Psalm 141. Give ear to my prayer. That's the title of the message. Give ear to my prayer. To be heard of God. For God to let me speak into
his ear. That's what he's saying. Let
me speak into your ear. The Pharisees prayed to be heard
of men. The Lord exposed them. He exposed
their heart. He exposed the reason they prayed.
They used much words in their prayers because they wanted to
be heard of men and they sound so dignified and so religious. But they were nothing but empty
prayers, prayers of devils. Because Christ said, you're of
your father, the devil. There's nothing more than prayers
of devils is all it was. But God's children pray to be
heard of God and to be heard of God only. That's why we pray
to be heard of him. Lord, hear my prayer. Give ear, let me have your ear.
Let me have you here. I enjoy reading David's prayers,
for he does not pray as a king, nor does he pray as a theologian,
but as a sinner in need of mercy. This is the king of Israel. This
is one who has the army of Israel at his command. He says to one,
go, and he goes, and says to one, come, and he comes. But
when he comes before God, he comes before God just like you
and me, in need of mercy, in need of help. I love reading
his prayers. It's like he takes the crown
off, and he takes the robe off, and he gets on his face, and
he says, God, I need your help. I like to read that. I feel a
kindred spirit with David when I read those kind of prayers. He becomes a mercy beggar. You
know, when the situation is urgent, when it's urgent, we drop all
titles and become the mercy beggars
that we are. I do not go before God and say,
Lord, this is Pastor John. No, this is a sinner in need
of mercy. I need your help. I need your help. And let me
say this also about prayer. If you haven't learned it, you
will. Prayer does not change the will of God. It changes my
will to thy will be done. It brings me around to his will.
That's what it does. And prayer, God uses prayer,
He moves His children to pray for those things which He has
ordained for them. You know that? True prayer is
God moving you, God the Holy Spirit moving you to pray what
the Lord has already ordained for you. And that's what the
Lord is going to do when He answers that prayer. Now David here is
praying, he says, LORD, you know who that is? The Lord Jesus Christ,
Jehovah, just Jehovah Jesus. It's who it is. The self-existing
one. I am that I am. Is that not what
he said? I am. He said, tell them I am
sent thee. And the Lord Jesus Christ said,
I am. Same one. The same one speaking
to Moses out of the burning bush. is the one David's praying to
here. It's the one we pray, and we use His name, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Now David, it says in the Psalm
of David, David wrote this, and he says, Lord, that is Jehovah,
I cry unto thee. This is not just a rehearsed
prayer. He didn't get this out of a prayer
book. This is squeezed out of his heart. True prayer is when
God squeezes it out of your heart. And you'll know it when he does. Because you'll do this, I cry.
You know, all my prayers are not a cry. I mean, I'm not crying
urgently and nobody, none of us are like that. David did not
do it all the time. Some of our prayers are praise.
We praise him. And the prayer we, tonight, you
know, we pray for his, you know, Doug prayed in the study and
I pray here. We pray the Lord be with us.
We do, we do pray that. And then there's times when God
brings us into a hard situation. And if he hasn't yet, he will.
If you're his, he will, I promise you. And that's when you'll cry. You'll know exactly what crying
is. You'll know what it is to cry unto God. You'll put away,
you'll put aside everything. There'll be no pretense in it
in any way, shape, or form. You're crying. You're crying
to God. I CRY UNTO THEE. It's I and Thee
involved in this prayer. I cry to thee, make haste to
me. You see, I come to thee to ask you to come to me, to make
haste and come to me. That you give ear to my voice
when I cry unto thee. You can tell when someone's in
distress by their voice, can't you? That's why he says, that's
why David says, give ear to my voice. You can hear the stress
of it. You can hear the distress in
my voice. You can hear it. But I'll tell
you what this is also here. And we need to, we need to realize
this and use this reverently, but use it. This is boldness
at the throne of grace. This is boldness at the throne
of grace. David has gone before God. He's
gone before the throne of grace and he's going to lay his case
out and he's not going to stop crying until God hears him until
he at least has a sense that God hears him. Now David, he addresses the Lord
here as Jehovah. He addresses Him by that name
that only His people know Him by. You know, no other nation
knew Him by this name. No other nation, only Israel.
God made Himself known to Israel. LORD, capital L-O-R-D, Jehovah. You know, they only mention Jehovah.
I was reading this today. You know, I don't know sometimes
about all the things that I read out accurate, but they said that
the Jews wouldn't even mention that name but one time a year
at the atonement. But it's mentioned several times
throughout the Bible. But God made himself known to Moses,
I am that I am. The self-existing one, that's
Jehovah. That's the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, all religions
use the name of God. They use the name God, don't
they? They all call their God, God. But boy, when you define
that name as Jehovah, the Lord Jesus Christ, now you've made
a separation. Now they know who you're talking
about. You know, if you can say here,
God is all powerful and every religion say, yeah, yes, I believe
that. You can say, God is holy, yes,
I believe that. Jesus Christ is God, whoa. We'll
see that in 2 John. Many deceivers have gone out
into the world. He that confesses not that Jesus Christ has come
in the flesh. They deny his deity. All religions will use the name
of God, but when it comes to the name of God, Jehovah, I am
that I am. And that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
Then you're gonna find a separation. Now this prayer is a heart prayer. He said, I cry. It's coming from
the heart. It's a felt prayer. He feels it. Every fiber of his
being is in prayer right now. You know that? You know, when
you really, if God has ever made you cry unto him and really made
you cry to him, every fiber of your being from the top of your
head to the bottom of your feet is engaged in prayer. It's engaged
in it. And sometimes, listen, our prayers
are of a more urgent nature. We cry for immediate help. Lord,
help. Help. Like that of Peter when
he began to go under the water. Remember when he walked on water,
took about two or three steps and he looked at the wind and
the waves and how boisterous they were. He took his eyes off
Christ and he began to sink. The most powerful prayer that
one could pray, he prayed. You know what he said? SAVE ME! That's it! Have you ever just
asked God to save you? It's so simple. SAVE ME! Quit
trying to be a theologian and just become a sinner and say
SAVE ME! LORD SAVE ME! That's what Peter did. He said SAVE ME over there in
Matthew 14 30. And David's saying here, make haste, it has come
to my help, I need it immediately. Now it's not as if the Lord were
off somewhere on business. Our Lord is ever-present, you
know that? We don't always sense it, but is Christ not in you? He's ever-present, He's in you,
He's ever-present. But what we need at different
times, at certain times, perilous times, we need his immediate
presence. We need his help now. And he
makes us to realize that. Give attention to my prayer for
I'm in distress. I don't know what the distress
was. Some believe it was when Saul was after him. May have
been. Whatever the situation was, he
was in distress. Have you ever been there? Ever
been there? I tell you this, if you've ever
been lost, you've been there. If you've ever been lost, you know
what it is to cry and to cry for mercy, to beg God to save
you. Let my prayer be set forth before
thee as incense. This man's been taught of God.
He knows what this incense and sacrifice represents. He knows
who they represent. LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE
THEE AS INCENSE, AND THE LIFTING UP OF MY HANDS AS THE EVENING
SACRIFICE." When they offered the evening lamb. You know, incense
was used in worship in the morning and evening sacrifice when it
was burned on the altar of incense. which was before the veil, the
Holy of Holies. And the smoke from it would rise
up, and it'd give off a sweet smell. Turn over to Exodus chapter
30, and give an idea of what David's talking about here. You read the first nine verses. and thou shalt make an altar
to burn incense upon." Who's our altar? Christ. Do we not go unto God? Do we
not pray unto God in Christ's name? Is He not our altar in
which we pray? OF SHIT OF WOOD SHALT THOU MAKE
IT, A CUBIT SHALL BE THE LENGTH THEREOF, AND A CUBIT THE BREADTH
THEREOF, FOUR SQUARES SHALL IT BE, AND TWO CUBITS SHALL BE THE
HEIGHT THEREOF, THE HORNS THEREOF SHALL BE OF THE SAME." Isn't
it amazing how meticulous God is? He didn't say, just go make
an altar. No, He gives what it's to be
made out of, and the exact measurements of it. AND THOU SHALT OVERLAY
IT WITH PURE GOLD. Here you have an altar, here
you have the humanity of Christ and the deity of Christ overlaid
with pure gold. The top thereof and the sides
thereof round about and the horns thereof and thou shalt make unto
it a crown of gold round about. And two golden rings shalt thou
make to it, under the crown of it, by the two corners thereof,
upon the two sides of it, shalt thou make it, and they shall
be for places for the staves to bear it withal. And thou shalt
make the staves of shiddom wood, and overlay them with gold, and
thou shalt put it before the veil that is by the ark of the
testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the testimony, where
I will meet with thee, and Aaron shall burn thereon sweet, sweet
incense. every morning we ought to pray
every morning you know that we ought to get up every morning
and pray because the incense here also represents the prayers
of the saint i'll show you that in a minute and Aaron shall burn
their own sweet incense every morning when he dresses the lambs
THE LAMPS, HE SHALL BURN INCENSE UPON IT, AND WHEN AIR ENLIGHTETH
THE LAMPS AT EVENING, HE SHALL BURN INCENSE UPON IT, A PERPETUAL
INCENSE BEFORE THE LORD THROUGHOUT YOUR GENERATION. YOU SHALL OFFER
NO STRANGE INCENSE THEREON, NO BURNT SACRIFICE, NO MEAT OFFERING,
NEITHER SHALL YOU POUR DRINK OFFERING THEREON." You see, this
is where the incense came in. And David is saying, David is
saying here, let my prayer LET MY PRAYER BE SET FORTH BEFORE
THEE AS INCENSE, SWEET-SMELLING INCENSE." This also represents
the intercession of Christ because what would our prayers be without
Him? Without Him interceding for us. But it also represents
our prayers in Revelation 8, verse 4, "...AND THE SMOKE OF
THE INCENSE WHICH CAME WITH THE PRAYERS OF THE SAINTS Ascended
up before God out of the angels hand It's the prayers of the
Saints And you know this incense was made of and I'm not going
you can read this I think it's over in Exodus 30 34 through
38. It was made up of special spices
and they were it was to be ground small Let me give you what John
Owen gave this, and I thought it was good, and I'm going to
give him the credit for it. Here's four things about this
incense. It was beaten and pounded. It was to be pounded very small
before it was used. So does acceptable prayer proceed
from a broken and contrite heart. Oh, that's what it's a sweet
smell to God. Secondly, FIRE WAS PUT UNDER
IT. FIRE REPRESENTING THE HOLY SPIRIT
OF GOD. TRUE PRAYER IS PRAYING IN THE
SPIRIT. IT IS. IN THE HOLY SPIRIT, MOVED
BY THE HOLY SPIRIT UNDER THE POWER AND UNCTION OF THE HOLY
SPIRIT. WE PRAY. WE PRAY. FIRE WAS PUT UNDER IT,
FIRE REPRESENTING THE HOLY SPIRIT OF GOD WHICH WE HAVE FROM OUR
ALTAR, JESUS CHRIST. THIRDLY, IT ASCENDED UPWARDS
TOWARD HEAVEN. That smoke came out and it went
up. IT ASCENDED UPWARD TOWARD HEAVEN, AS ALL OFFERINGS IN THE
HEBREWS ARE CALLED THE ASCENSION, OR RISING UP. THIS IS THE DESIGN
OF PRAYER TO ASCEND UNTO THE THRONE OF GOD. I will direct
unto thee, and we'll look up, I'll pray." A prayer is upwards,
it's not outwards, it's upward. We pray to God, be heard of God. And then fourthly, it yielded
a sweet smell. And I never thought about this,
but John Owen brought this out. It yielded a sweet smell which
was one end of it in temple services wherein there was so much burning
of flesh and blood." You ever smell that burn? You ever smell
flesh burn, burning, burn? But here God gives this sweet
incense to help cover that odor. So does prayer yield a sweet
savor unto God, a savor of rest wherein he is well pleased. I
thought that was a good observation by John Owen. And the lifting
up of my hands as the evening sacrifice. There's a lot of symbolism
used in the Old Testament. We know that the incense of sacrifice
represented Christ our High Priest interceding for us. His substitutionary
sacrifice for our sins, we know that. Thank God we know that. I had a lady tell me one time,
years ago, that the Old Testament saints were saved by those animals,
those animals and lambs that were slain and now we're saved
by Christ. No, we never have been saved
by those things. If they were saved by them, they would have
quit being offered, the Lord said. They weren't Hebrews, they
wouldn't have been offered anymore. If they were able to put away
sin, you don't offer it again, do you? But if you offer it again
and again and again and again, it didn't do the job. Jesus Christ
was crucified one time and that's all one time that's why that's
why Moses couldn't enter this promised land because he struck
the rock twice and God said one time second time he said speak
to it pray and Moses out of anger and this is where David says
set a watch Moses out of anger boy he just spat it off and And
then hit that rock out of anger and God didn't let him enter
the promised land And this evening listen this
evening sacrifice Especially speaks of the Lord Jesus Christ
in these last days Offer up himself for our sins. It's in the evening
It's the evening sacrifice there's a lot of there's a lot to that
because Christ offered up himself in these last days and in the
last hours when he, that day he was offered up in that evening
sacrifice. Luther had this comment to say,
let my prayer avail to thee as an offering of incense, the lifting
up of my hands as an evening sacrifice. David knew what they
meant. He knew it. He knew what they
meant to God. He knew what they meant to God.
And here's boldness at the throne of grace. He said, let my prayer
come before you just as the incense and the evening sacrifice that
you ordained as a type of your son. Now that's boldness at the throne
of grace. And then verse three, he says,
set a watch Well, we could, this could be in our prayer every
morning, couldn't it? Before we start the day. Set a watch in
my mouth. Set a watch, oh Lord, before
my mouth. Keep the door of my lips. Guard, guard what comes
out of my mouth. I'm your child. I'm an ambassador. I'm a preacher and a pastor.
Lord, guard my tongue, because I have the same nature everyone
else has. Temper can get an attitude. And someone suggested this, and
it may be so, that when David was running from Saul, that he
was among different people, and he's out there running, and he's
saying, don't let me, while I'm out here, run my mouth. and partake of their evil deeds
and fall into idolatry. Watch this. Say to watch, O LORD,
before my mouth. Keep the doors of my lip. Keep
me from bringing reproach on thy name by the words of my mouth
as I go through this trial. Lord, help me. You know, I think when we go through trials, that's
when we probably ought to be the quietest. Because we usually
speak out of haste, unadvisedly, and we say things like Job. You think Job wished he hadn't
said some of the things he said? I think so. He despised the day
he was born. God brought us into this world
and he's gonna bring us home to glory. But his suffering got
so great, I can understand. I can sympathize with him, not
to the extent he went through, but I understand. Keep me from foolish talking and jesting. We don't give a whole lot of
thought to our words, do we? When we're talking, we really
don't. Listen to Ephesians 5.4, neither filthiness, nor foolish
talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient, but
rather giving of things. Let not my mouth be used for
praise and slander. You know, the Lord said salt
water and clean water can't come from the same fountain. Don't
let this be that kind of fountain that's polluted. Lord put a watch
on my mouth WARS HAVE BEEN STARTED BY WORDS COMING OUT OF SOMEONE'S
MOUTH, WHICH COMES OUT OF THE HEART. OUT OF THE HEART THE MOUTH
SPEAKETH. PEOPLE HAVE LOST THEIR LIVES
OVER, FRIENDSHIPS HAVE BEEN DESTROYED OVER TAILBEARING. SOLOMON SAID,
I'M TRYING TO THINK, I'M GOING TO HAVE TO PARAPHRASE IT, SOLOMON
SAID, LIKE A TAILBEARER SEPARATES VERY FRIENDS, CLOSE FRIENDS.
A TAILBEARER WILL SEPARATE CLOSE FRIENDS. And note this scripture here
in Micah chapter 7 verse 5, I'll read it to you. TRUST YE NOT
IN A FRIEND, PUT YE NOT CONFIDENCE IN A GUIDE. This one, this one,
it shot me between the eyes. Keep the doors of thy mouth from
her that lies in your bosom. Don't talk to her about your
brothers and sisters. Me as a pastor, don't talk to
your wife about this one and that one. Call her what she thinks
of them. I've never saw that before. It
says, don't even speak anything to that one who lies in your
bosom about anybody. You know why? Because more than
likely, she is the most influenced by me, especially standing here
in the pulpit. If anybody, if this applies to
anybody, it applies to me. Just don't say anything. Like
Paul wrote to Titus, Titus 3.2, Speak evil of no man. Even of the evil. Speak evil
of no man. Be no brawler, don't be a brawler,
a fighter, but gentle, showing all meekness unto all men. Keep the doors of my lips. Our
lips are the door to our mouth. This is a door. It's a door. They need to be kept shut till
God gives us something to say. This is convicting to me. I don't
know about... This is convicting to me. Is this smiting you? Good. Good. Because down through here
he says, let the righteous smite me and it's kindness. You'll
find this a kindness. If it offends you and you get
mad and you pout and you go off, you've got the problem. I don't.
The word of God does it. You got it. You got it. Incline not my heart to any evil
thing to practice wicked works with men that work iniquity and
let me not eat of their dainty. You see David is assuming he's
away. He's out on the lambs. He's out on the run. And while
he's out there, he said, don't let me partake of their idolatry.
Don't let me be tempted to fall in line with those, the ones
I'm in company of. It's the wicked. And I thought, it was a something
here. He said, incline not my heart. This seems strange. When
I read this first, I thought, this is strange. He's asking
God, don't incline my heart as if God inclines my heart to.
We know that's not so. You know, one of the things about
interpreting scripture, scripture interprets scripture. So when
you look at a scripture like this, you have to look at it
in the light of God's word, what it teaches overall. Because James
says this, in James 1.13, let no man say when he's tempted,
I'm tempted of God, for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither
tempted He any man. So God doesn't tempt us to do
evil. It can't mean that, that He inclines
me to do evil. But it's in line with Matthew
6, 13, and lead us not into temptation. And I think of Peter. Peter denied him three times.
The Lord led him into that, led him come into that. He needed
it. He never forgot that the rest
of his life. He denied the Lord three times when he could have
stood up, but he didn't. Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil. We have a tendency to be drawn
into this world by the world. And he says, don't let that happen.
At one time we were a part of it and we still are drawn to
it like a metal to magnet. We still are. And he's saying, Lord, don't
let that happen. That's what he's saying. Don't let my heart,
don't let my heart be inclined to evil. to evil practice, to
evil worship, to idolatry, to evil men. Don't let me be drawn
to them. One time Dave said, I was envious
of the wicked. That's wicked. That's sinful
to be envious of the wicked. But he said, I was until I went
into the house of God and I saw their end. And I realized God's
mercy on me. And I realized I'm just a beast.
I'm just a fool. to envy something like that.
Do you envy a burning house? No. And I thought when we go to work
tomorrow, when some of you go out to work tomorrow, of course
I've got it in the study, I don't have that situation anymore,
but when you go out to work tomorrow, Lord keep me from speaking evil
guard the door of my lips, and don't let me run with the wicked,
and let me not eat of their dainties." You know what their dainties
are? Sin. It's just sin, whatever
it is. It could be this or that. It
could be something that seems so harmless on the outside. It
can seem so harmless. But it's not. There's pleasure
in sin for a season. That's what it says in Hebrews
11 25. There's pleasure and sin for a season To every one of
us But oh how short seasons are They're very short Lord don't let me don't let me Don't let me eat of their dainties,
because I will. Don't you see David, here David
is presenting himself to God as someone who absolutely, it
needs his help. Not only to be saved from the
wicked, but to be saved from his own self. Don't let me eat
of their dainties. He knows what he likes. He knows
what the flesh likes, put it that way. You know what this
flesh likes. Lord, keep me from that. Keep
me from it. If we run with them, we'll soon,
and you mark this down, if you run with them, you'll soon eat
with them. Spurgeon said this, if we don't
want to sin with them, we better not sit with them. If you don't
want to sin with them, you better not sit with them. Remember Psalm
1, blessed is the man who walks not, counsel the ungodly, doesn't
sit in the seat of the scornful. He doesn't do that. And let the
righteous smite me, it shall be a kindness. And let
him reprove me, it shall be an excellent oil, which shall not
break my head. For yet my prayer also shall
be in their calamities. Let the righteous one smite me,
and it'll be a kindness." As I said, is this smitten you any
at all? It did me as I read it. I thought, Lord, keep my mouth,
I'm so mouthy. Well, it's a kindness. If the
Lord smites your heart tonight, it's a kindness. Let him reprove
me, let the righteous reprove me, it'll be an excellent oil.
You know, when the gospel is preached, the Lord smites my
heart at times, it's a kindness. Let another brother, brother,
listen, brother or sister, REPROVE ME! It's a kindness, isn't it? We
don't boil up and say, Who do you think you are? No, it's a
kindness. Listen, Proverbs 27.6, Faithful
are the wounds of a friend. But the kisses of an enemy, deceitful. I read this over in Proverbs
9. Doug was reading Proverbs 8 and
this caught my eye. Over in Proverbs 9, listen, in
verse 8. Proverbs 9, 8. Reprove not a
scorner, lest he hate thee. Rebuke a wise man, he will love
you. That's how you can tell the difference
between a scorner and a wise man. If I rebuked you over something
and you got mad and pouted and don't want anything to do with
me and you shunned me and turned your back on me, you're not a wise
man, you're a scorner. But if you're a wise man, you'll
love me. You'll love me. I have to tell this one. I was preaching. I was at Hurricane
Road, pastor there, and I was preaching. On Sunday morning,
Henry's there. I don't remember the message,
but I was talking about being a servant of the Lord. Henry
came up to me and he said, John, I don't mean to rebuke you in
public. My face drained. My heart went
to my feet when he said that. And he had a dead serious look
on his face. He said, you just slapped yourself in the face.
He said, you go out there to that business, lock the doors,
walk away from it, and God will take care of it. You're in the
ministry. And I love him for it. I didn't
get mad. I didn't say, well, who do you
think you are? I didn't say that at all. I mean, my heart went
to my feet when he said that. But I loved him for it. I thank
him for it. You're in the ministry. God has
called you to preach. God has called you to pastor.
God has called you. God has put you in the ministry.
Now you walk away from everything. That's what he told me. You walk
away from it. Rebuke a wise man and he'll what? He'll love you. He'll love you. Faithful reproof is a token of
love, and therefore we may esteem it as kindness. It'll be profitable
to my soul. It'll be as excellent oil, which
shall not break my head." Oil doesn't break your head, does
it? Listen, reproof from a godly friend is like pouring sweet
oil over your head. It's not hitting you in the head
with a brick. It's the oil. And he said, it won't break my
head. For yet, listen, for yet my prayer also shall be in their
calamities. My prayer will be for him when
he's in trouble. I'm not going to take him out
of my prayers. I'm not going to say, I ain't praying for him
no more. I ain't inviting him over to the house no more. David's
saying, you let him rebuke me and I'll pray for him. I'll pray
for him. I'll pray for him when he's in
calamity. I'm not going to be mad at my brother for rebuking
me. Rather, I'll pray for him when he's in trouble. How many
times did our Lord pray for us? He continually prayed for us.
What am I saying? And this shows here how rebuke
from a brother is received. It's received with kindness and
love. And when their judges, their
rulers, are overthrown in stony places, that is, are thrown off
the cliff, THEY SHALL HEAR MY WORDS, FOR THEY ARE SWEET." Now,
in a spiritual sense, I don't know what all that means, but
I know this. In a spiritual sense, when the Lord overthrows a strong
man of the house, the gospel becomes sweet. When He takes all those things,
those things that rule over you, and He dashes them against the
rocks, then the gospel becomes sweet. When tyrants are Put to
death when tyrants are taken out of the way. The gospel becomes
sweet to those who hear it. It does. Our bones are scattered
at the grave's mouth as when one cuts and cleaves wood upon
the earth. David's situation, it was terrible. He's saying,
we are as good as dead if the Lord doesn't help us. Our case
is hopeless. But mine eyes, he says, mine
eyes are unto thee. Whatever my situation is, whatever
this comes to, Job didn't think he was going to see a good day,
did he? There was a point Job thought he'd never see another
good day. But he said, I know my Redeemer liveth, and He'll
stand upon the earth in the last days, and I'll see Him with my
own eyes and not another. I don't know what my situation's gonna
turn out to be like, but I know this, my eyes are unto thee,
I'm looking to you. I wish you could see, I wish
you could see my bird dog. I walk through the house, I'm
serious, I walk through the house, he's perched on that bed, and
his eyes are like this. I don't care where I go. He doesn't
stop. I mean, he is so focused on me.
And David said, my eyes are focused on you. Oh God, the Lord in thee
is my trust. Leave not my soul naked, destitute. Oh, keep me from the snares which
they've laid for me and the gins of the workers of, and keep me
and I'll be kept. As I commented on Psalm 140,
He knows where all the pitfalls are. It says in Isaiah 26.3,
Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on
Thee. That's a promise. That is a promise. Leave not my soul destitute,
make not my soul bare. J.C. Philpott said this, Strip
me not of every hope, Leave me not completely naked. Abandon
me not to nature's beggary misery. Let me not go down into the pit
with all my sins upon my head. Leave not my soul destitute of
pardon and peace. Leave not my soul destitute. And let the wicked fall in their
own nets while that I withal escape." He said, well, that's not a very
Christian thing to do. It's what they deserve. That's
what they deserve. You lay a net for somebody, if
you lay a net for somebody, you ought to be the one falling in
it. If you build a noose like Hayman did, you ought to be the
one hung on it. Is that right? That's right. Don't think Christianity is all
mushy, mushy, weak stuff. It's not. Lord, hear my prayer. Okay.