Well, let us turn again to the
Word of God in the Psalm that we read, Psalm 38. A text is
found in the 9th verse. Psalm 38 and verse 9. Lord, all my desire is before
Thee, and my groaning is not hid from Thee. Psalm 38 verse 9, Lord all my
desire is before thee and my groaning is not hid from thee. In many ways Psalm 38 is to be compared
with Romans chapter 7. There of course in the 7th chapter
of Romans read something of the experience of the apostle Paul
and that tremendous conflict that he found in his own soul,
that great burden that he carried, that body of sin and of death,
how that he would do good, he says, and yet evil is present
with him. And I say in some ways we have
a similar experience it before us here in the psalmist. David
remembers it as a psalm to bring to remembrance, and David remembers
the awful nature of his sin, how he was conceived in sin,
how he was shapen in iniquity, and he speaks as if he carries
about within some sort of leprous body, some diseased body, just
as Paul tells that awful body of sin and death which is the
old nature. And it has been observed, I think
it's in one of the letters of Mr Goskin, J. H. Goskin, that
Superficial Christianity knows so little of the experiences
set before us in such portions as Romans 7 or Psalm 38. And yet, how necessary it is
that we are confronted with the truths that are set before us
in such passages of God's Word What comfort can the Saviour
bring to those who never felt their worth? Asks Joseph Hart. Christ came not to call the righteous
but sinners to repentance. He tells us that the whole have
no need of the physician, that they that are sick. Or that we
might be those friends who feel something of this awful malady
which is what we are as sinners which David speaks of here in
the psalm look at the context of our text this morning in the
previous verses he says verse 7 my loins are filled with a
loathsome disease and there is no soundness in my flesh I am
feeble and sore broken, I have roared by reason of the disquietness
of my heart. Again, previously at verse 3,
there is no sourness in my flesh because of thine anger, neither
is there any rest in my bones, he says, because of my sin. David is very much aware then
of his Sinnership. And he remembers it. It's a charm
to bring to remembrance. It's not something that he would
be unmindful of. And why is it necessary that
we be those who are aware of these things? Because it is this
consciousness of our great need as sinners that brings us time
and again to the throne of grace. How we have to keep on coming
and keep on seeking and begging God for mercy. desiring the pardon
of our sins. Look at the language that we
find then here in the words of the text. Verse 9, Lord, he says,
all my desire is before thee, and my groaning is not hid from
thee. It's interesting how in scripture
real prayer goes under so many different names. We read of sighing,
and longing, and looking, and thirsting, and crying, and praying,
and calling, and asking, and seeking, and desiring, and groaning. And of course we have the last
two here in the words of the text. We have desires and we
have groans. And remember the significance
of the Hebrew poetry that we find here in the book of Psalms.
It's marked by these parallel statements, parallelism. as it's
called, is so significant a feature of the poetry of the Book of
Psalms. And so we have these two statements
and they're parallel statements, they're declarations in different
ways of the same truth. What is desire equivalent to? It's equivalent to groaning.
Lord, all my desire is before them and my groaning is not hid
from them. Oh friends, is that true of us?
Do we have such desires towards God? Such longings and yearnings
after Him that we grow, as it were, in our spirits because
of that that God in His mercy has put into our souls. We read in the New Testament
those words, familiar words of Romans chapter 8 concerning the
ministry of the Holy Spirit In our prayers likewise the Spirit
also maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot
be uttered. Groanings which cannot be uttered. And that, Paul is saying there
in Romans, is what real prayer is. He that searcheth the heart
knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession
for us according to the will of God. Those groanings in that
cannot be uttered. So as we come to consider this
particular part of Holy Scripture this morning I want to divide
the subject into two parts and to say something first of all
with regards to desires or desiring and then secondly to turn to
the groanings. First of all we come to the first
clause in the verse, Lord, all my desire is before Thee. Now the amazing thing is that
God can actually hear desire. He hears our desires. In another psalm we read, Lord,
thou hast heard the desire of the humble. Lord, thou hast heard
the desire of the humble. He actually hears desire and
might desire be for us today something of the mark of our
worship as we come together in this fashion, that we might worship
God as it were with our desires. Remember the day, the words of
another psalm in Psalm 27 and then verse 4, what does David
say? One thing have I desired, of
the Lord, that will I seek after that I may dwell in the house
of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of
the Lord and to inquire in his temple." How David had such a
desire, you see, to come where God was, to worship God, to render
to God those praises that are appropriate, because God, of
course, is that one who is worthy. Isn't the very word worship related
to that word worthy? God is worthy of our praises. It is worship. And so we should
be those, surely, who have a desire to worship Him and to worship
Him in a manner that is pleasing to Him, acceptable to Him. And
here is the importance, you see, of desire. Where does desire
come from? It comes from the heart. are
with those whose heart is in the worship of our God as we
come together in this fashion. It's that that we anticipate,
it's that that we're looking forward to. All through the week
we anticipate the coming of another Lord's Day wherein we can gather
together for the public worship of God. And now that in many
respects we see as the very high point of our work that we can
come and we can seek his face and call upon his name and address
to him our prayers and give vent to the feelings of our hearts.
This is the way in which we come then to worship God. How important
it is that our heart, our heart is in our worship. We read in
the book of Proverbs several times of course of those who
are self and well, their desire is never satisfied. Their desire
is never satisfied. This is what the wise man declares
there in Proverbs chapter 13 and verse 40 says, the soul of
the sluggard, desirous and apathetic. The desire of the sluggard. He
has nothing to show for it. Again, the desire of the slothful
telleth you, says Solomon. Slothful desire is useless, it's
to no avail, it's to no purpose. Our desire, friends, must come
from our hearts. And as it comes from our hearts,
so it must come before God. Isn't that what we see here in
the text? Lord, he says, all my desire is before the Lord.
Oh, it reaches from the heart, you see, but it reaches to the
very heavens, it comes to appear before God. And doesn't this
indicate that what David has here is that prayer of true faith? It's the prayer of faith that
David is giving vent to in the words of our text as he feels
the awful burden of his sin. how he must come and how he must
unburden himself, how he must cast all these cares upon his
God. His desire then comes before
God. He knows that God sees his desire. He knows that God is the one
who is able to hear something of his desire. The Lord Jesus
Christ in the course of his ministry here upon the earth speaks of
the importance of desire in reference to our prayers in Mark's Gospel in chapter 11 verse 24 Christ
says therefore I say unto you what things soever ye desire
when ye pray believe that ye receive them and ye shall have
them what things soever ye desire when ye pray. All friends are
with those who can say that all our desire is before God. Observe the language that David
employs. It's all, it's all my desire. One thing of my desire, that
will I seek after, that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
forever. all the importance of being wholehearted. We are not to come to worship
God with divided hearts. We are not to be those who even
as we sit in the pew or stand in the pulpit, our thoughts and
our affections are running after the things of this present world. No, our affection is to be sexual
affection on things above, says the Apostle, not on things on
the earth. Are we those friends who can
say in truth that we are wholehearted in our desire towards God, in
our seeking after Him? Remember the promise that we
have there in Jeremiah 29, God says, you shall seek me and find
me when you shall search after me with all your hearts. We are not to be those then who
have a divided heart. Hearts for God, part for ourselves,
part for this world. Oh yes, we are to come, of course,
with a broken heart. A broken heart, a broken and
a contrite spirit, we know God doesn't despise that. And isn't
David here broken hearted as he contemplates himself and his
sins, as he is grieved over his sins, and we will come before
God as a man who is ready to acknowledge acknowledge what
he is. He says, I will declare mine
iniquity, I will be sorry for my sin. And yet, whilst the heart
is broken, at the same time there is that sense in which it is
whole, in that his desire is altogether upon one thing, even
upon God himself. Oh friends, are we those who
know anything of such holy exercise as we come into the place of
worship? We are those who know what it
is to be steadfast, unmovable, always abounding in the work
of the Lord. For as much as you know that
your labour is not in vain in the Lord. Are we those who would
abound in these things, be diligent in our seeking after God, having
that desire to worship him in an acceptable manner. Lord, he
says, all my desire is before thee. It's interesting to think
of desire before God. Can we not understand this in
terms of the Lord Jesus Christ himself? Many names are given
to the Lord in Holy Scripture. And amongst those names in Haggai
chapter 2 and verse 7 Christ is called the desire of all nations. There is a name given to the
Lord Jesus Christ, the desire of all nations. So can we not
understand David here as speaking in reference to his greatest
son, the Lord Jesus Christ. All my desire is Christ who is
his desire. And where is Christ? Why Christ
is before God? Christ is ever always before
God. Now, of course, we have that
great advantage in that the Lord Jesus Christ has come from the
very presence of God, has come to this earth and has executed
all that great work that the Father had given to him in the
eternal covenant. He has pleased the Father. by
his obedience, obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross. Therefore God also hath highly
exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name. He
is risen again now from the dead, having pleased the Father, has
not the Father raised him again? He is declared to be the Son
of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness by
the resurrection from the dead, says Paul at the beginning of
Romans. And as Christ is risen, and we remember that of course
Sabbath by Sabbath as we gather in this fashion, we remember
that he is risen, that he is risen indeed and not only risen
now, he showed himself forty days and forty nights to his
disciples and then he ascended. And he is at God's right hand. And there he ever lives to make
intercession, says Paul, for all that come to God by him. Here is David, then, Lord all
my desire is before thee. Christ is there before God in
the very heavens. David looks to himself. And what
does he see in himself? He sees his heart to be nothing
but a sink of sin. Oh, how he laments it in the
language that he's employed in this former part of the psalm
from verse 3 following. My iniquities are gone over my
head, he says, as a heavy burden. They're too heavy for me. My
wounds sting and are corrupt because of my foolishness. I
am troubled. But he turns away from himself.
And he looks to God and he sees Christ, the desire of nations.
Whom have I in heaven but thee? There is none upon earth that
I desire besides thee. We read in Psalm 73. Or David's desire then, it centres
in the person of Christ who is the only saviour of sinners,
the great friend of the sinners. Again, in the book of Proverbs,
what does Solomon say there in chapter 10 verse 24? The desire
of the righteous shall be granted. The desire of the righteous.
And who is the righteous? Why is this another name that
is given to the Lord Jesus Christ? This is the name whereby he shall
be called the Lord's, our, righteousness and the desire of the righteous
shall be granted and as Christ is the righteous one so those
who are trusting in him those who are believing in him of course
are justified by faith from all things that they could not be
justified from by the deeds of the Lord and that name righteous
doesn't only belong to Christ it belongs to those who read
This is the name wherewith she shall be called the Lord our
righteousness. What name is given to the bridegroom
is also given to the bride. And we see it, do we not, that
when a couple come together in marriage, why the bride takes
her husband's name. And so the church takes the very
name of Christ, becomes righteous. And God hears the desire of the
righteous. The desire of the righteous,
says Solomon, shall be granted. O Lord, all my desire is before
Thee, and my groaning is not hid from Thee. Let us turn to the second part
of the verse, and what we do understand here by the groaning
of David. David has a desire, a desire
towards God, a desire that springs from his heart, he is wholehearted
in that desire, it centres, as I said, in the person, the work
of him who is called the desire of all nations. But turning now
to the rollings that David experiences. I want to mention two things.
First of all, to say something with regards to David's experience,
the believer's experience, we might say the Christian's experience. What is the cause of this groaning
in a child of God? What causes a child of God to
groan? Well, three things. Three things
we can say. First of all, doesn't the conviction
of sin cause a man, a woman to groan? We read in Psalm 102 of the groaning
of the prison. When God begins to deal with
us and God, as he were, shuts us up to what we are, we are
made to feel that awful doctrine of total depravity. We don't
just ascend to it now with our understanding as one of the great
Doctrines, you know, we speak of the five points of Calvinism,
and we can chop them off our tongue, we think of the little
new money, tulip. But when God teaches us the doctrines,
in our soul's experience, and he teaches us what total depravity
is. Now the psalmist knew it, Psalm
88, I am shut up, he says, and cannot come Isn't that the groaning
of the prisoner? My groaning, says this poor captive
soul, my groaning is not hid from the earth. Is it not the ministry of the
Lord to bring us to that? When Paul writes in Galatians
3, he says, before faith came we were kept under the law Shut
up to the faith which should ask to be revealed. Shut up to what we are as those
who are in unbelief. And it's terrible, is it not,
when we shut up to our unbelief. When we find ourselves in that
position where we would believe and we can't believe. Oh, could
I but believe then all would easy be, I would but cannot.
Lord, relieve my help must come from thee, says good John Newton.
Have you felt it yourself? He would believe, he couldn't
believe. He shut up. He shut up. This is the conviction
of sin. This is God teaching us what
we are in our souls experience. And this is what the law is.
This is the lawful ministry of the law. Paul tells us there
in 2 Corinthians chapter 3, that it is the ministration of condemnation. It's the ministration of death.
That's what the law does. It doesn't minister life to the
soul. It brings this awful sense of
death. We know that whatever the law
said, it said to them who are under the law that every mouth
may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. Oh that's what we're brought
to friends, our mouths are stopped. We cannot speak, all we can do
is groan. All we can do is groan. And the
Apostle Lewis, I have not known sin he says, but by the law I
have not known loss except the commandment said thou shalt not
covet. This is the man you see who was
once The Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, a Pharisee of the Pharisees,
touching the righteousness which is of the law, blindness, that
was his boast. How he kept the commandments,
how he lived the life of a Pharisee. But then the commandment came. Oh, it came in all its awful
strength, in all its dreadful spirituality. The commandment
came, sin revived, he says. And I died. Which was the commandment
that came? It was that commandment, Thou
shalt not covet. That's desire, is it not? Evil
desire. Sinful desire. That's lust. And that's what Paul was made
to feel, you see. I had not known sin but by the
law. I had not known lust except the commandment says, Thou shalt
not covet. and so he was made to feel what
he is just like David felt what he is there is no soundness in
my flesh because of thine anger he says neither is there any
rest in my bones because of my sin or by reason of the voice
of my groaning my bones cleave to my skin we read elsewhere
by reason of the voice of my groaning. Here is the poor man,
you see, he is under dreadful conviction of sin, but he delivers. This is a wonderful thing, is
it not, that God has given one to deliver the sinner. God has given one to be the saviour
of the sinner. The law was given by Moses, but
grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. Christ is that one, you
see, who delivers from all the bondage of sin that is ministered
to under that dreadful sentence of the broken Lord of God. And
so the prisoner, the one who is shut up to what he is, the
prisoner has hope. In Zachariah chapter 9 we read
of prisoners of hope. There in that minor prophet at
the end of the Old Testament, the book of the prophet Zachariah
chapter 9 and verses 11 and 12. Verse 12 reads, turn you to the
stronghold ye prisoners of hope. Now where does the hope come
from? Well we have it in the previous
verse. As for thee also by the blood of thy covenant I have
sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Turn you to the stronghold ye
prisoners of hope." It's by the blood of the covenant you see. It's by the blood of the covenant.
That is the new covenant. That is that covenant that was
made with the Lord Jesus Christ. Wherein Christ so willingly undertook
to be the saviour of his people, to come and to stand as their
surety, to take upon himself all their responsibility before
the Holy Lord of God. He was made of a woman, he was
made under the law. And so what does he do under
the law? Why ultimately he dies as their substitute. He dies
in their room, in their stead, he bears in his own person that
punishment that was their deserve. But as a surety of course he
doesn't only honour and magnify the law, in the shedding of his
precious blood, the blood of the covenant. All thank God for
that precious blood that Christ also honours and magnifies the
law in that life of sinless obedience. It's all together in Christ. Oh, there is that dreadful conviction
of sin. And now the poor sinner as God
is dealing with him and teaching him and showing him what he is.
And in his soul's experience spelling out, as it were, the
letters of that dreadful doctrine of total depravity. And the man
feels his complete and utter inability to do anything. Where
can he find hope? Where is deliverance? Only in
the Lord Jesus Christ. And he must come then, and he
must acknowledge, he must make his confession, as David does. Verse 18, I will declare mine
iniquity. I will be sorry for my sin. All
the Christians experience, friend, he groans under conviction of
sin. But then also at times, don't
the children of God groan under God's strange and mysterious
dealings with them in the way of profit? Are there not those
cross providences that come into our lives? Things that we can't
understand. Things that seem to be so much
against us, so contrary to us. God has strange dealings with
his people. And we see it in the experience
of the children of Israel. They are a typical people, are
they not? God's ancient covenant people, they are a typical people.
They are a type, are they not, of the true Israel of God? Remember
their experience in all the bondage which was Egypt. And so we read
there at the end of Exodus chapter 2. It came to pass in the process
of time that the king of Egypt died and the children of Israel
sighed by reason of the bondage. and they cried. And their cry
came up unto God by reason of the bondage, and God heard their
groaning. And God remembered his covenant
with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon
the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them. Oh, what
a situation they are in! How strange are the dealings
of God with these people. They are in bondage in Egypt,
And the bondage gets deeper and ever more bitter to them. And
they sigh and they cry by reason of the bondage. And their cry
comes up before the Lord their God, the God of the Covenant.
He heard their groaning. Oh, this is our comfort, is it
not, friends? We find ourselves in situations and we scarce know
what to say, how to cry. Everything seems to be against
us. Can we not then learn of Israel of all, and groan at our
petitions unto the Lord, in spite of his many cross providences? Look at the next Psalm, Psalm
39. What does David say there at
the end of that Psalm, verse 12? Hear my prayer, O Lord, and
give ear unto my cry, hold not thy peace at my tears, for I
am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers
were. It's interesting to observe what
he says here. He feels himself to be in a difficult
situation. He's a stranger, a sojourner,
just like the children of Israel. I am a stranger, he says, and
a sojourner, as all my people were. But what does he say concerning
this experience of feeling himself to be a stranger in a strange
place? He doesn't say he's a stranger
to God, does he? He doesn't say that at all. He doesn't say I am a stranger
to thee. He may have said that, but he
doesn't. He says I am a stranger with
thee. I am a stranger How important
are these little words in Scripture? I remember it being said, I can't
recall now who said it many years ago, but the observation was
made concerning the book of Romans, which of course is a great doctrinal
book and a book that's full of gospel truth, but the observation
was that the doctrine, the theology is in the prepositions, the little
words. The little words. Words like to and in. And so
here you see, I am a stranger, not to thee, no, he's a stranger
with God. He's not God with his people
in the midst of all those cross providences that come into their
path as God fulfills the mystery of his will in their lives. Isn't
God teaching them? moment by moment something more
of their complete and utter dependence upon himself. What causes the
groaning? My groanings are not hid from
the death and awful conviction of sin. There are those cross
providences that come into the lives of the people of God. And
then this is in the third place, there is indwelling sin. There
is indwelling sin. Now this is very much of course
what David as in mind in the psalm it's what he feels to be in himself
in verse 7 he says my loins are filled with a loathsome disease
and there is no soundness in my flesh I am feeble and sore
broken I have wrought by reason of the disquietness of my heart
It's the same with Paul, where in Romans 7, which I said in
some respects can be said to be the New Testament counterpart
of Psalm 38, what does Paul say? In me, in me, that is in my flesh,
there dwelleth no good thing, declares him. All wretched man that I am, who
shall deliver me from the body of this death? Is it in dwelling
sin dreadful to the child of God.
Doesn't the Christian really want to be freed from sin? Isn't
it that that makes heaven such a blessed prospect? Sin, my worst
enemy before, shall vex mine eyes and ears no more. My inward
foes shall all be slain, nor Satan break my peace again. That's heaven friendly. It's
that place where sin cannot enter. And it's that, I say, that makes
it such a glorious prospect to the child of God. He wants to
be freed from his sin. And he knows what his calling
is in this life, it's the mortification of sin. Putting to death his
deeds of the body, being crucified with Christ. O David knew it,
and O David as he groans, he groans under this awful burden
of sin. There are so many times we could
turn to look at Psalm 6, he says, I am weary with my groaning,
all night make I my bed to swim, I water my couch with my tears. But then, verse 8, the Lord hath
heard the voice of my weeping, the Lord hath heard my supplication,
the Lord will receive my prayer. Isn't that our comfort, that
God hears us, He understands us, even our groans. May the
Spirit help us, our infirmities. We know not what to pray for
as we ought, but the Spirit, He makes intercession for us
with groanings, which cannot be uttered. We can see this groaning
then as the experience of the people
of God. under various circumstances,
be it the conviction of their sin, when the Lord, as it were,
is at loose upon them and they find themselves shut up and they
cannot deliver themselves, be it those strange providences,
those mysterious feelings of God in their lives, be it that
sense of their indwelling sin. But then, finally, can we not
see the Lord Jesus Christ. Again here at the end of the
verse as we saw Him at the beginning, we see that He is out of all
nations. He is there in the first course. And I say friends, He
is here in the last course. My groaning is not hid from Thee. The Lord Jesus Christ knew groanings.
The Lord groaned in Himself. Remember When he performs that
miracle, the rising of Lazarus, his friend, we have it there
in John chapter 11. When he sees Mary and the Jews weeping, Verse 33,
When Jesus therefore saw her weeping, and the Jews also weeping,
which came with her, he groaned in the Spirit, and was troubled. Verse 38, Jesus therefore began
groaning in himself, cometh to the grave. The Lord doesn't groan. because
of any indwelling sin. There's no sin in him. The prince
of this world cometh, he can say in the next chapter here,
in John chapter 12, the prince of this world cometh and hath
nothing in him. There's nothing of sin in him. He's harmless,
he'll be filed separate from sinners. But the Lord knew groaning. And what was the groaning that
the Lord knew? It was prayer. This is the way
in which Christ is praying here. Verse 42, he says, I knew that
thou hearest me always. How he groaned in his prayers. He knew real prayer, that's what
groaning gives you, it's real prayer, that was the prayer that
the Lord Jesus Christ himself knew as a man upon the earth,
who in the days of his flesh when it 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, we are told, in Hebrew life, or in the days of
his flesh. Prayer, supplication, strong
crying, tears, unto him that was able to save him. The Lord Jesus Christ knew David's
experience. Why isn't David here speaking
of his greatest son, the Lord Jesus Christ? Christ can say, Lord, all my
desire is before the earth, and my groaning is like him from
the earth. and friends if we are those who are trusting in
him can we not come in the same manner we have not a high priest
which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities
but what in all points tempted like as we are yet without sin
all we understand you see our groans our moans our sighs our
cries let us therefore come boldly to the throne of Christ that
we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in every time of
need. Lord David, you see, directs
us in ultimately to him who is the greatest son, our David,
even the Lord Jesus Christ himself. Lord, all my desire is before
thee, and my groaning is not his from thee. The Lord bless his word to us. Let us sing the hymn 725, the
tune is Rose, number 53. 725, the sinner born of God,
to God will pour his prayer in sighs or groaves or words expressed
or in a falling tear. 725. The Saviour born of God, to God
will pour His blood. In sorrows, O groans, O worlds expressed, Holy in our falling tears, The feelings of his heart are
sensing the most prime And though the Lord, a while more there,
his needs he will supply A folk of words like these, are
sailors dead in spades. But quicken sailors, sworn to
pray, as throngs get from places. The Holy Ghost inclines for me
a vital prayer and prayer indicted by the Lord, the Lord will surely
hear. May the grace of the Lord Jesus
Christ and the love of God and the communion of the Holy Ghost
be with you all. Amen.