Let us turn once again to Psalm
109, and I'll read the opening four verses once more. Psalm
109, reading verses 1 to 4. Hold not thy peace, O God, of
my praise, for the mouth of the wicked and the mouth of the deceitful
are opened against me. They have spoken against me with
a lying tongue. They compassed me about also
with words of hatred and fought against me without a cause. For my love they are my adversaries,
but I give myself unto prayer. And I want really to take those
final words for our text, that last clause in verse 4, but I
give myself unto prayer. And we will observe here that
three of the words, six words in all in the clause, but three
of them appear in italics. And you know the significance
of that in our authorized version. It indicates that these are words
that are not a translation of any Hebrew word that is there. They've been introduced by the
translators in an attempt to bring out the significance, the
meaning of what's being stated. But if we omit those three added
words, we see something of the force of the language in the
original, because literally David says at the end of this verse,
but I pray, but I pray. It's a remarkable psalm, it's
what's called an imprecatory psalm. He prays a great deal
against his enemies. Even here of course in the opening
verses he speaks of all that they do against him. The wicked,
open their mouth. The deceitful also, they speak
with a lying tongue and he is very much praying against his
enemies. We'll come to explain something
of what is meant by these imprecatory Psalms. But what is David's reply
to all of this? Well here in the words of the
text and the thing that I want to take up tonight David says
but I prayer and what is the force of that language well really
he seems to be saying I and prayer are one prayer is part and parcel
of me prayer is really my spiritual self very striking thing that
the man says of himself now In another psalm, in Psalm 73, and
verse 22, we find these words, I was as a beast before thee,
says the psalmist. I was as a beast before thee. But again, if you turn to that
verse, you will see that there's a word, again in italics, and
it's the word AS. The translators have introduced
that word and understand that what the psalmist is using there
is a simile. I was as a beast. But in fact
what the psalmist says is more stark than that. He says not
I was as a beast, not using a simile really, he says I was a beast. I was a beast before me, before
God. Now, those who feel their sin,
and those who feel their beastliness, as it were, are the very people
who must pray. And so, I see a connection, really,
between those two Psalms, those two verses. What we have here,
in the end of this fourth verse, in the 109th Psalm, and what
we see there in Psalm 73, and the end of verse 22. in one sense
the man feels himself to be a beast in another sense he feels himself
to be all prayer and there's a connection I say between each
of them the beastliness of his life, the sinfulness of his life
and yet the continual necessity of calling upon God, praying
and as we come to look at these words in particular I want to
address the words from three particular perspectives. First
of all, from the perspective of David. And then to see David
here as one who sets before us something of the experience of
the believer. And then finally, to see the
words from the perspective of the Lord Jesus Christ. Because
David, of course, not only a king, a prophet, Many psalms are messianic
and there is a messianic element also to this particular psalm. It's not just David that's here
in the psalm, it's the Lord Jesus. But first of all, to say something
with regards to David. To look at what he is saying
here from the perspective of his own life and his own experiences. We have the title of the psalm,
and it's quite clearly stated here that it is a psalm of David. We often refer to the totality
of the book, 150 psalms, as the psalms of David, but they're
not all the psalms of David. But a great proportion of them
are. And there are many of the psalms
in which we learn in the title who the author is. And here,
there's no doubt, the title, as you know, is part and parcel
of the inspired Word of God. We don't query what's being said
because it's God's Word that we have in the very title. To
the chief musician, then it's a psalm of David. And we might
say that so many of these psalms are really a manual of the prayers
of David. the manual of prayers. I know
there are those who contend for exclusive psalmody in the worship
of God. They say that should be the regulative
principle in its application. We have a book of praises. It's
a book of psalms. We don't need to use those hymns
and songs that are the product of men. We have the inspired
psalms and we should use these in our in our worship, but the
Psalms are not just praises, they're also prayers. And I would
say to those people, well, is there a place for extemporary
prayer in our worship of God? Or should we just use the prayers
that we have in Scripture? Inspired prayers, as it were.
I think they go too far in saying that we must give ourselves to
the exclusive singing of the Psalms. Because, as I say, many
of the Psalms are really David's, and they're a great manual of
his prayers. Time and time again we see it.
Look, for example, at the language that we have earlier in the 55th
Psalm. And what does David say here?
Give ear to my prayer, O God, and hide not thyself from my
supplication. Attend unto me and hear me. I mourn in my complaints and
make the noise. It's David addressing God in
prayer. And then another example, Psalm
61. The Psalm of David. Hear my cry, O God. Attend unto
my prayer. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto them, when my heart is overwhelmed. Lead me to the
rock that is higher than I. O David is a man who here is
giving himself time and beguiling to prayers, addressing himself
to the Lord his God. Now it has been observed that
with regards to prayers A man stands in need of three things
if he's going to pray a rite. First of all, he will have a
very deep sense of his own need. He'll have a sense of need before
God. Secondly, he will feel that all
human help cannot help him. All human help fails him. and then thirdly he will need
the gracious help of the Holy Spirit the one who helps us in
all our infirmities when we know not what to pray for as we ought
well David certainly knew what it was to be in trouble he was
often in great need and there was none on hand at all who could
assist him in any way afford any help to him He was a man
who was continually led in very trying paths. A man who time
and again we find passing through deep waters. We read something
of course of his experiences there in the two books of Samuel. And what trials, what troubles
this man has to pass through. So much painful exercise even
in his own soul. And yet in all of these various
vicissitudes of his life we see prayer flourishing in the man. Or there were those outward trials,
how time and again he would have to flee from King Saul how cruel
Saul was in his treatments of the young man. And we see it
in the titles of so many of the Psalms. The 57th Psalm, for example. Again, we're told it's to the
chief musician. It's obviously one that's going
to be used in the praises of God in the tabernacle. And then
we're told something about the musical setting, Altasgith. It's
a miktam, the psalm giving instruction. The psalmist died. And when was
it? When he fled from Saul in the
cave. And he's having to hide himself with his men because
Saul's at hand and Saul will persecute him. He cries out in that 57th Psalm,
my soul is among lions. That's how he felt, you see,
Saul and all his men about him, and David in the gravest of danger. My soul is among lions, he says,
and I lie even among them that are set on fire. Even the sons
of men whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue
is a sharp sword. He says to his friends, Jonathan,
the son of Saul, there is but a step between me and death.
That's how he felt. My next step will be my last.
I'm going to be taken. I'm going to die. No prospect. And as I said here, in this particular
109th Psalm, he's very much aware of his enemies. He's praying
against his enemies. In that sense it's an imprecatory
psalm. But it's interesting, I think
I've mentioned this before, because Isaac Watts, we're familiar with
his hymns, but initially Isaac Watts sets out with his wonderful
poetic gift to to set the whole book of Psalms as it were in
Christian dress. That's how he approaches the
book of Psalms. He writes paraphrases on all
the Psalms. If you ever see it on a second-hand
bookshelf, do acquire a copy of Watts' Psalms of David. And He writes forward and explains
how he has approached his subject. He wants to take the Psalms of
the Old Testament, he says, and he wants to dress them in a Christian
dress. As I said, so many are Messianic,
they speak of Christ, but we don't have the name of Christ.
But when it comes to these sort of Psalms, where David is praying
very specifically against his enemies, this is what says, I
have endeavored, he says, to turn the edge of them against
our spiritual adversaries, against sin, Satan and temptation. We don't pray against our enemies,
we pray for them, don't we? That's the Christian spirit.
So what are we to make of these Psalms under the Old Testament
dispensation? Well, I think Watts gives us
some good counsel. We turn the edge of these Psalms
against our spiritual adversaries, those great enemies, sin and
Satan and his temptation, even against ourselves and our own
nature. And you see, David was aware
of his inward foes. Oh, what troubles David knew. It wasn't just those enemies
that were without. What of himself? Oh, he was a
man who had an acute awareness of his sinfulness. He knew what
he was before God. He knew that his righteousnesses
were filthy rags he would make mention, he says, to God of thy
righteousness, even of thine own, in the language of Psalm
71. And see how he confesses his sin there in the 38th Psalm. He says at verse 6, I am troubled.
I am bagged down greatly, I go mourning all the day long, for
my loins are filled with a loathsome disease. And there is no soundness
in my flesh, I am feeble and so broken, I have roared by reason
of the disquietness of my heart, and yet all these desire is there
before God. And he goes on, in verse 18,
I will declare mine iniquity, I will be sorry for my sin. We
felt he had an old nature, a sinful nature, and he feels it and he
confesses it. by the Apostle I know that in
me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing for when I would
do good evil is present with me for the good which I would
I do not and the evil which I would not that I do O wretched man
that I am says Paul who shall deliver me from the burden of
this death and then I thank God O I thank God through Jesus Christ
So, David says, refuge failed me. No man cared for my soul. Oh, he felt it, you see. What
did he need then? He needed the Spirit of God. And yet, he also recognizes how
he sinned against the Spirit of God. He feels it, doesn't
he? In Psalm 51, he cries out, take
not thy Holy Spirit from me. That was his great fear. Now
he had sinned with such a high hand. Is God going to leave him
now to himself? Is he going to know nothing of
that gracious ministry of the Holy Ghost? It is the Spirit
who helpeth our infirmities. As Paul says, we know not what
to pray for as we walk. But the Spirit helps our infirmities
and makes intercession for us with those groanings that cannot
be uttered. And so, David, here in the psalm,
or how he wants to give himself to this exercise of prayer, and
he cries out in verse 26, Help me, O Lord my God, O save me
according to thy mercy. Or we spoke, or tried to speak
a little this morning of that mercy of God. Blessed are the merciful, they
shall obtain mercy. And you know I was thinking,
in fact I was reminded of it this afternoon. I wasn't preaching
at Hegend, I had the privilege of sitting there in the pew and
hearing another preach, it was Martin Humphrey. But in the course
of his preaching, he did make reference to the psalm. And that psalm where we have
that blessed refrain, remember Psalm 136, O give thanks unto the Lord,
for He is good, for His mercy endureth forever. O give thanks
unto the God of gods, for His mercy endureth forever. O give
thanks to the Lord of lords, for His mercy endureth forever.
26 verses in all and that refrain at the end of every one of the
verses for His mercy endureth forever. God is a merciful God.
And this was what David looked to in his prayer. As I say, we
have it here in this 109th Psalm. Help me, O Lord
my God, O save me according to Thy mercy. God is a merciful
God, ready to forgive. I will cry unto God's Most High,
he says, unto God that performeth all things for me. And so, what is his life? It's a life in which he has to
live on God and live off God. It's a life of prayer. Isn't
that what he's saying here in the text? But I give myself unto prayer But I prayer, I'm all prayer,
what else can I do? I can only look to God. He performs
everything for me. I have to live that life of dependence. Isn't that the life of faith?
God does perform everything for His people. God is. What a blessing that is. There
is a God. The fool says in his heart there's
no God. God is. And He is the I am. but I am he always was he always
will be and he is able always able to do all things nothing
is impossible with God and he is a God who is willing how he is pleased to favor the sinful
sons of men Psalm 65 and those words in the
third verse, iniquities prevail against me. Says David, as for our transgressions,
they will purge them away. Or God purges the sinner. And
we have to pray to him that he would do that very thing for
us. We need praying faith. And what is praying faith? It's
that faith that comes by the operation of God. Do you remember
how we have that great promise at the end of the Old Testament
really? Zechariah, the last but one book
of the Old Testament Scriptures. God says there, I will pour upon
the house of David and the inhabitants of Jerusalem the spirit of grace
and supplications. and they shall look upon me whom
they have pierced and shall mourn for him as one mourner for an
only son and be in bitterness as one that is in bitterness
for a firstborn child God's promise is going to pour out that spirit
of grace and of supplications that's the Holy Spirit and David
knew him David knew that he would be nothing without
the Blessed Spirit take not thy Holy Spirit from but then surely these things
in the Old Testament as Paul says in the New Testament are
all written for our learning that we through patience and
comfort of the Scriptures might have hope is that how we come
to the Word of God, is that how we come to the Old Testament
We don't just study it, it's good to study the Word of God,
it's good to examine it closely, carefully. It's good to use those
helps that are provided, commentaries and the like. But do we come
wanting to find some encouragement, some food for our souls when
we turn to the Old Testament Scriptures? These things are
written for our learning. All the things that happened
unto them, says the Apostle writing down in 1 Corinthians 10. They
happened unto them for ensamples or types and they're written
for our admonition upon whom the ends of the world are come.
The ends of the world, this is the day in which we're living,
the last days, the gospel days. And all that we have here in
the Old Testament it's an ensample, it's a type,
that's what the word literally means there in that 10th chapter
of 1st Corinthians whatever things happened unto them were ensamples or types and David
in that sense sets before us something of the experience of
believers if we profess to be followers
of the Lord Jesus, believers In Him, can we say sincerely
tonight before God, but I pray. That is my true self. That is
the real me. Can we say that? Can I say that?
I fear if I was to utter such a word before God, I might feel
rather hypocritical. What do I know of prayer like
David knew prayer? Think of the words of the Apostle
Paul though, where there in Romans 7 he's struggling, isn't he?
Struggling with himself, struggling with his own nature. He knows
how the spirit lost against the flesh, and the flesh against
the spirit, and these two are contrary one to the other. And
you cannot do what you would, he says there in Galatians 5,
but when we come to that remarkable seventh chapter in the epistle
to the Romans how we see the struggle and then we come to
the end of the chapter and he says I thank God through Jesus
Christ our Lord so then with the mind I myself serve the Lord
of God but with the flesh the Lord of sin That's the answer, isn't it?
We've referred to the passage already. He says, "...shall deliver
me from the body of this death. All the good that I would, I
do not. The evil that I would, not that I do." He feels himself
a wretched man. Who's going to deliver him? I
thank them. Through Jesus Christ our Lord,
all his salvation is in Christ. But it's those words that follow.
So then he says with the mind, I myself serve the Lord of God,
but with the flesh the Lord of sin. You know, I've heard some
say of Paul there, he's like a schizophrenic, he has a split
personality. He's no schizophrenic. As he
says there at the end of that chapter, his true self, his real
self, is the new man of Christ. He was a sinner born again by
the Spirit of God. He was a partaker of the divine
nature. He was in Christ Jesus, and if
any man is in Christ Jesus, he's a new creature. And so what does
he say with the mind, I myself? Oh, it's emphatic, so emphatic,
and it's brought out there in our English version. It doesn't
just say with the mind, I serve the Lord of God, he says, with
the mind, I myself, that's the real me. That's the real me. That's my true self. I want to
be all prayer, I want to live that life of complete and utter
dependence upon the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, is that true of us? Is that true of you? Is that
true of me? Christ said, didn't he, men ought
always to pray and not to faint. Well, I'm good at fainting in
prayer. We faint so often in prayer.
I try to pray. Maybe you're like me, you wake
in the small hours and you think, well, here's an opportunity. I can't catch my sleep, I'll
try to pray. Before I know where I am, I'm
hardly aware of what I'm doing. I'm fainting. Men ought always to pray and
not to faint as Christ. And they don't pray in vain.
He goes on to say, "...shall not God avenge His own elect
which cry day and night unto Him?" He says, I tell you, He'll
avenge them speedily. nevertheless when the son of
man cometh shall he find faith in the earth oh we have so many exhortations
to to prayer when we come to the end of the epistles of Paul
and he's giving that practical instruction of those exhortations
be careful for nothing but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgivings let your requests be made known unto God continue
instant in prayer and watching the sign with thanksgiving. Pray without ceasing. You know
how you read these epistles and when you come to those closing
chapters and closing verses, all these exhortations. And of course we see it so remarkably,
don't we, in the experience of Paul himself. He was a Pharisee,
he was the son of a Pharisee, touching the righteousness which
is of the law. He thought he was blameless. He really thought that. He, as
a Pharisee, he would observe all the necessary hours of prayer.
He would pray long prayers, long prayers. And yet, did he ever
pray at all when he was a Pharisee? How Ananias is assured there
in Acts 9 when this great persecutor of Christians, Saul of Tarsus,
has come to Damascus. He's going to lay hold upon believers.
He's going to take them to Jerusalem. He's bent on the destruction
of these Christians. and the Lord arrests him he's
apprehended of Christ Jesus and he's blinded and he's led into
the city and he goes to the street called Strait and he's there
and Ananias the disciple of Christ is told to go and anoint this
man he is the Lord's vessel he's going to be the apostle to the
Gentiles what a message is this that comes to this man doubtless
he knew that Saul was a persecutor And yet now is to go where this
man is and to anoint him. And now is he assured. Well the
Lord says there, Acts 9.11, Behold he prayeth. There's your assurance
Ananias. You'll find this man praying. But not praying like the Pharisees.
of whom the Lord speaks in the gospel, those two men who go
to the temple at the hour of prayer, the one a Pharisee, we
referred to the portion this morning, the
difference between the Pharisee and the publican, the publican
who stands afar off and cries, God be merciful, God be propitious
to me, a sinner. the pharisee while his prayer
goes no further than himself he prayed thus with himself it
was inward prayer I suppose but he went no further than himself
oh but how different you see and Ananias assured them that
this man there was a genuine follower of the Lord Jesus he's
a praying man that I give myself unto prayer
that I pray, I'm all prayer. Toplady says the Christian is
all over prayer. He prays at rising, he prays
at lying down, he prays as he walks by the way. He's always
praying. Isn't it in many ways the best
part of all that great armor that the Lord God has provided
for his people? Remember there in Ephesians 6
we read of the various parts of that spiritual armour and
then we come to the end and Paul wraps it all up when he says,
praying always with all prayer and supplication in the spirit
and watching there on too with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints and for me that utterance may be given unto me
that I may open my mouth boldly to make known the mystery of
the gospel." Paul doesn't just pray himself,
he wants the prayer of others. And he'll encourage others in
praying, praying always, with all prayer and supplication in
the spirit, watching thereunto. This is how God's people are
to live their lives. The weapons of our warfare. They
are not carnal, they are mighty through God to the pulling down
of strongholds. Or do we believe that? Remember
how it was said of Mary, Queen of Scots, that she feared the
prayers of John Knox more than all the armies of Europe. she was of course a very devout
papist, was Mary Queen of Scots and Knox was the great leader
of the Reformation, the Protestant Reformation there in Scotland
but how that woman feared the man, what did she fear? She feared
his prayers why Satan trembles when he sees the weakest saint
upon his knees says William Cooper in the hymn 394 It's the greatest of all our
weapons, prayer. And here in the psalm we see
our prayers time and again become praises. The psalm begins, All
not thy peace, O God of my praise. And how does the psalm finish? It finishes really on the same
note. Verse 30, I will greatly praise the Lord with my mouth
Yea, I will praise Him among the multitude. All will have
cause, you see, if we try to praise the Lord, because He hears
and He answers all our prayers. And we're to come and we're to
return thanks to Him. Be careful for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving. Or do we thank
God that He's heard us, He's attended to us, He's dealt so
graciously with us. We're not worthy of the least
of His favours. And all the truth that He shows
us, He is a God so good and so gracious. And so the believer
will want to say what David says, but I prayer prayer is my real
self I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me and gave
himself for me and so finally here as I said the psalm speaks
of Christ the words that we have in verse
8 and the end of that verse let his days be few let another take
his office and those words are referred to in Acts chapter 1
and verse 20 it is written in the book of Psalms let his habitation
be desolate and let no man dwell therein and let his bishopric
be given to another and those are the words that
we have here at the end of the psalm let another take his office
it's a prophetic word it's fulfilled in Judas Iscariot who betrayed
the Lord it's in this part of the psalm
where we find David so much praying against his enemy but you see
David's greatest son is here and not only there again in verse
Verse 25, do we not see something of Christ and His experience?
He says, I became also reproached unto them when they looked upon
me, they shaked their heads. When they looked upon them. Now
how they shake their heads. They that pass by, we're told,
at the crucifixion. How they reviled Him, wagging
their heads and saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and says that they're going to
erect it in three days come down from the cross, save thyself and we'll believe we'll believe
that you're the son of God that's how they taunted him and mocked
him and scoffed at him the psalmist here is speaking really as the
mouthpiece of the Lord Jesus Christ and if ever if ever one
could say but I pray, oh it was that man you know it was the
man Christ Jesus who lived the life of prayer in the state of
his humiliation that was his life who in the days of his flesh
when he 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 though he were a son, yet learned the
obedience by the things that he suffered. He was, he is, the
eternal son of God, but he became the son of man. And as a man
now he lived his life, a life of supplication and prayers and
strong crying and tears unto God. Why, we're told, aren't
we, that we would spend whole nights in prayer to God. He lived
that life. And when we see him at the end
being in an agony there in the garden, all his bitter experience
in Gethsemane, being in an agony, he prayed more earnestly, and
his sweat was like drops of blood falling to the ground. How he
prayed, how he prayed upon the cross, how he cried with a loud
voice saying, Ila ila ila ma sabachthanah, The opening words
of Psalm 22, My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me? What a remarkable prayer. He
feels forsaken. And yet, he uses a language of
appropriation. He doesn't say, God, why hast
thou forsaken me? No, he says, My God, My God, it's a prayer of faith in all
the awful dereliction that he felt in his own soul he's making
his soul an offering for sin that man who was holy and harmless
and undefiled and separate from sinners and made higher than
the heavens he was made sin he suffered as the great sin bearer
there upon the cross all his humiliation here upon the earth
What a man of prayer was the Lord Jesus. I give myself unto
prayer, he sings. But I pray. But now he's no longer
in that state of humiliation. God has highly exalted him. He's
risen from the dead. He's ascended on high. He's entered
heaven itself. And there he is. that the Father's
right hand and He ever lives to make intercession. We praise. He is able to save to the uttermost
all that come unto God by Him for He ever liveth to make intercession
for them. And such an High Priest became
us. And that expression became us
literally means He suited us. All this High Priest, He suits
us. He's holy, He's harmless, He's
undefiled. He's separate from sinners. He's
made higher than the heavens now. And you see, if we do but
invoke His name, that's the name we have to plead, isn't it? I
tire, I don't know, maybe you don't listen to things on the
radio. I do sometimes, early in the morning, I think, well,
I'll listen to Prayer for the Day on Radio 4 at 6.30. Prayer
for the day, they call it. All sorts of weird and wonderful
things are said. There's nothing very Christian
about it. Very, very rarely do you hear
anything of the name of Christ. No invoking of that name. That's
not prayer. That's not prayer. Prayer must
be made in His name. There is one God, and there is
one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. He
is the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh unto the
Father but by Him. Friends, if we do but plead that
name in our prayers, oh, the Lord God, enable us then to be
looking to Him. Yes, we see David in the psalm. Maybe in some ways we can relate
to David. But we see a greater than David.
We see the Lord Jesus, David's greatest son, David's Lord. And He is the one to whom we
have to look and come and cry to. That God, for His sake, will
hear us in our prayers and do for us all those things that
we cannot do for ourselves. We have to live, you see, to
prove that salvation is of the Lord. It belongs to God. And God's granted it might be
our portion for the sake of the Lord Jesus Christ. May the Lord
be pleased to bless his word to us. We're going to sing our
closing praise. The final hymn today, 1036, and
the tune Eden 327. Seeking my face, the Saviour
cries, My soul, where canst thou find supplies? But in the Lamb
for sinners slain, Who has not shed his blood in vain. The Hymn 1036, June 327. My shoulder counts the fights
she fights. God's love shed its blood in
her lips. God's bitter anguish will fill
thy heart and make thee God's grace and gently taking
care of your poor and needy to stay to love you. Embarrassed by the gift of grace,
anxious to know Thou shalt obtain the blessing
yet, Jesus will not, by Christ, forget. Wait on the Lord, take
courage still, His promise Oh see