All right, go with me back to
Psalm 5. Psalm 5. You know, the Lord asked Peter
a very simple question. He said,
do you love me? I think that's a wonderful question.
Do you love me? Peter said, and he was so sorrowful
when he said it, he said, yea, Lord. He said, you know all things. You know I love you. And the Lord said to him, then
feed my sheep. Feed my sheep. If you love me,
feed my sheep. That's what I want you to do. The Lord told Jeremiah that he
would send pastors according to his own heart who
would feed his people with knowledge and understanding. I take that very seriously. The Lord used the word pastors
eight times in the scriptures. Six of them he said, woe unto
the pastors. You know that? They weren't feeding
the sheep, feeding themselves. So I take this very seriously.
And I pray each time that we meet together, God might send
us a message that feeds us, me included. We are not here. You all didn't
drive here. Some of you walked. Some of you
drove quite a distance. But we did not all meet here
for us to have a doctrinally correct message. Although I want
a doctrinally correct message. I don't want to preach doctrinal
lies. Not at all. But we need something that is
a true help in our time of need. That's what we need. Something
that's a real help to us. Something that will benefit us. Something that will make us grow. We need something for today. We need to be fed today. You know, we were just here Sunday.
And we're here today because we need to be fed today. That's
why we're back again. The subject hasn't changed. Christ
and Him crucified. The outline hasn't changed. Man's
a sinner. Christ, in mercy, redeemed man. They're not going to be lost.
But we need to be fed today. Yesterday's food was wonderful.
It was wonderful. But we need today's. We need
to be nourished. We need to be strengthened. Strength
for today. That's what we just sang. We
need something that will truly cause us to grow. I want to grow. I want to grow. I mean, we're very deliberate
in what we feed our children. We want them to grow. And we need something that'll
be savory to us. We need Christ. That's what we
need. We need to be filled with Christ,
and we need to be filled with his word. And our prayer is,
Lord, feed us. Feed us. We don't need the idea
of being fed. And we don't need the theory
of being fed. And we don't need the doctrine
of being fed. Lord, feed us. Please feed us,
help us and nourish us and give us something that will cause
us to grow. That's my prayer. Now last Wednesday
night we looked at something that I believe was very comforting.
It was very comforting to me. It was something that is a very
wise thing to consider and it was something that was instructive.
We looked at weight on the Lord. Wait on the Lord. Something that
will help us in our time of need. You know, when you have a true
moment of need, that's something that'll help you. Wait on the
Lord. Wait on the Lord. That's something
that we can actively do. Wait on the Lord. With all of
our strength and with all of our might, we can stand still
and wait to see the salvation of the Lord. That's what we can
do. What do I do? What do I do? Here's something
you can do. Wait on the Lord. Just wait on the Lord. And that's
something that shouldn't go in one of my ears and go out the
other one of my ears. What a daily help to us it would
be if we actively pursued waiting on the Lord. I mean, if we gave
it all we had waiting on the Lord. Tonight I have something
that goes along with that. This is something that would
bring so much comfort to us, and I want to preach to myself
first, and everybody else can listen in on it. This is something
that would truly bring so much comfort to us. This is something
that is very wise, and the reason is because we're about to read
it in God's Word, not because I said it. We're about to read
this in God's Word, and this is very instructive. Something
has really struck me here in Psalm chapter 5, and I want to
encourage all of us to do it. That's my mark tonight. I want to encourage us unto works. I want to encourage us to do
something. Now, on the issue of salvation. The law says, do this and live. That's what the law says. Do
this and you'll live. And that's wrong. That's wrong. We know that that's wrong. No flesh can be justified by
the deeds of the law. Isn't that right? No flesh. Doing this In order to live,
that's wrong. But do you know what the gospel
of God's grace says? You know what the gospel of God's
free grace says? It says, live and do this. That's what it says. God comes
to a sinner and God in his own power and his own mercy, he comes
to a dead, blind, deaf sinner and he says, live. And they live. And they see what he's done for
them. And they realize you've been adopted into my family. And it's ordered and it's sure.
And now that you are my child, this is what I expect out of
you. Live and do this. All right. So we're not trying
to justify ourselves before God. That's the point I'm trying to
make. I have something I'd love for us to do, but we're not trying
to justify ourselves before God because we have been justified
before God. We're trying to draw nearer to
him. That's what we're trying to do.
I want to draw nearer to him. And here's something that I know
will help us do just that. Psalm 5, verse 1 says, give ear
to my words, O Lord. Consider my meditation. I want to encourage us to meditate
on the Lord. That's what I want to encourage
us to do. I want to encourage us to meditate on the Lord. I know that sounds like a strange
word. It sounds like a yoga spiritual guy, sitting there with his legs
crossed, he's got his thumbs on his middle fingers, palms
up, eyes closed. He's supposed to be clear in
his mind. That is not what God's word says meditating is. Turn with me, if you would, over
to Joshua chapter 1, just after Deuteronomy. Joshua
chapter 1. Joshua chapter 1 verse 8 says,
this book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but
thou shalt meditate therein day and night that thou mayest observe
to do according to all that is written therein. For then thou
shalt make thy way prosperous And then thou shalt have good
success. That's a great verse. He's saying you obey God's word
and it will go well with you. That's what he's saying. Look
with me at Psalm chapter 1. Psalm chapter 1 verse 1 says, Blessed is the man that walketh
not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners,
nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. And I'm just gonna
go ahead and tell us, that's Christ. That's Jesus Christ. But the truth of the matter is,
is blessed is the man that does not walk in the counsel of the
ungodly. nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in
the seat of the scornful, but his delight is in the law of
the Lord. And in his law doth he meditate
day and night." That meditation that God is talking about is
in his law, in his word. Go with me over to Psalm 77. Psalm 77 verse 12 says, I will
meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings. Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary. Who is so great a God as our
God? Thou art the God that doest wonders. Thou hast declared thy strength
among the people, Thou hast with thine arm redeemed thy people,
the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Selah means just dwell on that. Just dwell on that. I'll meditate
on all of your work. Everything you've done. Who is
so great a God as our God? You've redeemed us. You redeemed
Jacob. He's saying I'll dwell on that
for a while. One more, go with me to 1 Timothy chapter 4. 1 Timothy 4 verse 13 says, Till
I come, give attendance to reading. To exhortation, that means calling
on. That's prayer. To doctrine, that
word means teaching, preaching, reading, prayer, and hearing
the gospel. Neglect not the gift that is
in thee which was given thee by prophecy with the laying on
of the hands of the presbytery. Meditate upon these things. Give thyself wholly to them that
thy profiting may appear to all. True meditation is clearing your
mind of everything but Christ. Everything but the Lord Jesus
Christ. Thinking on and dwelling on Christ. It's reading his word. It's hearing
him preached. And it's prayer. It's talking
to him in prayer. And David said in our text back
in Psalm 5, he said in verse 1, give ear to my words. That's what he said, give ear
to my words. Now, if we're in a place where
nobody can hear us, I recommend we use words. I recommend we
speak out loud. If we're in a place where nobody
can hear us, Hearing our own words can help our focus. You ever lose focus when you're
praying? You ever do that, like me? Hearing our own words can
help us focus. Hearing our own words can be,
sometimes it can be a deterrent to distractions. If we're in a place where we
can't pray with words, not without drawing attention to ourselves,
no words are necessary. We speak to him with the words
of this heart. And he says, David says right
here, give ear to my words, oh Lord, consider my meditation. Consider my meditation. Lord, would you consider my frame? Would you consider my frame when
I'm speaking to you, when I'm talking to you? Would you remember,
Lord, that I'm dust? That's what he's saying. If I ask something wrong, would
you make it right? Have you ever asked something
wrong in prayer to him like I do? Oh, Lord, if I say something
wrong, would you make it right? Would you consider my meditation? If I leave something out, I mean, man, how do we leave
everything out? How could we adequately pray to Him? If I
leave it out, would you fill it in? I'm so thankful that He
knows what things we need of before we ever ask. I'm so glad
that the Spirit groans unto Him on our behalf with utterings
that cannot be uttered, not by us. But Lord, would you consider
my meditation? Verse two, he says, hearken unto
the voice of my cry, my king and my God, for unto thee will
I pray. We know that we're going before
the king, don't we? We call on him and we, as much
as he will enable us to, we take worship seriously, don't we?
We're going before the king. And we know that we are subjects
to Him because this King is God. We know that the King is the
God, the all-powerful, all-controlling, all-doing God. If it's done,
God did it. Whether we see it to be good,
whether we see it to be bad, God did it. All, nothing happens
without His command or without His permission. Nothing happens. But if we want some comfort,
there is some real comfort. Meditate on this. Dwell on this
for just a minute. Shut everything else out but
this. There's one little word in that
verse that's repeated three times, my. Verse 2 says, hearken unto the
voice of my cry. You know, the whole land is mourning. The whole earth is in distress. All of the world suffers under
the weight of sin, whether they know it or not. People are miserable,
people are hurting, people are sick, people are dying, and this
whole world is groaning under the weight of sin. And even though
he's going to turn a deaf ear to almost an entire world, he
said, I'm destroying this world and a remnant's going to be saved.
Isn't that what he said? But even though he's going to
turn a deaf ear to almost an entire world, he said, I'm going
to hear your cry. I'll hear yours. Even though
I'm not worthy, even though I have no idea why you would choose
to hear mine, would you hear mine? Would you hear mine? I'm going to hear your cry. In
Christ, I'm going to hear your cry. Meditate on this. The actual king There's a throne
in a place called glory. The reason it's glory is because
the king is there. And the king that is sitting
on that throne is my king. So many people are going to walk
up to that throne and say, Dear King, or should I say Lord, Lord,
we've done all these wonderful things in your name. We've prophesied
in your name. I pastored that church over there.
And he's gonna say, I'm not your king. Depart from me, I never
knew you. But in Christ, in the Lord Jesus
Christ, the king is my king, he's your king. And the actual
God of all of heaven and all of earth and all of time and
all of eternity is my God. said I'll be your God I will
be your God my king and my God and David said at the end of
verse 2 unto thee will I pray I'm praying to you and you alone
you alone now verse 3 this is what struck me all right now
we actually get to the point Verse 3 says, My voice shalt
thou hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct
my prayer unto thee, and will look up. I want to encourage
us, and I'm being serious. I want to encourage us. I want
to, starting with myself, deeply, strongly encourage us to meditate
on the Lord first thing in the morning. First thing in the morning. He said, My voice shalt thou
hear in the morning. I will not not speak to you in
the morning. That's what he's saying. I will
not ignore you in the morning. Charles Spurgeon has a commentary
on many books of the Bible, and the one that he has for the Psalms
is called The Treasury of David. Great book. Great book. And this is what he said for
this verse. He said, an hour in the morning
is worth two in the evening. And that is so true. That is
so true. When you wake up and your mind
is fresh, your mind is empty. You have not had 73 horrible
things happen to you yet today. You didn't have the argument
over the person who, you know, didn't get the order right at
the McDonald's or something. It's fresh and it's so true. But he said, an hour in the morning
is worth two in the evening. While the dew is on the grass,
let grace drop upon the soul. Let us give to God the mornings
of our days and the morning of our lives. And what he means
by that is our first fruits. That's what he means. Let us
acknowledge him first. Let's give what we have to him
first. Now, I know that we all have
crazy lives. I know that. I mean, Spurgeon
said an hour in the morning. I understand. We all have crazy
lives. The alarm goes off. It's set
for way earlier than we want it to be set for. But that alarm
goes off. We're either trying to get kids
up or we're trying to get ourselves up. You drink a cup of coffee. You get a shower. You get dressed. You run out the door. You're
trying to hurry to get to school. You're trying to hurry to get
to work. And then you get there and you set your brain for the
day. That's the morning. That's our morning. Could we
imagine, though, getting up, running through every bit of
that, running out the door, and never saying hello Never saying good morning, never
saying I love you to our spouse or our children. If they're awake,
and he's always awake, he never slumbers, never. What would it
say for our communication and our union as a family if everybody
got up Everybody ran out the door. Everybody went their separate
ways and never said one word to each other. Never said one
word to each other. What would it say, though, for
our communication and our union as a family if while I'm sitting
there trying to get down my first cup of coffee, my girls crawl
up in my lap? Good morning, Daddy. Morning, baby. How'd you sleep? Good. I don't want to leave the house,
I really don't, without hugging my family. I don't want to leave
the house without giving Hannah a hug, a kiss. Both of us tell
each other, I hope you have a good day. That's about all we have
time for. I hope you have a good day. Love you. We would receive so much comfort
if we would do the same thing with our Lord. I promise. I promise. I know we don't have
much time, but David didn't say we needed much time. It does
not take much time to say good morning. It just doesn't take
much time at all. Go with me over to Matthew 6. Matthew 6, I just cannot stress
enough what I believe it would do for our hearts and our day
if we would begin with this communication to our Lord. Verse 9, Matthew
6, verse 9. This is what our Lord said. He
said, After this manner, therefore, pray ye, Our Father, which art
in heaven, holy and reverent is your name. Lord, I begin this
day by bowing to you. That's how I start this day. I bow to you. Lord, you're God,
and I bow to you. I bow to you today. I bowed to
you yesterday. I bow to you today. You're my
God. I love it. I want it. I'm your servant. I'm low, you're
high, and I love that. And I bow to you today, this
morning, just like yesterday. Verse 10, he said, thy kingdom
come. Lord, would you lead me through
this day with the remembrance that your kingdom is coming?
Meditate on that for just a minute. Lord, would you lead me through
the whole day, everything that comes today, with the remembrance
that your kingdom is coming. Nothing on this earth is gonna
last. Nothing. And as I start to sink my hooks
into the things of this world, around four o'clock, I start
sinking in to the things of this world, would you remind me that
at any moment the trump shall resound? You will descend and
you're going to gather all your people to yourself and this whole
thing is going to be over. The whole thing is just going
to be over. Would you remind me of that today? Today. Verse 10 says, Thy will be done
in earth as it is in heaven. Lord, I pray Thy will be done
in everything today. I'm about to walk out of my front
door. I'm about to get in my car. If you'd have me to get
to work, Lord, thy will be done. I pray thy will be done in everything. And would you remind me that
just like it is in heaven, your will is going to be done in everything
today. Would you remind me of that?
All through those 73 things, That just ruined my day. Would
you remind me? It is the Lord. It is the Lord. Verse 11, he
said, give us this day our daily bread. Lord, would you feed me
spiritually today? Lord, feed my belly, feed the
belly of my family, but don't just feed our belly. Would you
feed my soul? Would you feed my soul today?
I know this is Thursday. I know this is not a standard
worship day, but I still have Friday and Saturday to go before
I get back to Sunday. So would you please give me some
heavenly bread? Would you make something well
up in here? A well of living water? Would
you put a song in here? You ever just have one of our
hymns pop into your mind? You think, oh, I love that hymn.
Lord, would you cause your word? Would you bring your word to
my mind? Would you bless my heart today? This is Thursday. Do this for me on a Thursday,
just like on a Wednesday. Verse 12 says, forgive us our
debts as we forgive our debtors. Lord, I know that a lot of attacks
are gonna come today. I know that. I know that I can
expect trials. I can expect persecutions. You
said they would come. I know that I'm gonna be wronged.
I know that I'm gonna be offended. But would you give me a heart
to forgive those that do that to me? just like you forgave
me for doing that to you. Lord, would you remind me that
there is nothing that anybody could do, nothing that anybody
could do to me that could possibly come close to what I did to you
on that cross. Would you remind me of that?
The next time somebody lashes out at me, would you remind me
that doesn't come close to what I did to him on that cross. That
doesn't come close. But you forgave me. You forgave
me. Would you give me a heart now
to forgive others today? Would you make me a forgiver
today? Lord, I'm a man of unclean lips.
I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. Verse 13, but
would you lead me not into temptation? Would you deliver me from evil?
Lord, would you deliver me from not only the evil one, but the
evil that's right inside here, the evil that will ruin this
day for me. I ruin my own day. Deliver me
from that, please deliver me. And would you do this for the
reason of you're my God and you're my King. Verse 13 goes on to
say, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. What a way to start the
day. What a way to start the day. What an outlook to have
on God's day. Every day is God's day. This
is the day that the Lord hath made, I'll rejoice and be glad
in it. Go with me back to Psalm 5. Psalm 5 verse 1 says, Give ear
to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the
voice of my cry, my King and my God, for unto Thee will I
pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the
morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct
my prayer unto thee. That word direct, he said in
the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee. That word means
to lay in order. to lay in order. It's the same
word that was used in laying the wood in order on the altar
of sacrifice. Same word. They used to take
those animals, they killed those animals and they offered them
to God as a sacrifice. And when they killed them, they
cut them into pieces and they laid those pieces in order on
top of that wood. It's the same word. It's the
same word that the priest took the showbread and he laid that
showbread out. every morning in order. He directed it every morning. And David says, I will every
morning lay my prayer in order on the altar of God's sacrifice
to you. I will not approach you. I will
not send words to you. I will not even meditate on you
outside of that sacrifice. I just won't do it. The sacrifice
of Christ. You know, we close our prayers,
we pray to the Lord and we close our prayers with, in Jesus' name
or for Christ's sake. And that's what we're doing in
our prayer. We are laying our prayer on His sacrifice. We're laying it in order. This
is coming because of what Christ did. I understand the only reason
you'll hear me is because of what Christ did. Without that,
my prayer doesn't leave the ceiling. You won't hear me. You won't
be my king. You won't be my God. So I'm laying
this in order, on purpose, right on top of that sacrifice. That's
how it's coming to you. Now watch how this ends. Verse
3 says, My voice shalt thou hear in the morning. O Lord, in the
morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, And then I'll look
up. I'll look up. Lord, I'll believe
your promise. You said that if I ask, if I
ask for your help, I need some help. I need help. You said if I ask for your help
and if I ask for your presence, I need you. You said that if I ask for your
will, what would you have me to do? You said if I asked for some
comfort, you said I'd receive it. So I'll look up. I'll just look up. If I receive
a blessing, it's only going to come from you. So I'll look up. I'll wait. I'll sit and wait
for it. And I'll tell you this, if we would begin our day this
way, our day would look up. It really
would. Our day, everything would start
looking up, no matter how bad it is. I didn't say the day would
get better. I said if we'd be looking up,
everything would start looking up. And that makes it better.
It really does. No matter how bad it is, it would
still be looking up. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills, from whence cometh my help. By God's grace, by his
help, I'll do it first thing in the morning. Lord, remind
me, remind us, may the Lord remind us to say, good morning, would
you help me? All right, let's stand together.