The psalmist was overwhelmed. He felt his life was ready to collapse. He then began to remember and meditate on how God has worked and does work. Learn the Word one bit at a time. He found the new and living way. (Isaiah 30:13-14; Psalm 77)

Speaker(s): Thomas Schaller
Sermon 12858
Date: 2025-1-19
Time: Sunday 11:00am

 

P. Schaller –

Good morning. We had a nice day yesterday sharing our faith on the street at a mall area. I met one lady that came
from there, Michelle, right? And maybe – there she is right there raising her hand. And Andrew
shared with her and she came. I told her in the café it took courage to go somewhere where
you’ve never been before, but there is a hunger in our society for God.

Yesterday, it was bad weather like right now. I kind of didn’t want to be out there, but there
was a group of us. We had a beautiful – I said, are you looking for a church? It was just like a
cold somebody walking into the – excuse me, are you looking for a church? And the guy said,
yes, I am. The second time, are you looking (for a church?) Yes, I am. What kind of church is it?
And I shared with them. I don’t know. Is there somebody else here that came? Just raise your
hand.

There’s Bill down front here. He came. Anybody else maybe? And then a third one. I’m out on
the street today just saying, are you looking for a church? And that man said, yes, I am. As a
matter of fact, yes I am. Isn’t that amazing? So, thank you so much for that and we’re
encouraged.

Turn to Isaiah as an introductory thought to our day today. Isaiah 30:13 in the ESV, English
Standard Version. So, we’ll put that text up and read it. All right. Are you ready? Ready to hear?
Okay. Ready. Okay. Praise the Lord. I love you guys. I love you guys. Praise the Lord. Amen. God
is good to us. Wow. Great.

When I woke up this morning, the verse that came to my mind was “my spirit made diligent
search.” My spirit made diligent search. So, I was searching in my heart, in my spirit for God and
for the Word of God. I got Psalm 77 in my heart because that verse is from there, Psalm 77:6. So,
that’s what the message is built on and I wanted to preface it with the ideal of a collapse. A life
that collapses.

So, look at vs. 13. So, we’re going to just take that apart for a minute. Somebody’s life. Iniquity.
Iniquity in my life is like you see on a wall a bulge. Like what you’ve seen a wall kind of bulging
out like it’s not supposed to be like that. And it could collapse any time. How many have seen
something like that? Okay. Believe me. You didn’t raise your hand. You never saw it. Believe
me. Believe me.

The idea here is that there is a problem but we only see a little bit of it and we don’t believe it’s
going to be really bad. But that problem can develop and it can be a lot worse than we realize.
And sometimes people’s lives are like this. They are, they are kind of set up for a fall. Like
something bad might happen and if we let it be as it is, then it might, it will happen in an
instance. Suddenly. It progresses to a point where it’s critical and then suddenly there’s a
collapse.

The tottering fence of Psalm 62:3. There’s a rail fence and then like you can’t see the weakness,
but then suddenly one day it just falls. And that’s like people and the purpose of our message
today is to talk about that and reassure you that your life isn’t like that. You have something
going on. You have something going on in your life that is very sure. That what Christ did for us
was to give us something very, very sure that does not collapse. So, everything we say this
morning will be about that.

But I want to – we have an illustration here, so I’ll put it up on the screen. It’s the bulging,
bulging house. What do you think? What? Turn to your neighbor and say, that looks like – I
think you got a problem. That looks like you. You’re ready to fall down. Collapse. What will it
take for that house to be – anybody own a house like that? A good gust of wind. A lot of rain.
Somebody walking through the doorway. Just a little pressure and the whole thing can come
down.

I’m afraid to say that a lot of people are living their life and they don’t realize that one day, that
one thing, that one phone call, that one problem with a dollar bill, that one argument with my
wife, that one thing and the whole thing can change radically. And we know that because we’re
people. We’re all the same.

But because you are a born again Christian, Christ is born in you and he doesn’t collapse and his
mind is settled. The Word of God is forever settled in heaven. And the Spirit of God has been
sent into your life so that you can build and it says in Proverbs 9 wisdom has built her house. And
when you come here and you are listening and the Spirit is ministering to your heart, you’re
actually building your life on something that cannot crumble. It does not collapse in one day.
Actually, it doesn’t ever collapse. It is forever.

How do we know this? Because Jesus said it, Matthew 7:24-26. He that hears my Word and he does
what I say is like a man who builds his house on a rock. And when the storms come, it doesn’t
collapse. Let’s back up for a minute. Have you ever built your house and it ended up like this? I
have. I have. I could feel it. I could feel how things could move. I could feel how I’m not stable. I
could just sense that I need something more.

I didn’t know what to say but I need Jesus in my life, not only to be saved and born again, but I
need Christ to be investing in me. I need Jesus to give me words, to give me friends, to give me
a way of thinking. I need Jesus to renew my mind and help me understand this amazing book.
And that’s why you are here today, because you are those kind of people that are saying I need
it. I need something. I need the Lord and I need what he has to say. Okay.

So, that’ll be the message a little later. Welcome P. Roger Robbins. He just came back from
Bolivia and good to have you, Pastor Rog. (Announced about Newcomers).

Oh, that was so good, huh? (the song). Beautiful. My God is still the same. Never once. Never
will. Wow. He is moving. Wow. It’s great. Beautiful. Okay. Would you stand for a moment. Just
stand and turn to your neighbor and love them up for a moment. All right. You may be seated.
Could the AV put up that picture one more time? We have visitors here. Randy and Justine
Phelps are here from Arizona. Great to have you. Randy. Remember? Randy Phelps. Wow. That
was years ago. So, good to have you here. That’s awesome. All right.

So, we are looking at Psalm 77 for our text and let’s go right there and we’ll start as we read a
psalm that has a lot of emotion in it. I’m going to read a piece from John Bunyan who wrote
“Pilgrim’s Progress.” “And John Bunyan, a 16 th century author of Pilgrim’s Progress and Baptist
preacher and a man of God. He was writing in his autobiography that he went through a period
of more than two years where he felt very far from God. He was acutely aware of his own sin
and discouraged by his inability to lead a righteous life. The words of Psalm 77 kept invading his
mind. Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will he never again show me favor?

But then one day walking through a field and worrying as always, Bunyan suddenly had a new
thought, “your righteousness is in heaven.” He realized that God didn’t require any more
righteousness from him because Jesus was his righteousness. Bunyan walked home rejoicing
and living at peace with God through Christ. Yes, Psalm 77 puts into words the thoughts of many
worried believers. But don’t get stuck at the interlude after verse 9. Go on to review the great
acts of God in history and in your life. He isn’t finished with you yet.”

So, we have a picture of a house that’s ready to collapse and we said earlier that you and I have
learned how to build our house and it’s not by our feelings or our experiences. It’s something
deeper. “My spirit made a diligent search,” Psalm 77:6. That was a verse that I woke up to this
morning, and I went to my room and my study room and prayed in the dark and just wanted to
be quiet before God. Because you have a spirit. There are many parts to you. The outer part
and the inner part, and in the inner part God requires that there would be wisdom on the inner
part. That’s Psalm 51:6.

Jesus said to the Pharisees, you are washing your dishes, you know, you wash your plates but
inside you are ravening wolves. Didn’t God that made the outside make the inside, too? The
inside where we worry. Maybe we are afraid, discouraged, empty. Where is God? That’s what
the psalmist is saying. Where is God? And my spirit makes a diligent search. So does yours.
Put up 2 Corinthians 2:11 for me. Who knows a person’s thoughts. I once was 12 years old. I was really
young and I realized maybe my mother doesn’t know me. that was shocking to me. Like I’m
walking to school and I remember where I was and who knows me? Not even maybe mom
knows me, you know. It’s kind of really true. When we are together, we can really fake it.

We actually had a staff member on that. That a pastor can fake it. That a Christian can fake it. That
people fake it.

There’s actually a story about a guy in Baltimore who was walking down the street and a
woman was like at a bus stop or somewhere delivering a baby. And the husband is crying for a
doctor. And the guy runs over and he’s like, he goes get some newspapers. He goes through
this whole thing. And they thought he was a doctor. He pretended to play the part and he
delivered the baby and it was healthy and everybody lived happily ever after!

But when they went, they got his name and they were searching. They went to the hospital to
find out about this man and they go, we don’t have any doctor by that name. Come to find out,
he wasn’t a doctor but he could fake it. And so, we can too.

Except this verse. There is someone who knows you. There is a, you could call it material that is
in you that connects to God. You know how we have our stomach is material for food. So, our
spirit is material. It’s immaterial material. I’m using it like that to say that the only thing that
connect us with God in a deep sense, in a real way is our spirit. Your spirit makes a diligent
search. Your spirit is looking for the presence of God.

That’s why you go to church, because you’re looking for the presence of God. That’s why you
listen to Christian music. That’s why you are reading the Bible. That’s why you’re looking for a
fellowship where there is the presence of God. For two or three gathered in his name, there he
is and your spirit resonates with his Spirit.

Remember the tuning fork illustration? You have the tuning fork, right? Like this, 450 hertz a
second and you hit it, you know, boing! And it vibrates. And there’s another tuning fork with
the same frequency and you stop this one and this one is vibrating. But you never touched it. It
was never touched by a hand but it was touched by the resonance from the other tuning fork.
And in a similar way, we as believers have – we are built to resonate with each other. That God
is with you and he’s with me and I know that God is with you and you know that God is with
me. We are in fellowship with God because we have the Spirit of God, the mind of God. We
have the Word of God. We have the nature of God. We have the Christ. Jesus Christ dwelling in
us in fellowship. That is what our house is built on and this is the reality. Okay.

So, go to Psalm 77 with me, please. And we’ll start from vs. 1-2. Why do you seek God in your
trouble? Because I want God in my trouble. I know he’s the answer. There’s another little word
study here that we’ll just we’ll just throw inhere as a sidebar, and it’s called in Galatians 4,
beggarly elements.” Galatians 4. The phrase translated in our King Jame’s is beggarly elements.
The word “elements” is like the smallest parts of things. We would say atoms. But another way it could be used is like the alphabet of the English language. A,B,C,D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K and so on.
Those are little pieces that we use to build words.

So the world is also made up of little elements and people build their life with these elements
that are inferior to your life. They are beggarly elements. They are things about life that are
natural to us. Falling in love. Seeking money. Look for success. Maybe being important. Maybe
looking good or smelling good or appearing to be good. Beggarly elements.

People follow after things that can’t keep your house together, because they change. They are
inferior. Your life is made by God, so that God would keep your life together. Your life is made
by God so that you would know God and see the effect of God in your life and in your heart.
Wow. I just said a mouthful. That’s amazing.

So, in Psalm 77 he’s putting his feelings on the table and he’s talking about how I miss God. Where
is he? You know, I’m worrying. I’m troubled in my heart, in my life. How can I find him? Where
is he? Go to the text. Psalm 77:2. Have you been there? I’m worrying. I’m troubled.
It happened to the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 2 when Titus didn’t show up. It’s like a very practical,
little story that Paul is caring about the Corinthians and he sent Titus and Titus hadn’t returned
and it says Paul was distressed in his spirit as he’s waiting for Titus. He’s really troubled. He
hasn’t come back yet. I don’t have any message. I don’t know what’s going on in Corinth.

I sometimes think of people in a waiting room in a hospital. They’re waiting to hear, to talk to
the doctor, and they’re pacing back and forth. Are they Spirit-filled people? Yes, probably.
Maybe. I don’t know. But, yes. They are godly people. But do you worry sometimes? Yes. Are
you under stress? Yes, distress. Yes. Are we troubled? Yes. It happens to us.
But then, he’s saying something here for all of us and that is your house will not fall down. You
may cry through the night but you’ll be okay because you have built your house with God and
your spirit is in fellowship with God, in union with God and God is with you in the good times
and the bad times. And you’re going to – you will be okay because God is there. This is what
he’s saying.

If you live in your feelings and the beggarly elements, if you build your life on a romance, better
put your seatbelt on. That romance can change over night if it was only emotion or feeling. It
may be very good, but you can’t be sure in feelings. Also, did you become a Christian because of
your feelings or because it’s the truth? Do you obey God because you feel like it or do you obey
God because it’s your calling? Whether it hurts or not, Psalm 15:4. When you raise your family, do
you raise your family by feelings or do you raise your family by principle, by truth, by the Spirit
of God, the mind of God, the nature of God, right? Okay. All right.

So, go to vs. 4-5. You know, I think we do that. We have a piece of our history that’s pretty
amazing. Maybe you have that. Many of us, many of the people I know, they do. They go it’s
like Job. If you want to count. I think – Job 29. I think I counted one time 52 things that Job said
about his life when he was firing on all cylinders, when his life was exceptional. When he said I
washed my feet with butter. When the tabernacle of God was on my head. When I walked into
a room, the children were quiet and the old men stood up. When I cared for the widow and the
poor, I remember those days when my life was awesome. I remember those days when it was
just remarkable. And I hope that you have something like that in your life ’cause it’s real. And he’s
remembering it.

But now, he’s saying what happened to me? Where did it go? He’s actually saying, I’m worried.
I’m troubled. Where’s God? Look at vs. 6. And what he is searching for is not emotional. What
he’s looking for is something of assurance, content, truth. What he’s looking for is not a
beggarly element, not a small little thing that you could buy at the store. Actually, that’s
something that we do.

Sometimes, when people get depressed, they go shopping or they go on a vacation or they, you
know; sometimes they want to improve their life. They do it with beggarly elements. But they
sit down in the same sorrow or the depression that is there. They need something more and
that’s what you have found.

If you haven’t found it, then just be quiet before God. It’s coming. The Holy Spirit fill us. That’s
Ephesians 5:19. We are filled with the Spirit and learn to speak to yourself with psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs. It’s real. It’s real. Sit kneeling down in prayer. I want you to have this in your
life. I want you to be able to sit down or kneel down in a room quietly and wait on God. Isaiah
40:31, Psalm 46:10, “be still and know that I am God.”

I’m your God. I’m here for you. I will wash your feet. I will forgive you of your sin. I will call you
by name. I will carry you. Underneath are my everlasting arms. I will never leave you, never
forsake you. I call you by name. I put your name in the book. I got your name on the palm of my
hand. I am your God. I am your Redeemer. I am the one that died on the cross for you. I am for
you, not against you. I am God.

But this is where we have problems. It’s like we are emotional and circumstantial and we say,
God, if you really love me, you wouldn’t have done this to me. And the Lord is saying like, come
on. God deeper. I made your spirit. Zechariah 12:1, I that stretched out the heavens, I’m the same
one that formed your spirit. I made this material that is in you. This Spirit of God. It’s not
material, but it’s God. God, Christ in us. And that’s what we have fellowship with. The Lord. The
person. The living nature of God and his words.

Go to vs. 7. That’s how we feel. That’s how John Bunyan felt. Where is he? Vs. 8-9. Selah,
meaning pause. Hold it. What was just said is awesome. Think about it. Hang there. Stay there.
No. Your prayer life. I want you to have one. I want you to have a quiet prayer life. I want you to
be able to be quiet before God and be focused on him. I want you to be loved by God and love
him back. God loves you and you love him back in fellowship, in the light.

Not in any Halloween costume putting on your religious stuff. No religious stuff with God. No
Halloween. It’s not Halloween with God. Take the mask off. Be who you are before God. Open
and naked before him, Hebrews 4:12. Neither is there any creature that is not naked and open
before the eyes with him with whom we have to do. And it’s this Word that penetrates through
and cuts through and our spirit says amen to that truth that we build our live on.

Vs. 10. I appeal to the years. What’s that mean? Years. Where do I see years of the right hand of
the “Most High.” The right hand is Christ. The years of Christ are in the Gospels. In the Gospels
in his first y ear when he’s 29 years old and the second year and the third year. The years of his
ministry. I appeal to that. This is the psalmist, isn’t it? But there are years in the Old Testament.
The Red Sea and the manna coming from heaven. And the years of the Judges. Joshua, Judges,
Ruth, 1 Samuel. The years of the Kings. We appeal to God who is in all of that Scripture history.
Vs. 11-15.

Could we go back to that picture? Just put up the crummy house, the bulging wall house for a
second. What does the history of Israel have to do with this? if the history of Israel is my
meditation, I’m meditating on God and what God does. What God does. How he answers
prayer. What God does in saving Israel. What God does is answering Moses and Joseph. And
what God did for Jacob and Isaac. And what God did for David and Elijah and Isaiah and
Jeremiah.

If this is our meditation, what does it have to do with my feelings and my circumstances? Very
little. It’s the reality of God in history that you relate to that says your life will be okay cuz I have
the living God. The God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and this is my meditation. Therefore, I
need to learn this book.

But you might say, how could I learn such a thick book? One bite at a time. One piece at a time.
One brick at a time. You build a wall one brick, one moment, one Sunday, one Wednesday, one
season in class, one decision at a time. And this house cannot fall. There’ll be no surprises.
There might be surprises in an external way, but there are not in an internal way because we
are being built up in the very nature of the Christ who came and he changes not. Okay.

Let’s finish here. Vs. 16. What waters? Red Sea. Red Sea. Was Jesus there at the edge of the Red
Sea and then he just steps and the waters saw him and fled and he split the Red Sea? Vs. 16-19.

Now, if you are a scuba diver and you go down in the water and look at the bottom, are there
footprints? There’s no footprints there.

How can you find a path in the sea? In the sea, can you find a path there? Mariners know about
currents and I’m sure whales have paths and fish have migration routes, but to us humans, we
can’t find, we don’t see it. It’s not that clear to us. Same with God in your life. You can’t find the
way of God with your life. You don’t know how it is. What is he doing? When will we die? What
will happen tomorrow? How will we live? He’s just telling us that if sin is working in our life and
we’re living a sinful life, then you’re setting your house up to collapse one day. That collapse
will come.

But if you have found him and walk with him, yes. We may get discouraged. Yes, we may say,
where is God? But then, we find. We have this meditation. I don’t know the way of God but I
know who he is. I follow him. My spirit is searching. I’m awake. I’m believing.

And he gives you the word. He gives you the fellowship. He speaks to your heart. He answers
your prayers. He helps you in your family life. He helps you at work. He helps you with your
boss, with your mother, with your uncle. He helps you in so many – but most importantly,
you’re heart and mind is healthy because it’s not built with beggarly elements like simple little
lusts. Emotions, feelings, justices, rightnesses, injustices, unrighteousness and the flesh of man.
But, no. It’s built on the Word. Man must not live by bread alone, but by the words that come
from his mouth. Okay. Amen. Would you pray with me. (Prayer)

 

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