Let's turn back in our Bibles
to Psalm 5. I've entitled the message this evening,
Lessons in Prayer. Prayer is something that every
believer does. You think what a blessing it
is that the Lord has given us the privilege to come before
Him and pray. To just lay out our heart before
Him in prayer. Talk to Him about anything that's
on our heart. It's a blessing when the Father
gives us the privilege to truly pray. To really be along with
the Lord and have heart communion with Him. That's such a blessing.
And like I say, every believer prays. But we also want these
lessons in prayer. Because I guarantee you, you
talk to every believer and one thing they'll tell you they wish.
I wish I could pray better. I wish I could pray better. I
don't want to just go through the motions. I don't want to
say my prayers. I want to be able to truly pray. And in this psalm, David gives
us four lessons I think will be helpful to us in this matter
of prayer. The first one is this. True prayer
always includes heart reference and heart worship for the Lord.
Verse 1. Give ear to my words, O Lord.
Consider my meditation. David begins his prayer by asking
the Lord to hear him. Lord, would you bow down and
hear my words? If the Lord's going to hear us,
he's going to have to bow way down. He's so much higher than
we are. If he's going to hear us, he's
going to have to bow way down. And I'm thankful to know he does
that. He bows himself way down and he always hears the prayer
of his people. He always hears their hearts
cry. He hears the words of our cry, even when we can't put them
into words. Sometimes our prayers are just
a groan. They're just a moan. We're so
deep in it. We don't even know what to say.
and we just moan, just groan. That's what David means when
he says, consider my meditation. It means my thoughts, my groans,
my moans under extreme pressure. David says, the Lord hears my
cry when I can't cry, put my cry into words. The Lord is so
great. He hears a groan and understands
it. He hears. I've told you this
before. Cecil Roach told me one time,
he said, we don't truly pray until all we can do is groan. He said, that's the first time
we've really prayed. He just crushed me, he said.
But he took that from Romans 8, 26. The Spirit himself maketh
intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. The Lord
hears the heart cry. Words really aren't even necessary.
He hears the cry of the heart. So don't think you have to come
in flowery words and pretense to the Lord. No matter what flowery
words you use, He hears the cry of the heart anyway. Just lay
your heart open to Him. Just talk to your Father. He
hears His children. He hears the cry of His people
when nobody else will. He hears the cry of His people
when nobody else can. He hears. The Lord hears the
cries of His children, but hears reverence. We never take that
for granted. We always ask the Lord to hear
us. Lord, would you hear us? And
it's good that we ask Him, would you hear my words? Because my
words, as I talk to my Heavenly Father, my words are so childlike. They're often the wrong words.
But you know, the Lord listens. He hears his people, and it must
be. I think about this as I pray. I'm just embarrassed at the lack
of ability and how I must sound to the Lord. Is it like us listening
to the words of a two-year-old? You can't always make out their
words. Their sentence structure is wrong, and yet you listen
to them, don't you? Our Father listens to the cries,
the words of his people. Even when they're the wrong words,
even when they're not just right, he hears the cry of his people.
That's why David asked the Lord, would you consider my meditation? That word consider, it means
to regard or attend. Would you listen to my cry and
then answer me? But that word consider means
something more. It means to regard and attend,
but it also means to direct. Lord, would you direct my words?
Lord, would you teach me how to pray? That's what the disciples
asked. Lord, teach us to pray. Lord,
direct my words. If I've asked you for something
that's right, if I've asked for your glory, for the good of your
people, would you give it to me? And Lord, if I've asked for
something I shouldn't ask for, would you direct my words? Would
you show me that it's wrong and don't give it to me and show
me that it's wrong? If I should have asked for something,
I didn't. Lord, would you direct my words? Would you teach me
how to pray? You know, if the Lord considers
our prayer, he's gonna consider it in wisdom, isn't he? Well,
then we have this confidence. He's always gonna do what's right.
He's gonna consider our prayer and do what's right, even if
we don't ask right. Now, knowing that and asking
the Lord, Lord, would you direct my words? That's coming to the
Lord in reference, isn't it? David says, hearken unto the
voice of my cry, my king and my God, for unto thee will I
pray. Here, David asked the Lord. He
recognizes who he's praying to. He's king and he's God. That's who we're praying to.
That's why we come to him with reverence. He's king. He's God. You don't demand the king, God
the king. You don't demand he hear your
prayer. No, in reference and humility, you ask him, would
you consider my words? Now here's comfort for us. We
know this. At least doctrinally, we know
this. The Lord is King of kings and Lord of lords. And I say
at least doctrinally, we know that. Because how often do we
get bent out of shape when somebody is king, is president that we
don't agree with? Whether it's on either side,
you know, we get all bent out of shape. At least doctrinally,
we know God's King of kings. and Lord of Lords. That man's
in His hand. He's just a pipsqueak just like
anybody else. He's in the hand of God. Our
God is the Sovereign. His will is always done. He rules over everything. There's not anything that's outside
of the control of His dominion. You just can't even begin to
start to tell about the power and might of Almighty God. And having any understanding
of that at all, will make us come into His presence with fear
and trembling, with reverence, won't it? But listen to what
David says here. David says, God the King is my
King. That little word, my, makes all
the difference in this relationship between God and me. He's my King. God is my King who rules over
me. He's my King. Because He delivered
me. It wasn't a choice I made. No,
He took me. He delivered me from the power
of darkness and He's translated me into the kingdom of His dear
Son. He's my King who rules over me. Christ the King came and He suffered
and died. He shed His blood to set me free
from sin and set me free to serve Him. He's my King and the King. has extended His scepter to me
and allowed me to come into His presence. Oh, to come accepted,
to come loved into His presence. So I come, I come to Him in prayer
in reverent love to my King, my King. Christ, my King, rules
over everything for this purpose. to ensure the salvation of His
people. If He's my King, He saved me
by His grace. If Christ is my King, there's
nothing that can harm me. Nothing can ever touch His people
without the express permission of Christ the King. What grace
God's bestowed, He's my King, my King. And David says, we also
cry out to God in prayer. He's the King and He's God. The
Almighty. The Sovereign. Look at 1 Timothy
chapter 6. Again, we've got some idea what
that means. That God is the Almighty. He's
King. He's the Sovereign. He's God. I want us to listen to the Word
of God. Here is the Apostle Paul under inspiration of the Holy
Spirit, giving us a description of God. 1 Timothy 6, verse 15. Which in his times he shall show
who is the blessed and only potentate, the King of kings and Lord of
lords, who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no
man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see, to
whom be honor and power everlasting. Amen. Now I read the description of
that God. That makes me too scared to even come into his presence,
doesn't it? And if I would, I certainly wouldn't
make a sound in this presence. But David says this God, this
is an accurate description of who God is. But David says he's
my God. He's promised to make spiritual
Israel His people. God said they will be my people
and I will be their God. If He's made us His people, He's
my God. I belong to Him. He's my God.
Because the Father chose me in divine election. He chose me
to make me His. So I belong to Him. He's my God. God the Son came and He purchased
my redemption with His precious blood. He bought me lock, stock,
and barrel. I belong to Him. You're bought
with the price. You're not your own. You're bought
with the price. I belong to Him. He bought me.
He made me His. He's my Savior. The Holy Spirit
comes. He dwells in my heart. So I belong
to Him. If He dwells in my heart, He's
the King. He's the King of my heart. He rules and reigns there.
If He dwells in my heart, it's not me owning Him. It's Him owning
me. I belong with Him. He made me
the temple of the living God. He's my God. Now I can come to
Him in prayer with this confidence. He's going to see to my salvation.
He's going to see to it. And He's going to see to every
other need that I have too. He'll see to it. He's my God. Now that's understanding who
He is and who we come before in prayer. That's reverence.
Now verse 3, here's worship. My voice shalt thou hear in the
morning. O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto
Thee, and will look up." Now David says, if the Lord will
hear my cry, He's going to hear it in the morning. Because I'm
going to cry to Him first thing. First thing in the morning. Now
you know a believer should pray at all times. At all times of
day, we ought always to pray, not to faint. That's what the
scripture says. Spurgeon said this, he said, should be the
key of the day and the lock of the night. We ought to pray at
all times, certainly begin and end our day in prayer. But when
David here is talking about praying in the morning, he's talking
about praying at the best time of day, taking the time of day
when he's the most alert, most fresh, there's fewer distractions.
At that best time of day, that's the time he's going to devote
to the Lord, to pray, to talk to the Lord. What he's saying
is, I won't pray as an afterthought. I'm not going to wait till I've
tried everything else to fix my problem and arrange my day
and then whatever I can't deal with, then I'm going to come.
No. The first thing I'm going to do in every situation is pray. I'm going to come to the Lord.
I'm going to give him the best part of my day. The first fruits
of everything belong to the Lord. But see, I read that and I thought,
I'm not really a morning person. A lot of people are not morning
people. I'm one of them. I'm not a morning person. Morning
is not the best part of the day for me. But I tell you what,
I still don't want to start my day without praying. Morning
is a busy, hectic time. You've got children. Morning's
a hectic time. I mean, you get out of bed, you're
getting ready for work, you got to get the kids off to school,
Sure is this world. They forgot some homework thing
they got to do. Somebody spills coffee on their
shirt. You got to change clothes. Oh, it's so hectic to get right
out the door on time. But you know, there's still time
for prayer. Prayer doesn't have to be long.
We don't have to spend just like the Pharisee on a street corner. We don't have to be heard for
our much speaking. The model prayer the Lord gave his disciples
Just takes about 30 seconds to read. The prayer doesn't have
to be long. Henry said, this is brilliant. I wish I could say things like
this. He said, morning is a very busy time. You're trying to get
everything ready, go to work, get out the door on time. He
said, but you men, you still have time to say good morning
to your wife, don't you? Can't we say good morning to
the Lord? Just take the time to say, thank you, Lord. Thank
you. bringing me through a night, thank you for this food. Lord,
I'm going out in this world today. It's tough. It's too tough for
me. Would you watch over me? Lord,
would you direct me? Lord, would you order my steps
today? Keep me from going off the way. Keep me following Christ.
Lord, would you give me something to do to honor you today? That
doesn't take very long, doesn't it? That's the best time of day,
just to give the communication with our Father. Then David says,
unto you, Lord, I'll direct my prayer. This is interesting. I'll direct my prayer. That word
direct, it has to do with ordering the sacrifice upon the altar. So when you pray, direct your
words, direct your thoughts to the Lord. Don't just ramble around,
you know, randomly. Don't just Think all the religious
catchphrases, you know, you can use and I better put those in
there. Prayer is not a recipe like that. But now God is a God
of order. You know, order your prayers
a little bit. I don't want to put pressure
on everybody. Talk freely to your father. But
yet our prayers should be ordered a little bit. At least we ought
to, at least in this order, remember reference and worship, shouldn't
we? But here's the attitude of worship. David says, I'm in the
early in the morning. First thing, I'm going to direct
my prayer unto you. I'm going to pray. And then he
says, I'm going to look up. I'm going to look up. I'm going
to pray and look in expectation, expecting that the Lord's going
to do what's right. We can expect that, can't we?
And if the Lord does not give me what I ask, if what I've asked
is right, he'll give it. And if He doesn't give what I
ask, then you know what He'll give? He'll give the grace to
accept it, the peace to accept it. So look to Him. Expect Him
to give you what you need. It may not always be what we
ask for, but He'll give us what we need. You can expect it. And
remember this. Prayer is not just asking for
things. It's not just petition. Prayer
must be praise and thanksgiving too. Offer your prayer. Thank
God in prayer. Praise his name in prayer and
then look to him in expectation that your praise and your thanksgiving
will be accepted in Christ. You can expect that. Now, right
as I was preparing these notes, I got an example for this verse.
I mean, these notes right here, I got an example. My nephew,
Gavin, came up to his daddy and he said, Daddy, I'm thirsty.
Would you get me a drink of water? And his daddy said, I will. But
he was texting me at that very minute. He had been helping me
with a problem we had. And he was texting me about it.
And he was going to finish his text before he got up to go get
this cup of water. And Gavin stands there. He asked
for a cup of water. And then he stood there looking
up, expecting to get a cup of water. Expected. But Jonathan
said, after about two seconds, Kevin said, Daddy, why are you
not moving yourself? He expected his daddy to do what
he said he'd do. His daddy said, I'll get you
a drink of water. He expected it because he knows his daddy.
His daddy's a man of honor. He's not going to tell him something
he's not going to do. He knows his daddy loves him. He's not
going to withhold anything good from him. He expected to get
a cup of water. Maybe he could have used a little
more patience. Couldn't we all? How often am
I, a three-year-old, praying to my father, and then not having
any patience? We could all use a little more
patience in prayer, couldn't we? David said, I'm not going
to look to you for a little bit. I'm going to offer my prayer, and
I'm going to look up. And I'm going to wait on the
Lord. He'll do what He said He'll do. He'll take care of it. He's
got the wisdom. He's got the power. He loves
me. He's honest. He's holy. He'll
do what He said. I'm going to look up to Him.
That's reverence and worship in prayer. Alright, here's the
second thing. True prayer asks for protection.
How often through the Psalms do we read David being thankful
that the Lord is his shield and buckler? The Lord's my protection. That's what he asked for beginning
in verse six. He said, thou are not a God that hath pleasure
in wickedness. Neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish
shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity.
Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing. The Lord will
abhor the bloody and deceitful man. I'll tell you, here's another
reason for worship and prayer. The Lord does not hear the prayer
of everyone. No, he doesn't. If he hears your prayer, that's
a mercy. That's a grace. He ought to be thanked and worshiped
for that. We know the Lord doesn't hear the prayer of the wicked.
He says, I don't hear them. They cannot stand in his sight. No one can stand in his sight
outside of Christ, can they? The Lord's not going to hear
the wicked. He's going to destroy them. Well, who are the wicked? Who is this that won't be heard?
Well, it's everybody God did not make his own. The father
didn't choose The son didn't die for him. The spirit has not
given them life in the new birth. They're wicked because God just
left them alone. He just left them to what they
are in Adam. So they speak leasing. They speak lying. They have false
preaching that lies on God. And it's no wonder they tell
lies about God. They don't know him. He has not
revealed himself to them. So they can't tell the truth
about who he is. So they don't have any power with God in prayer,
do they? God doesn't hear their prayer.
Yet the Lord has given them power and influence on this earth.
And David knows, now these enemies, the Lord's given them power on
this earth. He's gonna destroy them someday. I know their end,
but what he's praying is, Lord, protect me until you do. Would
you protect me from them until you do destroy them? Lord, you're the king, they're
in your hand. Would you overrule their wicked
desire for good to protect me for the good of your name? This
would be a good prayer if we find ourselves in this situation.
Lord, you're God over all. You're merciful to the worst.
Would you be merciful to these wicked like you were to me? If
he is, that's last time, you'll have a problem with him. They're
not gonna be out to get you anymore if he'd be merciful to them.
David asked the Lord, protect me from my enemies and protect
me from myself. This wicked he's worried about
is not just outside. It's the wicked that's in me
by nature. We who believe, we still have the same wicked nature
that we were born with. That wicked nature of Adam is
unchanged when God saves us. God gives us a new nature, but
he leaves that old one alone. So David says, Lord, would you
protect me from me? Verse nine, he says, for there's
no faithfulness in their mouth. Their inward part is very wickedness.
Their throat is an open sepulcher, they flatter with their tongue.
That's who the wicked are, but this wickedness is in me. David
says, I'm not faithful by nature. Lord, would you protect me from
myself? Would you make me faithful? Oh, to be a faithful servant,
how I desire that, to be a faithful servant. Lord, don't let me be
like the wicked. Lord, my inward nature is a nature
of sin and death. When I open my mouth, it could
be just like opening a casket, just opening the tomb, just as
much as the wicked is. Say, Lord, would you put a watch
over my tongue? Keep me from saying things that
would bring shame upon your name. Don't let me do that. This is
part of the Lord considering our prayers and directing, ordering
our words. Lord, don't let my fleshly tongue
get loose in prayer and say things I ought not be saying. Don't
let me ask for things I shouldn't ask for, but direct my words,
order my tongue to make me your servant. And Lord, protect me
from my own way. Don't let me go my own way, because
I tell you where my way's gonna end up, it's gonna end up in
death every time. I'll come up with some brilliant
scheme, you know, and that'll be the very trap that will kill
me. Verse 10, destroy thou them,
O God, Let them fall by their own counsels. Cast them out in
the multitude of their transgressions. For they've rebelled against
thee. Now I know that's going to happen to the wicked. They're
going to be judged and they're going to be destroyed by their
very own counsel. But Lord, I've got the same nature
they do. Keep me from being like the wicked. Watch over me. Direct
me. Every believer can say in prayer,
God, I thank you. I praise you for your mercy and
your grace. and giving me a new nature. How
I thank you. But I still need your mercy.
Don't ever take your mercy away from me. I need it every second.
Lord, keep me, watch over me, protect me from the wicked and
the foolishness both outside of me and in me. Protect me from
all those enemies out. We need protection. Right, here's
a third lesson in prayer. Prayer includes petition. We need to ask the Lord for what
we need, what we don't have. Ask the Lord, ask him. And David
gives us several good things we ought to be asking for. Number
one, David asked for mercy, mercy. Begging for mercy should be in
every prayer. He says here in verse seven,
but as for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of
thy mercy. And in thy fear will I worship
toward thy holy temple. David says, Lord, I'll come into
your house seeking a blessing, just like a child comes home.
A child comes home from school. They've been out there in the
world and everybody at school sounds nice to them, as people
are at home. It's just, it's tough. And that
child comes home seeking some things. That child wants some
shelter. I want some shelter from this
world. I want some provision. I need something to eat. That
school lunch ain't much. I need something to eat. I need
some provision. I need some love. I need somebody to wrap their
arms around me and love me. This child comes home looking
for these things from his father sitting at home in the den. David
says that's the way I'm coming into the house of the Lord. Seeking
provision. Seeking shelter. Seeking love
from my father. And Lord, the only way I can
come before you is in your mercy. I can't be good enough to be
accepted. I can't be good enough to make myself your child. If
you're gonna accept a sinful person like me, it's got to be
in mercy. I come seeking mercy. I'm a great
sinner, great sinner. So I'm gonna come to the Lord,
David says, in the multitude of his mercy. That's how I'm
coming, in the multitude of God's mercy, with this prayer. Lord, be merciful to me. I'm
begging mercy. Don't let me fall into the hands
of an angry God. But be merciful to me. You know,
that's the only reason God wouldn't destroy me like he destroys the
wicked, is his mercy. God's merciful to his people.
God does not give his people the punishment they deserve.
He's merciful to them. You know why he doesn't punish
them for what their sins deserve? Because God punished Christ our
substitute. He gave our substitute everything
our sin deserves. Now that's mercy. God giving
kindness to his people by putting his son to death. I come to the
Lord in the multitude of thy mercy. We know the Lord doesn't
have any pleasure in the wicked. That's what David just said.
But come to the Lord in the multitude of his mercy. You think what
pleasure the Lord has in his people when he's taken their
sin away, made them righteous as his son. He has pleasure in
them. Then come to him in the multitude
of his mercy that takes away the sin of his people. Then there
at the end of verse seven, David asked to be able to worship.
He says, in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. Lord,
enable me to worship you in spirit and in truth. Enable me to worship
you in Christ. Now where's David say that there?
Where's he talking about worshiping God in Christ in that verse?
Well, when he talks about worshiping toward the temple. David wrote
this, the temple wasn't built. David didn't build the temple,
did he? Solomon didn't build the temple till after David was
dead. So he's not talking about Solomon's temple there. He's
talking about something else, isn't he? David had a tabernacle,
which was a picture of Christ, and what David's looking forward
to here It's not just a building. He's looking forward to the person,
to Christ himself. He's looking forward and worshiping
God in Christ. Now, of all the things we could
ask for, here's a good one. Lord, enable me to worship. I'm afraid we don't realize it
like we should, but we need to worship. Everybody does, but
especially a believer needs, just like we need to eat, a believer
needs to worship. God's worthy of our worship,
and we need to worship him. So our prayers should always
include the request, Lord, enable me to worship you. We worship
God in spirit and in truth. We'll be blessed. We'll be blessed. And thirdly, David asked for
righteousness. Verse eight, he says, lead me, O Lord, in thy
righteousness, because of mine enemies, make my way straight
before thy face. Lord, give me righteousness.
Lead me in righteousness, because I don't have any. I can't produce
any, and I can't come to you without it. I know I can't come
to you without righteousness. The writer to the Hebrews said,
Hebrews 12, verse 14, follow holiness, without which no man
shall see the Lord. I need righteousness. The only
way I can be righteous is if God gives it to me. The only
way we can be righteous is if God gives us the righteousness
of Christ. Why wouldn't I ask for it? There's
a good thing to ask God for. Would you give me righteousness?
And I'll tell you what, no matter how long it is, we live in faith.
Just like mercy. We never outgrow the need for
mercy. No matter how long we live in
the faith, we will always need Christ our righteousness. We'll
never be able to produce the righteousness of our own. So
this is our constant prayer. Lord, give me righteousness.
Then fourth, David asked to be led in the way. Lead me in Christ. Christ is the way. Lord, would
you lead me in the way? Would you lead me in Christ?
Don't let me be led by the world, because he says there in verse
9, there's no faithfulness in their mouth. I don't want to
be led by them. Lord, would you lead me? Now,
you're my king. You're my God. What David's asking
here is, would you lead me like a father leads his child? A father
takes the hand of his child if they're in a dangerous situation
or dangerous to that little fella anyway. It's maybe a situation
where a lot of people or the child could get lost. That father
takes that child by the hand and leads that child for the
good of that child. If the father's holding the child's
hand, that kid can't dart out into oncoming traffic. His father's
got a hold of him. He can't just, if they're out
there in the woods hiking, you know, that kid can't run off
a cliff somewhere. The father's got him by the hand.
He's leading him in a way that's in the right way. The father's
holding that child's hand. He can't just get, you know,
looking at all the sights and wander off and get lost. The
father's holding his hand. He can't get far. And that's
what David's saying, Lord, lead me like a father leads a child. I'm just, that's all I am, the
king here. I'm just a small child. I need
to be led. And Lord, remember, I'm just
a child. He remembers, our friend. He
knows what to do. So Father, lead me at the right
path. Don't go so fast that a little guy like me can't keep up. Just
lead me at the right. Just lead me with tenderness
and compassion, remembering all my weaknesses. And Lord, lead
me like somebody would lead a blind person. There's so many unseen
dangers I'd fall into. Lord, lead me. Lead me with compassion
like you would lead a blind person. If you're leading a blind person,
you wouldn't let him walk into the door. You'd open it for him.
You wouldn't let him walk into a wall. You'd steer him away.
You have compassion for that person, for their infirmity.
Lord, lead me with compassion like that. That's all I have.
I'm full of infirmity. And then here's our fourth lesson
in prayer. Every prayer. must include praise, must include
praise. And David gives us several reasons
for praise. First, we praise God by rejoicing
in Christ Jesus and having no confidence in the flesh, verse
11. But let all those that put their
trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy because
thou defendest them. Let them also that love thy name
be joyful in thee. I tell you, no one has as much
reason for joy as a child of God. David says we have so much
reason for joy, we can shout for joy. Now, that doesn't mean
everything's a bed of roses. Now, we'll still have sorrow,
we'll still have pain, we'll still have heartache and tribulation
in this world. Our Lord promised us that, so
we won't be surprised when it happens. But this is also true
at the same time. We will have more joy in Christ
than we'll have sorrow in the world. He's overcome the world. We're going to have more blessings
in Christ than there are curses of sin in this world. Where sin
abounded, grace did much more abound. Sin hath reigned unto
death in these bodies, in these bodies of flesh, but grace reigns
through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. There's reason for joy. We shout
for joy in Christ. Second, we praise God by rejoicing
in His righteousness. It's His righteousness. It is
never us. It's always Christ. In prayer,
give credit to where credit's due. Really, in every situation,
you ought to give credit where credit's due, but in prayer,
why wouldn't we give credit where credit's due? It all belongs
to the Lord, doesn't it? David said, not unto us, O Lord,
not unto us, but unto thy name give glory for thy mercy and
thy truth's sake. We praise God by rejoicing in
his righteousness. He's made his people righteous. He's made us what he will accept. That's reason to praise the Lord.
And third, we praise God for his faith. that He's been pleased
with us in Christ and favored us with His grace, His presence,
His mercy. Verse 12, For thou, Lord, wilt
bless the righteous with favor, what thou compassed Him as with
a shield. Now you think how God has favored His people. He's
favored us above the wicked. He's given His people mercy.
He's made them righteous. He's given them the forgiveness
of sin. He's cleansed them from their sin in the blood of His
own Son. He's given them a new holy nature, made them partakers
of the divine nature. Oh, that's favor, isn't it? Eternal
favor. And then throughout this world,
the Lord leads and guides and protects His people. He provides
for them every good thing. There's no good thing will ever
be withholding from God's people. Then it ought to be easy for
us to spend some time in prayer praising God, not just for what
he's done for us, but who he is. Nobody else would have done
those things for us. Nobody else would have or even
had the ability to provide mercy and righteousness and forgiveness
and cleansing and new nature. Nobody else could, but our God
did. It's reason to praise him just
for who he is. And his favor to his people is
so great David says it encompasses them, just encircles them all
around. Just like you're in the middle
of a globe. It encircles us on every side. He's favored his people mightily. Well, then we can praise him
for it, can't we? Praise him for who he is and what he's done. We start looking at it that way.
We've got a whole lot less reason to be sorrowful and down in the
mouth and worried than we do to praise our God, don't we?
A whole lot more reasons to be thankful than to be worrying,
I'm going to be left by myself, don't we? All right, I hope the
Lord will bless that too. Let's bow in prayer. Our fathers, your disciples of
old, we do ask you, teach us to pray. Lord, use this word
that we've looked at this evening to teach us to pray, to teach
us to order our steps, to teach us to come to you at all times,
to give you the best part of the day, the firstfruits, but
Father, at all times, cause us to pray without ceasing. Father, how thankful we are that
in our Lord Jesus Christ, we know with confidence that we
can come before you and be heard. And how we do thank you and praise
you for who you are, you're God alone, always doing your will
in the army of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth,
and none can stay your hand or ask you, what are you doing?
No one can stop God's purpose for his people. You're God alone. How we thank you. How we thank
you that you're the God of all mercy, that you have a multitude
of mercy, rich in mercy for your people. because we're great sinners. How we thank you that you're
merciful to your people because you punish Christ our substitute
for our sin. How I thank you for your grace,
saving grace, calling grace, keeping grace. Father, how we
thank you. How can we possibly render unto
you the praise that's due unto your matchless name? Father,
cause us to think on these things and leave here rejoicing God
our Savior, that the God of heaven and earth has made himself my
God and my King, that we can come before you as your children,
accept it. Father, thank you. Bless your
word. Bless it to the hearts of your people.