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Alright, so there in Psalm 28 verse 1, Psalm 28 verse number 1, it begins by saying unto thee will I cry and so that's what I decided to title the sermon this evening, unto thee will I cry. Now of course this is King David speaking to the Lord God and we know that he's a man of prayer and Pastor Stevenson preached a great sermon last week, last Wednesday on the topic of prayer. So we are going to be looking at prayer once again, thank you brother. But again, we are starting just here in Psalm 28 because I'm back in the book of Psalms, we are going to spend the next three weeks in Psalms, so I'll be going through 28, 29 and 30 and then I'll begin preaching on a new book of the Bible for this church. But as you guys know between books we often just take three Psalms, break it up this way and so we're up to Psalm 28 and again the title for the sermon this evening is unto thee will I cry. So what is it that King David is crying unto the Lord? Now remember, this is a little bit different to just praying. We all pray, you know brother and man you just pray now before the preaching, right? But no one was really crying out, you know to cry out is to lift your voice, you know usually you may cry when you're in a period of anguish or deep sorrow and you're desperate and you need an answer and you need help and you feel like the whole world is falling apart around you, hey that is the point that we need to cry. Now brethren I don't know how often you've cried unto the Lord, I'm not talking about shedding tears, I'm saying you've literally found a secret place, lifted up your voice and just with all your might ask the Lord to answer some prayer. You know I thank God that we live in a relatively peaceful country, you know where we can worship God in freedom with the freedoms that we currently have, yeah they've been tested, they've been slowly been taken away from us but by and large compared to the rest of the world here in Australia we are very free, you know life in Australia is very easy, you know and again you say well I'm going through hardships, I'm just saying compared to some other places in this world, you know Australia's a good country to live in, a very easy country to live in and so we don't often have these situations where we just need to lift up our voices and cry but you know this is something the Lord wants to hear from us from time to time, you know we still go through some level of difficulties and of course you know we know that David suffered many times, you know he had many enemies around him, he had many threats to his life and so I can see by King David you know in his example that he had times where he needed to lift up his voice but look what he says after that, he says I cry oh Lord my rock and then he says be not silent to me, be not silent to me, isn't that what we want when we go to the Lord in prayer, we don't want him to be silent, we want him to hear our prayer, we want him to hear our request and we want him to answer the request okay so David's saying look just don't be silent to me, why does he say these words and I think it's really interesting here, it says if they'll be silent to me, I become like them that go down into the pit, I thought this was a really interesting part of this psalm okay so we learned something here that for people that go into the pit, God is silent to them okay now what pit is this speaking about, you know if we fall into a hole, let's say someone digs a hole, we don't watch our step, we fall into a hole and we can't get out, say Lord can you help us, is God going to be silent in that pit, is that the pit that's been referred to here, keep your finger there and go to Numbers 16 please, Numbers 16 and verse number 28, Numbers 16 and verse number 28 and again you know we need to understand that you know it's good to take the Bible literally you know but if you take the Bible too literally you will read that and you think if I fall into a hole, God's not going to answer my press or something like that right, I mean we know that Joseph for example was thrown into a pit by his brothers, does that mean God remains silent to Joseph, no we know that God had great plans to Joseph and so we're speaking about a different pit here, Numbers chapter 16 and verse number 28 and we're looking at the rebellion of Korah okay, Numbers 16 and verse number 28, they desired to take positions like Moses, they weren't happy that there was just one man Moses that was ruling over the people of Israel and Korah with his people they wanted to rise up and be leaders as well even though it was not the Lord's direction at this point in time, look at verse number 28 and Moses said, hereby you shall know that the Lord have sent me to do all these works for I have not done them of my own mind, if these men, that's Korah and his rebellion, die the common death of all men or if they be visited after the visitation of all men then the Lord have not sent me but if the Lord make a new thing and the earth open her mouth and swallow them with all that appertain unto them and look at this and they go down quick into the pit then you shall understand that these men have provoked the Lord and it came to pass as he had made an end of speaking all these words that the ground clave of Sandar that was under them and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed them up and their houses and all the men that appertain unto Korah and all their goods they and all that appertain to them went down alive into the pit and the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the congregation. So what do we learn here? We learn that these rebellious people very clearly unsaved, never have this impression as you read for your Old Testament that every person in the nation was saved. That's not true. They were all people of God. They were all people of God under the old covenant but just because you're in the old covenant doesn't mean you're saved because if they don't trust Christ if they don't put their faith on Jehovah as they knew him at this point in time they would not be saved even they might go and do the rituals and do the sacrifices but if their faith was not on the Lord alone for salvation these are not saved people. Just because they are labeled the people of God it's under the old covenant. Thank God for the new covenant even better. Anybody that's in the new covenant is guaranteed saved. You can only enter the new covenant by being saved okay but anyway the point being here these guys descended into a pit the earth opened up they descended alive this was the judgment and the punishment that they would experience from the Lord. Now you might say well what is that referring to? Well I strongly believe that's hell. I strongly believe that's hell okay. Now can you please go to Revelation chapter 20 for me please. Revelation chapter 20 verse number one. So I do want to show you not just one passage but I want to show you a couple of passages where we see this pit in the earth and if you know your Bibles I don't have time to go through all this you know it's very clear in the Bible that what we know as hell in that place of fire and torment is somewhere under the earth okay in the center of the earth and hell has enlarged itself and that's where the souls of men that have not believed on Christ that have rejected Christ this is where they go down into that pit but in Revelation chapter 20 in verse number one we're now looking forward to a we're looking at a future event to come and we know that one day Christ will return praise God can't wait for that brethren. I can't wait you know every day it's when I was a kid you know tell the truth when I was a kid I was like ah Jesus don't come back yet right because I haven't really lived my life yet you know I kind of want to have a job and kind of want to experience life and get married and have my own family but now I'm just like Lord I'm just seeing the wickedness of this world I'm like Lord just come back just come back you know I can't wait for you to come back Lord I can't wait to have a righteous government and we know that Christ is coming back and he's going to rule and reign for a thousand years and then it says here in Revelation chapter 20 verse number one and this is at the beginning of that thousand year reign it says in verse number one and I saw an angel come down from heaven having the key of the bottomless pits and a great chain in his hand so you can see another pit here referred to well I believe it's the same pit actually but it's quite interesting but it's not just a hole in the ground this is something that is bottomless okay the idea of a bottomless pit is something that you cannot get out of okay when you fall in the pit you just keep falling you can't fall upwards basically and I don't know if this has something to do with the gravitational pool you know that that in the earth I have no idea and maybe it has that sensation that you just keep falling that's possible or it just might be more symbolic of the idea that it's just a pit that you'll never get out of okay now that bottomless pit you see here that this angel has the the chain in his hand look at verse number two and he laid hold on the dragon that old serpent which is the devil and Satan and bound him a thousand years and cast him into the bottomless pits and shut him up and set a seal upon him that he should deceive the nations no more till the thousand years should be fulfilled and after that he must be loosed a little season something else that we learn in the book of Revelation that out of this pit came out these locusts from hell basically tormenting the people that have taken the mark of the beast so the point being Brethren is this we see that in the Bible yes pit can often refer to just a hole in the ground okay but what we see here that the pit can also refer to hell okay this place in this earth okay something supernatural something where where you can literally be sent to you know where the Lord can actually send you body and soul into hell that's what happened to Korah and so when we look back at Psalm 28 and verse number one it says I became like them that go into the pits and it says about them be not silent to me lest if they'll be silent to me I become like them that go into the pit we learn something interesting about hell that in hell people are calling out to God and God is being silent to them I mean I know hell is a terrible place I know it's a place of fire and torment and you got the worms of hell tormenting you and you'll never get out of that and even when you are free for a temporary period of time you're cast into the second death which is a lake of fire it's horrible hell is a horrible place but something else that we learn here is that people are calling out to God and God is completely silent unto them okay now I don't Lord help me I don't know what they're saying you know here's the thing though you know that what if they believe on Jesus while they're in hell but that point the reprobate and we know that reprobates can't believe anyway okay so I mean they might be asking God get me out of here but look the last thing they're gonna do is put their faith on Jesus Christ it's it's that opportunity has been gone that opportunity is gone but I thought it's quite interesting that you know God will be solid now we know that the fires of hell are lit by the anger of God we know those fires proceed out of Jesus Christ out of the Lamb of God so God is present here I'm not saying that God is not present all I'm saying is these people are yelling out to God and he's just silent he doesn't answer them he doesn't satisfy them we have a single answer and so what we learn here you know and I am again preaching about prayer here is you know hell is a place where God is silence where God is silent so I want to be like David here where you know God I don't want you to be silent with me I want to hear from you Lord I want to hear what you have to say to me because I don't want to suffer on this earth a little bit of help I don't want that you know if God is not speaking to you if God is not answering prayers if God is completely silent to you you know what that's a taste of what hell is like and none of us want to experience that okay this is a bad thing so you know when we don't pray to the Lord we're actually you know when we don't go to him with our requests and supplications when we just give that put that up in our lives you're basically saying Lord I want to experience hell a little bit I want to know what it's like to not be in communication with you okay so prayer is important okay it actually differentiates a significant part of what hell is like look at verse number two in Psalm 28 Psalm 28 verse number two it says hear the voice of my supplications when I cry unto thee when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle so you can see the desperation of David here wanting the Lord to hear his cries you know wanting the Lord to not be silent to his requests so why live a life that resembles hell why live a life where you stop praying and stop going to Lord why would you want that okay I don't want to I don't experience hell on this earth even if it's just the silence of God I don't want to experience that okay there's a desperation that's coming from David in this Psalm here and so you know how do we hear from God well the easiest way the quickest way is just open up your Bible that is the Word of God those are the words that God wants you to listen to to learn from to walk there by that's the easiest way to hear from God but guess what if you don't pick up your Bible and read it it just collects dust on the bookshelf or something you're experiencing a taste of hell right there why would you want that in your life you know why would you want that again not petitioning God for answered prayer not going to the Lord for help you're just asking God give me a taste of hell you know Lord I want to I want to be so I want you to be silent with me when you don't listen to God's Word now notice in verse number two he said that he lifts up his hands toward thy holy oracle thy holy oracle now oracle comes from the word you know it has the same sort of base words as the word oral something that's coming out of your mouth okay now what I want you to think about what the horror what I'm not sure what you think the holy oracle is but let's find out if you can keep your finger there and go to first kings chapter eight first kings chapter eight I thought this was quite interesting here first kings chapter eight and verse number five first kings chapter eight and verse number five and we're going to be looking at the temple here Solomon's temple now keep in mind that when we read Psalm 28 that's David's son so this is before Solomon his son built a temple obviously okay but I believe the holy the oracle here is the same thing it's just obviously the tabernacle is something that could be transported around whereas the temple was a fixed structure those are the two major changes between the house of God there but in first kings chapter eight and verse number five first kings chapter eight verse number five it says and king Solomon and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him were with him before the ark so we got the ark of the covenant mentioned here sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be told nor numbered for multitude and notice this and the priest brought in the ark of the covenant of the lord unto his place what place what is the place that the ark of the covenant's going to be put into it says there into the oracle of the house to the most holy place even under the wings of the cherubims so we learn what the what the holy oracle there is okay it's the most holy place it's the place that the ark of the covenant would be situated in and if you know how they did things you know once a year the great high priest would go into the the great high priest the high priest i should say jesus christ is the great high priest anyway the high priest would go into that most holy the holy of holies and he would go there and sprinkle the blood of the sacrifice uh onto that the the mercy seat there on the ark of the covenant and so that's where it was situated and if you may also remember a very popular part of that area was that he was covered by a thick veil you know that that veil when when christ died on the cross the veil was torn into two and it opened up to the you know access to the most holy place uh to anybody basically okay because originally it was a place that was just for the high priest now can you please turn to hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 20 so what we learn here in the psalm in psalm 28 is as david's crying unto the lord he says he lifts up his hand towards thy holy oracle and so he's he's positioning he's positioned himself toward the temple of god you know and focusing his prayers toward that most holy place okay and the reason it was so holy is because god's presence was there okay david's not praying to some object okay the ark of the covenant is not the object of his prayers it's not the the room that the ark of the covenant was situated he was praying to the presence of god to god himself okay now if you look at hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 20 hebrews chapter 10 and verse number 20 it says by a new and living way which he have consecrated for us through the veil that is to say his flesh and having and high priest over the house of god speaking about jesus christ and so that veil in the most holy place represents the flesh of christ and so when christ's flesh died when he was broken for us it pictured that veil being torn into in fact the the valence of torn into pictured the flesh of christ that was the symbolism that that veil was the type okay and you can see here that the lord has done that for us and now in verse number 21 we have a high priest over the house of god that high priest is not some levitical priest that high priest of course is jesus christ after the order of merkizadeh now please go to hebrews chapter 7 hebrews chapter 7 and verse number 25 hebrews chapter 7 and verse number 25 it says wherefore he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto god by him that's by jesus seen he ever liveth to make intercession for them i thought this was amazing because what do we learn here that the lord jesus christ forever well at least till we go home and to be with in heaven with the lord right is interceding on our behalf it's constantly his blood constantly intercedes on our behalf you know anytime we sin and the devil our accuser okay runs to the lord god i don't know if this is how it works but i guess it works to some extent okay and says you know uh pastor kevin sinned again you know what jesus christ there no my blood intercedes okay it's been taken care of it got taken care of 2 000 years ago okay and this is why we have this surety of heaven or another reason why we have the surety of heaven is because no matter what accusations no matter what's what sin we may be accused of of doing jesus christ there is interceding on our behalf okay because his flesh represents that veil to the most holy place that place being the oracle of god okay and i thought this was amazing because we see david praying to this area that had the presence of god that had the oracle of god and who is it that answers our prayers you know when we pray jesus christ says to pray in his name yes we're instructed to pray to the father but he says to ask all things in his name so we too have this access to pray to the oracle this place that is the most holy but it's been made accessible to us by the sacrifice of christ so when we think about that i kind of want to pray more i don't know about you but you know what that place was very special only the high priest can enter now we can enter all of us can enter every time we pray unto the lord back to psalm 28 and verse number three psalm 28 and verse number three david says draw me not away with the wicked nor with the workers of iniquity which speak peace to them to their neighbors but mischief is in their hearts all right so david knows that god will judge the wicked okay and uh well the wicked here let's have a look what are the wicked what are the workers of iniquity doing they they speak peace to the neighbors they you know yeah they get along the neighbors but mischief is in their hearts they're backstabbers they actually want to cause harm to the neighbors okay they portray themselves one way and they want to harm they want to hurt their fellow neighbors those are the wicked people okay that david is speaking about here and he says that he doesn't want to be drawn away with the wicked okay so when god comes to judge the workers of iniquity david does not want that same judgment upon him the idea there is you know the drawing drawing away it's kind of the idea of going fishing and some some fishermen have a draw net right they put a net out there and then as time goes whatever time that is they draw that net in and they catch a lot of fish obviously they catch a lot of stuff but they also catch a lot of stuff that they weren't really intending might be just garbage that's in the ocean might be other sea life that is not profitable to them okay so when you draw you know you're drawing whatever is in that area whatever is in that you know within that net whatever's been caught in that net even though it wasn't what you intended to draw in the first place well that's the kind of idea that we have here with david you know he lives in a wicked world he has wicked people around him and he knows that god's judgment is going to fall upon the wicked and he says but oh man i'm right here right he's asking lord please don't uh don't cause me harm when you decide to judge the wicked i don't want to be counted toward that judgment that you do toward the wicked i think that's a that's a good prayer to have but one thing that we learn here is that many times when god does judge you know you might judge a wicked nation god's people even those people that are walking righteously living righteously are still affected by that judgment you know down in sydney i'm going through the jeremiah series and we know that god's judgment fell upon judah and uh and they were taken into captivity by the babylonians but remind yourself it wasn't just the wicked it wasn't just the unsaved jews that got taken away even righteous people were affected by the judgment okay and yeah you know what many of those fared well in fact jeremiah fared really well he was actually let go free but we still have stories of great men like daniel and his free friends like um uh who's the other person i'm thinking about ezekiel ezekiel yeah ezekiel as well we have other great men of god that were unfortunately you know they're serving god but because god's wrath fell god's judgment fell they too were caught up in that judgment hey but ultimately things fed well for them as well okay but you can see that with david he realizes you know when god's judgment falls on the wicked it can be the case where god's people are caught up with the consequences of that judgment okay now can you please keep your finger there and go to genesis 18 go to genesis 18 i think this is a good cry a good prayer to have unto the lord that he would not draw us away with the wicked that he would give us a way of escape from any kind of negative consequences of his judgment but in genesis 18 verse number 23 i like this story very famous story we know about the lord destroying sodom and gomorrah for their filthiness for their wickedness i don't want to go into that right now i just want you to think about lots because we think about how how lots was delivered from that judgment you know we often think about that right that god would see fit to send his two angels to pull a lot out of that fire and you know that's a picture of our rapture you know that before god's wrath before god pulls out his wrath on this world that he will send his angels to collect his saints from the earth so they will not fall in the judgment of god but what we read here in genesis 18 verse number 23 abraham god having told abraham what he would do to sodom and gomorrah verse number 23 says and abraham drew near and said will thou also destroy the righteous with the wicked because yeah that's a good question what are you going to destroy a whole city what about the righteous he's thinking about lots of course lot got saved doesn't seem like it but he was just lots okay he was he was a saved person and he's on his way to heaven i don't think his rewards are much in heaven but okay he got there at the end praise god but that's a good question to ask you know abraham realizes the lord if you judge the way you're going to judge there are going to be some righteous caught up in this judgment look at verse number 24 per adventure there'll be 50 righteous within the city will thou also destroy and not spare the place for the 50 righteous that uh that are therein that sorry that be far from thee to do after this manner to slay the righteous with the wicked and that the righteous should be as the wicked that be far from thee shall not the judge of all the earth do right so what we have here is abraham praying well he's speaking to the lord but the same concept right prayer is speaking to the lord asking the same thing asking the same thing that david is asking right you don't want to be drawn away with the wicked when god's judgment comes that's not right right but then look at verse 126 and the lord said if i find in sodom 50 righteous within the city then i will spare all the place for their sakes and abraham answered and said behold now i have taken upon me to speak unto the lord which am but dust and ashes per adventure there shall lack five of the 50 righteous will they destroy all the city for lack of five and he said if i find their 40 and five i will not destroy it so abraham's thinking oh man i don't think we're going to find 50 safe people in that city maybe 45 and then he thinks oh you know what i think i'm being too generous there i don't think there's 45 righteous listen praise god for our church you know we may not be a very big church okay but when we're all here when all the families that are part of this church you know when we had our church anniversary and and everyone turned up that uh you know sees this church as their church we're more than 50 okay we're more we're but sunshine coast is faring better than sodom at this point in time okay so i don't know how much of god's wrath we're holding back hey but we're playing a part praise god we're playing a part praise you know and you know we get out there we see souls saved and you know and i know there weren't many souls saved on the so many mega marathon up here but there were two praise god for the two okay i mean that might be holding god's judgment back a little further just two more there right i mean you know we can see here that uh abraham and god they're working on singular numbers here right just just five short you know praise god for the two that got saved anyway let's keep going verse number 30 sorry verse number 29 and he and he spoke unto me yet again and said peradventure there shall be 40 there shall be 40 found there and he said i will not do it for 40s sake and he said unto him oh let not the lord be angry and i will speak peradventure there shall 30 be found there and he said i will not do it if i find 30 there and he said behold now i have taken upon me to speak unto the lord peradventure there shall be 20 found there and he said i will not destroy it for 20s sake and he said oh let not the lord be angry and i will speak yet but this once peradventure 10 shall be found there and he said i will not destroy it for 10s sake and the lord went his way as soon as he had left communion with abraham and abraham returned unto his place so god says you know what if there's just 10 i won't destroy that city and we know that city was wicked we know that city deserves the fiery judgments that came from heaven okay but god says you know what just 10 and i would save that city we know lot and his family are there that makes up a big part of that 10 that tells us that lot was not preaching the gospel that lot was doing no effort to proclaim the god of abraham to the people there if each member of his family just got one more person saved that whole city would have remained now god does it a wonderful miracle we know the story he pulls lot out with his wife and his daughters even though his wife perishes because she looks back but i want to just think about it from the flip side there we have to look at that story thank god he stepped in and pulled out lot you know saved his life but notice when god's judgment came even the righteous even just lot was affected he lost his city he lost his house he lost his daughters that were married that remained in the city okay he ended up losing his wife i mean he lost if i lost those things if i lost all those i lost my wife i lost my kids to some extent that would crush me okay but that judgment was falling upon the wicked okay and so we need to realize that you know when when god's you know we don't want to be too associated with a wicked world we don't want to be too associated with wicked friends and wicked family members right i know you can't escape it we all have to live our lives and i'm not trying to be trying to tell you be a recluse and find some property out in the middle of nowhere and live out your life like that but we don't want to be so attached where if god's judgment were to fall upon the wicked that we would be affected you know the more attached you are to a wicked world the greater the consequences may be upon you when god judges the wicked so it is a it is a good thing to be praying for that the lord would not draw us away with the wicked with the workers of the iniquity now something else i wanted to mention here in in psalm 28 look at verse number three again so the workers of iniquity that are mentioned in this psalm are those which speak peace to their neighbors but mischief is in their hearts now i want to differentiate this with how we are commanded to live our lives because you know what we're commanded also to speak peace with our neighbors okay i'll just read the passage to you in romans 12 17 it says recompense to no man evil for evil provide things honest in the sight of all men if it be possible as much as life in you live peaceably with all men hey brethren that's a commandment that's something we're called to do if it be possible as much as life in you live peaceably with all men i hope you're seeking to live that way i i want peace you know i want i want peace with my neighbors i want peace with my community i want that okay because we're commanded to to have that right i want my my kids to live in a peaceful country i want them to be able to worship god in peace and freedom okay and there's nothing wrong with that there's nothing wrong with doing the best you can to just live peaceably even with those that you know are wicked in this world okay but what these people are doing not only are they speaking peace to the neighbors but they have mischief in their hearts their desire is to hurt people okay again the backstabber you know backstabbing people are the worst they're workers of inequity and yes even christians can be backstabbers even god's people can be backstabbers you know someone speaks peaceably to me and behind my back they're just stabbing me in the back i don't want anything to do that person i don't want to be drawn away when god decides to judge these wicked people it's like i want nothing to do it look i'm all for peace but i'm not there to just destroy people's lives you know speak kindly to them and destroy them now look if god's judgment falls upon them so be it that's god's business okay we were told recompense to no man evil for evil so even if these people do evil to me you know what i'm commanded to just do the best i can with all i have to just get along with that person and live peaceably with them okay so don't confuse what we're commanded to do with what these wicked people are doing in psalm 28 look at verse number four it says give them according to their deeds and according to the wickedness of their endeavors give them after the work of their hands render to them their dessert all right so what is david praying for god judge the wicked give them what they deserve lord right they've got endeavors what's an endeavor something that you sort of strive to accomplish you have a goal you have a plan these people are striving to accomplish wickedness and it's right for us to pray to our holy god and say god can you judge them swiftly can you take down these wicked people what else do we learn about wickedness who are these people it says i'll give them after the work of sorry yeah give them after the work of their hands it says render to them their desserts now when we look at that word deserts there i was shot not desert desert it doesn't mean desert like we think about it when you think we'll read the word desert we think of you know a wilderness forsaken barren wilderness you know maybe a sandy desert or something like that that's all what's speaking about here the word dessert here has the same sort of thought as the word deserve so when it says they're rendered to them their desserts basically saying render to them what they deserve what they have done to hurt people lord you hurt them in the same way right an eye for an eye kind of idea right look at verse number five because what is it that they're doing these wicked people because they regard not the works of the lord nor the operation of his hands he shall destroy them and not build them up so what else is extremely wicked according to the bible people that do not acknowledge or regard the works of god uh it big bang you know we're all here because of the big bang you know we're all here because two monkeys decided to shave i don't know aren't we shaving monkeys you know and uh you know we were we started as a single bacteria that came out of the ocean you know that became a frog and they don't regard the works of god that's wickedness evolution is wicked okay atheism is wicked being able to look at god's creation say well it wasn't god i mean that is extreme that's extreme you know i know there's a lot of atheists in this world okay you can just understand they're very wicked they're very wicked okay because they deny the works of god's hands it says he shall destroy them and not build them up you know something that that's wonderful as well with the bible sometimes we read we read these things and then we can also understand that the kind of the reverse is also true so if god will not build them up because they don't acknowledge the works of his hands well here's one way that you can be built up by god by acknowledging god's creation by acknowledging that god is the creator that he's the lord of this earth okay this is my father's world right and if we acknowledge god the promise here well if we do that we acknowledge and and honor the works of his hands that he will build us up he will lift us up in the times of difficulties in times of of troubles that's easy i find it very easy to acknowledge god say god thank you for creation god thank you for my children thank you for blessing me with the fruit of the worm hey if we acknowledge that god says that you will build us up and i like what david says in verse number six blessed be the lord because you have heard the voice of my supplications that's kind of like you know verse number two said hear the voice of my supplications well verse number six yep because you have heard the voice of my supplications so what else can we learn here we need to just understand that when we do pray the lord hears the lord he i mean just just just cause just think about that right the god of the universe the creator of all things okay he's creating one day create new heaven new earth he's promised us heaven streets of gold and the mansions forgiveness of sins he's made us his children kings and priests ambassadors and and soldiers and he's given us the holy spirit he's given us the power to preach the gospel and see people that same god that we read about that can do amazing supernatural miracles is the same god that can hear you when you pray to him that's it's the same god you know sometimes we read the amazing stories of the old testament boy how god stepped in and destroyed egypt or destroyed sodom gomorrah you know well it's the same god that we pray to you know and i i just love the fact that when we pray we ought to pray knowing that god is listening you know sometimes prayer can sort of again become mundane thank you lord for the food please bless it to my body in jesus name amen you know lord thank you for church please bless us you know sometimes we can get into this and again we don't want to we don't want to get into that practice of just vain repetitions we we need to acknowledge and understand that god is hearing what we have to say and and you know it's just like you're talking to somebody you know they're not going to want to hear the same things repeated over and over again and look i'm at fault as much as anybody else i know my prayers can sometimes be repetitive uh you know what but we need to just remember that this is a powerful being the most powerful of all beings okay and he wants to interact with us he wants to hear our supplications he does not want to be silent he does not want to be silent and i love it when the lord answers prayers i i love it when it's just a clear response to a prayer and i'm just thinking lord how how is it lord because i know i'm a sinner i know stuff up all the time lord how is it that you can hear me lord and answer this like you just have you know and and it's the it's the confidence it's the faith that david has and we also have as well knowing that god not just hears but he answers our prayers look at verse number seven so verse number six basically ends that portion of the psalm where he's actually praying and then he kind of has like a little summary the last three verses of this psalm he says in verse number seven the lord is my strength and my shield my heart trusted in him and i am helped therefore my heart greatly rejoiceth and with my song will i praise him you can see where david gets his strength he gets his strength not just his strength to fight but he's also his strength of protection the shield it comes from the lord you know this is something that david has with the lord this close walk this close fellowship this union with the lord and his heart is completely trusting that the lord will help him in a time of difficulty i love how david rejoices i will greatly rejoice and with my song i will praise him don't forget church is a great time to sing praises to god you know sing those hymns you know praise the lord when you sing those hymns and i i like it because verse number seven he's speaking about himself you know the lord is my strength and then he says in verse number eight uh sorry yeah verse number eight he he uh he looks at the greater populace of israel oh for us we might look at you know yes the lord is my strength is my shield and then we might look at the greater the general assembly of the church everybody else in verse number eight it says the lord is their strength and he is the saving strength of his anointed so i like that because not only does he personally have this strong walk with god he's able to look at others and say well the lord is their strength as well that's what i would like for our church i would like not just for myself the pastor to have strength in the lord but i would love for the whole congregation to be strong people of the lord strong families you know one of my old pastors would say that a strong church requires strong families it's so true it's so true you know there's that common saying you know you're only as strong as your weakest link that's true as well you know and so my desire it's not about like oh who's the weakest in the church you know who's letting us down from not accomplishing some greater things like that okay and we're all weak to some extent you know god's church is all to be a place where we come to seek his strength to to seek protection to be built up by his word to be reminded of the most basic this is a basic thing this time is not there's nothing really amazing here in this song you know that's that will blow you out of the water that you don't already know but you know praying when it's something we just need to be reminded of because prayer has power great power to change the direction of this world when we petition our lord i want you to be able to acknowledge and say to yourself the lord is my strength that's what i want i want individuals to be strong with the lord i want families to be strong walking with the lord and the stronger we are the stronger new life baptist church will be the greater works that we'll be able to accomplish for god but it begins looking at ourselves are we walking with the lord and then the greater numbers right if we're fathers if we're if you know we have a family then we ought to be looking at for our family yes i'm walking the lord i've got strength in the lord but that's my wife do my children are they walking with the lord now another thing that we notice here in verse number eight that i want to draw your attention to it says the lord is their strength and then he says and he is the saving strength of his anointed the saving strength of his anointed now david might be referring to himself again in this passage like the anointed bit because he was anointed david you know the the anointing is the idea of a bit of oil being put upon you he was anointed to the position as the king of israel but if you go back to the hebrew yes i went i went back to the hebrew if you go back to the hebrew the word anointed there is the word messiah okay messiah which is where we get the word messiah from okay and often you know when we think about messiah we think of course of christ because christ is the translation of the word messiah so what i'm going to do very quickly is just turn to first samuel 26 first samuel 26 so i'm not telling you exactly who the anointed here is it might be david it might be david it might be the lord jesus christ okay but look at first samuel 26 and verse number seven i just want to show you something here first samuel 26 and verse number seven because you know the reason i'm going for it again this might not even seem like part of the sermon but i like to educate as well not just preach but i like to educate people in the bible because i learn things sometimes and i see the errors of people sometimes when they when they preach things and they get they go back to the hebrew do you know this word messiah means messiah and therefore this is about christ it could be sometimes okay but i want you to notice here in first samuel 26 verse number seven so david and abishai came to the people by night and behold soul lay sleeping within the trench that's king soul and his spear stuck in the ground at his bolster but abner and the people lay around about him then said abishai to david god have delivered thine enemy into thine hand this day now therefore let him smite him i pray thee with a spear even to the earth at once and i will not smite him the second time and so david has this opportunity you know he's been persecuted by king soul david has the opportunity to go and kill soul okay and this is how david responded verse number nine and david said to abishai destroy him not for who can stretch forth his hand against the lord's anointed and be guiltless well you know what if you go back to the hebrew the word there for the lord's anointed is messiah again where we get the word messiah from now obviously soul is not christ okay but just something i just want you to think about as you you know study your bible and you gain more knowledge you know because i'm telling you i see these things happen in churches i see these things happen with preachers ah messiah whatever what is it messiah that's messiah that's got to be about jesus well there's messiah here it's about king soul i mean at this point he's an extremely wicked king okay so the point being is that you know just because we go back to the hebrew we see some word and it's the same word that's used for messiah messiah just means the word anointed okay that's where it comes from and then of course but of course when we use it in our day and age messiah and christ we only refer to jesus christ but i'm saying that because i don't want one day one of these preachers to make an accident like that ah it says messiah in the hebrew and that's about christ when it's not even about christ or something like that okay anyway i just thought that was interesting because what really i'm trying i'm trying to figure out who could be the anointed that's mentioned here it could be christ still could be christ i'm not saying that it's not christ again it could be king david himself but there's another interesting passage in the new testament go to second corinthians chapter one second corinthians chapter one verse number 21 second corinthians chapter one and verse number 21 and actually this is the one that i believe it's referring to the third one okay i can't be 100 correct could be david could be jesus but i believe it's the third one here in second corinthians chapter one verse 21 second corinthians chapter 1 verse 21 it says now he which establishes us with you in christ and have anointed us is god you know we've all been anointed by god we've all had that anointing verse number 22 it says who have sealed us and given the earnest of the spirit in our hearts that anointing is the holy spirit okay god has anointed us the word anointed basically means to be set apart for specific tasks and we know that christ was set apart for specific tasks to die for us to be that punishment but i want you to notice that ourselves god refers to us also that in christ jesus as those that are anointed as well so when we go back to psalm 28 and we see the lord is their strength david speaking about a different group a larger group okay then he says and he is the saving strength of his anointed i do believe that the anointed there are the people that is referring to the larger populace that believe on the lord god okay look at verse number nine verse number nine it ends with this save thy people and bless thine inheritance feed them also and lift them up forever there are four amazing things that we as christians can take from this passage number one save thy people now if you're saved you're not going to hell you've already been saved your soul has already been saved so when it says save thy people it's referring to those that are already saved but one of the benefits as someone that is saved is that god can save us in our difficulties that we face in our flesh just the just the regular trials and difficulties that we go through life you know if you've had some of those in the past and you've gotten past those things you know you were delivered out of those difficulties you can say that god has saved me even in this physical life that i have it's a great blessing from god to save us in times of difficulties what else was there and bless thine inheritance we are that inheritance brethren we can experience the blessings of god you know to to bless i'll just read it to you in psalm 67 verse 1 it says god be merciful unto us and bless us and cause his face to shine upon us i like that i like that i want god's face to shine in my life i want god's shining i want that light i want to be in god's presence because we know that god is light in him there's no darkness at all you know if god's light is shining upon us it tells me that we're close with the lord we're getting that light of his glory and that is the blessing the blessing is that we can live a life knowing that the god of all things is watching for us looking out for us you know looking to bless us in whatever capacity we serve him in then it says this feed feed them also that's a good prayer you know we should be praying for that you know we have a lot of good preachers here you know that are feeding people god's word that's that's what a blessing that is okay but it's worth praying for it's worth lord you know i know brother so and so you know we're past the kevin away down in sydney you know i'm not sure who's preaching this coming sunday but you know whoever it is lord these men can you please give them the ability to to feed your people the word of god you know in in if you can please turn to um yeah turn to first peter chapter five i'll get you to turn there yet yeah turn to first peter chapter five and verse number two first peter chapter five and verse number two and while you're turning to first peter chapter five i'm going to read to you from ax 2028 and i know i i've preached these passages before but it's a good reminder anyway paul says to some pastors to some elders he says take heed therefore unto yourselves and to all the flock over the which the holy ghost have made you overseers to feed the church of god which he have purchased with his own blood so we're caught here pastors are called to feed god's church what a blessing to have new life at this church what a blessing to have even when the pastor's away that god's people are still being fed his word remind yourself our preachers when you get up to preach that's your job you know i i am delegating this task to you you know you know god's people need to be fed you know they need to learn god's word they need to uh you know be full of god's words because they they got a hard week ahead and and they're going to be tempted they're going to be tempted to sin and they're going to be tempted to walk in the flesh and not in the spirit and they're going to be tempted to not pick up the bibles and and not to pray and it's our jobs to feed people god's word so they're ready to to face the days ahead at least till the next sermon is ready okay until they hear that those next words of god to remind yourself that right it's not just here i'm getting up and i'm showing my intelligence or something you're commanded to feed people god's word okay you're in first peter chapter five verse number two feed the flock of god which is among you taking the oversight thereof not by constraint but willingly not for filthy luca but of a ready mind you know we are blessed because you know i'm able to now not at the beginning you know but to to reward those that labor in god's house you know and it's not much but it's it's a sign of of appreciation you know that that i give to the men here through the funds that are collected by the church but notice that the command here is is is if we are going to feed god's word if we are to be pastors we ought not to do it for filthy luca okay and it saddens me how many people will only serve a church or will only get into the ministry because they need to get paid they're doing it for the luca they're doing it for the money it's it's now that's an important part okay and you know the first 15 months of starting this church was really hard you know i really hemorrhaged financially okay because i wasn't getting paid but i'm happy though i'm so happy that happened right because nobody can turn around and say pastor kevin became a pastor for filthy luca that there was no financial benefit there was the benefit of the sunshine coast that there was the benefit of of less traffic there was the benefit of meeting new brethren and and studying something and doing a great work for god there's a benefit of of the rewards in heaven but you know it definitely is not for the fear for luca i thank god for that opportunity because you know while it was hard i'm glad i went through that and i realized you know what my heart was just to feed people god's word i want that in your heart as well i want that for the preachers and one day maybe god will use you one day we don't know at 10 years from now 20 years from now 30 moses was 80 years old when he became the pastor in the wilderness okay so we don't know when god may step in and and have a job for you to feed people god's word but understand it does require sacrifice we ought not to do it for filthy luca now please go to first peter chapter five and verse number five oh you're there you're in chapter five so just drop down to verse number five so the next point that i wanted to look at in this psalm because it said save verse number nine said save thy people and bless their inheritance feed them also and it says and lift them up forever lift them up forever and i just saw this here in verse number five it says likewise ye younger submit yourselves unto the elder yea all of you be subject one to another and be clothed with humility for god resists of the proud and giveth grace to the humble humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of god that he may exalt you in due time casting all your care upon him for he careth for you what an amazing thing okay so i think this goes well the psalm how it ends you know what the psalmist david here is asking for god to lift up his people well we want i want to be lifted up i want you to be lifted up okay i want you to be exalted by god but we need to start with humility to humble ourselves before the mighty hand of god to be subject one to another say come to church how can i bless brother so-and-so sister we're talking about your cards that's one way you serve the brethren keep it going i want you to continue doing that that's your capacity to serve the brethren we lower ourselves we humble ourselves we have a love for the brethren we lower ourselves it's the lord that will exalt us again in due time it might not happen when you want it to happen but it will happen in god's time casting all your care upon him can we end with a prayer there for he cared for you so this is how we do it you know we don't get bogged down with all the pressures and the difficulties in life we simply take those cares we take those burdens and say lord god please take care of them for me and please exalt me in your due time okay let's pray