Psalm 25, this psalm spans two
pages in my Bible. It starts on one page and ends
on the next page. And on the second page, the heading
at the top says that this psalm is a prayer for pardon and help. That's what this whole Psalm
is. It is a desperate, fervent prayer. This is a wonderful and a very
comforting Psalm. I've preached from this Psalm
many times now. Many times I love this whole
song. Tonight. I want to just focus in on one
verse. One verse will mention a few of the other ones, but
one verse is going to be our text. Verse 20. It says. Oh, keep my soul. And deliver me. Let me not be
ashamed, for I put my trust in Thee." What a prayer. What a prayer that is. That is
a prayer of maturity. If we want to see a mature and
wise prayer, that is a prayer of maturity. That is a prayer
of simplicity. Such simplicity. That's a prayer
that an aged person can pray. That's a prayer that a child
can pray. Oh, keep my soul. And deliver me. Let me not be
ashamed, for I put my trust in thee. Four simple statements. We're going to look at each one
of those statements. Before we do, though, let's consider something. Number one, who is this prayer
to? Who is David praying to? Who
can we pray to? If you look at the last word
in the verse, it says, Thee. I'm speaking to Thee. I'm speaking
to Thee. I'm crying directly to Thee. Who is Thee? Look at verse 1. It says, Unto thee, O Lord, do
I lift up my soul. O my God, I trust in thee. David said, I'm crying directly
to the Lord my God. This is from me to Him. Directly from me to Him. We need to understand this. If
we're going to talk about the subject of praying to God and
crying out to God and calling on God, we need to understand
this right here. Look with me, if you would, at
Isaiah chapter one. Isaiah 1 verse 9, it says, except
the Lord of hosts had left unto us a very small remnant, we should
have been as Sodom and we should have been like unto Gomorrah. Had God not left a very small
remnant of people. A very small remnant. We all would have been consumed. We all would have been consumed.
Romans 11 verse 5 says that this remnant is according to God's
election of grace. That's who the remnant is. It's
every soul chosen in Christ. And that's what makes the difference
on whether or not a person is part of this remnant that God
left or not. This remnant is the chosen seed
in Christ. Now, right here in verse 10,
the Lord is gonna speak to those who are outside of the remnant. Not in the remnant. Those who
have no desire for Christ. No desire for what it truly means
to be in Christ. It's to resign everything to
Christ. Those who are not interested in Him receiving all the glory
for all the work and everything that had to be done concerning
our salvation. to those who want to go meet
God on their own, which is a lot of people, many people. That's
what they would prefer to do. They want to go on their own.
They want to go stand before God in their own merit, on their
own works. And this is what God has to say
to them. Verse 10, He said, Hear the word of the Lord, ye rulers
of Sodom. Give ear unto the law of our
God, ye people of Gomorrah. To what purpose is the multitude
of your sacrifices unto me, saith the Lord? I am full of the burnt
offerings of rams, and of the fat of fed beasts, and I delight
not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of he-goats.
When you come to appear before me, who hath required this at
your hand to tread my courts? Bring no more vain oblations,
Incense is an abomination unto me. The new moons and Sabbaths,
the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with. It is iniquity, even
the solemn meeting." What he's saying is, your deeds of the
law don't satisfy me. They never have, they never will.
Christ is the only thing that satisfies me. He's the only one
who satisfies me. My own sacrifice that I provided. My own fulfiller of the law,
Christ. Only what He has done will be
accepted by me. Verse 14, He said, your new moons
and your appointed feasts, my soul hateth. They are a trouble
unto me. I am weary to bear them. And
when you spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you. Now watch this. He said, yea,
when you make many prayers, I will not hear what terrible four words. I will not. There are so many
people who God won't hear. There's so many people on this
earth, so many people on this earth that God will not hear. He will not hear. He said, your
hands are full of blood. Outside of Christ, outside of
the remnant, chosen in Christ, we don't realize what privileged
people we are to be in the remnant. This chosen remnant, when it
comes to a sinner's prayer to God, there's no difference in
any sinner on this earth. We're all sinners, just like
every other sinner on this earth. And when it comes to any sinner's
prayer to God, outside of Christ, the Father said, I won't hear
you. I won't hear you. Outside of the intercession of
Christ, outside of the acceptance of the work and the grace and
the mercy and the blood, if a sinner tries to pray any other way,
then in and through the finished work of Christ, God the Father
says that prayer will not make it past the ceiling. If you can't
hear it outside, then this is the only place it'll be heard.
He says, I won't hear it. But in and through that finished
accomplishment of Christ, look with me at Psalm 20. This is
what he said in Psalm 20. When we As the song that we sing says,
when we come to the father. Through Jesus Christ, the son. and give him the glory for the
great things that he has done. When we sincerely cry, and this
is how we cry in our prayer, we say, for Christ's sake. Something to that effect. That's
not just closing words. That's not just a good way to
end the prayer. We're crying for Christ's sake. We are crying out to you because
of what Christ did. We acknowledge that the only
reason I'm even allowed to pray to you right now, this is the
only reason, it's because of what Christ did for me. Had He not done something for
me, then I couldn't even pray to you right now. I acknowledge,
that's what we're saying in it, I acknowledge that my prayers
are only making it past the ceiling. Because you loved me, and you chose me, and you gave me
to the Lord Jesus Christ. And He washed me in His own blood. And He has quickened me. by His Spirit to faith in Him. It's only because He was my Savior. Only. It's only because of His
namesake. You know how we say, in Jesus'
name. It's only because His name is
Savior. That's the only reason. Savior,
that's the only reason I'm able, that's the only reason I'm allowed
to pray to you right now, for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. That's the only name I come in. When God's people sincerely,
sincerely say, I'm only coming in one name. No other name, especially
not my own name. Not unto me, oh Lord, not unto
me, but unto His Name, unto Christ's Name alone give all the glory. God the Father says, You come
unto Me in prayer, in His Name, and in His work, and in His blood. And this is what He says in Psalm
20 verse 1. He says, The Lord will hear you in the day of trouble. The Name of the God of Jacob
will defend you. The name of the God of Jacob,
the name of the God of sinners, you come in that name and I'll
hear you. I will hear you. Now this thought
and this truth is truly amazing to me. I was so blessed by this. If you tried to call on the phone
the President of the United States of America, you would have to
go through a long line of people in various offices before you
could reach him. If you tried to call these heads
of these major corporations, there's some very famous owners
and CEOs of these corporations in the country. You try to call
them on the phone, any of those men or women, you're going to
have to go through a long line of people to get to them. If
you try to call the principal of your child's elementary school,
you're going to have to go through a secretary, an office worker,
you're going to have to go through somebody before you can reach
him or her. but in the remnant of God's choosing. If we have been quickened to
life and quickened to faith that looks to and hopes in only the
blood of Christ, then in Christ we have the very access to the
Father that He has. And that's honest. That is sincere. That poem, that song, talks about
how far by nature and far by choice, how far we naturally
are from God. But in the blood of His Son,
in Christ, this song goes on to say, near, so very near to
God, I cannot nearer be. For in the person of His Son,
I am as near as He. I'm as near as He is. In the
Lord Jesus Christ, you can say, and this is real, you can say,
Father, I'm speaking to you. And that is a direct conversation
with Him. That is a direct line with Him. We have the very access that
Christ does. Christ walked this earth in constant
communion with His Father. We have the same communion. Just
one look of faith, one cry from the heart, and our
spirit can literally be transported from earth to His throne. God is a spirit and what that
means is God is everywhere. God is everywhere. And in his
spirit, so are we. So are we. In what we have in
Christ, whenever we need to. We can go straight to the throne
of God right now. Right now, we can be transported
to the throne of God right now. We can stand at His throne and
talk to Him. We hear about Enoch being translated. You know, Enoch, he was just
translated. He was not. God translated him. He just went
from here to there. And we hear about Elijah being
carried straight into heaven on a chariot of fire. And we
think how glorious that must have been. How amazing and how
glorious that must have been. If we only had the ability to
just be transported to a face-to-face meeting with him. To speak one-on-one
as a man speaks with his friend. Isn't that what he said he did
with Abraham? He did with Moses? one-on-one, as just as a man
speaks to his friend. If we could just hear that still,
small voice of comfort that Elijah heard, the Lord just face-to-face,
quietly spoke to him in just a still, small voice, we think,
oh, if we only had that ability. Oh, if we only had that ability.
In the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ, We do. We sincerely do. By the Spirit of His faith, that's
faith is what looks, faith is what cries, faith is our communion. And by the Spirit of His faith,
we can see Him face to face, even though we don't yet know
what He looks like. We honestly can, by faith, by
faith, by the Spirit of His Word, we can honestly hear Him speak
directly to our hearts, even though we don't yet know what
His voice sounds like. We see Him with the eyes of faith. We hear Him with the ears of
the heart. We can commune with Him, friend
to friend, anytime we want. That's a privileged people. That's
a privileged people. Knowing that ought to encourage
us to cry out to Him in prayer. And when we cry, may this be
our prayer. Go with me back to Psalm 25. Psalm 25 verse 20, it says, Oh, keep my soul and deliver
me. Let me not be ashamed for I put
my trust in thee. Honestly, what a prayer that
is. That is a cry for mercy. Number one, he said, oh, keep
my soul. To some, he is going to say,
depart from me, ye that work iniquity, I never knew you. To
some, he is going to say, cast them out into outer darkness. David knew, and he said right
here in this Psalm, I deserve to be one of them. I deserve
to be one of them. Look at verse six. He said, remember,
Oh Lord, thy tender mercies and thy loving kindnesses for they
have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth
nor my transgressions are so many. According to thy mercy,
remember thou me for thy goodness sake, O Lord. That is coming
to Christ. People hear about coming to Christ. We talk about coming to Christ.
That's what coming to Christ is. It's coming labored and heavy
laden over your sin, begging for mercy, saying, Lord, even
though I don't deserve it, Even though I'm not worthy of it,
even though I haven't earned it, would you please keep my
soul? Would you allow my soul to be
one of the ones that you keep and call your own? What that request is saying,
whenever we say that, this is what we're saying in it. This
is your choice. when He said, Oh, keep my soul. What He's saying is, this is
your choice. It's not my decision. I'm at your mercy. My life is
in your hands. So I'm begging. That's what I
am. I'm a beggar. I'm a beggar. I'm begging you. My cry is directly
to you. Would you please keep my soul? Verse 20, David said, and deliver
me. Oh, keep my soul and deliver
me, not just from destruction, not just from the judgment that
I deserve because of my sin. Would you deliver me from my
sin? Would you please deliver me from
this? You know, sin, sin just ruins everything. It just ruins
everything. It ruins your happiness. It ruins
everything you do, everything you are. It just ruins everything.
Sin is what brings sorrow. It's what brings pain. And he's
crying, would you deliver me from everything that I am? Deliver
me from my sin. Deliver me from myself. Would
you deliver me from what I can't stop being? I'm so tired of being this. I'm
just so tired of being this. Deliver me from what I can't
get away from. This is what the apostle Paul
said in Romans 7. He said, Oh, wretched man, that
I am who shall deliver me. Immediately in Romans 8, he said,
there's no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. David said, this is why I'm crying
to you. I need to be delivered from something
to something. Deliver me from myself to you. Please deliver me from my sin. Deliver me to you. Look at verse
17. He said, the troubles of my heart
are enlarged. Oh, bring thou me out of my distresses. Look upon mine affliction and
my pain and forgive all my sins. Bring me out. Please bring me
out. Please deliver me. Bring me out
of my great distresses. This right here is God keeping
a soul and delivering it. This is how God keeps a soul
and how He delivers it and this is what happens as a result to
the soul. of God keeping it and delivering
it. Look with me if you would at Job 33. Just a few pages back to Job
33. This is describing the ruin of
sin. Now sin has just ruined us. Verse
21, it says, His flesh is consumed away that it cannot be seen,
and His bones that were not seen stick out. Yea, His soul draweth
near unto the grave, and His life to the destroyers. Verse 23 says, But if God sends
Him a messenger of good news, if there be a messenger with
him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show unto man
his uprightness." What is His uprightness? Well, it's not His uprightness
at all. It's Christ Jesus, His Lord. He is made unto us uprightness. If God reveals Christ, to a sinful
soul that's bound for destruction. Then watch verse 24, it says,
Then He is gracious unto him, and saith, Deliver him from going
down to the pit. I have found a ransom. That word
ransom means an atonement. I found a payment. And it's the
Lord Jesus Christ. As poor, wretched sinners, no
God and no hope, it seemed there was no one to help. But God,
in His mercy, salvation supplied, emptied heaven and came down
Himself and a ransom was found. He is our payment. He's our atonement. And in that
ransom payment, because of that deliverance, This is what will
happen to that sinful soul. This is what the soul is delivered
to. Verse 25, it says, His flesh shall be fresher than a child's. That's what He's going to be
delivered to. He shall return to the days of His youth. He
shall pray unto God and He will be favorable unto Him. and he
shall see his face with joy, for he will render unto man his
righteousness. He looketh upon men, and if any
say, I have sinned and perverted that which was right, and it
profited me not, he will deliver his soul from going into the
pit, and his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh
God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, and
to enlighten with the light of the living. Mark well, O Job,
hearken unto me, hold thy peace, and I will speak. If thou hast
anything to say, answer me, speak, for I desire to justify thee. If not, hearken unto me, hold
thy peace, and I shall teach thee wisdom. David said in our
text, give me that. Give me that. I want that. I
beg you for that, that grace and that mercy, that cleansing. Go back to our text, Psalm 25. Verse 20 says, Oh, keep my soul
and deliver me. Let me not be ashamed. Let me
not be disappointed. That's what that word means.
Let me not be disappointed. Let the desires of my hope come
to pass. He went on to say, for I put
my trust in thee. All of my hope is in you. Can
we say that? I believe we can. I believe we
can. I believe he's given us faith
to be able to say all of my hope is in you. I believe we can say
that. All of my hope. Without you,
I have nothing. If I don't have you, I don't
have anything. Everything I am. Everything I
have. Everything I hope in. It's all
in one man. It's all in one man. You. You. The Lord Jesus Christ. I want
to close this with Psalm 130. Look with me over there at Psalm
130. Psalm 130 verse 7, it says, Let
Israel hope in the Lord, for with the Lord there is mercy,
and with Him is plenteous redemption, and He shall redeem Israel from
all his iniquities. The end of Psalm 2 says, Blessed
are all they that put their trust, truly blessed, are all they who
put their trust, find all their hope to be in Him, blessed in
Him. Verse 8 says, He shall redeem
Israel from all his iniquities. Hearing that He is going to do
that for His people, honestly, hearing that He is absolutely
going to do that for all of His people, that makes me want to
cry, Oh, keep my soul. Hearing that He's going to keep
all the souls that Christ died for, all the souls that belong
to Him, it makes me cry, Lord, keep my soul too. Deliver me. Please deliver me. Remember me. Let Thy blessings
fall on me too. Let me not be ashamed. I'm putting
all my trust in You. All of it, all of it. Keep my
soul. Keep my soul. Let's look to Him.
Let's cry out to Him. Let's trust in Him and hope in
Him. Alright, let's all stand together.