Let's begin our service opening
our Bibles to Psalm 116. Psalm 116. I had a good talk with Steve
Collins earlier this week, Tuesday, I think yesterday, I think it
was. And he said, Barb, surgery is successful in that it's done,
it's accomplished. She, of course, is in a lot of
pain. He said the surgery took eight or nine hours, which that's
a long time, you know, to have that leg opened up. And he asked
us, he said, we remember her to pray that the Lord does not
let her have an infection. And that's the big thing that
the doctors are worried about. The surgery's successful. They
think, you know, she'll have, she'll recover. But they're concerned
about this matter of the infection, so. Let's hold her up to the
Lord as He enables us. All right, Psalm 116. I love the Lord because He hath
heard my voice and my supplications. Because He hath inclined His
ear unto me, therefore will I call upon Him as long as I live. The sorrows of death compassed
me, and the pains of hell got hold upon me. I found trouble
and sorrow. Then called I upon the name of
the Lord. Oh, Lord, I beseech thee. Deliver
my soul. Gracious is the Lord and righteous.
Yea, our God is merciful. The Lord preserveth the simple.
I just love that. Every time I read it, oh, the
Lord preserveth the simple. I was brought low and he helped
me. Return unto thy rest, O my soul. For the Lord hath dealt
bountifully with thee. For thou hast delivered my soul
from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling. I will
walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I believed, therefore
have I spoken. I was greatly afflicted. I said
in my haste, all men are liars. What shall I render unto the
Lord for all his benefits toward me? I will take the cup of salvation
and call upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto
the Lord now in the presence of all his people. Precious in
the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. O Lord,
truly, I am thy servant. I am thy servant and the son
of thine handmaid. Thou hast loosed my bonds. I
will offer to thee the sacrifice of thanksgiving and will call
upon the name of the Lord. I will pay my vows unto the Lord
now in the presence of all his people, in the courts of the
Lord's house, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem, praise ye
the Lord." Thank God for his word. All right. Shawn, you're
going to lead us in a song. If you would, turn to song number
340, Nearer Still Nearer. Nearer, still nearer, close to
thy heart, Draw me, my Savior, so precious thou art. Fold me, oh, fold me close to
thy breast. Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. Shelter me safe in that haven
of rest. Nearer, still nearer, nothing
I bring, Not as an offering to Jesus my King. Only my sinful, now contrite
heart Grant me the cleansing Thy blood doth impart Grant me
the cleansing Thy blood doth impart Nearer, still nearer,
Lord, to be Thine. Sin with its follies I gladly
resign. All of its pleasures, pomp and
its pride, Give me but Jesus, my Lord, crucified. Give me but Jesus, my Lord, crucified. While life shall last, till safe
in glory my anchor is cast, through endless ages ever to be Okay, and if you would now turn
to song number 127 Hallelujah, what a savior Man of sorrows, what a name for
the Son of God who came, ruined sinners to reclaim. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Bearing shame and scoffing rude,
In my place condemned He stood, Sealed my pardon with His blood. Alleluia! What a Savior! Guilty, vile, and helpless we,
Spotless Lamb of God was He. Full atonement can it be, Alleluia! What a Savior! Lifted up was he to die, In his
finish was his cry, Now in heaven exalted high. Alleluia! What a Savior! When He comes, our glorious King,
All His ransomed home to bring, Then anew this song we'll sing,
Alleluia! What a Savior! All right, let's open our Bibles
now to Psalm 143. Psalm 143. One more announcement I forgot
earlier. Next week, our midweek service
will be on Thursday evening. We're going to have Bible school
Monday through Wednesday, and we've moved our midweek service
to Thursday. selfishly on my part that way
I don't have to do Bible school and preach the midweek service
and Pastor Mike Walker will be here to preach for us, so we
look forward to that. All right, Psalm 143. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Give
ear to my supplications. In thy faithfulness answer me,
and in thy righteousness. And enter not into judgment with
thy servant. For in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
For the enemy hath persecuted my soul. He hath smitten my life
down to the ground. He hath made me to dwell in darkness
as those that have been long dead. Therefore is my spirit
overwhelmed within me. My heart within me is desolate.
I remember the days of old. I meditate on all thy works.
I muse on the work of thy hands. I stretch forth my hands unto
thee. My soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land. Hear
me speedily, O Lord. My spirit faileth. Hide not thy
face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down into the
pit. Cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning, for
in thee do I trust. Cause me to know the way wherein
I should walk, for I lift up my soul unto thee. Deliver me,
O Lord, from mine enemies. I flee unto Thee to hide me.
Teach me to do Thy will, for Thou art my God. Thy Spirit is
good. Lead me into the land of uprightness.
Quicken me, O Lord, for Thy name's sake. For Thy righteousness'
sake, bring my soul out of trouble. And of Thy mercy, cut off mine
enemies and destroy all them that afflict my soul. for I am
thy servant." Thank God for His Word. Let's bow together in prayer. Our Father, how thankful we are
that You've given us this and other opportunity to meet together
with our brothers and sisters and to worship Thee. To be able
to open Your Word and to read it. To have Your Word preached
unto us. Father, we're thankful. And I
pray that You would Send Your Spirit upon us and enable us
this evening to truly worship Thee, to worship in spirit and
in truth and to hear word from Thee. Father, I pray that in
this hour that You would uphold me with Thy Spirit, enable me
to rightly divide the word of truth. Enable me to preach the
Lord Jesus Christ, our Savior, clear and simple terms. so that your people see him,
hear him, and believe him. And Father, give us a hearing
ear and a believing heart that would believe the gospel, rejoice
in it, rest in it, and believe it as we hear it preached. Father,
we're so thankful for your many blessings, how you have so abundantly
blessed this congregation with your mercy and your grace all
these years, your leadership, your protection, Father, we're
thankful. Father, for over a year, we've
asked you if you would give us some relief from this pandemic,
and you have. Father, we're so thankful. So
thankful that you've enabled us to go back to a much more
normal way of life and worship. Father, we thank you and pray
that you would continue to completely remove this scourge from our
land. And Father, for those that you
brought in the time of trouble, we pray for them. We pray for
Aaron as he's going through these treatments. And Father, that
you'd use them to heal him and be with him and strengthen him
and Michelle and his family in a mighty way. We pray that you'd
be with Nophi, that you'd relieve her pain and cause the doctors
to know what to do to give her some relief. For our sister Barb,
Father, we pray you'd undertake in her behalf that you'd ease
her pain, that you'd keep her free from this infection and
enable her to recover and go back home and as soon as it could
be possible, resume some normalcy of life. Now, Father, all these
things we ask. We ask that you would forgive
us for our much asking, but to whom have we to go but thee in
times of trouble and times of trial, whom have we to go but
Thee? Who could help us but Thee? And in times of joy and thanksgiving,
who else can we go to but to Thee to thank You and praise
Your matchless name? Father, we ask that You'd hear
our prayer and accept us in the Lord Jesus Christ. See us and
hear us only in Him. For it's in His precious name
we pray and give thanks. What a fellowship, what a joy
divine Leaning on the everlasting arms What a blessedness, what
a peace is mine Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning, leaning Safe and secure
from all alarms Leaning, leaning Leaning on the everlasting arms
Oh, how sweet to walk in this pilgrim way How bright the path grows from
day to day Leaning on the everlasting arms Leaning, leaning Safe and
secure from all alarms Leaning, leaning Leaning, leaning on the
everlasting arms. What have I to dread? What have I to fear? Leaning on the everlasting arms. I have blessed peace with my
Lord so near. Leaning, leaning, safe and secure
from all alarms. Leaning, leaning, leaning on
the everlasting arms. Let's open our Bibles again now
to Psalm 143. I've titled the message this evening,
A Prayer of Faith. In our text, David is crying
out to God in prayer. And I want us to look at six
requests that he makes at the last six verses of this psalm. And you'll notice that all six
of these requests, each of them, there's a reason that David asks
for these, that makes these requests. He makes these six requests because
he believes God. There's something about God he
believes that makes him make these six requests. I've told
you this before, and I think this is good advice, that if
you're going to plead with God, there's nothing better to plead
than God's word, than what God promised to do. Plead that. There's
nothing better when we plead with God than to plead the promises
of God. To plead the character of God. And that's what David is doing
here. That's what I want us to see about these six requests.
And the first request is in verse 7. He asks, hear me speedily. Hear me speedily, O Lord. My
spirit faileth. Hide not thy face from me, lest
I be like unto them that go down into the pit. Now we ask the
Lord, hear me speedily. What that means is I'm in trouble
and I need help right now. Right now. And there's nothing
I can do to help myself. My strength has failed. I'm powerless
in this. Lord, hear me speedily. And I tell you the time that
we'll ask God, help me speedily, quickly, is when I feel like
I'm on the brink of hell. I'm getting ready to fall into
it because of my sin. Now I know that's what my sin
deserves. And I know this, I'll be damned if the Lord doesn't
help me. So I cry, Lord, help me speedily.
Hear me speedily. And this is David's cry of faith. He asked the Lord, hear me speedily
on the basis of what he believed about the Lord Jesus Christ.
If I find myself feeling like I'm under the conviction of sin,
I feel like God's getting ready to send me to hell for my sin.
If He does, He'd give me justice. It'd be right to do it. I call
on the Lord to hear me speedily because I believe that the Lord
Jesus Christ is the Savior of sinners. That's why I call on
Him to deliver me because I believe He saves sinners. I believe. I call on Him because I believe.
All it takes to make me righteous is the obedience of Christ to
the law. That's why I call on Him. I believe in His righteousness. I believe that the blood of Christ's
sacrifice is all it takes to pay for my sin. All it takes
to cover my sin and blot it out so that God will say, I don't
see it, is the blood of Christ. I believe that. That's why I
cry unto Him to help me speedily. I believe that the Lord will
never forsake anyone for whom Christ died. He'll never condemn
them. They'll never come into condemnation.
That's why I call on Him to deliver me. I believe. This is why I call on the name
of the Lord. I believe that the only one who
can save me is the Lord Jesus Christ. So I call on Him speedily. And that's what everyone will
do. Every sinner will do that if we believe He saves sinners. That's when we'll call on Him.
To call on the Lord and ask Him to hear me speedily, that's a
call that never ends for the believer. It is a call that we
make when the Lord first reveals Himself to us, when He first
saves us and then reveals Himself to us and in us. But you know,
that need of Christ, that dependence on Him never ends. I always need
the Lord to hold me, to protect me, to keep me, All it takes
for you to realize how helpless you are, how much you need the
Lord to protect you and keep you, is just one phone call when
somebody on the other end of the line has got bad news. I
mean, just turn your world upside down with just a phone call.
Just instant. Lord, hear me speedily. I need
the Lord to hear me quickly. Because He's able. He's able
to save me, He's able to help me. He's able to comfort me.
He's able to keep me. I need the Lord to save me and
to keep me right now. At all times. Right now. I need
Him to hear me speedily because of His strength and my weakness.
I need Him to hear me. I call on the Lord to hear me
speedily because I know He has the power to save me if He will. That's why I call on Him. That's
a cry of faith. That's a cry based upon the Word
of God. Based upon the promises of God. It's a cry based upon this belief. The Lord's going to keep His
covenant. He in His covenant determined to save a people. Now, I know this. The Lord's
going to save His people. Then I call on Him to save me. That's based upon His covenant.
based upon His Word. Isaiah wrote this in Isaiah 45
verse 19. I've not spoken in secret in
a dark place of the earth. I said not under the seed of
Jacob, seek ye me in vain. God didn't tell His people to
seek Him and then it be in vain. God didn't tell His people to
seek Him and then He wouldn't hear Him. No, based upon that promise
that God said, I said not to the seed of Jacob, seek ye me
in vain, that makes me cry unto the Lord. It's a cry of faith
based upon his promise, Lord, hear me speedily. And it's a
cry of faith in this way, too. I believe I'm not going to be
wasting my time to call on the Lord, because he said I wouldn't.
He said it wouldn't be in vain. That's a cry of faith. Give me
Christ or else I die right now, speedily. That's a cry of faith.
Right here's the second request. Cause me to hear you. He says
in verse 8, call me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning,
for in thee do I trust. Lord, don't just hear me when
I cry to you. Lord, let me hear you speak. If anybody should be speaking
here, it's the Lord. Isn't that right? If anybody
should be speaking, it should be the Lord. And if anybody should
be silent and listening, it ought to be me. That just makes sense,
doesn't it? And this is what David is saying,
Lord, speak to me. I've cried to you. Lord, speak
to me and cause me to hear. Make me to hear. Give me ears
that really hear. That's my cry. Because I need
to hear what God says. Do you need that? I have a suspicion
that's why you came here tonight. You need to hear what God says.
Well, where is it that God will speak to me? How will God speak
to me, to my heart? He always does it through His
Word. Absolutely everything that God has to say to man is in this
book. Everything. It's all there. He
does it through His Word. I told you this Sunday that this
Word speaks to us. It speaks to God's children.
So if you would hear what God has to say when he's speaking,
be where this word is preached, read it, hear it. That's how
God speaks to people. His people is through his word.
And when the Lord speaks to his people, he speaks of things that
are right and good. He speaks of the salvation of
sinners. He speaks of salvation that is
sure, that is the security of God's people. They're secure
in Christ. When God speaks, He speaks of
righteousness. He speaks of peace. He speaks
of eternal life. I need to hear that, don't you?
I need to hear more of it. You've heard it before. Do you
ever get tired of it? Do you ever get tired of it?
I need to hear it again. Every single day I say these
words. Baby, I love you. Do you get
tired of it? That's just my Word. This is
God's Word. Do you get tired of hearing about
salvation? That you're secure in Christ?
The world has fallen down around your ears, but you're so secure. God's on the throne. Do you get
tired of hearing that? We need to hear God speak. David says,
here, I'm in trouble. Lord, hear me speedily. There's
one voice. I need to hear, David says. There's
only one voice that can speak peace to my heart. All David's,
whatever you call them, people in his court or whatever, I don't
know what you call those people, hangers-on, you know, around
the court of the king. Oh, they come and fawn all over the king
and tell him all these things. And they'll try to tell him what
they think he wants to hear, you know. That's the way everybody
speaks to the king, isn't it? David said, I want to hear from
you. There's one voice that will speak peace to my heart. It's
the voice of God, the voice of the Lord. Now that's asking on
the basis of faith. Lord, let me hear a word from
you because I trust you, because you're my God. I trust your word. Look at Isaiah chapter 35. I thought of just a couple of
places where God speaks to his people. This is the voice. When God speaks this to my heart,
this is the message I need to hear. Isaiah 35, verse 4. You ever wonder if someone's
in trouble and in trial? You know there's not one thing
you can say to them to make it better. Have you ever wondered?
What should I say to them? Verse 4. Say to them. Here's
what you say. Say to them that are of a fearful
heart, Be strong. Fear not. Behold, your God will
come with vengeance. Even God with the recompense.
He will come and save you. David's saying, Lord, let me
hear that. Lord, speak that to my heart. That's the word I need
to hear. And I need the Lord to speak
it to my heart. Let me hear those precious words,
those precious promises from the Lord. Look over a few more
pages, Isaiah 58. Isaiah 58. David has called on
the Lord, asked the Lord to hear him speedily, and then he says,
let me hear you. Sounds like Isaiah is saying the same thing,
that the Lord told him this is what would happen. Isaiah 58
verse 9. And he shall say, here I am. Now that, Lord, let me hear. Lord, let me hear you say that
to me. If the Lord says that to you,
here I am. I'm with you. Then everything's alright. Your
heart will be comforted. Your heart will be comforted. Joyce, I hope you don't mind
me telling this story. During the pandemic, our Lord called
Carter home. And I didn't know if I should
go there. Could I bring some sickness to
Joyce? I was concerned. I called her
on the phone. I was talking to her. And she said, don't you
worry about me. She said, I'm sitting here with
my best friend. He said, here I am. You call. He said, I'm with you. I'm with
you. Let me hear him say that to me.
All right, here's the third request, back in our text. Teach me. He says in verse 8, cause me
to hear thy loving kindness in the morning. For in thee do I
trust. Cause me to know the way wherein
I should walk. For I lift up my soul unto thee.
Verse 10, he says, teach me. Teach me to do thy will. For
thou art my God. Thy spirit is good. lead me into
the land of uprightness." This is what David's saying. He cried
to the Lord, Lord, hear me speak. He said, let me hear you speak
to me. But now he says, teach me. Don't
let me just hear words. Even your words. Don't let me
just hear those words with these ears. But David says, teach me. Teach me by applying those words
to my heart. This is a constant It's a prayer
of mine. Don't let me just hear the Gospel
with these ears. Hear it. And only have head knowledge
of it. Don't let me just in my head
think, well, yeah, this is true. But not believe it. Not love
it in my heart. That's one of my greatest fears.
One of my greatest fears for me and you both. We need the
Lord to teach us. Oh, I can preach it to you. I
can tell you. is simple. I mean, it really is simple.
Next week, we're going to have Bible school. And those things,
our children understand the Gospel. They understand the Gospel of
substitution and satisfaction. They understand that. It's not
hard to understand. I can say those things to you.
Other men can say those things to you. But only the Lord can
teach us. Only the Lord can make us know those things in our heart
and believe them. So David's saying, Lord, teach
me. So I'll believe on You in my heart. Teach my head and my
heart. So I'll both believe and love
Christ. Lord, teach me. That's being
taught the will of God. If you want to know what the
will of God is, God's will is that we believe on His Son. That's
God's will. But we need the Lord to teach
us that. Teach me Your will. Teach me to believe Christ and
to love Him. Teach my heart so I love Him
And teach my head. We're not circumventing the head
and the brain and the understanding here. Teach my head so I'll be
protected from error. That's the helmet of salvation.
Lord, teach my head so I'm taught. So I'm taught of God and I won't
be easily led astray to error. David says here, teach me and
lead me. Teach me and lead me in the land
of uprightness. Don't just teach me. and then
leave it up to me to go the way that I should go. Don't just
teach me and leave it up to me to, you know, how I'll follow
Christ. Lord, teach me the right way and then lead me in the right
way. Make me go in it. Lead me in
it. See, that's asking on the basis of faith. Lord, cause me
to know the way that I should go, David says, because, because
this is the reason, because I lift up my soul to thee. Now, when
David talks about lifting up his soul to God, this is what
he means. He means I need my soul, my soul, my spirit to be
supported by the Lord. I've lift up my soul to completely
be supported by the Lord. I need the Lord to save my soul
and keep my soul. I've cast all of my hope on you. Now, Lord, teach me and lead
me in the way that I should go. When he says in verse 10, teach
me for thou art my God. Teach me because you're my God. I'm depending on you by nature. I don't know anything. And what
I do think I know is wrong. So, Lord, teach me because you're
my God. You have made yourself to be
my God. So teach me and lead me because
you're my God. He says, teach me because thy
spirit is good. Not because I'm good, but because
God is good. See, that's a request of faith. That request is based upon what
we believe about the character of God. That God is good. He's my God, and He's good. So
lead me. Teach me. All right, here's the
fourth request. Deliver me. Verse 9. Deliver me, O Lord, from mine
enemies. I flee unto Thee. to hide me. Now it seems like that we are
constantly in need of being delivered from something, doesn't it? Constantly. So there's always some trouble. There's some heartache. There's
some difficulty. There's some problem. It just
seems like it's constant. It didn't seem to be that way
when we were young. It does now. It does now. Maybe
I'm just too young and ignorant to know it. I don't know. But
this just shows you how utterly helpless we are, how utterly
dependent we are on God. We can't defend ourselves. We
can't protect ourselves from anything. I mean, that's why
we're just constantly crying out to the Lord. Lord, protect
us. Lord, deliver us. And if so many things you think
of in this world, we need to be delivered from. We pray to
be delivered from sickness. We pray to be delivered from
All the things there is to fear, you know, going on in this world.
But I'll tell you the biggest need of every single person here,
to be delivered from God. That's what we need. We need
to be, we must be delivered from God. I can tell you this, anytime
I get sick, I'm going to pray that Lord deliver me from it.
Aren't you? But someday he's not going to answer that prayer.
Someday that sickness is going to kill this body. The Lord's
going to be pleased to use it and take me home and be with
Him. My biggest need then is one day if this body is going
to die and I'm going to instantly awake in the presence of Almighty
God, my biggest need is to be delivered from God. To be delivered
from His wrath. That's what salvation is. It's
being delivered from God's wrath. From God's justice against our
sin. We've declared war on God and we need to be delivered from
Him, from His wrath. We need to be delivered from
all of our enemies. That's true. But our biggest
enemy, the one we cannot leave this world without, is being
delivered from God's wrath. And there's only one defense.
There's only one way we can be delivered from the wrath of God
against our sin. And that's in the Lord Jesus
Christ. Just one way. But thank God He's provided the
way. The only way to appease God's wrath and to satisfy God's
justice is the obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ. When He was
made a man, He obeyed the law perfectly to establish righteousness
for His people. God will accept that righteousness
and that righteousness only. And God will accept the death
of Christ to atone for all of the sin of all of His people.
The Father can only be pleased with His Son. Only. So Christ
is our only defense. We can't add to it. We can't
shore up that defense by what we do or what we don't do. The
only defense that we can have is the Lord Jesus Christ. To
hide in Him. And when David says this, he's
asking for deliverance in faith. He's hiding in Christ and he
believes that's enough. I'm hiding in, so deliver me.
He's the only hope. He's the only defense I have.
He's the only hope and only defense that I want. And I believe I'm
safe hiding in Christ. So Lord, deliver me since I'm
hiding in the refuge that you provided. Look back at Psalm
91. Verse 1. He that dwelleth in the secret
place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the
Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is
my refuge and my fortress, my God. In Him will I trust. Surely He shall deliver thee.
Those of you who have made the Lord your refuge and your fortress,
you're trusting in Him. Surely He will deliver you from
the snare of the fowler. and from the noisome pestilence.
He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings
shalt thou trust. His truth shall be thy shield
and buckler. Thou shalt not be afraid for
the terror by night, nor the arrow that flyeth by day, nor
the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor for the destruction
that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy
side, and ten thousand at thy right hand, but it shall not
come nigh thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou
behold and see the reward of the wicked, because thou hast
made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the most high, thy habitation. There shall no evil befall thee,
neither shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling, because you
are hiding in him." That's safety in Christ. Now look at Isaiah
chapter 28. Verse 16, therefore thus saith
the Lord God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone,
a dried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. He that believeth
shall not make haste. He that is believing in Christ
and hiding in him shall never make haste. That's the promise
of God. Then asking the Lord, protect
me, deliver me because I'm hiding in Christ. That's asking in faith,
because I believe God's provided this defense, this refuge to
save me, deliver me from His wrath. The reason that I'm hiding
in Christ is God's given me faith so that I believe that the blood
and the righteousness of Christ is all I need to put my sin away. It's all I need to satisfy God's
justice. So God's justice isn't even looking
for me anymore because His wrath already fell on my substitute.
And when it fell on Christ, when God's wrath for my sin fell on
Christ, I was hiding in Him. And not one bit of that wrath
fell through. He bore it all. Justice is satisfied. And we're safe. Delivered. Hiding
in Christ. Asking for deliverance based
upon the merit of Christ alone. That's asking for deliverance
in faith. Because we believe Christ. We
trust Christ. I'm going to read to you a quote
from Charles Spurgeon. He said this much more poetically
than I have, but he's saying the same thing. This is what
he said. Beneath the crimson canopy of our Lord's atonement,
believers are completely hidden. That's true, isn't it? Listen
to what he said next. Let us abide there and be at
rest. Don't hide in Christ. and then
be worried that God's wrath is going to find you anyway. Don't
hide in Christ and be worried that He's not going to be enough.
Hide in Christ. Abide there. Stay there. Don't
leave. Don't look for another refuge.
Don't go try to look for something better. And be at rest. Be at rest because you believe
that Christ is enough, that He is all. His blood protects His
people from the wrath of God. Because His sacrifice, the sacrifice
of Christ, took away the sin that made God angry. And we're
delivered. Delivered in Him. All right,
here's the fifth request. Give me spiritual life. Quicken
me. Back in our text, Psalm 143,
verse 11. Quicken me, O Lord, for Thy name's
sake, for Thy righteousness' sake, bring my soul out of trouble. Now, you know, when we ask the
Lord to quicken us, we ask the Lord to give us spiritual life,
you know what we're admitting? We're admitting that we're dead
in sin. We're admitting we're dead and we need the Lord to
give us life. And we're dead, rightly so, because
we're guilty. Not only are we guilty in Adam,
we're guilty in ourselves. We're dead. We're spiritually
a dead, rotting corpse. It's not just like a dead person
you see down there at the funeral home that's been embalmed. This
corpse stinks. It's decaying. The flesh is rotting. It's offensive looking. It's
offensive smelling. And it makes everything around
us stink with the corruption, the filth of our sin. When that happens to a physical
body, when someone dies, before long, their body's going to stink.
Before long, their bodies can be offensive. So what do we do? We bury them out of sight, don't
we? Well, God would be right. if He do that to us spiritually,
wouldn't we? We're offensive to Him. We sometimes
think our own sin is offensive to us. Think how offensive it
is to God. I mean, if sin is offensive to
a sinner, think how offensive it must be to the Holy God. He'd
be right if He buried us out of sight. He'd be right if He
put us out of His presence. That's what we deserve. But we're
begging God for life instead. Lord, would You give me life?
And that's no small thing we're asking. This is monumental. Because
when a dead sinner asks the Lord to give us life, you know what
we're asking? Lord, give me the life of Your Son. That's a big
ask, isn't it? Give me the life of Your Son.
But that's asking in faith. When we ask the Lord to give
us the life of Christ, you know why we ask that? Because I believe
He is life eternal. Knowing Him, believing Him, having
Him is life eternal. And David says here, I'm asking
for thy namesake, not for my namesake, but for your namesake
because of who Christ is, because of what He's accomplished for
His people. Lord, give me the righteousness of Christ so that
I can never die because I'm not guilty. It's not because of anything
good I've done, it's for Thy namesake, because of what You've
done for me. See, asking God to give us life
for His namesake, for the glory of His name, that's asking in
faith. It's believing. God is going
to glorify His name. Well, Lord, I can't think of
a way that You could get more glory to Yourself than saving
a sinner like me. Would you save me in such a way
that you'd get all the glory? All the glory of it would go
to your name. That's asking in faith. Based
on who God is. Alright, here's the last one. Our last sixth request. Give
me mercy. Verse 12. And of thy mercy, cut
off mine enemies and destroy all them that afflict my soul.
For I am thy servant. And we ask the Lord, cut off
our enemies. Always want to be careful about
that, don't you? Or cut off my enemies, destroy my enemies,
damn my enemies, do some horrible thing to my enemies so they're
not a problem for me anymore. Got to be careful about that.
And we all have enemies, we all have difficulties, you know,
and they're all too powerful for us. We do ask the Lord to
take care of them, defend us from them. And one day, unless
he's merciful in this life, the Lord will cut him off in justice.
Could be between now and then. Could be God be merciful to him. That'd be best, wouldn't it?
But either way, the Lord's going to protect us and preserve his
people by his mercy. But the biggest enemy, you've
got to remember, the biggest enemy we're talking about here is our
own self. Our own old man, our own sin. And we need the Lord. We must
have the Lord's mercy. Or we cannot live. We cannot
be saved. He must cut off our greatest
enemy. Our sin. If He's going to do
it, if He's going to cut off my sin, it's going to be in mercy,
isn't it? Has to be in mercy. Our sin is against God. And if God, the one who we have
sinned against, is going to cut off our sin, I'll tell you how
He's going to have to do it. He's going to have to do it by charging
our sin to His Son. And then crucifying Him for it.
Putting Him to death for it upon the cursed tree, making Him bear
the curse of sin for us. Now that's going to take the
sovereign, immeasurable mercy of God. That God would kill His
Son so the likes of you and me could live. That's what we need,
isn't it? Mercy, mercy. And that's the
only thing saving faith pleads, is mercy. The only hope a guilty
person has is mercy, isn't it? You don't have another hope.
I'm guilty. I need mercy. The only thing a guilty sinner
can plead before God is God's own mercy. We plead, don't give
me what I deserve. Give me mercy. Give me mercy.
And David here is asking for mercy in faith. He says, give
me mercy for I am thy servant. I'll tell you what that means.
God's our master. If we're his servants, that means
God's our master, doesn't it? Lord, have mercy on me because
you're my master. And I believe my master is going
to do what's right. He can do what's right always
and he's going to do what's right for his servant, me in particular.
Lord, you're my God. You're my master. Since you sent
your son to die for me, give me mercy. Since by your grace
you made me your servant, protect me and provide for me because
I trust my master to do what's right. That's asking for mercy. in faith, based on who God is. He's my master. He's the one
who has all mercy to dispense. That's a prayer of faith. Each
one of those, you see that now, don't you? Each one of them is
based upon what David believes about God. It's asking in faith. All right, let's bow together. Our Father, we're thankful for
this portion of your word. You've enabled us to look into
We're thankful to be able to read these cries and prayers
of the saints. They reveal something of who
you are. It causes us to cry unto thee. We cry, Lord, with
your servant of old, would you be merciful to us? We're your
servants. We look unto thee. We're completely
dependent upon thee to call us, Teach us to save us, to hide
us, to protect us. Lord, we look unto Thee. We lift
up our soul unto Thee. Lord, would You be merciful to
us? Would You be merciful and reveal Yourself in saving faith
to Your people? Would You be faithful to Your
Word? You promised to bless Your Word that it will not return
unto You void. Father, we pray that it is Your
purpose to send Your Word forth in power tonight. to teach, comfort,
edify, and instruct your people. Cause us to leave here resting
in our Lord Jesus Christ. First in His blessed name we
pray and give thanks. Amen. Alright, Sean, come lead
us in closing hymn. If you would please, turn to
song number 255. and stand as we sing. Blessed assurance. assurance, Jesus is mine. Oh, what a foretaste of glory
divine, heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed
in His blood. This is my story, this is my
song, Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story,
this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long. Perfect submission, perfect delight. Visions of rapture now burst
on my sight. Angels descending, bring from
above Echoes of mercy, whispers of love This is my story, this
is my song Praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story, this is my
song. Praising my Savior all the day
long. Perfect submission, all is at
rest. I in my Savior am happy and blessed,
Watching and waiting, looking above. filled with His goodness,
lost in His love. This is my story, this is my
song, praising my Savior all the day long. This is my story,
this is my song, Praising my Savior all the day long.