So I'm 70 tonight. We'll just go ahead and read it and then we will come back, ready? Make haste, O God, to deliver me. Make haste to help me, O Lord. Let them be ashamed and confounded who seek my face. Let them be turned back and confused who desire my hurt. Let them be turned back because of their shame, who say, aha, aha. Let all those who seek you rejoice and be glad in you. And let those who love your salvation say continually, Lord God, or let God be magnified. But I am poor and needy. Make haste to help me, oh God. You are my help and my deliverer. Oh God, do not delay. So you can see the intensity of this psalm. It's saying, hurry, Lord. And in our introduction here, we see the second psalm, or this is the second psalm, which is an adaptation from an earlier psalm. The former being 14 and 52. Remember how that we looked at that and all they did was change the names from Jehovah to Elohim. But here we see in Psalm 70, we have an adaptation of the last verse or the last paragraph of Psalm 40 verses 13 through 17. Psalm 40 begins with, I waited patiently on the Lord. That's one of my favorite Psalms. I waited patiently on the Lord and he heard my cry. He brought me up out of a horrible pit and set my feet upon a rock and established my goings. He put a new song in my mouth. He would praise unto the Lord and many shall see it in fear and shall trust in the Lord. I love that Psalm. And you know, so here we see in Psalm 40, we have a, you know, a contemplative Psalm, and it goes back to God's blessings. Okay, there's some more back there for, okay, more outlines, good. So Psalm 40 is more contemplative, and it's about what God has already done. I waited patiently, and so I could build on my past experiences as I look forward to what God is going to do. But now in Psalm 70, we see that he just begins, Lord, help. And that's another one of those help Psalms that we've talked about. And so he says, I waited patiently for the Lord. And then it proceeds to, you know, asking for deliverance. But in this Psalm, the emphasis on make haste, make haste, Lord, I've got to have your, make no delay. The psalmist leaves out in Psalm 17, and the Lord looks upon me. And we'll see that in a moment. But that's why we'd love that song. In fact, I think it was, who was it, Ron Hamilton that came up with, I waited patiently on the Lord and he heard my cry. It's a beautiful psalm. Maybe we need to, I don't think it's in one of our hymn books, maybe we need to get ahold of it. But then he ends with, I am poor and needy, but the Lord looks upon me. But here we see that David or whoever wrote this Psalm is saying, Lord, I've got some deadlines. What do you do when the deadlines are there? I mean, Lord, I've been praying to you for five weeks, but tomorrow's the test or tomorrow's the decision. And I still don't know what to do. And so the tensions are great. or the deadline is looming and you don't have the answer. Sometimes with some people I've prayed with, there's too much month left at the end of the money. Rent is due, car payment is due, health problems are due. What do I do, Lord, in these situations? And so it's a help situation. And so he says, the Lord, so he says, there are times when tensions are great. And he says, we don't have time for extended prayer. We shoot a prayer to heaven. This is one of my favorite passages, is if you turn back to Nehemiah chapter two, you'll see that Nehemiah had been praying to the Lord about, he had heard reports about Jerusalem and about the city. People had gone there and visited there and they came back with some gloomy news saying that, yeah, Nebuchadnezzar, when he burned it, it's just been left there. And it's just a bunch of burned out buildings now. and it really bothered Nehemiah, so he prayed about it. But then he got called before the king, and he goes before the king, and he was the cup bearer. Now, the one thing as a cup bearer is you're the taster. You're the person who is gonna taste the food, and if you're sick, then the king is not gonna eat the food. But the last thing that a cup bearer wants to be is sad before the king. What's going on here, you know? Especially if you've already tasted the wine, you know, whatever. But in fact, if you came before a king, even if you weren't a cupbearer, the whole idea, if you come before the king, you're supposed to be full of praise, oh, king, live forever, rather than sad, because you can be killed on the spot in the king's court, especially in the Middle East, in the Old Testament times, and especially with King Artaxerxes, who was a Persian king. But I like this. where it says that whenever, he said, why are you sick? And he says, so because I became dreadfully afraid. And so said to the king, may the king live forever. Yes. Why should my face not be sad when the city, the place of my father's tombs lies waste? and its gates are burned with fire." Now that's throwing something out to the king about being sad when, hey, listen, you got to catch the king in a good mood, especially if you're his slave, to be able to throw that out at that time. But you know, he was just honest. But then the king said, what do you request? Now, if he didn't have a good answer here, he was a dead duck. But notice he says, so I prayed to the God of heaven. Now, I think the King James says a little bit different, but the idea there is I shot a prayer to heaven. I heard a message one time, I shot a prayer to heaven from this passage. But sometimes that's all you can do. Lord, you know, very quickly, here you are before somebody, and you gotta come up with the answer immediately. Or you gotta come up with something. And so we pray to the Lord. And you don't have a whole lot of time. There are other times where there have been times in my life where a certain verse comes to my mind when I'm in distress, or whenever there is something that is going on in my life. I remember the song that just really endeared me, really, the Lord just spoke to me. I've talked about Psalm 139, where when I wake, thou art still with, there's different verses that whenever it hits you like that, and you know the Holy Spirit's speaking to you, you don't forget them. And I've mentioned Psalm 139, being very lonely and having to make all kinds of decisions. and not knowing exactly where I was gonna live the next day and didn't have any family around and all that kind of stuff. And when I awake, the Lord's still with me. I almost got up in the bed and had a baptical fit there in my bed just saying, Lord, hey, it's up to you. But then other times I think of being under a little distress and then the old devil just got on me. And the Lord popped it, and I didn't even know I memorized the song, but it was, when Satan should buffet and trial should come, let this blessed assurance of control that Christ has regarded my helpless estate and has shed his own blood for my soul. There again, in almost that Baptical style. I didn't even know I knew that verse, you know, but I've sung it enough, and God called it back to my mind. And I can go through several other times. Now, if there are too many of them, you won't remember them, but I think you understand how that in times of distress, it's amazing what the Lord can do. And I think that's what the Lord does here in just cutting out the last paragraph of Psalm 40 and putting it in here and emphasizing, make haste, O Lord, make haste. And you see this, he repeats that repeatedly. And so, and of course, if we see that Lord hurry, But then at the same time, one of the things that the Lord has taught me is, you know, okay, Lord, it's up to you. But I've gone through enough of these episodes to know that even if it goes against what I think it should, it's for your good. All things work together for good to them that love God. There was, back several years ago, that, remember there was a spate of airline crashes one summer. It must have been back in the 90s, I think, or whatever. But one guy that was on the East Coast, I think it was New York or Baltimore, and then one in LA, and they had had two massive tragedies within a year of the airlines. And he was on both flights scheduled to go there, and he got tied up in traffic both times. And he was so upset, both times he didn't learn his lesson, that he missed the first flight. And of course he missed being killed. And then he was over in LA and he was mad again, and he missed it. And he said, I think I've learned my lesson. But again, so God knows, even when it looks like it's the worst thing that could happen to us, And Lord, you know what's gonna happen here. Lord, you know that if this doesn't happen, all kinds of other things can happen. Do we ever get tied up with that? Yes, it churns inside as the stomach churns or as the world turns or whatever, you know, all these different things. I mean, can I trust him that, Lord, you know I've got to have this. But Lord, back in my mind, I know that if you don't answer the prayer, it's because you have something better, or that you know what you're doing. Now, wait a minute, how can that be if, you know, the ultimate could happen, I lose a loved one or whatever? That's a hard one, but can we trust God? And so we see, basically, you have two different thoughts here. Notice he says in some verses one through three, make haste, O Lord, make haste to help me, O Lord, Deliver me. So we see that that's just a great prayer. Lord, hurry. Lord, you know what I need. And you promised me, boy, you can go through that real fast. Like this is, it's amazing how fast you can pray in time of need and the thoughts that can go through your mind. He says, make haste to help me. and deliver me. And then he's got two different things. First on my enemies, obviously there's something going on here where he feels like there's gonna be calamity from those who hate him. And a king has always got his enemies. Any politician's gonna have his enemies. But here we see in verse two, let them be ashamed and confounded who seek my life. Let them be turned back and confused who desire my hurt. Now, I don't know of anybody trying to kill me. But I do pray, Lord, sometimes let this person who's causing the gossip, or the person who is obviously slandering the church, or me, or someone in our church, or causing problems, or in my family, Lord, make them confused. Make them, you know, bring confusion. I think of Lester Roloff, who was, we might differ with some of his methods, but he had a home for wayward kids and so forth. And one time there was somebody, there was a lawsuit against him. And he said, you know, and this was the lawyer telling him about it, but he said, really, we didn't have, I mean, the public sentiment was all against us. We didn't know what to do because, there was no real, I mean, once you get accused of these things or anything is happening, especially with children, you're automatically wrong. And so they went to court and so forth and they said, we don't, this could destroy us. But he said that the two lawyers that were representing the state started arguing with each other in front of the judge. And the judge threw the case out. So it's amazing what the Lord can do, even with your enemies. And so, but we do know that there are times when, you know, that's one of those difficult things today. You know, anybody who has a children's ministry is always on a, you know, you want to pray for them because the devil can get in and cause problems or they can be accused of problems, but it's never, a win-win situation. So, but here we see that he says, confuse those who seek my harm. Lord, you've got to be the one who causes the confusion. And then he says, let my scorners, those who, aha, man, look at him, he's gone, man. I mean, this, you know, he's got religion. And look what the Lord's done for him. Look how, you know, here he trusted the Lord and whammo, you know. eat, drink, and let's be merry for tomorrow we die, who cares? But these holy rollers, we can't let them stop us. And so we see that he says, Lord, let them be ashamed. And only God can change our hearts. And we live in a shameless society, unless the Lord knows how to prick the heart. The Lord knows how to cause even the most the glamorization of sin on the internet now. And I mean, I was, I think I told you about the, I don't want to name her, but she was a rock star when I was a teenager. She's only two or three years older than me, but she was going through about 10 guys that she's lived with over the, since we were teenagers, I guess. But I was thinking, Lord, she's totally shameless. And she could cut down any religion, what she does, she cuts down anybody who's religious or conservative or whatever. Say, Lord, only you can bring that shame to her. But there again, I want you to save her soul. But the only way you can do that is for her to realize that sin brings shame. And of course, I don't wanna get too deeply into that other than the fact that only the Lord can really cause people to be ashamed. And we could try to, what they call fat shame, what all these other different shames that they have out there. No, but it's only God who can really cause the shame. But here we see that he says, Lord, hurry, do something with my enemies. You got to be the one who stops them. And then in Psalm 70 verse four and five, we see that he says, let those who seek you rejoice. Lord, my people and your people need to see the victory here. They need to see what you can do. So Lord, don't only give me the victory, may other people see it and trust you. He put a new song in my mouth, Psalm 40, going back to Psalm 40. He put a new song in my mouth, even praising to the Lord, many shall see it in fear and shall trust in the Lord. That's what I want, Lord. And so now, of course, he doesn't have time, he's in trouble here, so he doesn't have time to go through all that, but he has already done that back in Psalm 40. So again, we see that, but how fast can you think when you're under pressure? But your thinking is a lot faster than your speaking. So a lot of times we see that it's kind of like when I'm dealing with men and we're working on something up on the roof or down under, and they're saying, pastor, I don't mean to be rude, but man, this is what we've got to do quick. And I'll say, hey, listen, we don't have time to be nice. Let's get the job done. You tell me what's going on, or if you disagree with me, let's get it done. but we don't need all this. Now, pastor, let's stop and pray about it. No, I mean, let's get it done. And so if you had to yell, pastor, stop, then tell me to stop, you know, whatever it is, that because, you know, if I got down there on a crane and I'm dangling you off a roof, you don't have time to say, pastor, please stop. You know, I mean, it's quick. And so again, we see that, I think this is what's happening with, With David here, he's saying, Lord, help, you've got to help, Lord, help. I mean, it all depends on you. And so we see that in verses four and five, we see, let those who rejoice be glad in you and let those who love your salvation say continually, let God be praised. Isn't it what we want? To God be the glory, great things he has taught us, great things he has done. And so we want to sing that song. And that's a great victorious song when we sing about God's great victories. Has he taught us great things? Has he even taught us great things through the trials? Great things he hath taught us, great things he hath done. There again, just notice the verse, if you're faithful to the things of God, and you're under biblical preaching and good godly hymnody or singing, then God has, if it's entered into your mind and into your heart, even if you don't remember it, the Holy Spirit can call it back to your remembrance. I was reading R.A. Torrey one time, who was a great evangelist back and became president of Moody Bible Institute back around the turn of the 20th century. But he said, when those things happen, when a verse pops in your mind or a song pops in your mind that just fits the situation you're in, realize that's the Holy Spirit speaking to you. And isn't that good? You say, well, Lord, let me listen. Well, if you've taken enough of the Lord's word into your life, if you've taken enough of the singing of his hymns and doctrinal songs into your life, then guess what? He can recall to your remembrance the things that you need. But if we are barren and we don't know the word of God, I'll come to church on Christmas and Easter, well, Don't expect the Holy Spirit to pop something in your mind that's not there, that has never really soaked in or that has never been, you've never been exposed to. Now, of course, the Holy Spirit can do what he wants to, he's God, but it's a whole lot better if you have been under and faithfully a part of a good church fellowship and growing in the Lord and who was it? someone this past week was saying, pastor, anyway, it was the idea of, you know, of helping her, it was a lady, but she's saying, you know, really, you seem to have a lot for me if when I get here and I say, well, if you're willing to get up on a cold Sunday morning and get to church, I better have something for you. And that's the way it is. I mean, I feel like whoever's here, it doesn't matter whether there's 10 or 10,000, it's preaching of the word. And that's why I'm asking the Lord, Lord, your word is promised not to return void and amazing. How many did you say this past week and all it was a Sunday school lesson? 30 people that were watching it. So, I mean, that's scary with no more expertise that we have on the internet. And yet we had 30 people that were watching that. And it tells me something else about maybe I need to get more into that subject. There again, but I don't just preach a subject to get a crowd. You preach the word of God as the Lord leads you. But here we see that he says, Lord, I need your help. And Lord, oh, let those who love you. It's not only for my sake, Lord, but it's for my kids. Lord, it's not only for my sake, but it's for the congregation. It's for my family. Others need to see that you answer prayer. in my life. And so whenever you put it to the Lord that way, you're putting a little bit more pressure on him. But then again, you don't put pressure on God, but you understand what I'm saying. You're expanding your mind and say, hey, listen, this is more than just me. And Lord, I want it to happen not only for my sake, but for others around me. And so again, we see, Lord, let those who see, but then notice he turns back to himself that I'm poor and needy. Lord, I'm totally helpless. I don't know how to answer this. And he says, but he says, make haste to help me instead of, but the Lord looks upon me. Now that would be more contemplative in Psalm 40. This is more of a help Psalm, more emergency. So he leaves that out and he just says, Lord help. He says, make haste to help me, oh God. Oh God, you get to hurry. Oh, you've got to help me. And so, and then we see, he says, you are my help and my deliverer. You've done it in the past. You can do it again. You can do whatever you want to do, but Lord, you know the consequences. And in the end, in the back of my mind, I'm saying, even though I'm praying real hard, I know that God will do what's right. And so we see, my trust is totally in you. As he says, you are my help and my deliverer. Oh Lord, don't delay, please don't delay. Now, you think of, can you think of someone else in the Bible that said, Lord, please help me? And then the Lord didn't answer. And he prayed three times. I mean, he was hurting. He had a thorn in the flesh and it hurt so bad. And he said, Lord, you've got to remove that, whatever the thorn was. And we think that was more of a, not an allegory, not literal, but as figurative speech, where you're saying, Lord, I've got a real problem. I had a lady, a pastor's wife one time that I mentioned someone, And pastor, we don't get together and say, oh, this person's going to your church. Boy, that's really, no, or whatever. But this lady was a real problem and it was a blessing for her to go to another church. You hate to say that, but sometimes that's true. And I didn't say anything to the lady other than her name came up or something about something. And I just said, oh, so she's going to your church now. And she just said, and that's all she said. Yeah, she's my sandpaper. She's my ruler, but she's a sweet lady. And we didn't talk anymore about it. Now if there was something like sin or something where I need to tell them about something, and I have done that, hey listen, the reason this person's in your church is because they've sown seeds of discord about certain doctrines, you better be careful here. Other than that, no, but other than that, I mean, I'm glad they're with somebody who can lead them to, and vice versa, I want that too. If a man is a child molester and he's going from, you know, and has got that record and he comes to church here, I wanna know about it. You know, and the worst thing we can do is if someone, we saw this, there was a spade of this back earlier, where you didn't know what to do. So when a man left and he went from one ministry to another, and he's still in the ministry, they didn't tell each other. Well, you better tell somebody these days about things like that. And so I think you understand. There are times when you've got to, and other times you just leave it alone. But I like that, she's my sandpaper. But here we have here a thorn. And so if you turn over to 2 Corinthians 12, And we see that he's talking about boasting and why shouldn't, you know, why shouldn't I be able to boast in the Lord? Look what God's done. He's called me out to the third heaven. He has given me explicitly the revelation of the church and the church age. He's told me what's gonna happen about the rapture and all these different things we see in Galatians or in Ephesians and Philippians. He says, why should I not be exalted above measure? And he said, unless I should be exalted above measure, verse seven of chapter 12 of 2 Corinthians, he says, unless I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelation, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. Can't get much more, you know, wait a minute. You actually think that God allowed Satan to get in there? I'll leave that to the Lord. I don't know when it's just my own honoriness or when it's Satan that's really buffeting me. But we see that he says, a messenger of Satan to buffet me. Lest I be exalted above measure concerning this thing, I pleaded with the Lord three times that he might depart from me. I don't think that was just three quick prayers. I think he was praying day and night, and he probably had three long sessions of prayer with the Lord. He says, and he said to me, my grace is sufficient for you. My strength is made perfect in your weakness. Can I trust God with that? Lord, if I don't make this payment, things are gonna fall through, but can I trust you on the other side of it? You ever had that problem? Lord, if you don't provide for my tuition, I'm gonna have to drop out. Can you trust God? Sometimes the best, you know, I've talked to people, I guess, best thing ever happened to me, you know, whatever. And so, Lord, if you don't straighten it, especially when you're in college, Lord, if you don't help me with this situation, I'm gonna lose her. And then later on, praise the Lord, I lost her or him. So the best thing ever happened. And so can we really trust God with our needs? And yet he knows, Jesus knows all about our sorrows. He will guide till the day is done. There's not a friend like the lowly Jesus. No, not one. Can I trust him? And yet here I am, hey, this guy back in Psalm 7, he's not, hey Lord, you know I gotta have it. But in the back of his mind, he's got enough experience under his belt. Tribulation worketh experience, and experience hope, and hope makes not unshamed. That he knows that even if it doesn't work out the way he wants it to, it'll work out the way God wants it to. So should he have prayed in the first place? Yes. Does God already know and he's just treating us with strings and pulling our strings and making us want something knowing that we're not gonna get it? No. There's such a thing as a free will and the sovereignty of God and we talk about that, but where does one end and the other begin? I have no idea. And anybody who thinks they've figured it out, especially, I came up with this when I was, you know, I was dealing with some young college kids. And well, one guy that he pretty well had it figured out about the sovereignty of God. that socially he was a klutz. My boy, and he just was very arrogant about how that he knew providence of God and so forth. And I just looked at him and I said, you know, you can't even figure out women, let alone the Lord. So, you know, sometimes, you know, I can't figure out the Lord and I certainly can't figure out women myself, but you know, there again, is sometimes you just have to let it lie and let God deal with it. And so here it is, he says, I don't know why God didn't answer it, but I'm gonna trust him. And notice God says that my strength will be made perfect. And notice how he responds. Therefore, most gladly, I will rather boast in my infirmities that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions and distresses. For Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. Now, I like what he said to the Philippians. He said, I've learned that whatever state I am there with to be content. I haven't learned that yet. I don't know if I ever will, because I'm always wanting something to happen. But can I be content with what God's given me? So Psalm 70, Lord help. But in the back of my mind, even when I'm praying and begging God to help, in the back of my mind, I can say, Lord, I'm gonna trust you. And the last thing I wanna do is, Lord, if you don't help, I'm gonna give up. Nope, Lord, I've already learned to trust you. And I can trust you now. Okay, any questions or comments?