Let us turn then to the psalm
that we've just read, Psalm 20. And I want us to consider the
content of this psalm. We've been looking at psalms
the last couple of weeks. Last week we were in Psalm 80. Previous to that I think we were
in Psalm 34. But tonight turning to the content
of Psalm 20 which we read, I'll read again at verse 6. The psalm
of David, and he says, now know I that the Lord saveth his anointed.
You will hear him from his holy heaven with the saving strength
of his right hand. David, of course, himself, the
anointed one of all the sons of Jesse, It was David who was
chosen to be king in Israel, the one that must be anointed
by the prophet Samuel. But there is surely a greater
than David being spoken of in this sixth verse and in fact
throughout the psalm. The psalm is messianic then in
its content. Speaks of the Lord Jesus. And
one of the great beauty of the book of Psalms, as we've said
before, is the fact that here, in a sense, we see God drawing
back the veil, and we look into the very soul of the Lord Jesus
Christ. The Psalms, of course, are so
experimental in their content, as the Psalmist, time and again,
is pouring out his soul to God in his prayers. If Christ is in the Psalms, and
he's certainly in this particular Psalm, we can look in some measure
into his very soul. Remember the language that we
have in Isaiah 53, and there at verse 10 if we read with the
margin, when his soul shall make an offering for sin, or the sacrifice
of the Lord Jesus involved in pouring out his soul, unto death,
the soul of Christ's suffering was really that, the suffering
of his soul the physical aspect of course
of crucifixion, it was a terrible death, the most cruel form of
execution that were not to be taken up all together with that
physical side of what he had to endure all that agony in his
body but also the contradiction of sinners against himself but
above all what he suffered at the hand of God when he made
that great sin atoning sacrifice the sufferings of his soul well
here in the psalm we do see the Lord Jesus Christ and we see
him very much as a sacrificing priest what do we read In verse three, remember all
thy offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifice. That's the prayer that's being
spoken of, the Lord hear thee. In the day of trouble, remember
all thy offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifice. Christ himself is the great antitype
of all those Levitical sacrifices. The book of Leviticus really
is very much a gospel book and it speaks of what was to be presented
to God in the worship. There were to be burnt offerings
and sin offerings and trespass offerings and peace offerings.
and all of them ultimately pointing to that one who would come not
only as the great high priest, the fulfillment of the Aaronic
priesthood, a priest after the order of Melchizedek, but also
the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. And, as
you know, it's the book of Hebrews really that answers to those
things that we read in the book of Leviticus. And in Hebrews
chapter 10, for example, verse 11, we are told, Every priest
standeth daily ministering, and offering oftentimes the same
sacrifices, which can never take away sin. But this man, speaking
of the Lord Jesus, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins
forever, sat down on the right hand of God, from henceforth
expecting till his enemies be made his footstool, for by one
offering he hath perfected forever them that are sanctified." His
offering up of himself has been accepted. Previously there in
that chapter in Hebrews, Paul says every priest as he stands
daily, he's offering that that is the fulfillment really of
all that's contained in the book of Leviticus. He's the antitype.
He says it's not possible that the blood of bulls and of goats
should take away sins. Wherefore when he cometh into
the world, the promised Messiah, when he cometh into the world,
he saith sacrifice and offering thou wouldst not but a body as
thou prepared mine. He is manifest in the flesh,
he becomes a real man in order that he might make the sin atoning
sacrifice. And here we have God remembering,
remember all thy offerings and accept thy burnt sacrifice, Selah. But the real emphasis in this
psalm is on the fact that Christ is that one who is more than
a sacrificing priest he's also a supplicating priest he prays
and isn't this what we see really in so much of the psalm in those
opening two verses the Lord hears them in the day of trouble the
name of the God of Jacob defend them send thee help from the
sanctuary and strengthen thee out of zion the end of verse
five the Lord fulfill all thy petitions. Then again in verse
6, he will hear him from his holy heaven. And then when we
come to the end in verse 9, let the King hear us when we call. There's certainly an emphasis
upon prayers and the prayers upon this one who is referred
to as his anointed. The Lord Jesus was very much
a praying priest. Even in the days of His humility
here upon the earth, living the life of faith, He would spend
much time, whole nights in prayer to His Father in heaven. And how He was heard, how He
was answered. Remember what we're told in the 11th chapter of John
where we see him at the grave of his friend Lazarus and how
he was heard and he was answered. There in John 11 verse 41, Father,
I thank Thee, He says, that Thou hast heard me. And I knew that
Thou hearest me always, but because of the people which stand by,
I said it, that they may believe that Thou hast sent me. He prays. He prays there at the grave before
he performs that remarkable miracle and calls a man who was dead
and had been in the grave for four days and calls him back
to life. And how did the Lord pray for
Lazarus? Well, he prayed with groanings. Well, we see something there,
surely, of what was transpiring in the soul of the Lord Jesus
in that 11th chapter of John. At verse 33, He groaned, it says,
in the Spirit and was troubled. what it is to groan in the Spirit,
to be troubled when we come to pray. And there are times, are
there not, when such is our situation, the circumstances that we find
ourselves in, we can't articulate, we can't find words to say, and
we groan, and we're troubled. What a comfort it is to know
that the Lord Jesus would pray in such a fashion as that, when
He's standing there at the grave of His friend, The sisters of
Lazarus, Mary and Martha, so heartbroken. Again there in verse
38 of that chapter, it says, Therefore Jesus, again groaning
in himself. This is how the Lord prays. He's a praying priest. He supplicates
for his people. Those words that we many times
refer to in Hebrews 5 concerning him who in the days of his flesh
When he had offered up prayer and supplication, it says, with
strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him
from death and was heard in that he feared. All the fear of God
was in his soul. Though he were a son, yet learned
the obedience by the things that he suffered. The Lord knew what
it was to have days of trouble. And so we have it spoken of here
in the opening verse of the psalm the Lord hear thee in the day
of trouble I suppose that was a day of trouble when he was
there at the grave of Lazarus but he knew personal troubles
himself all that he had to suffer there at Golgotha but previous
to that when we see him wrestling in prayers in the garden of Gethsemane
were not these days of trouble to the Lord Jesus and we're told
aren't we of the agony that he was feeling in his soul there
in the garden being in an agony he prayed more earnestly and
his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. How the Lord felt it you see, the reality
of the human nature of the Lord Jesus. The hymn writer says concerning
that incident when an angel appears to strengthen him. Dispatched
from heaven an angel stood amazed to find him bathed in blood adored
by angels and obeyed. But lower now than angels made. He was made a little lower than
the angels for the suffering of death. And he knew something
of that ministry then of the angels. He prays. He's a supplicating
priest. And what are his prayers? He
prays at times with groanings. But it's interesting what we
have here concerning prayer in verse 4. Grant thee according
to thine own heart and fulfil all thy counsel. Christ in prayer
expressed his own counsel. that's a remarkable statement
that God would fulfill the counsel of a man how the Lord could speak
with great boldness when he comes to address his father in prayers
he could speak as no other man could ever speak in prayer and
we see it of course so remarkably in that great high priestly prayer
of John 17 and verse 24 he says father I will Father, I will, that they also,
whom thou hast given me, be with me where I am, that they may
behold my glory, which thou hast given me, for thou lovest me
before the foundation of the world. Only the Lord Jesus surely
could utter such words as those. Father, I will. When we pray,
Christ tells us in the pattern prayer, we are to say, Thy will
be done, in earth as it is in heaven.
But how the Lord Jesus could come and pray to the Father as
one who is equal to the Father. And we see it certainly there
earlier in that 17th chapter of John at verse 9. He says,
I pray for them. I pray not for the world, but
for them which thou hast given me out of the word, for they
are thine." Now, the interesting thing there is the particular
verb that is used, the word pray, the verb that's used. There are
two verbs for prayer. And what we have there in that
ninth verse is the stronger of those two verbs. I pray for them. It's not that
he's making petition as a creature addressing his Creator. That's
not the force of the word that's used there. It's more the request
of the Son to the Father. They stand on equal footing. The doctrine of the Trinity,
of course, three persons in one Godhead, Father, Son and Holy
Ghost, and they are all eternal, co-eternal, and they are all
equal. There's no inferiority or superiority
in the Godheads. They're all, each of them, gods. And so when the Lord prays in
that fashion, I pray for them, I pray not for the world. How
the Lord prays for His people and He prays for them, you see,
as one who has authority. The prayer then is that God will
fulfill all his counsel. All his counsel is party, of
course, to the great covenant of grace. That covenant that was entered
into by the Father and the Son with the Holy Spirit. wherein
he willingly becomes the servant of God, yes, in the outworking
of that covenant. But he is never, whilst he is
in that state of humiliation here upon the earth, anything
less than true almighty God. He is always the eternal son
of the eternal father. Oh the Lord Jesus Christ, he
is that one really who is the rock of salvation. He stands on equal footing with
the Father. and with the Holy Ghost and of
course that's where we stand we stand on Him in another psalm
David prays when my heart is overwhelmed lead me to the rock
that is higher than I those times when we feel to be so overwhelmed
where can we look where can we go where can we stand now we
need to pray with David lead me to the rock that is higher
than I. And that word that the Lord God
speaks to Moses back in Exodus 33 where we have that whole incident
of the children of Israel and the great fall of the sin of
the golden calf and God sending Moses from the mountain, the
breaking of the tables of the law, the covenant has been broken
and God would disinherit them and Moses is the one who He's
the mediator, he stands in the bridge, he pleads for them. And
what does God say to him there, at the end of Exodus 33? Behold,
there is a place by mine, and thou shalt stand upon a rock,
says God, and I will put thee in a cliff of the rock. Oh, that's
where we stand, and we see it really in the Psalm here. Because
the end of that opening verse, the name of the God of Jacob,
defend thee. We're told in the margin, the
Hebrew literally reads, set thee on an high place. The name of
the God of Jacob, set thee on an high place. That's how God
defends us. He stands us upon the Lord Jesus
Christ, and that's how we come, of course, before God in our
prayers. Remember the words that we have in that lovely hymn,
The Sands of Time are Sinking, based on the The letters really
of Samuel Rutherford I think all told there are about I think
there are about 19 verses in the original poem which was written
by the wife of a Free Church of Scotland minister back in
the 1850s based on Rutherford's letters and we have those lines
I stand upon his merit I know no other stand not here where
glory dwelleth in Emmanuel's land Oh, we are those then who
are to stand upon that rock which is the Lord Jesus Christ. And
surely, there in Exodus 33, there's no disputing that what the Lord
God is speaking of when He addresses His servant Moses, Behold, there
is a place by me, and thou shalt stand upon a rock. Well, 1 Corinthians
10, that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock
was Christ. That rock was Christ. And so
what do we read here? Now know I that the Lord saveth
his anointed, he will hear him from his holy heaven, with the
saving strength of his right hand, some trust in chariots
and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord
our God. And what is it to remember that
name? All that name, it reminds us how God has revealed himself. He declares himself in his name.
And they shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his
people from their sins. The name of the Lord, our God. It's the covenant name, isn't
it? There at the end of verse 7. This is what we remember then
as we come before God in our prayers. We look to that one
who is our The Rock of Salvation, a great high priest, he's a sacrificing
priest, he's made the great sin atoning sacrifice. And he is a supplicating priest,
he has now entered heaven itself where he ever lives to make intercession.
And then finally, we have to remember how that he is a sympathetic
priest. He's a sympathetic priest. Although
this psalm is primarily a messianic psalm, we have to recognize it's
also a psalm of David. That's what it says, the title
of the psalm, to the chief musician, a psalm of David. And isn't David as we see time
and again in the Psalms, writing out of his own experiences. Often
in the title, of course, we're told something of the circumstances
out of which he was moved to write the psalm, and he was inspired
of the Spirit. The Spirit doesn't just, as it
were, impassively take words to him, and unfeelingly he writes
them down. No, he's being doubted by the
Lord God and he's brought into circumstances and situations
that cause him to write as he does. It's the wonder, the miracle
of divine inspiration. But he writes out of his experiences.
What did David know? He knew many trials, many troubles. how he was in the midst of tribulation,
persecution even how King Saul would have destroyed him, killed
him and even when he's established in the kingdom he's a man of
blood, he's involved in conflicts with the enemies of Israel but
he has many troubles even amongst his own family the rebellion
of his beloved son Absalom and you remember how when we see
him at the end of his days and his comfort is all in the covenant
all God had made with him an everlasting covenant ordered
in all things and sure he says this is all my salvation and
all my desire although my house be not so with God he could sympathize could this
man he could sympathize with others he knew what it was David
did to have to live the life of faith and have to call upon
the Lord his God and so he advises us the Lord hear thee in the
day of trouble the name of the God of Jacob defend thee send
thee help from the sanctuary strengthen thee out of Zion we
will rejoice in thy salvation and in the name of our God we
will set up our banners and then Again, at verse 7, some trust
in chariots, some in horses, but we will remember the name
of the Lord our God. They are brought down and fallen,
but we are risen and stand upright. He's speaking from experience
and exhorting and encouraging others to look to the Lord God.
He can sympathize with those who are in trouble. Well, if
all that is true of David, how much more of our Lord Jesus Christ. He is that one who is truly the
great sympathetic priest. We have not a high priest which
cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. All the emphasis
that we have there with the double negative, we have not a high
priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
How touched he is! tempted in all points like as
we are yet without sin. Therefore says Paul, or he makes
his blessed deduction, let us come boldly to the throne of
grace that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in every
time of need. The Lord knew what it was to
be in a time of need. He knew what sore temptations
and troubles were. And how suited He is to us, such
an High Priest became us. He's suited to us. Holy, harmless,
undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than the heavens. And this is the one, then, that
we have in the psalm. Know, know I, that the Lord saveth
His Anointed. He will hear Him from His holy
heaven with the saving strength of His right hand. What do we
see then here in this particular psalm? The Lord hears His anointed
one. The Lord hears His anointed one. And the Lord will hear us when
we come by and through Him, who is the only Saviour, the only
Mediator, the Great High Priest. that one who has sacrificed,
that one who supplicates, that one who sympathizes, that one
who is to us the rock of our salvation. Oh, the Lord help
us in tonight as we come before the Lord that He will He will heal us, He will save
us because we're those who are resting and trusting in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Well, the Lord bless His word
Let us sing our second praise. We're going to sing the hymn
number 117, and the tune is Sordy 231. Awake, sweet gratitude,
and sing the Ascended Saviour's love. Sing how He lives to carry
on His people's cause above. With cries and tears He offered
up His humble suit below. But with authority, he asks,
enthroned in glory now, 117 and soon 231.