well it is from Psalm 28 that
I would preach a little this evening, the Lord helping me
and our text is found at the very end of the Psalm verse 9
Psalm 28 verse 9 save thy people and bless thine inheritance feed
them also and lift them up forever now we do not know the occasion
on which this Psalm was written It is simply entitled A Psalm
of David and there are two main parts to this psalm. There is prayer and there is
praise. There is prayer in verses 1 to
4 and there is praise in verses 6 to 8. Now what we see in this
psalm is that prayer gives way to praise. It is a precious truth. Those,
they that sow in tears shall reap in joy. And here in Psalm
28 we see the proper use of tears which is to sow them in prayers
to God. Where there is that true sowing
of tears to God, there will eventually be that true reaping of joy in
time to come. We see it in another psalm, in
Psalm 30, from verse 10, Hear, O Lord, and have mercy upon me. Lord, be thou my helper. Thou
hast turned for me my mourning into dancing. Thou hast put off
my sackcloth. and girded me with gladness to
the end that my glory may sing praise to Thee and not be silent
O Lord my God I will give thanks unto Thee forever prayer is turned
to praise and prayers are always turned to praise to the Lord's
blood bought people This life is a veil of tears. It's the
time of their tribulation. And there are those outward trials,
and there are those inward trials. There is the conflict between
the old man and the new, between the flesh and the spirit. For the flesh lusteth against
the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary,
the one to the other. I like the way the authorised
version renders that sentence. You can almost hear the clash
of the swords. For the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and
the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one
to the other. The Lord's people are involved
in a spiritual warfare against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness
of this world. against spiritual wickedness
in high places and they must do battle daily against sin and
against self and against Satan against lust and pride and unbelief
yes, and against the world their cries their groans and
their tears are all part and parcel of this conflict indeed
the groans and cries and tears are an evidence that there is
a conflict and the conflict is evidence of life and of faith
real faith it is the good fight of faith and the Lord Jesus has
pronounced those blessed who are in such a conflict blessed
are ye that weep now for ye shall laugh he has pronounced a curse
however on those who are at ease now who know no conflict who
know no soul trouble woe unto you that laugh now for ye shall
mourn and weep the Lord Jesus Christ was a man of sorrows and
acquainted with grief Paul speaks of Christ who in the days of
his flesh when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save
him from death and was heard in that he feared His prayers
were turned to praise, as it was prophesied in Psalm 22, for
He hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted.
Neither hath He hid His face from Him, but when He cried unto
Him, He heard. My praise shall be of Thee in
the great congregation. And soon all the prayers of all
the Lord's people shall be turned to praise unto thee will I cry
O Lord my rock we read in verse 1 blessed be the Lord because
he hath heard the voice of my supplications we read in verse
6 prayer is the breath of life
or rather the breath of faith It is a mark of the new birth,
it's a mark of spiritual life. It was after the Apostle Paul
had been literally and spiritually humbled to the dust that it was
said of him, behold he prayeth. No doubt Saul of Tarsus had said
many prayers as a proud Pharisee But you know, he had never really,
never truly prayed. Ah, but now, being born again
of the Spirit of God, he prays. Crying is natural to the newborn
baby, is it not? Well, so is prayer to the new
creature in the new birth. And if the newborn baby does
not cry, then he or she will receive a firm but loving smack
from the midwife because the living child's life depends upon
its drawing breath and so it is in the case of all those who
are born from above the father will send some affliction it
may be inward or outward and that affliction will cause his
children to cry out to call upon him long as they live must Christians
pray for only while they pray they live now what does David
pray in this psalm be not silent to me lest if thou be silent
to me I become like them that go down into the pit sometimes
in the believers experience it can seem as if the Lord does
not heed our prayers he may hear but he does not answer we may
be tempted to think that he does not even hear us or that he will
not hear us because he does not answer us immediately and so
David prays in this psalm hear the voice of my supplications
when I cry unto thee when I lift up my hands to all thy holy oracles
Sometimes the Lord does not answer us immediately but it doesn't
mean that he doesn't hear. Remember the woman of Canaan
who came to the Lord Jesus asking that her daughter might be healed
or delivered of a devil. We read there in Matthew 15 that
he answered her, not a word. He answered her, not a word. and we read there in the account
of how her faith was tried and tested and we read of her persistence
and her importunity and you know the outcome then Jesus answered
and said unto her O woman great is thy faith be it unto thee
even as thou wilt we read of another man however
to whom the Lord answered nothing and that was Herod in Luke 23 in verse 8 and when
Herod saw Jesus he was exceeding glad for he was desirous to see
him of a long season because he had heard many things of him
and he hoped to have seen some miracle done by him then he questioned
with him in many words but he answered him nothing And in verse 11 we read, and
Herod with his men of war set him at naught, and mocked him,
and arrayed him in a gorgeous robe, and sent him again to Pilate. It is evident that the woman
of Canaan had real faith. And it is equally evident that
Herod had no faith at all, even though he was desirous to see
him. the former, the woman of Canaan,
was elect and the latter was reprobate to the elect there
is nothing worse than God's silence their great concern, you see,
their great fear is that if the Lord does not speak to them or
deal graciously with them then they should be like the reprobate Isn't that what David says here? Unto thee will I cry, O LORD
my Rock, be not silent to me, lest if thou be silent to me,
I become like them that go down into the pit. Herod was one who went down into
the pit. He was reprobate. and that is
clear because we read and Herod and his men of war set him at
naught and mocked him the Lord had answered him nothing he did
not speak to him and the man went down to the pit a reprobate now we note in this psalm that
there is a prayer concerning the reprobate and a prayer concerning
the elect The prayer of the elect is found in the words of our
text in verse 9. Save thy people and bless thine
inheritance, feed them also and lift them up forever. But the
prayer concerning the reprobate we have in verses 4 and 5. Give
them according to their deeds and according to the wickedness
of their endeavours, give them after the work of their hands.
render to them their dessert. Because they regard not the works
of the Lord, nor the operation of his hands, he shall destroy
them and not build them up." This prayer, which is given by
inspiration of God, is prophetic. Here we have the end of the wicked
and of them that know not God. and see how they are described
here in verse 5. They regard not the works of
the Lord, nor the operation of his hands. They regard not his
work of creation, for this they willingly are ignorant of, that
by the word of God the heavens were of old. They regard not
his work of providence, that say in their hearts, the Lord
will not do good, neither will he do evil. and they certainly
do not regard His work of salvation, the incarnation of the Son of
God, His perfect righteousness, His redemptive work upon the
cross, the sovereign operations of His Spirit in the hearts of
elect sinners, convincing, convicting and converting them. And if a
sinner, saved by grace, is regarded at all, It is with suspicion,
disdain, contempt, derision, hatred or persecution. We are made as the filth of the
world and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. The reprobates regard not the
works of the Lord nor the operation of his hands like Herod of old
they mock Christ and set him at naught but of the elect it
is written the Lord is their strength and he is the saving
strength of his anointed he is the saving strength of his Christ
or the elect have no strength in or of themselves the Lord
is their strength they have no strength of themselves
to extricate themselves from their sin and so David prays
in Psalm 31 pull me out of the net that they have laid privily
for me for thou art my strength they have no strength of themselves
to continue and to persevere in the way in the way everlasting
but they do have the promise of God as it is expressed in
Psalm 68 thy God hath commanded thy strength and what a promise
that is David knew that it was not by his own strength that
he had gotten the victory over his enemies as the psalmist says
in Psalm 33 there is no king saved by the multitude of an
host a mighty man is not delivered by much strength A horse is a
vain thing for safety, neither shall he deliver any by his great
strength. Behold, the eye of the Lord is
upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy. And so it is with us. We are
not dependent on any strength within us. The world says, oh
you've got to believe in yourself. You've got to find your own inner
strength. But the child of God is brought
to this. He's brought to know and to feel
his own weakness. We are brought to a humble dependence
upon God to work all our works in us. It is through the Spirit
that we are to mortify the deeds of the flesh. He will subdue
our iniquities. Well, as we come to David's prayer
for the people of God, let's just consider these words very
briefly. Save thy people and bless thine inheritance, feed
them also and lift them up forever. David refers to the people of
God as thy people, thine inheritance. They are the Lord's and they
are the Lord's because he has chosen them. the Father has chosen
them in Christ before the foundation of the world as Paul says in
Ephesians, according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world and they are the Lord's for He has redeemed them
He has redeemed them from the fall and from the curse of a
broken law He has redeemed them from their sins and He has redeemed
them from the power of the grave they are his purchased possession
for ye are bought with a price Paul says they are the Lord's
they are the Lord's for he has claimed them for his own and
sealed them with that Holy Spirit of promise which is the earnest
of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession
the name of their God is written upon them and you see in the
Revelation and they shall see his face and
his name shall be in their foreheads yes the name of their God is
written upon them and their names are also written upon God for
we read of them being graven on the palms of his hands in
Isaiah 49 behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands
their names are as it were written upon God himself their names are enrolled in heaven
in the Lamb's Book of Life They are precious to him, they
are his inheritance. And they are the reason why this
world was made and they are the reason why this world continues
to this very day. That's what Peter says, doesn't
he? The Lord is not slack concerning his promise. concerning the promise
regarding the Lord's second coming and the end of the world the
Lord is not slack concerning His promise as some men count
slackness but is long-suffering to us-ward not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance but the day
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night yes this world continues
for their sakes that none of them should perish that none
of them should be lost but that all of them should be brought
by the sovereign grace and power of God in his appointed time
to repentance it was for them that Jesus shed his precious
blood so Christ was once offered to
bear the sins of many not to them that look for him shall
he appear the second time without sin unto salvation and so they
are called here thy people, thine inheritance now the prayer itself
is fourfold let us just consider briefly each petition in turn
save thy people again we note that this prayer is prophetic
just as David had before prayed concerning the destruction of
the wicked of the reprobate so now he prays for the salvation
of all the elect He prays for the coming of the Messiah for
it was the promised Messiah who would accomplish the salvation
of God's elect. David was a man of faith and
he himself looked to that Christ who was to come. He looked to
Christ for salvation as did all those who were of the elect remnant
under the dispensation of the law. The prayer of David then, save
thy people, is a prayer for the coming of the Messiah. And is his prayer not according
to the will of God? Yes, of course it is. His prayer
for the salvation of God's people is surely in agreement with God's
will because he has from eternity purposed the salvation of his
elect and indeed he has performed it. for the Father has sent the
Son to be their Saviour, the very name Jesus the Greek form
of Joshua means He will save and so it was told Joseph by
the angel of the Lord and thou shalt call His name Jesus for
He shall save His people from their sins and how has the Lord Jesus saved
His people from their sins? where it was by the death that
he died who his own self bear our sins in his own body on the
tree so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many Christ
died for our sins according to the scriptures save thy people
and bless thine inheritance here is the second petition the psalmist
prays that God's people might be blessed and so they are and
so they are blessed be the God and Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ who have blessed us with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ There is the blessing of sanctification
according as He has chosen us in Him before the foundation
of the world that we should be holy and without blame before
Him in love. There is the blessing of adoption
having predestinated us unto the adoption of children by Jesus
Christ to Himself according to the good pleasure of His will. There is the blessing of acceptance
with God or justification to the praise of the glory of
His grace wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved and
there is the blessing of redemption and the forgiveness of sins in
whom we have redemption through His blood the forgiveness of
sins according to the riches of His grace oh these are blessings
indeed and there are no greater blessings than these there are
no greater blessings than these these are the greatest of blessings
you cannot have greater blessings than these the Lord has indeed blessed his
people the Lord's people are blessed indeed yea happy is that
people whose God is the Lord In Psalm 29 we read, the Lord
will bless his people with peace. In the New Testament we read,
therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God
through our Lord Jesus Christ. The prayer of David, the sweet
Psalmist of Israel, is answered in the person of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and bless thine inheritance. Feed them also! This is the third
petition. Feed them also, and the elect
of God are fed. They feed upon Christ, the bread
of life. As it is written in the Revelation,
to him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
that hidden manna. As the natural man lives by eating
natural bread, for a man cannot live unless he eats food, so
the elect of God live upon Christ they live by faith in Him remember the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ to the Jews verily verily I say unto you
except ye eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood
ye have no life in you Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh
my blood, hath eternal life, and I will raise him up at the
last day. For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink
indeed. He that eateth my flesh, and
drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me, and I in him. As the living
Father hath sent me, and I live by the Father, so he that eateth
me even he shall live by me this is that bread which came down
from heaven not as your fathers did eat manna and are dead he
that eateth of this bread shall live forever and so it is written again in
the revelation for the lamb which is in the midst of the throne
shall feed them in Ezekiel we read of David as a type of Christ
and I will set up one shepherd over them and he shall feed them
even my servant David he shall feed them and he shall be their
shepherd that shepherd is the exalted Lamb of God the Lamb
in the midst of the throne he shall feed them he gives them
his own flesh and blood to eat they live by faith upon his finished
work they depend upon his death for their life and he feeds them
with his word he feeds them with his word and the means that he
uses to do this are the faithful ministers of the word ministers
of the gospel, pastors and teachers who will as it were distribute
the bread of life the word of God amongst the people of God
and so it is written in Jeremiah and I will give you pastors according
to mine heart which shall feed you with knowledge and understanding What knowledge, what understanding
is to be found in the scripture of truth? What knowledge, what
understanding does the Word of God impart? And that scripture in Jeremiah
3 is fulfilled as the Word of God is preached. and I will give
you pastors according to mine heart which shall feed you with
knowledge and understanding it is by this means that faith is
worked in the heart so then faith cometh by hearing and hearing
by the word of God and it is by this means that faith is fed
and nourished faith is a growing thing it must be fed as newborn
babes desire the sincere milk of the word that ye may grow
thereby if so be ye have tasted that the Lord is gracious but the word of God is not only
meat and drink to the believer it is also his rule of life you
see the marginal red ring there in Psalm 28 verse 9 feed them
also the margin renders it rule them also rule them also it is by means of His Word that
Christ rules His Church it is by means of His Word that Christ
rules in His Church the Holy Scriptures of a church's sole
authority in matters of faith and practice. This is the believer's
rule of life. Why is it, then, that so many
despise the ordinance of preaching these days, even in the professing
church? those that are outside who despise
preaching no, they are to be found in the professing church
also there are those who want liturgy and ritual out with the
Bibles, out with the candles isn't it they say there are those
who want music and entertainment, drama, dancing there are those
who want the miraculous and the spectacular there are those who
want nothing but singing and if they must suffer preaching
at all it must be kept to 20 minutes or 30 minutes at the
most and nothing too heavy, nothing too doctrinal a few anecdotes,
plenty of humour for the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts shall they heap
to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall be
turned away and they shall turn away their ears from the truth
and shall be turned unto fables. But why is this? Why is there
such a disregard and disdain for the office of preaching in
the professing church? Well, surely the reason is this.
It is because they will not have this man, the man Christ Jesus,
to reign over them. they are not really spiritually
hungry and therefore they desire not spiritual food they don't
want to be fed they are those who are not truly
blessed blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places
in Christ they are not really saved that's the root of the
matter, isn't it? they are not really saved it is otherwise with the elect
of God they are saved they are blessed they are made spiritually
hungry and they willingly submit themselves to the authority of
the Lord Jesus Christ to be governed by Him and to be governed by
His Word feed them also or as the margin says rule them also
and lift them up forever the fourth and final petition and
lift them up forever oh how the people of God feel
the need of the omnipotent power of the Lord Jesus Christ to uphold
them how they need to be lifted up
out of the reach of all their enemies they need to be lifted
up and carried and born just as the weak and the sickly and
the young of the flock need to be lifted up and carried by the
shepherd and this prayer is according to the will of God because that
is exactly what the Lord has promised to do for His people
Isaiah 40 verse 11 He shall feed His flock like a shepherd he
shall gather the lambs with his arm and carry them in his bosom
and shall gently lead those that are with young and so he has ever done for his
people in all their affliction he was
afflicted and the angel of his presence saved them in his love
and in his pity he redeemed them all the days of old the word there translated carried
the words here translated in the psalm lift them up are from
the same word in the Hebrew lift them up carry them forever when
they fall they are lifted up yes often times the saints do
stumble and they fall but they are lifted up again
Psalm 37 verse 23 the steps of a good man are ordered by the
Lord and he delighteth in his way though he fall he shall not
be utterly cast down for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand
and so Micah was able to say rejoice not against me O mine
enemy when I fall I shall arise and Micah's confidence was not
in himself or in his own strength, when he said those words, no,
he says, therefore will I look unto the Lord, I will wait for
the God of my salvation, my God will hear me, rejoice not against
me, O mine enemy, when I fall I shall arise. His hope and his
confidence was in the Lord, his God, and so it is with all the
elect of God, and lift them up forever they are looking to the
Lord to lift them up they are upheld in life and carried through
death and they shall be lifted up and raised from their graves
too by the omnipotent power of the Lord Jesus Christ and this
is the will of Him that sent me Jesus said that everyone which
seeth the Son and believeth on him may have everlasting life
and I will raise him up at the last day and so the petition
is here and lift them up forever forever they shall be lifted
up forever those whom the Father has chosen and the Son has redeemed
and the Holy Spirit has quickened shall live and reign with Christ
forever they shall be exalted to a throne
Revelation 22 verse 5 and they shall reign forever and ever how may we know that we are amongst
that blessed people those that shall be ultimately lifted up
to reign with Christ forever well we are brought to the throne
of grace now all true praying people will
eventually be praising people that's what this psalm is all
about This is what the psalm teaches us. It begins with prayer. Unto thee will I cry, O Lord
my rock. And it ends in victory. And lift
them up forever. All those who are brought to
the throne of grace now shall be brought to the throne of glory
hereafter. In conclusion, do we not see
David here as a type of Christ? David is praying here for the
elect people of God and so the Lord Jesus Christ David's seed
and David's Lord intercedes for his people see how the Lord Jesus
prays in John 17 I pray for them I pray not for the world but
for them whom thou hast given me save thy people and bless thine
inheritance feed them also and lift them up forever may the
Lord bless his word to our souls may he help us as we come in
a few moments time to the throne of grace Amen now let us sing together the
hymn number 1137 and the tune is Mannheim 679
God of our salvation hear us bless oh bless us ere we go when
we join the world be near us lest thy people careless grow
saviour keep us keep us safe from every foe hymn number 1137 you.