We shall now turn to the chapter which we read together, the Book of Psalms and Psalm 74. This psalm is a sad psalm. It's a mourning, complaining psalm. But at the same time, it's a mighty psalm because it's a mighty prayer being made to God. You find here the psalmist, as it were, wrestling with God and saying, remember us, remember your flock, remember your precious people, remember how you bought us, remember how you cared for us. Why have you cast us off? Why have you forgotten about us? Why have you let the enemy rule over us? Come back Lord, come and save us. Just think of how the enemy is mocking and ridiculing. Just think of how those who despise you are blaspheming. your holy name. Come again Lord. So we find here the psalmist is wrestling with God and pleading with God for a great revival, a wonderful returning of God to dwell in his church. that's what we need today. It's a particularly relevant psalm for today because today our church is so weak and all the churches are so weak up and down our land and in our western world we see atheism and We see false religions strong and we see the media and the government and all the social workers and all the forces and powers of society seem to be arrayed against the Christian church. And Satan and his kingdom seem to be triumphing. And we, the people of God, are struggling And when we listen to the preaching of the word, it doesn't have power, it doesn't grip people. And when people happen to come in from the streets outside, again, they're not convicted and converted, they come and they go. And the vast majority of people despise the Church of God. And so we must pray and plead as the psalmist here, and look to the Lord to do a great work for us. Now, this psalm was obviously written at a low point in Israel's history. It's commonly seen as having been written 20 or 30 years after the first temple was burnt Jerusalem was destroyed and the people of God were carried away to Babylon. 20 or 30 years later, the moss has grown upon the ruins of the temple. Grass and weeds have covered Jerusalem. The land is desolate and the enemies of God's people are rejoicing. and Satan seems to be triumphing. Well, it's so like the situation today. It's called a mascal of Asaph. Now Asaph, you remember, was a leader of praise and a composer of psalms in the days of David. Now we believe this psalm was written long after the prosperous days of David, so we take it that this is one of the sons of Asaph, one of his generation who had called himself by the name of his forefather, his illustrious forefather. It's called a maskil, that is an instruction. So it's not just telling us about something that happened in history. It's not just a story. It's instruction for every age. And if for every age, surely for our age, we need a psalm like this to instruct us and to challenge us. Oh God, why hast thou cast us off forever? We've been cast off, cast out of our own land, out of Jerusalem, cast off so that We're mostly living in Babylon and some down in Egypt and just a handful of people left in the land of promise. Cast off forever. Year after year is going by and there's no restoration. Year after year passes and there's no sign of the Lord having mercy upon his people and again building Jerusalem and again establishing his temple and his worship. Why is thou cast us off forever? Well, you and I, we look at our country and we wonder, When we consider our history and we think back that it's now, what, 160 years since there was a general revival in Scotland, in Britain? 160 years have passed. And during these 160 years, the church has been getting smaller and feebler and weaker, and particularly, particularly in the last What, thirty, forty years? How the church has declined! Why hast thou cast us off for ever? Why doth thine anger smoke and burn against the sheep of thy pasture? Well, the idea of the sheep and the shepherd is something that's very common to scripture. Remember how David had composed that wonderful psalm, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in the green pastures, by the still waters. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me, thy rod and thy staff they comfort me. You think of Psalm 78. Again, David taken from looking after the ewes with young and the sheep, and he's brought to feed God's people Israel, to feed the sheep. You think of Psalm 80. Hear, O shepherd of Israel. God, what is your name? Your name is the shepherd. You're the shepherd of Israel. Well, a shepherd cares for the flock, loves the flock. I know some people who look after sheep, and they really love their sheep. I remember we had an elder, an old elder in Portree, and he was very lame, but it was amazing how he could find the energy to go out amongst his sheep, and he would be up on the hillside there, lame though he was, because he cared for his sheep. He loved them. And Lord, you're the shepherd of Israel, and your sheep have been lost. They've been scattered to the four winds. The fold is empty. High like a lost sheep went astray, Thy servants seek and find, For thy commands I suffer not To slip out of my mind. There's so many of these Psalms, and they talk about God as the shepherd. And we think of, for example, Ezekiel 34. Again, God's flock, Israel. And we come into the New Testament, and there's a picture, the parable of the man with the hundred sheep, and he loses one, and oh, the care he has for that one lost sheep till he brings it back. And then, of course, John chapter 10, I am the good shepherd, I know my sheep, and my sheep know me, and I call them by name, and they follow me, and I lead them out, and in and out, and they find pasture. I am the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep. Why doth thine anger smoke against the sheep of thy pasture? thy pasture, and they're thy sheep. And that's where we are today. You are God's sheep. And where is God? Why has he left us? Why has he abandoned us? Why are we so few and so scattered? Why are we so divided and scattered upon the mountains of Scotland? Why is the wild boar ravaging? Why are the wolves coming in amongst the sheep? So we have a prayer here, surely, a prayer to pray earnestly. to God. Verse two, remember thy congregation. Thy congregation which thou hast purchased of old. The congregation which thou hast purchased. Remember it. We have been bought with a price. God brought us in Old Testament times. God bought his people Israel, brought them out of the land of Egypt. He paid a price for them. He delivered them from slavery. And so we think, too, of God's people today. They have been bought. bought with the precious blood of Christ. You are redeemed not with corruptible things such as silver and gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. Remember thy congregation, your congregation of Israel, your gathering, your assembly of your people, They're scattered. Remember your congregation of Scotland, your congregation of Knightswood. Thou hast purchased us. We are your belonging. We have been bought with a high price. The blood of Jesus. What could be a higher price? The rod of thine inheritance. The rod that measured out the inheritance. that rod of thine, which thou hast redeemed this Mount Sion wherein thou hast dwelt. This Mount Sion. God dwelt in Mount Sion. God dwelt in the temple. But now there's no sign of God there. It's just a ruin. God dwelt in his church in Scotland. But where is he today? Verse three, lift up thy feet unto the perpetual desolations. Perpetual, going on forever, that's the way it seems. Lord, become active, move forward, come again to your own land. Lift up your feet, take one step after another and come to us. even all that the enemy hath done wickedly in the sanctuary. True, you sent these Chaldeans to us and Nebuchadnezzar in order to chastise us. But the Babylonians, they're heathen, they're enemies. Why, Lord, are you blessing the enemies and you're not blessing us? Return to us again. Look down upon us in mercy. Don't be blessing all these godless people, these godless religions, these wicked people who are leading people astray. But lift up thy feet and come to us. Come, Lord, again. Verse four, thine enemies roar in the midst of the congregation. They set up their ensigns for signs. The cries of victory of the Chaldeans were heard in Jerusalem. They were heard in the temple. Flags planted in the house of God. And we look at the churches today in Scotland and so many of them are turning into ruins or being taken over as shops and stores and dance halls and nightclubs. The enemies have set up their signs in the houses of God. The houses of prayer have been turned into houses of merchandise and dens of thieves. Thine enemies roar. Lord, hear the roar of thine enemies. Hear the curses of Shimei against Christ and his people, against David, the anointed of the Lord. And come again and vindicate and deliver thy people from the enemy. Verse five, a man was famous in days gone by as he lifted up his axe upon thick trees, cut down the mighty trees of Lebanon, the cedars, and they were brought and they were carved and they were made into the temple of the Lord. A man was famous. These mighty men cutting down the great trees to build the temple. But now they have cast, but now they break down the carved work thereof. The beautiful carvings of cherubims and pomegranates, all that beautiful woodwork has been smashed down. Hammers knocking down the house of God, axes cutting down the carved work thereof. They have cast fire into thy sanctuary. They have defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. Fire has burnt the temple of the Lord. Remember when Solomon built that temple how the glory of the Lord and the cloud of God's presence entered into the temple and the glory was so manifest that the priests couldn't go into the temple. They couldn't go in because God's presence was so powerful and so awesome. But now they have cast fire into thy sanctuary. and defiled by casting down the dwelling place of thy name to the ground. Lord, look upon the Church in Scotland and see how it has been defiled. See how the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland is to meet shortly and to bring forward legislation in order that their ministers will be able to bless homosexual and lesbian marriages. What a curse! What a sad day has come upon our land, the Reformed Church of Scotland, blessing what is an abomination to the Lord. Filthiness! impurity what brought judgment upon Sodom of old. And ministers ascending up the pulpits of our land that once proclaimed the glorious gospel and the holy law of God and these ministers pronouncing blessing upon what the Lord has forbidden. They have cast fire into thy sanctuary how sad it is to see what is taking place. The temple of the Lord burnt with fire, cast down to the ground. And verse 8, they have said in their hearts, let us destroy them together. And they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land. The enemies conspiring, gathering together, whispering to one another, making it more manifest what their plans are. LBGT and so on, they're all working together out of their hatred for God and for his law. And we see in our parliaments, in our Queen's Speech, a law to be brought in against so-called conversion therapy. but it's really a law which can be used to stop ministers and Christians preaching, praying, praying with those who have become involved in these sinful practices and praying with them so that they might turn from their sinful ways. But our government bringing in things like that, Sad, what a sad day has come to our land. Just this past week we were hearing about a chaplain of the Church of England, a man by the name of Dr Bernard Randall, who was a chaplain in a college, school, Trent College, and there he was saying to the children, it's not necessary for you to be ashamed of the teaching of traditional marriage. It's all right to believe that marriages should be just between a man and a woman. It's all right to believe that He didn't say anything terribly violent, but he lost his job. He was sacked from his position. In fact, he was referred to the police as a possible radical or terrorist, just for saying that traditional marriage, Christian marriage, is okay. To believe that that is right is okay. How terrible, how the world has been turned upside down. The Lord has handed us over to this. He's given us into the hand of the Chaldeans who have taken over our land. He has handed over the church to wolves to take over the pulpits of our land. Wolves in sheep's clothing. Pretending to be preaching love, love, love. And everything is love. And, oh, you mustn't say to anybody that what they're doing is wrong. That's hatred. You mustn't call for repentance. Oh, no, no, that's a hate crime. They said, let us destroy them together. They have burnt up all the synagogues of God in the land, the gathering places of the Lord's people. We see not our signs, there is no more any prophet, neither is there any among us that knoweth how long. Jeremiah was dead, carried down to Egypt. Ezekiel was in Babylon in the far country of captivity, and there in the land of Israel there were no prophets. Here we are today and it seems that there are virtually no prophets in the land. Where is the great voice and the strong voice and the powerful voice standing up for the truth, for the Bible, the law of God? There were in days gone by men like John Knox, There were men like Samuel Rutherford. There were men like George Whitefield, Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Dr. Lloyd-Jones last century. But today, oh, how poor we have become, how weak we have become. Where is the great voice for the scriptures, standing for the word of God, proclaiming the gospel and calling our nation to repentance? Neither is there among us any that knoweth the time. How long? There is no prophet in our land. Verse 10, O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name forever? How long, Lord? Shall the enemy blaspheme? This is a prayer. It's got to be our prayer. Lord, how long? Lord, it's gone on for long enough. It seems to be perpetual, but surely it can't be. Surely you have a purpose, Lord, for our land, a purpose of mercy. Is it not written in the scriptures, did Christ not say it, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. The gates of hell have taken over the church. Oh Lord, how long? Come again, return and build up once more the walls of Zion and come and dwell in thy holy temple, in thy church. Why withdrawest thou thy hand, even thy right hand? Pluck it out of thy bosom. Why, Lord, are your hands, as it were, stuck away in your pockets, in your bosom? Pluck forth your hands, Lord, and stretch them out to save. Reach forth with thine arm to deliver. The Lord's arm is not shortened that it cannot save, nor is here grown heavy that it cannot hear. Plug forth thine arm, reach forth to save us, Lord. Deliver us. Verse 12, for God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth. Lord, you're my King. We have no king but Jesus. The scribes and the Pharisees were saying, we have no king but Caesar. And there's those in our own day who are saying, we have no king but Caesar, and public opinion, and the world. But our king is God. It's Jesus. God is my king, and he's been my king of old. working salvation in the midst of the earth. God is the great king of his people from the very beginning, the Alpha, the Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. Thou didst divide the sea by thy strength, the Red Sea divided to bring thy people out. Thou breakest the heads of the dragons in the waters. Dragons, great water creatures, great animals of the seas and the oceans. Thou breakest the heads of Leviathan, the crooked serpent, The coiled serpent, some kind of perhaps a dinosaur or something like that. This mighty creature broken in pieces and given to be meat to the wilderness inhabitants. The people of the wilderness gathering on the shores of the sea to feed off Leviathan. God's mighty power. Thou didst cleave the fountain and the flood, the river, the river Jordan. Thou didst dry up the mighty rivers. The day is thine. And on one occasion, God made the day longer, didn't he, for Joshua, so that Joshua would be able to complete his victory over the Canaanites. The day is thine, the night is thine. Thou dost give day and night. Thou preparest light, the light of the sun. Thou hast set all the borders of the earth. The sea can come so far, but no further. Thou hast made summer and winter. The seasons come from God. The climate comes from God. God is in control. God is the one who treads upon the waves, who walks upon the waters. What can God not do? Remember this, Lord, verse 18, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name. How many foolish people there are in our country today blaspheming the name of God. How much swearing and cursing and vile films and vile television. How much immorality and wickedness is going on. Remember this Lord that the enemy of reproach and mocked and ridiculed the law of God and the gospel of God and trampled it underfoot. Lord, hear in heaven, hear what is going on and come and save us and return to thy church and raise up thy church from the dust of which it has fallen. Build up again the walls of Jerusalem and come and dwell amongst thy people. Verse 19, oh deliver the soul of thy turtle dove. Deliver not the soul of thy turtle dove unto the multitude of the wicked. God's people, they're so weak and feeble like a turtle dove. How can the turtle dove fight against these people? birds of prey and these animals of prey all round about, tearing it to pieces. Deliver not the soul of thy chosen, thy beloved people for whom Christ died. Deliver not the turtle dove of thy church into the hand of the crowds of evil men. Forget not the congregation of thy poor. Lord, forget them not. Hast thou not said, I will never leave you, nor forsake you? Can a mother forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion upon the son of her womb? Yea, even they may forget, yet will I never forget you. O my people, O my sheep, Oh my turtle dove, I will never forget you. Have respect unto the covenant. Remember the covenant of grace, the promises that were made. For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. how much cruelty and violence there is, how many of God's people are suffering, thousands of them in prisons in North Korea, how many of God's people are increasingly suffering in China, how many of God's people are suffering in Pakistan, in Sudan and Somalia, in Nigeria, God's turtle dove being torn by Muslims, Islamists, terrorists. Have respect unto thy covenant. Remember thy promises. For the dark places of the earth are full of the habitation of cruelty, and they could well be coming to our country too. How much we need to pray against the cruelty of Satan's servants. Oh, let not the oppressed return ashamed. Let the poor and the needy praise thy name. I, poor and needy, am. Come, Lord, and make no stay. My help, thou, and deliverer art. My God, make no delay. a poor and a needy people, but their trust is in the name of the Lord. Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Let not the oppressed return empty-handed from the place of prayer. Let the poor and the needy praise thy name, as thou didst answer, delivering thy church. Arise, O God, plead thine own cause. Remember how the foolish man reproacheth thee daily. Yes, there are so many fools around us. The fool hath said in his heart, there is no God. I'm not answerable to anyone. I can do what I like. I can say what I like. I don't believe in God. I don't believe in heaven or hell. I don't believe in judgment. I do what I like and I live the way I want. Arise, O God, and plead the cause that is thine own. Plead for thy people. Fight for thy people. Deliver thy people. Let not the fools trample them underfoot. Forget not the voice of thine enemies. The tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually. Daily the tumult of the wicked is increasing. How much, then, we need this psalm? How much we need to pray this psalm? God has given it to us. He's given it to us so that we will use it and plead it. Arise, O God. and plead thine own cause, our cause, and thy cause. Forget not the voice of thine enemies. Oh, the howling of the wolves that are devouring thy people, forget not the voice of thine enemies. The tumult of those that rise up against thee increaseth continually. But is God not on our side? Is Jehovah not the God of the covenant? Come, Lord, and save us. Do a great work in our day. Build up thy church again. Revive thy cause of thy kingdom. Reform the churches. Strengthen thy servants to preach with power. Why, Lord, is the preaching of thy word so feeble? Grant power. Grant change lives. Grant, O Lord, repentance to thy church. Grant, O Lord, that thy church would grow and flourish and fill the earth like the stone of Daniel, chapter 2, that became a great mountain that filled the whole world. Let us pray. Arise, O Lord, and plead Thy cause, our cause and thy cause, thy kingdom. Remember thy church. Remember all the wonderful promises of the Bible. Remember those words which say that the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ. A little one shall become a thousand. and a thousand a strong nation. Lord, do thou do great things. Pull down the strongholds of Satan. Overthrow the enemy. Unite thy church firmly upon the foundation of the truth. May the gospel be proclaimed in clarity, simplicity, and power. May the dead be awakened, sinners repenting, and songs of praise rising up to heaven. Come, Lord, lift up thy feet, do not tarry. Return to these long desolations. In Jesus' name we pray, amen.