Psalm 17. The title of the message, a prayer
for a time of trouble. That's what David is praying
about. He's dealing with some trouble,
some enemies who's wanting to take his life. He calls them
deadly, deadly enemies. It's good to read the prayers
of a man after God's own heart, isn't it? We see that David is a man of
like passions as we are. I like to read the prayers of
David. He opens his heart. When he speaks
to God, he speaks to God. And he lays out his heart. He
doesn't hold back. And I love that in reading David. I learned something about prayer.
You know, I think when the disciples, when they heard the Lord pray,
they probably thought, wow, I've never prayed like that before.
When they heard him pray, they said, would you teach us to pray? David made much use of the mercy
seat. He knew that it was open to sinners
like himself. And you and I, need to make much
use of the mercy seat. It's open for us. The door's
open. It's wide open. You know, we can go before God
to the mercy seat at any time. We do not have to look at our
clock and say, well, it's too late. It's never too late. He never slumbers nor sleeps.
He who keeps Israel never slumbers nor sleeps. and the door is wide
open to the mercy seat at any time you and I need it." God has never turned away any
of His children when they come to Him. And throughout this prayer,
I can also hear the voice of the Lord Jesus Christ in David's
prayer. You know, David says, Give ear
to my prayer that goes not out of unfeigned lips, or lips free
of deceit. Our Lord never prayed a deceitful
prayer. There was never deceit in anything
He prayed about at all. Now let's look at this. Now I'm
not going to... I'm going to touch on these verses, but I'll
be the first one to confess, and I realize this, Not so much grow older, but grow
in grace and the knowledge of Christ. Growing older don't mean
anything if you don't learn anything. But if you grow in grace and
the knowledge of Christ, I realize I don't know everything that
these verses are saying. I don't know all that. I like
it sometimes when somebody asks a preacher something, he says,
I don't know. I like that answer. Because I know we don't know.
We don't know it that much, we really don't. But David says
here, and in his first two verses, David appeals to the judge of
all the earth. David appeals to the highest
court there is, the court of heaven. And he says this, and
I love his boldness, And whatever this prayer is about, some think
it's about his situation with Saul, Saul trying to seek his
life. I don't know. David doesn't give
it here. But whatever it is, David knows
that he is innocent in this matter that he's praying about. He knows
that. And he says before God, he says,
Hear the right. O Lord, attend unto my cry, give
attention to my cry, give ear unto my prayer that goes not
out of faint lips." He prays with great confidence here. Hear
the just calls of my prayer. Hear my righteous plea that I'm
praying right now. David's prayer here is not just
a prayer. You see the word here, attended
to my cry? The real meaning of that word
is a surreal crying. You ever hear somebody just scream
out? I mean scream out. That's what
David's talking about. That's what he's talking about.
Listen to Hebrews 5.7. Listen how this applies to the
Lord Jesus Christ. As I said, when the disciples
heard Him pray, and I'm sure they heard him pray many times
over many situations. But listen to this, in Hebrews
5.7, Who in the days of his flesh, speaking of the Lord Jesus Christ,
when he had offered up prayers and supplications with strong
cryings and tears, they saw that. They didn't just hear him repeat
a prayer. when he prayed. He prayed with
strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him
from death, and was heard in that he feared." That's how our Lord prayed. And
David is saying here, attending to my cry, and he's talking about
a surreal, loud, boisterous cry here because his life is on the
line. Now, I realized this, and I realized this today when I
was putting this together. You and I have never been, that
I know of, I don't know your life completely, but we've not
been in a situation that David's in where somebody is seeking
his life continually. David is the king of a nation,
there's always someone trying to take his life. And if this
situation is Saul, Saul's trying to take his life because he thinks
David is after the throne and David is saying before God, you
know my heart, you know I'm not after that throne. I'm innocent
in this. God, you know my heart. I'm innocent
in this. No prayer. is ever heard that
goes out of faint lips or deceitful lips." That's why David said
that this prayer that I'm praying goes not out of deceitful lips.
God, You know my heart. And He'll show us here in a minute
that the Lord knows his heart. He knows he's innocent in this
matter. Now David's not saying that he
is a man with no sin. He knows he has sin, but not
in this situation. Not in this one. David had a
clear conscience in this matter. God hears the prayer, the truthfulness
of prayer. When we pray, you know, someone... I pray. I just prayed. You heard
my words, didn't you? God saw the truthfulness of it.
God saw the truthfulness of my heart as I prayed. You didn't
see that. But God did. God did. And David says in verse 2, let
my sentence, let my verdict, David is asking for a judicial
verdict to come from God. Now brethren, you better have
real confidence in what you're praying about to ask for that.
Our Lord can do that every time He prayed. He could do it every
time. But let my sentence, my verdict,
come forth from thy presence. Make it known, Lord, you vindicate
me. You vindicate me. David did not
want to vindicate himself. In this situation, David said,
Lord, you vindicate me. That's the best we can pray.
That's the best vindication we can get, is when God vindicates
us. It is just natural for us to
want to vindicate ourselves. Someone lies on us. Someone gives
a false report on us, and one of the first things we want to
do is just attack them and vindicate ourselves. But David held back.
David held back. You know, when our Lord was accused
of all these false things there in the court before they crucified
Him, it says in Isaiah 53, He opened not His mouth. He opened it. God vindicated
Him. You know when God vindicated Him? When he raised him from
the dead, God vindicated him. And he waited for God to do it.
He waited for his Father to do it. Let my sentence, my verdict,
come from thy presence. Let thine eyes behold things
that are equal. David is not asking God, listen,
David is not asking God to take his side. Now, Lord, take sides
with me. No, he's saying, Lord, you do
what's right. You look at things that are just
and with equity. He's not asking God to do something
wrong. He's saying, do the right. I
want righteousness done here. And he knew he was in the right.
He knew it. Let my judgment or vindication
come from you. David was not afraid to call
God in as his judge. Listen. If we are going to call
God in as a judge, we better be right, because God is no respecter
of persons. And David in this matter, and
a child of God, there are times that we can call upon God to
vindicate us. We can do that, because we can
be slandered and lied on, and we can call God in on it. And David does here. David wants
God to give the right verdict and make it evident. Make it
evident. And here's his cry for examination. And David's not afraid, even
as our Lord Jesus Christ laid Himself wide open to examination. David says in verse 3, Thou hast
proved my heart. God, You've proved my heart. You know what that makes me think
of? The Lord asked Peter three times, Peter, do you love me?
And the third time, Peter said, Lord, you know all things. You
know I love you. And that's what David said, Lord,
you've proved my heart time and time again. You have proved my
heart towards you. You know I love you. You know
the integrity of my heart. Thou hast visited me in the night."
Listen, that word means visited means you've drawn near to me
in the night. Listen, when everybody else has
gone home. You know, we're here with each
other, we're at our best. Hopefully, this is what we really
are. But we're at our best. But in the night season, in the
night when everyone is gone but you and God, David said, you know me when
everybody else is gone, you know I'm still who I am. You know
I'm still who I am. The same person I am when I'm
with everybody. I'm the same at night. You visited
me in the night. Thou hast tried me." This has
the same meaning as a metal is tried in the furnace when it's
heated up and the dross is melted off. David said, Lord, You have
tried me. You have put me in the furnace. You know who I am. You know I'm genuine. Our Lord
could say this above. The greater David could really
say this. He was, what, tried and tempted in all points as
we are, yet without sin? Thou hast tried me and shalt
find nothing. You know, in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are holy. We are holy. We are justified. In Jesus Christ,
we actually have no sin. We really, truly have no sin
in Christ. You has, thou hast tried me,
and this means, this is past tense, thou hast tried me time
and time and time again. And you find nothing. I am purposed that my mouth shall
not transgress. I have put a watch on my tongue.
I retaliated not with my mouth. You know, when our Lord was reviled,
it says he reviled not again. The hardest thing to do... One
of the hardest things to do is not retaliate with your mouth. I don't know of anything that's
any harder than that. And he says, I purposed. I am
not going to retaliate with my mouth. I'm not going to backbite
Saul if that's the situation. I'm not going to slander him.
He's the Lord's anointed. I'm going to keep my mouth shut. I'm going to keep my mouth shut.
You've tried me, you've tested me, and you found nothing. Like
Job. God said Job was a perfect and upright man. Does He mean that Job didn't
sin anymore? No. In Christ, He and you and
I are perfect and upright in God's sight. And that's the way
it is in God's sight. You tried me, you tested me,
you found nothing. David said, in this matter that
I'm praying about, I'm innocent. Our Lord could claim this. He
said in Hebrews 4.15, it says in Hebrews 4.15, For we have
not a high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of
our infirmity, but was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin. He found nothing. Our Lord said
this one time, Satan has come and found nothing in me. God
found no wrong in him, no sin in him, and Satan found nothing
in him that he can get his teeth into. Found nothing in him. But this thought hit me before
coming down here. I was reading this over. Thou
hast proved my heart, thou hast visited me in the night, you've
tried me. In other words, God, you know me. He's speaking here
of God's knowledge of him. God knows me inside out. He knows
me. And brethren, that gives comfort
to the believer. That really does. It really gives comfort
because, Lord, you know I love you. Lord, I believe. Help my
unbelief. Now David gives us here the way
God has kept him. He says, "...concerning the works
of men, or as for the deeds of men, by the words of thy lips
I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer." We live in
an evil world, don't we? And the way a child of God can
walk in it with any light is by the Word of God. David is
saying this. As for the deeds of men, by your
words I have been kept from being just like them. Your word has
guided me and kept me. Now listen, Psalm 119, 105, Thy
word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Now that
being so, you think we ought to make much of the word of God? Psalm 119, 130, "...the entrance
of thy words giveth light, it giveth understanding unto the
simple." Psalm 119, 9, "...wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his
way, by taking heed thereto according to thy word." That's what he's saying. Your
word has guided me and kept me from violent men. And here's
something else I believe it's saying. I see men through Thy Word as
they really are." Now, we see men and women, and we see them
doing what we think, what the world would call good things,
and, you know, they're doing their job and taking care of
their kids. But I'm telling you this, men are who they are according
to God's Word. According to His Word, they are
who they are. God exercises a sovereign constraint over the human race,
just like He exercises sovereign constraints over the demons and
devils, Satan. You know, Satan, when he went
before God concerning Job, he had to get permission from God
to do anything to Job. God exercises that same sovereign
constraint over men, men and women. Oh, we couldn't live here. They're devils, they just got
a body. I see men for who they are by
the Word of God. I see me for who I am by nature
by the Word of God. I used to think I wasn't that
bad. Now I don't really know how bad I am. However bad I think
I am, I'm worse. And you are too. Now David gives a plea here in
this situation concerning, I'm going to assume it's with Saul.
He gives a plea here for God to keep him. You know, I've learned this in
living and being a believer. There are times you can read
the scriptures, and there's times, so many times I heard Henry preach
a message, and then somewhere down the road, it really meant
something. It didn't really mean that much to me or get a hold
of me at the time, but a year or two years down the road, I
was like, that scripture meant something. And that's the way
this is. You know, some of you, you've
never experienced that much, but somewhere down the road you
will. And then you'll say, and then
you'll pray like David. Lord, hold up my goings. Hold
up my goings. You know what he's praying here?
Hold up my goings in thy paths that my footsteps slip not. He's
praying for the work of grace. Lord, continue the work of grace,
perfect the work of grace, mature the work of grace in me. Mature that work in me. Give me fresh supplies of your
grace. You know, Israel of old, they'd
go out every morning to get manna, but they had to go out and get
it every day, didn't they? You and I need grace every day.
We need fresh grace every day. Fresh grace. Hold up my goings and my paths. And these paths here may have
to do with the will of God in my life, which leads me and guides
me. I can look back over my life,
and I have gone through some things and worked in places and
gone places, and now I'm here in North Carolina. Oh, hold up
my past. Hold up my goings in thy paths,
that my footsteps slip not. And David also recognizes his
weakness. Lord, keep me. You know, one
of my prayers is, Lord, keep me from bringing reproach on
your name by my conduct. I do. I pray that often. Keep
me from doing that. Protect your name. Keep me from
bringing any slander on your name, because I will do it. I'll run my mouth." Why did I
say that? Lord, put a watch on my tongue.
Put a watch on my tongue. I think a wise man's words are
few, are few and simple. Easy to be entreated, easy to
understand. David recognized his weakness
and although we can have boldness at the throne of grace, we also
recognize our weakness and we recognize our dependence on the
Lord Jesus Christ. He said, without me, you can
do nothing. Don't even think about it. Don't
even think about it. Without me, you can't do anything. And David shows us here in this
plea his confidence in God. He said, I have called upon thee. That's past tense. I have called
upon thee for thou would answer me. That's the future tense.
He said, I have called upon you. You have answered me. I'm calling
on you because I know you will answer me. Are you that confident? Am I that confident in prayer?
that when I go before God, I know He's going to hear me and answer
me. It's not, let's just throw it
out there and see what happens. No, that's faith. That's faith. I have called upon Thee, for
Thou wilt hear me, O God, and climb Thine ear unto me. Give
me Your ear, and hear my speech. Let me speak to You. Let me lay
out my heart, my case before you, my cause, then listen to
me." Do you speak to God like that? That's boldness at the throne
of grace. We ought to learn to pray like
this. David, as well as our Lord, made
it their practice to pray always. They were often... And our Lord
prayed all the time. In Psalm 5, verse 3, David writes
this, My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. In the
morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.
You know the one thing, that there's only one thing that the
men could get against Daniel? You know what it was? He prayed three times a day.
And they'd made up this God, this false God, and whoever prayed
to anybody but that was to be, because they knew they'd get
him. And three times a day, he made his, it was his life. You could define him by him and
his God. And they knew that about him. David says here, my voice, that's
the first thing you're going to hear in the morning. Lord,
in the morning I'll direct my prayer to you and I'll look up.
Isn't that the way to start the day? Our Lord started every day
like that. He would get up before the sun
would come up and go out and pray early in the morning. David really believed God would
hear him and answer him and therefore he prayed. And here's one of the things
he asked him in this prayer. He prayed and he said, hold up my way in your path,
incline your ear and hear me, listen to me. And here he says in verse 7,
Show thy marvelous, marvelous lovingkindness. God's lovingkindness
is marvelous. But that word marvelous, it has
this meaning. Show thy distinguishing love
to me. It's a distinguishing love. Love
that set me apart in eternity past. Love that sent my Savior
into the world, love that wrote my name in the Lamb's Book of
Life. Lord, show Thy distinguishing love to me. Demonstrate Your
love to me in a marvelous way, in such a way that it's unmistakable
that I'm Yours, that I'm Yours. Demonstrate your love to me in
a marvelous way as you do to those who take refuge in you. And keep me as the apple, the
pupil of the eye. The eye is one of the most protected
parts of the body. It's put in this bony socket.
It's set back. It's given an eyelid to keep
the dust out of it, eyelashes, eyebrows. God has protected the
eye like probably no other part of the body. It's so protected. Keep me, protect me like you
would the pupil of the eye. You know, if something starts
to get in your eye, boy, you're just quick to deal with it, aren't
you? You're quick to deal with it.
And hide me under the shadow of your wings. Keep me, preserve
me, and keep me in your affectionate care. If God keeps me, no harm
can come to me. And we need to be careful. We
are subject to falling at any time. anytime. The enemy never sleeps. You and
I will go home tonight and we'll go to bed and we'll go to sleep. Satan doesn't. The devils don't. The night never sleeps. that never sleeps. Henry used
to say when he's talking about these young kids, they stay out
late. He said nothing good ever happens after midnight. Nothing good happens in the dark.
And when you and I are asleep, they don't sleep. And neither
does God. And he protects us and he watches
over us and the angels of God protect us and they care for
us and they watch over us. And that's very real. That's
not a fairy tale. That's very real. He carries
us. He said, I'll carry you even
to your old age. I'll take care of you. I'll take care of you. Show thy marvelous, thy distinguishing
love, O thou that savest by thy right hand. Who sits at the right
hand of God? The Lord Jesus Christ. He's our
Savior. O thou that savest by thy right
hand them which put their trust in thee from those that rise
up against them. The Scripture says over in Isaiah,
the Lord says concerning His people, No weapon that is formed
against you shall prosper. Keep me as the apple of your
eye, under the shadow of your wings, like the hen does, you
know, it's brood, where it's warm and safe. And hide me, he
says, hide me till the, hide me, what he's saying here, hide
me till the storm has passed. Hide me, what are you saying
that song, hide me, oh Savior, hide me till the storm passes
by. I was trying to think of that
today and I can only get bits and pieces. The older you get,
the less bits and pieces you get. Johnny, you just turned
55, so the bits and pieces are becoming few. Hide me from the storm till it
be past. Hide me like a mother hen hides
her brood, safe and warm. And hide me, he says, from someone,
from the wicked that oppress me, from my deadly enemies. They're trying to kill me. Saul
was trying to take his life. who encompass me about, they're
surrounding me. They're surrounding me. Our enemies
are on every side. They really are. They're either
patting you on the back, lying to you, or they're stabbing you
in the back. It's one or the other. You're
either getting stabbed or slapped or something. But I'm telling
you the truth. Only God and His people truly
love each other. Save me from the wicked that
oppress me and my deadly enemies. Satan, the scripture says, is
like a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour. It would just be frightening
if God would just open our eyes and let us see what's out there. I'm glad I don't see any more
than what I see. I want to see more of Christ.
That's what I want to see more of. But every now and then, He
needs to give us a glimpse of the darkness of what He has saved
us from, lest we forget. We are surrounded by the enemies,
but I tell you what, salvation has got appointed for walls.
They cannot overcome the walls of salvation that we have in
Jesus Christ. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
redemption. All that He has provided are
walls of salvation, and no one can scale those walls. No one. Notice here, He gives us the
character of the enemies now. Verse 10 and 12, They are enclosed
in their own fat. They hug themselves in their
own glory and power. They are engrossed in their own
selves. They're hugged up in themselves.
They have no room for God. They're so full of themselves.
They are enclosed in their own family. They've closed their
heart to all sympathy. That's why he said, they've closed
their heart to all sympathy. They just engulfed into their
own pride and their own glory and their own self-righteousness. They have now encompassed us
in our steps. They have set their eyes bowing
down to the earth. They watch intently for an opportunity
to overthrow us. It says in Psalm 37, 32, the
wicked watch the righteous and seeketh to slay him. In Psalm 37, 14, the wicked have
drawn out the sword. They've bent their bow to cast
down the poor, needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation. Oh, they've encompassed us. They've encompassed our step.
But God has allowed them to. Now listen, God has used them. I'll show you this here in a
minute. We'll get to it here in verse 14. But they are in
His hands. The world's in His hands. All
in this world are in His hands. And He uses them to instruct
us, guide us, chasten us, and run us to Him. It is the wicked
that God has used to drive David to the throne of grace. In this sermon Henry preached,
he said, I don't know which is better for us, the enemy or the
friend. It's the enemy that runs us to
Christ. It's the enemy. And he shows us here the eagerness
of men to bring down the righteous. He said, they're like a lion,
a powerful, powerful beast that's greedy of his prey. He didn't
want nobody else to have any but him. And as it were, a young
lion, this is someone trying to make a name for himself. He's
lurking in secret places. He's hiding. He's just waiting
and watching for you to stumble. Just waiting for you to stumble.
I thought you was a Christian. I've heard that more than once. Eager to tear in pieces the righteous.
And David says, arise. He cries for confrontation from
God. He said, arise, arise, oh Lord, disappointing. Disappointing. Show him who the sovereign is. Don't let his desires come to
fruit. Cast him down. Deliver my soul from the wicked,
which is thy. which is thy sword, or deliver
my soul from the wicked by thy sword, but deliver the soul,
but I kind of think it's like this. Deliver my soul from the
wicked, which is nothing more than like a sword in your hand.
You're the one using him. God used Satan to refine Job,
didn't he? He used him to refine him. See, here's verse 14, now listen. It says here, let me go back
to 13. Cast him down, deliver my soul from the wicked which
is thy sword, from men which are thy hand. They're in your
hand, that's what he's saying. From men who are in your hand. Lord, and David is confessing,
Lord, I know this. That what is going on, this situation
that's going on, is in your hands. All things are of God. And Lord
God, You're the one that is guiding and directing this. He says, "...from men which are
Thy hand, O Lord, from men of the world." God uses the men
of this world. The wickedness, the wrath of
man, "...the wrath of man shall praise Thee, and the rest Thou
shalt restrain." For men which are thy hand, O
Lord, from men of the world, which have their portion in this
life, He uses them, and He uses them to instruct and teach and
discipline us and drive us to Christ. They think they're getting the
best end of it, but they're not. They're being used of God. And whose belly thou fillest
with thy hid treasures, in other words, They have nothing but
this world. They have the treasures of this
world. They're the ones who have... David said, the wicked are the
ones that are rich. They're the ones who prosper
in this world. They have the treasures of this world. And
that's all they've got is the treasures of this world. When
they die, they leave it. It says here, they are full of
children and they leave the rest of their substance to their babes.
When they die, they leave it. They leave it. And the thought
is this, that God uses even the wicked as His instruments. And
David recognizes this whole thing is in God's hand and the men
that are causing him all the trouble are nothing more than
instruments in his hand. That'll calm you down if you
realize that. That'll put things in their proper
place. Listen to Isaiah 10 verse 5, "'O Assyrian, O Assyrian,
the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is
my indignation. That's what he's saying. The
Assyrian is mine and the rod in his hand that he's using against
you is mine. It's the rod of my anger. I'm
chasing you with it. Well, that just puts things in
the right place, doesn't it? But as for me, as for me, and I pray that we can say this,
each one of us, I know what's going to happen
to the wicked. But as for me, all will be well. For I will
behold thy face in righteousness. David said in one place, although
it be not so with my house, God hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. As for me, I will behold thy
face in righteousness, in thy righteousness. I will behold
thy face in a righteous manner, I'll stand in the righteousness
of Jesus Christ. I will behold thy face in righteousness,
and I shall be satisfied, I shall be content, and want no more
when I awake." I'm coming out of the grave. In a little while,
all this is going to be over. Now I'm telling you, in a little
while, in a short while, even with the youngest here, in a
short while, it's all going to be over. And with every believer,
when I awake, when God raises me out of the grave, when I leave
this life and stand in Thy presence, when I awake with Thy likeness,
that is when salvation is complete. Right now, we are being saved.
and we shall be saved. And redemption, redemption will
finally, finally have its end. It'll meet its purpose. When
our bodies are raised out of the grave, and we have a new
body, and this is over, and we stand before God, that's when
we will be fully, completely satisfied, when we awake with
His likeness.