condition. Secondly, we need to pray that the Lord God would give us love more for him and more for his glory than we have. For again, friend, without that you and I will not mourn, will not pray, will not labor as we ought. Thirdly, we must use means, use means to plead for this reviving. Prayer, friend, an earnest prayer. And yes, all of the things previously described as well, those are means we must be using if indeed we are the remnant of God. And four, we are to labor to have such a testimony of what we see in the psalm. That we might say ourselves in the Lord Jesus Christ, that we have not forgotten God. We have not dealt falsely in his covenant. We ought to labor, friend, for such a testimony. May we do so for God's sake, for his glory. Amen.