143rd Psalm. You'll notice it's a Psalm of
David. And there are only two more Psalms
written by David in the Psalms. And when David writes something,
that just always catches my attention because he is a man after God's
own heart. That is so powerful. God says,
with regard to this man, his heart beats with mine. And that makes me interested
in what he's got to say. Psalm 143, a Psalm of David. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Give ear to my supplications. In thy faithfulness, answer me. Notice, hear, give ear, and answer. And in thy righteousness, and
enter not into judgment with thy servant, from thy sight shall
no man living be justified. For the enemy hath persecuted
my soul, He has smitten my life down to the ground. He had 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. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
word. How we thank you for the blessed
privilege of being able to call upon thy name for thy son's sake.
How we thank you for the gospel of your grace. How we thank you
for the beauty and the excellency of thy son and the salvation
that's in him. How we thank you for the gift
of your spirit to give us a heart to believe, to repent, to love. Lord, how we thank you for the
complete remission of sins through the blood of your son. Lord,
speak to us for Christ's sake. Speak to us from your word and
enable us to worship you. and be with all your people wherever
they meet together. In Christ's name we pray, amen. Now I hope that all of the psalms
are my favorite psalms, but this particular psalm is a psalm that
I've always felt real special toward because of the things
David asks for. There are six things, or the
last six verses, there's some things that he asks for that
every believer asks for. And that is what makes this psalm
so special to me. And I pray that these are things
that you and I will actually be asking for. You know, for
instance, you perhaps read while we were reading along where he
said, quicken me. Do you know only a living man can ask that
question? Quicken me, give me life, and when the Lord is going
to do something for us, he's going to cause us to ask for
it. Can you pray this prayer, quicken me? Well, the only way
you can pray that prayer is if you have life. And if you have
life, you will pray this prayer, quicken me, give me life. Now look at verse one. Hear my prayer, O Lord. Give ear to my supplications,
my entreaty for your favor. In thy faithfulness, answer me
and in thy righteousness. Now, I don't want to simply go
through the motions of getting my devotions over. I almost hate
it when people talk about my devotions. I want to pray. I want him to give me the prayer.
I want him to answer the prayer. And he says, do so in thy faithfulness
and in thy righteousness. And this was such an encouragement
to me to think of his argument for the Lord hearing his prayer.
Hear me in thy faithfulness and in thy righteousness. Now that's
really the same thing John says when he says, If we confess our
sins, he is faithful and just or righteous, the same word,
to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all iniquity. Now, I want him to hear my prayer
because of his faithfulness. His faithfulness to do what he
said he was going to do. You know, when we say if we confess
our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. He's
faithful because he determined for it to be done. And he's faithful
to do whatever he's determined. And I want him to hear me in
the righteousness that he has made for me in the gospel. This
is every believer's heritage. And this is us pouring out our
heart before him, asking for his favor. And our argument is
the gospel, his faithfulness, and his righteousness. And then he says in verse two,
and enter not into judgment with thy servant. For in thy sight shall no man
living be justified. Now, please don't enter into
judgment with me where you would judge me according to my works,
according to my motives. According to my attitudes, I
don't want to have anything to do with God looking at me in
any way other than Christ. Amen? Don't enter into judgment
with me. If you do, it's over for me and
it's over for everybody else. In your sight, no man living
will be justified. So please don't enter into judgment
with me. I think of what he said in Psalm
130, if thou, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who
should stand? Now we're aware. painfully aware
of sin in everything we do, everything we think. And you know this is
really a part of what the Lord's talking about when he says, blessed
are they that mourn. And he actually said in Luke
chapter six, it's now, not the way you used to be. Right now,
this mourning over your personal sin. Now the only way anybody
truly mourns over their sin is if they have a holy nature and
they recognize what sin is. An unbeliever doesn't really
recognize what sin is and he doesn't understand this thing
of mourning over sin. But you think of the Beatitudes,
blessed first of all are the poor, And blessed are they that
mourn. And here he is mourning over
his personal sin. That is what this psalm is about. David, the man after God's own
heart, what a special man he is. And we're given the grace
to see what mourning over sin looks like. And that is what
David is doing. Now look what he says in verse
three. 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. Now is David talking about actual
enemies who hated him, perhaps. I wouldn't say no to that. He
had a lot of enemies. There were a lot of people who
hated him, and he had a lot of trials through people throughout
his life. But I am aware that everybody that
I come into contact with is in the Lord's hands. Enemy, any enemy I have, whatever
they say to me, he told him to say it. He's in control of everything. And in that sense, men just are
not my enemies. They're in the Lord's hand doing
his will. Even Satan is God's devil doing
his will, accomplishing his purposes. What is it that makes me feel
what David felt? And once again, this is mourning
over sin. For the enemy, my sin, hath persecuted
my soul. He has smitten my life down to
the ground. He hath made me to dwell in darkness
as those that have been long dead. He's saying I feel dead
in sins. I feel long dead because of my
enemies. Therefore, my spirit overwhelmed
within me. My heart within me is desolate,
an utter failure. Now, have you ever been where
David speaks? Overwhelmed. Your heart is desolate
and it's because of your sin. Your sin is against God. You
know it is against God. Let me say two things about my
sin. Number one, he put it away. Number two, it's ever before
me. All the time. And if someone
thinks, why are you dwelling on something like that? I'm mourning over my sin at all
times. Now, someone would have an objection
to that. It would be because either you've never been born
again or you're just in some kind of hardened state. This
is the state of David, the man after God's own heart, inspired
by the Holy Spirit to say these things. Now here's the only remedy
for this in verse five. I remember the days of old. The days of eternity is what
he's talking about. I meditate on all thy works. I muse on the work of thy hands. Now this is the only relief. as it were, for someone who's
mourning over their sin. The only thing that can be done
about my sin is not God responding to something I've done, but to
what he has done eternally. I find such comfort in that.
I love the verse of scripture for the children being not yet
born. Neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose
of God according to election might stand not of works. Is that music to your ears? Not
of works. And this is really the only comfort. If God had to wait for something
that I do in time and respond to that, I'm in trouble. But
thank God my salvation was accomplished by what he did in eternity and
came in time to do. And that's what David says, I
meditate on thy works. I love to think of his work of
creation when he created the world. I love to think of his
works of providence, how that he controls everything. The king's heart is in the hand
of the Lord as the rivers of water. He turneth it wither so
ever he will. I love to think that God is in
control of my mind and thoughts right now. And he's in control
of your mind and your thoughts right now. He's completely sovereign
over the free and uncoerced actions of men. Men, you do what we want
to do. But God is in control of that, and that gives me such
comfort. He's in control of everything,
but most especially his work of salvation, where he accomplished
my salvation when he said, it is finished. He says, I remember
the days of old. I meditate on all thy works.
I muse on the work of thy hands." Isn't it a blessing to muse on
the work of his hands? He says in verse six, I stretch
forth my hands unto thee. My soul thirsteth after thee
as a thirsty land. He's saying, I'm a desert. And
I'm stretching forth thy hand to thee, come rain on me. Come
rain on this thirsty desert. Now, he starts to ask the Lord
some specific things. And I love what he says first,
hear me speedily. If you're desiring the Lord,
you're in a hurry. Hear me speedily, don't lead
me to myself, answer me speedily. This is not presumption on his
part, this is faith. Hear me speedily, oh Lord, hear
me right now, don't delay in this. Hear me speedily, oh Lord. And then he repeats again, my
spirit faileth. Now if your spirit's failing,
you want him to hear you speedily. And I'm so thankful the Lord
gives us the Psalms of David, like this psalm of his desire
for the Lord to do these things for him that he can't do for
himself. Hear me speedily, my spirit faileth. Hide not thy
face from me, lest I be like unto them that go down to the
pit. Now, what a powerful statement. He said, if you hide your face
from me, if I don't have your gracious presence, if I don't
have your smiling face, your face of acceptance, your face
of favor, I'm going to be like that person going down into the
pit. He's talking about hell. And he was very well aware of
that. I love this song. How tedious and tasteless the
hours. when Jesus no longer I see. Sweet prospects, sweet birds
and sweet flowers have all lost their sweetness to me. The midsummer
sun shines but dim. The fields strive in vain to
look gay. But when I am happy in him, Decembers
as pleasant as may. Hide not your face from me, that
was his great desire. Hide not your face from me. Verse eight. Now I like this word, cause me
to hear. Do you know I can't hear unless
he enables me to hear? Cause me to hear. If you don't cause me to hear,
if you don't give me ears to hear, I won't hear. And I realize that. And this
is why he's asking the Lord, cause me to hear. Give me grace
to hear the gospel. Give me grace to hear with a
hungering heart, not with a indifferent heart or a dead heart or a critical
heart or a judgmental heart, but a hungering heart. Cause me to hear. Now, if you
know anything about yourself, you'll understand the necessity
of this prayer. Cause me to hear. Cause me. As a matter of fact,
with everything you pray for, you'll say, Lord, cause me to
do this. Cause me to do that. That's what people pray when
they're like David. Cause me to hear. Cause me to
hear thy loving kindness in the morning, speedily, right now, if not tonight
in the morning at any rate. I want to hear quick. Don't delay. And I want to hear of thy loving
kindness. That's the beautiful word hesed. It's the most descriptive word
of God's grace. Cause me to hear your loving
kindness, your tender mercies, your grace. Cause me to hear. I won't accept you. Cause me
to. For I love this in thee do I
trust. Now, I trust him. And I do. He's utterly trustworthy. I trust him. But I love the way
he says, in thee do I trust. All my trust is in him. That's
the only place it's at, is in him. Oh, that I might be found
in him. All my salvation is in him. In him do I trust. My only hope
is that I'd be in him. Found in him, accepted in the
beloved. Here's this word again, cause
me. Cause me to know the way wherein
I should walk. Cause me to know the way wherein
I should walk. Now I know this, the way I should
walk is in the way. He said, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. Lord, cause me to know that and
cause me to walk in that. As you receive Christ Jesus,
the Lord, so walk ye in him. How'd you receive him? Well, you received him. as an
empty-handed sinner needing pure, free grace. Walk in him that way. As you received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk in him. Cause me to know that. Cause
me to know the way wherein I should walk for I lift up my soul unto
thee. Verse nine. Deliver me, O Lord, from mine
enemies. Now he could be, and probably
is speaking of his enemies. Deliver me from my enemies. They're
too strong for me. But as I said, when I read that,
I'm thinking my main enemies are my sins. Do you find that
to be the truth with regard to you? Your main enemies are your
sins. And he says, deliver me from
my enemies, my sins. I flee unto thee to hide me. Hail sovereign love that first
began the scheme to rescue fallen man. Hail matchless, free, eternal
grace that gave my soul a hiding place. And David is saying, I
flee unto thee to hide me. And that's exactly what Paul
meant when he said, oh, that I may win Christ and be found
in him. My hiding place, my safe refuge,
my high tower. I love the proverb, the name
of the Lord is a strong tower. The righteous run into it and
they're safe. The name of the Lord is who he
is. I flee unto thee to hide me. Now look what he says in verse
10. Teach me. to do thy will. Not only to know it, but to do
it. Take my will and make it thine. It shall be no longer mine. Take my heart, it is thy own.
It shall be thy royal throne. Teach me to do thy will. How
powerful, when the Lord teaches us to pray, Thy will be done. Nothing better than that either.
Thy will be done. We really believe from the depths
of our hearts that His will is best. It's that good and perfect
and acceptable will of God. And we say from our hearts, Thy
will be done. Done. Teach me to do thy will. Deliver me from not doing thy
will. Teach me to do thy will. Oh God, thy spirit is good. Amen. God's good all the time. His spirit is good. It's his spirit that teaches
me to look to Christ only. Teach me to do thy will for thou
art my God, thy spirit is good. Now, I love the way he says this,
lead me into the land of uprightness. I want to be led by him, don't
you? I don't want to be on my own. I don't want him only to
take my hand, but to take my heart and lead me into the land
of uprightness. He leadeth me. Oh, blessed thought. I want to be led by him, don't
you? The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and
that represents every believer. Don't you want him to lead you?
I want him to lead my thoughts. I want him, and he is, he's in
front of everything, I want him to lead me along. And this is
something that we're permitted to pray. Lord, lead me. Oh, what a comfort it is if he's
leading me. Lead me. Verse 11. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's
sake, for thy righteousness' sake, bring my soul out of trouble.
Now, I love this prayer, quicken me, give me life. And like I said, the only way
somebody can pray that prayer is if they have life. Give me
life. A dead man dead in sins doesn't
understand sin. He doesn't understand he's dead
in sins. He doesn't understand his need to be quickened. But
oh, a living man, this is his prayer, quicken me. Give me life. And you hath he
quickened who were dead in trespasses and sins. And you know what you're
gonna do if the Lord's gonna quicken you? You're gonna ask
him to quicken you. There's never been anybody quickened that God
didn't cause them to pray, quicken me, give me life from the dead. And look at his argument, quicken
me, oh Lord, for thy name's sake. Now this is the argument of the
gospel. Quicken me for thy namesake not because of anything in me.
I'm not saying quicken me because I'm sincere because I've done
my best or because I'm trying quicken me for thy namesake.
Turn back to Psalm 106. Verse 6. We have sinned. with our fathers. We have committed iniquity. We have done wickedly. Our fathers
understood not thy wonders in Egypt. They remembered not the
multitude of thy mercies, but provoked him at the sea, even
at the Red Sea. Nevertheless, he saved them. Why? for his name's sake. Be kind, tenderhearted, forgiving
one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you. Quicken me for thy name's sake,
for Christ's sake. Oh, what God does for Christ's
sake. And I don't ever want to forget
that. Quicken me for Christ's sake. Quicken me, O Lord, for
thy name's sake, for thy righteousness' sake, bring my soul out of trouble.
Now, notice he didn't say for my righteousness' sake, bring
my soul out of trouble, but for thy righteousness' sake, bring
my soul out of trouble. This is an appeal to the gospel. You see, the gospel of Jesus
Christ makes me righteous before God, and he's righteous in bringing
my soul out of trouble because he's made the way to be just
and justify the ungodly. He doesn't say do it for my righteousness,
but for thy righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble. Verse
12. And if thy mercy cut off mine
enemies, and destroy all them that afflict my soul, for I am
thy servant. Now, once again, the only way
I can understand this, if somebody's giving me a hard time, if somebody's
my enemy, should I say, Lord, send him to hell, destroy him,
get him out of my life? No, you know better than that. But I'll tell you what afflicts
my soul, and I ask him to destroy and put away and exterminate.
is the enemy of my sins. As an act of your mercy, cut
them off. Lord, cut me off from even committing
sin. Deliver me from the commission
of sin. Deliver me from the acts of sin.
My sin or it's ever before me, cut them off. Cut them off. Make them not to be. Make me
to not have to deal with this according to your will. Cut it
off. You know, a believer never excuses
sin. He never says, sin's okay. I mean, I got a sinful nature.
Nothing I can do about it. You never have the, if you're
a believer, now if you're an unbeliever, you might have that
attitude about it, but if you're a believer, you never have that
attitude about it. Your attitude is, of thy mercy
cut off mine enemies and destroy all them that afflict my soul."
And that word afflict means to tie up and bind. And if you ever
felt like your sins have tied you up and bound you, he's asking
to destroy that, break that, put it off, make it not to be.
And I love his ending statement. Four, I'm thy servant. I am. I'm thy servant. And everything
I ask, I ask for you to do for Christ's sake, because you've
made me thy servant. I am my beloved's and he is mine. I'm his responsibility. Lord,
do this for me because I'm your servant. Amen.