Let us turn to the psalm that
we've read, Psalm 17. And I'll read the opening two
verses for our text this evening. Psalm 17, verses 1 and 2. Hear the right, O Lord, attend
unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer that goeth not out of
fine lips, let my sentence come forth from thy presence, let
thine eyes behold the things that are equal. It is, we see, a prayer of the
right, or as the margin says, a prayer of the just, It, in
a sense, then, is the justified sinner's prayer, we might say. But first of all, surely we recognize
that in many ways it is a prayer of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. In the previous psalm, Psalm
16, we see Christ. It evidently speaks of Him. We
were reminded of that only on Tuesday at the funeral of little
Boaz when his father when Finn read Psalm 16 and then made a
few remarks on the words that we have there at the end of the
Psalm of course verses 9 10 and 11 therefore
my heart is glad and my glory rejoiceth my flesh also shall
rest in hope for thou will not leave my soul in hell neither
wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption thou wilt show
me the path of life in thy presence is fullness of joy at thy right
hand there are pleasures for evermore and we know that those
words belong primarily to Christ because in the New Testament
in the Acts of the Apostles we find Peter making reference to
them in his sermon on the day of Pentecost in the second chapter
there and also in chapter 13 when Paul is preaching at Antioch
in Pisidia he makes reference to the same portion and each
time of course the apostles make it plain that this is Christ
and a reference really to the glorious truth of his resurrection
from the dead that will not leave my soul in hell in Hades in the
realm of the dead, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to
see corruption." How he rose again, of course, incorruptible. And the words that we have at
the end of that 16th Psalm, Thou wilt show me the path of life,
in thy presence is fullness of joy, at thy right hand there
are pleasures for evermore. So similar to what we have at
the end of psalm 17 as for me i will behold thy face in righteousness
i shall be satisfied when i awake with thy likeness as we see the
savior in the 16th so also surely is here in the 17th and isn't
there a connection between what we have there at the end of psalm
16 and what immediately follows In these words at the beginning
of Psalm 17, here the righteous, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give
ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of faint lips. It is a prayer of David. And in many ways, when we think
of David, we're directed to the Lord Jesus Christ. He is our
David. The very name, of course, means the beloved. David the
shepherd boy, in that sense, a type of the Lord Jesus who
is the good shepherd of the sheep. And we have that promise concerning
the good shepherd in Ezekiel 34, remember, where the Lord
is rebuking the false shepherds in Israel, those princes, those
kings. And priests and prophets who
were unprofitable false prophets and vain priests but there is
promise here in that 34th chapter of David who will come to be
the true shepherd of his people that is the Lord Jesus Christ
and he is the beloved or the church speaks of him as that
one my beloved He's gone down into his garden, says the spouse
there in the Song of Solomon. But it's not just the church
who speaks of Christ as David, as the beloved one. The Lord
God himself also calls him by that name. Those words of Isaiah
42, Behold my servant whom I uphold, mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth. I have put my spirit upon him
is that one who is the anointed one and those words are taken
up in the New Testament there in Matthew 12 as Matthew is describing something
of the ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ he quotes the fulfillment
of Isaiah 42 but interestingly the The words are somewhat different
to what we have in the Book of Isaiah. And it's faithfully translated
there in Matthew 12, 18, Behold My servant whom I have chosen,
My Beloved, My Beloved, in whom My soul is well pleased. Oh, the Lord Jesus is that One,
the Beloved of the Father, the Son of the Father, in truth and
in love. and how the Lord God of course
speaks of him thus at his baptising this is my beloved son in whom
I am well pleased and then again later in the mount of transfiguration
this is my beloved son repeats the words in whom I am well pleased
hear ye him or we are to hear Christ and we are to Seek for
Christ when we come to the Scriptures that we might hear His voice. He is the one who is here then.
He is the one, of course, who does what is right. Hear the
right, O Lord. Isn't Christ this one? He is
righteous. This is His name whereby He shall
be called. He is the Lord, our righteousness.
All our righteousness is found only in the personal work of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He is really the only truly righteous
man that ever lived, although Adam and Eve, when they came
pristine from the hand of their Creator, were upright without
sin, but now Adam and Eve transgressed and disobeyed with the sad record
of the fall and all their descendants of course are after their image
and after their likeness who can bring a clean thing out of
an unclean is the question put in the book of Job not one not
one all have sinned and come short of the glory of God but
the Lord Jesus is that one who is the righteous one he is without
any original sin he is free from the sin of Adam by that miracle
of his birth, the virgin birth and the words that the angel
is charged to speak to his virgin mother as she's told there in
Luke's gospel the Holy Ghost shall come upon thee the power
of the highest shall overshadow thee therefore also that holy
thing that holy thing that shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God. Oh, the human nature, free from
every taint of original sin, is mysteriously united to the
eternal Son of God. The great mystery of godliness. God was manifest in the flesh,
a sinless man, without original sin, and we know it was also
without any actual sins, when the fullness of the time has
come God sends forth his son made of a woman made under the
law he's free from sin in his birth but he will live a human
life and he'll live that life under the Lord of Gods and the
Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake says Isaiah
he will magnify the law and make it honourable how in his life
then he obeys the Father in all things. He comes not to do His
own will, but the will of the Father who has sent Him. And
He perfectly obeys every commandment in thoughts, in words, and in
deeds. And doesn't God refer to Him
in Isaiah 53, not just as My Servant, but My Righteous Servant?
My Righteous Servant shall justify men Oh, in life then he was holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher
than the heavens. Christ is that one who does the
right. And Christ is that one who speaks
the truth. What does he say here at the
end of this first verse? He speaks of that prayer that
goeth not out of feigned lips. He only ever spake the truth.
In another psalm, Psalm 45, where we read of the Saviour again,
it says, Grace is poured into thy lips. And as grace was poured
in, so truth was poured out. He is, as we see in Revelation,
the Amen, the faithful and true witness. He only ever speaks
the truth. He says himself in John 3.11,
Verily, verily, we speak that, we do know, and testify that
we have seen. He makes known the truth of God
as that One who is holy and righteous and just in all things. Oh, never
a man spake like this man, said those who were sent to watch
him by by the scribes and Pharisees. Never man spake like this man. What authority! When Jesus had
ended these sayings the people were astonished at his doctrine
we read at the end of the Sermon on the Mount. For he taught them
as one having authority and not as the scribes. And here he appeals to God in
the second verse, let my sentence come forth from thy presence
he says let thine eyes behold the things
that are equal O Christ speaks the truth in all his ministry
here upon the earth and thou by that ministry of course he
is ever separating the precious from the vile the word that's
given to the prophet Jeremiah if thou take forth the precious
from the vile thou shalt be as my mouth he is the mouth of God
And in that great day of judgment, all judgments committed to him,
he will make the final separation between the sheep and the goats.
He is the right, he is the just, as the margin says. And with
regards to the Lord Jesus Christ, do we not see him as one who
also prays sincerely? Hear the right, O Lord, attend
unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of
thine lips. How he prays with a sincere heart,
how when he comes before his Father, spending whole nights
in prayers, oh, there's wholeheartedness. How he feels as a man, he's complete,
he's utter dependence. those words that we have in Hebrews
5 who in the days of his flesh when he had offered up prayer
and supplication with strong crying and tears unto him that
was able to save him from death and was heard in that he feared
oh what fear was in his heart what real piety we see in the
Lord Jesus in his prayers though he were a son yet learned the
obedience by the things that he suffered Remarkable prayers
were those of the uttered. We find him there in the 11th
chapter of John at the grave of his friend Lazarus. How he is moved, how he groans
in himself. And he utters his prayers, knew
that thou hearest me always, he says, but because of the people
which stand by, I said it, that they may believe that thou hast
sent me." His prayers proceeding then out of unfamed lips. Oh, what sincerity, no deceit
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one then that we are
to recognize here. But also, what is true of Christ,
in some measure, is true of those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so, to say something in the second place of this text, these
opening verses, is the prayer of the justified sinner. Here
is the justified sinner, here the right, here the righteous,
the sinner can say. O LORD, attend unto my cry, give
ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of fine lips. Let my
sentence come forth from thy presence. Let thine eyes behold
the things that are equal. We think of the publican that
the Lord speaks of in Luke 18, those two men who go to the temple
at the hour of prayer, the self-righteous man, the Pharisee, praised us
with himself, his prayer centers only in himself and all that
he thinks he can boast of self, he's not as other men are, he's
certainly not like this publican. Oh no, he gives tithes, he fasts,
he appeals to his religious life to find acceptance with God and
then the Lord speaks of the other, the publican. Standing afar off,
he would not lift up his eyes to heaven. He smote upon his
breast and said, God, be merciful to me, the sinner. He is the sinner. The definite
article is really there in that verse. He is the sinner. He is the chief sinner. And he
asked God for mercy to be propitious. or to blot out all his transgressions
that's the publican and that's the man who goes to his house
justified says Christ rather than the other the Lord hears
that man he's the righteous man though he's a sinner that's the
wonder of grace isn't it that we're sinners and yet we can
say to God let my sentence come forth from thy presence because
justification is judicial God is the judge and he pronounces
the sinner not only free from all the guilt of his sin, but
also declares him righteous, because he is clothed with that
robe of righteousness and those garments of salvation. Blessed
is he whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputed, not iniquited. and in whose spirit there is
no guile. We read there in the language
of Psalm 32 in the opening verses. So similar really to what we
have here. Now what do we see with regards then to the prayer
of this justified sinner? I mentioned three things as we
come to some application. First of all, The justified sinner's
prayer is an earnest prayer. Look at the language that we
have. He says, hear, attend, give ear. Three times, you see, here in
the opening verse. And this isn't a matter of vain
repeating, vain repetition. The Lord rebukes that in His
Sermon on the Mount. When you pray, He says, use not
vain repetition as the heathen do, for they think that they
shall be heard for their much speaking. There is some repetition,
surely, in the particular verbs that are being used. When He
says to God, hear, hear the cry, attend, attend unto my prayer,
and then again give ear unto my prayer. What does it indicate? It indicates earnestness, vehemence
in his prayer. Luther makes the simple remark
concerning This man's prayer, he says, it is with great power
of feeling and many tears. As he utters his words before
God, that's how we're to come. You shall seek me, says the Lord
God, and find me when you shall search after me with all your
hearts. If we're earnest with God, we'll
be wholehearted. Isn't that the prayer that we
see in Jacob who becomes Israel? I will not let thee go, he says
to the angel of the Lord, I will not let thee go except thou bless
me. Who are we? Those who are Jacob's
spiritual children. Are we the true Israel of God? And is that evident in our prayers?
And I address myself as well as any of you tonight. What do
I know of such earnestness in prayer, such determination? Hear, attend, give ear. We want to have that assurance
that our prayer is not in vain, that the Lord is hearing, the
Lord is answering. But as the prayer is earnest,
so it is also, in the second place, sincere. As we see at
the end of verse 1, that goeth not out of feigned lips or as the margin says without
lips of deceit oh we're true when we come before
God we know we cannot deceive him men look on the outward appearance
the Lord looks upon the heart of men and is it true that our
heart is in our praying We read of that blessed man in
Psalm 32, the words I've already made some reference to, in whose
spirit there is no guile. Yes, he is washed, he's clean by and
through the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, he's covered, he's
clothed with the robe of righteousness. But also, there's an inward beauty
there, also. He's guileless. He's guileless. And that's what
the Lord looked for, surely, in His people. You know that passage in Isaiah
29. Again, it's taken up in the Gospel.
Isn't it in reference to the scribes and the Pharisees? in Isaiah 29, in verse 13, Wherefore
the Lord said, Forasmuch as these people draw near Me with their
mouth and with their lips to honour Me, but have removed their
heart far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the
precept of men, therefore, behold, I will proceed to do a marvellous
work among these people, even a marvellous work and a wonder.
For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding
of their prudent men shall be hid. Woe unto them! And so it
continues. The formalist. He has a form
of godliness, but knows nothing of the power of real religion. When the Lord looks upon Nathaniel's
heir in the opening chapter of John's Gospel, what does the
Lord say? Behold an Israelite indeed. in whom there is no guile. Ought to be Israelites, indeed,
the spiritual Israel of God, those in whom there is no guile. Here again in the third verse
of the psalm, there at the end of that verse, David says, I
am purpose that my soul shall not transgress. I am purpose
of my soul, shall not transgress." Oh, there's earnestness, there's
sincerity, and then finally here there's boldness in prayer. Hear
the right, O Lord. Isn't this really an appeal to
the Lord God to hear for the righteousness of Christ. Again in another Psalm, Psalm
84, Behold, O God, our shield, and look upon the face of thine
anointed. We have to appeal that God would
hear us only for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. If we
don't invoke that name, surely we're not praying at all. It's
only in Him. that we can have any boldness
in whom we have boldness as the Apostle and access with confidence
by the faith of Jesus Christ when we do see him and as I said
at the outset surely the Lord is here in these verses John Newton says I can no denial
take when I plead for Jesus sake or when we plead that name we
know that God will not deny us because when we come in Christ
God sees us as those who are righteous with the justified
sinners we can plead all that God is in all his holy attributes
we can plead not only the fact that he is merciful and gracious
full of loving kindness here in verse 7 we read of that marvelous
loving kindness or thou that savest by thy right hand them
that put their trust in thee. But besides pleading those attributes
of loving kindness and mercy and grace and love and all else,
the great compassion of God, we can also, when we come in
Christ, we can plead those attributes such as His holiness, His righteousness,
His justice, If we confess our sins, John says, he is faithful
and just to forgive us our sins, to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. In Christ, God's justice is very
much on the side of his people. The justified sinner has every
right to come before God and to come with that earnest, sincere,
and bold prayer that we see in David. Hear the right, O Lord,
attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not
out of thine lips. Let my sentence come forth from
thy presence. Let thine eyes behold the things
that are equal. O God, grant that we might know
the truth of it in our own hearts. Well, let us, before we Come
again to pray, sing our second praise. It's the hymn 100, sorry,
725, and the tune Clevegia, number 20. The sinner born of God, to
God will pour his prayer in sighs or groans or words expressed,
or in a falling tear. The hymn 725.