Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Psalm 86, reading from our
text, verse 11. Verse 11. Teach me thy way, O
Lord. I will walk in thy truth. Unite
my heart to fear thy name. thy way, thy truth, thy name. Psalm 86 and verse 11. Before we come to the actual
words of the text, I just want to make five short points as
relative to this psalm and the text itself. The first is that
this is a prayer. This whole psalm a prayer of
David. A reminder that the words, the
title over the top of the psalm is part of the inspired word
of God. Those of you who may have perhaps
a Bible from the TBS, some of the Westminster Bibles, and they
have a description of the, or a summary of the passage over
top, that is not part of the inspired Word of God. But where
we have underneath the chapter heading, or especially with the
Psalms, underneath the heading in small writings, we have here
a prayer of David that is part of the inspired Word of God. The second thing I'd note is
this is a prayer of David. Remember he is here not a child,
He's not one that does not know the Lord, he's one that does
know the Lord, and yet he prays in the way that he does in this
psalm. The psalm, of course, is a pattern,
and many of the psalms are a pattern of how we can pray, the ingredients
of prayer. Sometimes it is a confession,
sometimes it is supplication asking, other times it is telling
the Lord what we believe, and a testimony to Him. Other times it is the thanksgiving.
And it's a good thing, especially when we have a title like this,
or when we read other prayers in Scripture, to just look at
what things are mentioned in prayer. Sometimes when A person
or child is first awakened to a need of prayer. They don't
know what to pray or how to pray, but often the psalms can give
us a pattern. Sometimes the beginning of the
psalm, we might feel we can go along with what is asked or some
other parts, but then it leaves us behind. But remember, if the
psalmist began in a dark and low place, then it wasn't until
he was delivered before he felt able to write the psalm and to
testify not only that he was brought low but also that he
was raised up again. So with the psalm there is a
mixture here of supplications, of telling, and specifically
in our text as well. It is sandwiched, as it were,
between supplication and then a testimony and then another
supplication. So we have these things that
are brought to us through this psalm. And the common thing in
the verse of our text is the word Thy. The psalmist is addressing
the Lord. And it is, teach me Thy way,
O Lord. I'll walk in Thy truth. Unite
my heart to fear Thy name. All of it is the Lord. He is
central right through the psalm. And really, if we are taught
of God, the Lord will be central in all that we desire, to do
His will, His way, to be taught by Him. And the mind, the soul,
is all the time looking unto the Lord. The beginning of the
psalm, bow down thine ear, O Lord, in capitals, Jehovah, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, and there is a desire that he would hear
his prayer. And then of course these prayers
are offered in the Old Testament, but how much clearer warrant
we have in the New, with the Lord himself giving the parables
that men ought always to pray, and not to faint, and also much
more clearly understanding that it is the Spirit that teaches
how to pray and to help us in our prayers. We know not how
to pray, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, even
with groanings which cannot be uttered. And so, when we look
at then the words of the text, as we mentioned in the beginning,
there's three, Three parts to it. Three things that are joined
to Thy that are the Lord's. Thy way, first point. Thy truth, the second. And Thy
name, the third. And there's something that's
joined to each one of them. So the first is Thy way. And what is joined to that is
the supplication to be taught. Teach me thy way, O Lord. And if we were to go to Isaiah,
we have a warrant for that, an expectation in these Gospel days
when we have the whole of the Word of God before us. In Isaiah
54 and 13, And all thy children shall be taught of the Lord,
and great shall be the peace of thy children. And it's a good
thing when we can take the Lord's own promises and the Lord's own
word and join them to our prayers. So taking the words of David,
words of the psalmist, and praying, teach me thy way, O Lord. and then turning it about, Lord,
thou hast said, all thy children shall be taught of the Lord.
And that's reinforced in Hebrews as well. The Lord will always
perform his promises, and it's a good thing when he's put in
remembrance of them. When the children of Israel,
they rebelled against the Lord in the wilderness, when they
weren't would not go into the promised land, and the Lord said
he'd destroy the people as one man. Then Moses, he pleaded with
the Lord. And he didn't plead any good
about the children of Israel, why the Lord shouldn't destroy
them. There wasn't any good. But what he did plead was God's
own promise, God's own work. He had brought them out of Egypt,
the Egyptians. They would hear of it, they would
say that he couldn't bring them into the promised land, therefore
he destroyed them in the wilderness. What would happen to his great
and holy name? And it was that kind of pleading
that was effectual. And you and I, when we come to
prayer, we might try and look and we find nothing to plead
any good of our own, any reason why the Lord should bless us,
help us, regard our prayer at all. But if you can find one
promise, and you can find one thing the Lord has said in his
word concerning what he would do for sinners, and do for people,
and take hold of that, and put the Lord in remembrance of that,
that is acceptable, and that is to the Lord's honour and glory. And the Lord did turn away his
anger. Yes, he chastised them in the
wilderness 40 years, But he didn't destroy them, and he did bring
them into the promised land. And of course, we think of our
Lord in heaven now, greater than Moses. Moses says, a prophet,
and so the Lord thy God, raise up unto you like unto me, him
shall you hear. And our Lord, not on earth as
Moses was then, but in heaven, a voice that speaks for us in
heaven's high court for good. to appear in the presence of
God for us. And so we have that encouragement
to ask that we be taught. And again, we might say, well,
David did not know the Lord's way, but is there any teaching
at the beginning of the way, or not all the way along the
way? We sang in our first hymn the
way, our Lord Jesus Christ. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. And if you think of that, and
the psalmist praying here, teach me thy way, O Lord. Teach me
Christ. Teach me my greatest Son. Teach me how it is. that the
seed of the woman should bruise the serpent's head. Another time
when David wanted to build the temple, and at first Nathan said,
go, do all that is in thine heart. But then he had to go and say,
no, David, you're not to build the temple, but my son Solomon
There has been a man of blood. But then, before Solomon was
born, the Lord told David about him, about his kingdom, and in
such a way that he could not just have applied to Solomon. And David, as he sat before the
Lord, and he said that the Lord had showed him things for a great
while to come. And one of the things he said
is this, the manna, And I believe he saw in what the Lord was saying
concerning Solomon, this was the manner of man. This was the
manner of the seed that should bruise a servant's head. This
was what his kingdom should be like. Solomon is the type of
Christ. And so with the petition here,
teach me thy way, O Lord, put it into a gospel way, put it
into these days when we have our Lord and Saviour so clearly
manifested and set forth and shown. We still need, still need
to be taught how God saves through His Son. Teach us the way He
has chosen to show mercy. Teach us the way that He will
lead His people and the secret of their salvation. And it needs
to be taught us, needs to be revealed, needs to be shown us. Teach me thy way, O Lord. There is only one way of salvation. It's not man's way, not man's
devising, it's God's way and God's provision, shown in types
and shadows through the Old Testament and then revealed clearly in
the new, and I will never wear out the prayer of being taught
the way of the Lord, taught the Lord Jesus Christ, all that is
in him, the way that God can be just and yet the justifier
of the ungodly, the way he can forgive sins and still be a just
and holy God. The way that he can show mercy. The way that he gives help to
his people. My grace is sufficient for thee. My strength is made perfect in
weakness. The way that he gives wisdom
to his people. I will instruct thee and teach
thee in the way which thou shalt go. I will guide thee with mine
eye when he putteth forth his sheep. goeth before them, the
Good Shepherd, the Lord Jesus Christ, in his way. Another aspect
in this is where the soul desires to walk in the Lord's ways, not
in his own. When Saul of Tarsus was first
converted, almost his first word was, Lord, what wilt thou have
me to do? And there's many times through
our life, especially when we get hard times, difficult times,
discouraging times, we think, well, we'd much rather there
be a change or different or something changed. But I hope whenever
those times come, the prevailing desire is that we be shown the
Lord's way and be not left to just go our own way, or put our
own hand to things. And it is a great comfort, where
we can look back, maybe where we've tried to do that, and the
Lord has stopped it up and hindered it. And certainly I can look
back on times like that, where I've tried to put my hand to
a thing, and the Lord has stopped it up, and more than one way,
one particular way, Many years ago, in Australia, when going
from one firm to another, and I wasn't happy in the firm where
I was. I was 24, and very much wanted
to move. And there was a time that I'd
applied for this job. a detail drafting job, not a
design job. And that firm had advertised
for design as well as detail. And it turned out that they'd
made a mistake. They thought I'd applied for
the design, not the detail. And I saw in that how the Lord
stopped me from going in that way at that time. And there's
other aspects of it as well that he really reinforced, and I didn't
follow that through at all. And then some six months later,
going into work, and the chap I worked with, he'd be coming
up to 12 o'clock at lunchtime, and he said, oh, I forgot to
tell you, I've made an arrangement with the firm that was only opposite,
he said, for an interview. He said, it's 12 o'clock, you'd
better go over there in your lunch hour. I didn't have any
time. He never wrote a job application
letter, never had time for anything but just to go aside in a quiet
place and pour out my heart to the Lord. And there's two interviews
like that. And then I got the job, had that
for 12 years, and then three years working over here in that
firm. And yet, I never put pen to paper
for any job application. And it comes as a contrast between
putting my hand to it. I'm not saying you never apply
for a job. I certainly have done since and before that. But you
see where the Lord stops that one way, and Paul found that,
where he was forbidden to preach in Asia, and his spirit suffered
him not in Bithynia, but then come over into Macedonia and
help us. The vision from the Lord is to
stop ways and then an open way, and it is earning it to be the
Lord's way. Teach me thy way. Maybe it is
with you, you have several different ways, several openings, or your
heart bent to one way, but there's that desire, Lord, what is thy
way? What is thy choice? Teach me
thy way, O Lord. And there's another aspect of
this. What the Lord does with his people,
he doesn't treat them just like mechanical things, like a mechanical
typewriter. Younger ones wouldn't have seen
that today, but when they had the levers and you press a lever
down and it hit on the page, just no feeling, no willingness,
the typewriter was just a mechanical thing, it just responded to to
pressure on the keys. But God's people are not like
that. They are willing in the day of
God's power. They are taught and then they
willingly, freely act and walk in the way that they are taught.
Don't expect to be so forced or so hedged in that you have
no choice in the matter. There will be a choice. before
coming over here and first resigning from that same job. I had thought
that I would have to have no choice, that it was so shut down
in Australia, I had to leave and come over here. But instead,
it was shown I had really the height of my profession there
as a design engineer, and I was made willing to go and resign
the whole position. And it was being taught that,
and made willing to do it. to actually make that step. Teach me thy way, O Lord. Sometimes we can be very reluctant. If you went back to where I had
those two interviews arranged, I didn't even do it myself. I
was told to think about it from the Friday and over the weekend. I remember going in on the Monday
and My colleague, he said, Roland, he said, if you don't make a
decision and move, you're going to lose that job. And you might
think, why do I hesitate? But to actually give up one and
go into an unknown way, sometimes we really do hold back. And maybe
with you this evening, you've been shown so clear, so clearly
what the Lord's will is, so clearly what you must do, that there's
that which just holds back. You just cannot. Make that move,
because you must make it. You must actually act upon it. You'd much rather that someone
else took it out of your hand. And you didn't have to make the
decision. Someone could make the decision for you. But the
Lord makes His people know His way, taught it, and then they're
to walk in that way, willingly and freely. This has been your
prayer, my prayer. and the Lord has taught you,
then that is the way that you go. You think of it in natural
ways. If you're asking to be taught
something, how to do something, then you hear what you've been
taught and you apply that. You actually do that. So the prayer is, teach me thy
way, O Lord. And a soul that sincerely is
making this petition, trembling maybe, fearing, I don't ever
believe the Lord will let them make a mistake, make them do
wrong. The desire to walk in the Lord's
ways, esteeming every way of the Lord to be right. He led them forth by the right
way that they might go into a city of habitation. Teach me Thy way,
Thy way, O Lord. The second point is concerning
Thy truth, and it is a testimony. I will walk in Thy truth, the
way that is. set forth and taught and opened
up, it is the way of truth. Again, we sung of that, joined
with our Lord as the way, it is the way of truth. Our Lord
joined these things together that are in the psalm here. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. And so with the testimony to
walk in thy truth, it's really The light of the Gospel, it's
embracing all that is revealed in the Holy Sacred Word. Thy truth. Thy truth concerning
what we are by nature. That we are sinners. Sometimes,
and I know I've done this, to struggle and pray to the Lord
in that way, I could be a much better Christian. if I didn't
have these besetting sins, if I didn't have these evils. But
the Lord's way of salvation, the truth is that the heart is
deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. And the Apostle
Paul had to walk in that truth when he said, the good that I
would, I do not. The evil that I would not, that
I do. A wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from this body? of death, and he knew the plague
of his own heart. Solomon, in his dedication of
the temple, he spoke that the Lord would remember those that
knew every man the plague of his own heart. Man by nature,
Imreiter says, nor are men willing the truth to be told, the sight
is too killing for pride to behold. But if one is to walk in the
truth of God, it's not imagining that we are not sinners, that
we are not fallen, we don't need a saviour, but it's realising
what we really are. And that really will affect everything
else that we view and how we walk. is to remembering that
we are sinners. I believe with the Apostle Paul,
he never forgot his former life, how that he persecuted the house
of God, it made him humble and low. We think of David here,
when he committed the sin of adultery and murder, and though
he was immediately forgiven, God said that the sword should
not depart from his house. And all that happened with Absalom,
All that he went through, all the time was a reminder that
he was a sinner, and what he was by nature, and what he'd
done, and that anything that he'd received was on mercy's
ground. As the Lord's way to save his
people, save them from their sins, not just save them to heaven,
save them from the power and dominion of their sins here below. Not to make them so that they
don't have sins. They're not like they will be
in heaven. They're not like the angels. One of the hymns says, sinners
can say, and none but they, how precious is the Savior. And it
is one of the things that marks out the truth, the Lord's truth. Another one of those truths is
that grace Saving grace, by grace you are saved through faith that
not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. Another, but growing grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. That's
not saying growing holiness, it's just growing grace or growing
opposite to works. Instead of in our own eyes getting
more and more worthy of the Lord's blessings, in our own eyes more
and more we need grace. Free, unmerited, favour of God
in the face of active going against the Lord, not rendering according
to the benefits that we have received, like it was said of
Hezekiah, he did not render according to the benefit that he received. That the Lord's way is to show
grace and to show mercy. He showed concerning the publican,
God be merciful to me a sinner, instead of one that could stand
and give thanks that he was not like other men, that he was possessed
of so many good works. And this is the Lord's way, a
way of grace and of mercy, a way of the truth of what we really
are, and the truth that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. His sin-atoning
death, the blood that was shed at Calvary, remembered in the
Lord's Supper, highlighted in the bringing of the children
of Israel out of Egypt, contrasted with nine signs that reduced
Egypt to ruins, but never set them free. Only the blood, only
the Passover. When I see the blood, I will
pass over you. Then they were thrust out. Then
they went out with a high hand. That is the truth of God. I will walk in thy truth. I will
walk trusting solely in thy blood. I will walk By grace, Paul says,
by the grace of God, I am what I am. And I'll walk in that truth. It's not just a theory, it's
not just a doctrine or articles of faith, but it's something
that actually affects how we walk and how we act. And walking
in the truth of God, It affects all of our lives, all of our
interaction with our fellow sinners in the church of God, the ordinances
of God, the church which is the pillar and ground of the truth. It will affect everything in
that way. And this is the profession of
David. I will walk in thy truth. If
we're to walk in the truth of God, We need to be taught it
first. Teach me thy way, O Lord. But
then not only taught it, I will walk in thy truth. Okay, now remember, this is not
any truth. This is thy truth. Those of you
that were at the Strength in Truth conference years ago, well,
maybe last year, and the question that I spoke on was, What is
truth? And it was reality as viewed
by God, not as viewed by us. We can get a very different perspective
when it is viewed from our perspective. Many times you might have looked
out to sea and you see two ships that are going on. You think
they're going to collide. From your point of view, they're
coming straight at each other. But if you were to go right up
in the air and look down, you'd see there's a good distance in
between them. Or you might have seen some of
those photographs, which is taken with someone with their hand
like this, and in the background there's the sun or there's the
moon, and it looks like they're holding up the sun or the moon.
And yet The truth is, it's just an illusion. It's just from the
perspective of the camera, that's what it looks like. Sometimes
people have done that with someone in the distance, so standing
on a hill, and they've held their hand so that it blocks out what
they're standing on, and it looks like this little person is standing
on their hand. And it's not at all, but it is
from the perspective of the camera. And so when you're speaking of
thy truth, It is as viewed by the Lord, not us. And the Scriptures,
they are the Scriptures of truth. They set forth the truth of God
as viewed by God. And that's why we need faith,
to trust in what the Lord has said, and to lean on what the
Lord has said. It took a lot when the children
of Israel were at the Red Sea, When they're at Jordan, and the
Lord said, saying to the children of Israel that they go forward,
but there's a Red Sea there. What can we do? Lift up thy rod,
or with Jordan, put your feet, the soles of your feet into the
waters. And as they did that, then they
went back. Or you think of Naaman, go and
wash seven times in Jordan. And at first he was offended
at that, he wouldn't do it. And his servants prevailed on
him to do it, and as that was God's way, God's way of saving,
God's choice, and the Lord blessed it, and he was healed. And if
we walk by faith, and we walk in the truth of God, then we
will not miss. It will not be according to our
wisdom, but according to thy truth, the word of God. There
is no other source of truth. There is no other revelation
of God. We're not to expect it or look
for it at all. In preaching, we preach the word. We preach the truth of God. And
it is the word of God that is taught to him. Open thou mine
eyes, is another prayer of the psalmist, and I shall see wondrous
things out of thy law. I will walk in thy truth. How
many of us can honestly, before the Lord, testify and say, Lord,
I will walk in thy truth? As that is revealed to me, as
that is shown, I will walk in thy truth. What is the alternative?
What other way can we walk in? Our own way? Man's way? The devil's way? Our first parents,
did they walk in the Lord's truth, or walk in that of which Satan
sat before them? Solemn reminder, isn't it? I
will walk in thy truth. May that be our profession, and
the words of our mouth as well. With the last one, thine name. thy name. Unite my heart to fear
thy name." It's again a supplication. Unite my heart. Why would it
be spoken of as uniting? We have in Jeremiah, Jeremiah
32 and verse 39, a promise, and I will give them one heart and
one way, that they may fear me forever for the good of them
and of their children after them. And I will make an everlasting
covenant with them, that I will not turn away from them to do
them good, but I will put my fear in their hearts, that they
shall not depart from me. Yea, I will rejoice over them
to do them good, and I will plant them in this land assuredly with
my whole heart and with my whole soul. One heart, not a divided
heart, not part serving mammon and the world and part serving
the Lord, but one heart. And David, no doubt, he knew
this. what it was to have struggles
within, and a divided heart, not the heart that pumps the
blood round our bodies, but our very being, our purpose, what
is our real person, how many conflicts there are with the
child of God, but to have one heart, Unite my heart to fear thy name. The fear of man bringeth a snare,
but the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. And where that fear is, is a
great, great blessing. We've sung of it in our hymn. And if you feel, if I feel, these
struggles within, wondering whether, is it really,
am I really the Lord's? Could there be these conflicts?
Could there be these different ways, pulling, seeming opposite? David would come to you and he
said, well, I know these things. This is what my prayer was. that my heart might be a united
heart. You know, we could understand
it if we got two people, two distinct people, and you wanted
to unite them so that they both believed the same thing, both
thought the same way, both understood the same, you'd understand that.
But when you think about it in ourselves, how often there's
a tussle, how often there's a conflict, one moment thinking, Yes, I'll
walk in this way. Another thing, no, I'm not going
to. And there's these pulls and tugs
and conflict within, and the troubles within. But when there
is this singleness of eye, singleness of heart, then how different
that that is. Just as a thought on that. This
side of the grave, with God's people, when he gives them a
new spirit, when he gives them the new birth, their spirit serves
the Lord, and desires to walk in his way, but is constantly
opposed by the flesh. Paul says, when he had the struggle,
he said, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. And there will always be that
conflict, but in heaven, and when we are given a new body,
a resurrected body, there shall be no conflict. It is said that
we shall be raised a spiritual body, and we mustn't think that
that means that there's no substance to it, like we have a substance
you can feel. When the Lord rose from the dead,
and they were fearful and affrighted that they'd seen a spirit, he
said, a spirit hath not flesh and blood as ye see me have.
It was the very same bones and flesh that hung upon the cross
that rose from the dead and ascended up into heaven. But when we are
given that real body, again, Job, he says, in my flesh shall
I see God, though after my flesh worms destroy my body, yet in
my flesh shall I see God. And that body, there shall be
no conflict. There will be no sin in that. That person, body and soul will
be in complete harmony and one with another. It's something
we cannot even imagine here below because there will always be
that conflict. And don't dream, don't think
that it will be otherwise, this side of the grave. But the other
side of the grave it will be. And that is the blessed prospect
that is set before us. And yet, if the Lord does give
us a united heart to fight against the flesh and the lusts of the
flesh, desires of the mind, that we be like Caleb, who followed
the Lord fully and desired to follow in his ways, then that
is a blessed position to be in. David immediately launches in
verse 12 as to praise to God. I will praise Thee, O Lord my
God, with all my heart, and not a divided heart, not some of
my heart, but all my heart, and I will glorify Thy name forevermore. So may we know Thy way, Thy truth,
and Thy name. Teach me Thy way, O Lord. I will walk in Thy truth. Unite
my heart to fear thine heart.