Would you turn to Psalm 69. I'm going to read this psalm and this psalm
is quoted in 10 different places in the New Testament. And I think
that gives us some idea of the significance of this psalm. Well,
they're all significant. I probably shouldn't even say
that. This is just as much a psalm
of the cross as Psalm 22 is. Look in verse 21 before I read
it. They gave me also gall for my meat, and in my thirst they
gave me vinegar to drink, which is speaking of the cross. Now
let's read this psalm together. Save me, oh God, for the waters
are coming into my soul. I sink in deep mire where there's
no standing. I'm coming to deep waters where
the floods overflow me. I'm weary of my crying. My throat
is dried, my eyes fail while I wait for my God. They that
hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of mine head.
They that would destroy me, being mine enemies wrongfully are mighty. Then I restored that which I
took not away. O God, thou knowest my foolishness,
and my sins are not hid from thee. Let not them that wait
on thee, O Lord, God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake. Let not
those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel,
because for thy sake I borne reproach. Shame hath covered
my face. I'm become a stranger unto my
brethren and an alien unto my mother's children. For the zeal
of thine house hath eaten me up, and the reproaches of them
that reproach thee are fallen upon me. When I wept and chastened
my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. I made sackcloth
also my garment. I became a proverb to them. They
that sit at the gate speak against me. I was the song of the drunkards.
But as for me, my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable
time. O God, in the multitude of thy
mercy, hear me in the truth of thy salvation. Deliver me out
of the mire, and let me not sink. Let me be delivered from them
that hate me, and out of the deep waters. Let not the water
flood overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let
not the pit shut her mouth upon me. Hear me, O Lord, for thy
lovingkindness is good. Turn unto me according to the
multitude of thy tender mercies, and hide not thy face from thy
servant. for I am in trouble. Hear me speedily. Draw nigh unto
my soul and redeem it. Deliver me because of mine enemies.
Thou hast known my reproach, and my shame, and my dishonor.
Mine adversaries are all before thee. Reproach hath broken my
heart. I'm full of heaviness. I look
for some to take pity, but there was none, and for comforters,
but I found none. They gave me also gall for my
meat, and in my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink. Let their
table become a snare before them, and that which should have been
for their welfare, let it become a trap. Let their eyes be darkened
that they see not, and make their loins continually to shake. Pour
out thine indignation upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take
hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate
and let none dwell in their tents for they persecute him whom thou
has smitten and they talk to the grief of those whom thou
has wounded. Add iniquity under their iniquity
and let them not come into thy righteousness. Let them be blotted
out of the book of the living and not be written with the righteous.
But I am poor and sorrowful Let thy salvation, O God, set me
up on high. I will praise the name of God
with a song and will magnify him with thanksgiving. This also
shall please the Lord better than an ox or a bullock that
hath horns and hoofs. The humble shall see this and
be glad, and your heart shall live that seek God. For the Lord
heareth the poor and despiseth not his prisoners, Let the heaven
and earth praise him, the sea and everything that moveth therein. Four, God will save Zion and
will build the cities of Judah that they may dwell there and
have it in possession. The seed also of his servants
shall inherit it and they that love his name shall dwell therein. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for your
word. We ask in Christ's name that we might be enabled to hear
your voice. Lord, we ask in Christ's name
that every one of us, for Christ's sake, for your grace's sake,
for your mercy's sake, would be enabled to believe your gospel. Lord, we confess our sins, we
pray for forgiveness, we pray for cleansing, and we're so thankful
that you remember our frame and that you know that we're dust.
How we thank you for the mercies that are in your son, how we
thank you for who you are. Be with all your people wherever
they meet together. We pray for our friends that
are sick of our congregation. We pray for your healing hand
upon them according to your will and that you bless it according
to your will. Accept our thanksgiving. Lord,
we're so grateful for your son. In his name we pray. Amen. You probably saw, as I was reading
that psalm, the very many different places where this is quoted in
the New Testament. This is David speaking, obviously
from great sorrow. He was experiencing something
horrible at this time, obviously. But these are also the words
of the Lord from the cross, as we saw from verse 21. And look
what he says in verse one. Save me, O God, for the waters
are coming to my soul. I think he's talking about the
waters from the cup that he drank. The cup of the sins. of the elect. The waters are
come into my soul. I sink in deep mire where there's
no standing. I'm coming to deep waters where
the floods overflow me. Yes, this is David. Yes, this
is the Lord Jesus Christ speaking from the cross. He says, I'm
weary of my crying. My throat is dried Mine eyes
fail while I wait for God. Now he never quit believing God
at this time. But he said, mine eyes fail while I wait for God. They that hate me, verse four,
without a cause. Now we know that those words
are spoken of the Lord Jesus Christ in John 15. He quoted
this. They hated me without a cause. They that hate me without a cause
are more than the hairs of my head. They that would destroy
me being my enemies wrongfully are mighty. Then I restored that
which I took not away. Now this is a reference to when
you steal something in the Bible, you restore it fourfold. He said,
I never stole anything and yet I'm restoring it. Verse Five,
this is one of those just amazing verses. Oh God, thou knowest
my foolishness and my sins are not hid from thee. Now that's
with regard to me first in my own experience. You know my foolishness. And my sins, they're not hid
from you. You see them every one. And there's a consciousness all
the time with us about that. But this is the Lord. My sin
so truly became his sin. My foolishness so truly became
his foolishness that he confesses this as his own. My foolishness,
not the foolishness Todd had that was imputed to me, my foolishness. My sin, not Todd's sin imputed
to me, my sin. That's the great mystery of godliness.
That's the great mystery of how God can be just and justify the
ungodly through what our Redeemer took upon himself. Verse six. Let not them that wait on thee,
O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake. Let not those that
seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel, because
for thy sake I bore reproach, shame hath covered my face. Now, you know what it is to dread
the thought of bringing reproach on the name of Christ because
of your conduct, don't you? That's something I don't want
to bring any reproach on the gospel because of my attitude
or my conduct. And that's a part of being a
sinner, isn't it? You're aware of that and you don't want to
do it. Now, on the cross, the Lord experienced everything just
like that except the commission of sin. That's so amazing. This is Christ speaking. He says,
I don't want to break. Don't let anybody be ashamed
for my sake. He felt the shame and the reproach
of our sins. They became his sin. Once again,
I have to say this all the time. He never sinned. Even when he
was made sin, he never sinned, but he experienced all this shame,
all this dread of reproach. All of that came upon him. He
said, I've borne reproach. Shame hath covered my face. Now
you can only be ashamed for something that... If you do something, I'm not personally ashamed. I
might feel horrible for you, but I'm not ashamed. The only
thing I'm ashamed of is that which I have done. And the Lord
says, shame has covered my face. I've become a stranger unto my
brethren. and an alien unto my mother's
children. He was all alone on the cross.
For the zeal, verse nine, for the zeal of thine house hath
eaten me up. Now, that's quoted in John chapter
two with regard to the Lord Jesus Christ when he made that whip
to drive the people out of the temple. The zeal of thine house
hath eaten me up. And you know what? I want the
zeal of his house to eat me up too, don't you? I want to be
zealous for his glory. Well, the Lord was. The reproaches of them that reproach
thee are fallen upon me. When I wept and chastened my
soul with fasting, that was to my reproach. I made sackcloth
also my garment and I became a proverb to them. They made
fun of me. They that sit in the gate, the
leaders, speak against me. And the people on the other end
of the Spectrum. The drunkards, I was the song
of the drunkards. They all made fun of me. The
uppity ups and the lowity lows. I was hated by everybody. But
as for me, my prayer, verse 13, is unto thee. Do you know the
Lord never quit trusting his Father? At any time, even while
he felt all of these things, he never quit trusting his father. Don't you want to be that way? Always trust, no matter what
takes place. Always trust. But as for me,
my prayer is unto thee, O Lord, in an acceptable time. O God,
in the multitude of thy mercy, hear me in the truth of thy salvation. I love that phrase, the truth
of thy salvation. If there's anything that tells
us the truth concerning the character of God, it's his salvation. Every
attribute of God is magnified in his salvation. Verse 14, deliver
me out of the mire. What he was talking about in
verses one and two, deliver me out of the mire and let me not
sink. Let me delivered from them that
hate me. and out of the deep waters. Let not the water flood
overflow me, neither let the deep swallow me up, and let not
the pit shut her mouth on me. Now you can see David says this
as far as him feeling forsaken, but these are preeminently the
words of the Lord from the cross, feeling the wrath of God coming
down and overflowing him. Verse 16, hear me, O Lord, for
thy lovingkindness is good. Turn unto me according to the
multitude of thy tender mercies. Now you remember God had forsaken
him. He said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Why
are you so far from helping me? And the words of my roaring,
and even when he was forsaken, oh, how he thirsted after his
father and said, turn to me. He had nothing but silence, but
he still cried, turn to me, turn to me. according to the multitude
of thy tender mercies, and hide not thy face from thy servant.
His face, God's face was hidden. Now you, in some measure, there's
times when you have felt that God's face was hidden from you.
That he was withdrawing himself from you. But he wasn't. He wasn't. Christ had the full, hiding of
God's face to where he felt no light at all, no favor from his
father. And he cries out, hide not thy
face from thy servant, for I'm in trouble. Hear me speedily,
draw nigh unto my soul and redeem it, and deliver me because of
mine enemies. Thou hast known my reproach,
and my shame and my dishonor. Now, look at yourself in light
of that. My reproach, my shame, my dishonor. And we brought all of that on
ourself. My sin is all my fault. I can't
blame my circumstances. I'm no victim. Everything is
my fault. And that's what the Lord is saying
about himself. That's how truly he took my sin
and my sorrow and made it his very own. He bore the burden
to Calvary and suffered and died alone. Reproach, verse 20, hath
broken my heart. And I am full of heaviness. I look for some to take pity,
but there was none, and for comforters, but I found none. You know, on
the cross, he was alone. He didn't have the presence of
angels at this time like he had in Gethsemane. He didn't have
any sense of his father except being forsaken. All of his people
had forsaken him and fled. He was alone. Truly, he by himself
Purged our sins. He had no help on any level from
anybody. He sought for some to help there
was none For comforters, but I found none verse 21 and you
know, this is from the cross. They gave me also gall for my
meat and in my thirst They gave me vinegar to drink in cruelty,
wanting to make fun of him. And this was said of the cross.
And like I said, this was preeminently just as much as Psalm 22 is.
This is a Psalm of the cross. I repeat everything here David
experienced as far as what he felt. And I can't help but also
think of Ephesians 5 31 when Paul is giving the instructions
regarding marriage. But he says there at the end
of the chapter, I speak concerning Christ in the church. Yes, there's
glorious stuff about marriage here, but that's not what I'm
talking about. I'm talking about Christ in the church. And I think
that can be very well said of Psalm 69. Now in verse 22, he
begins, uh, a part of what is known as an
imprecatory prayer. And that means a prayer where
he's cursing people. And when David cursed people,
he cursed them. And this is an example. And you
say, well, how would the Lord pray something like this? You
know, we don't have, because of our flesh, our sinfulness,
We don't have the perspective we will one of these days. I couldn't rejoice right now
seeing anybody sent to hell. I don't wanna see anybody go
to hell. I can't rejoice in anybody, so I want the Lord to show mercy. But, you say, why but? But I can't see things as they
really should be seen. And when I have a glorified spirit. When God sends somebody to hell,
I'll be righteous judgment. Now, I can't understand that
now. I just can't. But I know one
of these days I will, and we're going to see things from the
Lord's perspective, and we're going to see sin as it is. And at this time, Christ is praying
against his enemies. Now, remember when he said in
John 17, nine, I pray for them? I pray not for the world, but
for them which you have given me." That's clear enough, isn't
it? If God be for us, who can be
against us? And it's also true, if God be
against us, who can be for us? Now, this is the Lord's what
they call imprecatory prayer. But listen to what he says. This is actually quoted in Romans
chapter 11. Let their table, that which should
have been for their benefit, become a snare before them. And that which should have been
for their welfare, let it be a trap that they're entrapped
in. Let their eyes be darkened that
they see not, and make their loins continually to shake in
terror, is what he's speaking of. Pour out thine indignation
upon them, and let thy wrathful anger take hold of them. Let their habitation be desolate. and let none dwell in their tents,
for they persecute him whom thou hast smitten. Now the Lord speaking
of himself, remember that scripture, awake, O sword, smite the shepherd,
and the sheep will be scattered. It was the Lord who smote him.
And those people who find no interest in what he's doing,
who just make fun of him, who hate what he's doing, who hate
him. And that's what the natural man is. He's someone who hates
the Lord Jesus Christ and hates his salvation. This is how he
prays against those people and just and right as he. Somebody
says that's wrong for him to pray that way. Well, you take
that up with him. Whatever he does is right. Whatever he does
is altogether, holy, righteous, and true. And here we have him
praying against those people who are against him and find
no, no joy in this message of the cross. Find no peace in this
message of the cross. He prays against them. He goes
on to say in verse 27, add iniquity unto their iniquity. and let
them not come into thy righteousness. Now he knows at this time the
only way somebody's gonna be saved if they come into God's
righteousness, Christ's righteousness. He says, let not this be with
regard to them. Let them be blotted out of the
book of the living and not be written with the righteous. Don't
let them be in that group. Now, this is the Lord praying
against those who do not believe the gospel. Now, the Lord said to Peter, you're
going to deny me three times, but I pray for you. Can you, if the Lord Jesus Christ
prays for you, is anything else needed? If he prays for you, what a blessed
thing to think of the Lord praying for me when he said, Father,
forgive them. He was talking about me. This was not a generic prayer.
Father, forgive me. The Lord never prayed, Father,
forgive anyone who the Father didn't forgive. When he prayed,
he prayed for these people. What grace, what mercy, what
kindness. And these people, he also prayed
against. Now, if you look at that in any
other light, I don't, you know, if David was just praying that
at a, I want these people to be damned. No, this is not even
David at this time. And it wouldn't be right for
any of us. We can't enter into that. But this is the Lord praying. Now, look what he says in verse
29. but I am poor and sorrowful. Let thy salvation, O God, set
me on high. And his salvation did set him
on high at the right hand of God, seated in absolute majestic
splendor and all of his people in him. Now he says in verse
30, I will praise the name of God with a song. Now, this is
him. This is David. This is David.
And you know, there's not a time when we have, I don't care what's
going on, when we shouldn't be praising God with a song. Whatever's happening, he's doing
it. He's in control of it. It's best. It's done by him who's
too wise to err. and too kind to be cruel. Everything
he does is glorious, and we have every reason to praise him with
a song. David does this, but this is
the Lord, even when he was forsaken, perfectly believing his Father. Now this is why we're saved by
the faith of Christ. Here's faith. You and I don't
really know anything about this. He believed God, he praised God
even when he was completely cut off. He never quit believing. Let something happen bad to me
and you, what do we do? He didn't. He never quit believing
his father. I will magnify him with thanksgiving. In everything give thanks. Now
this is for us. In everything give thanks. For
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you, whatever
it is. It's God's will concerning you. Thank him for it. But this
is the Lord giving thanks to his Father, even when he was
in utter and complete darkness, because he never quit believing
God. Now somebody, somebody had to believe God perfectly. He
did. Truly, we're saved by his faith,
the faith of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now this also, verse 31, this
also shall please the Lord better than an ox or a bullock that
hath horns and hoofs. God doesn't give any satisfaction
in the death of an animal. It's what that points to. It
all points to this, what the Lord is experiencing on Calvary's
tree. The humble shall see this. Here's
the only ones who see. The humble, the lowly, the meek,
the poor. The humble shall see this and
be glad. And your heart shall live that
seek God. For the Lord heareth the poor. Those who have nothing to commend
them to God. The Lord heareth. the poor, and
despiseth not his prisoners." Now, don't miss that. You're
the only person in the world that understands what it is to
be imprisoned by sin is a believer. An unbeliever has no concept
of this. They think somehow, if the circumstances
are right, somehow I can make it better. They have no concept
of being in jail and unable to get out. Paul put it this way
in Romans 7, 14, for we know that the law is spiritual. Only
a believer knows this. An unbeliever is a stranger to
this. We know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold
under sin. Now, I make no apology for that
language. Why should I? This is the experience
of the believer. Really, this is the experience
of a healthy, mature believer. He helps the prisoners. That's
who he hears, the prisoners. Verse 34. Let the heaven and earth praise
him, the seas and everything that moveth therein, because
the Lord hears the poor and despises not his prisoners. For God will
save Zion. Zion's the church. This is who
he saves. He saves Zion. Husbands, love
your wives as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for
it. Zion. For God will save Zion. and will build the cities of
Judah that they may dwell therein and have it in possession." That
this will be their possession. It'll belong to them. What I
thought about is Revelation 19, 8 when it talks about the fine
linen, clean and white. This is the righteousness of
the saints. It's theirs. It's their possession. You see
the righteousness of Jesus Christ is my possession. It's my personal
righteousness. And this is what he's speaking
of here. Verse 36, the seed, all of God's elect, the seed
also of his servants shall inherit it. It should be given them and
they that love his name shall dwell therein in Zion. And this
would describe every believer. We love his name. We love his
attributes. We love his sovereignty. We love
his holiness. We love his justice. We love
his omnipotence. We love his wisdom. We love who
he is. We love his name. And we will dwell in Zion. Glorious things of thee are spoken. Zion, city of our God. the citizen, the city of every
heavenly citizen. Amen.