I want to call your attention now to that Psalm that we have sung, Psalm 43. Psalm 43. We're going to take a little break from our study in 1 Corinthians just for today. We'll return to that, Lord willing, next time. But I want to take up this Psalm and for several years now, we've been going through the Psalms, just beginning with Psalm one, working our way numerically through these Psalms to see Christ in the Psalms. And some of you haven't heard the explanation that I'll give here. We all recognize that some Psalms clearly speak of Christ. We call them Messianic Psalms. And even if it's not a whole Psalm, it might be one verse or two verses in a Psalm that clearly speak of Christ. And many years ago, I picked up a two-volume set on the Psalms by an old British Baptist named Samuel Ailes Pierce. And made the mistake of buying those books without really knowing what I was getting and without looking in and reading and finding out what I was buying. Well, the first time I opened one of the volumes, I immediately realized that Mr. Pierce had just gone completely off the deep end. That he not only saw Christ in every psalm, but he saw Christ in almost every verse of every psalm. So I thought these are nice, pretty, well-bound volumes. They will look good on my shelf. And they gathered dust for quite a few years. But that planted a seed in my mind. And then, not too many years ago, I picked up a volume on the Psalms by Andrew Bonner. And lo and behold, Bonner, in that little volume, does the same thing, takes the same approach. And with one other influence, which was a rather short article I read that spoke of how that the confession of sin in Psalm 69, for example, could be viewed as messianic in as much as Christ took our sins. and felt in a very personal, direct way, the weight of those sins. And as much in a way, probably beyond our comprehension, felt the guilt of those sins, even though it was not guilt of his own, but the imputation of ours to him, he felt it. That just opened up the whole book of Psalms to me in the way that we're looking at it in this study. Many, many years ago, we went through the Psalms, seeing David, seeing what we might think of as sort of any believer, the typical believer, the typical Christian life, seeing ourselves in the Psalms, but we're going through them again this time, looking especially for Christ in the Psalms. And I believe he's here. I believe he's here more than we usually recognize. And we want to look at Psalm 43 and see Christ in Psalm 43. Let's read the Psalm. It says, judge me, Oh God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. For thou art the God of my strength. Why dost thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? O send out thy light and thy truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God my exceeding joy. Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope in God. for I shall yet praise him who is the health of my countenance and my God. May the Lord bless the reading of his word to our hearts. One of the interesting facets of seeing Christ in the Psalms is that it fits well with the development of the human nature of Christ as he grew up And according to Luke chapter 2 verse 52, in what we would think of as his teenage years, after the age of 12, he grew in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man. And I know that we're already in over our heads when we're talking about the incarnation. There's mysteries here that we'll never understand in this life, at least. And I don't know how much we'll even go on learning in realms of glory to come. But it says that he grew in favor with God. He who was the God man humbled himself. as a babe, as a child, he grows up, he learns. I used to have the idea that by the time he got to be about 12 years old there in Luke chapter two, he was omniscient. I don't think that's a proper understanding of his development or even of that particular passage, but that's another message. The question is, how did the human nature of Christ learn the things of God. And while some might say, well, it was by immediate communication from his divine nature to his human nature. I believe that that verse I quoted in Luke chapter two, that speaks of his growing in favor with God and man. And the word favor there is literally the word grace. He grew in grace with God and with man. To even speak of Christ growing in grace sounds heretical to us, but that's what inspiration says. And I believe that a better answer is that the human nature of Christ was informed of the things of God by his study of the Old Testament, the scriptures that were current at that time. There was no better student of the Word of God than Jesus as he grew mentally, physically. As he read these Psalms, he came to see himself in them, no doubt. came to understand more of his mission and not just the Psalms. Christ is in all of the Old Testament. He's in the Pentateuch. He's in the sacrificial system there in symbolic form. He's all through the prophets. He's in the Proverbs. He's in the poetry. He's certainly in the Psalms. And I believe this is how the Lord Jesus grew in his knowledge of his own self-identity. He had already figured out a great deal by the time he was 12 years old. He'd figured out that Joseph was not his father. And he still had some questions that He needed answers for, and that's why he stayed in the temple and asked the questions to the most learned, knowledgeable people of the day. And he continued in that process of growth and development, according to the end of Luke chapter 2. He learned from Psalms like this, how to think concerning himself, who he was, what his mission was, his unique position. And I believe he learned just as any of us learn in those years. And if my understanding is correct, it is not until he is baptized at the age of 30, that the Spirit of God comes upon him in this extraordinary, unique way to anoint him as Messiah. Until that time, his knowledge was gained by hard work and study. But again, that's another message. Christ is here. Now Psalm 43 is always associated closely with Psalm 42 because of the same refrain. Verse five of Psalm 43 is virtually the same as verse five of Psalm 42 and verse 11 of Psalm 42. And when we were looking at Psalm 42, it's been several months since we did an installment in this particular study. We said that as far as David is concerned, we see David in exile. And it's probably the second of two exiles in view here. The first is when he was a young man fleeing from Saul. The second is when he's an older King. fleeing from Absalom. And David is longing for the public worship that he had enjoyed in Jerusalem in better days, in peaceful days. David had to flee for his life from Absalom. God granted him deliverance. In an ensuing battle, Absalom was defeated, his army defeated, and David, as you recall, was allowed to return home and resume his throne for a little while before he died. We see something of Christ in that exile. In as much as David was what we might think of as a victim of a national conspiracy, pursued to death, but delivered by God in heaven. So the Lord Jesus was, I think it's safe to say, the victim, as far as earth is concerned, victim of a national conspiracy of the Jews against him. pursued to the death, but delivered. How was he delivered? He was delivered by something better than David experienced. He was delivered by resurrection from the dead. That's the great deliverance, unlike any other. In this Psalm, putting it in the mouth of Christ, we see, the difficult circumstances that he was in and yet how that he maintains perspective, maintains hope ultimately in the Heavenly Father. So let's work through these verses together. Judge me, O God, and plead my cause against an ungodly nation. O deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. Here's a prayer for deliverance. Judge me. We usually think of the act of judging as a punishment, but that's not always the meaning of the word used as a verb. It can mean, and obviously in this case and many others in the word of God means, render justice in my case, adjudicate my case, judge justly in my case, oh God. This is the voice of a clear conscience. And I have no doubt that David, as far as Absalom's rebellion, had a clear conscience, and yet David was a sinner. And we read of some of his sins in the Old Testament narrative. The only one who could say this in the fullest sense without any consciousness of sin at all whatsoever is the Lord Jesus Christ. He could say to his worst enemies, he could challenge them to find one fault in him. He said, the prince of this world cometh and hath nothing in me. He doesn't find anything in me. He could plead to the father in heaven to render full and perfect justice. Dare we say such a thing? No, we plead for mercy. And if it's an issue where we know we're in the right, then in as much as we plead for God's justice, it's only because of his mercy to us in Christ that we can plead for justice. This is the voice of a clear conscience. He knew that the hatred and opposition against him was undeserved, unwarranted. Plead my cause, he says, against an ungodly nation. His enemies were ungodly. His foes were not godly. He was the godly. They were the ungodly. You remember in the scene there in the four gospels where Jesus is brought to trial after he leaves the Jewish part of the trial and they take him to the Roman part of the trial before Pontius Pilate. It seemed that the whole nation was against him. That the whole nation and people were coming into Jerusalem early in the morning. It's a feast day and it's Passover week and they're all excited and they're coming in early and it's early morning and There's this case being carried on in Pilate's court and people are gathering around. What's this all about? Oh, this is Jesus of Nazareth. Well, what happened to him? What's he in trouble for? And no doubt, many of the same people who a few days earlier had said, hail to the Lord's anointed as they brought him in to the city. now turned against him and called for his crucifixion. Crucify him, crucify him. It was truly an ungodly nation that was determined to crucify him. And so our Lord prays for deliverance. Oh, deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. And is there just one particular man in view earlier? It's a whole nation. If there is a distinction here, if there's one man in the nation singled out, it might be Caiaphas, the high priest who had helped to stir up the people. He had instigated the whole of the arrest and worked with Judas in the betrayal. The chief priests were the ones who stirred up the multitude gathered there at Pilate's palace and judgment hall to call for his crucifixion. His guilt, the guilt of Caiaphas was greater than anyone else's, if we understand the Lord to be saying that in his words to Pilate. Another one in the running for this title, deceitful and unjust man is certainly Judas Iscariot, one of the 12. Deceitful, treacherous. A double life he lived. Pretending to be faithful when he's a thief. Pretending to be a friend coming to kiss Jesus and the kiss identifies him as the one to arrest. Deliver me from the deceitful and unjust man. Well, the Lord answered his prayer for deliverance, but we've already mentioned that, and we'll mention it again before we finish. Verse two goes on, for thou art the God of my strength. Why dost thou cast me off? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Here are the distressing circumstances in which our Lord found himself cast off. forsaken. And all this is especially difficult because he's the beloved son in whom the father is well pleased. Thou art the God of my strength. Then why? Why have you not given me strength? Why have you cast me off? Why are you a stranger to me? This is Christ on the cross, undoubtedly. Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Verse two here is so parallel to Psalm 22 in the opening verses. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? There's a paradox there, what we might even call a contradiction there in our way of thinking. If he's my God, If I belong to him and he belongs to me, then why is he cast me off? Why is he forsaken me? And it's the same sentiment here. Thou art the God of my strength. Why dost thou cast me off? You've been my friend. Why are you a stranger to me now? Why go I mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? The God of my strength has cast me, left me in a weakened and vulnerable state, subject to death. And the enemy's oppression made him go mourning, go along mourning. We see his tears, not only at the end of his life, but in earlier scenes, At least somewhat earlier, some weeks or maybe months earlier at the tomb of Lazarus, where he wept. And in the earlier part of that Passover feast in John chapter 12, we see his. His grief. In fact, let me read this passage in John chapter 12. He says, now is my soul troubled. And it's the same term that is used to describe his, his disposition there at the grave of Lazarus. He was troubled in soul and he groaned within himself. Is he just grieving over a dead Lazarus? Well, no doubt he was. weeping with those that wept, identifying with them in some way, but we can't help but think that perhaps there's more to his weeping at the grave of Lazarus, that he anticipates, he sees in that something of his own coming death, suffering in death, and we see that then here in John chapter 12, during that Passover week, At the end of his life, he says, now is my soul troubled. And what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour, but for this cause came I unto this hour. Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven saying, I have both glorified it and will glorify it again. Our Lord was a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. He knew what it was to weep. He knew what it was to have a troubled heart and a troubled soul. The scene in Gethsemane is described in Hebrews chapter five as strong crying and tears. Why go I mourning? Why am I reduced to this point of weeping in grief? Because of the oppression of the enemy. It always seems like we're treading on such holy ground when we see Christ in the Psalms. Let us rejoice that our Savior is one who suffered these things to save us. And let us rejoice that he is able to sympathize with us when we know the oppression of enemies. The word oppression obviously literally means pressure, stress, being crushed, being heavy laden. He was surrounded by enemies who were content with nothing less than his death We may find ourselves surrounded by enemies who will be content with nothing less than our death someday. If so, remember this, the Lord Jesus knows all about it. He has been there. And his confidence and trust in the father never wavered. Though providence toward him was dark, As the hymn writer says, behind a frowning providence, he hides a smiling face. Verse three, here's another petition. Oh, send out thy light and thy truth. Let them lead me. Let them bring me unto thy holy hill and to thy tabernacles. Here's a petition for light and truth light. to walk by in the dark and dangerous path in which he was, the light of knowledge, in other words, and truth Satan is the father of lies. Christ always walked in the truth and he prays to the father for his truth. Truth that would expose the lies of man and expose the treachery of man. Light and truth that would keep his feet in the path of perfect obedience. As far as David is concerned, certainly David needed to be led by God, protected, guided with light and truth while he was in exile, hiding and running for his life. And our Lord himself needed to be led by the father with his light and truth in his dangerous earthly pilgrimage. Verse 3, in the mouth of David, is David's longing to get back to Jerusalem, longing to get back to where he can worship God under normal circumstances and with the ceremonies that were ordained of God for that Old Testament economy. Much the same desire is expressed there in the previous psalm as well, as you recall. But in the mouth of Christ, this psalm shows us his desire to be brought to a place of worship. And I hope that it is sanctified imagination and not too much of that to say the holy hill and the tabernacles that Christ was longing for. were not anything, any building or any temple mount on this earth, but rather what, according to the book of Hebrews, these earthly things were symbols of and types of and shadows of. I believe the Lord Jesus in Psalm 43 has another holy hill and tabernacle in view. in the realms of heaven or in a spiritual realm that is beyond our comprehension as earthbound creatures. But let me remind you of some of the statements here in the book of Hebrews, that Christ was a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle, which the Lord pitched and not man. And these earthly things are figures of the true. Neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood, he entered in once into the holy place, having obtained eternal redemption for us. He was not a priest on earth. As the book of Hebrews says, he was from the tribe of Judah. No priests came from the tribe of Judah. They came from the tribe of Levi. The earthly temple or tabernacle pertained to them. But Christ entered into a holy place of which the earthly was symbolic. For Christ is not entered into the holy places made with hands, which are figures of the true. but into heaven itself now to appear in the presence of God for us. Our Lord knew something of a spiritual altar and a spiritual temple and spiritual sacrifice of himself. And this is what he is anticipating and longing for. It's as if he's saying here in this verse, Father, bring me to that redemptive reality of which earthly Jerusalem is a symbol. Verse four goes on to speak in similar terms of what he anticipated. Then will I go unto the altar of God, unto God, my exceeding joy. Yea, upon the harp will I praise thee, O God, my God. As David looked forward to worshiping God in the temple in Jerusalem upon his return. So the Lord Jesus looked forward to officiating as priest in a redemptive way, even though it cost him much grief and blood and his very life. This is his longing. This is his anticipation. This is his delight. To redeem his people. To fulfill the father's plan. Let me triumph in my mission, he says in so many words here. Then will I go into the altar of God and to God my exceeding joy. And he speaks of music involved in worshiping God. Upon the harp will I praise thee, O God my God. The whole subject of musical instruments, the harp is mentioned here, is a whole study in itself. It is only in the Old Testament that we see instruments mentioned. There is literally no mention in the New Testament of any musical instrument in connection with the public worship of God. The only instrument, if we want to call it that, is a living instrument. It's the human voice. We raise our voices together as we sing. But here in Old Testament terminology and in an Old Testament ceremonial worship context, the Lord Jesus anticipates worshiping the Father, whom he calls, Oh God, my God. Just underscore that little word, my, that makes all the difference. We'll say a little more about that in verse five. So verse five says, why art thou cast down on my soul? Why art thou disquieted within me? We cannot fathom the inward disquietude, his inward grief that he endured in his humiliation his suffering, his death, his soul was cast down. We've seen it there in John 12 and in Gethsemane. Why art thou disquieted in me? You remember he said to the disciples there in Gethsemane, my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death. I suppose if the spirit of God had not sustained him in Gethsemane, he would have died then and there. And his question is why? Well, we know why. Because he bore our sins, he died as a substitute in our place. and yet his own physical and human personality asks why. There in Gethsemane, he prays that he might be spared, if possible, from the suffering of the cross. Why art thou cast down, O my soul, and why art thou disquieted within me? Let me just say a word here in way of application. The Lord Jesus is a model to us of self-consciousness. And I mean that in a, in more of the formal sense of the word. He was aware of himself. He was conscious of the actions and the thoughts of his own soul. He was able to consider himself objectively. And in this, he is no doubt a model for us. When we are cast down and disquieted in our souls, we should ponder and as much as we can determine why it is so. The cause may become more apparent. The future hope may become more clear to us and more precious to us if we can honestly ask and answer the question, why? At least answer it as much as God allows us to answer it and God's word gives us an answer. And as Martin Lloyd-Jones says in some of his sermons, the psalmist sometimes talks to himself. And there's a time and place for that. Self, why are you discouraged? Self, why are you disturbed? And the solution is to keep hoping in God. Keep trusting in him. Our Lord Jesus asks the question and then and again. Sometimes we have to talk to ourselves. Self, why are you in this condition? You should be hoping in God. And in as much as Christ is in Psalm 43, we have the example of Christ himself in this. He was reduced to exercising hope. As a man in his state of humiliation, he is reduced to exercising anticipation and expectation of the fulfillment of God's promises toward him, the return of conscious fellowship with the Father, glorious resurrection from the dead, ultimately to be seated at the right hand of the Father in glory and honor. And so he says, hope thou in God, or hope in God. This is how low the Lord Jesus stooped for our redemption. He was sustained by remembering promises made to him by the father concerning his resurrection, his exaltation, his supremacy forever as the God-man mediator. And so he can certainly be assured that though he is in a low spot now, he shall yet praise the father who is the health of my countenance and my God. And you probably know the word health there is most often translated salvation. The salvation of my face, we might say. my deliverer. I will yet praise him, he says. I will follow his will, though it takes me into the grave. For I shall arise triumphant and I will live on to praise him who is my savior, the one who delivers me from death. And while the resurrection in some passages is attributed to the power of Christ himself, in other passages it's attributed to the power of the Father. And that brings us then to this closing phrase, and my God. Most of my life, I read the Holy Bible and never understood the significance of this phrase, my God. Martin Luther said that true Christianity consists in the pronouns or the personal pronouns. It is not enough to know that God is a God or even that he is the God or that he is someone else's God. You have to know him as my God. This is a possessive term that indicates a covenant relationship with him, a solemn commitment that he has made to his people to be our God and for us to be his people. And if the Lord Jesus himself found comfort and consolation in the covenant relationship he had with the father. How much more ought we to find comfort in it as we are in union with him and as certainly as he triumphed over his foes, we shall triumph over our foes. His triumph As I said at the beginning, the deliverance he prayed for didn't come before the cross, it came after the cross. His resurrection from the grave was the answer to his cries for deliverance. And oh, what a glorious deliverance it was. Better to be raised from the dead than to be delivered from death. Thank the Lord. He will raise us up in resurrection glory at the last day. We may suffer a martyr's death. We may be crucified someday. We may be beheaded. But as certainly as Christ was delivered triumphant, so we shall be delivered triumphant in glorious resurrection with Him forever. And so Christ in Psalm 43 teaches us to keep hoping in God, to be cheerful. Weary saints find comfort and cheer in the Lord. Keep hoping in your God. Knowing that he is your God, he is for you. Nothing can be against you. Even though his providence is difficult, sometimes his promises sustain us through the difficult providences. There was no question. But that Jesus would triumph. No question at all. And in like manner there is no question but that we in him shall triumph also at last. And so as we see Christ in Psalm 43, yes let us see ourselves in him in Psalm 43. Well I hope that this will provoke some thought and perhaps help us to read the Psalms in a more Christ-centered way than we usually do. May the Lord take this and apply it to us.