Turn with me in your Bibles back to Psalm 143. It's titled the Psalm of David. And it has a break in the middle, so I wanted to deal with the first section of it, but mostly the first two verses today. And then there's this first message, and then there's a sealer in verse 6. So let's just read these first six verses.

It's the Psalm of David. Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplications. Supplications comes from the root word, to supply. In fact, in the Hebrew it means, be gracious. In thy faithfulness answer me and in thy righteousness. And enter not into judgment with thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. For an enemy has persecuted my soul, and he has smitten my life down to the ground. He hath made me to dwell in darkness.

I want us to be reminded that the Psalms, essentially and initially, are the Psalms of the Lord Jesus Christ. He sang this Psalm. He may not have sung it, but he certainly read this psalm, and this psalm speaks of him. Down to the ground, he hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed within me, my heart within me is desolate. I remember the days of old. I meditate on all thy works. I muse on the works of thy hands. I stretch forth my hands unto thee. My soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land.

See you later. Do I pray? It's assumed, isn't it, that there are billions of people praying, not according to God. In fact, true prayer is as rare as the children of God in this world. They're the only ones who pray.

Turn with me in Acts chapter 9. You know the story well. The story of Saul's meeting with the Lord Jesus Christ on the road to Damascus and a light from heaven brightened the sun. The Lord Jesus Christ shone around him and Saul is in his right and proper place before God, in the dust of the ground. A good place to be, as low as you can possibly be. But listen to what the Lord said to Ananias. In verse 10 he said, and there was a certain disciple in Damascus named Ananias, and to him said the Lord in a vision, Ananias, and he said, behold, here I am, here, Lord. And the Lord said unto him, arise, go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas, for one called Saul of Tarsus. For behold, He prayeth.

Now he's praying. Now he's praying. He'd said prayers on the street corner. He'd said prayers which were probably so profound in their theological accuracy that we would have stood in awe of his prayers. They were extraordinarily knowledgeable people. Give ear to my prayer, O Lord. Give ear to my prayer. As I said earlier, true prayer is communion with God, and it's communion with God because there's a relationship, a living relationship with God. Later on in this prayer, he'll, in verse 11, he'll say, quicken me, make me alive, make me alive so I can talk to you.

The Lord Jesus Christ came to that temple in Jerusalem where people prayed, and he said, You've turned this house, which is a house of prayer for all nations, into a den of thieves. Firstly, they steal the glory of God. They steal the honor of the Lord Jesus Christ. Then they steal from the Lord's people who come there. At the beginning, at the close of his ministry at that place, the Lord Jesus Christ Christ went in there and he cleansed that temple of all of the thieves. But it's a house of prayer, the temple. The meeting of God with man is called the house of prayer by our Lord. That's where he communes with his people on the mercy seat. And we love to recall that story of the Pharisee and the publican. You remember what the Lord said about that publican, about the Pharisee. He prayed, read it with me. Luke chapter 18 it is, isn't it? Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other Republican. The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself. He thought it was prayer. The people around him thought it was prayer. And God said it wasn't. He prayed with himself. He wasn't talking to God. He was talking to God about how good he is and about all the wonderful things he does. He prayed thus with himself.

How precious is it to be able to pray? I want us to treasure the fact that we can say to God, hear my prayer, oh Lord. See, true believers pray. The children of God, whether they are converted or not, they pray to God and God hears them. I love the story in Matthew chapter 15. Turn with me there because we are told to pray with the opportunity and to pray without ceasing. And there's a remarkable story of a Canaanite woman who came to the Lord Jesus Christ. She was outside of the nation of Israel in Matthew chapter 15. And behold, the woman of Canaan came out of the coast and cried unto him, saying, Have mercy upon me. O Lord, thou Son of David, my daughter is grievously fixed with the devil, but he answered her not a word. And the disciples came and besought him, saying, Send her away, for she crieth after us. She was crying after the Lord, not them. Amazing how people want to put themselves in a place of prominence. But he answered and said, I am not sent, but unto the lost sheep of the house of Israel. Then she came and worshipped him. And she had the most wonderful prayer, Lord, And he answered and said, it's not right, it's not me to take the children's bread and cast it to dogs. And she said, truth Lord, I'm a dog. under your table, waiting for a crumb. Truth, Lord! Yet the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their master's table. And Jesus answered and said unto her, O woman, great is thy faith.

How was her faith expressed? She came to the Lord. She was rebuked by the apostles. She was seemingly rebuked by the Lord. She was told about his particular redeeming love for his people, and she said, I just want to be a dog. Great is thy faith, O woman, be it unto thee even as thou wilt. What an answer to prayer, what an answer to prayer. Where did that prayer come from? Where did all of that come from? Who is the first cause of all things? He heard her and her daughter was made whole from that very moment. Oh woman, great is thy faith. God. What a promise from God for those who take their place as dogs at the table of our Lord Jesus.

Of course, she was a child to God. He had brought her to that place. He had sovereignly ruled all the events of her life to bring her to that place. And even with so much discouragement from all of the apostles, And so much discouragement, it seemed, from the word of the Lord, she had nowhere else to go. And she still cries to him when she has nowhere else to go. What a lesson, what a lesson that lady is in prayer. Behold, he prayeth. The children of God are crying, aren't they? They cry and they ask and they plead. And they say, just help, Lord, Psalm 12. They say, help, Lord.

So all true worship is prayer. All true worship is communion with God. It's communion. This is eternal life that you know Him. To know Him is to be in communion with Him. And for those who have religious performances, and that's all they have, The rebuke of God against them is severe, and even in this psalm we'll see that it's severe. In Isaiah chapter one, the Lord tells Isaiah, he says, they lift up their hands to me, And when you spread forth your hands, I will hide my eyes from you. This is not speaking of Isaiah, but speaking of the religious people in Isaiah's day and in our day. I will hide my eyes from you. Yea, when you make many prayers, I will not hear. Your hands are full of blood. Jeremiah is told in Jerusalem. three times, don't pray for them. Don't pray for that city of Jews. Don't pray for those religious. I'm not going to hear your prayer. Don't pray for them. Three times, Jeremiah is told.

So how precious is it to pray? How precious is it to have a God who hears prayer. We come to him in prayer. We meet with him in prayer. We hear from him in prayer. We respond to his call, come unto me and I will give you rest. We come in prayer, don't we? We come to the throne of grace. And that's where David is going here in this psalm that we're going to look at now. And why do we come? Oh Lord, give ear to my supplications. I'm in need. Why do we come? Because we are in need. Why are we in need? Is there ever a time when we're not in need? Woe to the time when we're not in need and we have no need to come to him and we are self-sufficient. And woe to those who come like the Pharisee in the temple and wants to praise himself and for God to praise him for all the things that he's done, that God owes him something. God's people, true people come to him because he alone is sovereign over all things and we are needy. There is not a situation or a circumstance in our lives where we can operate without His hand upon us. Our God is sovereign over all, and He's sovereign even over the afflictions. He says in Psalm 119, in righteousness you've afflicted me. in everything he does. He's righteous, but we need because he alone can provide.

What do we need? Well, in the very word of supplication, David needs grace. He needs grace. He needs mercy. He says, in thy loving kindness, answer me. He needs everlasting love. He needs righteousness from God. He needs peace from God. I love what he says later on in verse 9, he says, I flee unto thee, hide me. What a place. That's where Moses was on Mount Sinai, wasn't he? He was hidden in the cleft of the rock and God spoke to him. We need And we come to Him because we're needy. In 1 Corinthians 1, verse 30, we come to Him. What are our needs? Our needs are to be in Him. Our needs are to be treated with graciousness, to hear. We're pleading in supplications. We're pleading for graciousness. What do we need? I need righteousness in Christ. He was made of God unto us. Wisdom, I need wisdom. And God must provide it in His Son. I need righteousness and God must provide it in His Son. I need sanctification. I need holiness to live before God. I need separation from all the things that would hinder me from living in the presence of God. And He's our sanctification and He's our redemption. I need redemption. I need to be redeemed from all of my sins. And I can't provide one of those, not one. I can't even make a contribution to providing one of those. That's what it is to come, isn't it? That's what, what do we pray for? We pray for everything. We pray because we are in need.

And listen to the ground on which we pray. We're coming to God and saying, give ear to my pleas. in thy faithfulness, answer me, and in thy righteousness. I want you to hear my prayer, Lord. I want you to give ear. I want you to answer me. And I want you to answer me in faithfulness, and I want you to answer me in Thy righteousness. Thy righteousness. Supply all of these things, and supply them by grace, because I can only come to you on the basis of your grace and Thy faithfulness.

We often quote those wonderful words of David as he lay dying and his head rested on his pillow, knowing that he was about to meet the Lord God. But I love what he says when you think about it is in faithfulness and righteousness. These are the last words of David, 2 Samuel 23. Now these be the last words of David. David, the son of Jesse, the man And the man who was raised up on high and the anointed of the God of Jacob and the sweet psalmist of Israel, we're reading one of his sweet psalms this morning, said, the spirit of the Lord spake by me and his word was in my tongue. The God of Israel said, the rock of Israel spake unto me. He that ruleth over men, listen to it, just. That's why David is saying, I'm coming to you, I want you to hear, I want you to answer, I want you to give ear on the basis of your faithfulness and your righteousness.

He must be just, ruling in the fear of God, and he shall be as a light of the morning when the sun rises, even the morning without clouds, as a tender grass springing out of the earth, by the clear shining after rain. And then he says, although my house be not so with God. Yet, whichever house that might be, the house of his flesh, the house of his family, or the house of Israel, all of them, My house be not so with God yet, yet, but yet. He has made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire.

I love the story of an old woman was lying on her dying pillow and she was asked by a minister, what's the ground of your hope for eternity? And she replied with great composure, I rely on the justice of God. And when the man was surprised, he said, justice not to me, but to my substitute in whom I trust. God was just on the cross of Calvary. God was faithful on the cross of Calvary. Answer me in thy faithfulness. How faithful is our God? His word is pure. His word is faithful. His faithfulness is not just in the words, isn't it? His faithfulness is in all of his actions.

I love what he says in 2 Thessalonians, 1 Thessalonians 5. He says in verse 24, after making all these remarkable promises and all of these commands, he says, is he that calleth you, who also will do it. Brethren, pray for us. Brethren, faithful is he that calleth you, and he will do it. David is saying, hear me at the mercy seat, you hear me at the throne of grace. We are commanded in Hebrews chapter 4 to come with boldness to the throne of grace that we might find this turn there to Hebrews chapter 4 is such a lovely passage of scripture because It highlights the fact that God's children are made by God to be needy all the time. And this is where David was looking, wasn't he? David was not looking to anything in himself. He was looking to everything in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Verse 14, seeing then that we have a great high priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession for we have not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. He's moved with compassion with the feeling of our infirmities. We feel a lot that the world doesn't know, don't we? But he's touched with the feelings of those infirmities, but was in all points tempted, like as we are. There's not ever a temptation that you've had, and every time you have one you fail. There's not one that he is not aware of and doesn't know, yet without sin. Let us, on account of all of that, let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, come with confidence to the throne of grace, children of God, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.

David was in need. David was in need. He was in need. A need that only God could supply. He was in need. And then he says why he was so needy and why he needed grace and why he needed supply from God and why he needed God to do it in faithfulness and in righteousness. And he says, enter not into judgment with thy servant. I'm coming to a mercy seat. I'm coming to a mercy seat. For in thy sight shall no man living be justified. For in thy sight no man living shall be justified.

When the New Testament quotes Old Testament passages of Scripture, they are profoundly significant. And three times, twice in the New Testament, this same passage of Scripture, this same verse is quoted.

Romans 3.20 says, Therefore by the deeds of the law shall no flesh be justified in his sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. No flesh, that out of the works of the Lord none will be justified before him in all flesh. right at the end of verse 16, for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

Let's go back and read. What he says in verse 15, we who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the Gentile, knowing, this is something that God's servants know, God's children know, knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith, the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Even we have believed in Jesus Christ that we might be justified by the faith, the faithfulness of Christ, and not by the works of the law, for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified. No flesh shall be justified.

Enter not into judgment with thy servant, because in thy sight no living man shall be justified. All of our justification is in the Lord Jesus Christ. And the New Testament is saying if you go back to the law for justification, for sanctification, if you go back to the law for anything, you have missed Christ altogether. And if you miss Christ, You're not praying.

Listen to what Paul goes on to say. He says in verse 19, he says, I through the law am dead to the law that I might live unto God. Through the law, I am dead to the law. What happened on the cross of Calvary? The Lord Jesus Christ and everyone in him suffered the infinite holy wrath of God Almighty in faithfulness and in righteousness, and all of them were crucified with Christ. They are dead.

There's a cemetery up the road up there, and I'm sure in that cemetery is some extraordinarily wicked people. And you could go up to those extraordinarily wicked people and say, here is the charge sheet of the crimes that you committed. Does it have any meaning to them? They're dead. They're dead to the law.

Listen to what he goes on to say. For through the law I am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. To live unto God is to be dead to the law. To live unto God is to pray. To live unto God is to be in relationship with him, to be in communion with him. To live unto God is to know him, John 17. To live unto God is to have eternal life. To live unto God is to go to the throne of grace in heaven.

He says, I am, I have been with finality crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh, I live. by the faith, the faithfulness of the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for as righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain.

If you need him, like David did, if you need him, to be faithful and to be righteous. You hate the thought of him being dead in vain to you. He's not dead in vain to all of his people, but he's dead in vain to others.

Let's go back and very briefly look at Romans chapter 3. I just want us to get Some sense of what the psalmist here, the sweet psalmist of Israel is saying. He says he's a servant. He says, the servants are always going to say, in thy sight shall no man living be justified.

So we know, we know there's something both of these passages of Scripture are talking about, what the children know, what the children, the praying children know. We know that whatsoever things the law saith, it saith to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped and the whole world may become guilty before God.

What does the law say? Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty. What else does the law say? Guilty, guilty, guilty, guilty. You owe God and you have nothing to pay. That's what the servant says. That's what that Canaanite woman says. I've got nothing to pay.

Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. Psalm 143 verse 2. By the deeds of the law, for by the law is the knowledge of sin. All the law does is say this is what sin is and you're guilty of it. Guilty, guilty, guilty.

But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ, the faithfulness of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all then that believe. Don't you love that it's upon us? It comes upon us as a grace gift of God.

He's saying, hear my prayer and be gracious to me. Supply me these things, is what David is crying. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God, being justified freely. Don't forget David was saying, you answer me in righteousness, you answer me in your faithfulness, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. Justified freely. Don't you love that word? freely. The cause is not in us, brothers and sisters. One of the great problems of Christian life is that we're looking for something in us which is only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. And one of the problems is that we need to be made lower, and that's what happens in David's afflictions, isn't it? He's made low and he's made low.

to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance of God. To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness, that he might be just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus. Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? Of works? Nay, by the law of faith. We conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law. Is he the God of the Jews only? Is he not only also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also. Seeing it is one God which shall justify the circumcision by faith and the uncircumcision through faith, do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid! We establish the law. That's what establishing the law is. He honoured the law and magnified it and made it honourable.

Did the legalists pray? In Jerusalem they prayed thus with themselves. Paul had prayed passionately. Behold, he prayeth, how precious

For want of time, I'll try and be brief with these next few verses before we have our break. But listen to what David goes on to say, because or for an enemy has persecuted my soul. Listen to where all of his troubles are. David had physical troubles. He was pursued like a wild dog by Saul of Tarsus. He had to do battle with the Philistines. He had to do battle with the Amalekites. His whole life was a life of trial. But listen to that, all of those trials, we have trials and we have trials from people, and the trials from people drive us back, all of we children of God, they drive us back into the arms of the Lord, drive us back to the throne of grace, drive us back and say, hide me from all of these things. What are the great enemies? What are the great enemies of our soul? Sin and unbelief. An enemy? There's no doubt there are physical enemies, and David had them within his family, with Absalom and others, and outside of it.

The enemy has 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. David dwelt in caves, as you know, he had to hide from Saul and those armies that were pursuing him. But I think, I think again, what broke the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ and caused great drops of blood to fall to the ground of Gethsemane? And what was in the cup broke his heart, caused him in the darkness of that night to cause him to say, my soul is troubled, I'm afflicted. He was overwhelmed. In that cup were all of the sins of all of the elect children of God. In that cup. And on Calvary he looked in that cup and his heart melted within him. You can read it in Psalm 40. And great sweat drops of blood. It was sin in the cup. And the wrath of God upon that sin, that's what caused the Lord Jesus Christ to say, therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me, my heart within me is desolate. It overwhelmed him. He was full of amazement. It was an astonishing thing. My heart within me is desolate.

I remember the days of old. I meditate on all thy works. I remember the days of old. How did the Lord Jesus Christ pray just before he went down to the garden? He said, Father, the hour has come. Glorify thy son, that thy son might glorify thee. I, as thou hast given him power over all flesh, that he should give eternal life to as many as thou hast given him. And this is eternal life, that they might know thee the only true God. And Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent, I have glorified thee on the earth. I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self, with the glory which I had. You look back, child of God. You look back as far as you possibly can. You look back beyond your life. You look back to the cross and you look back to the garden and the fall in the garden and you look beyond that. That's where your comfort is.

I meditate on all thy works. I muse. I speak aloud. I speak within myself and I give utterance to it. I stretch forth my hands unto thee. My soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land. What did he say on the cross? I thirst. I thirst. as the deer pants from the water brooks, so my soul longs after thee. If you want those who call out to God, hear my prayer, give ear and answer me. Thou thirsty, thou thirsty as a thirsty land. The one thing about the thirsty land, if you've done any farming or gardening, is the thirsty land, it opens up, doesn't it? The more thirsty it is, the wider the cracks are, and the more welcome the showers of blessing are into it. Thirsty, hungry, Hear my prayer, O Lord. Give ear to my supplications. And if you're gonna answer me, you answer me in your faithfulness. And if you're gonna answer me, you answer me in your righteousness. I'm your servant. Okay.