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[ Silence ] [ Music ] ♪ Oh, when I come ♪ ♪ To end all my journey ♪

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♪ Give me a sign ♪ ♪ Of the battle is won ♪ ♪ Mary had a little lamb ♪ ♪ On the cross the rich and strong ♪

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♪ He was a little lamb ♪ ♪ On the cross the rich and strong ♪ (gentle music) (gentle music)

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(gentle music) (gentle music) (gentle piano music) (gentle piano music)

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(gentle piano music) (gentle piano music) (gentle music) (gentle music)

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(gentle piano music) (music) [ Music ] Oh, will I come to the edge of my tomb?

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♪ Learning of the truth ♪ ♪ While the battle is won ♪ ♪ Learning of strength ♪ ♪ While your hopes of redemption ♪

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♪ Redemption ♪ ♪ In our hearts ♪ ♪ Stand ♪ ♪ Unsaid ♪

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♪ Heaven ♪ ♪ And earth ♪ - Amen. We continue our sermon series

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based on the Psalter, the book of Psalms, the hymn book of the Bible. And we come today to Psalm 142, hymn number 142. I cried unto the Lord with my voice.

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With my voice unto the Lord did I make my supplication. I poured out my complaint before him. I showed before him my trouble. When my spirit was overwhelmed within me,

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then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walk, have they privily laid a snare for me. I looked on my right hand and beheld,

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but there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul. No man cared for my soul.

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The subject of the message, nobody cares. No man cared for my soul. These are indeed sad words. There are no words sadder than these.

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This is a testimony of one who is in the valley of despondency, was bogged down in the depths, caught in the clutches of despair. This is the testimony of one who is in the dark night of the soul.

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No man cared for my soul, he says. The pilgrim of the way faces different kinds of weather, sunshine and rain, hail, sleep, snow. Pilgrim experiences varying seasons of the year, changing climatic conditions, spring, summer, autumn, and winter.

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Psalm 142 is a prayer. Today as we celebrate the pilgrimage through another year, we do well to focus on this prayer and make it our own. Last Sunday of the year marks the end of our journey. It is time to remember to look back through the rearview mirror, consider what has happened during the

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last 12 months, the distance we've traveled, and the events we have experienced. No man cared for my soul. This is a cry of a lonely heart. This This word expresses the anguish of the forsaken. This word is about the human condition.

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This is a word about a pilgrim's plight. No man cared for my soul. Some say that this word comes out of the experience of David when he's running and hiding from King Saul.

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In fact, this hymn bears the inscription, "A Psalm of David." the mighty warrior who had the power to kill a lion and a bear even as a youth who with his sling and his smooth stones slew the mighty giant Goliath. David the the musician at Sarl's Court,

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who played on his harp and chased away the demonic depression of the king. How is it that this same David has this word attributed to him,

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no man cared for my soul? This comes out of a time when King Saul is against David. David is up against the ruler of the nation, the most powerful human force in all of the land.

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With his military might in pursuit of David, David is running here and there, he's a fugitive, and he had really run out of places to hide. In his journey, he comes to the cave of Adullam.

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The Bible says that he escaped to the cave. He'd been in Gath, Goliath's home. When he was recognized there by the king, he became fearful,

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and he decided that the safest thing for him to do was just to play crazy. and he went about scratching on doors and he let spit run down on his beard so that the king was anxious to get rid of him because he thought David was a mad

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man. So David was able to escape. He says, "No man cared for my soul." This is about the worst thing that can happen when we feel left alone, when we feel that we are without help. Remember the movie "Gold With The Wind"? Scarlett O'Hara, Lee and Clark Gable featured in it, and that it comes to the point when she really is in a crisis and she

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wants to know what is she going to do, what's going to happen to her, and Clark Gable says to her, "I don't give a damn." And I remember as youth many times the teenagers sat through the movie as long as it was the second time just to hear that phrase, "I don't give a damn." Because that's about the worst thing we can say

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another person is to say that you really don't care what happens, that whether you live or die it really doesn't matter to me. This is the situation that David finds himself in and no doubt there have been times in the year when we have felt forsaken. There have been times maybe when we have felt deserted, when we thought

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that we were all alone, that nobody cares. Bible says that when David was in the cave of Adullam that his father and brother heard of it and they went down to him. And it goes on to say in these words, and everyone that was in distress and everyone that was in debt and everyone that was discontented

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gathered themselves unto David and he became a captain over them and there were with him 400. Well this may be called the fellowship of lonely hearts, fellowship of the forsaken, fellowship of the disinherited, fellowship of the disadvantaged, those who have been besieged by the burdens and worries of

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human existence. It is said that misery loves company. This is a company of people who share mutual woes. They all have their troubles and they can unite their voices in singing the spiritual "Nobody knows the trouble I've seen." This is a lament. No man cares for my son. Nobody really cares about me. That's what he's saying.

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This is his complaint. And there comes a time and the experience of every pilgrim of the way that as we make our journey, as we look back, as I said a moment ago, that we have our mountains that are Also comes a time when we go through the valley and when you go through the valley That's the dark night of the soul and as one is in that valley one cries out as does the psalmist here

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No man cared for my soul This is the cry of one who seeks comfort Psalmist says I poured out my complaint before the Lord I I showed him my trouble. I said unto him, "Lord, look at this mess I'm in."

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When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, "Lord, you knew my path. You knew the road I was traveling. You knew the hill of disappointment I faced. You knew the valley of depression in which I walked. You knew my path. In the way I walked, there were those who placed a snare for me. There were traps that were set for me. As we remember, as

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we look back over the road we've traveled, we can see that there was sunshine and that there were clouds. The same David who experiences the glorious victories over the lion and the bear and kills the giant Goliath. The same David who heard the praises of the people saying Saul has slain his thousands but

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David has slain his tens of thousands. Now the same David says no man cares for my son. He now says that enemies have set a trap for him. He now says his spirit is overwhelmed within, David is doused in the depths. He's out of strength. He says that my refuge failed me. Then he says, I cried unto the Lord. In seeking comfort he cries

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to the Lord. This is a cry of confidence and he said, "Lord, I can't make it by myself. You are my refuge and my potion in the land of the living. Lord, I'm depending on you. I'm out of brethren. The hills are too high, the valley is too low. I can't make it by myself. I need your strength. I need your presence. I

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need your power. You are my potion. You are my guide. You are my state. You are my shield in the land of the living. You are able to deliver. That's a cry behind the complaint that cry of confidence. Nobody cares for me is the complaint but in this cry is a desire for comfort. In this cry is confidence that God can and will

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help. And I think as we look back we can we can recall those moments when we have felt as David felt. As we look back we can see places along the way during the past 12 months when we enjoyed the sunshine of success and prosperity and if we can remember when we were in pursuit of human happiness how our path

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was overshadowed by dark clouds and we cried unto the Lord. There was a cry of confidence and this cry of confidence is made because of our belief in providence. And that's a word of encouragement and a word of strength as we stand now the edge of this year even when we are imprisoned by unfavorable

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circumstances we continue to believe in Providence. All of us here have different experiences and yet all of us somehow have been kept by the same God and all of us know that it's not because of our goodness We continue to believe in providence that there is a hand, there is a hidden hand in our history that guides us,

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even when there are dangers that we have not seen, it guides us through dangers seen and unseen. That there is a hand, the hand of providence that protects us in the midst of the traps of our enemies,

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that preserves us in the midst of our difficulties. And though we are besieged with the burdens and worries of this world, that we are stricken and we are comforted by providence.

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And though we are locked behind prison bars, we continue to believe in providence. To be able to say the truth forever on the scaffold, wrong forever on the throne,

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but that scaffold sways the future, and behind the dim unknown stands the almighty God our Father, keeping watch above his own.

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That there is a mystery in our history, in the loneliness of life. In times when we feel destitute and forsaken, we can still give thanks for confidence in providence.

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This is the mystery of our history. This is fuel that propels us on our journey. This is what has brought us through the year and it'll keep us going for days to come.

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It is our confidence in providence. I don't quite understand it. You know, we look and we see some people that seem to be in such good condition

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and such good health and all of a sudden they're snatched away. And others who seem to be so critically ill, they linger on and on and on and on and on.

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And we wonder why some stay and some go where they go. And yet that's all somewhat in the mystery of our history at the strange hand of Providence that's at work. For God moves in a mysterious way.

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His wonders too profound plants his footsteps on the sea and rides upon the star. Ye fearful saints, thrust courage, take, for the clouds you so much dread are big with mercy and shall break with blessings

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over your head. So judge, judge not the Lord by feeble sense, but trust him for his grace. Behind, behind a frowning providence he hides a smiling face. So treated in life like a a criminal in a courtroom, the psalmist brings his complaint to the sanctuary of the eternal. Have you ever come to church with a heavy heart?

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Nobody, you may have a smile on the outside, but on the inside you are heavy hearted. This is the way the psalmist comes. He comes after having been in this experience where he says, "No man cared for my soul." He brings his complaint to the sanctuary of the eternal,

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and he places his confidence in providence. It's the certainty in life that you can trust in providence. Somehow, somewhere, someday, that things will work out. I used to hear my grandmother say,

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"Don't worry about it, things will work out." And if things didn't look like they were gonna work out, There was no sign of any hope on the horizon. But they could just sit there.

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Sometimes you just sit there at the rocking chair on the front porch and just don't worry about it. It'll work out. - Yeah, all right.

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- So, so and so and so may be going on and seem to be going so strong and going in the wrong direction. Don't worry about it.

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Say it here, God gonna take care of it. And that's the confidence and confidence that somehow right will win and truth, no price to the earth, will rise again

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because of our certainty and our trust in Providence. That's what it means that the God of Providence will declare. That's what he's saying. The psalmist said, now you go to all these chapters from me,

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all of my enemies were arrayed against me, and all of the testimony in the courtroom was given against me. He said, I have put my trust in the God of Providence,

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and that he will vindicate me. And that at the end, that the judge, the great judge of all the earth, will say not guilty.

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Now that's good news. And the only way that can happen is that we have Jesus Christ as our companion along the way so that when we come before the judge,

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he says charge that to my account. Charge that to my account, says the justice, Justice outpaid, outpaid the cost. Let him go.

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And he's declared not guilty. And the psalmist visualizes as he goes on to read the psalm, where he comes out. And there are his enemies in the courtroom waiting for him

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to be condemned. And he's written, "Yes, for all the earth says not guilty." And then he comes out and he meets his friends. And they're all congratulating him

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that he has won the victory. And that's the way we ought to be as we celebrate the victory today, to give peace to God, that he has brought us through all of the vicissitudes of this year,

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and we can give thanks to the God of providence that he is with us and that he has blessed us all along the journey of life. Thanks be to God.

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Thanks be to God. Thanks be to God. You know the apostle Peter, in his first epistle, says this word to the scattered community.

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He says to them, "Humble yourselves, therefore, "under the mighty hand of God, "that he may exalt you in due time, "casting all your care upon him,

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"for he careth for you." You see, so what Peter is addressing here is a scattered community, a suffering community, persecuted community and he says to them, "Humble yourself before God no matter what

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what may be happening. You humble yourself before God no matter how ruthless Caesar may be on his throne. You humble yourself before God and cast all your cares upon him because he careth for you." You take care of it. He careth for you. So finally the psalmist makes a confession of faith. He says, "I

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will praise your name. I will celebrate your goodness upon bringing me out of prison. You've delivered me from all of the traps and you have caused the righteous to surround me in the end and rejoice with me. I praise you O God for you have dealt bountifully with me." So last word is do not lose heart. Oh I know, I know that this

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word, "no man cares for my soul," that there are times when we feel as David felt. But as we go through this song and we hear this cry, we see and hear this complaint and we see the predicament that he's in and we see him seeking comfort and we see that the comfort does come and deliverance is experienced. It says to us in the midst of all of the struggle as we

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continue our journey, do not lose heart. Night may be dark, but do not lose heart. Take courage, The light will come for day follows night. Do not lose heart. Do not lose heart no matter how the tempest rages.

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Do not lose heart. No matter how maybe violent may be the storm, do not lose heart. Take courage for after the storm comes the calm. Do not lose heart.

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But when we pass through troubled waters, we will have dry land provided for us, be able to step through those waters safely and securely, do not lose heart, trust in God because He cares. He cares so much that He gives His only begotten Son

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to save us. He cares so much that He goes even through hell in order to take us on to heaven. He cares so much that He suffers the humiliation

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on the cross. He cares so much that he raises Jesus up from the grave. He cares so much that he is with us no matter what may happen to us.

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He's there, he cares so much that he sends Jesus not only to persuade us, he sends Jesus to teach us. He sends Jesus to heal us. He sends Jesus to redeem us.

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So as we come to this hymn, "Does Jesus Care?" Oh yes, he cares. That's the invitation. That's the good news.

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As we look back over the pilgrimage of our lives and over the pilgrimage of another 12 months, to say yes, I know he cares in my heart of hearts. I know he cares.

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In fact, you'll come, there's an open door that is set before us, No opportunity, no grace, no redemption. Does Jesus care when my heart is laid to be before the Lord's soul?

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♪ And the burden of this cross ♪ ♪ Of the death of this cross ♪ ♪ And all the weight of this weary world ♪ ♪ Oh yes, Stephen, I know thee well ♪

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♪ I know He lives ♪ ♪ Yes, I, Jesus, when I pray ♪ ♪ When the people pray ♪ ♪ The Lord lies near me ♪

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♪ I know I'll sing again ♪ ♪ Oh yes, he will ♪ ♪ I know he will ♪ ♪ If I am blessed with my singing ♪

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♪ With my spirit ♪ ♪ With my spirit ♪ ♪ Oh God ♪ ♪ Light your spirit in my home ♪

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♪ My spirit ♪ ♪ Light my spirit ♪ [ Music ] [BLANK_AUDIO]