Psalm 5, the fifth psalm. Give ear to my words, O Lord,
Consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my
cry, my King and my God, for unto thee will I pray. My voice
shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning will I
direct my prayer unto thee and will look up. For thou art 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, 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. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness,
because of mine enemies. Make thy way straight before
my face, 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.
Destroy thou them, O God. Let them fall by their own counsels. Cast them out in the multitude
of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee.
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. For Thou, Lord, will bless the
righteous. With favor will Thou compass
him as with a shield. Let's pray. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name, and Lord, how glorious you are in your person. How glorious are your attributes.
Lord, there's none like thee. We ask that our prayer might
be heard through thy son, that you would grant us your presence,
your blessing. and that we might be enabled
to worship thee. For Christ's sake, forgive us
of our sins. May we hear the joyful sound
this day. Be with our friends that are
going through trials and troubles we know nothing about. Those
that are sick, we pray for your blessing upon them. Lord, wherever
your gospel's preached, meet with your people for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray, amen. Now these are the words of Him
who knows the Father completely, who knows the Father intimately. These are His words, and He knows
the perfections of His being. Now when we think of the Lord,
We only know him from his word, but all of his attributes are
perfect. All of his attributes are holy. Now you think of his sovereignty. You think of his justice. You
think of his holiness. You think of his power. All of
his attributes are altogether glorious, and there's nothing
with regard to him that's not glorious. Even when we read of
his hatred and his wrath in this passage of Scripture, that is
not a blemish on his perfection in any way. This is who he is,
and he would not be who he is without every one of his attributes. These are, first of all, the
words of the Lord Jesus Christ. I don't know how I can handle
a longer psalm like this in a half an hour. But I always like to
look at it first as the words of Christ and then the words
of David. And when we get to Psalm 119, I don't know how that
can be done in 30 minutes, it's not gonna happen. But let's look
at these as they are. First, the words of the Lord
Jesus Christ speaking to his father. He says, give ear to
my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Now that word meditation
is actually groaning. Sighing. You know what a sigh
is, don't you? It's a feeling of heaviness. And he says to his father, consider
my sighing. Consider my groaning. And what
I was thinking about when I thought about the Lord Jesus Christ sighing
and groaning, can you imagine what it must have been like for
him to be around a bunch like me and you all the time? That's really what that is. And
being around unbelievers, he was being around people who he
knew had no esteem for his father, no love for his father. They
were fine without him. They just assumed him not even
being in existence. And being in that company, he'd
sigh. He's called a man of sorrows
and acquainted with grief. And I know that's mostly with
regard to the fact that he was going to be made sin and what
he was going to suffer. Hear my sighing. He says in verse
two, hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for
unto thee will I pray. Now, the way he says this, I
mean, I hope I pray. I ask the Lord to give me grace
to pray. But even on down when he says,
I will worship thee. Well, I wanna worship him. I
hope I'll be enabled to, but only the Lord can speak with
such confidence. I will pray. I will worship toward
thy holy hill. Oh, the I wills of Christ. I
think of when he said, Father, I will, that they whom you've
given me be with me. Me and you can't pray that way,
can we? We can't say, Father, I will that you do this, but
he can, he's equal to the Father. And here he is praying to his
father, the one he knew so well, so intimately. He says, 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, can't you
see that's the words of the Lord. I don't know, I mean, I want
that, but these are the words of the Lord to his father, talking
about his direct prayer toward his father. Now let's keep on
reading. Verse four. Four. Thou art not a God that hath
pleasure in wickedness. Neither shall evil dwell with
thee." Now, this is who he is. He has no pleasure in wickedness. Evil's not going to dwell with
him. He's of two pure eyes to behold iniquity. This is who
he is. God is holy. Look what he says in verse five.
This is the Lord speaking to his father. And he says, the
foolish shall not stand in thy sight. They're not going to be
accepted. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Now that's the Lord speaking
to his father. And he says to his father, he
knew his father, and he's not apologizing for this, is he?
This is not a blot against the Lord's character. This is part
of his holiness. Thou hatest. All workers of iniquity. Now
somebody says, well, I thought God loves everybody. You're not
gonna get that in the Bible. That's human religion, but you're
not gonna get that from the Bible. Somebody says, well, I thought
God loved the sinner, but hated his sin. Show me where that is
in the Bible. Give me the book, the chapter
and the verse, the fact of the matter is you can't. Thou hatest
all workers of iniquity. You see, God's holy. And his
hatred is a holy hatred. It's not like our hatred. Somebody
does me wrong, somebody makes me look bad, I'm gonna get mad
at them, maybe even feel hatred. That's not God's hatred. It's
not a vindicative, childish hatred the way ours is. His hatred is
a holy hatred. That is who he is. Thou hatest Oh, that's a big
demographic, isn't it? He loves his elect. He loves
those in Christ. He's always loved them. But thou
hatest. This is what Christ says to his
father, and he's not apologizing for it. Let me repeat, this is
not a blemish on his character. Thou, the glorious, holy, righteous,
altogether lovely, sovereign, powerful God, hatest. all workers of iniquity. This is his justice. This is
his wrath. And when it's talking about his
hatred, it's not an arbitrary hatred. It's not a capricious
hatred. It's not a mean-spirited, vindicative hatred. It's who
he is. He's holy. He can't have pleasure
in iniquity. He can't, he can't, this is who
he is. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Verse six, thou shalt destroy
them that speak leasing, lies, particularly I think he's talking
about religious lies, any kind of lies, but thou shalt destroy
them that speak leasing, the Lord, The Lord will abhor. Now that's strong language, isn't
it? The Lord will be detested by, the Lord will abhor the bloody
and the deceitful man. Now that's God's view of everyone
that's outside of Christ. He will abhor, be detested by
the bloody and deceitful man. Look in Psalm 11 for just a moment.
You know, this is so unlike the God that's preached in the average
pulpit, isn't it? Just never even touched upon
God's holiness, his hatred of those outside of Christ. That's
just, well, God loves everybody. If God loves everybody and everybody's
not saved, there's not much to his love. If he can love you
and you wind up in hell and he's unable to save you, there's just
not much to any kind of love like that. That's just some kind
of sentiment that doesn't do anybody any good at all. Everybody
he loves, he saves. There isn't gonna be anybody
in hell that he loves. Now look what Psalm 11 says,
beginning in verse four. The Lord is in his holy temple,
The Lord's throne is in heaven, his eyes behold, his eyelids
try the children of men. The Lord trieth the righteous,
but the wicked and him that loveth violence, what's it say? His soul hateth. Now that's said of God. That's what the Lord said of
his father. The wicked and him that loveth violence, his soul
hateth. Upon the wicked he shall rain
snares, fire and brimstone, and a horrible tempest. This shall
be the portion of their cup." Now, let me back up. God loves
the sinner, but he hates his sin. God doesn't put sins into hell.
He puts the people who committed them into hell. You can't separate
the sinner and his sin. For the righteous Lord upon the
wicked he shall rain snares, fire and brimstone, a horrible
tempest. This shall be the portion of
their cup. For the righteous Lord loveth righteousness. That's why he does what he does.
The righteous Lord loveth righteousness. His countenance doth behold the
upright. And back to our text in Psalm
five, verse seven. But as for me, now
he's been talking about the wicked, and that's why he's sighing.
Consider my sigh, consider my meditation, consider my groaning.
He says that to his father. But now he says in verse seven,
but as for me, I will come into thy house. Now, like I said,
this is the Lord speaking. As for me, I will come into thy
house. In the multitude of thy mercy,
thy goodness. Look at the confidence he speaks
with. I will come into thy house. In the multitude of thy mercy,
thy goodness, thy faithfulness, in thy fear. And oh, how he feared
his father. how he had a reverential awe
of his father. He was equal to him, yet he feared
him in, he was heard, the scripture says he was heard and that he
feared, doesn't it? Hebrews 5.9, he was heard in that he feared. Oh, the fear, the awe he had,
the reverential awe he had of his father. He said, But as for
me, I'll come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy,
and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple. He says, lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness. Because
of my enemies, make thy way straight before my face. Lead me in thy
righteousness. Now he had the righteousness
of God, yet he lived in complete dependence upon his righteousness.
Once again, we see something of the faith of the Lord Jesus
Christ right here. Lead me in thy righteousness. Because of my enemies, and he
had enemies. Everybody who didn't know his
father hated him. Make thy way straight before
my face. Four, verse nine. Look at this
description. And tell me if this is not a
very accurate description of the average preacher. Look at
this. For there is no faithfulness
in their mouth. None at all. Their inward part
is very wickedness. Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue. Now, I would say that that is
as good a description of a false preacher as we have. The Lord says, destroy them,
verse 10. Destroy them, O God. Let them
fall by their own counsels. Now, he's asking for the destruction
of the wicked. Would the Lord pray against somebody? Sure he would. Sure he would. He prays for His people. When
He said, Father, forgive them, do you know everybody He prayed
for was forgiven? Every single one of them. That's not a generic
prayer. Everybody He prayed for was forgiven. Father, forgive
them. The Father forgave them. He never
has the prayers of His Son unanswered. And everybody outside of Him,
He says, destroy them, O God. Let them fall by their own counsels."
Now, notice that, let them fall by their own counsels. Ain't nobody a victim. Our sin is our fault. We're not
victims of the sovereignty of God. Now, I realize, I don't
want to, there are people that have gone through horrible things,
abuse, that have been victimized by people, I realize that. I
mean, I think of the things some people have gone through, but
as far as our sin goes, there's nobody that's a victim. Our sin
comes from our own counsels. It is all our fault. My sin, I can't blame somebody
else. I can't blame what God didn't
keep me from it. No, the Lord, when he's talking
about these people, he says, destroy them, O God, let them
fall by their own counsels. Cast them out in the multitude
of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against thee. You see, the Lord was jealous
of his father's honor. And he says, regarding these
people, they've rebelled against thee. That's where the problem
is. But, verse 11, but, Let all those that put their trust in
thee rejoice. Now, where's your trust? I can say this with such conviction,
it's in him. It's not in me. It's not in my
understanding. It's not in my preaching. It's
not in my prayers. It's not in my efforts to strive
against sin. My hope, my trust is in Him. All God requires of me is in
the Lord Jesus Christ. You believe that? That's what
it is to believe in Him and to put your trust in Him. Let all those that put their
trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy.
because thou defendest them. You see, if God be for us, who
can be against us? Thou defendest them. If I'm somebody that trusts in
him, I've got the God of glory defending me. His hand is upon
me for good. Let them also that love thy name
Now what is his name? It's not just knowing his name
is Jehovah. It's not just knowing the name
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's knowing who the name and
what the name represents. Everybody here that has a name,
I don't just think of the vowels and consonants that make up your
name and see the spelling. I think of the person behind
that name that I know, what they're like. Now, every believer knows
his name. That means they know who he is. He's holy, he's just, he's merciful,
he's gracious, he's omnipotent, he's omnipresent. Can't go anywhere
where he's not. He's omniscient, he's all wise,
he's independent, he has no needs. We know and love his name. Let those that love thy name. Let me ask you a question. Let's
just talk about God's sovereignty. Do you love the fact that he's
sovereign? Do you love this? I'm not saying
do you believe the scripture teaches, I'm saying do you love
his sovereignty? That he is in control of everybody
and everything and every event and every thought. He's the cause.
Let them that love thy name. Be joyful in thee for thou Lord
verse 12 for thou Lord will bless the righteous now, that's What
the Lord calls every one of his people and this shows us something
of the reality of Justification when he's talking about me. He
says the righteous I That describes every single believer. And that's the Lord's description
of every single believer. The righteous. The righteous. Every believer is righteous in
Christ. My sin has been put away. I stand
righteous in Christ, thou will bless the righteous with favor,
will thou compass him as with a shield, you'll take all of
his blows. Now that is the prayer of the
Lord and his words, but these are also just as much the words
of David. And David, one of the things
that I love about David and really about every other believer, David
thinks like the Lord thinks. We have the mind of Christ, Paul
said. He didn't say it's as if we have the mind of Christ. He
said we have the mind of Christ and we think the way the Lord
thinks because we have a new nature, a new heart that doesn't
sit in judgment of God and say God's wrong for being this way
or God's wrong for doing that. No, whatever the Lord does is
right. We believe that. And it's right
because he does it. That's the only reason that's
needed. Now let's read this Psalm as David. He says, give ear to
my words, O Lord. Consider my meditation, my sighing,
my groaning. My sin, my sin is ever before
me. That's what he's talking about
when he's talking about his groaning. My sin. is ever before me. Hearken unto the voice of my
cry, my King and my God. Hear me, for unto thee will I
pray. My voice thou shalt hear in the
morning, and I know why he shall hear it, because of the intercession
of Christ. I don't say that on my own. I
know why the Lord hears my prayers, it's because Christ presents
them before the Father. And he shall hear the prayer
of every single one of his people, he hears. My voice shalt thou
hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct
my prayer unto thee, and will look up. For thou art not a God,
see, David knows the Lord, for thou art 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 lies. The Lord will abhor the bloody
and deceitful man, but as for me, I will come into thy house in
the multitude of thy mercy, not on the footing of my works. As
for me, I'm gonna come into your house in the multitude of your
mercy. And in thy fear, thy reverential
awe, that fear that makes me look nowhere but Christ. Now
understand, this is what the fear of God is. You know, it
aggravates me immensely when people talk about how people
used to walk in the fear of God. There's no fear of God anymore.
Never was any. Never was any within the unbelieving
world. Now, there's been times where
morals have been worse, where morals have been better. There's
been times when ethics have been worse. Ethics have been, you
know, I don't even like the language of that. You know, the Bible
never uses the word moral. or ethics, doesn't use language
like that. But I know this, the fear of God is afraid to
look anywhere, but Christ is everything in your salvation.
That's what the fear of God is. He says, in thy fear, in thy
fear, will I worship toward thy holy temple. The Lord Jesus Christ
is his holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness. His righteousness is the only
righteousness there is. And I simply want to be led in
his righteousness, his merit, his law-keeping, his perfection
before the Father. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness
because of my enemies, my sins. I need his righteousness because
of my sins. Make thy way straight before
my face, the way of Christ, the way of grace, for there's no
faithfulness in their mouth. The religion of man, there's
no faithfulness in their mouth. Their inward part is very wickedness.
Their throat is an open grave. They flatter with their tongue.
They say all kinds of good things, but they're not true. Destroy
thou them, O God. Let them fall by their own counsels.
Now he's... How can a man pray that way? Well, the Lord did, but did not
David say, do not I hate them, O Lord, which hate thee? Did
he say that? I count them my enemies. Now,
with regard to every man, I want to be kind to every man. I want
to be gracious to every man. I want to have a merciful attitude.
Somebody that despises the gospel is my enemy. Somebody who's an
enemy of God is my enemy. And that's what he's saying.
Somebody says, well, that's harsh. No, it's not. It's somebody who
loves the Lord. This is not somebody who's vindicative,
who's out to hurt people, and who's out to try to make enemies.
No, this is somebody who loves the Lord. And this is why he
says this. He says, destroy them, O God. Let them fall by their
own counsels. Cast them out in the multitude
of their transgressions. Here's why. For they have rebelled
against thee. That's why. But, let all those that put their
trust in thee rejoice. Glory in the cross. Let them
be happy. Let them glory in the glories
of what you've accomplished for them. Let them ever shout for
joy. You know, there is reason for
continual joy in a believer. I know there's a lot of sorrows,
but there's reason for continual joy. Let them shout for joy because
thou defendest them. Let them also that love thy name
be joyful in thee for thou Lord will bless. righteous. Now there's, I just love the
fact that every believer is called the righteous. The righteous. I'm looking at the righteous.
Isn't that an awesome thing to think? And that's every believer
in Christ Jesus. Thou wilt bless the righteous
with favor, wilt thou compass him, surround him as with a shield. What a glorious savior every
believer has. Amen.