Go with me back to Psalm 5. Psalm 5. A very dear sister in the Lord
sent me a note a little while back. and listed two verses from
this psalm as a word of encouragement. And this psalm mentions the subject
of prayer, which is what we looked at for our Bible study this morning.
And we read one verse from this psalm in the message this morning. So for all of those reasons,
we're here tonight. Everything just caused me to
look to this Psalm. Let me start by reading the verses
of encouragement that this sister sent to me. It's verse 11 and
12, Psalm 5, verse 11. It says, but let all those that put their
trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy. because thou defendest them. Let them also that love thy name
be joyful in thee, for thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous. With favor wilt thou compass
him as with a shield. That's encouraging, isn't it?
I'd love to enter into the glory of what our Lord has done for
us just once. We just sang 475 for redeemed. And while we were
singing it, I was thinking, I wish just one time I could enter into
this song. Redeemed. Some are not, not redeemed. And
here we are singing redeemed, redeemed, redeemed by the blood
of the lamb, redeemed, redeemed as child forever I am. I wish
one time I could just enter into that. Just get a hold of that. Just really rejoice in that.
Rejoice in what the Lord has done. Let all those that put
their trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy because
you're gonna defend them. Let them also that love thy name
be joyful in thee, for thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous.
With favor wilt thou compass him as with a shield. That's
just so encouraging. It's so amazing. This psalm, you heard me read
it just a minute ago. This is a psalm of judgment and
mercy. That's what the psalm is. Clear judgment and clear mercy. And this psalm makes me deeply
desire mercy. It makes me want mercy. This psalm does not make me want
to say to God, give me what I've earned. That's what false religion causes
men and women to want to foolishly say to God, just give me what
I've earned. Not me, not us. We don't say, give me what I've
earned. We say, give me what Christ earned. Just please give
me what Christ earned. We don't say, give me what's
coming to me. We say, Lord, our prayer is that
you gave Christ what was coming to me. And that in your mercy and in
your grace, you will give me what was coming to Christ. That's
my hope. That literally is my hope. You
want me to give you my testimony? Why don't you stand up and give
your testimony? Here it is. My hope is that God
gave Christ what I deserve, and he's going to give me what Christ
deserves. That's my hope. This is a psalm of judgment and
mercy, and we cry this with David. We cry this to God from the depths
of our hearts for his mercy. These are the words of every
child of God. What I just read to us a moment
ago, these are the words of every child of God, but I want us to read this as it
ought to be read. These are the words of David.
These are the words of all of God's people, but only because
these are the words of Christ. That's the only reason why. These are the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ. Let's listen to his voice in
this. Let's listen to this intimate
conversation between the Lord Jesus Christ and the Father.
Verse one says, give ear to my words, oh Lord, consider my meditation. That word meditation means groaning,
moaning, sighing in spirit. Sighing in spirit. Think about the constant sighing
of the Lord Jesus Christ as he walked in this world. We sigh,
don't we? Doesn't this world cause us to
just All right, well, we're sinners.
And he was the holy, spotless son of God. Think of everything
that he had to see and hear, not only in what came out of
the mouth, but even in what stayed in the heart. As He walked this earth, He was
vexed by not only what He saw men doing and heard men saying,
He was even vexed by the thoughts men were thinking. Can you imagine? We would be
vexed if right now it was dead silence. Our Lord could walk
into a crowd of people with no one talking and hear all the
conversation of their minds. Could you imagine if we could
hear everybody's mind, it would vex us. I mean, this is Jesus
Christ. It was wide open to him, just
the thoughts. It was wide open to him knowing
their hearts, seeing what was in their hearts. Verse one, he
said, give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken
unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for unto Thee
will I pray. The thought of the communication
between the father and the son is such a holy thought to me.
It is so holy. The humility and the reverence
and the respect that they have for each other is so holy to
me. The son says to the father, my
king and my God. And the father says to the son,
my king and my God, this is how they speak to each other. This
is how they speak of each other. They are truly one with each
other. And they lovingly, humbly, reverently
submit to each other. It was the son's submission to
the father that caused him to come here to endure all of this
sin in order to save his people. 30 years he had to endure sin. 33 and a half years he had to
endure sin. So he said in verse 2, hearken
unto the voice of my cry, my king and my God, for unto thee
will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the
morning. O Lord, in the morning will I
direct my prayer unto thee and will look up. Can we hear him
saying that from the cross? Knowing that he's about to bow
his head and give up the ghost. Knowing that he is about to endure
the darkness of forsaken separation from God. But knowing in faith that his
father was not going to leave him there or let him see corruption. He knew that. He said that. Knowing that he would surely
rise again the third day. How many times did he tell his
disciples, I'm going to Jerusalem. They are going to crucify me.
And three days later, I'm going to rise again. Knowing that, can we hear him
say, Father, the moment I wake up from this, my heart and my
voice will be directed to you. In love and in thankfulness.
Verse three, my voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord.
In the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee and will
look up. In faith, in faithfulness from
the cross, our Lord said, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills
from whence cometh my help. Verse three, my voice shalt thou
hear in the morning, O Lord, in the morning will I direct
my prayer unto thee and will look up For thou art not a God
that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with
thee. Psalm 22 is most definitely the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. Most definitely. Verse one says,
my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? That's how the Psalm
starts. And he goes on to say in Psalm
22, I know why you have forsaken me. It's because you are holy
and you must punish sin. And that's what he's saying right
here. I know why I must hang on this cross. It's because verse
4, Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither
shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in
thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that
speak leasing. The Lord will abhor the bloody
and deceitful man. And our Lord Jesus Christ says,
Father, that's what our people are. This is us. This is us. All men and women are going to
be destroyed. But God's people were destroyed on the cross of
Calvary. He hated the iniquity of his
people on the cross of Calvary. This morning in the book of Matthew,
as our Lord was standing there before Pilate, all of these false
witnesses brought railing accusations against him. And he answered
nothing to the point that Pilate marveled. And he said, do you
not hear what they're witnessing against you? They're accusing
you of sin after sin after sin. Why aren't you saying anything? It's because the accusers didn't
bring one railing accusation that wasn't true about the people
he was standing there for. That's the reason why. Everything
they said was true concerning us. It was true concerning the
people he was standing in the place of. The ones he stood there
for, his own, they were wicked, evil, foolish workers of iniquity. That's me. But he stood in their place.
He endured their destruction. Our Lord said, you are going
to destroy this temple. What he said, you are going to
destroy this temple. Why? Because that's what my people
deserve. And I'm standing in their place. And when this is all over, I
and the children that the father has given to me, we're going
to worship God together. Verse seven, but as for me, I
will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy, and in
thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Only the Lord
Jesus Christ could say that. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness
because of mine enemies. Make thy way straight before
my face. For there is no faithfulness
in their mouth, their inward part is very wickedness. Their
throat is an open sepulcher, they flatter with their tongue.
Destroy thou them, O God, let them fall by their own counsels. Cast them out in the multitude
of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee.
Again, that's all men and women on the face of this earth. Thank
God that's God's people in Christ on the cross. Verse 11, he said, but let all
those that put their trust in thee. Do you know, if our trust
is in him, you know why it's in him? He put it there. If our trust is in the Lord,
it's because Jesus Christ's trust was in the Lord and we're in
Him. If our trust is in the Lord,
Jesus Christ gets the glory for that. Therefore, verse 11 says,
let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. Let them
ever shout for joy because thou defendest them. That word defendest
means coverest, protectest. You cover them, you protect them. Let them also that love thy name
be joyful in thee, for thou, Lord, will bless the righteous. Every man and woman in Christ,
Christ, the righteous one. With favor wilt thou compass
him as with a shield. That word compass means crown
him, and it means surround him as with a shield. He said, you're
going to surround your people with a shield. You're going to
surround them. Turn with me to Psalm 125. Years ago, when I was going through
a great trial in life, it was a great trial to me. It
wasn't a great trial compared to what many have gone through.
But it was a great trial to me. This psalm was a warm blanket
to me. And 24 years later, it still
is. This is a promise that I cling
to. I personally find so much comfort
in this. Psalm 125 verse 1, it says, They
that trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot
be removed, but abideth forever. As the mountains are round about
Jerusalem, so the Lord is round about His people. from henceforth,
even forever. They that trust in the Lord,
they're gonna be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but
abides forever. God's people cannot be removed. Why? They're in Christ, and Christ
can't be removed. And as the mountains are round
about Jerusalem, the Lord is around His people, surrounding
His people. from henceforth even forever. There is so much safety in the
Lord Jesus Christ. There's so much safety. That's
what I want to be. I want to be safe. I want to
be kept safe. So much safety in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Those who have been caused and
allowed to put their trust in the Lord can rejoice with all
of their heart because they are kept and they are safe. What words of comfort, what words
of encouragement? Turn over to Second Kings 6. Second Kings 6. I'm done. I feel like I've only
been preaching for ten minutes. But I'm done. This is all I want
to say. 2 Kings 6 verse 8. Then the king of Syria warred
against Israel and took counsel with his servants, saying, In
such a place shall be my camp. And the man of God sent unto
the king of Israel, saying, Beware that thou pass not such a place,
for thither the Syrians are come down. And the king of Israel
sent to the place which the man of God told him, and warned him
of, and saved himself there not once or twice. Syria was going
against Israel, and Elisha warned the king of Israel, Don't go
this way, And the king of Israel listened and it saved him, saved
his life more than twice, not once nor twice, more than that.
Verse 11, therefore, the heart of the king of Syria was sore
troubled for this thing. And he called his servants and
said unto them, will you not show me which of us is for the
king of Israel? We have somebody who is telling
our secrets to Israel. Who is it? Who's the traitor?
Verse 12, And one of his servants said, None, my lord, O king,
but Elisha the prophet that is in Israel, telleth the king of
Israel the words that thou speakest in thy bedchamber. And he said,
Go and spy where he is, that I may send and fetch him. And
it was told him, saying, Behold, he is in Dothan. Therefore sent
he thither horses and chariots and a great host. And they came
by night and compassed the city about. And when the servant of
the man of God, when Elisha's servant was risen early and gone
forth, behold, and host compassed the city, both with horses and
chariots, and his servant said unto him, ran back into the house
and said unto Elisha, alas, my master, how shall we do? And
he answered, fear not. For they that be with us are
more than they that be with them. And Elisha prayed and said, Lord,
I pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord opened
the eyes of the young man and he saw, and behold, the mountain
was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha. That comfort your heart? There
is so much safety in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the place
of safety in him is so much safety. I love that story of Charles
Wesley. He was a man in the 1700s. He was a preacher. He was a hymn
writer. He has hymns in our hymn book,
and the story's told that he was upstairs in his house, and
the window was open, and a storm just that fast came up, you know,
lightning and rain and thunder and wind, and it just, all of
a sudden, and he ran to the window and reached out to grab the shutters,
to pull the shutters closed, and when he did, a bird ran into
his coat. And he pulled that little bird
into his warmth and safety, and he sat down and wrote, Jesus,
lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly. Just like that little
bird flew in here, let me come into your safety, your peace,
Lord, your warmth. There's so much safety in the
Lord Jesus Christ. Go to him. Go to Him alone. To Him be all the glory. Amen.