Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayerful attention to our first reading, Psalm 25,
and reading for our text, verse 5. Verse 5. Lead me in thy truth
and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation. On thee
do I wait all the day. Psalm 25 and verse 5. A psalm of David and he is no
doubt very aware of the promises of God right from the beginning
of the world that the Lord would teach and instruct his people
and cause them to know the way wherein they should walk later
on It was to be set forth very clearly in the prophets in Isaiah,
Isaiah 54, and especially this is in the context of the gospel,
where we have a beautiful pattern in Isaiah that goes from the
sufferings of our Lord Jesus Christ in chapter 53, and then through to the blessings
of the Church of God itself. And so we have the prophecies
in Isaiah 54 and verse 13. And all thy children shall be
taught of the Lord, and great shall be the peace of thy children. And it is this truth that David
is relying on, the teaching of the Lord. In Paul's epistle to
the Ephesians, he speaks of the truth as it is in Jesus. If so be that those Ephesian
believers have been taught that. And then we have our Lord referring
to that which is spoken of in the Prophets in the Gospel according
to John, chapter 6, verse 45. Our Lord says, it is written
in the Prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man
therefore that hath heard and hath learned of the Father cometh
unto me. And we think of our Lord's ministry
that was predominantly a teaching ministry. And the command to
us, the Lord's servants, is go ye into all the world and teach
every creature. It is to be teaching the things
of God. And in our text, is speaking
of a teaching that is directly related to experience, actually
walking in those truths, experiencing the truths of God. And those
two things must surely go together. And we would not think that this
is just confined to those that are first seeking the Lord, but
to the Lord's dear people themselves. We do not cease to need to be
taught and led, but really feel more and more our need of it
after we have been quickened into divine life. We need to
remember that. I want to look with the Lord's
help at three points this evening. Firstly, the person making this
petition. And we're told at the start of
the psalm that it is David, but we have a character that is set
forth as well, not just David, but one to whom God is their
salvation. Because we read, for thou art
the God of my salvation. So the one that is making this
petition, God already is the God of his salvation. Then secondly, the petition itself,
which is, lead me in thy truth and teach me. That is the petition. Of course, it does follow on
from what is in the previous verse, show me thy ways, O Lord,
teach me thy paths, lead me in thy truth and teach me. But it is particularly this verse,
lead me in thy truth and teach me, is laid upon my spirit this
evening. Then thirdly, a life consistent
with our prayers. David says, on thee do I wait
all the day. So there is the prayer, but also
he testifies on what he's doing in the day, how he's walking,
and we need to be very mindful that we live a life consistent
with what we are praying and asking of the Lord. But firstly, the person making
this petition, David, or one that is able to say that God
is the God of their salvation, It's a blessed thing to realise
the privilege of being brought into the fold of God and to realise
that the Lord Jesus Christ is as a heavenly shepherd and that
he will lead us into his truths. And there are those privileges
that follow on after salvation. is deliverance from hell and
delivering to heaven. And it is a soul that is able
to bear witness that the Lord Jesus Christ has died for them,
has suffered in their place, has then given them spiritual
life, they have been called by His grace, and they have been
brought to realize and to know that God is not just the God
of creation and the God that made heaven and earth, but the
God of my salvation. And it is very vital that it
is a personal knowledge that the Lord is our salvation. Thou art the God of my salvation. I wonder how many of us can rise
to this profession and this title, this description, that we are
in receipt of God's salvation. He has saved us. He has redeemed us. He has shed
his precious blood on Calvary's tree for us. He has quickened
our souls into divine life. Now, of course, this does not
exclude those who don't have that assurance that they can't
use the language that is here. Perhaps it might be that we come
to such a text and we testify that we do know that there is
only one name given among men whereby we must be saved. We
may say, with dear Peter, when many forsook the Lord, and the
Lord said, will ye also go away? He says, to whom can we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life, and we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And so there can be before a
personal knowledge of salvation that there is none other name
given among men whereby we must be saved, that there is a way
of escape from the wrath to come, and the only way is through our
Lord Jesus Christ. You would be mindful that God
does begin with a sinner, not a sinner with God. He which hath
begun a good work in you will perform it unto the day of Jesus
Christ. It is the Lord that passes by
his people when they are in their blood and he bids them live. And so when life is given, when
a hearing ear is given, a feeling sense of a need of a saviour,
when life is given so that spiritual Things are felt, things are seen
spiritually, the reality of the things of God become a reality
and the Word of God has an authority in the heart and the desires
are then like we have in our text and the prayers like as
in our text. So we were not excluded just
to the Lord's dear people that have this assurance. But we would
make this point as to dispel the thought that God's children,
well, because they're God's children, they'll always know what to do.
They'll always know the truth. They won't have to confess their
ignorance, their lack of light, their lack of knowledge. We have the Word of God testifying
that God's children, when they are brought into the fold, they
need feeding with the truth. They need leading. Our Lord in
John 10 is very clear that he leads his people. David in Psalm
23, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. The idea, David
himself being a shepherd, knew what it was to be the leader
and director of the sheep under his care. And so the person that
is asking this, one of God's children, one that feels their
need in this particular matter, and who feels to need teaching
and need instructing, however long we have been in the way,
Be those times we sometimes feel more and more ignorant to the
things of God, more and more to need the light of God's countenance
upon us that we cannot see without his light. We cannot know without
him revealing the things of God to us. And the Lord has said
this, without me you can do nothing. And this is one of those things
that we will prove that we cannot. do anything but need to cry to
the God of our salvation. Have we ever considered what
a wonderful thing it is to have a God to go to? And that the
Lord doesn't say, well, you must meet a set standard, not like
universities or many things you've got to gain a certain grade or
standard before you can be entered in. No, the entrance into life
is through faith alone in Christ. And then in that school and in
Him, then there is all the provision and teaching and instructing
that is necessary. And that faith the Lord gives.
He is the author and finisher of our faith. And really, the
psalm of David, it comes in as a beautiful
privilege to the children of God. We have in verse 12, What
man is he that feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way
that he shall choose. As psalmist, he knew these precious
truths and turned them into prayer and made them a matter of prayer.
How many Truths of God, do we make a matter of prayer? And
how many times do our prayers reflect actually what we feel,
and in this case, the ignorance and darkness of our souls? So the first point then, the
person making this petition, and before we leave it, may we
think, What kind of a person are we? In our petitions at the
throne of grace, in all our asking, what kind of a person are we? Lead me in Thy truth and teach
me, for Thou art the God of my salvation. On Thee do I wait
all the day. Secondly then, we have the petition
that is to be led and taught. Lead me in thy truth and teach
me. The first thing is thy truth. What is the truth of God? What is the psalmist, what is
David, asking? It is spoken of here as something
already that is defined, thy truth. And we are saying this,
that especially for the New Testament church, it is the whole of the
word of God. Our Lord says, thy word is truth. I have given them thy word and
the world hath hated them. but he clearly says forth, thy
word is truth. And so when we come to the Bible,
Genesis to Revelation, this is what he is asking to be led into. Of course, in David's time, we
had not the New Testament, but he's asking to be led into the
truth of the Bible, the truth of salvation, Thy truth that
is revealed in the Word of God. And we need to be very clear
about that. Many might pray such a prayer
as this and yet have very low views of the Word of God. Every Word of God is pure. All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God. There is no other revelation
There is no other repository of truth but the Word of God. And we must be very mindful that
we are not looking in any other place than the Word of God to
be led into the truth of God. The second thing is, in the petition
itself, it is as personal as what the description of the character
was. Remember we said, the one praying,
thou art the God of my salvation. It's a personal salvation. But the petition is personally
as well. This is not praying for other
people, not to say we shouldn't, we should pray for others, especially
our children, our loved ones and those that we are concerned
over, but this is personal. Lead me in thy truth and teach
me. How personal are our prayers? What things are we asking the
Lord to do for us personally? The third thing is that it is
not just to know but to be led in the truth. Lead me in thy
truth. Not lead me to thy truth or lead
me to know thy truth, but lead me in thy truth. The truth of
God is actually to be walked in. It is very practical, it
applies to us personally, it applies to our souls, We must
come to die, we must appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
we must all give account of the deeds done in the body, whether
good or bad, and it is to be led in the truth of God, in thy
truth, so that those things that are spoken of, they're not just
cunningly devised fables, they're not just Things that are known
in the head. They're actually what we can
be led in. And so the petition is not just
to know, but to be led in it. I've seen when I was in my apprenticeship
as a fitter and turner maintenance in a hospital before I went into
design engineering. And I had a very good fitter
that taught me very well hands-on on the tools. And for the first
three years of a four-year apprenticeship, he hardly ever let me do anything
on my own. He always led me. He always showed
me what to do. I had to watch him, and then
I had to do it, and to be taught in that way. On the other hand,
at trade school, we were taught the theory of things. And yes,
sometimes we We were using the lathes and using machines as
well, so we did have the practical side there. But especially in
the workplace, it was to be led in the truth of my profession,
so that I was actually experiencing it, not just learning about it,
it was in it. I always remember when, at school,
We learned sailing, and again we did the theory in the classroom. But then we did practical on
the sea. And I thought that I knew how
to apply all what we'd learned in school. But there came a time
in going out at sea, and the teachers thought I knew it very
well too. And so I had a student with me
that really was a very novice in sailing. But then we tried
to come turn and to go back to shore and I couldn't turn the
boat around. And really I wasn't heading up
close enough into the wind. The headmaster could see from
the shore, he knew exactly what I was doing wrong. And I got
a scolding when I got back that I hadn't learnt my lessons well
enough. But I've never ever forgot that occasion. Really the fear
of not being able to turn the boat to the land and until at
last it did turn, it has burnt that truth. It is walking in
that truth that there's no turning, not with a sailing boat, unless
you head it tighter and tighter into the wind, get it going as
fast as you can, and then cross the wind. And so in the things
of God as well, it must not be just taught in the head, it's
to know about the things of God. but actually to be led in thy
truth. And together with that, we are
taught in this petition that in being led in the truths of
God, there is teaching in it. No matter how much we view the
things that we pass through in life, that there is teaching
in it. In many, many things, the Lord
will not waste experiences. He won't waste things that we
pass through and not use it to teach and instruct us. Now what are some of those things
that if the Lord was to answer this petition, what would the
answer be? How would we be led in thy truth? One of the truths of God that
runs right through, right from Genesis, is the sinfulness of
man, the fallen man. In the day that thou dost eat
thereof, thou shalt surely die. There's spiritual death, and
then to be quickened into life, but a child of God will always
know that they are sinners. And when we think of David here,
David was to know this most Painfully, he was a man after God's own
heart, and yet while king of Israel, yet was left to fall,
and not that this word is to be praying that we might be left
to fall, may we be kept from that, but all of God's children
will know in greater or lesser measure that they are sinners. Hymn writer says, sinners can
say, and none but they How precious is the Saviour! It is one of
those truths perhaps we might overlook on answer to this prayer,
in that there is like, as set forth in Ezekiel, Turn again,
thou son of man, thou shalt see greater abominations than these. A harm is deceitful above all
things, and desperately wicked. Who can know it? Those that know
it are those that are led, in thy truth. By the law is the
knowledge of sin, and when the Lord brings his holy, sacred
law into the heart, then sin is known as the transgression
of the law of God. The Apostle Paul was able to
speak very clearly how it came about that he was brought to
know personally the law of God. He says, I was alive without
the law once, but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And that which was ordained unto
life I found to be unto death. The commandment was thou shalt
not covet, and it wrought in him all manner of concupiscence. And he had to prove that in me,
that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. and really many
of the errors that are in the Church of God and in their doctrine
of the Church of God arises from the fact that those who are speaking
those things have never been led into this truth to actually
really know what they are as sinners before God. There's some
thought they're not quite so bad, there's something in them
that has an ability to receive, accept Christ, and to do those
works that are utterly dependent upon the Holy Spirit of God,
and to be led into the truth that the heart, the natural man,
receiveth not the things of God, neither can he know them, they
are spiritually discerned, and to know the difference between
the spiritual man and the natural man, the new man of grace and
the old man of sin, to know in a scriptural way just what the
holy word of God says about ourselves. One of our hymns says, nor are
men willing to have the truth told, the sight is too killing
for pride to behold. But when we have to walk in it,
lead me in thy truth. Another one that is closely linked
to this, and that is a path that is a humbling path. By nature,
we are very, very proud. As one of our chief sins, it
was the pride of man that thought that they could make the decision
and follow Satan rather than God. But the pride of man, the
word of God, shall be brought down. Those lofty looks shall
be brought down. It's not a pleasant thing to
have our pride humbled. It's not something that is pleasant
at all. There'll be things that we are
utterly ashamed of, things that we've done, things that we've
said, things that we've walked in, that we're utterly ashamed
of. I had no doubt David when he
knew and realized because God said to him, that by reason of
his actions the way of truth was even spoken of and that what
he had done was before all Israel in his adultery and in his murder. And so how humbling that is. And if the Lord answers this
and he truly humbles us and bows our hearts to be led in the truth,
there will be real things of which we are ashamed of our sin
and our ways and our words. Another leading in the truth,
in Hebrews 12, we have a mark of sonship that every one of
God's children will have, and that is chastening, and David
knew that as well. When he had sinned, then the
Lord chastened him and corrected him for his sins. The sword did not depart from
his house all his days. He had trouble, trouble with
his children, trouble in his house. Lead me in thy truth. We would not want to be free
from chastening. We would not want to not have
the mark of one of God's children. And so to be led in thy truth,
to be led in that truth, that the Father chasteneth every son
whom he receiveth. Another precious truth to be
led into is God's mercy and grace. We read in the opening chapter
of John, the law by Moses came, but grace and truth by Jesus
Christ. illustration of it in the woman
that was taken in adultery. She was led into this truth,
to know the mercy of the Lord. Those that came and brought her
before the Lord, they said, Moses in the law commanded that such
should be stoned, but what sayest thou? And he said to them, that
him that is without sin first cast a stone at her, and then
he just wrote on the ground, was silent. And they were convinced
in their own consciences and walked out. And when the Lord
lifted himself up and saw no man, he said to the woman, hath
no man condemned thee? She said, no man, Lord. And he
said, neither do I condemn thee. Go and sin no more. And she proved the grace and
mercy of the Lord She proved also that sin is to be repented
of and to be turned away from. She would never have forgotten
that occasion and how she was accused and how the Lord dealt
with the matter. And so we also need to know that. David, as he finishes Psalm 23,
he says, surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the
days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord
forever." And he knew that because of the truths that he'd been
led into and those things that he'd known. Another truth to
be led into is the sufficiency of grace. The Apostle Paul had
a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet him. He'd
been greatly favoured in his soul. And he realised that he
could have been so lifted up with pride over those revelations
and the blessings, and God had given him something to balance
it. And yet he cried to the Lord, take away this messenger of Satan,
this thorn in the flesh. And the Lord said, no, my grace
is sufficient for thee. We might have those afflictions
and trials and things that we would not. Ask the Lord to take
them away, deliver us out of them. The Lord says, no, I'll
give you grace to be able to bear it, to be able to walk with
that trial and in that way. Another thing, then that we are
led in the truth and taught in that, that God's grace is sufficient,
taught the value of chastening, Now no chastening for the present,
seemeth to be joyous but grievous, nevertheless afterward it yieldeth
the peaceable fruit of righteousness to them that are exercised thereby. Another leading in thy truth
is that our own righteousnesses are as filthy rags. All of our
works, even our good works, are stained and dyed with sin. And
then led into that truth that the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ is spotless and pure. And that the Lord views
his people. His people says, I am black,
but comely. And the word of the Lord through
Jeremiah says, this is the name wherewith he shall be called
the Lord our righteousness. And then for the church of God,
this is the name wherewith she shall be called. the Lord our
righteousness. Blessed, says our Lord, are they
that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall
be filled and is to be led into that and to realize painfully
that our righteousness is not sufficient to stand before Almighty
God. And we trembled at the thought
of standing before God giving account of all of our deeds and
all of our life, all brought before God and men. But what
a blessed thing to realize that it is the precious blood of Christ
that atones for all sin, that blots out our transgressions. It is the robe of Christ's righteousness
that fits us for heaven and to stand before His throne. Lead me in thy truth and teach
me to be led in the truth of the protection of the Lord Jesus
Christ. Again thinking of the shepherd
theme, our Lord speaks of the security of his sheep being in
his hand and his Father's hand. And Paul in Romans 8 speaks of
how he is persuaded that nothing shall separate between us and
the love of God. And so it is the Lord's protection
that we are to prove through life and to be taught our need
of the Lord's protection. Except the Lord keep the city,
the watchman watcheth in vain. There's many, many precious things
that would be an answer to this prayer. The feeding of the people
of God, spiritual food, the delighting in Christ, delighting in his
word, in all the truths of the word of God, to walk in them,
to put tried and proved next to them. and to testify that
the Lord has taught us these things and that we've actually
walked in them. I think we mention in prayer,
a man that was born blind, one thing I know, or as I was blind,
now I see, a truth led into a truth that he'd walked out. Lead me
in thy truth. and teach me. The teaching of
the Lord is actually walking in the truth that the Lord then
leads us into. The idea here is the Lord is
the teacher. It's not like a child that would
go to school and say to the teacher, I want to learn this and this
and this, and you teach me this now and then that bit later,
There's no specifying here. David wants the Lord to lead
him in his truth and the choice of what truths he leads into
and when and where and what depth is left with the Lord. But he
does want to be taught as he walks in the truths of God. Lead me in thy truth and teach
me. and the warrant that he has,
or what is strengthening him to make that petition, is that,
Thou art the God of my salvation. And this should be an encouragement
to us each, that the Lord is our God, who has quickened us
by his grace, that we can pray that same petition, however weak
and poor and ignorant we may feel, however small in the truth
we may feel, to ask the Lord this, lead me in thy truth and
teach me, and that he would choose. He shall, what man is he that
feareth the Lord, him shall he teach in the way that he shall
choose. We want to look then lastly at
a life consistent with our prayers. Our text says, Lead me in thy
truth and teach me, for thou art the God of my salvation.
On thee do I wait all the day. He's speaking of his life and
it matches his petitions. waiting upon the Lord, waiting
upon the Lord in prayer, as the very verse, the text is, but
waiting upon the Lord, watching His hand, seeking to walk in
a way that is spiritually minded, not calmly minded, which is death. When the prayer is made, there's
the expectancy all the day long that the Lord will answer him,
that there will be those things done. And he will notice it,
he will see it. It's the case. How often we are
so inconsistent, so stop-start as it were, in our serving the
Lord. On Thee do I wait, not some of
the day, but all the day. And really that same emphasis
is on the other scriptures continue in prayer and watch in the same. And it's speaking of a consistency
of life with the petitions that we offer up. It's not offering
the petitions up and then going away as if we'd never asked anything
of the Lord. How easy we can do that, how
we need to be consistent. May all our life, our ways, our
prayers suggest come and dwell within my breast. Fleeing or
seeking that grace and help to flee from sin and from evil and
taking heed to the Word, we spoke as the truth of God, as being
the Word of God. And when the Holy Spirit brings
it to our remembrance, when he impresses it upon our hearts,
then we are to be obedient unto that Word. Wherewithal shall
the young man cleanse his way by taking heed thereto according
to thy Word. We are not just to expect from
this, just the power of God outside of the word, as if he would make
us to be like a mechanical thing, that leave us oppressed and we
just do what God impresses us to do. In Psalm 32 we read, Be
thou not as the horse or as the mule, which hath no understanding,
whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come
nigh unto thee. The word is, thou shalt, I will
instruct thee and teach thee in the way that thou shalt go,
I will guide thee with mine eye. And so in the leading in the
truth of God and to be taught is to hear the word of the Lord. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of the Lord. It's not being forced, it's being
made willing and it's hearkening and listening to the Word of
God and be given an obedience to that Word. And may that be
part of what we have an eye to in our petitions, that we be
led into that truth that the Lord will make us willing and
make us obedient Make us holy and make us to be followers of
the Lord and followers of his people and realise the means
that God uses to bring about the answer to our prayers. Lead me in thy truth and teach
me. What a blessing it is to have
a tender conscience. What it is a blessing to realise
the Lord puts forth power with the Word, and answers our prayers
in a way consistent with His Word. That is, Thy Word is a
lamp unto my feet, a light unto my path, and as we are led in
the truth of God and taught in that way, we will prove the of the Word of God. And so this
is a simple but very comprehensive prayer, and may they help to
pray, help to be the one that prays that's described here,
who has for their God the God of salvation, and whose prayers
are not inconsistent with their life or their life not inconsistent
with their prayers lead me in thy truth and teach me for thou
art the god of my salvation on thee do i wait all the day the
lord at his blessing amen