Our text for this evening's sermon is Psalm 13. Psalm 13. As some of you may remember, on another occasion, I really enjoyed the opportunity to deal with the whole psalm. And on another occasion, took opportunity for the youth of yesterday to deal with more of the particular subject of this sermon. I hope that you'll forgive me if you've heard one or two of these thoughts before, but I've been captivated by this psalm. For years, I've found it to be a remarkable statement of the Christian life and of God's remarkable faithfulness even in the midst of trial and trouble. And so this evening, though we'll be reading the whole of the psalm, I want to look specifically about the truth seen in verses 5 and 6. Before we read it, let us ask the Lord to bless his word. Our Father in heaven, we thank you for showing us, your children, such mercy and preserving for us your written word. Though countless generations came to know you through merely the spoken word, we enjoy both the spoken and the written word as you have kept it pure for us over these many centuries. We thank you for it. And pray that as we read it, our hearts would be opened, our eyes and minds enlightened to see what you would have for us there as your people. We ask for this, dear Father, in the name of Jesus, Amen. Let us turn our eyes and our mind then to Psalm 13, beginning with verse 1. How long, O Lord, will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and every day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me? Look on me and answer, O Lord my God. Give light to my eyes or I will sleep in death. My enemy will say, I have overcome him, and my foes will rejoice when I fall. But I trust in your unfailing love. My heart rejoices in your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, for he has been good to me. So ends the reading of God's Word. Congregation of Christ, I have little doubt that each one of us can identify with the troubles of Psalm 13. A confrontation with an enemy. The fear of defeat and death and the doubt of God's presence and fatherly care. Even the youngest of us, some of you being three and four maybe, know the feeling of a scary dream, the sense of being alone, and the overwhelming desire for dad and mom to come help. That's the sense we have in Psalm 13. In the Word of God this evening, we have a cry for help. Even more, we could describe this cry as a crisis of faith. A crisis of faith. Look at the examples we see here in verse 1. It seems here in verse 1 that as he says, O Lord, will you forget me forever? It seems that the believer has concluded that God has forgotten him. This sense of being alone. Even worse, this sense of being forgotten by God. Then verses 2, 3, and 4 tell us why the believer finds himself in a situation, and circumstances of life so desperate, made desperate by the presence of an overwhelming enemy. An enemy that's not merely overwhelming, but an enemy who seems quite certain to have victory within his grasp. Victory, therefore, over God's holy people. We find in reading this psalm that there is a movement a downward spiral of despair. Nothing less than a crisis of faith. Maybe like a bad dream that moves from bad to worse when you go looking for mom and dad and they're not there. This sense of helplessness, this crisis of faith, we see it in the Psalter again and again. We see it, for example, in Psalm 13, Psalm 22, Psalm 88, Psalm 102, often called psalms of lament. In the midst of praise and joy is this seasoning of sorrow and lament. And isn't that what we experience as Christians in this present life? The Gospels, too. We see the presence of helplessness and despair. There, as Jesus brings the word of God to the people. We see, for example, in Mark 9, how the father of a sick child cries out to Jesus, I believe, help my unbelief. Help my unbelief. And Martin Luther, that remarkable reformer, in one of the most recent movies of his life, there's this scene where they picture him trembling on the floor of his monastery cell, overwhelmed with fear of God's holiness, overwhelmed with the reality of his own guilt, paralyzed with fear, nothing less than a crisis of faith. And I have no doubt that each one of us can relate to this sense of helplessness and despair, whether it be the result of a bad dream, whether it be from some physical enemy who threatens us. As the speaker who will be addressing the Westminster community a few weeks from now, his life is constantly threatened because of his faith in Christ. We may be able to relate because of a physical enemy, the guilt of sin, the fear of God's justice and holiness, the troubles of physical suffering, feelings of being alone. You see, this psalm is so relevant to us and our experiences as believers in Christ. And therefore, we should take note of the transition that happens between verses 4 and 5. That remarkable transition as the downward spiral of despair is arrested. It's stopped cold in its tracks and we hear the word, but I trust in your unfailing love. We see in these words how hope is brought to the helpless through faith. Hope is brought to the helpless through faith, through a hearty trust. But, the psalmist says, I trust in your unfailing love. The answer to our questions when we face helplessness and despair and a crisis of faith is nothing less than strengthened faith. And therefore, we should wonder, what is it that brings strengthened faith? What is it that brings the hearty trust of verse 5 in our text? And the answer, the answer is the gospel of God. The answer is the gospel of God. And that's what we will see and hear tonight. Three things, that faith is strengthened, first, by thinking about the character of God. Second, by resting in the work of God. And third, by praying for the grace of God. We'll see those things, the character of God, the work of God, and praying for the grace of God. First of all, then, turn your attention to number one, verse five. But I trust in your unfailing love. My heart rejoices in your salvation. The psalmist says that my heart rejoices in your salvation. I trust in your unfailing love. a parallel with one another. You're in failing love. You're salvation. And so what the psalmist comes to think about and to focus upon in this midst of life's trial is the character of God, His loving kindness. Notice that he doesn't trust in man. He doesn't trust in himself or his armies or his work. David doesn't look there. He doesn't look to himself. And neither does he look to just general thoughts about God. He doesn't think about God's holiness per se. Or his justice or his righteousness or even his sovereignty is not what David focuses upon. As wonderful and true and glorious are all the attributes of God's character, what David comes to focus on is the particular attribute of God's faithfulness. Translated in the NIV as unfailing love. In the ESV, steadfast love. Other translations, loving kindness. The original word is chesed. You all know a little bit of Greek, the word agape. Many of us know the word agape because in Greek it's one of the most wonderful words expressing love. Well, now tonight you'll learn a little bit of Hebrew. Chesed. One of the most wonderful Hebrew words because of what it describes about God and His character, His faithfulness, His abiding love, His loving kindness for His people. We see chesed repeated throughout the Psalter. This book of praise again and again points us to the chesed of God. Psalm 118, for example. Psalm 118, verse 4. Let those who fear the Lord say, His love endures forever. His chesed endures forever. Verse 2. I should have started with verse 2. Let me start with verse 1. Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good. His love endures forever. Verse 2. Let Israel say, His love endures forever. Let the house of Aaron say, his love endures forever. Let those who fear the Lord say, his love endures forever. Why? Because the chesed of God, the loving kindness of God, is the place where we go and look to find hope and strength for our faith. And chesed points us, therefore, to what God does for us. It doesn't talk about God's law and His will for us. It doesn't refer to His commands for us. It doesn't remind us of our obedience that God requires of us. Blessed and loving kindness reminds us of the character of God to be faithful to his promises. And that's exactly where David turns and looks. And we don't know when this psalm was written, so we don't know exactly what promise is in view. But at a minimum, it could be that promise that God made to Abraham. That he would be God to his people and that he would bless them. And in the context of David, of course, it could also be the promise that he makes to him in 2 Samuel 7, repeated again in Psalm 89, where God says that, I will give to you an everlasting kingdom. It's the promise of God. I will give to you, David, an everlasting kingdom, and I will give you peace from all of your enemies. God said it. And David's troubled faith came crashing down right there on the promise of God. And there was hope. There was hope that God would indeed be faithful to fulfill his promise so that whatever the circumstance David was facing at the time, Whatever enemy, no matter how great, no matter whatever the result of that conflict, God would be faithful to fulfill His promise of an everlasting kingdom. It's the chesed of God, the loving kindness of our Lord that brings faith, strength to faith. And second, just as we find that faith is strengthened by thinking about the faithfulness of God, so it is strengthened in resting in the work of God. We have the faithfulness of God. We have the work of God in verse 6. I will sing to the Lord. Now remember what verses 1 through 4 say. And yet, I will sing to the Lord. Why? Why, David? Why, in the midst of this devastating circumstance, will you sing? And the answer is, because He has been good to me. Because or for He has been good to me. Why were you saying, David, because God is working for me? It's God's good deeds. It's God's work that the faithful look to for strength. Again, we find that he doesn't look to himself. He doesn't begin by saying, I'll look to God's faithfulness so that I can do what is necessary to fulfill my work. We hear that a lot today. God gives us what we need in order to finish the job. He doesn't do that. He begins with the faithfulness of God and then he looks to the work of God. Not himself, not his strength, not anything of man. He turns his eyes from looking inward to looking upward to the manifold and bountiful and gracious work of God. And as the believer thinks and rests there, as he comes to have his mind transformed by the faithfulness of God and the gracious work of God, there is produced within Him a strengthened faith and a most remarkable hope. A most remarkable hope where verse 4 ends with the deep concern that my enemies will rejoice. We find that this prayer and this psalm ends with the confident declaration that I will rejoice. thus the fruit of this strength and faith is the certain hope of a future joy. I will rejoice. Why? Because God is faithful. Why again? Because God is working for me. And in that reality, I will rejoice. David looks forward to a time when the pleas and petitions of this prayer will be answered and the enemies of God's people will be subdued. A day that would yet come. Number three, and finally, we see how the believer, We see how the believer, though, in a crisis of faith, is strengthened in faith through prayer. Psalm 13 is a prayer and from beginning to end is the anticipation that God would answer the pleas and the petitions of his people. And so what we find here, even though we are in the Old Testament, is that the answer to this prayer is not some extraordinary work of God. Again, there are many who will look for that extraordinary work of God in the midst of trouble. Maybe a vision. Maybe a miracle, like the parting of the Red Sea. Or maybe a change of circumstance. we can surely relate to that. So often, well, we're not so often tempted to look for a vision. We're not so often tempted to look for a miracle, like the parting of the Red Sea. But we are often looking for God to bring some immediate change to our circumstance. But there is not evidence in this text for any of those three conclusions. Rather, what we find is that through that rather, in our eyes, ordinary act of prayer, God moves, He acts, and brings grace to His needy children. In other words, God acts to strengthen faith through prayer. Calvin has a very beautiful statement on this very point. He says, just as faith is born from the gospel, so through it our hearts are trained to call upon God's name with the confident cry, Abba, Father. It is therefore by the benefit of prayer that we reach for those riches which are laid up for us with the Heavenly Father. For there is a communion of men with God by which, having entered the heavenly sanctuary, they appealed to Him in person concerning His promises in order to experience that what they believed was not in vain. Isn't that what we see happening in Psalm 13? We see that needy hand of one of God's own children reaching up for the riches that is known to be there for us in heaven. And brothers and sisters in Christ, would our Father leave our needy hands empty? Or rather, would He give us all things necessary for body and soul? The great benefit of prayer for the believer is that God gives to those who ask and He gives perfectly according to His wisdom just what we need. Even though it may not be what we think we need, a miracle or a change of circumstance, He gives us just what we need and what we see here is a strengthening of faith. And that is exactly why Paul reminds the church to be constant in prayer, to pray on all occasions, to pray without ceasing, he says, and himself prays in Ephesians 3, verse 4. Ephesians 3, verse 4. 14. For this reason, I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches, he may strengthen you with power through his spirit in your inner being. Paul prays for the church because he knows that God will work through prayer to bring strength and power to his people. Exactly what they need, a strengthened faith taken right out of the riches of heaven. In the life of Martin Luther, we have a remarkable testimony of this very thing. If you go back again to the scene of his trembling on the floor, burdened with the fear of God's holiness and justice, burdened with the reality of his own sin and guilt, hearing only the accusations of Satan against him, a brother came bearing the gospel, Saying, Brother Luther, look away from yourself and look to Jesus. The brother said, instead of torturing yourself on account of your sins, cast yourself into the arms of your Redeemer. Trust in Him, in the righteousness of His life, in the atonement of His death. Listen to the Son of God. He became man to give you the assurance of divine favor. Love Him, Luther, who has first loved you. In the midst of your troubles and trials, do you look to Jesus? As this psalm makes very clear, as long as we look within us, the things of man. As the testimony of Luther makes clear, as long as we look to the holiness and justice and righteousness of God, we'll be left in despair. But when we turn our eyes to the goodness of God's mercy and work for us in Jesus Christ, when we look to God and see the wonder of His gospel by faith, then we can have hope. and isn't that exactly what we need hope hope for the helpless and we find it in Jesus that's what we sang tonight in the song in Christ alone verse 4 no guilt in life no fear in death this is the power of Christ in me from life's first cry to final breath jesus commands my destiny no power of hell no scheme of man can ever pluck me from his hand till he returns or calls me home here in the power of christ i'll stand by thinking about god's faithfulness by resting in his good work for us in christ and by praying for more of his grace and the riches of heaven. In this way, too, even in the midst of our troubles and trials, we can find strength for our faith. And in this way, too, we can know a future joy even today. We can know that future joy today for what David looked forward to when he said, I will sing, came in the coming of Christ. And that's exactly why Peter describes for us in chapter 1 of his first letter, a living hope that will never perish, spoil, or fade away, kept in heaven for you. And in this living hope, Peter says, You rejoice today, even now, in the midst of this life. Why? Because God is faithful. Because He's worked for us in Christ. And because He gives to us the grace we need to live the whole of this life for His glory by faith. Amen. Our God and Father in heaven, we do thank you for the good news of your gospel. We thank you for showing to us your faithfulness, your mighty work and grace, all for us in Jesus Christ. Oh, that we might have strengthened faith to apprehend more and more of Him and all that is ours in Him so that we can rest and have peace and hope in the callings that You have given to us. And oh God and Father, may You keep us from growing lazy or slack in this good news, but rather may this new life of Christ work itself out within us that we might be so glad to bear witness to it to all that we come in contact with and know. May you be praised and glorified in our lives. For your name's sake, in the name of Jesus we pray, amen. Thank you.