So have you ever forgotten someone's name? Ever? Just, I mean just blanked, just, just had no idea. Um it's been many, many moons ago, but I used to be the singles and college pastor at liberty baptist church in Hampton Virginia. Now they have six campuses now they're big huge mega church. When I was there, we only had 4000 on sunday. Uh so you know, so much smaller, you know, than it is today, but but with so many people there were just a lot of people to know and there was a lot of people that knew who I was, but I didn't know who they were and so I was young and creative and dumb. Now I'm old and creative and dumb, but but back then we had this huge, gigantic worship center and so someone would call out to me, I had no idea who they were and I'd say, hey mr Mayor, how you doing? Good to see you, Hey mr good to see you because they were so far away I just mumbled something. They either forgave me or it worked, you know, because nobody ever said anything to me. I just just kind of figured it out, you know, the best I could. Um I saw something recently about the late comedian Robin Williams when he forgot someone's name. He would just call him doctor, Hey Doctor. Hey Doctor, how you doing? Doctor? Doctor? Good to see you, Doctor, what's going on? That's that's a great plan. I'm I'm going to start using that one too. That's not bad as the story told about a man who went to visit a farm for the first time and he was sitting out on the porch with the farmer and his wife and as they sat, he watched the farmer's dog corral all of the cattle, herd them into the pen, shut the gate and even latched the gate with her paw. And the man said, goodness gracious. That's the most incredible thing I've ever seen. I've never seen a dog like that. And he turned to the farmer, he said, what's, what's her name? Farmer said, man, I'm, I'm terrible names. Um, what's that flower that that smells so pretty is is, you know, read sometimes got thorns on the stem. Guy said a rose. That's it turned to his wife. Hey Rose, what do we call that dog? Yeah, it is. You'll be laughing by that in like four weeks. We've all probably forgotten someone's name from time to time. Right? We, we struggle, we we forget names occasionally, but have you ever felt forgotten more so than someone forgetting your name? Have you, have you ever felt alone and abandoned? Like nobody could possibly know what you're going through and and nobody could understand what's happening in your life. Ever experienced that ever felt that way. We continue our series rope of hope where we're walking through psalm 42 with the purpose of discovering a hope that you can hang onto no matter what is happening in your life. And today's messages, pleading for hope and what we're going to see the psalmist doing is in a moment of despair. In a moment where he felt forsaken, where he felt forgotten. We're going to find him doing something very strategic to help his heart in that moment of despair. And what does he do? Well, let's see, psalm 42 beginning with verse nine, the psalmist says, I will say to God, my rock, why have you forgotten me now? This is the same guy that four sentences ago in verse five was all about the hope of God. You know, he's he's great. Even just one sentence back in verse eight, he's saying, you know what the goodness of God, it's all around me all day long and at night I have the song of God over my life and then here he is, just one sentence later and he's he's falling apart again. He's scribbling in his journey. God God, where are you? God? Why have you forgotten me? God? Why are you ignoring me? Someone once said that the psalmist is longing for the presence of God. But all he's feeling is the absence of God ever been there ever had that moment where you're you're wanting to feel God's presence. But you just feel absence. I mean, this moment, it seems like he's flip flopping all over the place, like some kind of religious nut case he just can't pull it all together. But he's really not. You see, he's having this moment of prayer but he's full of despair. So he's shouting some things out loud. He's shouting some some difficulties, he's shouting some things, some questions, but but he really doesn't even believe in these questions. He feels like God has abandoned him. He feels like God has forsaken him, that God has forgotten him, but he knows it's not true. And how do we know that? Because he's still talking to God, What do we do when we feel like our our best friend has abandoned us. Oh we just give them the cold shoulder right? Or our spouse. We just don't talk to them right? But he's not doing that. He knows that he must keep talking to God. I think I've shared with you before that that my mom is a is a phantom not not a real phantom but a phantom with the phone. Um being being a conversation with my mom either me and my sisters and and we're on some topic of some interest and and there's back and forth. And then all of a sudden my mom will say okay all right and then and she's gone. You know just just a phantom, you know like on Scooby doo. You know I'm left on the phone. Where are you just confused, where'd she go? But she tells us that her mother was even more intense according to my mom, my grandmother would call and as soon as you answered, she tell you what she wanted to tell you and then she just hung up, there was going to be no conversation, She's done. She was the true phantom phone caller. The Somis. He he knows that God is not a phantom. He knows that he knows that that God is not just here and gone. And the reason why is because he's continuing to talk to God. He knew God was still there and we know this because of the way he refers to God. What does he say? He says God, my rock. He didn't say God, my blob, God, my quicksand, God, my fog no, he knew God was not some foggy phantom. He knew God was with him. He knew God was there. He knew the same thing that King David wrote about back in Psalm 18, this is what David said 18 verse to the Lord is my rock and my fortress and my savior. Rock Fortress and Savior. It doesn't sound like that. David was the kind of king that thought that God was some kind of comic book fairytale know that the king of millions of people had great confidence in the character of God. And likewise, the psalm is here in Psalm 42 in the middle of his despair. He's still talking to God. He calls him his rock because he knows there is no one more powerful than God. There's no one more loving than God. And he knows there's no one more present than God. Someone has said that God is everywhere and every win. It's true. It's not just a, just a catchy spiritual phrase, it is an eternal, I'm the present reality. You see when we look at the character of God, it means that past, present and future, the mercy of God, the grace of God, the love of God, the the sovereignty of God, the sovereign influence of God is everywhere. Every when, all the time. There's never a moment where God is not completely in charge. And if you're a christian, that is fantastic news, even if you're not a christian, it's fantastic news. Why? Because sometimes it feels like this world is full of devils, isn't it? Yeah, and you know what? It is full of devils and you know, sometimes it, it kind of feels like those devils are threatening to undo the world and you know what they are threatening to undo the world. But here's the thing that's the best they can do. The best they can do is to threaten to undo the world because ultimately they can't undo the world. It's impossible for them to undo the world. Why? Because God is not a phantom God is the rock of all ages, that means he is the most full and final power and authority for every single generation that has ever existed right now, God is the full and final authority over everything in existence and he will always be the full and final authority over all of the universe. This is who God is And that's why 493 years ago, Martin Luther wrote to him about those devils and about their threats and he gave us a response of how we're supposed to respond. So get this. This is how we're supposed to respond when we watch the news and freak out. This is how we're supposed to respond when we get in that long line at the D. M. V. And freak out. This is how we're supposed to respond when next week that person and our family that makes everybody feel awkward all the time, says something really awkward at the table. This is how we are supposed to respond any time and all time. We're supposed to remember what here's the truth Luther wrote about. We will not fear for God hath willed his truth to triumph through us. His kingdom is forever, there is no king, there is no queen, there is no president, there is no dictator whose kingdom is forever. None. The only kingdom that is forever is the kingdom of the lord of hosts. The Godof Israel Yahweh. Now the psalmist, he's feeling forgotten, he's feeling abandoned. He's feeling forsaken, but he knows it's not true because he's still talking to God and he's still calling God his rock. So friend. When you start feeling forgotten when you start feeling for sale and when you start feeling abandoned, follow the pattern of the Somis. Talk to God and talk to God and talk to God and talk to him by his name. He is the rock of all ages. He is the mighty fortress and Osama's is turning to him his rock because he had to because things were not getting better. Listen The next part of verse nine why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? So he's having this moment where he's full of despair and now he's just a little deeper but he's still scribbling and now he's scribbling hey God, why are my enemies defeating me? Why are my enemies in life? Why are they winning? God? Why aren't you helping me? It felt like his enemies were winning and you know what? Maybe they were in that moment, maybe his enemies were winning. Listen, if anyone tells you that following, Jesus Christ means that you're going to win every game or that you're always going to get a great job or that you're never going to get sick and you're never going to suffer. They're they're just lying. You know, it's just it's just not the truth. There are going to be times in life where you'll lose and there's going to be times in life where you'll get sick and and you'll suffer. But the beauty of what it means to be in christ, what it means to be a christian is that even in that sense that you might lose. Get sick and suffer. It will not be ultimate and permanent. At the at the very least it will be temporary. And usually for most of us in life it'll be occasional because see the the reality is there is this reason that we should not fear losing this reason that we should not fear sickness. This reason that we should not fear suffering and dear christian can I plead with us according to the words of the holy bible, we should not fear death. I mean we will because we're human. But I mean to the degree that the scripture tells us we should not fear death. Why? Because according to the truth of God's word, we are part of a kingdom that doesn't die. It doesn't end, it won't stop. In fact, when I breathe my last here, I'll just be beginning my kingdom. Life in some ways see his kingdom and only his kingdom is forever thomas knew that it's almost knew that he was full of despair. But he goes, you know, my rock, my fortress, he's still my kingdom, He's still my hope and different. If you have that type of kingdom, if you have that type of hope, then that is cause for thanksgiving. Not not just a holiday, but every day C the psalmist knew the same words that King David had written again back in psalm 18 psalm 18 3 I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised and I am saved from my enemies and he was being crushed. Okay, David had a had a lot of defeats from his enemies. So it's not that we won't be crushed, but but the psalmist is trying to remind himself that in the moment of losing, that he's already a part of the Championship team of the greatest champion and he knows that the greatest champion will ultimately and permanently save him. But you know what, just like you and I, the psalmist doesn't always feel like he's on the Championship team, right? That things get overwhelmed. Look what he says next verse 10 as a shattering of my bones. My adversaries taunt me. I'll never forget. I was 13 years old watching that Monday night football game this past week, was the 36th, anniversary of it. Where Lawrence, taylor sack, joe Theismann and and his leg broke. I'll never forget it. I just remember, it still makes me cringe. I wish I wouldn't have just brought it up. Um, but but there's something about bone pain that's different than flesh pain. It's it's excruciating. That that play into joe Theismann's football career and the psalmist, he's saying, you know what? This feels worse than somebody taking a hunting knife and stabbing it and twist it in my gut because it feels like somebody has has taken a sword and just pierced my bones and just shattered my bones. And why was he experiencing this pain? He says because of taunting in other words, he's experiencing this pain. Because of words, What's the old nursery rhyme saying, sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me. Whoever wrote that must have lived in a cave or a van down by the river. All right. They have no idea, no clue of the truth because words hurt, don't they? There's been some words in our homes this week that hurt. There's been some some words in the news that hurt, some words at school, at work, some some words and traffic, some words even at the church that hurt, right? Words hurt, they hurt. And so the psalmist, he's experiencing this, this bone wrenching pain because of words. Now. Sometimes words are really supposed to hurt. Okay, I don't want us to miss that letter to the Hebrews that says this in chapter four verse 12, For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two edged sword, even penetrating as far as the division of soul and spirit of both joints and marrow. See, one of the reasons that I'm not reading to you from, you know, um men are from mars and women are from venus. You know, the reason I'm not reading philosophy to you right now is that won't pierce to your bones in your marrow, but the Word of God. The truth of God, even if all I did was just get up and read it, it has a way to get inside the deepest part of who we are. And sometimes when it gets in the deepest part of who we are, it doesn't feel good, right? I shared this illustration with y'all before about the work of the Holy Spirit through God's truth and and this never loses any punch in my own life. Kevin DeYoung says this. It's as if the world is having a nice romantic candlelight dinner, thinking everything is all sirloin and roses and then voila, the spirit flips on the light to expose cockroaches scurrying up the walls and garbage strewn all about the floor. We are not as good as we imagine and the spirit can prove it to us. You see sometimes the truth of God's word, it flips the light on in our life and we want the light off. We want the light to step, we don't want our sin exposed. We don't want our fig leaves removed. But I promise you, we want the light switched on. I promise because if not that means we stay in our sin and sin means death, not just like physical death, but spiritual death. The kind of death that never ends. And it's the kind of death that separates us from God. The reality is the truth of God's word, sometimes will mess with us. It'll offend us. We won't like it, we won't want to hear it, we'll want to ignore it and reject it and just kind of blow it off. But we can't we can't ignore it. And it really is supposed to hurt us because that pain can lead to our salvation. So we should want the light to be switched on. But the words that are that are hurtful here in this moment, the psalmist says experiences is something completely different. He's experiencing words not of the truth of the bible, but words of taunting from his enemies. Look what he says in verse 10, while they say to me all day long, where is your God? I heard those questions, Where is your God? Why would a loving God allow this to happen to you? Maybe you've asked those questions. Hey God, where where are you? You know what's what's going on here? This is getting bad. Can you, can you help me out Charles Spurgeon was one of the greatest preachers that ever lived. He was known and is known as the prince of preachers. But throughout his life as a pastor, he was attacked by by many different people. He was attacked by people outside of the church, even by other preachers. He was attacked by people inside the church by his own elders and deacons and and church members and teachers. And when he was attacked like that, it would sometimes send him into the seasons of despair. And it's been noted that one of the first times he had one of those seasons of despair, he was only 24 years old became a pastor when he was 20. And and four years later at 24, he went into this deep season of Despair was 1858. And this is what he wrote about that experience. My spirits were sunken so low that I could weep by the hour like a child and yet not know what I wept for urban there ever had a moment where gosh, you're just weeping and you don't even know why that you're worried and you don't even know why you're angry and you don't even know why you're you're afraid and you don't even know why Spurgeon found an answer for his despair. This is what he said. There is no remedy for it. Like a holy faith in God. He found the medicine. He he found the remedy. I mean, look, there's about 793 things going around right now. Right. That's Tammy's not with us today because she's caught one of those 793 things. There's, there's all kind of stuff going around and what are we doing, man? We're popping packs and packs and packs and and taking, you know, 7000 mg of vitamin c. And drinking ivy water. I mean we're trying all the things right, because all this stuff is going on. But the ultimate medicine for our souls is faith in God. It's the remedy of all remedies. That doesn't mean that, you know, maybe you don't need a better marriage or better parents or or better kids or a better job or a better pastor or a better church or whatever, whatever better you're looking for in life. But it does mean that if you're looking for the medicine of all medicines, the remedy of all remedies, especially for despair, Spurgeon's got it, thomas has got it, King David's got it for that matter, Jesus got it. It's faith in God. It's trust in God. It's it's a love toward God. And why would we do that? Because his kingdom and only his kingdom is forever. It's the kingdom of God that ultimately defines the end of all times. But it defines today too. So let me ask you a question, Do you feel abandoned today. Do you feel forsaken or forgotten? Are you in one of those seasons, or maybe you just came out of one or hate to say it, but you might be going into one? Well, consider this. Did jesus ever feel any of those things, Jesus ever feel abandoned or or forsaken or forgotten in his greatest hour of need. His best friends abandoned him when he was being brutally executed on a roman cross. There were people in the crowd shouting out things like this. If you're the son of God come down from the cross. It's very similar to what the psalmist was saying? Where is your God if your God, where are you, where's your power? Where's your magic? Come on down And then Matthew's Gospel tells us that at 3:00 on that Friday afternoon That Jesus cried out with a loud voice, almost the same exact words that the psalmist cried out in Psalm 42. He said this, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why why did God forsake jesus? Here's why? So that you could have a lot more than just a thanksgiving holiday. You see, God does not love you unconditionally. Let me repeat that because for some of you think I just said heresy God does not love you unconditionally. There's a condition and the condition is you have to perfectly keep the law of God. The law of God. That that is the foundation of the creation of the universe. The law of God which sustains the universe right now so that this building in the world doesn't collapse into infinity. It is the law of God throughout the universe, past, present and future. The law of God in an over and under and through every nation that has ever existed. It is the law of God. That is ultimate and you have to perfectly keep that law or you are under the curse, not under a curse, but under the curse. The curse that separates you from God. The curse that separates you from all that is good and holy and happy and satisfying forever. Now the reality is we want to push back on that, We do. We want to push back, we wouldn't say curse. Come on man, it's 2020 to grow up or we want to say, I don't know my mind's telling me that sounds a little bit like some kind of comic book fairy tale, but in the deepest part of our existence and the deepest part of who we are, we all understand there is right and there is wrong, there is good, there is evil and we really do know that those issues will never be solved with politics or sports or money or medicine or food or anything else in the universe. We we know in the deepest parts of who we are, this curse, it's for real. So there's only two options when it comes to the curse, Bear it yourself, which does not end well or turn to jesus and be free and why jesus, why would we turn to jesus? Because in this small moment in history Jesus was forsaken by God for you, Jesus, he was the one that bore the curse bore the cross and all its shame, Jesus was the one that took the curse for Yeah, there's only two options. Barrett are turned to jesus. Now I gotta be honest, even this week I have found myself going God, you're going to have to explain that forsaking jesus thing. What walk me through it because I I don't understand all the math of that moment in history, I don't understand all that was accomplished and this one small moment in history, my my mind can't get wrapped around it. But I do know this because of that one moment in history, Jesus has made a promise and this is the promise he was forsaken. So that you could be forgiven. He was abandoned so that you could be accepted. That's that's the promise of jesus. So if you are believing in and trusting in and relying on and clinging to Jesus Christ as your full and final source of hope, then you have every reason to be confident in jesus. Because that means in life and in death, his truth will triumph through you. Why? Because only his kingdom, it's forever. And if you're believing in and relying on and clinging to jesus as your full and final source of hope, then dear christian, I want you to know something you cannot and you will not ever b forgotten now that it's something to be thankful for