Psalm chapter 70. Psalm 70. Here we read a prayer of David. I confess there is much much
I do not know about prayer. I'm thankful there's much written
in God's word regarding prayer. Many, many prayers found in God's
word. And most of them are fairly short
in duration. That publican, could there be
a better prayer than that? Seven words. Just seven words. God be merciful to me, a sinner. And here in Psalm 70, look at
verse 5. I believe we read what here could
be considered a model of prayer. Look at verse 5. David says,
but I am poor and needy. Make haste unto me, O God. Thou art my help and my deliverer. O Lord, make no tarrying. Now briefly this evening, I would
like to look at three points. Three points from this passage
of Scripture as David approaches unto the Lord. And the first
one is this. David says, I am poor and needy. David comes to the Lord confessing. Confessing his need of Almighty
God. God knows our guilt. And I'm convinced most times
we know our guilt. Then why wouldn't we just come
to Him and confess it? Listen to David's confession
from Psalm 51. You can turn there if you want
to. I can just read it to you. We're familiar with it. Psalm
51. David says, have mercy upon me,
O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of
Thy tender mercies, blot out my transgressions, wash me throughly
from mine iniquity, cleanse me from my sin, for I acknowledge
my transgressions. David said, my sin is ever before
me, and against thee and thee only have I sinned and done this
evil in thy sight, that thou mightest be justified when thou
speakest and clear when thou judgest. Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. What's David saying? I'm a sinner. I am a sinner. And listen, we have much sin. Sins of our youth, and for those
of us who are a little older, sins of old age along with sins
of our youth. Sins of this body, sins of this
soul, sins of omission. Those things that we fail. to
do, sins of commission, that which we have done. Remember
David's words, we just read it there from Psalm 51, he said,
against thee. Our sins are against God, against
thee and thee only have I sinned and done this evil in thy sight.
We've sinned against God's law, God's holy law, we've broken
it. Over in the book of James, we
read this, whosoever shall keep the whole law and offend in just one point,
just one point, he is guilty of all. That's you and I. We have, listen, all, all of
us, all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. James 4 verse 17, therefore to
him that knoweth to do good and doeth it not, to him it is sin. We've sinned against his law.
We've sinned against his gospel. David says, I am poor and needy." There's no hiding sin. That's what Adam tried to do,
remember that? When Adam fell, he took Eve and
they went and they tried to hide from God. What a foolish thing. to hide from God. And God spoke
to Adam. They tried to knit those fig
leaf aprons together to cover themselves. And God spoke to
Adam and He said to Adam, Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten of the tree that
I commanded you not to? That I commanded thee that thou
shouldest not eat? And the man said, listen to his
words. Did Adam just stop right there
in his tracks and say what David said? Lord, I've sinned. No. No. Listen to these words. He says this, It was the woman
that thou gavest me. She gave me of the tree, and
I did eat. Now not only does he blame his
wife, again, he said, it was the woman. But imagine this,
he blames God. It was the woman that you gave
me. Why won't we just confess our
sins? I am poor and needy. That pretty well covers it, doesn't
it? Don't have to say a lot there.
I am poor and needy. That Pharisee, when he came,
he brought everything that he thought that he had done right. That publican, he came confessing
his sin. God be merciful to me, the sinner. And we know, we know which one
of those two went down to his house justified, don't we? Turn with me to John, 1 John
chapter one. 1 John chapter one. Look at verse nine. John says, if we confess our
sins, you see that? If we confess our sins, what
else does it say? He is faithful and just to forgive
us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we confess our sins, not to
me. People don't come up here and
confess their sins. We don't need a couple boxes
back there to stand there. It ain't gonna do you very good
to confess your sins to me. We go to God. We confess our
sins to Him. If we own our sins against God,
if we confess them in sincerity and seek forgiveness through
the merits of Christ, God is faithful. Faithful to His promise. He was delivered for our offenses. He was raised again for our justification. He is faithful and just to cleanse
us from all unrighteousness. Just listen to this, you, you
that were sometimes alienated and enemies in your mind by wicked
works, yet now hath he reconciled in the body of his flesh through
death to present you holy and unblameable and unreprovable
in his sight. Would you come to Him confessing
your sin?" Does that describe you? Can you take your place
right there in that verse? Can you say, I am poor and needy. Come confessing my sin, confessing
my need of Him. I'm poor. I'm weak. I'm afflicted. I'm wretched,
oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body
of death? I'm needy. I'm a beggar. Like Bartimaeus of old, come
to him. Come to him in prayer, confessing. Confessing your sin and submit
to his divine justice. What did David say? He said,
let us now fall into the hand of the Lord. Second, back to our text. Psalm 70. I'm poor and needy. Make haste unto
me, O God. David's pleading. He comes to him pleading with
a sense of urgency. Make haste. You know, I would
hope that if, I'd hope this wouldn't happen, but if I were to collapse
up here right now, that nobody would just stand around and like
look at their watch and wait till 7.30 and say, well, he'll
be all right. make haste. I would want somebody
to get to me quickly. Listen, our need, our need is
urgent. When the angel of the Lord told
Philip to join himself to that eunuch's chariot, we read this,
that Philip ran thither. These are urgent matters. Men's
souls are at stake, life and death. That's what we do in a life and
death situation, isn't it? We show a sense of urgency. We're
in peril, in peril of the greatest kind. In Luke chapter 16, verse 20,
there was a beggar. a beggar named Lazarus, which
laid at the gate of a rich man. That man was covered with sores,
and he desired to be fed from the crumbs that fell from that
rich man's table. He's in a miserable condition.
The dogs, the dogs came, he didn't have any ointment to put on his,
the dogs came and licked his sores. And it came to pass in
time that that beggar, he died. And we read, he went to Abraham's
bosom. And that rich man died also,
and he was buried. And he woke up in hell. And he
lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar
off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried, and he said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he might just
dip the tip of his finger in some water and put it on my tongue.
for I'm tormented in this flame." And Abraham said, you remember
that in your lifetime you received good things and Lazarus evil
things, but now he's comforted and you're tormented. And beside
all this, between us and you, there's a great gulf fixed. so that they which pass from
one side can't pass to the other, and those that would come from
fence can't pass either. Oh, how quickly, how quickly
we could be in a place where hope will never visit. In this life, we have hope. A
man that's still alive, a woman still, we have hope. But there'll come a time where
there is no more hope. Listen to this cry. Make haste, O God. Make haste, O God, to deliver
me. Make haste, O God, to help me. Do not linger. God's Word says today, today
is the day of salvation. Come with urgency, because our
need, it's urgent, isn't it? Has that need been revealed to
you? You know, if you have a sense
of need, There's only one reason you could
have that, and that's the Spirit of God has revealed that to you. The Spirit of God, as it works
in a sinner. And that man or woman or young
person will be urgent. Urgent. When the Lord is pleased to reveal
a man's sin to him. There's no sitting still until
that pardon is secured. I mentioned blind Bartimaeus
just a little bit ago. He wouldn't rest, would he? He
couldn't rest until the Lord in mercy healed him. You remember
that story, don't you? There blind Bartimaeus was, the
son of Timaeus, and he sat by the highway begging. And he heard. Oh, how glorious it would be
to hear that the Lord in mercy is passing by. And he began to
cry out, Jesus, thou son of David, have mercy on me. And many charged him. They said,
hold your peace, Bartimaeus. Settle down. Keep quiet. People
are looking. He wouldn't be quieted though,
would he? Jesus, the scripture says He
cried out a great more. I don't know if that meant He
cried out louder or if He cried out more. Maybe a combination
of the two, but He said, Thou Son of David, have mercy on me. And the Lord Jesus Christ, God
in human flesh stood still and commanded. He didn't ask.
He didn't beg. He commanded him to be called. And they called the blind man,
saying unto him, be of good comfort. Rise, he calleth thee. And Barnabas cast away his garment. He didn't need that garment anymore,
did he? He's gonna be robed in a beautiful garment, robed in
the very righteousness of Christ. And Jesus answered and said unto
him, what wilt thou that I should do unto thee? And the blind man
said unto him, Lord, that I might receive my sight. And Jesus said
unto him, go thy way. Thy faith hath made thee whole."
And immediately, think about that, immediately, he received
his sight and he followed. That's what scripture said. He
received his sight and he followed the Lord Jesus Christ in the
way. Oh, make haste. Make haste. to me, oh God. And then the last
point, third point, back to Psalm 70 verse 5. David says, thou art my help
and my deliverer. Thou alone art my help and my
deliverer. We come to him empty-handed.
We come to him bringing nothing of our own. Thou art. Approach him empty-handed. I
ask you, have you ever tried to pick up something when your
hands are full? It's nearly impossible, isn't
it? Your hands are already full,
and you try to reach down and pick something else up, and what
happens? Everything falls out of your
hand. Truly, the only way to lay a
hold of anything is with an empty, empty hand. I believe the hymn
writer said it best, nothing, nothing in my hands I bring. Don't bring your self-righteousness.
Don't bring your works. Don't bring your moral life.
Don't bring anything. We come to Him. Lord, Thou art. Thou alone. Turn with me to Judges
chapter 7. Judges 7. There was a man named Gideon.
And he had a great army. And they were going to go into
battle against the Midianites. And the Midianites, they had
an army of 135,000 men. And Gideon, he was gonna take
32,000 men. But the Lord determined that
was too many. Look at Judges 7, look at verse
2. And the Lord said unto Gideon,
The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the
Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vault themselves
against me, saying, my own hand hath saved me." Isn't that every one of us by
nature? This arm of flesh Now, therefore, go to proclaim
in the ears of the people, saying, whosoever is fearful and afraid,
let him return and depart early from Mount Gilead. And there
returned of the people 20 and 2,000, and there remained 10,000.
22,000 went home, and now there's 10,000
to battle 135,000 men. Again, all of us, isn't it? I'll take credit for the victory.
I fought hard. I battled hard. 10,000 remained. And the Lord says again, That's
too many. Look beginning at verse four.
And the Lord said unto Gideon, the people are yet too many. Bring them down unto the water,
and I'll try them for thee there. And it shall be that of whom
I saith unto thee, this shall go with thee, the same shall
go with thee. And of whomsoever I say unto
thee, This shall not go with thee, the same shall not go. And he brought down the people
into the water, and the Lord said unto Gideon, Every one that
lappeth of the water by his tongue, as a dog lappeth, him shall thou
set by himself. And likewise, every one that
bowed down upon his knees to drink, And the number of them
that lapped, putting their hand to their mouth, were 300 men. And the rest, the people bowed
down upon their knees to drink water. And the Lord said unto
Gideon, by the 300 men that have lapped, will I save you, and
deliver the Midianites into thine hand, and let all the other people
go every man unto his own place. Nearly all of them got down to
drink water on their knees. But 300, 300 that scooped up
water and lapped it like a dog, those that remained, that was
Gideon's army. Think about that. We would just
naturally speaking, we would say, there is no way. Right? There's no way 300 men
could defeat a great army like that, to defeat 135,000. But
I ask you this, when the battle was over, was there any question
who gave them the victory? God wouldn't go with Gideon because
the army was too small. Just the opposite. They were
too big. And when smoke cleared and that
battle was over, there could be no question as to who their
help was. There could be no question as
to who their deliverer was. How many times is that revealed
in scripture? Brady had an article in the Bulletin
not too long ago, the day of small things. taken from the
book of Zechariah, small things. God delivered a nation from 400
years of bondage with a shepherd's staff. That's a small thing,
isn't it? He slew a giant and saved that
nation with a sling and a stone. Turned this world upside down
by 11 men. simple men, plain men, fishermen,
tax collectors. I ask you, in each one of those
victories, who gave the victory? Almighty God. The Lord is my
rock, my fortress, my deliverer, my God, my strength, and whom
will I trust? my buckler, the horn of my salvation,
and my high tower. He alone delivers." Alone. He alone. He walked the winepress
of God's wrath. Alone. There was none to help. Thou art my help and my deliverer. What happened at Calvary? There was one, wasn't there? Oh, that we might lay hold of
eternal life, that we might lay hold of the hope set before us,
that we might lay hold on Him, lay hold on the Savior, like
Jacob of old. Remember that? He laid hold and
he said, I will not let you go until you bless me. In John 11 verse 49, there was
a high priest named Caiaphas. And he spoke to the people and
he said, you know nothing at all, nor consider that it's expedient
that one man, how many? One, one man should die for the
people. and the whole nation perished
not. And he spake this not of himself, but being the high priest
that year, he prophesied that Jesus would die for that nation. Caiaphas spoke from his own wicked
heart, but the Spirit of God used him
to declare the glorious gospel of substitution and redemption
in the Lord Jesus Christ. He occupied that office of high
priest, that one who was to stand between
God and the people. He was a wicked man, a wicked man. And yet he said
this, what a glorious truth this is.
One man, one man should die for the people. That's the Lord Jesus
Christ. He's my help. He's my deliverer. He was crucified and died for
a holy nation, a chosen generation. the Israel of God for every believer,
a people out of every nation, kindred, tribe, and tongue under
heaven. He died so that we would never
die. Eternal life. He delivered His
people from going down to the pit. He is gracious unto him. And he saith unto, he saith this,
deliver him from going down to the pit, for I have found a ransom. I ask you, who gets the glory
in that? Listen to this prayer, and I
pray to the Lord that he would make this my prayer, that he
would make it each of us' prayer. I am poor and needy. Make haste unto me. Thou art my help and my deliverer."
And you'll notice that's a personal cry, isn't it? He says, my help,
my deliverer. And listen to these last five
words and I'll close. Oh Lord, make no tear-in. Don't delay. The peril, peril
is imminent. The need is urgent. I cannot
endure delay. Oh Lord, oh Lord, make no tear-in.