39th Psalm opens with these words
I said I will take heed to my ways that I said not with my
tongue I will keep my mouth with a bridle while the wicked is
before me I was done with silence I held my peace even from good
and my sorrow was stirred my heart was hot within me while
I was musing the fire burned then spake I with my tongue.
Lord, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what
it is, that I may know how frail I am. Behold, thou hast made
my days as an hand-breath, and mine age is as nothing before
thee. Verily, every man at his best
date is altogether vanity. Lord make me to know mine end
and the measure of my days what it is that I may know how frail
I am. This psalm, as with several others,
has a title in which it is addressed to the chief musician. But unlike
others, that musician is named to the chief musician, even to
Gedufon, a psalm of David. Gedufon. It is one of three psalms
addressed to the chief musician named as Gedufon. Psalm 39, Psalm
62, and Psalm 77 all name the musician. Jedufun was the head of the choir. He led the people, he led the
musicians, he led the choir in their worship unto God. He led
the people unto God in worship. And this psalm is a psalm in
which we see man being led from his state by nature unto God. led unto God we see man in his
vanity how frail he is how sinful he is how wicked man by nature
is vain as the psalmist says verily every man at his best
state is altogether vanity we see in the psalm how man is nothing
and how his only hope is to be found in God and in God's salvation
how salvation is of God entirely and we see in this psalm the
work of God in showing man his state in laying man in the dust
and in leading man unto salvation. We see the leading of the chief
musician. The psalm is split into three
stanzas. Verses 1 to 5, 6 to 11, and 12
to 13. The verses 1 to 5, as we've read,
end with the statement of man at his best state being altogether
vanity, selah. We then have another stanza,
running until verse 11, which ends again with the conclusion,
surely every man is vanity, selah. And then finally the last stanza
leads with this man being led unto God. O spare me that I may
recover strength before I go hence and be no more. When he's led from this world
into another world, when here he is no more, but God has led
him hence. the other side of death. Three
stanzas showing us the work of a triune God, set forth by this
chief musician, Jetufen, in three psalms, who leads the people
unto God. A triune God, whose work of salvation
is conducted by Father, sun and holy ghost it begins with the
work of the spirit going forth into this world crying out in
the wilderness a voice crying in the wilderness unto man in
the darkness all flesh is as grass you grow up one day you'll
cut down the next. You are fleeting, you are nothing. Verily every man at his best
state is altogether vanity. the flower of man, the glory
of man, the greatest of men. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. We're all but grass, we grow
up one day and no matter how greatly we flower and flourish,
no matter how proud we may be, no matter what we might do in
this world, no matter what men may say of us, no matter what
we might accomplish and no matter what we might be praised for
doing in the end we are gone in a moment it's all for nothing
this world is brief it's fleeting and our life in this world is
brief and fleeting and every man at his best state is altogether
vanity and the Lord God the Spirit of God goes forth to the four
corners of this world crying out in the wilderness perhaps
in the wilderness where you as a blade of grass are growing
up he cries out to prepare the way for the Lord to show you
your vanity to show you the brevity of life To show you how frail
you are. To show you that you are nothing. To show you that salvation is
of God. The Spirit of God goes forth
to prepare the way. As Mark says in his Gospel, the
beginning of the Gospel. Prepare ye the way of the Lord.
The beginning of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. as a preparation,
the spirit must prepare the soul for the coming of Christ. Having
so prepared, the soul is led unto the Son. The eyes of faith
are opened to behold a Saviour crucified for sinners. The heart
is opened to receive His word. the understanding is opened to
hear His Word and believe and to see the blood of Christ which
cleanses from all sin and to find that the only hope
a sinner has is in that blood and having been led to Christ
the Spirit and the Son lead the sinner forth through the grave
to the other side, to the Father with whom he may dwell forever. This is the picture and this
is the work which David sets forth in this psalm. This is
why he begins with his state in the wilderness as a frail
sinner. And this is why he begins by
speaking of his tongue. For there is the speech and the
tongue of man, which boasts much and says much and vaunts itself. And there is the speech of the
Spirit of God, which is a still, small voice. The speech of man
is bold and arrogant and proud, but is ultimately worthless. Man speaks, but his speech achieves
nothing. Man speaks, but his voice is
soon silenced. Man speaks and writes and says
and makes much of many things, especially himself. but it's
but for a moment and then his words are no more then he has
no tongue with which to speak then he's gone he's but a memory
perhaps his name is left in a history book or on a gravestone or nowhere
at all but it's but for a moment his speech is brief no matter
how loud he shouts no matter how proud he is for the brief
moment upon which he stands upon the stage of this world no matter
how loud your voice might be and no matter how great your
thoughts are and no matter how sure you are of what you think
and of what you have to say to this world in a moment you're
gone and nobody's listening and nobody cares and your voice is
a distant memory but there is a speech and a voice which spake
before ever you were born which speaks quietly in the wilderness
of this world if you would but hear a still small voice which
cries in the wilderness salvation is of the Lord and a voice which
will be speaking which will cry, which will speak long after you
and I have been laid in the grave this voice, this word this word
of God spake in the beginning it speaks throughout all time
and it will speak when time is no more there is a tongue and
a voice far greater than the voice of any man which is eternal
and if you're granted any wisdom it will be to silence your tongue
before this God and to hear the voice of the Spirit of God crying
in the wilderness unto you that all men at their best, you and
I included, are vanity. We are frail. We are blind. We are dumb. We are dead. We are full of sin. We are nothing. And we are in need of salvation. So David commences the psalm
by speaking of his tongue. for he has heard this voice of
the Spirit of God he has heard the voice that cries in the wilderness
he has been shown what he is before God and he knows that
in the presence of such a God he is nothing 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. I was dumb
with silence. I held my peace even from Goethe
and my sorrow was stirred. My heart was hot within me while
I was musing the fire burn. Then spake I with my tongue. Lord make me to know mine end
and the measure of my days what it is that I may know how frail
I am behold thou hast made my days as an hand-breath and mine
age is as nothing before thee verily every man at his best
state is altogether vanity he's taught to be silent and he only
speaks when the Lord has put his word upon his tongue to confess
unto him that he is nothing. Oh to be taught what David was
taught. Oh to be taught to shut our mouths
when anything we can say is but vanity. Oh to be taught to be
silent before God and before our enemies. Oh to be taught
that we are nothing. Oh to be brought to the place
where we can confess that we are nothing. I will keep my mouth
with a bridle while the wicked is before me. How impossible
is this for man. James addresses it in his epistle.
The tongue is an unruly member. Who can bridle it? Who can restrain
it? Who can stop it? We can't help
ourselves. The tongue is what gives voice
to the sin within us. We can't stop sinning because
we are born sinners and we can't stop speaking lies because the
sin within us bubbles up to the surface and so we speak. We may
think we speak truth but unless we know Christ and unless his
word is that which flows out of us, then everything is tainted
by the corruption of sin within our hearts. Everything is done
for vain glory, to promote self in our own pride as an empty
show before others. everything is done to demonstrate
our own works and our own righteousness and to seek our own ends and
our own glory even when we are the most religious of men or
women not just when we are profane not just when we are in the world
not just when we are filthy minded but when we are religious When
we are seeking God outwardly, when we are supposedly worshipping,
outside of Christ our religion is nothing and our words are
nothing. It's all vain, it's all a self-righteous
show, it's all to promote self. It doesn't bring glory unto God,
it brings glory unto us. Listen to what I think. Listen
to what I believe. Listen to what I've done. Here's
my view. Here's my thought. It's all to
bring glory unto self. It doesn't speak of Christ. We don't find nature, glory in
Christ and Christ alone. There's always something of us
in it. There's always us in relation
to him. There's always our works and
what we've done for him and what we will do for him and what we
should do for him. Man in his natural state always
speaks of self. His religion is always of self. It's always how I shall live.
Even those who profess themselves to be Christians, outside of
Christ and His grace, all their thoughts are on what I shall
do and how I shall live. Look at me. and they and we in
that state cannot help themselves or ourselves it bubbles up we
think we're serving God and we serve self we think we're walking
right and we're walking astray we think we speak right and we
speak lies for the tongue is an unruly member
it cannot be bridled Except God bridles it. I will take heed
to my ways, David says, that I sin not with my tongue, I will
keep my mouth with a bridle. Not in his own strength. Not
in his own strength. He couldn't do that. But God
had so worked in him that he silenced him. He bridled David's
tongue. and he bridled his tongue while
the wicked was before him. I will keep my mouth with a bridle
while the wicked is before me. Why before the wicked? Well firstly,
because he would not give the wicked cause to rejoice in his
own folly. For he knew that by nature he
was full of sin. But he also has in mind his own
wicked self. And he knows that as long as
that flesh is there, as long as the wickedness of his own
heart is before him, he will keep on sinning with his tongue.
So as long as he sees himself as wicked, he will bridle it. Oh, what a lesson to learn, have
you learnt it? seeing yourself, seeing your
flesh, seeing what you are, knowing what you are. Have you learnt
to silence yourself? To be silent. To listen. To listen. To look for the voice
of the Son of God. To say, Lord speak unto me. Send me thy word. Send me thy gospel. Teach me
thy ways. Speak unto me. I've got nothing
to add. If I know anything that's true,
then thou hast spoken it to me and I'm merely repeating it.
If I know anything, it is of thee. But everything that I know
of myself is vile and wrong and lies. Then keep me silent. Speak unto me. How few we meet. who are brought this way. How
few of us are brought this way. We've all got so much to say. We've all got an opinion. We've all got a thought. We're
all so sure. We're all so sure of what we
think. We're all so sure of our understanding. We're all so sure of our understanding
of the scriptures. Oh, we've diligently searched
them out. Search the Scriptures, Christ
says, for in them ye think ye have eternal life, but ye will
not come unto me. Oh, you've searched the Scriptures.
You've reasoned them all out. You've harmonized the scriptures. You've harmonized the Word of
God. You've taken this passage and
that passage and that passage and made them all fit together
neatly. And in so doing, you think you've
found eternal life, and you think you walk in that life, and you
think you have the wisdom to walk by them aright, and you're
full of your own understanding, and you'll tell others and speak
to others and say, this is the way, this is the way, but you
won't come unto Christ. And if you did, you'd be silent
before him, and silent before the wicked, and more ready to
listen than to speak. I was dumb with silence. I held my peace even from good,
and my sorrow was stirred. I will keep my mouth. with a
bridle. Oh great wisdom is seen here
in David's words. Great wisdom in being silent. How few know this wisdom. How few have learnt this lesson. Have you? Firstly we see of the
tongue. We then see how David shows us
our state by nature, how frail we are. My heart was hot within
me while I was musing the fire burn. Then spake I with my tongue,
Lord, make me to know mine end and the measure of my days. What it is that I may know how
frail I am. Behold, I was made my days as
an hand breath. and mine age is as nothing before
thee verily every man at his best date is altogether vanity
it is a good place for our speech to begin if you've got something
to say my friend if you've got anything to say about anything
then start here i am nothing but vanity how frail i am start by being silent before
god lord make me to know mine end and the measure of my days
it's brief no matter how old you are, no matter how many years
you have walked the pathway, no matter how many years you
have walked the pathway of religion, no matter how many years you've
spent studying the Bible, no matter how much experience you've
got, your age is as nothing before God. Oh I've studied this book
for 40 years. Oh I was saved in my teens, in
my twenties and I've studied it for you. Oh what the Lord
showed me, what I've learnt in this book. Your age is as nothing
before God. And what you've learnt, what
you've studied, even what you've been shown is nothing. If you've been shown anything
of the gospel, anything of grace anything of Christ then everything
you know you have received freely by grace everything you are you
have received freely by grace anything you have you have received
freely by grace and you have nothing in which to boast it's
all a gift it's a gift that God has given to you out of his good
pleasure not because of any good in you not because of any wisdom
in you not because of any diligence in you not because you sought
these things out not because you took the scriptures and studied
them where others don't not because you were harder working when
others are lazy not because you had the awareness to search out
this or search out that when others couldn't be bothered placing
yourself a higher than they are if you have any understanding
It's because God in mercy, despite your sin, despite the hardness
of your heart, despite your frailty, despite your vanity, despite
your rebellious nature, despite your pride, chose to take your
sin and blot it out. Chose to take your sins and lay
them upon his son. chose to slay his son in your
place under his judgment chose to deliver you and spare you
and give you life he chose to give you a gift he chose to speak
unto one who was silenced by grace if you have anything it's
all a gift of God And if you're taught of God, you'll be silent
before him. How frail we are, how brief our
life is. We are nothing before God. Nothing but recipients of grace
if we know his salvation. Man, thirdly, is but vanity at
best. Surely every man walketh in a
vain show. Surely they are disquieted in
vain. He heapeth up riches, and knoweth
not who shall gather them. We're all a vain show. We heap up riches, we achieve
great things, we build great houses, we build empires, we
build businesses. We do this and we do that. In
the world of religion, people build up ministries, they build
up congregations, they build up their churches, they build
it all up. But it's all a show. Every man
walketh in a vain show. If Christ isn't in it, no matter
how religious it might be, it's just like the building up of
others in the world. It's a vain show. It's a heaping
up of riches, but not riches which are of God. It's a vain
show. Man is vanity at best. Have you been taught your vanity? have you been taught the emptiness
of this world? the brevity of your days the
measure of your days the frailty of your flesh and the emptiness
of the riches and the vanity of this world have you been shown
that you are nothing? In what do you hope? In what are you waiting for? What are you waiting for? What
are you looking for in life? And now Lord, David says, what
wait I for? Are you waiting for this great
thing to happen or that great thing to happen? Waiting for
this prize to come your way? What wait I for? What wait you
for? My hope is in thee, David says. His hope, his only hope, was
in God. He'd been taught the brevity
of his days. He'd been taught the foolishness
of his heart. He'd been silenced before God. He knew the emptiness of riches.
He knew that this world is nothing. He knew that he was nothing. And his only hope was in God. Where is your hope? And now,
Lord, what wait I for? My hope is in thee. Deliver me
from all my transgressions. Make me not the reproach of the
foolish. What is your great need? Your
great need for which you must hope. Your great need is to be
delivered from your transgressions. You and I, each by nature, have
transgressions, sins, a multitude of them. We've sinned from the
day we were born. We will sin till the day we draw
our last breath. It's in our nature. It's in the
natural man's nature. It springs from an evil heart,
a rebellious heart, a godless heart. And every sin, every transgression
we commit separates us from God and brings down a sentence upon
our heads. It brings down the anger and
the wrath and the judgment of God. God's wrath is kindled against
the wicked and it's kindled against transgressions and if you're
not delivered from your transgressions then it will be kindled against
you. For transgressions must be answered, they must be judged. This God of whom David speaks
is a righteous and a holy God and the wicked cannot stand in
his presence. No one with transgressions upon
their hands, with sin upon their hands, can enter into the presence
of a holy God. Then David says, deliver me from
all my transgressions. This is your great need to be
delivered from all your transgressions and the only way you will be
delivered as if God silences you before him, takes away your
every plea. stops you crying out, Lord, Lord,
I've done this and I've done that, as though you can outweigh
your transgressions with some supposed righteousness or good
deeds on the other hand. As though you can do a bargain
with God and say, I know I've done all of this wrong, but I've
done all of this right. And does that not cancel it out?
He won't view your sin in such a way. if there's any transgressions
they must be blotted out which is why God sent his only begotten
son into this world to save sinners because you and I have transgressions
you and I are sinners and those sins must be judged a price must
be paid and the price will be paid either by you in eternal
death to come under the eternal everlasting unending judgment
and wrath of God that price will either be paid then or it will
be paid by another and if the price is to be paid you can't
pay it I can't pay it We can't pay it in this world. We can't
come with our righteousnesses and do a deal with God and try
to appease him by saying I know I've done those wrongs but here's
some rights. Whilst the wrongs are still there
they must be judged. So we stand before him guilty
and we will be judged. We can't do a deal like that. Then if they're to be taken away,
somebody must pay the price. Well, you can't because the price
is eternal wrath. You'd never escape it. You'd
never pay it. You'd never be done paying it.
You could say, all right, I'll start paying the judgment. I'll
start paying the penalty. I'll start paying the price.
I'll start paying back the fine. But eternity would go, and you'd
still be paying it. then somebody else must come
and somebody else must come into the breach and someone else must
say I'll pay their price I'll pay the price I'll take their
transgressions I'll deliver them from their transgressions Somebody
who can. Somebody who's able to. Somebody
who's willing to. Somebody who's great enough that
they can wade into the breach and take an eternal wrath and
swallow it up and take it away. And somebody did. Somebody did for David. The Son
of God. came and stood between David
and the Father, between David and God Almighty. The Son of
God, Christ, came and stood between David and God and when he's silenced
by the Spirit of God, when he's silenced David's tongue, When
he'd taken away every self-justification, every defence, every argument
that David might have brought. When he'd laid David in the dust
and brought him silent before God. And David couldn't answer
and David couldn't say anything. David had no excuse. Then the
Son of God stood between them and said, I will take David's
transgressions. Lay them upon me. pour out the
judgment upon my soul and he went before David and he went
to the cross and he stood before David's accusers and David's
accusers came upon Christ and he took all manner of accusation
and all manner of questions and railed them upon the Saviour,
railed them upon Christ, railed them upon the Son of God and
the Son of God stood before those accusers Silent. He stood as a lamb brought to
the slaughter. Silent. When they sought answers
to their questions, he answered them not a word. When they mocked
and scoffed and said, come on, you've got an answer, he stood
before them silent. Because he went before them in
David's place. and they brought their judgment
and they brought their accusation and they tried to rail against
Christ in David's place and Christ stood silent. I will keep my
mouth with a bridle while the wicked is before me. I was done
with silence. I held my peace even from good. He stood before them silent and
they took him. and they said of him crucify
him away with him and they took this silent lamb of God the silent
innocent lamb of God who stood before his shearers they took
the lamb of God and they beat him and they kicked him and they
spat upon him and they nailed him to a tree and they lifted
him up and crucified him. They slew the silent Lamb of
God in David's stead. And when he was slain, God took
David's transgressions and laid them upon him, as the priest
took the sacrifice of old, took the Lamb and put his hand upon
its head, and the sins of the people were laid upon it. God
took David's transgressions and laid them upon his own son, and
he judged and slew his own son in David's place. Did he take
the Lamb of God? Did he lay his hand upon his
head? And did he take your transgressions
and lay them upon his son? and did the Son of God suffer
and die in your place, silent before his accusers, not answering
back, but delivering you from all your transgressions? Did
he take away your sin? Is he your hope? Did he open your eyes to see
the Lamb of God slain for sinners? Behold the Lamb of God, which
taketh away the sin of the world. Hope in God. What wait I for? What wait you for? Is your hope
in Him? Fifthly, David says, I was dumb,
I opened not my mouth because thou didst it. Remove thy stroke
away from me, I am consumed by the blow of thine hand. When
thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest
his beauty to consume away like a moth. Surely every man is vanity. I was dumb, I opened not my mouth
because thou didst it. He was brought by faith to see
that Lamb of God in His place, suffering for Him. God did it. God does it. Thou didst it. God saves. David knew it. David saw it. David confessed
it. God does it. He brings us by
his spirit to silence. He bridles our tongue. He shows
us how frail we are. He shows us our vanity. He lays
us low in the dust. He slays us and brings us in
dead before his law. He drops us as a dead man before
his son at the cross. and the blood of the Saviour
flows forth and runs forth and covers us and covers all our
sin and in covering us we are brought to life once more I was
dumb I opened not my mouth because thou didst it God brings us to
silence He brings us low before Him and He leads us by faith
to the Saviour He saves He saves and He separates us from this
world and leads us under Him. He takes us who were once so
full of ourselves in this world, once full of our own opinions,
once full of our own thoughts, once with a great flowing mouth,
once billowing forth our own opinions. He takes us and makes
us a stranger. in this world, like his son was
a stranger, like David was a stranger, and he leads us under him. Sixthly,
he makes us a stranger. Hear my prayer, O Lord, David
says, and give ear unto my cry. Hold not thy peace at my tears,
for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner as all my fathers
were I am a stranger with thee and a sojourner as all my fathers
were now there's a wonderful as it were ambiguity in these
words as sometimes there is in the scripture because they can
be read two ways and they're meant to be read two ways David
once was a stranger from God. I am a stranger with thee and
a sojourner as all my fathers were. All his predecessors were
strangers from God. They didn't know him. but there
came a day when God made himself known unto David and unto his
fathers and unto his generation there's a day when God came to
know David and David came to know God and they became one
and David was no longer a stranger from God or a stranger to God
but he became a stranger with God I am a stranger with thee
and a sojourner as all my fathers were. He became one that was
then a stranger to this world, a stranger to others in this
world, a stranger to the wicked, but one that walked with God
and one that sojourned with God as his fathers did. He becomes
one born again of God. A generation, a generation with
fathers and children who are strangers and pilgrims upon this
earth. Known of God, separated unto
God, a stranger with thee. Are you a stranger with God? Or will you remain a stranger
to God? Will you go to your grave a stranger
to God only to know him the other side when his penalty and his
wrath comes down upon your neck and you're cast out into outer
darkness and into a pit of fire that burns forever because of
your iniquity? Or will you this side of the
grave Be led to a place where you're silent. Be led by faith
to a place of execution where a Lamb of God was slain. Be led
to a place where the blood of Christ flows over and covers
you from head to foot. And be seen by this world from
thenceforth as a stranger. a stranger with God, a stranger
with your fathers, a stranger with your brethren, a stranger
with your children, a stranger with the family of God, a stranger
with the bride of Christ, a stranger with the church, a stranger who's
led to a final destination with the Father. Finally, seventhly,
David concludes, oh spare me that I may recover strength before
I go hence and be no more. And be no more. Oh his words
were no more, he'd been silenced. The vaunted pride of man by nature
was no more. The flesh had been slain with
Christ at the cross. but the carcass of David's body
carried on walking through this wilderness as a stranger and
a sojourner in this wilderness a stranger and pilgrim all the
days when he drew breath he was still here though he was born
again and risen again and though the eyes of faith looked up to
a heavenly country unto which he journeyed by faith with all
those of faith But whilst his body was here, he remained here.
and he asked his God to spare him, to spare him as he journeyed
through, to spare him that he might have the strength to get
to the end, to get to his last day upon this earth, to get through
all the opposition, all the hatred, all the persecution, all the
trials, to get to the end with his eyes of faith ever set upon
the Saviour. Spare me that I may recover strength
before I go hence and be no more. Oh to be no more, to be no more
here but to go hence there forever where Christ is. where the Spirit
of God is, where the Father is, in the heavenly mansions prepared
for His people. Oh, to go hence and be no more. What strength is recovered there?
What strength might He recover? What strength is this? That strength
is Christ. He had no strength of His own.
There's no strength in man. There's no strength in self.
All His strength was in Christ and his gospel. All his strength
was in the voice of the Son of God. All his strength was in
the everlasting Word of God. To whom else shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Thou hast the words of eternal
life. Will you go away? Many were offended
at Christ's words and they departed and they left Him and He said
unto the disciples who remained, will you go away also? Well I
say unto you, you who've heard this message, you who've heard
David's psalm, you who've heard the word of God, you who've heard
the gospel, I say unto you, does it offend you? Will you go away
also? Oh may God give you the grace
that he gave Peter, and that he gave David, to say in response,
to whom else shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal
life. I can only go unto Christ. He is my hope. What weight I
fall, my hope is in Him. My hope is in Him. And I pray
that He may spare me, that I may recover strength, strength in
Him, before I go hence and be no more here, but be forevermore. with him, for to me to live is
Christ and to die is gain. For me to live is Christ, and
to die is gain. Are you longing to go hence and
be no more, but to dwell forever with Christ, the Lamb of God,
the Saviour, the Word of the living God? Amen.