ANNOUNCER: The following
program is paid for by the friends and partners
of Touching Lives. When we begin to think
about the way God saves us, and the way God listens to us,
and the way God rescues us, and the way God rules
over us, then somehow, I can't even explain
how it happens, God starts delivering us from
the poison of unforgiveness, and the prison of bitterness, because when you're
tuned to God, then you can
forgive like God. Teaching people
everywhere who Jesus is, and why they need him. This is Touching Lives
with James Merritt. >> We've been in a series, if you're a first time
guest of ours, we've been in a series we've
been calling "Playlist", and you know
a playlist today is, it's a digital
collection of songs. If you've got
an iPhone or a Pad, or whatever you might use,
you can actually, you can go on, you can categorize different
music into different genres. An on my phone for example,
I've got a list, pop music, I've got country music,
I've got worship music, I've got, you know,
those kinda -- and I can listen to any
of those kind of musics, you know, those songs
that I want to. And it's interesting
to notice that, and the reason why we all
on this universe love music, is because music
does communicate in a way that nothing else does. God knew that, so God made
His own playlist, it's called Psalms. There's a book
in the Bible called Psalms, what you probably never knew,
or some of you didn't realize was that 3,000 years ago,
you didn't just read a Psalm, you would listen
to a Psalm sung. You would listen
to a Psalm played, they were all set to music, and today we're going
to close this series we've been in with a Psalm
that was written by a king that's going through
the storm of betrayal. He's going through the hurt
and the heartache of being stabbed
in the back by someone he thought would never
ever would do to him whatever it was
that was done to him. So if you brought a copy of
God's word and want to look on, or you want to get out
your phone or pad or whatever you're using, we're gonna be in
the book of Psalms, we're gonna look
at Psalm 55, alright. Psalm 55. Psalms right in the
middle of your Bible. Let me kind of setup
what's kind of is going on here. King David wrote these songs,
it's very obvious that when David wrote this, his emotional level
was at code red. His stress was
at DEFCON 1, I mean, he evidently was
at the bottom of the barrel. As a matter of fact,
today, we would say he was having
an acute anxiety attack. That's what we would call it. I mean he is about as low
as anybody can get, and the problem is,
he's still carrying the aura of betrayal by
a close friend in his heart. Now, we don't know
who this buddy of his was, we don't know who
this close friend was. I read a lot of stuff,
and read a lot of Bible scholars and everybody was
all over the map. I don't know who it was,
but whoever it was, he thought it was a BFF. He thought, "We're gonna be
like this forever and ever." So, he tells us why he wrote
this particular Psalm in verses 12 and following. He said, "If an enemy
were insulting me, I could endure that", right? I mean if somebody you don't
like says something bad to you, you lose about a half
a second's sleep, right? "If a foe were rising
against me, I could hide. But it's you,
a man like myself, my companion, my close friend." Well how close? "With whom I once enjoyed sweet
fellowship at the house of God, as we walked about
among the worshipers." Now when David wrote
this particular Psalm, he was at the absolute peak
of his political power. Peace was everywhere,
prosperity was everywhere, the nation had
never done better. He was living in absolute,
complete luxury. His military power
was absolutely unquestioned. Everybody was happy,
and yet, here's a king at the zenith of his power,
and the betrayal of just one friend
destroys his world. The betrayal of one friend
turns his world upside down. Even the heart of a great king
can be broken by the betrayal of one friend. Why is that? Because I believe there is no
greater human heartache in life, relationally speaking,
than when someone that you love, someone that you trust, someone that you open
your heart up to, someone you always thought
would have your back, sticks a knife in it. So we're gonna give you
four things today, hopefully that will help you
get to the other side of this mountain
you've been trying to climb. Number one, you tell
your hurt to God. That's the first thing. When somebody hurts you,
the first thing you need to do, you tell your hurt to God. So, David begins
by writing, in the psalm, he begins by these lyrics, he says, "Listen to
my prayer, O God. Do not ignore my plea,
hear me and answer me. My thoughts trouble me,
and I am distraught." Now, listen to
what David said. David said, "I am so distraught. I am so devastated. I am so torn up I can't
even think straight. I can't get my mind
on anything, I just, everytime I open my mind up
all I can think about is how hurt I am. And the more I think
about how hurt I am, the more I hurt." As a matter of fact,
things are so bad, David says this,
now listen to what he says, this is amazing. He said, "I would flee far away
and stay in the desert. I would hurry
to my place of shelter far from the tempest
and the storm." Did you understand? David, now, he's a king. David said, "I would gladly
give up my throne. I'd gladly give up all
of my gold and all of my sliver. I'd gladly give up
this beautiful palace. I would gladly
give up my fame. I would gladly give up
all of my political power. I'd give up all
the wealth that I have. I'd give up all the good things
that come to being a king of the greatest nation
in the world if I could just
get away from the hurt, and just get away
from the heartache. If I could just
get one night's sleep and forget about what
this person has done to me." I mean, we're talking
again about, this is code red, and we just read
the source of his heartache. Someone he called his close
friend, and by the way, how close was this person? He said, "We used to go
to church together, we sat in the same
seat together, we opened up the hymn book
and we sang together. We listened to
the prophet together, we took notes together, we went to lunch
afterwards together. We were absolutely
just like this", and he said, "the pain
is unbearable. The hurt and the heartache
are just crushing." As a matter of fact,
he goes on to say this, "My heart is in
anguish within me, the terrors of death
have fallen on me, fear and trembling
have beset me. Horror has overwhelmed me." Now, think about it,
who's writing these words? This is David, this is the giant killer. This is the guy that took
a little rock out of a creek with a slingshot and killed
a guy that was 9'6" tall and weighed over 400 pounds. And yet, even though a giant
couldn't touch him, one friend could devastate him. Some of you are going,
"Man, that's where I am. I know exactly how he feels." The great preacher
Charles Spurgeon said, "No one is such a real
enemy as a false friend." "No one is such a real enemy
as a false friend." So what does David do? He does the best thing you can
do when somebody hurts you, he does the wisest thing you can
do when somebody hurts you. When you're deeply hurt,
you've been bitterly betrayed, you know what he does? He vents. He empties his clip. He starts talking, because the worst thing you can
do when somebody hurts you, listen, the worst thing you can
do is to harbor your hurt because harbored hurt
becomes burdened bitterness. Not most of the time,
not a lot of the time, every single time. If somebody hurts you,
and you hold it in, and you brood over it,
and you stew over it, harbored hurt becomes
burdened bitterness. Now you may say, "But I just --
nobody understands my situation. I don't have anybody
to talk to." Well David's already
alleviated that, he says, "No, you can
always talk to God, because God always understands." You know, there's a great deal
of truth in the saying, that a trouble shared
is a trouble halved. It's true. A trouble shared,
is a trouble halved. David says, "Don't
harbor your hurt, don't hide your heartache,
that always makes things worse." Now, here's the good news,
you can always go to God with any trouble, any pain,
any heartache, because -- and let me tell you, several reasons why
you can do that, why you should do that,
and several reasons by the way, why this God
is such a great God. Number one,
He's always available. You don't have to stand in line,
you don't have to make an appointment. Number two,
He completely understands. You'll never ever go to God
with any problem and God say to you,
"Man, I don't know how you feel. I didn't know that,
that's news to me." He absolutely understands. You never bother God,
as a matter of fact, I think the only thing
that bothers God is when we think we bother God. You never bother God. Listen, His shoulders are big
enough to hold your hurt. His ears are sharp enough
to hear your hurt. His hands are strong enough
to handle your hurt. So, the first thing
you need to do, tell your hurt to God. Now, here's the second
thing David said, "You tune your heart to God." Tell your hurt to God,
then you tune your heart to God. Let me tell you why
this is so important. When somebody hurts you,
they betray you, they stab you in the back,
they deceive you, they jerk the rug out
from under you, they throw you under the bus,
they leave you holding the bag. Always remember this,
your heart's like a tuning fork. You know what a tuning fork is? Your heart's like a tuning fork,
and here's what will happen. You will either allow
your heart to be tuned to, and tuned by that person
that hurt you, and their betrayal
will become your bitterness, or at that point
you can make a decision. You can say, "I'm not gonna let
my heart be tuned to your hurt, and I'm not gonna let my heart be turned to the one
that hurt me. I'm gonna let my heart
be tuned to the God that I know that loves me." So, listen now what David says, "As for me, I call to God
and the Lord saves me. Evening, morning, and noon
I cry out in distress, He hears my voice. He rescues me unharmed from
the battle waged against me, even though many oppose me. God who is enthroned from
of old, who does not change, He will hear them
and humble them, because they have
no fear of God." David said, "When I took
my mind off this hurt, and I took my eyes off
the person that hurt me, and I decided to put my mind
on God and to focus my eyes on the God that loves me,
I remembered something. God is a savior, God is a listener, God is a rescuer, and God is a ruler. Now, if God is a savior,
that means He can save you from anything that
anybody does to you. If God is a listener, that means you've always got
someone to talk to. If God is a rescuer, that means
He can always enable you to overcome anything
that anyone does to you, and if God is a ruler, that means that God
can take anything bad that someone means for you,
and someway, somehow, God has this divine ability
to turn it into good for you. And then David said, "I cried
out to God in the morning, I cried out to God at noontime, I cried out to God
in the evening." And that was just
a Hebrew way of saying, "I'm going to God 24/7. Now, let me tell you why
this is such a big deal, when somebody hurts you,
and they're gonna hurt you. When somebody disappoints you, and they're gonna
disappoint you. When somebody throws
you under the bus, and one day you're gonna
get thrown under the bus. You're gonna do one
of two things. You can spin your time stewing over what somebody's
done to you, and hurt you. Or, you can spend your time
pursuing the God who loves you and will
take care of you. Now, if you want
to waste your life, I mean really waste it, you just spend all your time
stewing over that person that hurt you, but if you want to make
your life productive, instead of stewing over
what that person's done to you, pursue the God who can
take care of you. And here's what happens,
when we begin to think about the way God saves us,
and the way God listens to us, and the way God rescues us,
and the way God rules over us, then somehow, I can't even
explain how it happens, God starts delivering us from
the poison of unforgiveness, and the prison of bitterness. Because when you're
tuned to God, then you can forgive like God. So, number one,
tell your hurt to God. Number two,
tune your heart to God. Number three, trust
your healing to God. Now, David does something
that we all have to do if we're going to come to grips
with the hurt and heartache that someone near to us
and dear to us has done to us. Now, I want to warn you,
what we're about to see that David did is the opposite
of what we tend to do, and listen, I've done the same
thing I'm about to tell you, so I'm not throwing
rocks at anybody, I've done the same thing. Because, you know,
if somebody really hurts you, and somebody really betrays you,
you know what we'll start doing, we'll start following
them on Facebook. [laughter] We'll start looking for what
they're posting on Instagram. We'll start reading
their Twitter feed. You know why? Because we're
obsessed with them, and our prayer every day is, "O God, make them
as miserable as I am. God, hurt them
like they hurt me. God make their brakes fail going
over a mountain next week." Don't look at me
like you're real holy, we've all been there. [laughter] And we get obsessed with them,
because what we do is, we want to see are they happy? Cause we don't want
them to be happy. Have they been affected
like we've been affected? Have they been hurt
like we've been hurt? David says that won't work. That is non-productive. David says, "Instead
what you ought to do," now this is gonna
help some of you. "Why don't you start
looking at them through the lens of God's eyes, and why don't you realize
that many times, when people hurt you," now listen, this is gonna
be new for some of you. "Why don't you stop
and think about the fact that when people hurt you,
and people stab you in the back, and people jerk the legs
out from under you, and people throw
you under the bus, and people leave you
holding the bag, in a sense, God just
did you a big favor. Cause He just revealed
to you what the person really was to begin with. Because, listen to what David
now says about this friend. "My companion
attacks his friends." David says, "You know, I'm not
the only guy he's messed over. He violates his covenant,
he never did keep his word. His talk is smooth as butter,
yet war is in his heart. His words are more
soothing than oil, yet they are drawn swords." All of a sudden God
pulls the curtain back, God turns on the light,
and David starts seeing this former friend for what
his former friend really was. This buddy of his,
what was he really like? He was a backstabber, he was a gossiper, he was a liar, so David, all of a sudden,
realizes God did him a favor. He says, "You know what,
this is a friend, when I look back,
he broke promises, he didn't keep 'em. He'd talk one way to your face and another way
behind your back." I was talking to somebody
out in the lobby and they just heard the message,
we were talking about it, and I said to them,
reminded them. I said "Let me tell you
what a true friend will do, this will be worth
coming to church for. A true friend will praise you, a true friend will
never flatter you. You say, "Okay,
I don't understand. What is the difference
between that?" Okay, listen carefully, flattery is what you'll say
to somebody's face but you don't really mean it, so you don't say it
behind their back. Praise is what you'd say
to someone's face because you really --
or say behind someone's back because you really mean it, whether you say it
to their face or not. There's a big difference
between praise and flattery. Friends don't flatter,
friends praise, and David is finally coming
to grips with the fact, you know, this friend
really wasn't a true friend. And David finally woke up
and said, "You know what, he's not worth my bitterness. He's not worth me being
friends with him on Facebook. He's not worth me reading
his Twitter feed or seeing what he's posting on Instagram. He's just really not worth it." In other words, listen to this,
David finally woke up and said, "It's time to leave behind
the person that left me behind." It's time to leave behind
the person that left me behind. Now listen, this is the most
important thing I'm going to say right now. When you can't leave
your past to God, you cannot enjoy the present,
nor can you focus on the future. When you can't leave
your past to God, you cannot enjoy the present,
nor, focus on the future. One of my -- I think one
of the greatest men that lived in the 20th century was a man
by the name of Nelson Mandela. Nelson Mandela, as you know,
fought all of his life to end apartheid
in South Africa. Well during his fight
for equality, some so called
friends betrayed him, and in three years time
he was arrested for treason, he was put on trial
for sabotage, he was sentenced
to life in prison. He did hard labor, he slept on a floor
in a cell with no toilet. He could only receive
one visitor, one day a year, and he got 30 minutes. When he was finally
released from, or got out of prison, he spent several years
in house arrest making a total imprisonment
time of 27 years, and what was his crime? Just trying to bring equality
to the nation that he loved. When Nelson Mandela got out
of prison in 1990, he made one of the greatest
statements anybody's ever made that I've ever heard. Listen to what
Nelson Mandela said, "As I walked out the door
toward the gate that would lead to my freedom, I knew if I did not leave
my bitterness and hatred behind, I would still forever
be in prison." For some of you today, it's time for you to do
what Mr. Mandela did, get out of your prison. You are in a prison
of bitterness that was not made by the person
that betrayed you, you made that prison. You didn't have to get into it,
nobody forced you into it, and you can get out of it
anytime you want to. Now you may be sitting there
saying, "Man, but you don't know what I've gone through." I don't. "You don't know the hurt
that I've been through." No, I don't. And you may be sitting
there thinking, "I'll never get over
the mountain of hurt." You know what, you won't
if you don't want to. You may think, "I'll never get through
the storm of this heartache." You know what, you won't
if you don't want to, but I'll tell you this,
if you're will say one thing that David said to God
and really mean it, you'll get over
that mountain like this, and you'll get through
that storm like this. Listen to what David said,
"But as for me, I trust in you." You just look up to God,
"You know Lord..." Here's what I believe. You can take every hurt,
and every hurter, and you can trust God
to heal that hurt, and deal with that hurter. Did you hear me? Listen. You will never heal your hurt,
so quit trying to do it on your own. He can. You're never gonna be able
to deal with the one that hurt you, He can. So, if you just go to God and
you say, "God, here's my hurt, and God, here's
the one who hurt me." God says, "Great,
I'll heal your hurt, and I will deal
with the one that hurt you." That's the only way
you'll ever be free from the prison
of your own bitterness. Now, look what happens. If you'll do those three things, you will automatically
do the fourth thing without even realizing it, and here's what it is,
you will tie your hope to God. Now, listen to how David
ends this, this is so good. Look, I understand, I've been
betrayed like you have been. I've had people that I thought
were some of my best friends when I needed them the most
they turned tail and -- I've been there, trust me. Some of you know
what I'm talking about. And in one sense, you know
why it seems like a death, because it really is,
because it's really hard to accept the fact
that a relationship that you, at least on earth,
you thought would last forever is really over. But here's what
I want you to hear, just because
a relationship is over doesn't mean your life is over. It's not. And here's what some of you
need to do right now. You need to cut the cord that
you tied to that relationship that you thought
would last but didn't, and you need to tie your cord,
and tie your hope to a relationship
that will never end. Because people will turn
their back on you, God never will. And that's why David
said in verse 22, "Cast your cares on the Lord,
and He will sustain you. He will never let
the righteous be shaken." Yep. The best of people
will fail you, there's somebody, don't know
who he or she is, you've got it in your mind. Now that person, they will be
with me through thick and thin. Nope. At the first mention
of thick and thin, they're thick and thin,
out the door, gone. Just gonna happen. People will fail you,
but God won't. David said, "You know what, when you've been knocked
flat on your back by a blow that you
never saw coming from someone you never thought
would deliver it." David said, "I'm proof positive
you can take it, and you can make it." He says, "Cast your
cares on the Lord, He will sustain you. You can still stand up." And then he says, "You not only
can stand up, you can stay up." He says, "He'll never let
the righteous be shaken, because of the love
of this God that created us, and the hope
that we have in Him, you may be temporarily down, but you will never
be permanently out, because the hurt is
the hallway to hope, always. And what David said
in this psalm is, God can take
the sadness of betrayal, and turn it into
a song of blessing. God creates a couple
named Adam and Eve, puts them in a perfect paradise. They have everything you
could ever want to be happy, and live happily ever after. And the dew is not even wet
on the grass of creation until they reject
what He told them to do and literally stabbed him
in the back and said, "We reject what you wanted
for us, we're doing it our way." And then 2,000 years ago
the Son of that Father, was in a garden
called Gethsemane. And the grass was wet
from the drops of sweat from His brow, and the one that thought
that was BFFs betrayed Him, and stabbed Him in the back for the price of two bags
of groceries. And the other 11 guys
that He thought, "If everybody else betrays me,
they'll stick with me." They ran like scalded dogs
when He needed them the most. But it was out of those
betrayals that a savior came, and a rescuer came, and a ruler came
who died on a cross, and came back from
the grave to prove, "I can take your betrayal, and I can turn it
into a blessing." Stay tuned for a final
word from Dr. Merritt. >> Of all the things that I do
every year there's nothing that I look forward to more or enjoy
more than our annual Mountain Top Conference that's held in
the beautiful Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. We're up in Pigeon Forge and
it's one of my absolute favorite places to go, and it's one of my
absolute favorite events of the entire year,
and it's a fantastic way to kick off the
Christmas season. If you've been before,
you already know what a great time it is. We worship. We fellowship. We laugh. We sing. And we listen to
preaching and God's Word. And we're going to do
all that again this year. It won't be an exception. But here's what I want you to
hear: we're going to be joined by Bart Millard of Mercy Me,
who will be sharing with us his personal testimony which was
the inspiration for the song and the hit movie,
"I Can Only Imagine." If you've not seen that movie,
you need to see it. It's one of the best movies
I've seen in years. And that song, by the way, is
the best selling Christian song of all time. We'll get to meet the man that
wrote it and have a great time. By the way, your registration
also includes a ticket to Dollywood and Dolly Parton's
Smoky Mountain Adventures dinner show, which
is always great. So, if you've never been
to Mountain Top, I want to encourage you,
join us this year for some great fellowship
and a lot of fun. To begin planning your trip to
Mountain Top, go to our website at touchinglives.org or
call us at 1-800-413-1131. Make your reservations,
I will see you there. It's going to be fantastic. You know, betrayal itself
is bad enough, but when you're betrayed
by someone close to you, someone you feel like
you could trust, and I've had that happen to me, it can be devastating. Psalm 55 is a painful song
written by a pain filled David, but in the midst
of the betrayal, and in the midst of his anguish, he gives us a pathway
through the pain. We learn an ever present
working formula for finding our way to the other
side of the hurt of betrayal. As we tell our hurt to God, and then tune our heart to God, and finally,
tie our hope to God, we find a peace that passes
all understanding, and a true healing that
we all want and we all need. Yeah, there'll be scars, but there's also the enduring
embrace of the savior that covers up our blemishes. Promises a day when there'll
be no more pain, no more tears, and no more suffering. We serve a loving God,
and a mighty God. He's big enough to help you
through your betrayal, turn to Him today, and let Him
put the pieces of your life back together again. Well, we've come to the end
of our series called "Playlist", I hope you've learned
to see the Psalms in a totally different light. Next week, I'll be right here
on this station, ready to preach more
of God's Word, so that people without Jesus
can come to know Jesus by the gospel of Jesus Christ. Because of your prayers and
your support, this is possible. So always know
how much I appreciate you, and how you're a true part
in the ministry with me. Thanks for watching,
and always remember to pray for me every time
you watch Touching Lives. Teaching people everywhere who Jesus is,
and why they need Him. This program is sponsored by
Touching Lives Ministries, and is made possible
by the grace of God, and your faithful
prayers and gifts. ...
