Seeking the Lord's help, I would
ask your attention this morning to that psalm that we read, Psalm
40 and verse 11. Psalm 40 and verse 11. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. Psalm 40 and verse 11, withhold
not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord, let thy loving kindness
and thy truth continually preserve me. This psalm really seems at first
glance to be a psalm, as we might say, a psalm of two halves. we
have in the first half of the psalm, David speaking in a spirit
of praise and in a spirit of thanksgiving. He looks back to
a time in his life when he was delivered from a horrible pit,
out of the miry clay, as he says in verse 2, how his feet were
set upon a rock, how his goings were established. And he speaks
of that new song that God had put into his mouth, a song of
praise, He speaks of the wonderful works of God there in verse 5.
Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works, and thy thoughts
which are to us, Lord, they cannot be reckoned up in order unto
thee. If I would declare and speak of them, they are more
than can be numbered. He seems to be taken up with
a great spirit of thanksgiving and of praise as he opens this
psalm. But then when you come to the
end of the psalm, to verse 11, It seems that the psalmist now
is in some trouble. In verse 12 he speaks of being
compassed about with innumerable evils, evils that are infinite,
uncountable. He speaks of his iniquities taking
hold upon him, not being able to look up. They're more than
the hairs of his head, he says. His heart, he says, fails him. And so he speaks to the Lord
in prayer. And we might wonder why the psalm
changes in this way, from this great spirit of praise to this
spirit of prayer. We know, of course, that the
psalm is a messianic psalm. It's a psalm that speaks of the
Lord Jesus Christ. You've noticed, I expect, the
sixth verse, sacrifice and offering. Thou didst not desire. Mine ears
hast thou opened. Burnt offering and sin offering
hast thou not required. Then said I, lo, I come. In the volume of the book it
is written of me. I delight to do thy will, O my God. Yea, thy
law is within my heart. And the apostle, in the epistle
to the Hebrews, quotes those verses. in the 10th chapter of
Hebrews, he refers to them and he puts them into the mouth of
Christ, as it were. Wherefore he says, when he cometh,
that is, when Christ cometh into the world, he saith, sacrifice
an offering thou wouldest not, but a body hast thou prepared
me In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin thou hast had no pleasure. Then said I, Lo, I come, in the
volume of the book it is written of me, to do thy will, O God."
He's referring to the Lord Jesus Christ, to the great change that
was made by the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. When that
Old Testament dispensation was done away with, when sacrifices
and offerings and burnt offerings were no longer required, but
there was that new covenant put in place, that entire new system,
as it were, the ceremonial law done away with, and that new
way opened into the holiest of all. And really, the whole psalm,
we might say, speaks of the Lord Jesus. It's He that waited patiently
for the Lord. He cried unto the Lord, didn't
He, so frequently through His life we find Him praying for
whole nights on the mountaintop. and especially towards the end
of his life there in the garden of Gethsemane, we find him praying
to God, and we know that his prayers were heard. It was he
that was brought up out of a horrible pit, even out of death itself,
out of the miry clay. It was he who knew that new song,
spoken of in verse 3. He was the man that made the
Lord his trust, there in verse 4, the man who respected not
the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies. There he is again in
verse 12, he speaks of innumerable evils compassing him about, his
iniquities taking hold upon him. Now of course those iniquities
were not his iniquities in the sense that he committed them.
But the Lord, as we read elsewhere, hath laid upon him the iniquities
of us all. And as he suffered there in Gethsemane
and on the cross, And as he laid down his life, it was on account
of those sins that were laid upon him. His iniquities, those
iniquities that were charged to his account, have taken hold
upon me, he says, so that I am not able to look up. How it explains
those agonizing words on the cross, my God, my God, why hast
thou forsaken me? It was because of those sins
that were laid upon him. Be pleased, O Lord, he says,
to deliver me. O Lord, make haste to help me. The whole psalm speaks of the
Lord Jesus Christ. If only we were given eyes to
see it, no doubt we would see him everywhere in the psalms.
But he's very notable here in this 40th psalm. It's true of
the Lord Jesus Christ. It's true also of David himself. This is a psalm of David, as
it says in the heading. And we might think of many occasions
in David's life when he could have written this psalm. We're
not told, are we, the occasion on which it was written. But
we know that David's life was a life that was a very eventful
life. And it was a life in which he
was often in danger. You think of him there as a young
man. We know that he was a shepherd and he looked after his father's
sheep there in the mountains and the fields. And we know from
what he tells Saul, you remember that occasion just before he's
going to fight Goliath, how he describes that experience that
he had when there was a lion and a bear that came out of the
fields to attack the sheep and how David has to fight with the
lion and to fight with the bear. Now of course we might have thought
that he, just being a young shepherd boy, would not have had much
success fighting against those powerful animals. but he was
miraculously delivered by God himself. No doubt he cried to
the Lord, and it was the Lord that brought him up out of that
horrible pit. We might also think of his fight
with Goliath again, a fight in which we might think David stood
very little prospect of success. There is Goliath, this great
giant, this seasoned soldier with his shield, his spear, his
sword and all his armour. And here comes David to meet
him, just this shepherd boy, unprotected it seems, to all
outward appearances, armed only with a sling and a few stones.
But we know the outcome, how the Lord guided that stone that
he threw with his sling, so that David was able to subdue that
Philistine. Again, we might think of his
experience at the hand of Saul. You know that after David had
killed Goliath, the people began to be very impressed at his ability. And they spoke of David slaying
his tens of thousands and Saul his thousands, and Saul became
jealous. And we know that Saul eventually chased David away
and pursued him up and down the country. And there were many
times when he was in extreme danger. And to all outward appearances,
again, it looked as if his life would be cut off. But again we know the outcome,
how the Lord delivered him from the hand of Saul. And eventually
he was there on the throne, established as king over Israel. Even then
his troubles were not over, were they? You remember his experience
at the hand of Absalom. Absalom rebels against him and
turns the people against him. And eventually David has to flee
from his own capital city and is pursued by Absalom. before
being brought again by God out of that trouble and returned
to his throne. David was a man who could well
have written these Psalms on many occasions in his life. I
waited patiently for the Lord. He inclined unto me and heard
my cry. But you know that David surely
is not speaking just of those troubles that he knew in his
life in Providence. In Psalm 30 he speaks in a very
similar way. And at verse 3 he says, O Lord,
Thou hast brought up my soul from the grave. Thou hast kept
me alive that I should not go down to the pit. Now here clearly
David is not just talking about his natural life. And when he
talks about the grave, he's not just talking about natural death.
That's why he uses this expression, Thou hast brought up my soul
from the grave. David here is talking about spiritual
death. He acknowledges, doesn't he,
that at one point his soul was there in the grave. The Lord
brought it out of the grave, but before that it was there
in the grave. That reminds us, doesn't it,
of those words that Paul wrote to the church at Ephesus. He
speaks of them being dead in trespasses and sins. And David
was in exactly the same place, despite no doubt his very religious
upbringing. Yet there he was, his soul in
the grave. And when he looks back over his
life, The one thing that he mentions more than anything else is spiritual
things. You remember that account that
we have in the second book of Samuel of David's last words. It's there in the 23rd chapter
of the second book of Samuel. Now these be the last words of
David. And if you read through the last words of David, you
don't find him speaking very much of those deliverances that
he's known from providential danger. He doesn't mention the
Lord rescuing him from the lion, or the bear, or Goliath, or Saul,
or Absalom. But the one thing that he does
speak of more than anything else is the spiritual blessings that
he's known. In verse 5, he confesses that his house has not been so
with God, his house has not been perfect, his life has not been
perfect. Yet he says, he hath made with
me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure. And he
says, this is all my salvation and all my desire. Here is a
man on his deathbed looking back over his life and he says, you
know, the thing that I value most of all is the everlasting
covenant. It's the spiritual blessings
that I have known. Well, you know, there will be
a time for each one of us when we will come to the end of our
lives. And I wonder if you were to look
back over your life at this moment, what the thing is that you would
value most of all. Would it be that same thing that
David valued? Would it be that everlasting
covenant that is here revealed in the Word of God? David wrote
these words and he could have written them on many different
occasions. but they are spiritual things that he is speaking of.
This salvation that he speaks of, it's a spiritual salvation.
This horrible pit, this miry clay, this setting of his feet
upon a rock, his goings being established, these are spiritual
blessings that he's looking back to. And so whilst it's true that
few of us, if any of us, have a life that is anything like
as eventful or as notable as David's, Few of us know anything
like the outward experience that he went through. Yet it's true
to say that all those who come to faith in the Lord Jesus will
know something of these things that are here written of in a
spiritual sense. They will all know this crying
unto the Lord that David speaks of in verse 1. They will all
know him bringing them up out of a horrible pit. They will
all know that new song, that song of praise unto our God. And they will all know in measure
that putting of their trust in the Lord, that making of the
Lord their trust. But as I say, when we come to
verse 11, it seems that the tone of the psalm changes in a very
notable way. David turns from looking backwards
to his past experience and he begins to look forward. And what
he evidently realised and understood was that although he had known
many blessings in the past, he wasn't yet at the end of his
journey. He hadn't yet reached his final
destination. There was still a battle to be
fought. There was still a fight to be
won. And so it's no surprise, is it,
that he takes up this prayer. Withhold not, he says, withhold
not thou thy tender mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness
and thy truth continually preserve me. Although he had been brought
from death to life, although he had known spiritual blessings
in the past, He doesn't sit back and say, well, everything will
be all right now and there's nothing that I need to be concerned
about. No, he says, I still have a need
for the preservation of God. I still have a need for his tender
mercies, for his loving kindness and for his truth to continually
preserve me. David knew that he wasn't yet
safe, that he wasn't yet delivered from all his troubles. And we're
encouraged, aren't we? When the Lord taught his disciples
to pray, one of the things that he encouraged them to ask was
this. He says, we are to say and to
ask God to deliver us from evil. We're not just to suppose, well,
if we have known blessings in the past, well, everything will
be all right. No, we are to continue to ask
for his keeping, for his preservation. Isn't this what Christ prayed
for his people? as he comes to the end of his
life here upon earth and he prays that prayer that we no doubt
know well in the 17th chapter of John. One of the things that
he prays for is that his people might be kept. I pray not, he says, that thou
shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest
keep them from the evil David knew that he needed to be kept
from evil and we all need to be kept from evil if we are to
be maintained in the life of faith. What was it that brought
this prayer from David's heart then? Well, surely there were
at least three things that he knew and understood. And the
first thing is that he had very little confidence in his own
ability. When he prays, let thy loving
kindness and thy truth continually preserve me, he's confessing,
isn't he? He's admitting that he cannot
preserve himself. He's not a man who is proud of
himself, who thinks himself capable of maintaining, of preserving
himself. He knows that he's a sinner. He knows that he's prone to wander
and to fall into sin. He wasn't a man who would have
looked at a person who had fallen into sin and who would say, well,
I would never do that. Sometimes we can fall into that
attitude, can't we? You may hear of someone who's
done some great sin, who's fallen in some very remarkable way.
And perhaps we might be tempted to think, well, I'm sure I would
never fall in that particular way. I'm sure I would never commit
that particular sin. But unless we have been in that
same situation, we have no way of telling how we would respond
to it and what our reaction would be. Many people in the past have
thought that. They've said, well, I may be
a sinner, but I would never do that sin. And consequently, they've
fallen into that very sin that they thought themselves safe
from. In Psalm 22, verse 29, the psalmist tells us this, that
none can keep alive his own soul. Our spiritual life is utterly
dependent upon the preservation of God. It's not something that
we can maintain by our own efforts. David realised this. He realised
he was not able to keep himself safe. He was still a sinner. He was still in the midst of
a sinful world. There were still temptations.
And so he prays this prayer, let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. That's the first thing that he
realized, his own weakness. Then secondly, he realized what
would be the effect of him falling into sin. A few psalms previously, in Psalm
28 we have David saying very similar words. And at the beginning
of Psalm 28, he speaks in this way, unto thee will I cry, O
Lord, my rock, be not silent to me, lest if thou be silent
to me, I become like them that go down into the pit. And it's
very specific language that he uses. He doesn't say, lest if
thou be silent to me, I go down into the pit. What he fears is
not so much going down into the pit, he fears becoming like them
that go down into the pit. He knows that if the Lord is
silent to him, he will backslide and he will turn back and he
will wander and he will become like those who know not God and
have no regard for God. And he knew the effect that this
would have upon him personally. When a man backslides, when a
man falls into sin, it has a very harmful effect upon him personally. and it can take many years for
the joy of his salvation to be restored to him. Those years
can be painful years, dark years, years full of regret and disappointment. He knew the effect on him personally.
He also knew the effect on those around him, his fellow believers. That's why he prays in verse
16, let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee.
Let such as love thy salvation say continually the Lord be magnified. He knew that if he was to fall
into sin, it would cause a great deal of dismay and disappointment
to his fellow believers. That's true, isn't it? There
may be someone that we know in the church, and we think that
we can trust them and rely upon them, and then they disappoint
us, they fall into sin, and it has an effect upon us, even an
effect upon us spiritually. David knew this, and so he prays
to be preserved. And he also knew the strength
of the enemy. When he went out to fight with
Goliath, it wasn't that he was under any illusion concerning
the strength of Goliath. He knew that he was a strong
man, a powerful man. And so that's why he went out
depending upon God. And he knows here that he has
to fight a fight against very powerful enemies. That we have
Satan spoken of in the New Testament as a roaring lion. Well, that's
not a creature that we would look at carelessly or fearlessly,
is it? And this is the point that the
apostle makes as he comes to the end of that epistle to the
Ephesians. And I know our pastor has been
considering this recently with you. He speaks of the whole armour
of God. Well, why would you need armour
if you do not have a powerful enemy to fight? We wrestle not,
says Paul, against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world.
against spiritual wickedness in high places. Paul realised
the power of the enemies that he was fighting against. David
realised the power of the enemies that he had to fight against.
And if we're under any illusion concerning the power of Satan,
then it's not surprising, is it, if we fall under his influences. Even in a physical battle between
two armies, one of the most important things for the army is to know
the strength of the opposing army. This will dictate their
plans, this will help them decide how to fight with them. And the
man or woman who doesn't believe in Satan, or doesn't believe
in evil spirits, who says, well, that seems all rather old-fashioned
to me, to think about a literal Satan, a literal evil spirit
being present and active in this modern world. The man or woman
who thinks like that, well, immediately they're putting themselves at
great danger, at a great disadvantage. David realised the power and
the strength of the enemies that he was called to fight against.
He realized those three things, his own weakness, the terrible
effect that falling would have upon him, upon his people, upon
the nation that he had been put in a position of authority over,
and, of course, the great effect that it would have upon the honor
and the glory of God. He realized that, and he realized
the strength of the enemy, and no wonder, as he realized these
three things, that he prayed this prayer. Let Thy loving kindness
and Thy truth continually preserve me." He needed continual preservation,
not just now and again, but every moment. Well, if we realize these same
things, then inevitably we will find ourselves praying this same
kind of prayer. And, of course, the implication
of that is that if we don't find ourselves praying this same kind
of prayer, then that's because we haven't realised one of those
three things. If this prayer isn't your prayer,
then evidently you have either not realised your own weakness,
or you have not realised the effect that sin has, or you have
not realised the power of the enemy of our souls. If you were
to realize those three things, this prayer would be natural
for you to pray. It would be instinctive for you
to pray for preservation, just as David prays for it. Well,
where did David look for that preservation? Well, we have his
prayer here in verse 11, and there are three things that I
just wish to mention before you. First of all, he speaks of the
tender mercies of God. withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord. Then he speaks of the loving
kindness of God, and he speaks of the truth of God. Let thy
loving kindness and thy truth continually preserve me. These
are the things that he looked to, and these are the things,
obviously, that we must look to. So these three terms, first of
all, the tender mercies that are here spoken of, what does
this term mean? Well the first thing evidently
is that he realised, David realised that he didn't deserve this preservation. That's why he uses this word
mercy. Mercy is always undeserved, isn't
it? When we deal with someone mercifully, we're dealing with
them better than they deserve. And when God deals with His people,
He deals with them in a way that is better than they deserve.
David confesses this. He acknowledges, first of all,
that he doesn't deserve the Lord's preservation. Surely this is
a vital first step. If we come to God thinking that
we deserve for our prayers to be heard because of who we are,
because of what we have done, because of our upbringing or
our background, well, we fail at the first step. David comes
on the ground of mercy and he depends upon the mercy of God. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord. But this phrase, this expression,
tender mercies, evidently David was not depending upon his own,
anything that was of himself, was he? He realizes that it is only God's
attitude to him, really, that matters. He doesn't come to God
saying, well, look at all these things that I've done, or look
at the way that I'm praying, or look at the way in which I
worship. though he realises that the important thing is for God
to have this merciful attitude toward him. He depends on God's
thoughts to him and not his to God. And this is a very strong
word, a very strong expression that's used here. Tender mercies,
we have it So often in the Old Testament
and a very notable occasion is when Joseph is there being appointed
or having been appointed almost the prime minister of Egypt.
And you remember the account of how his brothers come to him.
And eventually his brother Benjamin comes to him. And we read in
that account how that Joseph's bowels yearned for his brother
and he had to go out from the room to weep. He had such a strong
affection towards his brother. His feelings overpowered him,
as it were. His bowels yearned. He had such
a love for his brother, his mother's son. He had not seen him for
many years. No doubt he was a brother that
he loved. And he wept. And his bowels yearned,
we're told, for his brother Benjamin. It's the same word that's used
here when we read of the tender mercies of God. Again, we have it in that account
that's told us concerning Solomon. You remember the example that's
given in the Old Testament to demonstrate Solomon's wisdom.
How there were those two women and they came before him with
a baby and they both said, well, this is my baby. They both had
babies and one of them had died and now they were both arguing
over the living baby. And each of them was saying,
no, it's definitely mine. And Solomon eventually, the Lord
gives him that wisdom to come to that solution. He calls for
a sword and he says, right, what we're going to do is we're going
to cut the baby in half, you can have half each. And of course
the true mother of the child immediately is full of compassion
for the child. Again, it's the same word that
we have used here, her bowels yearned for the child. She was
full of tender mercy for the child. It was her child. And
that's how Solomon discovered that it was her child. It's a
very strong love that's spoken of. It's a mother's love. And we have these words, tender
mercies, here. The same word is translated elsewhere
concerning the womb, concerning motherhood. The mother's love
is a very strong love. Well, the parent's love is a
very strong love, isn't it? It's a forbearing love. It's
a forgiving love. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord. He's calling upon God to deal
with him as parents deal with their children. When we deal with our children,
we don't deal always in a very strict fashion, do we? Sometimes
we make allowances for them, where we say, well, they're only
children. You can't expect too much from them. They're only
children. And so when they do things that perhaps we would
punish if they were older, we, as it were, turn a blind eye
to it. And we deal with them in compassion, in mercy. We forbear
and we forgive. This is what David is calling
for. This is what David is relying upon, the mercy of God. He speaks
of that mercy, doesn't he, in the 130th Psalm? If thou, Lord,
shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand? He says, if
you were to pay attention to all my sins, there would be no
hope. But, he says, there is forgiveness with thee, that thou
mayest be feared. This is what he calls for, this
is how he prays to God, withhold not thou thy tender mercies from
me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. And it's a great comfort, isn't
it, to realise and to experience the love of God as a heavenly
Father. We're exhorted to pray, aren't
we, to our Father which art in heaven. And even just those few
words, just those two words, Our Father, they can bring great
comfort when we truly realize and understand what that means.
And the relationship that there now is between God and His people,
it's a relation of fatherhood. Now of course it's important
to emphasize that this forgiveness that we've spoken of is not an
unjust forgiveness. God has promised that sin will
be punished. He has written in his word that the wages of sin
is death. And so it would be quite unjust,
wouldn't it, for God to turn a blind eye to the sins of some
and not to the sins of others. But those sins, as we've already
said, have been dealt with. Christ had those sins laid upon
him. He took them upon him. And he
bore the punishment for those sins. It's not that those sins
were unpunished. They were punished in another.
These are the grounds on which David comes. This is the hope
that David comes with. Mercy and truth, as we read in
a later psalm, are met together. Mercy is not at the expense of
truth. It's a just forgiveness. It's
just mercy that David is praying for. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord. There's the first ground on which
David comes. There's the first thing that he prays for, the
tender mercies of God, the compassion of God. Then he speaks of the
loving-kindness of God. Let thy loving-kindness, it says,
and thy truth continually preserve me. Well, it's true that the loving
kindness, the word that's translated loving kindness here is often
translated as mercy in other places. But you know, whenever
we have this word, it's always associated with action. It's
always associated with something that is seen. Sometimes it's
instructive, isn't it, to turn to the first time that we have
a given word in the Old Testament. And this word appears for the
first time in the 19th chapter of Genesis. And in the 19th chapter of Genesis
we have the account of Lot. You remember how Lot goes to
live in Sodom and eventually he becomes very comfortable there
and it seems quite a rich man, quite a prosperous man. And when
Sodom is going to be destroyed, the Lord sends his angels. And
they have to pull Lot out of Sodom, don't they? In verse 16
of chapter 19, while he lingered, it says, the men, these angels
that the Lord had sent, they laid hold upon his hand, and
at the hand of his wife, and upon the hand of his two daughters,
the Lord being merciful unto him, and they brought him forth
and set him without the city. And in verse 19 we have the words
of Lot. He says, Behold now, thy servant
hath found grace in thy sight, and thou hast magnified thy mercy.
And it's the same word that we have there translated mercy,
that in our text is translated loving kindness. But notice that
Lot speaks of the mercy of God which Thou hast showed unto me.
This is a mercy that is an acting mercy. It's a mercy that does
something. It was the mercy of God that
brought Lot out of Sodom. And Lot acknowledges that. Thou
hast showed unto me Thy mercy. Again we see that this mercy
that's spoken of is a mercy that's associated with action. later
on in the book of Genesis, that we have the account of Abraham's
servant. You remember how Abraham sends
his servant to find a wife for his son Isaac. And in verse 12 of that 24th
chapter of Genesis we have the prayer of the servant of Abraham.
And he says, O Lord God of my master Abraham, I pray Thee,
send me good speed this day and show kindness unto my master
Abraham. Again, that word kindness is
the same word that is translated loving kindness in that psalm. And again, we have the link between
this kindness and something that is seen, something that is shown,
show kindness. He's not just praying that God
would have a kind attitude. No, he's praying that God would
do something, that God would lead him and guide him in a very
evident way concerning the woman who was to be the wife of Isaac.
And just one more example, in the 40th chapter of Genesis,
we have the account of Joseph being there in the prison. And
you remember that subsequently the chief butler and the chief
baker of Pharaoh are committed to the same prison. having offended
against him. And the chief butler and the
chief baker, they have dreams. And Joseph interprets those dreams
to them. And the butler's dream has a
good interpretation. And Joseph explains it to him.
This is the interpretation of it. The three branches are three
days. Yet within three days shall Pharaoh
lift up thine head and restore thee unto thy place, and thou
shalt deliver Pharaoh's cup into his hand after the former manner,
when thou wast his butler. And then this, but think of me,
says Joseph to the butler, think on me when it shall be well with
thee, and show kindness. I pray thee unto me, and make
mention of me unto Pharaoh, and bring me out of this house. Again,
the word kindness is the same word that we have in our text,
loving kindness. And again you see that this kindness
is something that is shown. Joseph is not just asking the
butler to think kindly of him, he's asking him to do something
for him. Show kindness unto me and make mention of me unto Pharaoh
and bring me out of this house. David realised when he prayed
this prayer that he needed God to act for him. He needed God
to do things for him. It wasn't enough for him just
to know that God had an attitude of mercy to him. It wasn't enough
for him to know that God was there to react when he failed.
He needed God to act for him, to pre-empt his failures, to
guide him in a very clear way, so that he might be kept from
falling. Surely that's what we pray for when we pray for God
to deliver us from evil. We are praying for him to lead
us in a way that will keep us from falling, to teach us in
a way that will keep us from falling. This is what David prays
for, thy loving kindness, let thy loving kindness and thy truth
continually preserve me. And as we've seen in the earlier
part of the psalm, David recognises that God has acted in the past.
He brought me up also out of a horrible pit, out of a miry
clay and so on. And this is so often a theme
in these psalms, how David looks back and he remembers. And in Psalm 26 at verse 3, we
have him speaking of this loving kindness again. For thy loving
kindness, he says, is before mine eyes. Again we see that
this word loving kindness is something that is seen. The loving-kindness
of God is something that is seen in His actions. Thy loving-kindness
is before mine eyes and, of course, the ultimate action of God as
we have it described in those famous words in the third chapter
of John. God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should
not perish but have everlasting life. For God sent not His Son
into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through
him might be saved. The Lord Jesus speaking there
to Nicodemus, he's speaking of the actions of God. This is how
we see the loving kindness of God, through his actions, through
his giving of his only begotten Son, through his sending of his
Son into the world, that the world through him might be saved.
Here is the ultimate action that demonstrates the loving kindness
of God, Him sending His Son to take upon Him the form of a servant
and to be made in the likeness of sinful flesh and to die on
the behalf of lost sinners. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. Well then in the last place we
have David speaking of truth. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me." What does he mean by truth? Well, it may be that he's referring
to the faithfulness of God. Sometimes this word truth is
translated faithfulness. And certainly the faithfulness
of God is a great comfort and can be something that keeps us
when we see it, when we understand it. But if we turn back to that
26th Psalm again that we just referred to a moment ago, in
the third verse David says, for thy loving kindness is before
mine eyes and I have walked in thy truth. This truth is something
that David walked in. It was not just something that
he realised and appreciated and depended upon, it was something
that affected his walk. Now what is it to walk in the
truth? If the truth is to preserve us and we are to walk in the
truth, well, what is it to walk in the truth? Well, of course,
the Word of God is sometimes spoken of as truth. And it is
truth. Turning back to that high priestly
prayer of the Lord Jesus in John 17, He says, doesn't He, Thy
Word is truth. And that's true. In one of the
Psalms, we're told Thy Word is true from the beginning. From
the first words of Genesis to the last words of Revelation,
His Word is truth. And this word guides us, doesn't
it? This word directs us. In that
long 119th psalm, the psalmist says, wherewithal shall a young
man cleanse his way? By taking heed thereto according
to thy word. The psalmist says, well, if you
wish to cleanse your way, well really the only way to do it
is to take heed to your way according to the word of God. So we might say that the truth
that David prays for here is a prayer for the truth of God,
for the word of God. And certainly that can be something
that can preserve us, the promises of God, the faithfulness of God.
These things can encourage us and keep us when we're tried. But surely also there is a reference
here to the truth incarnate. Let thy truth continually preserve
me. Well, the word of God is truth,
but who is the word? Well, again, in the first chapter
of John, we're told concerning the word of God, that the word
was made flesh and dwelt among us. This word, this truth that
David prays for here, it's a reference to the Lord Jesus Christ himself.
He is the incarnate word. He said of himself, didn't he,
I am the way and the truth and the life. No man cometh unto
the Father but by me. Let thy truth continually preserve
me. Let the Lord Jesus continually preserve me. The Lord Jesus himself spoke
of that power being delivered unto him. All power, he said,
is delivered unto me in heaven and in earth. He's able then,
having this all power, to preserve. He's more powerful than the devil,
more powerful than that roaring lion, more powerful than our
own fallen hearts. You may think perhaps that your
heart is a very powerfully sinful heart, how it trips you up and
catches you out, and despite your resolutions that you're
not going to fall into that particular sin again, just in a few moments
you find yourself falling into the exact same sin. You may wonder,
well, is there anything that can solve this problem, anything
that can repair and make amends for my heart and put me right
and keep me well? The Lord Jesus, He is able to
do it. All power is delivered unto him
in heaven and in earth. And David knew this. David knew
the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord Jesus uses the words
of David to demonstrate that. In the Gospel according to Luke,
in chapter 20, we find him debating, as he so often did, with these
scribes and the Pharisees. And when he's put them to silence
and they don't dare to ask him any more questions, he says to
them in verse 41 of chapter 20 of Luke, he said unto them, how
say they that Christ is David's son? David himself says in the
book of Psalms, the Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my
right hand till I make thine enemies thy footstool. David
therefore calleth him Lord. How is he then his son? David
calls Christ Lord. He knows Him. He's been given
that sight by faith of the coming of the Lord Jesus. He looked
forward to it, just as we have to look back to it. Those in the Old Testament, they
may not have had a clear understanding or a full understanding of the
coming of Christ, but they knew that they needed someone to come
on their behalf. They knew that they needed someone
to atone for their sins. The sacrifices that they saw
in the temple continually would have reminded them of that fact. Didn't the Lord Jesus speak concerning
Abraham? Abraham saw my day, he said,
and was glad. Abraham knew his need of Christ.
David knew his need of Christ. He spoke of him as Lord. Well, how is it that this truth
continually can preserve us then? How is it that the Lord Jesus
Christ preserves us? Well, the Apostle John speaks
a great deal concerning this. And he exhorts those to whom
he was writing and he says, and now little children, at the end
of the second chapter of his first epistle, and now little
children, abide in him. that when he shall appear we
may have confidence and not be ashamed before him at his coming.
It's as we are given to abide in him that we are kept, that
we are preserved. That ark that Noah abode in,
that was a picture of the Lord Jesus. And when he went into
that ark and when the door was shut, no matter how much the
rain fell and no matter how powerful the storm, no matter how large
the waves and tempestuous the sea, he was kept safe. Well,
it's a picture, isn't it, of the Christian as he is in Christ. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. Well, if we are in him, then
he will preserve us. He spoke himself, didn't he,
of no man being able to pluck his people out of his hands.
He keeps them, and none of them shall perish. He is the truth
that continually preserves His people. Now, of course, immediately
it's very important that we understand, because there may be some who
might think, well, if that's the case, surely there's very
little need for me to be concerned about this. They might say, well,
I'm a Christian, I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ, therefore
I'm in Him, therefore I'll be preserved, therefore I need not
be concerned. But the man or woman who speaks like that or
thinks like that, really we have to draw a very large question
mark over the fact of whether they are a Christian or not. There's no room for fatalism
here. This man David, he was a man after God's own heart.
And he'd known much of the Lord's blessing in spiritual things
as well as in providential things, but he doesn't just sit back
in his armchair and think, well, now everything will be all right
then. He realized that he was still
in the flesh, that he still had a sinful heart, that he still
was fighting with powerful enemies, that there was still a great
effect that would follow if he fell into sin. That's why he
prayed this prayer. And as I said earlier, if you've
seen those three things, then you will pray this prayer. And
if instead you think, well, it hardly seems worth worrying about
it. If I'm a Christian, then all will be well. If that's your
attitude, well, it's certainly not the attitude of David. It's
certainly not the attitude of any of the Old Testament saints
or of any of the New Testament saints, either before or after
the closure of Scripture. They were exercised concerning
their preservation and they prayed concerning that preservation
like David does here, let thy loving kindness and thy truth
continually preserve me. They weren't passive. They didn't
just sit back and do nothing and think, well, everything will
be okay. They prayed like David prays. Look at the words that
he uses in the first verse of this psalm. I waited patiently
for the Lord and he inclined unto me and heard my cry. There's
almost a contradiction in that verse, isn't there? Sometimes
when we're dealing with children and they're shouting across the
house to us, we say, well, look, be patient. We say, I'm coming,
I'm just going to do this, and then I'll come, be patient. What
do we mean? Well, we mean, stop shouting
at me. I'll come when I'm ready. Well, here is David, and he's
waiting patiently for the Lord, but he's not silent, is he? I
waited patiently for the Lord, and he inclined unto me, and
heard my cry. There is a crying, there is a
calling. It's not that he's waiting patiently in a passive, fatalistic
way, and supposing, well, the Lord will come when it's time.
No, he's desperate for it, isn't he? He's calling out for it.
Just in a couple of psalms later on, as the heart panteth after
the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My
soul thirsteth for God, for the living God. When shall I come
and appear before God? So often in the book of Psalms
it's a constant theme, isn't it? The desire that the psalmist
had for God's presence, for God's comfort, for God's mercy, His
loving kindness, His truth. And he cried for these things
because he desired them. He had a hunger and thirst after
them. His affection was set upon them. So he cried to God for
them. And if you don't know the same
crying that the psalmist knows, And if you don't know that same
desire that the apostle knew to know Christ and be found in
Him, well again, it questions, doesn't it, whether you have
known Him at all. The man who has known Him will
always desire to know Him better. And the man who doesn't desire
to know Him better and doesn't call for His presence and doesn't
cry to know Him more, he really is demonstrating that he's never
known Him in any time. Well, have you realized what
David realized? Your inability to keep yourself,
the power of the enemy that opposes your soul, and the great effect
that falling away from the truth can have upon you and upon others.
If you've realized those three things, well, you will pray this
prayer. Withhold not thou thy tender
mercies from me, O Lord. Let thy loving kindness and thy
truth continually preserve me. Or may the Lord grant unto us
each that same prayer that David knew. And may we know the answer
of his preservation amidst all the temptations and the darkness
of this world that we live in. Amen.