I thought the passage of scripture
that Brother Bob read serves as a perfect introduction to
the message I want to bring. In verses 13 and verse 14, the
Lord Jesus says to his people, And whatsoever you shall ask
in my name, that will I do. that the Father may be glorified
in the Son. If you shall ask anything in
my name, I'll do it. Now, I'm going to give you, from
the word of God, ten things to ask for. And if you ask for these things,
He will give them to you. Turn back to Psalm 119. Now,
the Lord promises whatsoever we ask
in his name, he'll give it to us. Now, in verse 42 of Psalm 119,
David says, So shall I have wherewith to answer him that
reproacheth me, for I trust in thy word. I have entitled this
message, An Answer to My Reproacher. An Answer to My Reproacher. Now, the word reproach in verse
42 means to expose or to defame. Now, I want to have an answer,
a biblical answer. A well-grounded answer to the
one who wants to expose me, to the one who wants to defame me,
to the one who wants to condemn me. Now, who is this person who
wants to reproach me? Somebody says, could it be the
devil? Yes, it could. Perhaps an enemy? Yes. An accusing conscience? Yes,
that could be it. The law? Yeah, that could be
it too. All of those answers could be
people who reproach us or seek to expose us. Look in verse 39. of Psalm 119. David says, turn
away my reproach, which I fear. Hear the word reproach means
shame or disgrace. And like David, I fear that.
I fear being a disgrace, don't you? I fear bringing disgrace
upon the name of the Lord by my conduct, by my sin, by my
attitude by my faithlessness. I fear that. I fear shame. David
said he did. He said, turn away my reproach,
my shame that I fear so greatly. So I cried, turn away my reproach,
which I fear. And in this passage of scripture,
the psalmist speaks of ten things that must be done for him so
that he can answer that one who reproaches him. who's seeking
to expose him, and these are ten things that you and I are
to ask for. Now if we ask for them, I don't
mean bargain, I mean ask for them. As a needy sinner, we'll
have them. And I want you to notice this
too, all ten of these things are necessary to answer this
reproacher. If you have one, you have ten. Nine's not enough.
Eight's not enough. One's not enough. You have all
ten of these things, these things that you're going to ask for
to keep that one who wants to bring reproach on you from exposing
you. And I don't want to be exposed
in that sense to you. I do not want to be exposed. I pray that David's prayer will
be our prayer tonight, and I want us to remember what our Lord
promised whatsoever you ask in my name. I'll do it. May God
give us the grace to ask for these things. Now, let's back
up to verse 33. Teach me. Oh, Lord, the way of
thy statutes, and I shall keep it unto the end. Now, here's
the first thing I'm asking for, and here's my first need. I need
the Lord to be my teacher. It won't do me any good at all
if I simply hear from a man, if I'm taught by a man. I need
the Lord himself to be my teacher. You see, anything that's just
taught by a man, it's not going to do you any good. There's no
saving benefit in it. If my voice is the only voice
you hear, it'll do you no good at all. I need Him to teach me. Deliver me from being my own
teacher. Let me not merely hear from a
man. Lord, be my teacher. Lord, teach me. Don't you want
to be taught by the Lord? I want him to be my teacher. I've heard people say, the Lord's
trying to teach me something. No, he's not. No, he's not. The Lord doesn't try to do anything.
If he teaches you, you're taught. I want him to teach me. Don't you want the Lord to be
your teacher? So here's the first request I'm making to the Lord.
Lord, teach me. Teach me your gospel. Teach me
your truth. Now look what he says next in
verse 34. He says, give me understanding. And I shall keep thy law, yea,
I shall observe it with my whole heart. Give me understanding
so that I understand what you teach me. It's not enough to
just simply be taught. I need to be given spiritual
understanding concerning what the Lord has taught me. Now,
if you remember last week or whenever it was, last Wednesday
night, I wasn't here last Wednesday night, The one before that talked
about the parable of the sower. Now, do you remember that good
ground here? The scripture says he is described as one with an
honest and good heart, that new heart given in the new birth.
But Matthew tells us that when he hears the word, he understands. Now, this is what I need. I need
to understand. Now, here's the key to understanding
anything. In the Bible, the only way I
can truly understand is if God teaches me, and here's what he
teaches me if he teaches me. Here's really the first thing
he teaches me. If I'm taught of God, I've learned
that I am a sinner. I learned that. I learned that
I am a needy sinner. You can't really understand any
aspect of the gospel apart from some understanding of you being
a sinner. Some understanding of Fact, and I mean the fact,
that you yourself are totally depraved. And I've said this
many times before. It's one thing to believe in the doctrine of
total depravity, and it's quite another thing for you to believe
that you personally are totally depraved. Now, when you believe
that about yourself, that you're nothing but sin in and of yourself,
all of a sudden you can understand the gospel with some spiritual
understanding. You understand the necessity of sovereign grace. When you're here as a sinner,
you know you must have the Father elect you and choose you or you
won't choose Him. You know that. You've been taught of God. You
understand the necessity of Christ dying for you and actually putting
away your sin. You see, no, you find no hope in the fact that
he could die for you and you end up in hell anyway, because
you'd know you'd end up in hell if that's the case. You see the
necessity of an effectual redemption. You understand the necessity
of irresistible and invincible grace. You understand when God
teaches you, when you understand that you're a sinner, you understand
the gospel. He said, now, give me understanding
and I shall keep thy law. Yea, I shall observe it with
my whole heart." How's that? How is it that if
I have understanding, I'll keep his law and I'll observe it with
the whole heart? How's that? Well, if I've got
understanding, I understand that if Jesus Christ the Lord kept
the law, I did too. I understand that. I understand
that he is my righteousness before God. And this is what spiritual
understanding is. I keep the law. I don't try to
keep it. I keep it. I've kept it because
my Lord kept it. I did too. And the only way you
can believe that is if God gives you some spiritual understanding.
And you know, you know, in and of yourself, you haven't kept
it. But, you know, he did. And, you know, his righteousness
is your righteousness. Now, that's understanding. Do
you have that understanding? That's the understanding I need.
So I can. That's the only way I can answer
that one who approaches me. I've kept the law. I've kept
the law in the Lord Jesus Christ. And give me understanding. Look in verse 35. Here's the third thing that he
requests. He says, make me to go in the path of thy commandments. For therein do I delight, make
me to go in the path of thy commandments. And this is what is called irresistible
grace. Make me, cause me to go in the
path of thy commandments. Somebody says, you mean you want
God to violate your will and make you to go in the path of
His commandments? Yes, sir. Absolutely, that's
what I want. I want Him to make me, to cause
me irresistibly and invincibly to go in the path of His commandments. I love that verse in Psalm 65
with the psalmist that says, Blessed is the man whom thou
choosest and causest. to approach unto thee, that he
may dwell in thy courts." That's exactly what I want. I want his
grace to irresistibly and invincibly reign in me. Thy people shall
be willing in the day of thy power. Oh, may the day of your
power be in me that causes me to be willing. I want to be made
willing, don't you? You know, I see in my heart an
unwillingness that is the natural So, Lord, make me willing, make
me, cause me to go in the way of thy commandments. Make me
to find you irresistible. You know, that's what irresistible
grace is. Irresistible grace is not you're trying to resist
and you're trying to resist and he's dragging you along by the
hair. Oh, that's true of the sins. That's true of the sins.
There's no doubt about it. But here's what irresistible
grace is. You find the Lord Jesus Christ irresistible. You find His grace irresistible. Now, that is being made to go
in the way of His commandments. Now, let's go back to this thing
of understanding. If you understand that you're a sinner, and what
the Bible means by that, this is the cry of your heart, Lord,
make me, cause me to go in the way of Thy commandments. But
therein do I delight. And then he says in verse 36. Incline. My heart. Unto thy testimonies. And not
to covetousness. David asked the Lord to change
the inclination of his heart. Cause my heart to be inclined
in this direction. You know, the inclinations of
the heart and the answer of the tongue are from the Lord. That's
what the scripture says. Do you want the Lord to incline
your heart in the right way? Incline my heart to the way of
thy testimonies, to thy word, and not to covetousness. You
see, he could see in his heart a natural inclination toward
The root sin. The mother sin. This is the first
sin. Covetousness. Satan coveted God's
position, didn't he? He said, I'll exalt myself above
the stars of God. Adam and Eve coveted God's position. You'll be as God. You'll have
the same position as God. Covetousness. Coveting the things
of this world. The things that are just so useless. Oh Lord, incline my heart away
from that. I know my heart naturally goes
towards covetousness. Incline my heart to your testimonies,
to your word. As newborn babes, desire, crave,
long for the sincere, the pure milk of the word that you may
grow thereby. Look at the language of Psalm
119. You know, every verse in the longest chapter in the Bible
has something to do with the word of God. Every verse, you
remember that whenever you read Psalm 119, every verse has something
to do with the word of God. Oh, incline my heart to your
word, to your testimonies, to where I long after your word.
Oh, don't let me, cause me to covet your word, cause me to
long for and crave your word. Look in verse five. He says in
Psalm 119, Oh, that my ways were directed to keep thy statutes. Look in verse 14. I have rejoiced
in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches. Verse
24, thy testimonies also are my delight and my counselors. Verse 25, my soul cleaveth under
the dust, quicken thou me according to thy word. Look in verse 103
of this Verse 32, he says, I'll run the way of thy commandments
when thou shalt enlarge my heart. Verse 103 of Psalm 119. How sweet
are thy words unto my taste. Yea, sweeter than honey to my
mouth. Look at verse 128. Therefore,
I esteem all thy precepts concerning all things to be right and hate
every false way. Verse 131, I opened my mouth
and panted, for I longed for thy testimonies. Verse 162, I
rejoiced at thy word, even as one that findeth great spoil. Now, do you see what David is
saying when he says, Lord, incline my heart to your testimonies,
to your word, and not toward Covetousness. Back to our text
in verse. Thirty seven, here's the next
thing he asked the Lord for. Turn away my eyes. From beholding
vanity. Vanity. Got plenty of it, don't we? It's
all around us. The wise man said, vanity of
vanity is all is vanity. And you know what's awful? The
fact that my eyes and your eyes approve of vanity. Isn't it sad? You know it's vanity. The cares of the world, the things
of this world, the aspirations of this world, the ambition of
this world, it's all vanity. The sin of this world, the pleasures
of this world, it's all vanity. The falsehood, the carnality,
the frivolity of this world, it's all vanity. And yet. We see in ourselves a beholding
of it and a desiring of it. And therefore we cry out, Lord,
turn my eyes from beholding vanity. Show me that the one thing needful
is you and all else is vanity. Turn my eyes from beholding vanity. Quicken me. You know, In this
psalm, eleven times, he mentions being quickened. Now what does
it mean to be quickened? It means to be given life. You
start beholding vanity, and you're going to start feeling dead.
You can just write that down. You start beholding vanity, and
you're going to start feeling dead. And when you start feeling
dead, you know what the cry of your heart is? Quicken me! Give
me life. I've been beholding vanity. Quicken
me according to thy word. And this is something that he
asked for over and over again in this psalm. Quicken me. Quicken
me. Quicken me eleven times. He mentions
in this psalm, quicken me. Now, if you've ever been quickened,
you know what you're going to pray for? Lord, quicken me. Quicken
me. And you hath he quickened, hath
he given life to who were dead in trespasses and sins. And you
will find your flesh always wanting to go back to death. You'll even
feel dead because your eyes have been beholding vanity. So you'll
cry out, quicken me in thy way, the straight and narrow way,
the way of the gospel. Turn my eyes from beholding vanity
and quicken me in your way." And then he says in verse 38,
now remember, These are things we're to ask
for. And these are things that he's promised he'll give. Remember,
he promised, and you take him up on this promise. You said
in your word, whatever we ask for, you'd give it to us, whatever
we ask in your name. I'm asking your name. Give me
this. Turn away my eyes from beholding vanity. Quicken me
in thy word. And then he says in verse 38,
establish thy word unto thy servant who is devoted to thy fear. Cause your word to be established. settled and secured in my heart. Establish your word in your servant
who's devoted to your fear. Now, here's what happens when
God's word is established in somebody's heart. They fear him. They're devoted to his fear.
Now, what does it mean to fear God? That means a whole lot of
things. It's not what the world calls
the fear of God. That's a slavish fear that's
not even truly fear. That's the fear of unbelief.
I'm not talking about that. But I'm talking about such a
fear of God that makes you afraid of sin. And it makes you afraid
of yourself. And it makes you afraid to look
anywhere but the Lord Jesus Christ alone. Now, that's the fear of
God. He says, establish thy word unto
thy servant who is devoted to thy fear. And then he says in
verse 39, he says, turn away my reproach, which I fear, for
thy judgments are good. Now here is something I fear
greatly, and this is something David feared greatly, and this
is something that every believer fears greatly. Turn away my reproach,
my disgrace, that I fear greatly. Now, how can my reproach be turned
away? What does he mean when he says,
turn away my reproach, my disgrace, my shame, which I fear greatly. And don't you fear? I would fear
to have my sins exposed before God, before you. I fear that. I would fear bringing disgrace
on my profession, on my confession of Christ. And so my prayer is,
Lord, turn away my reproach. Now, what in the world does it
mean? How's your reproach? How's your shame? How's your
disgrace turned away? Well, I looked this word up,
the Hebrew word, and it means cover. Put away. Take away. Do away. Now, here's what I pray
for my reproach. which I fear. I pray that it
might be covered. And I'm not talking about human
covering. You see, if we cover something, it's still there. We might not be able to see it,
but it's still there. Now, that covering won't do me
any good. It won't give me any comfort. It doesn't relieve my
fears. I'm talking about a covering
when God covers something. When He covers my sin in the
blood of His dear Son, It's not a covering with the sin underneath
it. The sin is gone. It's gone. That's the only thing
I have any comfort in. The fact that my sin is gone,
that my reproach is gone. It can never be brought up. And
the only way I know to deal with my reproach is I say, well, cover
it. Take it away. Cause it to not be. And that's
what he does in the gospel. He was manifested to take away
our sins. And in him is no sin. Lord, take away my reproach,
which I fear. Now, the only way my reproach
is turned away when it comes to me is this.
He that spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all,
hastily not with him also freely give us all things. Who shall
lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies.
Who is he that can condemn? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God, who
also maketh intercession for me." Now that turns away my fear. That turns away my reproach. He says in verse 40, Behold, I've longed for thy precepts.
Quicken me. He's asking again to be quickened. Quicken me in thy righteousness."
Now, what does he mean by that? Quicken me, give me life in thy
righteousness. Now, the only way I'm going to
have life before God is if I have His righteousness. I have to
have His personal obedience His righteousness charged to me to
where it's mine. In other words, I have to have
His righteousness reckoned to me or imputed to me or encountered
to me so it's mine. That's justification. And I also
have to have His righteousness give me life. That's regeneration. That's the new nature, the new
birth. Quicken me in thy righteousness. That's the only way I'm going
to have spiritual life. Give me thy righteousness. I want
his obedience charged to me to make me live before the law of
God. And I want his righteousness given to me, imparted to me in
the new birth, that new righteous nature that believes the gospel.
So I pray, Lord, and I'm praying it right now. Lord, quicken me
in thy righteousness. And then he says in verse 41, Let thy mercies Come also unto
me, O Lord, even thy salvation according to thy word. Let your
mercies come to me." David said, have mercy upon me,
O God, according to the multitude of
thy tender mercies. Let your mercies come to me."
What are His mercies? Even His salvation according
to His Word. That's what His mercies are.
Oh, Lord, let Your mercies come to me. You know, I want them
to come to me. I can't get to them. Oh, Lord,
come to me. Let Your mercies come to me,
even Thy salvation. at glorious salvation from sin. Christ Jesus came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. Lord, let that salvation
come to me. I'm a sinner. I need your... He came to save
sinners. I'm a sinner. Save me. Let your mercies come
to me. Even of thy salvation, that one
which is according to thy word. And notice, so, shall I have
wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me, for I trust in
thy word." Now, remember I entitled this message, An Answer to My
Reproacher. An Answer to My Reproacher. So
shall I have an answer to him that reproacheth me. Now, I thought
about this reproacher, Satan. He's most real. And I know this. Anything he
says about me is true. And any accusation he brings against
me, you know, he's called the accuser of the brethren, isn't
he? The accuser of the brethren. And anything he knows me better
than I know myself. And any accusation he brings
against me, he can give evidence that it took place. How can I
answer him? Who is he that condemneth? Satan? Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather, that's risen again,
who is even. at the right hand of God. Who are my reproachers? Well,
I'm sure I have enemies. I'm sure I do. I feel like my
greatest enemy is myself and my sin. That's my chief enemy.
But I have other enemies. And these enemies that I would
have could certainly expose me, could certainly dig up dirt on
me and all kinds of things. They could do it. Your enemies
could too. They've got plenty of fodder, don't they? Plenty
of fodder. How do I answer my enemies? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifies. Who is He that can condemn? It's
Christ that dies. Yea, rather that's risen again,
who's even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. Who can bring out reproach against
me? Well, I know someone else who
can, or something else that can, the holy law of God. But you know, I have an answer
to the law of God. Who is he that condemneth? It's Christ
that died, yea rather. That's risen again. And what about my own conscience? There is not a, I have not experienced
one minute in my life when I didn't feel guilty about something.
Always feel, even when I'm hearing the gospel, I'm always feeling
guilty. There's always something, there's
something underneath, some burr under my saddle. I feel guilty
all the time. I've heard people say, I never
feel guilty. I always do. I always do. But you know what? I don't have anything to feel
guilty about. Here's the difference. I may feel guilty, but I don't
have anything to feel guilty about. Because before God, I'm
without sin. Really? Really. Who is he that
condemns? Christ that died, yea rather
that's risen again, who's even at the right hand of God. And
you, that's the only thing that satisfies my conscience. If you tell me
anything I need to do or be, I don't get any peace. The only
thing that satisfies my conscience is that Christ, all that God
requires of me, I mean everything, everything, every jot and tittle
He requires of me, He looks to His Son for. And my conscience
is satisfied with the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, here's
a prayer for every second of every day. Now, I want to be
able to answer, give a scriptural answer to that one who reproaches
me. So here's my prayer. Lord, teach me. Lord, give me understanding. Lord, make me to go in the path
of thy commandments. Lord, incline my heart unto thy
testimonies. Lord, turn away mine eyes from
beholding vanity. And Lord, quicken me in thy way. O Lord, establish thy word unto
thy servant who is devoted to thy fear. Oh, Lord, turn away
my reproach, which I fear. Cover it. Make it to not be.
Put it away through the blood of your Son. For thy judgments,
the judgments of the cross, are good. Behold, I have longed for
thy precepts. Quicken me. Give me life in thy
righteousness. There's only one righteousness.
He is. Let thy mercies. Oh, Lord, let thy mercies come
also unto me. even thy salvation according
to thy word, and so shall I have, wherewith to answer him that
reproacheth me. For I trust in thy word." I can't help but go on reading
a little bit. Take not the word of thy truth utterly out of my
mouth. I think of when David said, or
when the Lord said to the wicked, he said, what has thou to do
to take my statutes in my mouth? And I think, Lord, don't let
that be me. Don't take your word of truth utterly out of my mouth,
for I have hoped in thy judgments. So shall I keep thy law continually
forever and ever, and I walk with liberty, for I seek thy
precepts. May God enable us to make this
prayer our prayer. And remember the Lord said, remember
his promise. He said, whatsoever you ask in
my name, I'll do it. Lord.