I'll go back to Psalm 39 with you. David ends this psalm, this
song, and this prayer with these three words, Oh spare me. Oh spare me. that I may recover
strength before I go hence and be no more." Apparently, he was
going through some difficult trial, and he seems to tell us
that the Lord was chastening him for something. He said, when
the Lord rebukes a man for his iniquity, and he says that the
Lord's hand was upon him for something, we don't know. He doesn't tell us, but we can
all enter into this. And he says, oh, spare me. Spare
me that I may recover strength. And if you've come here tonight,
poor and needy, needing a blessing, needing the Lord to speak to
you, then I believe He has spared you and will spare you and brought
you here that you may recover strength. Your strength is, you
know, to sit still. And returning in rest, you shall
be saying, in quietness and confidence, Your salvation, your strength.
This is another psalm of David, a psalm that he sang on his harp,
I'm sure, sitting on the hillside or in his home. And it's a prayer,
as so many of his are. You love Psalm 37, don't you?
You love Psalm 38, don't you? Well, you'll love Psalm 38. I
appreciate the reading of it. That was a blessing to me. David
asks the Lord to spare him from several things he deals with
here, from his evil ways, his own evil ways. Spare me from
my own evil ways. Spare me from a froward mouth. Spare me from this getting me
in deep trouble. Spare me from the vanity of this
world. Spare me from my transgressions. Transgressions spare me from
being a reproach upon The Lord, spare me from this world. Spare
me. Oh, spare me. I believe David
is sitting in silence somewhere. He's sitting in his house or
maybe his closet on the hillside. But he's meditating. He's writing this. He's musing. It's another word for quietly
contemplating what he's saying, what he's writing. He's musing.
How few do this. Meditate. How few do this today
and sit in silence. You remember the message on Jacob was left alone? A couple of you made a comment
on it. The name of that message was
Lessons Learned Alone. When Jacob was left alone with
the Lord, he learned some deep and necessary lessons. How few
know anything about sitting in silence? We live in a generation
today that people cannot stand to be in silence. But we need to be. David tells
us this over and over again. Commune with your heart upon
your bed and be still. Be still and know that I am God.
Be still. David's silent, but his heart
is crying out. His heart speaks to the Lord.
He's talking here to the Lord and talking to himself. We need
to do both. David does that often, doesn't
he? Talks to the Lord, yes, and he talks to himself. He says
things like this. Why art thou cast down, O my
son? Hope in God. Look at verse 1. I said, I will
take heed to my ways, that I sin not with my tongue. I will keep
my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me. Now,
David is talking to the Lord, and you cannot be hypocritical
or self-righteous before the Lord. So don't condemn David
for saying that. This is no self-righteous vain
boast of a self-righteous man. This is David who, in heartfelt
sincerity, says, I'm going to take heed of my ways. I'm going
to keep my mouth with a bridle. Do you reckon this is where James
got that? James wrote in his book that
the tongue is a fire. He said, we offend in all things. If a man offend not in word,
the same is a perfect man able also to bridle the whole body. He said, we put a bit in a horse's
mouth, we turn it, he obeys us, and we turn him with us, or if
he wills it, But he says, the tongue can no man tame. It's an unruly evil. But David
says this in sincerity. I want to put a bridle on my
tongue. Isn't that a good hope or a good endeavor? Don't condemn him for saying
this as being self-righteous. You know, there are none so self-righteous
as those who always call other people self-righteous. You know
that? None so self-righteous as those
who call other people self-righteous. Our Lord said of Job, he's a
perfect man, just upright, he eschews evil, and he said there's
none like him in the earth. I want to be like that. Don't
you? Now, the Lord dealt with him privately, didn't He? Personally. Because Job did get puffed up,
he was defending himself before his friends who were wrongly
accusing him. But then when he got along with
the Lord, well, he said, I will take heed
to my ways. Look at Jeremiah real quickly
with me. Jeremiah chapter 7. He said,
I'll take heed to my ways as we should. Look at verse 3 of Jeremiah 3. The Lord says this. throughout
Jeremiah several times. Jeremiah 7, verse 3. This is it, Jeremiah 7, verse
3. Thus saith the Lord God of hosts, the Lord of hosts, the
God of history, amend your ways. And you're doing it. I'll cause
you to dwell in this place. Look at verse 5. If you thoroughly
amend your ways and your doings. Look at chapter 26 of Jeremiah. Look over here. This is the command
of our Lord, isn't it? David, this is what he said. Jeremiah 26, 13. You have it? Look at verse 12. Then spake
Jeremiah unto all the princes, the leaders, to all the people,
saying, The Lord sent me to prophesy against this house and against
this city all the words that you have heard. Therefore now
amend your ways, and your doing, and obey the voice of the Lord
your God. And I was going to have you turn
to another place, but David said, I'm going to take heed of my
way. Wouldn't that be a good thing? to ponder our paths, our
steps, our going. Isn't that what the Scripture
says? I'm going to keep my mouth with a bridle. Wouldn't that
be a good thing? A good thing. Look at Proverbs 10. Do you know
how much the Scripture says about the tongue and the mouth and
about keeping the lips? Do you know how much? Look at
Proverbs 10 verse 19. In the multitude of words. They
wanteth not sin. In other words, the more you
talk, you're going to sin. But he that refraineth his lips
is wise. Look at chapter 17, Proverbs
chapter 17. On and on it goes. Verse 27, Proverbs 17, 27. He
that hath knowledge spareth his word. And a man of understanding
is of an excellent or a cool spirit. It says even a fool when
he holds his peace is counted as wise. He shuts his lips. He's
esteemed as a man of understanding. And on and on it goes. It says
he that keepeth his mouth keepeth his soul from many troubles. So David said, I'm going to keep
my mouth shut. Like Brother Jack Shanks said,
Take every opportunity to shut up. Boy, if that isn't necessary
this day, huh? Do you think David would have
been in on all these social medias today? Spouting off? He was silent. He wasn't going
to enter into the foray and fray of all this. Our Lord was a man
of few words. He's a man of few words. When
he spoke, it was in one and two silver words. Very simply, very
profoundly, very eloquently. Very few words. The Scripture
says, God is in heaven, thou art upon earth, let your words
be few. Our Lord was a man of few words,
and his disciples quite often wanted him to argue with, Say
something to it like the Pharisees, and he said, leave them alone. He said, let the potsherds of
the earth strive with the potsherds of the earth. That means fragmented,
broken vessels, fragmented knowledge. They don't know anything. I'm
not going to argue with them. Scripture says, answer not a
fool or disfowl it. You're going to be just like
him. Words, words, words. David said, I'm going to keep
silent. I'm going to keep telling. But
he said, and he said, I'm going to keep my mouth with a bridle
while the wicked is before me. And they were everywhere. And
he says, I was done with silence. Verse 2, I was in mute with silence. I held my peace, even from saying
anything. And my sorrow was stirred. It's
hard to hold it in, isn't it? Hard to hold it in. Oh, to be
deaf to the world. To be deaf to the insults or
the applause of this world. Wouldn't that be wonderful? That's what the scripture says
about being dead to the world. Imagine the scoffing that Noah
was subject to. 120 year building a boat on dry
land. He believed God. Imagine the
scoffing that he endured. You'd think he stopped working
on that ship to talk to everybody that came along Now, he just
went on about it, didn't he? He said, my heart, my sorrow
was stirred. My sorrow was stirred, my heart,
verse 3, my heart was hot within me. I was musing the fire burn. You know, it's better to have
a hot heart than a hot head. Better to have a heart on fire
than a tongue. A tongue, as James said, is a
fiery membrane. Things are set on fire. fire
of hell by this tongue. You can start a war. Wars have
been started with this. This is how wars get started. He said, My heart was burning.
I was musing, contemplating, thinking about this. Then I spake. Who did he speak to? The Lord. The Lord. Notice he does not say, wisely to keep from lashing out,
he calls on the Lord. Notice he does not say, Lord,
would you take care of these wicked people? Here's what he
said. Look at verse 4. Lord, make me to know mine in. They don't know, obviously. Psalm
36. He said, the transgression of
the wicked saith within my heart that there's no fear of God before
they're out. They flatter themselves. They
boast and brag and talk and talk and talk and talk. He said, Lord,
they don't know, but make me to know this. He's calling on
the Lord personally. Make me to know. Mine in, the
wicked, their secret thought is that they're going to live
forever. People don't give a thought to their end. David read Moses. Where did he get this? He read
Moses. He had the books of Moses. He
had the Psalms of Moses. And Moses in Psalm 90 said, Oh, teach us to number our days that
we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. Oh, that they were wise
and would consider their latter end. The world doesn't know what David
said. But, Lord, make me to know mine end. Make me to think on
mine end. Make me to meditate on and muse
on that it's all going to end. Now, is this a sad, melancholy,
morose subject? Oh, no. It's the believer's homecoming. Make me to know mine end. Verse 4. The measure of my days. We've looked at this so many
times, haven't we? Teach us to number our days.
And the older you get, the more years go by like months, and
months go by like weeks, and weeks go by like days, don't
they? Very young people just can't
fathom you know, be getting old. But, buddy, it happens just like
that, doesn't it? And you're just astounded. I'm
still astounded when somebody asks me how old I am, and I tell
them. It still kind of makes me... You must really be astounded,
Amy. But seriously, don't you stop
and... It's unbelievable. My 45th high
school reunion is this year. 45 years. I was graduating yesterday, not
with honors. Teach me. Make me know my end. Verse 4, what it is. I want to
know how it's going to end for me. Do you? Do you? Do you want to know how it's
going to end for you? You know, Hebrews 11 says every
one of those people died in faith. They all obtained a good report.
They all died in faith. Well, I want that said of me.
I want my end to be written, He died in faith. Well, you know
how you die in faith? You live by faith. You live in
faith. If Christ is your life, you won't
die. If He's not your life, you will
perish. Make me to know my end, what
it is. That I may know how frail I am. Teach me to number my days, that
I may know how frail I am. My frailty. Oh, man, our life
is just a vapor in it. Verse 5, Behold, I has made my
days as a hand-breadth. A hand-breadth. He's read Moses
in it. He's read Psalm 90 quite a bit.
You're familiar with that. It sounds just like Psalm 90.
He did. You see, he meditated. Psalm
1, verse 1, the blessed man meditates in the law of God day and night.
And that's what David did. And so he thought on his end. That's what he thought of. Verse 5, my age is as nothing
before then. Barely every man at his best
state. is altogether vanity, the highest
you can get, the most you can attain, vanity. I keep saying that now,
I'm just repeating what God said. Ecclesiastes, the whole book,
by a wise man, the wisest man that ever lived, it begins and
ends with vanity. The preacher sought out wise
words, and here's what he told the people, every one of the
people. Vanity of vanity. We need to consider that. Don't
set your heart on vanity. That's what children do, don't
they? A soap bubble, toys. Vanity. Selah. That's a musical
pause. It's a pause, and he puts it
here for us to read, and it's in the Psalms often. You see
that in the Psalms often. So what he's telling us, stop
right there. Think about it. Don't go on from here unless
you've considered this verse. Vanity. Verse 6, Surely every
man walketh in a vain show. Is anybody guilty of caring what
other people think about you? That's a vain show. Is anybody
guilty of caring what other people think you look like or sound
like or talk like or act like? Don't you wish you didn't care? That you only cared what God
thought about you? Now, we can't live a life in
such a way as to not care, we want to bring glory to our God
and live, bear fruit unto Him, yes, but a vain show means a
person is vain, that they want to, they really care about what
other people think, what they're doing. Every man, surely they're
disquieted in vain, upset over vain things. He heapeth up riches,
here's the problem. He heapeth up riches, and knoweth
not who shall gather them. Scripture says, where your treasure
is, that's where your heart will be also. So our Lord said, provide
bags that wax not old. Treasure in heaven. Moths and
rust and thieves can't get to it. What's that? In Him are hid
all the treasures of wisdom and honor. Christ, such are almost
preached on Colossians 3, verse 4, tonight, Christ our life,
what that means. He really is. He either is or
he isn't. And he says, if you've been risen,
if you've been truly risen with Christ, quickened, new creature,
set your affection, your heart on things of love, not on things
of you. Where Christ sits at the right
hand of God. For Christ, our life, when he shall appear, then
you shall appear with him. You know, David was hearing all
around him. He said, I heard the wicked before
me. He was hearing people all around
him talk, big talk, vain talk, worldly talk, proud talk. He
wrote Psalm 73, remember? And Psalm 37. Oh, fret not, think
most. Their mouths walk through the
earth And he said, don't make me like that. Lord, make me set
my affection on things above. Every man, our days are as a
hand breath. We're so frail. You know, every
day is a gift. And it may be our last. The time
is short. A daiser is a handrail. He says,
redeem the time. The time is short. Oh, that we
were wise and would consider our latter end, apply our hearts
to wisdom, which is knowing Christ. Oh, that we might have one desire
to be found in Him. And we heap up riches and are
disquieted, and we're just liable to tomorrow and be gone, and
then what matters? Let me tell you something with
a heavy heart. My wife and I have known a man
and his wife for several years, and they both were on top of
the world. Highly educated, highly esteemed
by the world. Highly. Very wealthy. Very wealthy. They had it all. They would travel
all over the world and people would listen to them, give talks
and so forth. They've eaten dinner in our house.
She attended this service once. We've eaten dinner in their home.
We've talked to them. I've written letters to him.
A little over a year ago, and they were both fit, trim, physically
fit, wealthy, highly esteemed by the world. Fitz and this man
got lung cancer. He never smoked a day in his
life. He got lung cancer and about a year later he died. He
left her a widow at 59 years old. Just the other day she was giving
a speech to a vast crowd of people, fell off the stage, knocked unconscious,
went to the hospital, ICU. in a coma, she died. Both of them. It's all gone. And I never heard either one
of them say one word about Jesus Christ. None. What does all that matter? This may be our last day. What
matters? What matters? In light of eternity, nothing,
nothing matters. Well, verse 6, verse 7, David
says, Now, Lord, what wait I for? He's talking to the Lord and
he's talking to himself. Lord, you know. It's a good way to
come before the Lord and say, Lord, You know me. You know my
desires. You know my down city, my uprising,
my thoughts, my everything. You know my sins. You know my
worldliness. You know all of this, Lord. But
what am I waiting for? What am I waiting for? Those people are waiting for
their ship to come in. What are you waiting for? What
are you looking for? Isn't that a good question to
ask yourself? What are we waiting for? Here's what he said. My hope is in thee. Can you say that? Look at Luke
chapter 12 with me. Luke chapter 12. David, you see,
David knew the Lord. It's obvious, isn't it? He knew
the Lord. He said, what am I waiting on?
The Lord. to come for me. Job, did Job
know the Lord? He said, all my days I'll wait
till my change comes. He said, I know my Redeemer liveth.
And he's going to stand on this earth. Job knew the frailty of
his flesh, didn't he? He lost everything. He knew the
frailty. He applied his heart to wisdom.
He lost everything in a day. Everything and everyone. David knew the Lord. The Lord
was David's life. Like I said, I almost preached
on Christ our life. I'll say a few things about that.
But very soon it shall be known who really knows the Lord and
who's known by Him. Some, He's going to say, I never
knew you. And those that are married to
Him, those that love Him, love His people, love His kingdom,
Knows those to whom Christ is all. In Luke chapter 12, this
is what they're doing. This is what they're waiting
on, or rather, who. Luke chapter 12, verse 34. Our
Lord says, Where your treasury is, there will your heart be
also. Let your loins be girded about. That means a person is
a sojourner. And your light's burning. That's
the gospel light. That's a witness. That's why
we're still on the earth, you know? That's why we're still
here. And ye yourselves like unto men
that wait for their Lord, when He will return from the wedding,
that when He cometh and knocketh, they may open unto Him immediately. Solemn parables our Lord gave
was the parable of the ten virgins. Do you remember that? Ten of
them, five of them. They all looked like they were
waiting, but five of them didn't have any oil. That's the Holy
Spirit. They didn't really have any life in them. They really
didn't. And then when He came, all of a sudden, they were all
sleepy. But when He came, the ones that
really had life in them, hey, He's here! The other five, oh
no, oh no, oh no. Now they're in a hurry to do
something. That's not it. Verse 36, You yourselves
like unto men that wait for their Lord. Verse 37, Blessed are those
servants whom the Lord, when he cometh, shall find watching. What wait I for? David said,
Oh, my hope is in thee. Verily, I say unto you, he shall
gird himself and make them to sit down to meet, and will come
forth and serve them. If he comes in the second walk,
comes in the third walk, and finds himself, oh, blessed are
those servants. And those servants are waiting
on him. They're waiting. They come in here, wherever they
worship, and they're waiting on the Lord. They want to hear
His Word, or at home. It's being married. It's called
being in love with. Your maker is your husband, and
you're waiting on him. His bride is the one who loves
him. Who you love is the one you talk about, the one you talk
to, the one you're waiting on, the one you long to see. And these widowed ladies will tell
you that they still think about their husband, that there's probably
not a day goes by they don't think about their husband. Right? Just talk about it. What if I say, and I say this
solemnly, and I say this carefully, but what if I said Joe Parks
is coming back tomorrow? Would that make him happy? It'd
make his wife real happy. It'd make his sons happy, wouldn't
it? Well, so it is with Christ, hasn't it? And it may be tomorrow. You can't
wait to see him, can you, Nancy? Bonnie, you can't wait to see
him. Curtis, can you? He's coming with the Lord, as
Scripture says, with all His saints. All the saints are coming
with Him. What wait I for? Isn't that a
good question? Who am I looking for? What am
I waiting for? What am I looking for? Man, the things of this world,
can you not say with Solomon, it's vanity. Seen all I need
to see and accumulated all I need to accumulate. What wait I for? Good question. Always be meditating
on it. Verse 8 in our text. Go back
there. Let me wind this up. Deliver me. This is a prayer,
a cry. Deliver me from all my transgressions. He said deliver me from my evil
ways. Deliver me from a hot head and
a rash mouth. Deliver me from vanity. Deliver
me from this world. Deliver me from the God of this
world who has the world captive. Don't let me be captive. Don't
let me be his dupe. Don't let him dupe me. Let me
be wise to his wiles and his crafts. Satan uses this world. The things of this world. Don't
deliver me from the world, the God of this world, the people
of this world, the things of this world. Deliver me from all
my transgressions. There are many. There are many. Deliver me from all my... Can
you say that? Especially, verse 8, make me
not the reproach of the foolish. David said in Psalm 119, verse
39, he said, Oh, my, my reproach is what I fear. I fear. If you
fear departing from the living God, you won't. If you fear leaving, you won't. David said, that's what I fear
the most. I fear. And those who do, those who depart
from God, those who leave, those who renounce the truth, those
who join with the world, make the truth a laughing stock. Bring
reproach on God. People mock and laugh at the
truth. I told you. I told you. There
ain't nothing to that. David said, I fear that more
than anything. I don't want to bring reproach upon my God. He said, I was dumb, verse 9.
I was silent. I opened not my mouth because
thou didst it. The Lord did it. David had gone
through something or done something that he was ashamed of, and he
said the Lord shut his mouth. Anybody? How often? And that's what will shut our
mouths, isn't it? When the Lord does it. He says in verse 10,
he was going through something that he thought, this is going
to destroy me. Verse 10, remove thy stroke away
from me. Have you ever gone through something
you thought, this is going to be my undoing. I don't know if
I can take any more of this. I am consumed by the blow of
thy hand. Verse 11, when thou with rebukes does correct man
for his iniquity. You see, the Lord is correcting
him for something. To make His beauty to consume
away like a moth. Surely. How many times did He
say that? Surely. Every man. And He's talking
about Himself as vanity. Vanity. Oh, hear my prayer. He's asking the Lord to spare
Him. Hear my prayer. Oh Lord, give ear unto my cry."
How often does David talk about crying? Joseph, you read in the psalm,
he said, my water, my couch, with my tears. You know, that's
when we pray, isn't it? That's when we pray. Prayers
dry if there's no heart's cry. Our Lord, listen to this, the
Lord Jesus Christ, was a man of prayer. And it says that he,
let me read it to you, in the days of his flesh, when he had
offered up prayers and supplications with strong crying and tears
unto Him that was able to save him from death, he was heard
in that he feared. He feared. He heard. He was heard
in that he feared. And David said, I cry unto thee,
O Lord. Oh, hear me. Hear my cry. And
we talked about that the other day. A child in Romans 8, you
know, the cry of a child. The parent knows when it's a
cry of rebellion or a cry of just agitation or when it's a
real cry of need. Oh, that the Lord would cause
us to cry out from the heart in need, poor and needy. Hold
not thy peace at my tears. And again, you can't say this.
Nobody's going to say this before the Lord if it's not so. I'm
a stranger with you. I'm a stranger with that. Not of this world. That's what
he's saying. The Lord's a stranger. Peter
wrote to the strangers scattered throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia,
Bithynia. I'm a stranger with the Lord.
I'm a sojourner. Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, his sons,
they're all sojourning in a strange land, dwelling in tents. All
my fathers were, all of his sons, all the sons of Jacob were sojourners.
They're passing through, right? That's what David said. This
is not my continuing city. I'm passing through. I look for
a city to come. Do you? Meditate on that. Oh,
spare me. Spare me from this world. And
I may recover strength. Oh, David came in with the congregation,
didn't he? Came into the tabernacle. That's
where he recovered strength. O spare me that I may recover
strength. Will He? Look at Malachi, and
I'll close with this. Malachi, the last chapter, last
book in the Old Testament. Malachi 3. Will the Lord spare
a man, a woman who cries unto Him like that? Malachi 3, in
closing. Stand with me. Malachi 3, verse 16. Will the Lord spare those that
cry unto Him, that fear Him? Verse 16. Then they that feared
the Lord spake often one to another. That's fellowship around the
gospel, like you're doing. And the Lord hearkened, and He
heard. And a book of remembrance to
bring to their memory all that He said, what Christ has done,
was written before Him for them that feared the Lord and that
thought upon His name." Who thinks on Him? His bride does. His bride
does. Clearly every day. Waiting on
Him. She's waiting on Him. And the Lord said, "...they shall
be Mine, saith the Lord of hosts, in the day when I make up My
jewels in His crown, and I will spare them." As a man spareth
his own son that serveth him. Oh, spare me. I'm waiting on
you to come for me. Will he? Yes, he will. Yes, he
will. And that writes him. Pray with
me. Our Lord and our God, in the
name of the Lord Jesus Christ, we pray and cry unto thee from
our hearts with David of old. Oh, Lord, set a watch on our
lips, our tongues, Our ways cause us to watch our ways, ponder
our paths, our steps, our feet, keep our mouths, our souls from
trouble. Ponder, meditate, muse upon Thy
Word, upon Thee, upon the frailty of our flesh, upon the vanity
of this world, the shortness of our days, the number of our
days. Let us not heap up riches to
ourselves, but treasures in heaven, O Lord. We never lose. Let us
lose our lives without Satan, and thereby find true life. O
Lord, keep us from this world, and keep us from the evil one.
Lord, forgive us our transgressions, all our transgressions. We have
sinned against Thee and Thee only in Thy sight, in plain sight. And we ask forgiveness for Christ's
sake, O Lord. Spare us, we pray. Spare us.
Cause us to meditate on these words. Let not the fowl of the
air take them away. Let it fall on good ground. Ground that's been plowed by
your Spirit. Let it take root. Bring forth
life, faith, O Lord. O Lord, spare your people is
my prayer for Christ's sake. Amen. Thank you.