Have thine own way while I am
waiting. David prayed that in this psalm,
didn't he? Wait. Several times. Wait. Psalm 25. Psalm 22 is the psalm of the
cross. Psalm 23 is the psalm of the
shepherd. Psalm 24 is the psalm of the
king. And I think a good title for
this one would be the psalm of the seeker. David is seeking
the Lord's salvation, the Lord's pardon, the Lord's mercy, the
Lord's grace, the Lord's leadership, the Lord's guidance, the Lord's
remembrance of Him, to be taught, led, all these things. He says in verse 1, unto thee,
O Lord, do I lift up my soul. David is praying to the Lord.
That's who we pray to. We don't pray to be seen or heard.
You men that pray publicly, You don't necessarily enjoy doing
it. I know how difficult it is. Someone
has to. Aren't you glad that someone
prays for us publicly? And we were blessed. Wasn't that
a blessing in the study tonight? A great blessing. Always is.
Our prayers run to the Lord. The Pharisees love to be heard
and seen praying. We want the Lord to hear us.
Unto Thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul, all that I am. I lift up all that I am, my life. My life. I lift up my life to
Thee, O Lord. Oh, my God. And we can say that from the
heart, can't we? In praise and reverence and fear
and prayer. While the world is blaspheming
Him in that way, let us call on Him. God is surely angry with
those who take His name in vain, but He is surely pleased with
those who call on Him from the heart for mercy. Oh my God, I
trust in Thee. Some trust in riches. Some trust
in Egypt or modern technology. Some trust in Pharaoh, the leaders,
the world leaders. How about you? I trust in God,
don't you? In fact, I don't trust anybody
else. How about you? Has the Lord taught
you to trust Him? I trust Him. Let me not be ashamed. We are shameful people, aren't
we? And it's amazing in the Lord's providence to lead the translators
of Scripture to put prayers in the Scriptures like Ezra, Nehemiah,
Daniel, all chapter Nine. That's easy to remember, isn't
it? Ezra nine, Nehemiah nine, Daniel
nine, three of the most wonderful prayers in all of Scripture.
Ezra said, Lord, I'm ashamed to lift my eyes up for all our
iniquities, for all our transgressions. Daniel said, shamefacedness,
confusion of faces belong to us, but righteousness belongs
to them. But I don't want to be ashamed,
do you? I don't want to be ashamed. Paul said, I am not ashamed of
the gospel. The gospel is the power of God
and the salvation of everyone that believes. I believe the
gospel. Let me not be ashamed of the gospel. In a time and
a world where everyone is glorying in their shame, their pride,
and ashamed of God's glory, let me not be ashamed. Let me not
be ashamed. Let me not bring shame. upon
Thee, O Lord, upon my church, upon the gospel, upon my brethren,
upon my family. Let me not be ashamed." He begins
this psalm that way, and he ends this psalm that way. Let me not
be ashamed, knowing how prone to wonder we are. Like Psalm
119, the last verse is, I have gone astray. Seek me. Let me not be ashamed. Let not
mine enemies triumph over me. David is always praying about
his enemies, isn't he? Why? Because there are so many.
He says there are many and they are lively. The world, the world
is not our friend. It's the enemy of God. That's
what the scripture says. And the enemy of his people.
The world. It's the God of this world. Our
adversary. Who uses the world and the people
of this world to try to entice us. And then that great enemy
within us. We're no match for any of these
enemies, are we? No match whatsoever. And they're
always with us, and they always will be with us until the day
we die. Oh, so he says, let not mine enemies triumph over mine.
The only way we can triumph is in Christ, through Him. Let none that wait. David's praying
for himself, but David always prays for Israel. He always prays
for his people. The Lord loves that. The Lord
will answer intercessory prayer on behalf of his people. Yes,
he will. In fact, that's how he told us to pray, didn't he?
Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Lead us
not into temptation. Deliver us from the evil one.
Forgive us. See, we're in this thing together,
aren't we? I don't want you to fall. I don't
want to fall. I don't want you to fall. Look at this, verse
3. Let none that wait on thee be
ashamed. If one of you brethren trusts
the Lord truly from your heart, and you end up falling away or
being ashamed, you trust in Him, then I don't have much hope.
Because I'm a man of like passion. I'm just as sinful as you are.
If you're trusting in the Lord and He lets you fall, I'm going
to be honored too. Let none that wait on thee be
ashamed. None. They won't. I love Psalm
34, verse 22. The last verse says, None of
them that trust in Him shall be desolate or guilty. None. Not one person has ever been.
The word ashamed means disappointed too. The Lord has never disappointed
anybody that trusts in Him. Never. He's not capable. He's faithful. He's trustworthy. Oh, let me not be ashamed. Let
none that wait on thee be ashamed. Let them be ashamed which transgress
without cause. Man's sin against God is without
cause. Isn't it? I've seen it. Man sins
against the tender mercies of God. Man sins against the goodness
of God. Man sins against the mercies
and the grace and the provisions of God. He feeds everybody, protects
everybody until whatever he says happens. And man sins again. Man bites the hand that feeds
him. So David says, let them be ashamed. And hopefully, he'll bring these
enemies to his feet and show them their shame. Show me, verse
4, show me thy ways, O Lord. Show me thy ways and teach me
thy path. All that you are, all that you
do. He talks about God's way a good
deal here in this psalm, doesn't he? Look at verse 8. Good and upright is the Lord,
therefore will he teach sinners in the way. Sinners. The way. What is the way? Does that ring a bell? Our Lord
said, I am the way. The way to God. The way. Christ is the way to God. The
way of righteousness. The way of acceptance. Christ
is the mercy of God. The truth of God. The salvation
of God. Here he says, thy ways and thy
paths. Well, both are seen in Christ. He is the way of life and he
is the way to live his life. Show me thy ways. My ways are
contrary to thy ways. Didn't God say, my ways are not
your way, neither my thoughts your thoughts. Show me thy ways
and mold me and make me. Make me walk in paths of righteousness
for thy Name set, show me thy ways, teach me thy paths, all
the paths of the Lord, here we're going to see them, mercy and
truth. Verse 5, lead me in thy truth. Didn't he say in another
place, thy word is truth. Teach me and lead me in thy truth,
teach me. Oh, how I need to be led, don't
you? Don't leave me alone for a minute.
We were with someone recently on a little hike, and they have
a young dog, a young brown lab, and that breed is prone to wander. Lovely dog, beautiful little
dog, but he needs to be on a leash every chance. I'm warm. I'm warm. Don't turn me loose. Lead me. How about you? And with a short
lead rope. Huh? Don't give me the reins. Don't lay the reins on my neck.
I'm gone. Don't give me the bit. Hold me
in. Right? Hold my mouth, my tongue,
my thoughts, my feet, my hands. Reign me in. Lead me. Right? Lead me in thy truth. Lead me
to Christ. Teach me. Thou art the God of
my salvation. On Thee do I wait all the day. I wait all the day. All the day. Wait. What does
it mean to wait on the Lord? You read the psalm. You love
the psalm. You know how often it talks about waiting on the
Lord? Wait, wait. In the last part of Psalm 27,
wait. And again I say, wait. Why does He keep telling us that?
Because it's so hard for us to wait. And patience is not natural,
does it? Wait. We need to literally wait
on the Lord. Wait on a word from Him before
we make a move. Before we make a decision. Before we think thoughts. This is why we should begin each
day with seeking His Word. Right? A Word from Him. We need
to literally wait. on a word from the Lord. Or we'll
make a wrong move. Wait. Wait on a word from Him.
Wait. We need to wait like a poor and
needy person needs help. Wait on Him to help. He will.
He's an ever-present help. We need to wait on Him in love. Wait on Him like a wife waits
on her husband to return home. Wait on Him like a child is fathered. Wait on him like a servant. Serve
him. Wait on him as a servant does
his master. As a soldier does his captain. Wait. Wait. Don't make a move. Don't go ahead. Don't run ahead. Wait all day.
David said, I wait all day. All day. He had so many enemies.
He had so many troubles. He had so many people pulling
at him. He had so many decisions to make. He had so many responsibilities. King, greatest king on earth.
Thousands, hundreds of thousands of people to attend to. Problem? He said, all day long, I'm waiting
on a word. Waiting on wisdom from above.
Waiting on wisdom. I know how we need to
wait, don't we? We always get in trouble when
we run ahead. Always, when we don't wait. I think it's Psalm
106. They soon forgot his works and
they waited not for his counsel. Abraham didn't wait, did he?
The Lord told him, I'm going to give you a son. I'm going
to give you a son through Sarah. He didn't wait. He waited 15
years. Wait, I say. Oh, he wished he
had waited in it. It caused a lot of pain and suffering. Wait. Wait, I said. Wait on the
Lord. Look at verse 6 in our text. Remember, O Lord, Thy tender
mercies and Thy loving kindnesses that have been ever of old. Remember
not the sins of my youth nor my transgression. According to
Thy mercy, remember Thou me for Thy goodness sake. He asked the
Lord to not remember something. He asked the Lord to remember
something. Him. Oh Lord, remember thy tender
mercies. As if David had to remind the
Lord. But the Lord... I was just reading one of the
old writers, William Jay, whom I love dearly. And you're going
to be getting a lot of articles from him as Mindy types them
for me. But the man has such wisdom. He talked about the sins of our
youth. The sins of our youth. Oh my. There's some things I'd like
to forget. How about you? That our sin is ever before us. There's some things we'll never
forget. We look back and we think, what was I thinking? We weren't. We weren't. We weren't seeking
the Lord. We weren't seeking His will.
We weren't waiting on the Lord. And we got in trouble. But here's what it was. I wanted to remind you of what
the Jays said. He said, the Lord delights in
His people bringing up His character to Him, in His promises. He delights. Lord, You said,
this is what Jacob said, Lord, You said, go back home and You'd
be with me. See, Jacob was running scared
from Esau. And he was coming home and Esau
was coming out to get him. And Jacob prayed and said, Lord,
you told me. You told me to come here. You
said you'd watch over me. That's what you said. The Lord delights in that. Yes, I
know. And I know. You remembered, didn't you? He
remembers. He will remember. He can't forget
his mercy. It had been ever of old. Verse 7, don't remember
the sins of my youth. Lord, forget them. What we can't
forget, the Lord can't remember. Isn't that right? That's what
the Scripture says. My sin is ever before me. Sins
of my youth are things I will never get over. Never get out
of my head, out of my mind. But God says there are sins and
iniquities I will remember no more. Why? They're gone. They're gone. Brought it out.
Under the blood. They really are gone. Christ
put them away. Didn't put them on hold and bring
them up late. They're gone. Separated from us as far as the
east is from the west. A fit man took them away. A scapegoat
took them away. I never get tired of repeating
Brother Jack. Shanks, he preached on that scapegoat. He said he took him And he was
a low, slow Texan. He talked about that fit man
taking that goat out there in the wilderness and traveling
a long way. He said, and God ain't going
goat hunting either. Why was it a goat? Why did God
use a goat? Because he can't forsake a sheep. Look at the next verse. It says in verse 7, according to thy mercy, Lord,
remember me for thy goodness sake, Lord. But what is God's
goodness? Exodus 33 said, I'm going to
make all my goodness pass before you. Didn't it? I'm going to
proclaim the name of the Lord. What's that? Who's that? Jesus
Christ. For goodness sake. That's one
phrase we really need to get out of our vocabulary. I've said
it. Oh, for goodness sake. That really
is one of those phrases we need to learn. Not say anymore. Because that's speaking clearly
of Christ. For His sake. For Christ's sake.
Lord, remember me. Will He? Will He remember those
who ask Him to remember? One word again. Thief. A thief
on the cross. Remember me. Today, I will. Go to verse 8. Good and upright
is the Lord. Therefore will He teach sinners
in the way. Who does God teach the gospel?
Who does God teach His way? Who does God lead in truth and
paths of righteousness? Sinners. Christ said, I didn't
come to call the righteous, I came to call sinners. This is a faithful
saying. Worthy of all acceptation. Christ
came into the world to save sinners. How about you? Are you a sinner?
You say, but I'm the chief. Okay. Then this is talking to
you. Good enough. He'll teach sinners
in the way, which is Christ. He'll lead us all who know and
believe and repent of their sins, He'll show them Christ the way. The meek will He guide in judgment. The meek will He teach His way. The meek. A brother and I were
talking on the phone today. A brother in California. We were
talking about this very thing. How that Moses was the meekest
man on the earth. Arguably, the man the Lord used
the greatest in the Old Testament, when Jeremiah was like Noah. Our Lord himself said, take my
yoke upon you and learn of me. I am meek and lowly in heart,
and you shall find rest for yourself. Meekness means to submit to,
to bow to, to wait on the Lord. You don't know the way. You're
going to wait on Him to show you the way. Meek means I'm ignorant. Show me. Teach me. I'm weak. Help me. Meek. Meek. Humble. Broken. The meek will listen. The meek will hear. And that's
who the Lord will teach. You wouldn't teach somebody something
that thinks they know everything, would you? No, it's the childlike. The meek. Oh Lord, the meek will
He guide in judgment. The meek will He teach His way.
All the paths of the Lord, verse 10, are mercy and truth, and to such as keep His covenant.
All the paths of the Lord are mercy and truth. All the paths
of the Lord for His people lead to mercy and truth, which is
in Christ. Everything in our lives. is mercy. Can you believe that? The most
difficult trial we go through, the hardest thing we ever go
through, the deepest waters, the worst storm we could possibly
go through, the most grievous thing we could go through is
mercy and truth. We need to believe that. We need
to trust the Lord. Because all the way, my Savior
leads me. Why should I doubt? That's from
Deuteronomy 8. He said, you're going to remember,
one of these days you're going to remember all the way that
I led you through the wilderness. And you're going to thank Him
for every path that He had brought you through. Aren't you? All
the paths. He said in another psalm, I think
it's Psalm 92, maybe, all the paths of the Lord drop fatness. Mercy and truth. The old saying
is, all roads lead to Rome. Well, all the paths for God's
people lead to Christ and to mercy. All the rivers running
to the sea, they may seem like they're going this way and going
away from it, but no, it'll end up. And everything God does,
it all works together for good to bring us to Him. Verse 11,
For thy name's sake, O Lord, Pardon my iniquity. It is great. For thy name's sake. What's his
name? He's the Lord. He's the Lord God. Merciful. Exodus 34. The Lord. The Lord God. Merciful. That's his name. Lord, would
you have mercy on me? That's my name. Would you be
gracious to me? That's his name. Would you pardon
me? That's his name. Ready to pardon. ready to pardon. Pardon me for
thy name's sake. Pardon mine iniquity. It is great. Sin, scriptures talks about sin,
talks about transgressions, talks about iniquity. We've been through
this before. Sin is just our out and out rebellion.
Transgressions, breaking of the law. Those we don't know, those
we do know. Iniquity is how far short we
come of the way of God's glory and God's righteousness. It's
everything that's wrong with us. There's nothing right with
us. Pardon me. Lord, forgive me.
He does. He knows our pride. Psalm 103. Hope somebody requests that. Oh, as a father pitieth his children,
so the Lord pitieth them that fear him. He knows our brain. He remembers it. We're just dust.
Our iniquities. It takes a great God to pardon
a great sin. A great sin needs great grace,
and that's our great God. I was going to have you turn
to Psalm 145. I hope somebody quit and quit saying it. Oh, pardon mine iniquities. My,
it is great. What man is he that feareth the
Lord? Him shall he teach in the way
that he shall choose. What man is he that feareth the
Lord? Do you notice how often it speaks
of the fear of the Lord? Proverbs 9 and 10. You know that
well now, don't you? If I asked you to stand up and
quote it, you could, couldn't you? I'm not. But you need to learn it because
it's the beginning of wisdom and it's knowledge. Fear of the
Lord is the beginning of wisdom. The knowledge of the Holy is
understanding. We have this wisdom from above
that we fear the Lord. There's no want to them that
fear Him. What man is he that feareth the
Lord? Him shall he teach in the way
that he shall choose. Not only Christ is God's choice,
God's elect, but we have some choices to make. Right? The lot is cast into the lap.
For those that fear the Lord and wait on Him, He'll teach
the way that we need to choose. Isn't that right? We wait. Verse 13, His soul shall
dwell at ease. That person that fears the Lord,
his soul shall dwell at ease. Fear God, you won't fear man.
Fear God, you won't fear the judgment. You won't fear your
sins. You won't fear the adversary.
Fear of man is a snare. Oh, fear the Lord. Oh, you saints,
there's no want in Him that fear Him. Look at this. He says He'll
inherit the earth. The meek shall inherit the earth.
Those that fear the Lord. Verse 14, the secret of the Lord
is with them that fear Him. The secret of the Lord. People
want to know the secret of life, don't they? The meaning of life.
God's people know. It's the secret. It's what's
been hidden from the wise and prudent and revealed unto babes.
Remember that time our Lord was walking along and he just rolled
up, Father, glorify thy name. Before that he said, I thank
thee, O Lord, that thou hast hid these things from the wise
and prudent. He says he rejoiced in spirit. I thank Thee, Father, Thou hid
these things from the wise, and have proved it, and revealed
them unto babes. Father, glorify Thy Name, and Thy voice thunders,
that I have glorified it, and will glorify it again. The seeker of the Lord is with
them that fear Him. You show them His covenant. You know there
is but one covenant for God's people. And very few people know
this. It's not like the covenant of
the law didn't work and then God came up with plan B, came
up with a contingency plan. Oh, no, no, no, no, no. There's
not one person ever been saved on top of this earth apart from
the covenant of grace that's in Jesus Christ. Just reading today, read John
5 and you'll see, you'll hear, you'll read. Now Moses, Christ
said, Moses wrote of me. Abraham saw my day and that was
glad. They are they which testify of
me. The law testifies of him and
the prophet, right? Adam was saved by a covenant
made with Christ. Abel, why did Abel bring blood? There was no law. God promised Abraham 400 years
before the law, didn't he? Well, how was he saved? Grace. Covenant of grace by Jesus Christ. Abraham was saved by Jesus Christ.
Christ said, Abraham saw my day. When? Genesis 22. Mount Moriah. Isn't it something that Psalm
22 and Genesis 22 talk about the same one? Covenant of grace. It's always been the covenant. that God made with Christ and
His Holy Spirit concerning God's people. Alright? Look at the
next verse. So mine eyes, he said, and those
that fear the Lord know that. They know that. They know they
cannot be saved by the law. They know that. They know that
only Christ keeping covenant and mercy will save them. Right? Not us. Because He's going
to go on to say, Oh, keep my soul. Look at the next one. He says, Mine eyes are ever toward
the Lord. He shall pluck my feet out of
the net. He's talking to us. David's telling
us. My eyes are ever toward the Lord. For He shall pluck my feet out
of the net. David, you mean you got into
a net? Into a pit? David, you mean you
fell? David, you mean you fell for
Satan's traps and snares and pits? I sure did. And you know what? The Lord plucked
him out, didn't He? The Lord plucked him out. He
said, My eyes are ever toward the Lord. All that look to Him
will cry with David. I think it's David that wrote
that song. Deliver me from going down into the pits. Deliver them
from going down to the pit. I found a ransom. The troubles of my heart are
enlarged. Probably every other psalm, David
speaks of his troubles in it. Heart trouble. Out of the heart
are the issues of life. These are the real troubles of
God's people aren't they? Heart troubles. Heart trouble. Oh, bring thou me out of my distresses. Distresses. Pressure. Weighed
down with burden. Sin. Bring me out. Point me to
Christ. Look upon my affliction. My pain. Forgive all my sin. Have you
ever, you know, all the Psalms either are speaking of Christ
or some Christ Himself. Could be speaking. You read that
article by, I think it was William Jay in last Sunday's bulletin.
He said, Christ and his people are so one that sometimes, Spurgeon
said this too, that sometimes it's hard to know who's speaking,
Christ or his people. Well, both. They're both speaking. Could Christ not say these things
right here? Oh, yes. The troubles of my heart
are in love. Bring thou me out of my distresses.
Look upon mine affliction and my pain. Forgive all my sins."
When Christ was made sin for His people on Calvary's tree,
yes He was. He took our sin, bore our sin
in His body on the tree. It's a mystery that we don't
fully understand, but we believe it. And Christ prayed. But we say, look upon mine affliction
and my pain. Our greatest affliction and our
greatest pain is the troubles that our hearts give us, isn't
it? And the greatest need we have is forgiveness of our sin. Psalm 103. Bless the Lord, O
my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless
the Lord, O my soul, forget not all his benefits, who forgiveth
all thy iniquities. That's the first thing he says
with it, John. When talking about the blessings of God, I've been
talking about that one thing deeply since. He forgives us.
He forgives us. He forgives us. Isn't that great? Because we're born sinners. We're sinners right now. We're
going to be sinners to the day we die. But the blood of Jesus
Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all sin. Forgives us all
sin. We have forgiveness of sin through
Him. Isn't that good news? I've got
an article going in Sunday's bulletin by William Tyndall.
who was burned at the stake for preaching this. And he said in
that article, when a sinner hears this glad tiding, he said he'll
rejoice from the bottom of his heart. That man knew the gospel. Consider my enemies, there are
many. Oh, there are many. They're lively, he said in another
place. My enemies, all around me. They hate me with cruel hatred. Satan's adversary and his seed,
Children's cruel hatred. Cruel hatred. Oh, keep my soul. Keep my soul and deliver me.
Keep my soul. Will the Lord keep his people?
Oh, yes, he will. Ask Simon Peter. Ask him. Simon, how is it that you're
in glory? I was kept by the power of God. He that keepeth Israel. Oh, keep my soul. Deliver me. Let me not be ashamed. He starts and ends this way,
doesn't he? Knowing himself, knowing his promise, for I put
my trust in thee. The Lord is not going to disappoint
anyone who trusts him. You will disappoint me, and I'll
disappoint you. Yes, we will. We don't want to.
We pray not to. I want to be faithful and true
like our Lord, but I'm not him. And we will disappoint one another.
But our Lord will not. He cannot. He cannot. Verse 21. Let integrity and uprightness
preserve me. His integrity. His uprightness. And yes, instill that in me. Right? Psalm 26.1. Judge me, Lord, I've
walked in mine integrity. David was a man of integrity.
Because he's a man after God's own heart. Because he had this
new creature in him, a creation in him, just like Christ. He
was a man of integrity, soundness, sound judgment, character, uprightness. Let them preserve me. Job was
an upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil. That's
what God said. He said it twice. He said there's
none like him in the earth. Put that in there. Put Christ
in there. Isn't that your hope, your prayer
of Him? Lord, I wait on Thee. We're going to have to wait for
that, aren't we? It's a lifelong lesson. Faith and uprightness
is a lifelong learning lesson. I wait for this. Redeem Israel. He's going to end this, Sister
Bonnie, by praying for all His brethren. He prayed for himself. He prayed for them. He's going
to end it by saying, Lord, redeem Israel. They're your people.
We're your people. Sheep of your pasture. Redeem Israel, O God,
out of all his trouble. Because we're a people full of
trouble. In distress. Afflicted with many
enemies. And the greatest one is within
us. So, Lord, we look to Thee. We wait on Thee. We trust in
Thee. Do you? Oh, may the Lord Make
it so. Amen. Your Dispatch. We've got to clear the street. Thank you very much.