Psalm 61. There are three things that caught my attention in this psalm, in this prayer of David's. He asked the Lord to lead him. He said, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. And he speaks of his heart being overwhelmed And then in verse 7, He speaks of mercy and truth which may preserve Him. All three of these are very powerful. I'll let you give the psalm the title that fits you. Your heart's overwhelmed? That's a title I wrote out here, Overwhelming Trouble Meets Overwhelming Mercy, as a title for me. And then there is, lead me to the rock that is higher than I. I need that too. And I know that His mercy, He said, all prepare mercy and truth which may preserve me. That's what preserves us. It's truth, we come here every week and we listen to the truth, don't we? And God's mercy preserves us all week long that we might come here and hear the truth and get focused again. It is so easy for us to get out of focus. And I say that because I know myself and I know you're like I am. We are kindred spirit. And I know it's easy to get caught up into things and the world, and there's a part of us that's a part of this world, that old nature. And it's drawn, there's a strong draw there. And I know how I have to fight it. And that's why when I look at this, verse seven, I need, Lord, I need your mercy and I need your truth to preserve me and keep me. Now, David, in writing this psalm and this prayer, he is in exile. His son Absalom is against him, trying to dethrone his father David. And of course, you know how painful that has to be, to have your son trying to take you down, trying to put you in the grave is what he's trying to do. And David loves Absalom. Whenever Absalom was killed, David cried and he said, Absalom, Absalom, would that God I had died for you. And he meant that. He said, I would have died in your place. I would have died in your place. But Absalom didn't love his father like that. He became an enemy of his father. But David's heart here, because of this, it's overwhelmed. It's covered over with sadness. It's covered over with trouble. It's covered over with heartaches that I believe every child of God here, in a measure, can identify with this. You can identify with David being over-troubled. We are over-troubled with sin, over-troubled with ourselves, overwhelmed with the ones that are lost in our family. It overwhelms us at times when you think about it. It does me. There's times when I think about my family and loved ones that are lost, it overwhelms me. It does. I can't think, I have to stop thinking about it after a while. It becomes too painful to think about. And yet I know the Lord's merciful and I know He's able to save them just like He did me. And I have good hope that God, being a merciful God, that He's gonna save sinners. And they are sinners. But I leave that to His sovereign mercy. It's in His will. But it's still, my heart is overwhelmed. It's covered over. And our Lord knew this. Our Lord knew what it was to be overwhelmed in the garden. He said, I'm ready to die. I'm gonna die right here. He felt it. He felt pain. He felt grief. He felt those things. His heart was overwhelmed when he was on this earth as a man. He wept over Jerusalem. He wept over Jerusalem. He wept at the grave of Lazarus. His heart was overwhelmed. He knows what we go through. Aren't you glad that we have a high priest who can be touched with the feeling of our infirmities? He's not some idol sitting on a shelf that has absolutely no life at all, but he feels my infirmities. He knows my heartaches. You know, when he wept at the grave of Lazarus, he was ready to bring Lazarus back. But I believe he felt the pain of Martha and Mary. He felt their pain. Someone said he felt, he went because he was bringing him back into this world. But I think he felt the pain of what they were feeling. And he expressed it, he expressed his love to them. And then here, David's heart is covered over, it's like a drowning man underwater. That's why he says, lead me to the rock that's higher than I. You know, when you're drowning, you're underwater. I've never been drowning, but I've been underwater. But if you're drowning in trouble, that's what you're doing. You're drowning in trouble. Here's the image that I get. He's drowning in trouble. And when you're underwater, you can't see what's on top of the water. There could be a mountain that's a thousand feet high right there, but you can't see it. You're so swamped in the water and so swamped with trouble, you can't see it, but God sees it. God knows where the rock is. That rock is seated at His right hand. And David knows this. And we know this. When we get smothered over with trouble and we can't breathe, we ask the Lord to guide us and teach us and direct us and hold on to us, which we know He will. He never lets us go. He never does that. But there are times when trials are so painful that it feels like you can't breathe. All you want to do is, Lord, let me breathe. Just let me take another breath. And David felt this. He knew it. But here's the good thing about it. Here's the good thing about his heart being overwhelmed. It drove him to the Lord. It drove him to prayer. And it drove him to ask the Lord to lead him. Here's the king. Here's the king giving up the reins. He's giving up the reins to the Lord and says, you lead me and guide me. I can't do it no more. I don't know which way to go. I don't know which way is up. I don't know which way is down. But you do. You do. And you know where the rock is. Sometimes we lose sight of the rock, don't we? Sometimes it's hard, sometimes because of darkness, sometimes because of coldness. We lose a sense of where the rock is, our Lord. But God always knows, God the Holy Spirit here, He always knows how to lead us to the rock. He always knows. Lead me to the rock that's higher than my troubles. That was one of the thoughts I had today, writing this down. I thought, oh, what a prayer. Lead me to the rock that's higher than my troubles. There's no trouble that my rock can't take care of. There's no trouble that my rock can't lift me above. There is no rock. I mean, there's no trouble that my rock can't handle. Now, here in verse 1, one of the greatest ways that faith is expressed. David says, Hear my cry, O God, attending to my prayer. And one of the greatest ways that faith is expressed and exercised is by prayer. It's just by prayer. We exercise prayer. We exercise faith by calling upon God, not complaining, but by praying. Take your burden to the Lord and leave it there. We have the Scripture that says, cast all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you. In the fullest sense of that word, He careth for you. And I know this, those who believe God, pray to Him. They call upon Him. In times of trouble, they call upon Him. We have access to the throne of grace in time of trouble. Listen, that place, that door is not closed. It's never closed to a child of God. Come boldly at any time to the throne of grace. There's no office hours there. If you're going to go see a doctor, you've got to go between this hour and this hour. You've got to get an appointment. I made an appointment with a doctor the other day, or the other day is weeks ago. It took me, what, a month? It took me a month to get in to see him. Aren't you glad it doesn't take you a month to see God, to call upon Him? We don't have to make an appointment. Of all God's children throughout all this world, it's hard saying how many there are, at no time do we have to make an appointment. At any given time, we can fall on our face at the throne of grace and lay out before Him our trouble and trust Him to take care of it. And He will. He will do it. Now before David speaks of his trouble, he asks God, he says here, attend to my prayer, give attention, give special attention. That's what he's saying, give special attention to my prayer. because he has something to pray about. His heart was overwhelmed. He ran out of Jerusalem, away from the tabernacle, away from the place of worship. He has something to pray about. I tell you, we have something to pray about every day. We truly do. And I don't know how to say this, but if we are really spiritually in tune, as we ought to be, we have much to pray about. There are times in my study, and I pray, and I start to think about certain people, and I realize, as I'm thinking about it and as I'm preparing to pray, I thought, there could be no end to this. Really, there could be no end to it. I could pray endlessly. I could pray for you individually, people I know out there. I mean, it could be a constant. Pray for the glory of God, the kingdom of God. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. You know, I've learned prayer, really prayer is an attitude. You don't always have to be on your knees or in a certain position. You don't have to be in a certain position, period. But prayer is a real attitude that you carry around with you all day long. It did, all day long. And spontaneously, you just, you pray. It's not a long prayer, just Lord, somebody comes to your mind, Lord bless them, and you go on about your day. But David asked the Lord here, he says, attend to my prayer. And notice here, this shows his desperation. Note where he cries from. From the end of the earth I cry unto thee. He's not in Jerusalem. He had to leave Jerusalem. That's where the tabernacle was. That's where the ark and the presence of God, and that's where everything that represented God was there, and worship was there, the sacrifices, it was there. But he's had to leave Jerusalem and he's out there on the run. He's on the run. And he says, From the end of the earth I cry unto thee, but thank God Thank God, He hears us pray wherever we are. Not just here. Not just when I ask Curtis to pray, or when I pray, or Doug, or when these other men pray. He hears us from where we are. He heard Jonah in the belly of the whale. I mean, it was deep down in the ocean. And he heard Jonah. Jonah said, out of the belly of hell, cried I. And God heard him. And that whale spit him out upon the shore. He heard Daniel in the lion's den. He heard Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the furnace of fire. He hears us from the ends of the earth no matter where we are. He hears us. You're never so low, and it's never so dark, that God cannot hear you. He hears His children. You let any parent... I mean, you could be in a crowd of a thousand people, and your child could start crying, and you'd know it. You would know it. Especially you mothers, now the fathers are a little iffy on this, but the mothers, you mothers would know it. You'd know the cry of your child, I guarantee it. David said, from the end of the earth I cry unto thee. It's a terrible thing. And this is something I, I want us to get a hold of. It's a terrible thing when we cannot gather with God's people. This is one of the things that caused him great sorrow. Would it really cause me great sorrow if I couldn't gather here with you tonight? David's saying, I cry to you from the ends of the earth, and my heart is overwhelmed, and one of the reasons is this, it's Absalom's after me, my son's turned against me, I've had to leave Jerusalem, but I can't be where the worship of God is with the people of God. The world loves it out there, but the sheep don't. The sheep don't love it out there. If you love it out there, you've got a problem. You got a problem. And if I love it out there, I got a problem. The friendship of the world is not mine. Here, you're my friends. That's why Christ said, you're my friends. That's what he's speaking to his disciples. You're my friends. You're my friends. And the ends of the earth here, now listen, he said, from the ends of the earth I cry unto thee, a place of darkness, a place where Satan and all my enemies are. It's a lonely place out there in the world. There's no lonelier place for a child of God than to be out there in the world. It's a lonely place. It's a dark place. It's a place where all the enemies are. And our Lord knows about this. He cried from this place also. He cried from this place and was heard. And this ought to encourage us to cry from this place, being in this world. We're still in this world. Still in it. And He says here, here's the cry. He said, from the ends of the earth I cry unto thee, and here's my cry, here's what I want, here's my heart's desire. Lead me, take me by the hand, and lead me to the rock that is higher than I. Help me to ascend upon that rock. And this rock is Christ. This rock is God. And Christ is God. Lead me to the rock. Father, lead me to Jesus Christ in time of trouble. Why is that? Because in Christ I find all I need in the hour of trouble. All my hope is in Jesus Christ. I may have lost everything else. Job lost everything. But you know what he did not lose? He didn't lose his hope. I know My Redeemer liveth." You can't lose your hope if you can't lose Christ. You might lose a little sight of it, but here He said, leave me to the rock that's higher than I. Leave me to Jesus Christ. He's all I need. He's all my hope. He's all my protection. He's all my protection. Scripture says your life is hid with Christ and God. Isaiah 32, 2 says, A man shall be for a hiding place from the wind and a covert from the tempest. A man. What man? That man Jesus Christ. And this rock that he's speaking of here, lead me to the rock that's higher than I. This rock was laid by God for sinners to find rest and safety in. and time of trouble. Our Lord said this, Come to Me, all you that labor heavy laden, I'll give you rest. God said, Behold, I lay in Zion a stone, a chief cornerstone, a tried stone. A tried stone. This is a proven stone. This is a proven rock. This rock is a solid rock. No crack in it. There's no crack in this rock. There's no weakness in this rock. This rock is a solid rock and this rock is a shelter from the storm. When Moses asked God to show him His glory, where did He put him? In the cleft of the rock. And he said, Moses stood up on that rock, and as God passed by, he said, I'll put my hand over your face, and when I pass by, I'll remove it, and you can see my back parts, because no man can see my face and live. Nobody can see my face. Well, you know what? We can now. We can now. Look over in 1 John 1. No man can see my face and live. That is, no man, apart from Jesus Christ, can look at me and live. John says here in 1 John chapter 1, "...that which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of Life." This Word of Life is God. In Christ we can look upon God. He that has seen me has seen the Father. He's seen the Father. And here's the amazing thing. We can look upon Him and live. And live. Now apart from Christ, you can't see God face to face. You're going to perish. God's a consuming fire outside of Christ. But oh, in Christ, in the Rock Christ Jesus, we can look upon God. David's saying here, when my heart is overwhelmed by sin, Satan and the enemies in this world, lead me to the rock that's higher than I. Lead me to the Lord Jesus Christ. Lead me. Lead me to Christ. And then verse 3, David reflects on his past experience here. You know, experience is a good teacher, isn't it? It's a tough teacher. It's a tough teacher, but it's a good one. Listen here. For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. For, here's what he's saying, leave me to the rock that's higher than I. For, thou hast been a shelter for me. He's talking about God. to Christ, to yourself, because you've been a shelter for me. You have proven that time after time after time. Every child of God, especially as we get older, we can look back and we can see that God has been a shelter for us. You and I are sheltered people. We are. We're sheltered in the Beloved. We are preserved in Jesus Christ. And David's here, in verse 3, he looks back at his past experience with God dealing with him and it gives him hope. It gives him hope. If you're in a tough situation when you get into one, if you're not in one now, when it happens, look back at how the Lord has dealt with you in the past and how He's brought you to this point. You're not in hell, are you? No, you're sitting here in front of me. You know how many people are in hell right now? Multitude upon multitude, they are in hell. And that's it. It's never going to change. But you and I are here, and we're sitting under the gospel. He's proven to be a shelter for us. He's been a shelter and a strong tower from the enemy. Can we not say that Christ has been a shelter for us and a strong tower, like that ark was for Noah? That ark took the storm of God's wrath, but Noah and those animals and the others that were in there with Noah, they were as safe as could be. They couldn't be any safer. They were in the ark. They were in the shelter. Christ is our shelter. And Christ is an impenetrable fortress. You know, for Satan, the world, the demons, for them to get at me, for them to get at me and take my life, they've got to destroy Jesus Christ. And they couldn't do it. When He hung on the cross, He came out of the grave. They put Him in the grave, and they rolled a stone over it. The Jews knew He was talking about the resurrection, so they put a stone over it, because they said His disciples might come and steal Him, and then the last day will be worse than the first. So they put a great huge stone over it, and they seal it. And in three days, He walks out of there. You can't destroy Him. He can't be destroyed. Our rock, our shelter, our tower is impenetrable. We are safe in the shepherd's fold, safe while the ages roll. We're safe in him. I'm not worried about a virus. I'm not worried about anything right now. You know what concerns me more than anything? I'm telling you the truth. You know people say that you think it must have been lying, but I'm telling you the truth. What really concerns me is my relationship with Christ. That's what I'm more concerned about than anything. You know, my dad, when I go in, I sit down and talk to him, he'll start reminiscing. Going back to the past, going back to that farm. And I'm like, Dad, that doesn't matter. There's only one thing that matters. It's what's ahead of you, not what's behind you. Paul said, forgetting those things which are behind. There are some things we need to forget. And those things which are behind, quit bringing them back up, dragging them like baggage to the airport. And I've told him that time and time again. I said, it's baggage. Let it go. That's all it is, just baggage. There's only one thing that he, you, and me really need to be concerned about. That's our relationship with Jesus Christ. Everything else will fall in place. Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. That has to do with your relationship to the Lord Jesus Christ. And then we see here in verse 4, he says here, and this is faith, this is confidence, And I can hear our Lord speaking here, the greater David speaking. But I tell you what, what pertains to Him pertains to us. He says, I will abide in thy tabernacle forever. David was confident that whatever happened, he was going to be with the Lord forever. So I may get a sickness right now. Now whether the Lord heals me or whether I die from it, I'm going to be with the Lord forever. I'm going to be in His tabernacle forever. I'm going to be in paradise forever. I will abide in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the cover of thy wings. This is faith's confidence. I will abide and I will trust. Do I have this kind of confidence in God? Do I have this kind of confidence in Jesus Christ? that through Him I will abide and by Him I will trust. Faith is a gift of God. We are kept by the power of God through what? Faith. He keeps us believing. You and I don't keep ourselves believing. We can't keep ourselves from anything. But He keeps us. He keeps us. And as it applies to the Lord Jesus Christ, He says, I will abide and I will trust, and in Him it applies to me. And here's the reason for this confidence. Listen, verse 5. Here's the reason for this confidence. I will abide in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the cover of thy wings, for thou hast heard my vows. Thou hast heard my prayers. That's what he's saying. Thou hast heard my prayers. He's confident that God has heard his prayer. Well, of course, he can look back and experience and say that God has heard my prayers. That's what he's saying here. Thou hast heard my prayers in which I vowed to praise you. See, thou hast heard my vows. Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear Thee, but the vows here..." Someone said today that I was reading, he said, prayers that have no vows in them are meaningless. But the vows that David makes, now I want you to listen, it's not that I'll give 10% if you'll do this, or I'll do this, if you do that. He's saying here, Lord, You bring me back to Your tabernacle. You bring me back. You deliver me, and I will praise Your name. I vow to praise Your name, to worship You." And that's what he says. That's what he's saying here. Oh, God has heard my prayers. And he goes on down there to speak of his vows there in verse 8, but that's what he's talking about. Pay my vows? That's what we're doing tonight. You know what a vow is? It's an absolute commitment. If I vow to you to do something, it's a commitment to do something. And David says, I am committed to your praise. I'm committed to your worship, to worship you and nothing else and no one else, to sing praise to you, not to myself, not as a king of Israel, but to you, the King of kings and Lord of lords. I vow, I'm committed to praising you, whatever comes. Job said, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. That's praising God. That's committed to His praise. Then he says here, Thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear Thy name. We are joint heirs with Christ. We have an inheritance. Listen. We have the same inheritance that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, you and I have the same inheritance. We have the same inheritance. The same. And then here, listen. Thou has given me the heritage. The word heritage here means participation. And this is what he's saying. Thou has given me the privilege of participating in the worship service, in the praise of You, along with Your chosen, along with Your elect. You have given me the privilege of participation in the things of God. This is a privilege right here. This is a privilege. What you and I have tonight, this is a privilege. And God can remove it at any time. He can. He can remove. Go over and read Revelation to the letters to the churches. Basically, he's saying to some of the churches, if you don't straighten up, I'm going to come and I'm going to remove the candlestick. He can remove it. You know, God gives gifts, but He can also take them. We should just be so careful in our attitude toward the gospel, in our attitude of being able to be here and to worship, Read the Word of God? My soul. I know how dangerous it is. I know how dangerous it is. I know how we can get caught up in things. I know that. And he says here, David knew this too. David knew that those who fear the Lord have been given a heritage. They've been given eternal life. That's the gift of God, eternal life. This is your heritage, eternal life. You have the life of God in you. You are partakers of the divine nature. Looking at you, you looking at me, it's hard, you can't see it, can you? You can't see it, but it's so. It's true. He has made us partakers of the divine nature. That which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And then he says here in verse 6, and I'll wind this down, "...Thou wilt prolong the king's life in his years as many generations." Now David felt confident that his life would be prolonged, and if not on this earth, it sure would in heaven. But this applies to the Lord Jesus Christ. He's speaking here, this is Christ speaking. And in verse 6 here, he's saying here, Thou wilt prolong the king's life and his years as many generations. The future looks good. Does the future look good to you? It does to me. The future looks good. It depends on which future you're looking at. If you're looking at this earth and men, no, it doesn't look good. That's a disaster. But the future of every believer looks good. It looks real good. Now David lived to be old, but this applies, as I said, to the Lord Jesus Christ, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion. He's the King of kings and Lord of lords. Over in Daniel 7, 14, 27, and Daniel 4 and 3, in Psalm 145 and 13, it speaks of His kingdom being an everlasting kingdom. And His dominion, an everlasting dominion. That's our King. That's our King. Our King is the King of glory. He has no boundaries. He has no boundaries. And He shall abide, He says here in verse 7, He shall abide before God forever. We know this first of all is speaking of Jesus Christ, who was raised from the dead, ascended on high, and is seated at God's right hand, and He will abide before God Almighty as King forever and ever. But you know what? The Scripture says that He has made us kings and priests unto God. It applies to us too. Us too. Our Lord shall sit enthroned before God, and we shall sit enthroned in Him, and with Him, and before Him. And then He says here, In verse 7, O prepare mercy and truth which may preserve him. I tell you what, when God saves you, you know that the only one who can keep you and preserve you is God in mercy. God in His mercy and in His truth preserves His sheep. That's the only way they're preserved. You know, it's God's mercy that He brings us here. It's His mercy that He gives us the truth. And once again, every week, week after week, line upon line, precept after precept, we learn all over again, because we just about forget it before we get back here, who we really are. I tell you, self-righteousness, it'll grow on anything. Pride, It'll grow anywhere. Anywhere. And it's still in us. But we come back here by the mercy of God, and the truth of God, and He preserves us. And we go out of here one more time. One more time. Giving Him the glory, and thinking upon Him, and realizing, apart from Him, we're nothing. Apart from Him, we're nothing. But what he's saying here, oh prepare, oh prepare mercy and truth, he's saying this, appoint, here's what it means, appoint mercy and truth as my guardians. Isn't that beautiful? I could write that on the refrigerator. Appoint mercy and truth to be my guardians. My two guardians, here are my two guardians, mercy and truth. They guard me, guide me. David said in Psalm 23 that His mercy will follow him all the days of his life. Mercy and truth are like two guardians that follow and even surround all God's children as they make their journey home. You know that's what we're doing. You and I are on a pilgrimage. Now, we need to keep this right. We are on a pilgrimage. We are headed home. This is not home. And the things you and I experience are the things we experienced on our way home. God has ordained every step, and He's ordained everything I and you will experience on our way home. And we'll thank Him when we get there. And we wouldn't have changed a thing. We wouldn't have changed a thing. When we finally have the mind of Christ, And we drop off all this sin. And then verse 8. So will I sing, since His mercy and His truth preserves me, so will I sing praise unto Thy name forever, that I may daily perform my vows. of praise and worship daily. Now listen, this is not for Thursday night. Praise and worship is not for Thursday night and Sunday. It's a special time when we come together. And the Lord has put a special blessing in His special presence on this time. But my time, personally, is every day. And your time, the praise and worship, is every day. We are committed to do that. If we're not committed to do that, we've got a real problem. A real problem. I will sing praises unto thy name forever, that I may daily perform my vows. He's worthy of praise, worthy is the Lamb that was slain. That's what they're singing in heaven, isn't it? Well, let's get in tune with it here. Let's get in tune with it here. While they're singing it, let's sing it to the same tune and with the same heart and with the same attitude as much as possible. And I may daily perform my vows committed to your worship and happy to serve. Happy to serve. You are where God's put you. Are you happy there? That's where you're to serve. When my heart is overwhelmed, let's remember this. Because your heart's going to be overwhelmed. If it's not now, it will be. And it will be again, and it will be again, and again. When my heart is overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that's higher than I. And that will keep you and I from falling apart, if He leads us to that rock. All right.