We're looking at Psalm 61. To the chief musician upon Nagina,
a Psalm of David. Hear my cry, O God, attend unto
my prayer. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto Thee. When my heart is overwhelmed,
lead me to the rock that is higher than I. For Thou hast been a
shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy. I will
abide in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of
thy wings, Selah. For thou, O God, hast heard my
vows. Thou hast given me the heritage
of those that fear thy name. Thou wilt prolong the king's
life and his years as many generations. He shall abide before God forever. Oh, prepare mercy and truth which
may preserve him. So will I sing praise unto thy
name forever that I may daily perform my vows. Now, some have surmised, and
I don't know that this is true, but some have surmised that the occasion of the writing of this
psalm was when the Lord delivered unto David the news that he would
not be the one to build the temple. That is possibly true. I don't
know that it is, but there are reasons to consider that that
could be true. For surely, probably David received
no more devastating news in his life than that. Perhaps even
more devastating than the loss of his son Absalom, even though
that was a great loss. But yet that was a loss in the
flesh. But David was a man after God's
own heart, that is, he hungered and thirsted for the things of
God. And it would have been a most precious thing and a most great
desire within his heart to build unto the Lord this temple. But the Lord didn't see fit to
give him that privilege as we have discussed many times. And so this would have been more
or less a devastating thing to him, but yet by the grace of
God he was sought the Lord and was made
conformable to the will of the Father. Now we know one thing
is certain, and that is when we pray, Thy will be done in
the earth as it is in the heavens, we're not actually asking God
to perform His will as though He's not going to do it if we
don't ask Him. You know, some people think that
they have to ask God to do His will. Well, God's going to do
His will. And when we pray, Thy will be done in the earth as
it is in the heavens, we're not praying, asking God to do His
will. We're praying, Lord, make us
conformable to Your will. Make us those that are reconciled
unto Your will. Because His will will be done.
And nothing will prevent it from being done. But by the grace
of God, He does give us, according to His mercy, a reconciled heart
and mind unto the will of God. So that we say, Lord, whatsoever
seemeth good in Thy sight. And what a gracious privilege
that is, to be given such a mind and heart. Because there is nothing
really worse, especially for the children of God, to be fretful
and worrying and concerned about something that the Lord is doing
that we are not really happy with. But when the Lord makes
us happy, that his will is done, then that is a blessed thing. And only he can grant that. You
know, you can talk to somebody until you're blue in the face,
but unless the Lord ministers peace to their heart about a
thing, they'll still fret and worry about it. But when the
Lord applies it, then, you know, it's applied. I mean, there's
nothing else that you can say. David is crying out, and again,
as we say each week, even though these are David's words that
he has written here, these are, I believe, the prayers of Christ
in the behalf of his people. As he was a man, walked among
men, as a man learned obedience by the things which he suffered,
was caused to fear God, as men are taught to fear God, he feared
God perfectly. And so it is, but he did these
things for our sake. I mean, he had nothing to gain
for himself in this, but he did all that he did for our benefit. Hear my cry, O God, attend unto
my prayer. You know, again, the matter of
prayer is a thing that I think most people really have the wrong
viewpoint about what prayer is. They think that by praying, you
know, many people picture it like, well, God's on this tact and He's fixing to do this.
But if we can get enough of us together, or we can be faithful
enough, you know, we can pray and God will say, well, I was
going to do that, but I tell you what I'm going to do, I'm
going to change my mind and I'm going to do this. I remember
listening one time to Pat Robertson And he was saying how that one
time there was a hurricane that was bearing down on Virginia
Beach up there and that he said they all got together and they
prayed and he said, you know, the Lord just turned that hurricane
out there in the ocean and it didn't come hit Virginia Beach.
Of course, you know, it hit somewhere. I guess it was where all the
people were praying or whatever, you know, according to him. But
dear brethren, that hurricane was going exactly where the Lord
would have it to go. Now what the Lord does in the
matter of prayer is He works in us to bring us to a place
of being conformed unto His will, of being reconciled unto His
will. And so that's what the prayer
is. Hear my cry, O Lord. Attend unto my prayer. Lord,
work Your perfect work in me. Not, Lord, do what I want you
to do. Now that's the way a child prays. They want God to do what they
want Him to do. But as the Lord is pleased to
teach His children, He teaches them to want what He wants. and
what He's doing. And there's a big difference
in that. But that is the essence of prayer. Hear my cry, O God. Attend unto
my prayer. Lord, hear me. From the end of the earth will
I cry unto Thee. It doesn't make any difference
where I'm at from the end of the earth. I mean, have you ever
been to the end of the earth? I tell you, when you're overwhelmed
in grief and heartache and things are going south for you, that's
the end of the earth. I mean, that's as far as you
can go, isn't it? I mean, the end of the earth
is as far as you can go. And the Lord brings us as far as
we can go sometimes. He brought Jonah as far as he
could go. And when He brought Jonah as far as he could go,
He said, is of the Lord. And the Lord brought him to the
end of the earth. He brought the Philippian jailer
to the end of the earth. He said, sirs, what must I do
to be saved? He brought the blind beggar Bartimaeus
to the end of the earth. He brought him there and he said,
have mercy on me. Thou son of David." That publican
in the temple, he brought him to the end, did he not? And he
said, Oh God, be merciful to me a sinner. Is that not the
place where we desire to be, to be brought? But even there,
from the end of the earth will I cry unto thee. Now unfortunately,
because of the hardness of our heart, we often have to be brought. to that place in order to cry
out to the Lord, but that is the mercy of God to bring us
to that place. Because such things as that even
are designed as much so as is His answer. When my heart is
overwhelmed, lead me to the rock that's higher than I. What a
sweet place it is to be brought to the rock that's higher than
I. I mean, that's a sweet place, is it not? Now, being overwhelmed
is not a sweet thing. I mean, that's an awful thing.
I mean, when a man's overwhelmed, I mean, just when the sea billows
have come over your head, and you're like those disciples in
that boat with the Lord asleep in the ship, and they were overwhelmed. But you see, in the mercy of
God, He brought them to the rock that was higher than them. And
they said, Lord, don't you care if we perish? He said, why are
you so fearful? And He rebuked them. The winds
and the waves and the seas were still. And so that's the cry
of God's people when my heart is overwhelmed. when I can't
see any way out, when it seems like the heavens are as brass. Oh Lord, lead me to the rock
that's higher than I. Don't let me try to solve my
own problems. Now, it's a very common message
that we hear today that people are taught to think positively. And I'm not totally opposed to
the concept of having a positive outlook. That's a good thing
in a limited fashion, but don't carry it too far because, you
know, you can't solve your problems by having a positive outlook.
Now by the grace of God, your problems can be solved when the
Lord leads you to a rock that's higher than you. And by the grace
of God, He teaches His people to pray in such fashion as that.
To realize that we don't have the power. I think about that passage of
scripture you often hear quoted. Athletes and all these people
that do, you know, wondrous things. They say, I can do all things
through Christ that strengtheneth me. Now, the emphasis is usually,
I can do all things. Well, that's the wrong thing.
See, they missed the point of what Paul was saying. He wasn't
saying you can do all things. He was saying, Christ can do
all things. And you are the beneficiary of
it. And that's a big difference in
how one would look. Well, I can do this if Christ
will help me. No. Christ can do this. And He may do this. And if He
does do this, then you will be the beneficiary of it. You'll
be the one who's carried into that blessing. Oh Lord, help
me. For thou hast meant a shelter
for me, and a strong tower from the enemy." A shelter. A shelter in the time of storm.
We sing that song every now and then. The Lord is our rock, in
Him we hide. A shelter in the time of storm.
Secure whatever ill be tied. a shelter in the time of storm. He is our shelter. He is our
covering. That's what that, he said, that's
been a shelter for me and a strong tower from the enemy. Now, of
course in, you know, in ancient warfare, the big advantage that
an army or people fighting would have would be to have the upper,
the high ground. You know what I mean? It's easier
to fight downhill than it is to fight uphill. And so the Lord's
our strong tower. That is, He's put us in a strong
place where we can look down upon the fray. You see, many times We get into
a situation of looking at things through our own eyes and seeing
things like we see it. That's not a good place to be.
How you see it is not how it is. Remember old Gahazi when
Elisha was surrounded? by the armies of Ben-Hadad, I
believe it was, I don't remember the actual king it was, and old
Gehazi, he said, man, we're in trouble now. He said, what are
we going to do? He said, we've got these armies,
and Elisha prayed, he said, Lord, open his eyes that he might see.
And he looked, and up on the hill surrounding them, there
were the armies of God with chariots of fire, the scripture says.
and he realized that the battle belongs to the Lord. Lord, lead
us to that high ground where we can see what the enemy is. You know, when we survey him,
he's not as overwhelming as we thought when we understand that
the Lord is the one who is the one who shall fight for us. A
strong tower from the enemy. I will abide in thy tabernacle
Forever I will trust in the covert of thy wings. What a glorious
place for the children. What a promise, I will abide
in thy tabernacle forever. I will trust in the covert of
thy wings, the covering. Now I'm sure that the Lord doesn't
have wings, I mean, You know, people sometimes get too concerned
with all this poetic language, but the reference is, as the
Lord said, as He spoke over Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how oft
would I have gathered thee as a hen doth gather her chicks,
but ye would not. And so the covering of his wings
is that covering wherein he holds his children unto himself, and
underneath are the everlasting arms. He is that one who holds
his people in his hands. And that's the place where we
would desire to be. I will trust in the covering
of thy wings, because I can't trust anything else. I'm not
able to. I mean, you know, can you trust
in the arm of the flesh? I mean, when your heart's overwhelmed
within you, can you trust in the arm of the flesh? Now, some
people do. They say, well, we'll get through this somehow. Maybe
they will. But you see, God's people, they're
taught their own weakness. And they're not able to trust
in the arm of the flesh. Because we know one thing, if
we've been taught anything about ourselves, we know that the arm
of the flesh will fail us. Whatever we seek to do, it's
going to turn out bad in ourselves. But oh, by the grace of God,
as He gives us a mind and heart to trust in the covering of His
wings, what a place of great comfort. For thou, O God, hast heard my
vows, thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy
name. Now I was thinking about this
in light of the temptation of the Lord. When the devil, Satan,
came to him and he told him, you know, you can have all these
things, And what did the Lord do? He ran to His Father's Word,
His Word. He is the Word. And He told him,
and He rebuked the devil with the Word of God. And He trusted
in the cover of His Father's wings. For thou, O Lord, hast
heard my vows, you know. Now, what vows have you ever
made that the Lord heard? See, people think, well, I'm
going to vow this unto the Lord. Well, Lord, if you'll get me
out of this jam, I'll serve you and I'll do this. Now, a lot
of people made vows like that. You probably have from time to
time. You say, Lord, I'll do this. You know what the Lord
thinks of your vows? He knows what they are. See,
He knows you know what they are too. But He knows what they are
before you do. And so, when he says, I'll pay
my vows, he can't be talking about our vows. I mean, our vows
aren't worth a flip. I mean, how many people vow that
they're going to stand before a congregation of people in the
presence of God and they'll say, they'll make the vow, till death
do us part. Now that's a vow, isn't it? How good is that? Not much good. because it doesn't usually turn
out, or I say doesn't usually, in a lot of cases it doesn't
prove to be very much of anything. Though God has heard my vows,
whose vows could that be? If the Lord heard the vows and
he had respect unto them, whose vow could it be? It'd have to
be that of the Lord Jesus Christ if it's going to be of any use.
He's heard the vows of the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, Father,
of all that thou hast given me, I have lost none. What a glorious
thing. He said, I came to do thy will,
O God. Now how many times have we said,
Lord, we're going to do your will? Now when we're using that
word will in kind of a loose fashion. And then we turn out
we walk contrary to that which we knew was the right way. So our vows aren't any good,
but when the Lord said, I will perform that, which is right
in the sight of God, he meant that and he did that and he proved
that in his temptation to Satan who tried to turn him aside. For thou, O God, hast heard my
vows, thou hast given me the heritage of those that fear thy
name. Now he has given him the heritage,
that is, he is that one who is the inheritor of those that fear
the name of the Lord. Why do men fear the Lord? It's because God causes them
to fear, brings them to that place. The Lord said unto, or
the Father said to the Son, according to what we read in the second
Psalm, He said, ask of me and I shall give thee the heathen
for thine inheritance. And here it says that, that has
given him the heritage of those that fear his name. The Lord
asked, He said, give me the heathen. And the Lord gave them to him.
Now that was good, you know, we were talking there this morning
about Brother Al was bringing up, you know, all these dietary
laws that were given to the nation of Israel. And then, ultimately,
the Lord said to him, He told them why He gave them all those
things. He said, so that you thinking that these things would
make you pleasing in my sight, here a little and there a little,
You went your way, but he said these things are given to you.
But he said blindness has happened upon Israel. The Lord designed
the blindness of Israel just as much as he designed the opening
of the eyes of the Gentiles. He said it was because of the
blinding of the eyes of Israel that the Gentiles' eyes were
opened. It was according to his purpose.
And so he is that one who has the heritage of those that fear
thy name out of every kindred, tribe, and tongue. Jew and Gentile
alike, doesn't make any difference. Now the Jews, and it had to be
this way so that the Lord could illustrate and demonstrate the
fact that he has a peculiar people in the earth, which wasn't the
descendants of Abraham, they thought it was, but he would
illustrate the fact that he did have a people in the earth out
of every kindred, tribe, and tongue. And they are the one
constant that one can see among the people of God is that they
fear the name of the Lord. And so he said, you have given
me the heritage of those that fear thy name. Now David could
pray that and say, Lord, this is my, you've given me that heritage. This is a thing that could be
written about me that I have trusted in the Lord. Even as
we read about all of those there in the 11th chapter of Hebrews,
the scripture says these all died in the faith. What a glorious
testimony. What a heritage. What a legacy. I mean, what could be better
written than that, that these died in the Lord. The heritage
of those that fear the Lord, thy name, thou wilt prolong the
king's life and his years many generations. Now, you know the
nations that have kings, that's a I mean, one of the things you
hear, especially among the English, is God save the Queen, you know,
or God save the King. I mean, it's like that's the
thing they desire as a nation, is that the King's life be preserved,
because in these ancient kingdoms and whatnot, the King was such
a vital part of it that if something happened to him, You know, there
was no telling what might happen to the nation. And so there was
a desire that the Lord would preserve the life of the king.
Well, in this, I believe as the Lord prays in our behalf, he
says, thou wilt prolong the king's life in his years to many generations. See, our king is not a king who
has beginning of days and end of life. But he is a king and
priest forever after the order of Melchizedek, who had no beginning
and he has no end. And so his life and his years
is preserved unto many generations. He shall abide before God forever. Now that's our hope. I mean, we don't have any hope
if Christ be not raised from the dead. Now everything that
we claim to believe rests on that vital point right there. That Christ rose again on the
third day from the dead and ascended into the presence of the Father
where the Scripture says, He ever liveth to make intercession
unto God for us. He shall abide before God forever. Thinking about that, and I've
probably said this before, but I really don't have that many
things to say, so I have to keep saying the same things over and
over again, but this is a true thing, and that is that the intercession
of the Lord Jesus Christ is often pictured as though He's down
on His knees in heaven and He's pleading in the behalf of people
down there, Lord, You saw what so-and-so did, but I want you
to have mercy on him." Well that's not what the intercession of
Christ is about. The intercession of Christ is
the fact that he is present before the throne of God. He has ascended
into the very presence of God. And He is our intercessor by
the fact that He is there. I think Wesley it was, it wrote,
Charles Wesley wrote that, Him five bleeding wounds he bears
received on Calvary. They poor effectual prayers they
strongly plead for me. See that's the intercession of
Christ. is His wounds before at the hands of men. That's how
He prays before the Father. He says, Father, see these hands. See this side. I have bled and
died for my people. That's our intercession. He shall
abide before God forever. Oh, prepare mercy and truth which
may preserve Him. He is preserved in mercy and
truth. Grace and truth came by Jesus
Christ, though the law came by Moses. What a glorious thing,
because mercy and truth is that upon which the kingdom of God
is built. See, the kingdom of God is not
meat and drink, it's not dietary laws, it's not rules of conduct
and order and all of those things, but it's mercy and truth. And
that mercy and truth is met together in Jesus Christ. And it's in
Him and Him alone that wherein all of our hopes and our expectations
rest. We live because He lives. Oh, prepare mercy and truth which
may preserve Him, even as it will preserve us, because it
is His mercy that keeps us. So will I sing praise unto thy
name forever, that I may daily perform my vows." Now we have
the promise that we shall praise Him forever because Christ Jesus
the Lord does praise His Father forever. He is the perfect worshipper
of His Father. even as He has perfectly worshipped
the Father in our behalf. So that song we sing sometimes,
Christ hath the garden walled around, chosen and made peculiar
ground and in there it talks about that garden which the Lord
has planted and he said the Lord is pleased to smell our poor
perfumes and I've often thought about that you know the Lord
planted this garden and really you know it's kind of in many
ways like a putrefying sore in so far as men are concerned but
the Lord looks on that garden which he planted and he's pleased
It's just like He wants them to be and He's bringing up their
praises before His name because they've been made pure and cleansed
in the blood of Christ. So the people of God stand before
Almighty God without spot, without blemish. They stand before Him
as that which is perfect. I think sometimes it's hard for
God's people to get a real grip on this because we feel like
when we come before the Lord that He's standing up there with
a rod in His hand and He's going to smite us down for having done
this or having done that, but He sees us in Christ. Now I don't know anything that
will subdue the sin of a man more readily than a clear view.
that Christ is his substitute. That Christ is that one who has
paid the price for his sin. You can't cause him to abandon
his sin because of fear. You might get him to outwardly
conform to something because you cause him to fear for a little
while. But brethren, the only thing
that will bring a man into conformity with the way of Christ is a view
of Christ as that sinless substitute, as that one who died for sinners.
Because it is that, Lord, that breaks the hearts of God's people. It's that which causes their
hearts to be tender before Him, that they might then daily perform
their vows. Our vows are of no use, but the
vows of Christ. Oh, that's whose vows I want
to be found in. Lord, include me among those. Let my vows be wrapped in Yours. Let me be that one who's made
conformable unto Your image, desiring to walk in Your way.
Only by the grace of God can that occur. So will I sing praise
unto Thy name forever. That's who's going to praise
Him forever. It is not the good folks, but it is the folks that
have been washed in the blood of Christ. What a glorious thing. What a blessing it is to be called
sons of God.