Teach me my way. Shine through the cloud and rain. There's no other way. Make of every clay. Teach me my way. OK, go back to Psalm 143. If
you will, Psalm 143. The title of this message is Prayer
of a Needy Sinner. Prayer of a Needy Sinner. If you are a poor and needy sinner,
then this psalm is for you. It will help you. It will help
you if you hear it. David wrote this song when he
was in trouble. David had trouble. He had trouble
from people without. And he had trouble with himself
from within. Anybody in here? All right. So this song is for you. It's
a prayer for help. David praying help here. That's what prayer. Part of what
prayer is. So if you're a poor and needy
sinner. Like David and you're in trouble.
Like David and you need help like David. And if you can pray
this prayer like David. Then the Lord will hear you and
help you because David said in another prayer. He said this
poor man cried. And the Lord heard him. And the
Lord saved him out of all his troubles. So, a prayer of a poor and needy
sinner. Look at verse 1. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Give
ear to my supplication. Answer me, David said. I want
you to answer me. The Lord answered that starry
bunch of Israelites over and over again. You remember Psalm
107, don't you, Henry? Over and over it says that they
got in trouble. Let me read it to you. You can
turn if you want. Psalm 107, it's written three
or four times. Psalm 107 says they wandered,
verse 4, wandered in the wilderness, wandering around. Verse 5, hungry
and thirsty, the soul fainted. Then they cried unto the Lord,
and he delivered them. Down in verse 11, but they rebelled
against the words of God, contend the counsel of the Most High.
So he brought them down, brought them down with labor. They fell
down. There was none to help them. And they cried unto the
Lord, and he saved them out of their trouble. Verse 18, it says,
their soul abhorred all manner of meat. That is, they got tired
of what God had given them. They began to be covetous, desire
better things. Verse 19, then they cried unto
the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them. Down in verse
26, as they say they go down into the depths, the soul is
melted because of trouble. They reel to and fro, stagger
at their wits end. Then they cry unto the Lord in
their trouble, and he brings them out. The Lord answered that sorry
bunch. So maybe he'll answer us, huh? Answer me, Lord. Hear me. That's what David says.
Hear my prayer. Look at verse 1 of our text.
Here's how he pleads with the Lord to answer him. In thy faithfulness. In thy faithfulness. And in thy
righteousness. See there? I remember Moses one
time said, the Lord, it's not for your righteousness sake that
he's going to do this. You're a stiff-necked people.
Remember that, Brother Sam? You're a stiff-necked and hard-hearted
people. Not for your righteousness sake, no, but for His righteousness
sake. It's not for your faithfulness. No, no, no. He's going to answer
you. He's going to help you because He's faithful. He's faithful. Verse 2, David says, with that
in mind, in or not in the judgment would I serve Him. Lord, I don't
want you to judge me. I'm calling for help. I want
judgment, I want mercy. For in your sight no man living
can be justified. David didn't justify himself,
neither do any of God's people. They don't justify themselves,
they condemn themselves. They justify God in His condemnation
of them. Right? It says the Pharisees
didn't. Remember that, John, in the New
Testament? It says the Pharisees did not
justify God. and what he said about them.
But sinners didn't. Dr. David said in Psalm 51, you're
going to be clear when you judge and right when you speak. Whatever
you say, it's right. And your judgment, I don't want
judgment. It was Matthew Henry, I think. Well, one of the old
writers said, I want nothing to do with the God of judgment.
I want mercy. I want mercy. I mean, nobody
will stand, nobody will be justified if God judges them in themselves. Verse 3, David says, the enemy
hath persecuted my soul. He has smitten my life down to
the ground. He has made me to dwell in darkness as those that
have been long dead, the enemy. Believers, God's people have
many enemies. The chief one, though, is the
archon. Satan himself, prince of power
of the air, spiritual wickedness in high places. We don't wrestle
with flesh and blood, Paul said, but with principalities and power. Our Lord said to Peter, Satan,
that desire to spit at you like wheat, and so it is with all
of God's people. Satan, who leads captive at his
will, Scripture says. Satan who has a roaring lion
speaketh whom he may devour. The Lord lets him have some people. So he's an enemy. He's an enemy
which constantly besets us. Sin is a great enemy. This principle within us that
Paul complained about in Romans 7, this law within me, the wars
in my memory, this is an enemy of mine. Now I'm constantly battling
with it. The world, the world out there
constantly pulls at me. They constantly tempt me. They
constantly give me trouble. The world, when I go out there.
David says, my enemy. The enemy are many. The enemy,
he said, deliver me. The enemies have persecuted my
soul. David had real real enemy. He had Saul was after him. We're
not sure when he wrote this, but it may have been when he
was on the run from Saul. David was on the run from him
quite a bit. So this was very real. David
had Saul chasing him after his life. David had Absalom, his
son, chasing him for years. David had enemies. Do you? Anybody got enemies that
persecute you, bring you down? Surely there's somebody in there.
This prayer's for you. Verse four, David said, My spirit
is overwhelmed. Have you ever been overwhelmed? I mean, when things come flooding,
overwhelmed means to be flooded with trouble. And to the point
where you say, I can't take anymore. Like David, I talked about our
enemies. Psalm 38, David said, my sins
have gone over my head. They're overwhelming me, Lord.
I can't take anymore. And whatever the trouble may
be, David said, I'm overwhelmed. My spirit is overwhelmed within
me. My heart, he said, verse 4. Now
this is an earnest prayer, man, that's in trouble. My heart within
me, he said, is desolate. I look within to find something,
find some peace and some comfort. I don't find any. It's desolate.
There's nothing there. Desolate means it's empty. I
can't find anything. Ever been there? If you haven't,
you will be. I'm desolate, so I'm dry, dead.
Verse 5. He says, I think back, I remember
the days of old. I remember some good times. I
love, uh, Job, Job said, Oh, Job, after he, all those troubles
came flooding in on him. He said, Oh, that I were as in
months past. I wish it was like it was, Job
said. Could be. Now, we went through
that three-day meeting and you were just on a three-day high,
weren't you? Three-day high. Come Monday morning. Come Monday,
it won't be all right. It starts getting bad and gets
progressively worse. That's why these midweek services
are so important. You come Monday, come
Tuesday, you say, oh, I wish it was like it was last Friday. I remember, he says, the days
of old, I meditate. It's a good thing to do. David
said, I meditate on all thy works. I meditate. I muse on the work
of thy hands. I meditate. That's a good thing
to do. Meditate. Think about it. Stop. Think. Meditate on God's
goodness to us. How that he will not forsake
the work of his hands. Feeling desolate? Meditate, think
on God's Word, where he said, he will perfect that which concerns
you. He that hath begun a good work in you, he'll perform it,
he'll finish it. He's not going to forsake the
work of his hands. No, he's not. Verse 6, David
said, I do that. I stretch forth my hands unto
thee. There's only one person to turn
to. People in this world cannot help us. They've got trouble.
of their own they can't take care of. Really people, they
can't help us. Nobody can help us. Everybody's
got... Men don't have the answers. People
all over the world are looking for the answers. They don't have
the answers. David had every trouble imaginable. From his
youth up. Who did he turn to? I stretched forth my hands unto
David. My soul, verse six, look at this.
My soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty lamb. Like a barren, dried, parched
piece of ground. Hadn't rained in a while. He
says, my soul thirsteth after who? After what? After thee. That's... The believer man was made to
be in communion with God. In fellowship with God, to walk
with God. Man was created to walk with
God. As long as he walked with God
and was in communion with God, he was happy. He didn't need
a house. He didn't need a car. He didn't
even need clothes. He didn't need anything. Think
about it. What did Adam have? But when he got out of fellowship
with God, when he got out of communion with God, when he went
looking for better things or whatever, better things, think
about the irony of that, he got out of communion and God kicked
him out of his presence and there was nothing to trouble him from
there on out, was there? And salvation is to bring us back
into fellowship with God. back into communion with God,
make us conscious of God. But even believers get out of
fellowship with God, don't they? Don't we? Out of communion with
God. And we're miserable creatures.
Miserable. David said, I'm thirsty after
you. He said, look at this, my soul thirsty after thee. My soul thirsty. And let me tell
you now, for anyone who, their soul, from the depths of their
being, thirsts after God, you'll get it. Oh yeah. The Lord said that the water
of this world will leave you thirsty. You thirst for it and
it might give you some of it, but it won't satisfy your, it
won't quench your thirst. It'll keep thirsting. It's an
insatiable thirst for things, for pleasure, for happiness,
for peace, for contentment. This world won't give it. But David said, my soul thirsted
after thee. After thee. He's the water that
we need, really, to quench this thirst. Now look at the last
part of verse six. There's a silo. You see that?
Silo. That's a common thing found throughout
the psalms. It's a musical pause. Psalms are, the word psalm means
music, poetry set to music. That's what the word psalm means.
Poetry set to music. Throughout the psalms, which
are music or psalms, you'll find this little silo. I don't know
what's comparable to that, Jeanette, in some kind of pause in our
music. But it means pause. Stop. How long? I don't know. How many
measures? I don't know. How many beats? I don't know.
The longer, the better. A sealer. David, after saying
all that, a sealer is not to be pronounced, by the way, when
you're reading it. But it's written to tell us pause. Stop. I thought about this. We ought to put a sealer. Put
that word sealer around our house in various places. Pause. That's a big part of our trouble,
daily troubles. We're just in such a hurry to
do what? To go where? I ought to put a sealer in various
places, so we'll just pause. Just stop, just a minute. Just
consider. Think. That's a big part of our
problem. Stop and think. Don't pause.
Think on things above. Ponder our steps. Listen to this
verse, Isaiah 30, verse 15. He said, In returning and rest
is thy, thou shalt be saved. And in quietness, in quietness and confidence,
is your strength quietness. All right now David gives seven
things and this is what I want to dwell on for the next twenty
minutes. David gives seven things that he asks for. Seven requests
here. It's the beginning of the second
half of this psalm. Seven things he prays for. This is my prayer and I hope
it's yours. Verse seven. Hear me speedily O Lord. Hear me speedily, O Lord, my
spirit failing. Hear me. The Lord doesn't have
to do this. He doesn't have to. The Lord
is not at our beck and call. The Lord ought not to. He ought not to. But we sure need to know. David says speedily, you know,
whatever you really want real bad, you want it now, don't you? Most things we want are, you
know, are worth one. Now, this is something good,
David. This is something David wants. He wants it now. And it's
a good thing. I want you to hear me. hear me. He doesn't say this presumptuously
or impatiently or brashly, but he just says, Lord,
my spirit's failing. I'm in real trouble. I need you
to hear me. I need you to hear me fast, speedily. I'm going down. He
said, hurry. Look at verse 7, lest I be like
unto them that go down into the pit. You better hurry, Lord. I'm going
down. Willie, listen to the Lord Himself
when He walked this planet. The Lord says, Shall not God
avenge His own elect which cry unto Him day and night, though
He bear long with them? I tell you, He will avenge them
speedily. Speedily. Yes, He will. When
he finally hears you, you'll feel like you didn't hurt him.
Hear me speedily. Mercy. That's the first thing
he cries for. Lord, I want you to hear me.
Sometimes that's enough. Sometimes it's enough just to
have an ear. Especially God's ear. Somebody
just to hear you out. How many times have you talked
to somebody So I want to talk to you, and they really don't
want to hear from you. They really don't want any advice
from you. They just want to hear. Husbands, wives, friends, they
just want somebody to hear them. They just want to pour out their
heart, you know what I mean? My dad, I remember the times
I used to ask my dad to think, he might not ask me, And something
I really needed, and I said, Dad, did you hear me? He said,
finally, he said, I heard you. OK. That's good enough. I reckon he'll take care of it.
You reckon your father will? Heavenly Father will. Verse 8. David says next, cause me to
hear. Lord, hear me. I want you to hear me quick,
but wait a minute. The next thing he cries is, cause me to hear.
I need to hear him, don't I? That's, oh my, a big source of
my problem, isn't it? It's my big need. I need to hear
from him. Look at what he wants to hear.
I need to hear, cause me to hear, thy loving kindness in the morning. What's God's loving kindness
in the morning? David apparently wrote this at
night. That's good. This is Wednesday night. Tomorrow
morning we're going to need to hear of his loving kindness.
Now where are you going to hear it? I'm not going to be there
to preach to you. Where am I going to get it? God's not going to speak it out
loud, is he? You're going to need something
to go on tomorrow. cause me to hear. Stop now, think
about it. Give me first fruits, the Lord
says, first fruits of the day. You might hear something. Cause
me to hear thy loving kind. I need to hear God's word in
the morning. I mean, really hear. You know, we all, I've got a
hearing problem, physical, physical, physical hearing problem. You
know that every one of us in here have a spiritual hearing
problem. My wife says I've got selective hearing. It may or
may not be true. At times it is, at times it isn't.
I'll admit that. But so do the rest of us. Spiritually
speaking, we all have selective hearing. We hear what we want
to. Or things won't let us hear. Have you ever Felt so sorry for
yourself you couldn't hear what God's Word's saying? That's a sorry state to be in,
isn't it? Or your troubles are so great you worry so much that
you can't hear? Won't hear, just won't hear. David, one time he said he would
not be comforted. He would not be comforted. So certain things won't let us
hear at times. Well, we need to hear. And so
David prays, Lord, cause me to hear. Cause me. I won't hear
unless you cause me to hear. I won't. Dig my ear. Remember when David wrote that? Dig my ear. Dig out the worldly
wax. And cause me to hear. First thing
tonight, right now. But first thing in the morning,
because I'm going to need that rest of that. I want to need
it. We need to begin first thing in the morning with God's loving
kind of loving kindness is an Old Testament word for grace.
Grace, that's the Old Testament word for grace. You won't find
loving kindness. I don't think in the New Testament,
but grace is the word. Lord, I need to hear about your
grace first thing in the morning. First thing in the morning, because
I'm going to need grace to go on. And I tell you this, if we
begin with thoughts of God's goodness and God's grace toward
us, we shouldn't have too much to complain about the rest of
the day. Things should look pretty good
if we stop and consider God's grace to begin the day. Cause
me to hear. Make me sit down, shut up, pay
attention to your word, and especially to remember your grace. your
goodness toward me. He said, I trust you. I trust,
indeed do I trust. Here's the next thing. Cause
me to know the way wherein I should walk. And David says, I'm praying this
from the, from all that's within me, my soul. I lift up my soul
under this. It's not lip service. God won't
hear that. This is from his soul, my heart.
David said, I lift my soul up on it. Cause me to know the way
wherein I should walk. We need to begin the day that
way, don't we? And in prayer, Lord lead me in
paths of righteousness for your name's sake. If you don't lead
me, I will go astray. Lord, order my steps in your
word and let no iniquity have dominion over me, David said.
If he doesn't order our steps, we'll stumble and fall. We'll
fall into something. That's what she said. A while ago I was leading a sermon,
and I paused for a little bit to write something down. Y'all
stumbled just for five seconds. What about spiritual man in the
world? We can't, God can't leave us
alone for a minute, for a second. And he uses the means of prayer,
Lord help me, order my step. Lord, David says, cause me to
know the way where I should walk. We think we know the way, we
don't know the way. Most of the time we would have
our own way. There's a way that seems right unto man. God needs to show us the way
he would have us walk. Now what is that way? What's the way? Christ said,
I am the way. That means looking to him by
faith, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith.
That means walking the way he walked. That means walk the way
he walked. He says, I lift up my soul. This
is a prayer of a heart and soul. The Lord will most definitely
hear somebody praise from the heart. Yes, he will. If the Lord
hasn't answered you, perhaps, well, the Lord answers prayer
from the heart. Verse 9, next thing, David says,
deliver me, O Lord, from mine enemies. I flee unto thee to
hide me. Deliver me from my enemies. And
now this is what the Lord said to pray. The disciples said,
Lord, teach us to pray. We don't know how to pray. We
really don't know what to pray for. So he said, OK, after this
matter pray. Our Father, which art in heaven.
And so on. And one of the things he told
us to pray was this. Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. Now that's just what David prayed.
cause me to know the way where and I should walk. That is leave
me not in the temptation and deliver me from evil deliver
me O Lord from the evil one. I know match for he's got a snare
and trap around every corner a net laid for my feet around
every corner and I'll fall for it I'll fall for it. Deliver
me deliver me from my intimates again Satan the world sin and
that worst enemy of all oh lord don't leave me to this fellow myself the worst fellow of all
lord don't leave me alone with him evil communication corrupt good
manners lord don't leave me alone with me don't let me listen to him he
gives bad advice David says, I flee unto you,
I flee to thee, to hide me. Hide me, O my Saviour, while
the storms of life, till the storms of life are past. Hide me, hide me. Your other
refuge have I none, that hangs my helpless soul on thee. Hide
me, Lord, hide me, hide me. Verse ten, the next thing, he
says, teach me to do thy will. Hey, let me, Brother Henry, I'm
sorry I had to pick on you sitting there. Have you learned anything
yet after 70 some years? Still need to be taught, don't
you? David, I don't know how old he
is when he wrote this, but you know a disciple of Christ, he
never graduates. A student in a school of Christ
never graduates. They need to be taught every
day. I need to learn, Lord. I've got
a lot to learn. If Brother Henry will fess up, surely the rest
of us will. He's 70 years old, Charles. Teach me, Lord. Going all these years studying
your word, listening to your gospel, trying to walk with you,
don't feel like you've made any progress at all. One little baby
step forward, two giant steps is a redemptive will. This is
the will of God that you believe on Him. The Lord teach me to
do that. Trust in Christ. Really look
to Him. But teach me to do thy will. Also, do what you tell
me to do, and it'll be all right with me. Do thy will. I want
to be an obedient child, don't you? You're my God. David says, You're my God. I'm going to learn
anything I want to learn from you. Your spirit is good. Thy spirit, thy Holy Spirit is
good. A good spirit. So lead me. Here's
the next thing. Lead me into the land of uprightness. Teach me to do thy will. I want
to do thy will, but like Paul said, I haven't performed that
which is good, I find not. So teach me to do thy will. Don't give up on me as a poor
student. Teach me. And lead me in the land, lead
me into the land of uprightness. I want, I'm tired of following
this crowd. I'm tired of following this crowd. And I do so often. Lord, I want
to walk in the right land of the upright. I want to be with
them. Don't give up on me. Lead me. Take hope. Lead me. I don't want to run ahead. I
do that too much. Lead me. Brother Kelly, if you can teach
a horse to lead, that's where you got to start at. When they
get in trouble, they want to run ahead of you. Lead me. Lead me. Take hold of
my hand and lead me. Take hold of my hand like a lot. Lord, I'm lingering in Sodom. Lay hold of my hand, be merciful
unto me, and bring me out. And lead me into fair Canaan.
Lead me out of Sodom. If you don't, I want to stay
here. Lead me out of Sodom, and take
me to fair Canaan. Take me to be where Abraham and
my brethren are, where I'm supposed to be all the time. lead me into
the land of uprightness. Isn't that what we long for?
Verse 11, the last thing he says is, quicken me, quicken me, O
Lord, quicken me. What does that mean? Make me
alive, make me live. I'm a dead dog sinner. I'm a dead dog. So much of the time, feel so
dead to the things of God, so alive to the things of this world.
So ready to hear and listen to every voice and everything that
comes along. So get so excited about things that aren't worth
getting excited about. Ready to follow things, people
and things that ought not be followed. So dead to the things of God
so much of the time. So dead to the Word of God. So
dead. Lord, wicked me. Make me live. Give me that life-born abundance
that you said you'd give. Quicken me, quicken me. David uses this a lot. If you
read the psalm, David uses this a lot. Quicken me, O Lord, according
to your word. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's
sake. What's his name? Lord, our life.
He's life. In him we live and move. Outside
of him we're dead. In him we live. So quicken me,
O Lord, for thy name's sake. Revive, regenerate me. Like that
verse in Habakkuk. Revive the work in the midst
of the year. Revive it. Raise me. For thy name's sake. You're the Savior. You're the
Master. Raise me. Look at this. He began the psalm
with this, For thy righteousness' sake. And he's ending it with
it. For your righteousness' sake,
bring my soul out of trouble. Lord, hear me, he said in verse
1, for thy righteousness' sake. Hear me. You shouldn't hear me. Because I'm unrighteous. You
shouldn't hear me. I'm unworthy. But you're righteous.
Hear me for Christ's sake. I'm pleading with you in Christ's
name. You're a righteous one whom you
love to hear, whom you always hear. He is my righteousness.
Would you hear me for his righteousness? My righteousness. Would you hear
me in Christ? And Lord, he says, for thy righteousness'
sake, bring my soul out of trouble. For Christ's sake. Have mercy
on this old MacPherson. For Jonathan's sake, fetch me. Sit at the table. Bring my soul out of trouble.
And of thy mercy, cut off mine enemies. Cut off mine enemies. Destroy all them that afflict
my soul. And he had, we heard that this week, last week, we
heard that, the good news, the gospel, the good news of the
gospel is, warfare is accomplished. Iniquities are pardoned. The
sin and iniquity I remember no more. They're gone. I've separated
them, as far as the east is from the west. Behind my back. I remember them no more. They
are gone. when he had by himself purged our sin. He has. He has cut them off, but yet
we're still plagued with it. How to explain that fully, nobody
can, but you have to experience it. But he will someday completely
deliver us, cut us off from all of our enemies, someday to where
we'll never have any trouble again, ever. In this world, you
shall have tribulations. And it's good because it's meant
to cause you to call on Him. If you didn't have any trouble,
we can call on Him. If you found everything just
hunky-dory in this life, you wouldn't eat, you wouldn't long
for another sin. So the Lord gives trouble to
wean us from this world and to cause us to look to Him and seek
Him. But someday he will cut off all
when we're in his presence and we're finally with him. He'll
cut off all in. Like these children of Israel
when they cross the Red Sea. That's a picture of crossing
over the river of death when they cross the Red Sea. And then
that great gulf came and drowned there in this. And their bodies
washed up on shore, but the people on the other side, they saw those
dead bodies, but they knew They couldn't hurt anymore, couldn't
pursue anymore. They saw, they remembered, these
were our enemies, but they weren't a bit worried. They're dead.
And in that sense, we'll remember that we were sinners, but we
won't be crying about it, we won't be guilty about it. We'll
see. Oh, he delivers from that evil. Evil. He'll cut them off. And he'll destroy all those that
afflict my soul. Wherein dwelleth righteousness.
That's where we're going to go. We're going to go to a place
wherein dwelleth righteousness. Where nothing maketh a lie. Where
there's no more sin, no more sorrow, no more trouble. All that afflicts my soul is
going to be gone. It's going to be gone. David
says, now this is the reason, Lord. I'm crying to you. Would you hear me? Because I'm
your servant. I'm your servant. I may not act like it all the
time. I may not look like it, and I
seem to serve other causes, serve myself so much of the time. You
know, you know, Lord, I'm yours. I'm your disciple. I lift up
my soul unto you. If you deliver me, I'm your servant. Anybody need that, any poor or
needy, hear me. Call me to hear. Lead me, quicken
me, and so forth. All right, stand with me. Our Father, thank you for the
Psalms. Thank you for your words. David,
man after your own heart, man after ours, we can enter into
these very feelings. If not now, we will. We'll need
this later. The Lord make this water, cause
this seed to be planted and this water, let us drink it tonight
so that perhaps in the near future, It'll be a wellspring springing
up when we need it desperately. This is Your Word. We need to
drink it and feed upon it. Lord, let not the fowls of the
air come and take it away or the thorns choke it out. In Christ's
name we have been here tonight. Amen. You're dismissed. you.