Turn to Psalm 25. Psalm 25. Here is a prayer for forgiveness. Anybody need that? That pretty
much covers everybody in here, doesn't it? It's a prayer for
forgiveness. It's a prayer for deliverance
from his enemies. I think you and I will be on
the same page when I say that our greatest enemies is our self. It's our self, it's our sins.
My sin is my greatest enemy. And old nature, I still carry
around with me. It still raises its ugly head.
And David speaks of his sins and his sin, his transgression. And he's saying, I need forgiveness. I need help. My Lord, I need
you to deliver me. I need you to deliver me from
the power of sin, from the power of Satan, and from the power
of those who hate me, who despise me, who wish I were dead. But, you know, the gospel makes
you glad, sad, or mad, doesn't it? And a lot of times it will
make you mad before it makes you glad. Because it's offensive. It's offensive. So David prays
here in this psalm to be delivered from his sins, to be forgiven,
and to be delivered from those who hate him. Who hate him and
hate the gospel. So let's look at this. I don't
know how far I get, but we'll just go as far as we can. In verse 1, it's a psalm of David. He wrote this. This is a prayer
that he wrote down. And he says, "'Unto thee, O Lord.'"
Notice how many times he used that, "'O Lord, O my God.'" You
can hear the expression of his heart, the sincerity of his heart. When David writes, and he's serious
in his writings, and when he prays to God, he says, "'O Lord,
O Jehovah.'" Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. David holds
up his life before God. He's holding up his very soul
before God. To keep, to keep. Lord, keep
my soul. Lord, keep me. How often have
you prayed that? Lord, keep me. Because if you
don't, I'll stumble, I'll fall, I'll perish if you don't keep
me. Matthew Henry said, Prayer is the ascent of the soul to
God. It is lifting up the soul to
God. That's also worship. You know
true prayer is worship? It's a form of worship. It truly
is. It's not like the Pharisees who
think that because of a multitude of words that God will hear them.
True prayer has in it worship. Unto Thee, O Lord," capital L-O-R-D,
He's the Lord. It's a recognition of His deity. It's a recognition of His sovereignty.
He's the Lord. "'Unto Thee do I lift up my soul.'"
Our soul is the most precious thing we have. What will a man
give in exchange for his soul? I was listening to Brother Frank
Tate teach a Bible lesson. It was a week before last. I
think it was a couple weeks ago. But anyway, I was listening to
Brother Frank teach that lesson. And in that lesson out of Matthew,
he said, Fear not them which can kill the body, but fear him
which can cast both body and soul into hell. And it dawned
on me when he was teaching that lesson, I can get another body. I will get another body. God's
going to raise this one out of the grave, a new body. I'm getting
another body. Don't be so concerned over what
happens to this body. But I will not get another soul.
Lord, I lift up my soul to you. How precious is that? That's
me. That's my life. My soul is my very being. It's my very being. He says,
I lift up my soul to you. I bear, and he's saying this
also, I bear my soul. This is prayer. This is true prayer. It's when
you bear your soul before God Almighty. And there are times,
there are times, difficult times that come along that we bear
our soul more than at other times. We lay it out before God Almighty.
And that's what David's doing here. He's bearing his soul before
God and he says, Oh my God, true prayer is personal. It's also
personal and it's to God, the only God there is. Elohim, Almighty
God. We pray to Jehovah and we pray
to God who's also Elohim, Almighty God. God our Savior. We pray to Him. I trust in Thee. Can we say this? And I thought
about this. I apply these things to me first. Can I really, in prayer, say
to God Almighty with confidence, I trust Thee, I trust You, I
have full confidence in You? Let me not be ashamed. Now listen,
I have a lot to be ashamed of. You have a lot to be ashamed
of? Oh yeah. We have a lot to be ashamed of.
If He would expose our life, if He would just expose our thoughts,
He'd clear this room. He could clear this room just
by exposing our thoughts. Let me not be ashamed. And also
he's saying here, let me not be ashamed of my hope. I hope
in you. I hope for forgiveness, pardon,
justification. I hope to be accepted. I hope
to stand in your presence. Lord, let me not be ashamed.
Let me not be ashamed of my hope. Because I have a lot I can be
ashamed of. And let not my enemies triumph
over me. Let them not exalt themselves
over me. You know at the cross they said,
he trusted in God. Let's see if he'll have him.
Let's see if he'll have him. Let not the enemy exalt himself
over me. Let not Satan exalt over me. The Lord said, Peter, Satan has
desired thee to sift these wheat, but I've prayed for you that
your faith fail not. Yea, let none that wait on thee
be ashamed." And what he's saying here is this. None that do wait
on you. Lord, none that wait on you in
faith, in hope, in love, they will not be ashamed. If you and
I are truly waiting on God in faith, hope, and love, we will
not be ashamed. We will stand in glory in a little
while. And I mean just a little while.
We'll stand in glory. and we will have our expectation. That's what faith is. It's an
expectation. That's what our problem is. We
expect God to do what he said he would. Let none that wait on thee be
ashamed. Let them be ashamed which transgress,
rebel without a cause. Do we ever have a cause to rebel
against God? I nor you ever have a cause to
rebel against God." Adam had no reason to rebel against God. He had no reason. None at all.
But what David is doing here, he's expressing his firm conviction
that those who wait on the Lord will not be ashamed. That's what
he's doing. He's expressing a firm conviction.
I know those who trust you. Those who wait on you will not
be ashamed. But he's also saying this, let
those, or let shame go to those to whom it belongs to, those
who rebel against you, those who don't trust you, those who
hate you. And then he petitions God for
three things. And I petition God for these
three things, for me and for you. He says in verse 4 and 5, "...show
me thy ways." Do you want to know the ways of God? Now we
know the way of God, the way is Christ. I am the way, the
truth, and the life. But there's also the ways of
God, the ways He deals with us in truth and in mercy. There
are the ways He deals with us in providence. He chastens every son whom He
receives. That's the ways of God. God has
no son, no sons without chastisement. These are the ways of God. Show
me thy ways. A true child of God wants to
know God's will in every matter. Do you? I know you do. I do. You do.
We want to know the Lord's will in every matter. We want to know
the way of God in this, as far as He allows us to know the purpose
of God. Although we can't see that eternal
purpose clearly, we know that there is one. But a true child
of God wants to know God's will in every matter. And a true child
of God wants to walk in a manner pleasing to their Heavenly Father. Who would have ever thought that
the ways of God in Providence, that He would take Job and take
all of his children, take all of his cattle, take all of his
sheep, take all of his camels, take all of his servants, take
his health away. Now most everyone would blame
that on Satan. Did Job blame it on Satan? He
said, it's of God that the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.
It's not show me how to get rich. It's not show me how to prosper
in this world. It's to show me the way of grace
and mercy. And then teach me. Teach me thy
paths. Make thy paths plain wherein
I should walk, but teach me thy paths." The paths, you know,
we're all walking on the same straight and narrow way. But
all of us have a path that the Lord takes us down. We all have
a path. We all experience different things.
We experience different troubles. Teach me thy paths. And listen, and lead me, that
is, walk me. Walk me. Walk me in thy truth. Walk me in thy truth and teach
me. Only in truth can we know God, and God is the only one
who can teach us and lead us in the truth. You take Christ
out of the equation who said, I am the way, the truth, and
the life, We don't know what truth is. We don't know what
truth is. Apart from Jesus Christ, we don't
know the truth. And the only way God can lead
us and teach us is in the truth. And the Lord Jesus Christ is
the truth. It starts with Him. And in Him,
we learn the things of God. All thy children shall be taught
of God. Well, they're taught of God in Jesus Christ, not apart
from Him. For thou art the God of my salvation, my salvation from sin, my salvation
from my rebellion, my salvation from Satan, my salvation from
the curse of the law. God, you are the one, Lord, you're
the one who has saved me from these things. You have saved
me. I didn't save myself, and it's
not a cooperative effort. It's not a cooperative effort
between me and the Lord. It is God saving me. For thou art the God of my salvation. He purposed it, He planned it,
He provided it, He executed it, and He will finish it. He'll
bring us to glory. Thou art the God of my salvation.
for time and eternity. And on Thee do I wait all the
day." Here's the trial of faith. On Thee do I wait all the day.
Sometimes the trial is long. All the day. You know, we like
for trials to be, if we're going to have one, we like for it to
be over with. You know, okay. You know, it's like, it starts
and let's stop it. But sometimes a trial lasts a
long time. Some of them can last a lifetime.
But they will end. I may have to go to the grave
for it to end, but it will end. And it will be over with. Now David appeals to God's infinite
mercy and loving kindness. And he's going to get to this
matter of his sins. Remember, that is, be mindful. Be mindful, O Lord, of Thy tender
mercies and Thy loving kindness toward me." That's why he's saying,
be merciful. Remember and be mindful of your
tender mercies and your loving kindness toward me. The ones
that have been ever of old, and that means from eternity. David
is talking about not mercies that he experienced yesterday,
but the mercies that were put upon him in Christ before the
world began. That's why he says, "...for they
have been ever of old from eternity. Remember your eternal mercies
and lovingkindness which you had for me before the world was." You know, one thing that makes
me so glad about God choosing me in Christ before
the foundation of the world, there's nothing about me that
surprises God. I will not do a thing, I will
not think a thought that He does not already know and has not
already put away." That's comforting. That's comforting. Remember your eternal mercies
and loving kindness to me. And what I remember, listen,
what I remember, I want God to forget. I want Him to forget. Remember not the sins of my youth." God's saints do not look back
on their youth. You are their youthful days,
their youthful sins, with pleasure. If sin does not cause you discomfort,
pain, then you have not understood sin. David, some think that he
was looking back on Uriah when he had him killed. And you know,
in Psalm 51, he says, my sin is ever before me. It's ever
before me. And I'm sure there are things
in your life, in our past life, that we can say, I wish I had
done that. Lord, don't remember that. Don't remember that against
me. Remember not the sins of my youth. David's heart, I'm telling you,
to get to this level, his heart is crushed right now. It's crushed. He's going all the way back to
the sins of his youth. And he said, please don't remember
those against me. Nor my transgressions. Don't
remember the sins of my youth, nor my rebellion. my rebellious
days, my days when I was just a rebel against you, when I was
a lawbreaker. But according to thy mercy, remember
thou me for thy goodness sake, because of who you are." He said,
Remember me, Lord, for your goodness sake, your namesake. It's God's
goodness and not our merit that God can show mercy and pardon
our transgressions. It's the goodness of God. that
leads to repentance. Lord, for your goodness sake,
the Lord is good, the scripture says. The Lord is good. David
appeals, and I like this thought, and I was thinking this today,
David appeals to that side of God that he needs most. Mercy,
loving kindness, God's goodness. God delights to show mercy, and
I am a mercy beggar, and I sure need it. I sure need it. And now it seems like David,
in this part of his psalm and his prayer, it seems like he
just kind of sits back for a second, or for a few minutes, and he
reflects upon God. He reflects upon the attributes
of God. You know, he's praying, and it's
like he starts to reflect and meditate. He begins to meditate
upon the attributes of God. This encourages him to call on
Him, to trust Him. It gives him comfort. He says
here, good and upright is the Lord. And because of that, because
He's good and upright, because of who He is, therefore will
He teach sinners in the way. God's going to save sinners.
God's going to save sinners. He's going to save every sinner
for whom Christ died. Now, David's petition is grounded
on the revealed character of God. Because of who God is, He
will teach sinners in the way. You know, since God has saved me, I should
not despair of God saving anyone. There's no one that I can look
at and say, that person is beyond God's mercy. That person is clean
gone. If God saved me, he can save
any sinner. Then he says this, and the meek
will he guide in judgment, and the meek will he teach his way.
The meek, that is the poor in spirit. The poor in spirit, he
will guide in judgment. He will teach and instruct the
poor in spirit, those whom He has called to Himself, those
whom He has drawn to Himself. He will guide them. He will guide
them. God is not impressed with the
wealth of men and the education of men. God is impressed with
the heart. A broken and contrite heart,
O God, Thou wilt not despise. God will not despise him. God
will teach the meek, the poor, and spirit at the foot of the
cross. He'll teach them His way, the Lord Jesus Christ, His way
of mercy, His way of grace, His way that He can be a just God
and save a sinner, a wretch like me and like you. Now he says here, all the paths
of the Lord are mercy and truth, and to such as keep His covenant
and His testimonies. Whatever path Whatever path you're
on, whatever path you're going down right now, mercy and truth
are following you. Remember what David said in Psalm
23? Mercy will follow me all the days of my life. Now, you're
going down a path and you think this is so hard, this is so difficult. Why am I going down this path?
Lord, why are you taking me down this path? Well, I can't tell
you why, but I can tell you this. Mercy and truth is guiding you
down that path. God's mercy is on you. You must need it or you wouldn't
be going down it. you must need it or He wouldn't
be taking you down that path. If you have a real interest in
Christ, I can tell you right now, mercy and truth is with
you. Now David returns to his prayer. And he says in verse 11, For
thy name's sake... Best way to ask God for anything,
isn't it? There is no better way to ask
God for anything. than for his name's sake. Or
we could put it this way, for Christ's sake. For Christ's sake. For thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. You see what's really
burdening? Is sin really great to you? Is
it a great evil? is iniquity, when you look at
iniquity, you say, well, I, you know, you can look at your life
and say, well, I haven't done this, I haven't done that. If you ever see, if you and I,
if you and I really see the evil of sin, and we can only see that
at Calvary, we can't see it nowhere else, not until we see it at
Calvary. When we can see the real evil of sin, then we'll
say, Lord, pardon my iniquity, it's great. It's great. And only a great God can put
it away. Only a great God. Sin troubles
the believer deeply. Although God forgets our sins...
Now listen. Although God forgets our sins,
we are oftentimes reminded of them by new ones. God forgets our sins, but we
don't. And I have no doubt that the
reason He does not take away our memory of it is to keep us
in our place. We've become so self-righteous,
nobody can stand us. Pardon mine iniquity. Any sin
in God's sight is great. That being so, it ought to be
great in our sight, if it's great in God's sight. What man is he
that fears the Lord? Am I that man? Do I really fear the Lord? Do
I really have an awe and respect and reverence for the Lord? Well,
here's a promise. Him, that man, that person, man
or woman here, that fears the Lord, Him shall He teach in the
way that He shall choose. Number one, that way is Christ. That way is Christ. But also,
I believe it has this, God will also instruct that man in his
duties. You really want to know which
way to go, what to do? He that really fears the Lord,
he wants to know the Lord's will, he's ready to do it. God said,
I'll teach him. I'll show him my way. In Christ,
we'll learn. We'll learn the way of God. "...And
his soul shall dwell at ease, and his seed shall inherit the
earth." There's a real rest. There is a real rest when we
are taught of God to trust in the Lord Jesus Christ. To really
trust Him, there's real rest. There's real peace. Even in the
midst of the worst storm, there's real peace that only God can
give. Only He can give. A right fear
of God, and this sounds like it's a... I'm trying to think of the word,
it just escaped me, but a right fear of God brings peace to the
soul. You know, you're talking about
fear. How can you talk about fear of peace in the same sentence? A right fear of God brings peace
to the soul. And the secret of the Lord, the
secret of the Lord, the secret counsel, but this word here,
in all that I've read here lately, the secret is the fellowship. The fellowship of the Lord is
with them that fear Him. Those who have a right fear of
God, those who have been taught of God, they have a right fear
of God, God fellowships with them, with that person. and He will show them His covenant. First of all, the world knows
nothing of this fellowship. Nothing. And His covenant of
grace that's in the Lord Jesus Christ, He makes that known to
us. I never knew that. Listen, I never heard of a covenant
until I heard Henry preach the gospel. I never heard of it. If you listen to these preachers
around here, they do not talk about the covenant of grace.
I guarantee they don't even bring up the covenant of grace. They
know nothing of it. But you know it, and you know
your interest in it, in Christ. God made a covenant, and God
Almighty is not a covenant breaker. He will not break His covenant. I can't break that covenant.
I can't break it. When David had Uriah killed,
and he had committed adultery with Bathsheba. Nathan the prophet
said, Thou art the man. He said, But God has put away
your sins, you shall not die. David committed murder and adultery
and he still didn't break the covenant. But that's the sin
also that was ever before him. He never got over it. How could
I have done that? How could I have tasted of the
grace of God and done that? That kept David humble. I have
no doubt. It's what made him become the
sweet psalmist of Israel. When you look at God Almighty
in His grace and His mercy to you and He has not exposed you, you say, Thank you, Lord. Thank
you. My eyes are ever toward the Lord,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. Lord,
I ever look to you. Ever look to you. I'm constantly
looking to the Lord. For he shall pluck my feet out
of the net. It's like someone caught in a
trap, and you're looking for a person to come and help you.
You're looking for him to get you out of the trap. And David
said, Lord, I'm constantly looking to you to pull my feet out of
the trap. He knows where all the traps are. He knows where
they all are. And he's the only one who can
get us out of them. God is the only one who can get us out of
the mess that we get ourselves in. He's the only one. Then he says here, Turn thee
unto me, and have mercy upon me, for I am desolate and afflicted.
Conviction of sin is painful, isn't it? It's painful. Let me
experience thy mercy once again. And notice here, sin makes us
think that God has turned away from us, when in fact we are
the ones who turned away from God. God didn't turn away, we
are the ones who turned away. The saints of God always stand
on the footing of mercy, never merit. Have mercy. And I listen. Do you feel desolate and afflicted?
Do you ever really feel that? You're in good company. The Lord
Jesus Christ knows exactly what that's about. And the troubles of my heart
are enlarged. Oh, bring thou me out of distress.
Distresses, many, many. There's no trouble like heart
trouble. I'm telling you, there's no trouble like heart trouble.
No trouble like soul trouble. Trouble, trouble, trouble. It
just seems like they're never going to end. You just, the phone
rings and you're like, oh. Oh, you just, you know, it just,
there are many, many distresses. Look upon my affliction and my
pain and forgive all my sins, which are the reason for my pain
and affliction." David's going through right now. His soul pain
was his sins, his transgressions. It's just like, how can I sin
against light? How can I sin against God's mercy?
We do, don't we? Thank God if you feel it too. Oh, but I tell you this, if God
will look upon me, if he'll just look upon my affliction and my
pain, all will be well. If he will forgive all my sins,
all will be well. They are the root cause of my
pain. My pain. My greatest pain is my sins.
It's my sins. Consider my enemies, there are
many. They hate me with cruel hatred. Put my enemies in check.
Put my sins in check. And put those who hate me in
check. Oh, keep my soul. It's like you
said, Lord, here, you keep it. If I keep it, I'm gonna lose
it. But if you keep it, it'll be kept. and deliver me. Let me not be ashamed, for I
put my trust in Thee." David's just repeating what he started
with, isn't he? He's coming right back around repeating what he
started with. God's the great soul keeper. He's the one who
gave it. He's the one who can keep it. Let integrity and uprightness
preserve me, for I wait on Thee. You know, when God saves a sinner
for the first time, that sinner is given integrity. He has integrity. He has righteousness. He's in
His right mind. He has judgment. He has right
judgment. And He's saying, Lord, by Thy
Spirit, by Thy Spirit, guide me, guide me and keep me in Thy
righteousness and preserve me, for I wait on Thee, I look to
Thee, wait on Thee. And notice here how he closes.
He closes not only praying for himself, but he prays for Israel,
God's people, God's Israel. We must be liberal in our prayers
when we pray. Sometimes we can get so caught
up praying for ourselves, we forget about others, don't we?
We can forget about others. We can be so distraught over
something that we forget about others. But here, when David
begins to close the prayer, he remembers Israel, God's people,
God's people. What we pray for ourselves, we
pray for God's people all over this earth, in Mexico, wherever
they are, wherever they are, we pray for them. I tell you, I enjoy reading after
daycare.