All right, let's turn to Psalm
119. Psalm 119. I hope by the end of this message
you understand why I read the passage about the Pharisee and
the publican praying. Psalm 119.33. David prays, teach me, O Lord,
the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it until the end. Give me understanding, and I
shall keep thy law, yea, I shall observe it with my whole heart. Make me to go in the path of
thy commandments, for therein do I delight. Incline my heart
unto thy testimonies and not to covetousness. Turn away mine
eyes from beholding vanity, and quicken thou me in thy way. Establish thy word unto thy servant
who is devoted to thy fear. Turn away my reproach, which
I fear, for thy judgments are good. Behold, I have longed after
thy precepts. Quicken me in thy righteousness. First of all, David asked the
Lord to teach him. He asked the Lord to teach him.
Teach me, O Lord, the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep
it until the end. You know, whenever a sinner's born again of the Spirit
of God, we have a new heart that desires
to obey God. That's the desire of the new
heart. David had prophets, he had priests, he had the word
of the Lord. And yet he's begging God to teach
him the way of his statutes. Now David knew, like those born
of God know, that only the Lord himself can teach us affectionately
in the heart. He knew this. It's God which
worketh in you, both to will and to do of his good pleasure. Our Lord said, the Comforter,
which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name,
he shall teach you all things and bring all things to your
remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you. And we know this
need for the Lord to teach us because before the Lord gave
us spiritual life and taught us the gospel, we could not believe
him. We could not obey him. He commanded
all to repent and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, but we
could not do that. You could not do that. We came
into this world with a nature so ruined, so spiritually dead
in sins, that we hated holy God and loved our sins. Some of our sins were just vile
sins that we loved. Some loved that other vile lust
of the flesh, religious sins. but we were opposed to God in
every way. We had absolutely no desire to
know God. They couldn't muster that up. Now, we would not agree when
we were in that state and we heard God's law, his statutes,
the law given at Sinai. When we heard that law, we could
not agree with God. We could not agree with God that
we are the guilty sinner. We would not, we could not obey
God's commandment to confess we have transgressed against
God and all we are in ourselves is the sinner. We couldn't do
that, we would not do that. We would not and could not confess
that it's not only our sins, that it's us who is sin. We couldn't confess that. We
wouldn't confess that. We wouldn't confess we hated
God. Would not do it. Couldn't do
it. We would not run like helpless sinners, ruined, undone, needing
Christ alone to justify us by his blood. We would not run to
him and confess we needed him to do all the saving. We would
not. We could not. We could not obey God's holy
commandment to believe on his son. We couldn't do it. We wouldn't
do it. And then when the Spirit of God
entered in and He taught us, He revealed Holy God to us. He revealed Holy God to us in
the face of the Lord Jesus Christ. He revealed to us the righteous
Son of God who came down and took a human body and revealed
to us in Him was no sin. He revealed to us in him his
perfection. He walked under the law of God
and perfectly pleased God, the all-seeing, all-knowing God who
knows every thought of the heart. He absolutely pleased God and
then went to that cross and took the place of every sinner God
gave him to save and bore our sin. all the shame, he bore it
and owned it all to be his, and bore the wrath of God in our
place, the curse we deserve, the second death, he bore it
for his people. God taught us that is so. And that's the first time that
we were made willing to confess When we saw what it took for
God to say, I'm pleased. When we saw it took his son,
doing all that from the womb all the way till he yielded up
his spirit. Perfect faith and fidelity and
righteousness and love to God. When we saw that, we confessed,
Lord, I'm a sinner. I'm the sinner. And we confessed, Lord, we need
our Lord Jesus Christ to save us. We need him. We prayed, Lord,
I need you to save me. I need you to save me. I need
you to be my righteousness. And so that's the first time we obeyed
God. God had to teach us. That's the
first time we began loving God and loving our brethren, those
forgotten of God. That's the first time we began
loving sinners, all men, and trying to live peaceably with
them. That's when we began to pity them and have compassion
on them, because we were there. We were the stranger. We were
in the pit, and we know what it's like. And now this is what we say,
we know that the Son of God has come and has given us an understanding. That we may know Him that is
true and we are in Him that is true, even in His Son Jesus Christ,
this is the true God and eternal life. So knowing this was the only
by the power of God, by the Holy Spirit teaching us, we know we need the Lord to teach
us now. And so we cry, teach me, O Lord,
the way of thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end. He knows God's teaching will
be effectual. He's experienced that. If you
teach me, Lord, I shall keep the way until the end. And by
God teaching his child and teaching his child and teaching his child,
he teaches us and he teaches us and he teaches us and he teaches
us, that's how we keep in the way until the end. The end of the commandment is
charity or love, which is the fulfilling of the law. You and
I both know this, that none of us have done that. We've not
perfectly fulfilled the law, but Christ Jesus, our righteousness
has. And he's the end of the law for
righteousness to everyone that believes. And so because the
Lord taught us this and keeps teaching us this, this is what
keeps gratitude in our heart. To keep believing him and loving
him and loving those born of him. and trying to see other
sinners brought to him and taught to obey this command. Secondly, he not only asked the
Lord to teach him, he asked the Lord to give him an understanding.
This is a little further than just teaching. A man can teach,
but a man can't give understanding. Psalm 34, give me understanding
and I shall keep thy law. Yea, I shall observe it with
my whole heart. You know, when God gave spiritual
understanding of the law at Sinai, when he gave you that spiritual
understanding, taught you what that law says about you, that's
when you had discernment. That's when you understood what
God said about you. That's when for the first time
you understood God requires perfection. There is no sense in which God
does not require absolute perfection. He requires absolute perfection. Absolute perfection. That's holiness. God is holy and he requires holy
perfection. And when he made us understand
what the law says about us, he made us understand that is Christ. And he made us understand the
gospel. He made us understand that's
not us, that's Christ. And he made us understand the
gospel of Christ. It gives an understanding of
who Christ is. And when he gives you an understanding
of his law, and he gives you an understanding of his gospel,
that's when we understand Christ is the perfection we must have. That's when you delight in God's
law in the inward man. That's when you delight in, if
God said it, you delighted in it. If God said it, Your delight
and desire is to obey every word, every bit of it, every bit of
it. But we know at the same time
that God only considers obedience to be righteousness, righteousness. We know and we understand Christ
alone is the righteousness of God then. We know and understand
it's God's will that we believe on his son and continue believing
his son until the end. And then we want to obey him. We want to obey him. We ask for
his grace. We ask for his strength to believe
him. We ask for his grace. We ask for his strength to walk
as he commanded us to walk. But why does David, the believer,
keep asking God to teach him? Why does David, the believer,
keep asking God to forgive him an understanding, and why does
he speak as though he has not yet obeyed? Why does he say, Lord, give me
understanding, and I shall keep thy law? Why does he say, yea, I shall
observe it with my whole heart? By God's grace, God's child never
sees ourselves as having obeyed God. Please understand me. Please
hear me. The day you do is the day you
will be proud as a peacock. And God won't have it. God won't
let it happen. We cry, Lord, increase our faith. God's commanded you to believe
on his son, and you shall be saved. And we know our faith's
not even anything, but it's not the degree It's not the greatness or the
smallness of your faith. It's the object of your faith.
But we ask him, Lord, increase our faith. You know how he's
going to increase your faith? He's going to increase Christ
to you. He's going to increase Christ
to you. That's going to increase your faith in him. We ask him,
Lord, grow us in love. You know how he's gonna increase
you in love? He's gonna increase Christ's love to you. He's gonna
make you see Christ's love to you increasingly more. That's
gonna increase your love for him and your love for your brethren. We ask him, give us a right understanding
of this. In that everlasting covenant
of grace, David says here, give me an understanding and I shall
keep thy law. Yea, I shall observe it with
my whole heart. In that everlasting covenant
of grace, God said, I willed and thou shalt. I willed and
thou shalt. And David is coming right here
under that yoke of the covenant of grace. And he said, Lord,
if you will, I shall. If you will, I shall. Thirdly, he asked God to make
him obey. Verse 35, make me to go in the
path of thy commandments, for therein do I delight. Before he asked the Lord to be
his teacher, Then he asked the Lord to give him understanding.
Now he asked God to give him the will. Give me the will. Make me willing. Quicken me to
obey. Make me to go in the path of
thy commandments, for therein do I delight. This is the heart
of faith God gives. This is the heart of faith God
gives. He delights in his heart to please
God. That's what he wants to do. He
wants to please God. But he knows he can do nothing
but by the power of God. That's a true believer. That's
a true believer. God makes us know him, he makes
us know ourselves. God makes us know we're not sufficient
of ourselves, and God makes us depend upon the grace of God. This is obedience. You see, what David's asking for here is what God's already worked
in his heart. That's why he's praying this. That's what this is, is him obeying
God. God looks on the heart. As a
man is in his heart, so is he. The heart of faith is the heart
that finds no ability and no sufficiency in ourselves. The heart of faith is the heart
that looks outside of ourselves in utter dependence upon God. To teach me, to give me an understanding,
to make me. We never, ever, ever see ourselves
as having arrived. This is the heart that desires
to please God, yet knows only Christ can make me accepted in
God's sight. Now, you can find acceptance
in a man's sight, but you know what? If a man can find blame
in you, you know God can. The only way you're going to
be found accepted in God's sight is having this heart right here that wants to be found only in
Christ. What we really want is more understanding
of Christ. That's what David's really praying
for here. More faith. More faith in Christ,
not just more faith, more faith in Christ, not just more love,
more love for Christ, that's what he wants right here. And then look at this, he asks
God in the midst of all this now, he asks God to save him
from himself. Verse 36, incline my heart unto
thy testimonies and not to covetousness. Turn away mine eyes from beholding
vanity, and quicken thou me in thy way. See, this is a sinner that knows
he's a sinner. He knows he's covetous. He knows
his old heart loves vanity. And this covetousness and this
looking to vanity, the number one way it's carried out is looking
to self and being pleased with what you see. And he's not pleased with what
he sees. And he asks God, save him from
himself. Where else is this covetousness
coming from? Where else is these eyes coming
from? It's himself. He's asking to work in his new
heart. He's asking to work in the real David, in the new David,
in the David God created, that Christ created in his righteousness
and his holiness, incline my heart to thy testimonies. That's
what he's asking. The new heart, the new man. Incline
the real me. That's what Paul said in Romans
7. That's the real me that God's made. And he asked God to subdue his
sinful flesh. The old David. The David that's
of Adam. That's just as much David too.
That's just as much me and you too. But he's saying subdue that
man. Don't let him run to covetousness. Don't turn away my eyes, Lord,
turn away my eyes from beholding vanity. He said, inclined my heart to
thy testimonies, but don't incline my heart to covetousness. Oh,
see, David don't understand. David just, he don't understand.
God doesn't incline men to covetousness. A man sins, it's all of us. It
sure is. And that's all of us. That's
the only thing that is of us. And if God don't keep us from
ourselves, that's all we'll do. That's what he's saying. He knows
his flesh. He knows his old man is nothing
but sin, and he's confessing it to God. You know, when you
confess to God your sin, you know, it's good to confess your
sin, but you don't know all your sin. But when you're begging
God to keep you and save you and not let you fall away and
not let you covet and not let you turn your eyes to vanity,
you're saying to God, Lord, I'm a sinner. I am nothing but the
sinner. He knows his old man's opposed
to all God's testimonies. He's confessing that to God.
That's how he needs God to incline his heart to his testimonies.
He knows his old man's covetous and he's confessing it to God.
I need you to save me from me, Lord. He knows if God doesn't
turn his heart to God's testimonies, he will surely sin. This is a desire God puts in
the new heart. This is the faith in God that
God puts in the new heart. This is the repentance from our
own selves and everything about us that God grants to his people. It's for God to quicken. It's
for God to keep the new me from the old me. Quicken thou me in
thy way, strengthen my inward man in thy way. He's saying,
Lord, make me press toward the mark for the prize. He's saying,
Lord, keep Christ before my eyes. He's saying, make me run the
race looking to the author and finisher of my faith. He's saying,
Lord, keep me looking at things that are not seen, not at things
that are seen. Keep me looking to Christ above
and have my affection on Christ, and turn my eyes from vanity. What's that? That must be some
particular thing. It's everything here below. That's what the preacher
said. All is vanity. And it all is. What's vanity? Anything is just
gonna be dissolved and that's what it all is. The old man of sin and us will
never cease this warfare. Never will he give up till you
draw your last breath. But by God's grace, by the spirit
of God, the new man won't ever give up either. and he'll keep
crying out to the one, only one that can teach him and give him
an understanding and make him trust Christ and walk after him. And then he asks God to establish
him with God's word. It would be easy to just take
all these things and lump them together. Each one of these is
moving a little bit, a little bit further. Establish me with
your word. He says, verse 38, establish
thy word unto thy servant who is devoted to thy fear. The heart established in God's
word, by God's word, will continually beg God, establish
thy servant in thy word. Get what I said now, the heart
that's established in his word will continually beg him to establish
me in thy word. Establish me with your precious
promises. What's gonna establish you? God making you to hear that all
his promises to his child, to you personally, is yes and amen
in Christ. There's no maybes about it. It's
done. It's finished. He said, assure
me, God, that you chose me absolutely freely by your grace from eternity.
Make me know that. Establish me in your free grace,
your sovereign grace. Make me know it again. Establish
me, Lord, making me know Christ is made righteousness unto me
and sanctification unto me. Establish me to see my righteousness
in your presence. Establish me so that my heart's
purified to behold him. Establish me, increase my faith,
purify my heart to believe I am his and he is mine. That's the only way the heart's
established unblameable in holiness before the all-seeing eye of
God. Think about it now. Before the
all-seeing eye of God, a heart absolutely unblameable. A heart unblameable. What's the
heart? That's the new man. That's you. That's the you that's going to
be with God in eternity. All the way, you're going to
be established, unblameable, in holiness. Lord, all sin I've
got is in Christ, with Christ in you, so that all your unblameableness
is Christ only. When you know that, and you understand
that, and you're willing to bow to that, and you confess, Lord,
I believe that, but I need you to keep me believing it, and
I need you to keep establishing my heart with it, your heart's
been established. Make me to know I'm complete
in Christ. Make me to know I'm accepted
in the beloved. Make me to know I'm without spot or blemish.
Make me to know I'm unreprovable in Christ alone. Establish your everlasting covenant
of grace in my heart, reminding me you'll never let me go. He's asking, establish my heart
with grace. The Hebrew writer said, it's
a good thing that the heart be established with grace. He said,
don't go after strange doctrines. There's a bunch of doctrines.
Everybody's got a new doctrine, a bunch of them. There's just
one doctrine. It's the doctrine of Christ. God's doctrine in the scriptures,
always in the singular. Man's is in the plural. And he said, it is good, a good
thing that the heart, the heart, talking about the heart, the
heart, be established with grace. That means by God's grace, with
the grace God gives. Not with meats, which have not
profited them that have been occupied therein. Most are trying
to serve the tabernacle. Looking at the exterior, and
either feeling real good about self or feeling bad about self,
based on what they've done or haven't done. Your heart will be established
when God makes you set your affection on Christ only. Christ only. Christ only. Single. Single. The devil hates that. He's trying
every way in the world to get you to look at strange doctrines.
He's trying every way in the world to add something to that.
He ain't gonna succeed for his people though, for God's people,
Christ only. And then he asked God to save
him from men. He said in verse 39, turn away
my reproach which I fear, for thy judgments are good. Some
think David is referencing his sins with
Uriah and Bathsheba, which made men reproach him. I'm just about
100% convinced that's what he's saying. Scorners slobber like a dog on
a bone. to sit in the seat of the scorner
and reproach God's child for their sin. It's the last thing God's child
wants to do. You know that, don't you? Don't
you know that? Well then, don't you know that about your brother?
Don't you? Aren't you ashamed when you sin? Don't you know your brother is? God's people do. That's what
we know about one another. And that's painful and it's shameful
to David and it's too heavy for him to bear it. It would cause overmuch sorrow
if it wasn't for God's grace turning away his reproach. But
now catch this, this is important. He asked this, but he asked this
agreeing with God that God's judgments have been good. that
giving him somebody to reproach him and scorn him has been good
for him. He asks for mercy, but at the
same time, he says it's good for me that I've been afflicted
that I might learn your statutes. Thy judgments are good, Lord.
You remember 2 Samuel. I want to look at 2 Samuel 16.7. Here's what he's talking about
right here. 2 Samuel 16.7. He bore this goodwill a long
while. 2 Samuel 16, 7. Now this man Shimei came out,
verse 6, and he cast stones at David, and all the servants of
King David and all the people and all the mighty men were on
his right hand and on his left. And thus said Shimei when he
cursed, Come out, come out, thou bloody man, thou man of Belial. The Lord hath returned upon thee
all the blood of the house of Saul. Shimei is loving that. He is loving that. In whose stead
thou hast reigned, the Lord hath delivered the kingdom into the
hand of Absalom thy son. He took taking it all from you. Behold, thou art taken in thy
mischief because you're a bloody man. Is that a child that knows anything
about forgiveness? Would you say that? Then said Abasheth the son of
Uriah unto the king, why should this dead dog curse my lord the
king? Let me go where I pray thee and
take off his head. And the king said, now this is
what we see in our text. What have I to do with you, you
son of Uriah? So let him curse, because the
Lord hath said unto him, curse David. He said, the Lord did
this. Who shall then say, wherefore
hast thou done so? And David said to Abishath and
to all his servants, behold, my son, which came forth out
of my bowels, seeketh my life. His own child wanted to see him
dead. These young ones running around
here is cute right now. When they grow up and they question
your love and accuse you of evil and everything you ever did,
you'll know what David's talking about. That's what Paul felt
toward the Corinthian brethren. He said, if my own son that came
out of my bowels seeks my life, how much more now may this Benjamite
do it? Let him alone, let him curse,
for the Lord hath bidden him. It may be, it may be, that the
Lord will look on mine affliction, and that the Lord will requite
me good for his cursing this day. That's what he's saying
in our text, he's saying, Lord, turn away thy reproach, my reproach,
which I fear. But at the same time, he's vindicating
God. He's asking mercy, but he's saying,
Lord, your judgments are good. It's been good for me. Now this last request is the
longing of everything he has said here, and it's to be quickened
in and by Christ. He said, verse 40, behold, I've
longed after thy precepts, quicken me in thy righteousness. I won't have you turn there,
but you know Roman 10 says Christ Jesus is the righteousness of
God. And he says, quicken me in your
righteousness, Lord. Quicken me in Christ my righteousness,
That's what he did in the first tower. You being dead in your
sins and the uncircumcision of your flesh, hath he quickened
together with him, having forgiven you all trespasses? That's what
he's asking for right here. Quicken me, Lord, in him. Make me to know you've forgiven
all my trespasses. Now, this right here, I titled
this A Righteous Sinner's Prayer. That's what David is. That's
what you who believe are. You're righteous in Christ. You're
a sinner in yourself. This is a righteous sinner's
prayer. While the Pharisee was praying
with himself and boasting about his obedience and despising others,
this right here is the prayer of the child of God who smites
on his breast and asks mercy from God. He's begging God to lead him.
He's begging God to guide him. He's begging God to direct his
path. He's begging God to work in him,
to will and do of his good pleasure. He's asking to give him the ability,
the willing mind to walk. He's asking the Lord to give
him supplies of grace and spiritual strength. He's asking to be quickened
so he can see Christ, his righteousness again. He's asking the Lord to
make me know I'm yours and you're mine. Now that never ends in this life.
That will never end in this life for a believer. And I'll tell
you something else. That's a heart established by
God. That is a heart that pleases
God. Because that's what faith is. Seeing nothing in you and absolutely
depending on God for everything. That's loving God right there.
Throwing it all on Him and begging God. That's obedience right there. That's the heart of obedience
right there. You know how I know that? Because
the Lord Jesus said about that publican, and he said the same
thing about David right here, I tell you this man went down
to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone
that exalteth himself shall be abased, and he that humbleth
himself shall be exalted. Amen.