Well, let us turn again to the
Word of God in the psalm that we've just read, Psalm 17, and
directing you for a while tonight to the words that we have in
the opening. verse, particularly the opening words of verse 1.
Here, the writes, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my
prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. In Psalm 17 and
verse 1. To say something then of this
prayer, the prayer of the righteous, how David opens with those words,
hear the rights O Lord, the prayer of the righteous. Now, who is
it that can pray in such a manner as this? Christ only in the fullest,
the completest sense could utter such words. And of course, we
see Christ very much in the Book of Psalms. So many of the Psalms
are evidently messianic, And the language belongs to Christ. Previously in Psalm 7 and verse
8, we have this prayer, Judge me, O Lord, according to my righteousness. and according to mine integrity
that is in me." Well, who could pray such a petition? None but
the Lord Jesus Christ. But also those who would come
to God in and through Him, looking to Him as that One who is the
Mediator, they also can come and are involved in these prayers. We know there is one God and
one Mediator, between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, the
one who said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh
unto the Father but by me. And think of the language of
the apostle writing there in his epistle to the Ephesians
in chapter 3, verse 12, he says, concerning Christ in whom we
have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him
and then again in chapter 2 at verse 18 through him we both
that is the jew and the gentile through him that is christ we
both have access by one spirit onto the father so whilst the
psalm is speaking to us of Christ, and I want to go on to demonstrate
that presently, yet also it's a psalm that belongs unto those
who would come by and through Christ, and we'll say something
also of those who are thus seeking after God. Think of the language
again of Paul there at the end of Hebrews chapter 4, concerning
the one who is our great high priest. We have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities,
but was tempted in all points like as we are. Therefore, he
says, let us come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain
mercy and find grace to help in time of need. And we come
together again for that very purpose that we might present
our prayers and our petitions together with our praises and
our thanksgivings unto the Lord. First then, to say something
with regards to the Savior, as we see Him here in these opening
words of the psalm. The psalm is messianic. Now, really, of course, the opening
words are not what we have before us in the first verse. The opening
words are in what we have as the title of the psalm. If I'm
right, I stand to be corrected, but I believe that in the Dutch
Bible the titles do in fact form the first verse of each of the
psalms. So, really, the psalm opens a prayer of David. Now, who is David? Well, of course,
we know historically the references to the son of Jessel, who was
anointed by Samuel to be king in Israel. But think of the name
and the significance of the name David. What does it mean? It
means the Beloved. And isn't that a name that belongs
principally to the Lord Jesus Christ? How the church, the people
of God, refer to Him as the Beloved. We see it in that Song of Solomon
there in chapter 6 and verse 2. My Beloved, says the spouse,
is gone down into his garden. How God's people are those who
can refer to the Lord Jesus as their beloved, my beloved, that
language of appropriation. Or we love Him because He has
first loved us. And it's not just the Church
who gives that name to the Lord Jesus Christ. God also calls
Christ by the very same name. We have it there in the Gospel.
When the Lord is beginning His public ministry after being baptized
of John in the river Jordan, now He comes to fulfill all righteousness. He submits to that baptism. And
remember, as He comes forth from the waters of baptism, the heavens
open and the Spirit descends upon Him in the form of a dove
and the Father speaks from heaven. This is my beloved Son in whom
I am well pleased." All the persons of the Godhead, Father, Son,
and Holy Spirit, they're at the baptizing of the Lord Jesus. Is it not interesting also when
we think about it that when we come to make a profession of
faith and seek to be obedient to the command of Christ and
we're baptized That baptism, again, is in the name of the
Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. But there, we
think especially of the words spoken from heaven by God the
Father, This is my beloved Son. And those words are repeated
somewhat later, in the Mount of Transfiguration, where those
favored three, Peter and James and John, are privileged to see
through the veil of the human nature, the humiliation of the
Lord Jesus Christ, and they behold something of the glories of his
deity. And the guy there, the father,
speaks to them from heaven, this is my beloved son, in whom I
am well pleased, hear ye Him." Oh, He is the Beloved, Beloved
of His people, Beloved of the Father. And again, where in Matthew
12, 18, the evangelist make reference to the words of
prophecy in Isaiah 42, having its fulfillment, that verse,
in the Lord Jesus, Behold my servant, whom I have chosen,
my beloved, in whom my soul is well pleased. That's how Those
words from Isaiah 42.1 are rendered in Matthew chapter 12. My beloved,
says God, again. Christ then is that one whom
we are to see here in the psalm. It's a prayer of David, a prayer
of that one who is the beloved. Christ is of David. He's David's son. but he is also
the Son of God. When Paul comes to give his definition
of the gospel there at the beginning of Romans, in the opening verses
of that epistle, he speaks of that gospel that he was called,
separated to, that gospel that he was to preach, and it is concerning
Jesus of Nazareth, made of the seed of David according to the
flesh, and declared to be the Son of God according to the spirit
of holiness by the resurrection from the dead." The Lord Jesus
is both the Son of David and the Son of God. He is David's
Lord. And he is the one who speaks
here. "'Hear the right, O Lord! Attend unto my cry, give ear
unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips. And we observe three things concerning
the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ is that one who does rights. He can say here, the rights.
He is that one who is the righteous one. He is the righteous one. When he comes, in prophecy, his
coming, his descent into the world is spoken of in terms of
righteousness coming down. The words of Isaiah 45, 8, "...drop
down, ye heavens, from above, Let the skies pour down righteousness. Let the earth open. Let them
bring forth salvation. And let righteousness spring
up together. I, the Lord, have created it."
Or the coming of the Lord Jesus. It is that coming of righteousness. When He comes, remember, oh,
in His very conception, we see, oh, He is without any Original
sin is preserved from all the stain of Adam's sin. We're all the sons, the daughters
of Adam and Eve, all of us conceived in sin, all of us shapen in iniquity,
but not the Lord Jesus. The Holy Ghost shall come upon
thee, the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee. Therefore
also that Holy Thing that shall be born of thee shall be called
the Son of God." The language of the angel to Mary. That holy
thing that was conceived then was preserved from every stain,
every taint of original sin, and as he was without sin in
his conception, in his birth, so throughout his life. He comes, of course, he's made
of a woman, But is He not that one who comes made under the
law? When the fullness of the time has come, God sent forth
His Son, made of a woman, made under the law. Why under the law? Because He
comes to fulfill all righteousness. The Lord is well pleased for
His righteousness sake. He will magnify the law and make
it honorable, says the prophet. So in life we see Him as holy,
harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, made higher than
the heavens, the sinless one, the righteous one. Hear the right. Hear the righteous, we might
render it. And doesn't the Lord God refer
to him not only as his servant? We've made some reference to
those words of Isaiah 42 as found in Matthew 12, 18. And it's there, of course, back
in the Old Testament, in Isaiah's prophecy, that we see him as
the Lord's servant. He is the Lord's servant in terms
of the covenant. He is, of course, by nature,
the eternal Son of God, when we think in terms of the doctrine
of the Trinity. He is God the Son. He is equal
to the Father, but in the covenant, He is God's servant. He comes
to do the will of the Father. that's what he is engaged to
do as the mediator of that covenant to fulfill all righteousness
and God therefore refers to him as my righteous servant Isaiah
53, 11, My righteous servant. Christ is that one who has done
right. He has fulfilled all righteousness. And here we have Him, as He speaks
in prayer, He says to the Father, Hear the rights, O Lord. But then, secondly, with regard
to the Savior, we see Him as that one who also speaks truth. The language at the end of the
verse he speaks of that that goeth not out of fine lips. The margin says without lips
of deceit. There was never a deceitful word
that proceeded from his lips. He only ever spoke truth. He is, of course, that one who
is the great prophet, who comes to speak the words of God. In
another psalm, which is clearly the Messianic psalm, Psalm 45,
we read there how the grace is poured into his lips. Grace is
poured into his lips. He comes and he speaks grace.
The law was given by Moses' grace, and truth came by Jesus Christ. And remember when we come right
to the end of Scripture in the book of the Revelation, we see
him there spoken of as the Amen, the faithful and true witness. Oh, what a name is this that
is given to the Lord Jesus, the Amen. Amen literally means truly,
so be it. He is the faithful witness, he
is the true witness. And again we have the word that
he speaks in John chapter 3 in that discourse with Nicodemus. Verily, verily, we speak that
we do know, and testify that we have seen. Oh, he speaks knowledge. and he speaks truth, he bears
testimony to the truth of God constantly. And those who doubt
with him, even those who were his enemies or his potential
enemies have to acknowledge never man spake like this man. He speaks truth. He does righteous
deeds. and he speaks true words. He spoke with all authority. And how the common people recognize
that blessed fact at the end of the sermon on the mount there,
in the closing verses of Matthew chapter 7, we're told how the
people were astonished at his doctrine. That's his teaching. He's been preaching to them through
those previous three chapters, five, six, seven. And there at
the end, the people were astonished at his doctrine, for he taught
them as one having authority and not as the scribes. Oh, this is the Lord Jesus Christ.
He speaks with all authority to men. But then, this is the
amazing thing, he can also speak with authority to God. Look at the language that we
have there at the end of John 17. Here we have a prayer, and
of course John 17 is another prayer, Christ's high priestly
prayer. And there, John 17, 24, we find
Christ not making a request, but declaring His sovereign will. He's equal with the Father, and
the will of Christ and the Father is one and the same. What does
He say? Father, I will. We can't come and speak to the
Father with that sort of authority. when we pray according to the
pattern prayer we are to say thy will be done in earth as
it is in heaven but the Lord Jesus comes and he says father
I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where
I am that they may behold my glory which I had with thee before
the foundation of the world or we can speak with authority be
it to man be it to God He only speaks truth. There is nothing
vain, deceitful that ever proceeds from his lips. And then, the
third thing we observe here is how the Lord Jesus is that one
who prays sincerely as he speaks truth, so his prayer is a sincere
prayer. Hear the right, O Lord, Tend
unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of
fine lips." He is God, but He is God manifest
in the flesh. He is man as well as God. He's
the God-man. And we have those remarkable
words in Hebrews 5, 7 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, though he were a son, yet learned the obedience
by the things that he suffered." Remarkable words of the Apostle
concerning the Lord Jesus Christ. He was heard, it says, in that
he feared. Or the margin says, he was heard
for his piety. He was heard for his reverence.
Or when he comes, you see, and prays to the Father, although
he is equal to the Father, how we see that aspect of his humiliation
in the Garden of Gethsemane. as he contemplates all that is
before him at death of the cross. O Father, he says, if it be possible
let this cup pass from me, nevertheless not my will but thine be done. How he submits, how he is sincere,
how he will accomplish all that work that the Father has committed
to him in the covenant, how he prays so sincerely when he comes
to address his father in prayers. The Lord Jesus Christ then is
that one that we are to see principally in the words of the text. But
then in the second place to say something with regards to those
who are seekers after him. Approaching in and through the
Lord Jesus Christ, as I said at the outset, the words do of
course belong to David, it's David's prayer. When David was
moved of the Spirit of God to pray, I mean, David is not only
a king, David is a prophet, one of those holy men of God who
spake as he was moved by the Spirit of God. But it's very
much David's prayer. And what do we see then when
we think of this prayer in terms of the man David, king in Israel? Well, we can note here something
of the marks of those who are truly seeking after God. And there are three things that
we can notice with regards to a true seeker. There will be
earnestness, there will be sincerity, and there will be boldness. Or maybe sometimes you think,
have I ever really prayed at all? Have I ever really been
a true, sincere seeker after the Lord Jesus? Well, let us
examine these words. There's a threefold request here,
isn't there? He says, hear, attend, give ear. It's the same petition, really,
in each of those clauses. Hear the rights. O Lord, attend
unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of
feigned lips." And this threefold prayer, Luther says, indicates
great power of feeling and many tears. These are not vain repetitions. These are not vain repetitions.
Let us not be afraid of repetition in prayer. I know the Lord says,
when you pray, use not vain repetition, but he says more than that. Use
not vain repetition as the heathen do, for they think they shall
be heard for their much speaking. Oh, we're not just to repeat,
just to fill our time as it were. No, we're to come and we're to
be those who would plead with the Lord and seek the Lord from
the very depths of our being. He says, when ye shall seek me with all your hearts ye shall
find me. Ye shall seek me and find me
when ye shall search after me with all your hearts. It's that
earnestness, that wholeheartedness. We're not to come to God with
a divided heart. with to come as those who when
we come our affections are set on those things that are above
and that's what we see here earnestness in prayer but then also here
we do see sincerity we have it in that last clause he speaks
of a prayer that goeth not out of fine lips nothing deceitful
meaning what one says Oh, remember what he said concerning the formalists
in Israel and the hypocrites in Israel. There in Isaiah 29,
verse 13, Wherefore the Lord said, Forasmuch
as this people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips
do honour me, but have removed their hearts 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 this
people, even a marvellous work and a wonder. For the wisdom
of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their
prudence shall be hid. Woe unto them!" And so it goes
on. They draw near with the mouth,
they honour God with the lip, but their hearts, their hearts
are not in their prayers. They are insincere, they are
hypocritical. What does the Lord Jesus say
concerning Nathanael? At the end of John chapter 1, Behold, an Israelite indeed,
in whom there is no guile. Ought to be those who are Israelites
indeed. In prayer we referred to Jacob,
who becomes Israel, he's there at Penihah, where the angel wrestles,
and he will not let the angel go until the angel bless him. An Israelite indeed, those who
are the true Israel of God. They are not all Israel that
are of Israel. In the Old Testament, Israel is a typical people. The
true Israel of God is a spiritual people. And those who are these
seekers are really the children of David, the children of Abraham. We see then here in the seeker
earnestness, sincerity, and then boldness. And I come back to
those opening three words, hear the right. Hear the right. What is David doing? He is pleading
righteousness. He is pleading righteousness.
Remember, in a later Psalm, I think it's Psalm 71, He says, He will make mention
of the Lord's righteousness and the Lord's righteousness only. And that's Psalm, it is Psalm
71. My mouth shall show forth Thy
righteousness and Thy salvation all the day, for I know not the
numbers thereof. Thy righteousness also, O God,
is very high. Thou hast done great things,
O God. Who is like unto Thee? My tongue shall talk of thy righteousness
all the day, for thou confounded thou art brought to shame that
seek my heart. David's prayer in his old age,
but he speaks of righteousness. And this is what David is doing
here. He is pleading righteousness. Here, the righteous. But what is this righteousness
that he is pleading? What is this righteousness? It
is the Lord Jesus Christ. Think of that publican who goes
to the temple at the hour of prayer together with the Pharisee.
Two men go to the temple there in Luke 18. And what does the
Lord say concerning that publican? He was in the employ of Rome. He was hated by the Jews. He was despised. He was a tax
gatherer. And here he is now in the temple with a man who
is so highly esteemed, a Pharisee. And the Lord says concerning
the publican, the publican standing afar off could not lift up so
much as his eyes unto heaven. He smote upon his breast and
he cried, God be merciful to me, a sinner. Or literally, God
be merciful to me, the sinner. The sinner. He was the sinner. But what does he plead? He pleads
mercy. Now, literally the word that
we have there, God be merciful, means God be propitious. God
be propitious. And what is that word propitious?
Well, the Lord Jesus Christ is the propitiation for our sins. The Lord Jesus is the one who
was born, the wrath of God, against the sins of his people. As Paul
says there in Romans 3.25, whom God has set forth to be a propitiation
through faith in his blood, to declare, I say at this time,
his righteousness, or to plead mercy, to plead with God that
he would be propitious, is to plead righteousness. And what does David say at the
end of the psalm? As for me, I will behold thy
face in righteousness." This is David's boldness then, because
his prayer centers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold, O God,
our shield, and look upon the face of thine anointed, we find
in Psalm 84.9. Well, this is what we have to
do. We have to ask God to look upon the face of the Lord Jesus
Christ and looking upon Him, even as we're looking to Him.
Or will not God meet with us there and answer our prayer? We have righteousness to plead.
And so we can come in with this petition of David's, if we know
the Lord Jesus Christ. We know that all of the attributes
of God are on the side of the coming sinner. not just God's
mercy and God's grace and God's love and God's compassion, but
God's holiness, His justice, His righteousness, all, every
attribute in God is for the sinner as He comes in the name of the
Lord Jesus Christ. If we confess our sins, He is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. I find that an amazing statement
there in that opening chapter of John's first general epistle. He doesn't say if we confess
our sins he is merciful and gracious, he is that. No, he says he is
faithful and just. Hear the rites, O Lord, says
David. Dear John Newton says, I can
no denial take when I plead for Jesus' sake. O God, help us in
ever, always to pray in that manner, to plead for the sake
of our Lord Jesus Christ, this one who is the beloved. Hear
the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer,
that goeth not out of feigned lips. Amen. Let us sing a second praise,
the hymn number 725, the tune St. Michael, 61. The sinner born of God to God
will pour his prayer in sighs or groans or words expressed
or in a falling tear. The Holy Ghost indicts all real
vital prayer and prayer indicted by the Lord. The Lord will surely
hear. 725. It's a