Okay, this evening now, we're
going to take a look at Psalm 143. Notice in the title there,
it says it's a Psalm of David. A Psalm of David. David was a
man after God's own heart. David was a sinner saved by the
grace of God. David was a mercy beggar at the
throne of God. Remember he said, have mercy
upon me, oh God, according to your love and kindness, according
to the multitude of thy tender mercies. I'm taking the title
for the message from what is said over in verse 12. Excuse
me, verse 11. Quicken me. That's what we read
in Ephesians chapter two. You hath he quickened who were
dead and trespasses and in sins. So that's what every sinner needs.
We need to be quickened, raised from the dead, made new creatures
in Christ. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's
sake. Only one reason that God would
have mercy on any of us, that's for Christ's name's sake. For
thy righteousness' sake. Again, that's Christ our righteousness.
and bring my soul out of trouble. Out of trouble. You ever been
troubled? Troubled over sin, troubled, troubled, troubled.
Christ is our comfort in the time of trouble, isn't he? Quicken
me, O Lord, for thy name's sake. Forgiving, Paul writes, be ye
kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as
God, for Christ's sake, have forgiven us. Everything we enjoy,
every blessing that we have is given to us, not because we're
deserving. We are unworthy, unworthy of
the least of God's mercies, as Jacob said. We're unworthy of
the least of his mercies. But God has had mercy on us for
one reason, for Christ's name's sake, for the gospel, for his
blood and righteousness, his blood that was shed and his righteousness
that has been established. And we know it's because of his
fullness, of his fullness, have we all received grace upon grace,
grace upon grace. Again, we see David admiring
after God's own heart, calling upon the Lord in the time of
trouble. Every believer, every believer has this privilege,
the same privilege The same blessing of calling upon the name, the
name of the Lord. You remember Paul writes in 1
Thessalonians, pray without ceasing and everything give thanks for
this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you and everything
give thanks. Pray without ceasing. One old
writer said, praying is like breathing. It's the life breath
of the believer. You cannot live without breathing,
can you? And a believer cannot live without
praying unto God. It's the constant cry of our
heart. Lord, have mercy upon me. Prayer is not something that's
mechanical, cold, and dead. It is the ardent, fervent cry
of the heart. I was noticing over here Psalm
142. Look over the page there. It's
Psalm 142 verse 1. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice, with my voice unto the Lord did I make supplication.
I poured out my complaint before him. I showed him my trouble
when my spirit was overwhelmed within me. Then thou knewest
my path in the way wherein I have walked, have they privily laid
a stair for me. I looked on my right hand, behold,
there was no man that would know me. Refuge failed me. No man
cared for my soul. Verse five, I cried unto the
Lord. O Lord, I said, thou art my refuge,
my portion in the land of the living. Attend to my cry, for
I am brought very low. Deliver me from persecutors.
They are stronger than I. Bring my soul out of trouble. Bring my soul out of prison,
that I may praise thy name. The righteous shall compass me
about. Thou shalt deal bountifully with
me. You find as you read through
the Psalm, David constantly say, Lord, hear my cry, be attentive
to the voice of my supplications. And that's our constant state
of crying unto the Lord, looking unto the Lord, believing him,
repenting, coming unto the Lord Jesus Christ. Now let's look
at Psalm 143 for just a few minutes. Verse one, hear my prayer. Hear my prayer, O Lord, Jehovah. Hear my prayer, O Lord. We don't pray to be heard of
men. We don't pray to be seen of men. You will not find this poor sinner
on what they call National Prayer Day over the courthouse, holding
hands around the flagpole and praying. What did the Lord say
about praying when you pray in or in your closet? that you may
be heard of God. So we don't go out and try to
show people how pious we are by praying in public. Hear my
prayer. What good would it do to pray
if the Lord did not hear our prayer? You remember the story
of Elijah and the prophet of Baal? And they had that contest
to God who answers by fire. He will be God. And those prophets
of Baal, they cried from morning to the evening, O Baal, hear
us. O Baal, hear us. No answer. Elijah prayed, but
with that sacrifice, where they dumped 12 barrels
of water, and then Elijah prayed 63 words. Lord, let it be known
this day. that I'm your servant, that thou
art God, and fire fell and consumed the sacrifice and all the water."
It says it licked up the water. God is God. What good would it
do to pray if the Lord didn't hear our prayer? Because he is
a living God, he can hear because he's a covenant God. He's obligated
himself to hear our prayer because of that covenant of grace. When
Moses met the Lord Jesus Christ on Mount Sinai in that burning
bush, and he speaks to Moses and he
said, I've seen their affliction. I've heard the cry of my people. I've come down to deliver them.
God heard their cry, he knew his people was in trouble. 400
years, Israel was in bondage and God heard their cry and sent
a deliverer. Now notice he mentions here in
verse one, oh Lord give ear to my supplication in your faithfulness. In your faithfulness, answer
me, and in your righteousness. In your faithfulness and in your
righteousness, answer me. Now, he delights, our God, delights
to answer our prayers. When we pray according to his
will, we pray, what do we pray? Lord, not my will, but thy will
be done. Because God is faithful, because
God is righteous, he delights to answer our prayers. In Matthew chapter 6, our Lord
taught his disciples to pray after this matter. Our Father,
which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done. in earth as it is in heaven,
give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts as we
forgive our debtors, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver
us from evil, for thine is the kingdom, thine is the power,
and thine is the glory. Amen. Amen. Now, we don't ask
to be heard upon our faithfulness, do we? We don't ask to be heard
upon our righteousness, do we? David did not pray, Lord, hear
me, because I'm your king. but rather he appealed to the
Lord's faithfulness. He appealed to the Lord's goodness.
He appealed to the Lord's righteousness. Our blessed Lord is faithful
to all of his covenant promises. All the promises of God in Christ
are yes, and amen, and in him, those exceeding great and precious
promises. I'm persuaded, aren't you persuaded
like Abraham that all that God had promised, he's able to perform? I like what Joshua said after
they entered into the promised land. He reminded the people
before he died, all that God had promised, not one word has
failed. Not one word. Our Lord is righteous
and holy in all his ways and all his works. Deliver me in
thy righteousness, he says. Hold your place there and look
back here at Psalm 31. Psalm 31, I was reading this
earlier today. It was such a blessing to me.
Psalm 31 at verse one. Psalm 31 at verse one. In thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me. You see that? Psalm
31, verse 1, deliver me in thy righteousness. Now, whenever
you see that righteousness, immediately think of Christ. He's the Lord
our righteousness. Bow down thine ear to me. Deliver
me speedily. Be thou my strong rock for a
whore. For a house of defense has saved
me, for thou art my rock, my fortress. Therefore, for thy
name's sake, lead me and guide me. Deliver me in thy righteousness. And that's what we have in the
gospel. We are delivered through the righteousness of the Lord
Jesus Christ. He is the Lord, our righteousness. Now look at verse two, Psalm
143, verse two. Enter not into judgment with
thy servant. David didn't want to face God
on the basis of his strict judgment. Don't enter into judgment with
thy mercy, with thy servant rather, enter into mercy with thy servant. For in thy sight shall no man
living be justified. Now David declares at least three
things here. David declares who he is. He
said, I'm thy servant. You see that in verse 2? I'm
thy servant. I'm thy servant. He says that
again over here in verse 12. And at thy mercy, cut off my
enemies, destroy all them that afflict my soul, for I am thy
servant. That's a high title. to be called
the servant of the Lord. The Lord Jesus Christ was called
the servant of the Lord. Behold my servant, my elect,
whom my soul delighted. Paul often called himself the
servant of the Lord. The servant of the Lord called
to be an apostle, called to be an apostle. It's a great honor
and a great privilege to serve the Lord Jesus Christ. And you
know how we do that? How do we serve Him? By serving
one another. By serving one another. Look at verse 2. Here's what
he knows. And every believer knows this. No man is justified
by the deeds of the law. You remember our study in Hebrews
chapter 7. The law made nothing perfect,
but bringing in of a better hope did. By the deeds of the law
shall no flesh be justified. It says over and over and over
again in the book of Romans, in the book of Galatians. So
we know that by the deeds of the law, no man living shall
be justified. How are we justified then? We're
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is
in the Lord Jesus Christ. And what does David ask for?
Mercy. Enter not in the judgment with
thy servant. He asked for mercy. Have mercy upon me according
to thy lovingkindness, according to the multitude of thy lovingkindness. David desired to meet God at
the mercy seat, not the judgment seat. The mercy seat, like the
public when we read about Sunday. God be merciful to me. The sinner. He's saying, be my
propitiation. Christ is our propitiation. This
is our desire to be justified before God only through the blood,
the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ. God committed his
love toward us and while we were yet sinners, Christ died for
us. Much more than being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved through him. Isn't that good
news? Look at verse three. The enemy, the enemy hath persecuted
my soul. David had many, many enemies,
didn't he? His own father-in-law sought
to kill him. His own son sought to throw him
off the throne. Absalom, for the enemy hath persecuted
my soul. But notice it's the enemy. Now, who is the enemy of believers? Well, it's Satan himself, the
accuser of the brethren. For the enemy hath persecuted
my soul. He has spit my life down to the
ground. He has made me to dwell in darkness,
doom and gloom, as though that had been long dead. The enemy. Satan himself, the
accuser of the brethren. We only overcome him. Let me read that to you. You
don't need to turn. I think you remember this from
our study. Excuse me. Revelation 12, verse 10, I heard
a loud voice in heaven saying, now is salvation and strength
the kingdom of our God and the power of Christ. For the accuser
of the brethren is cast down, which accused them before God
day and night, and they overcame him through the blood of the
lamb, by the word of their testimony, and they loved not their lives
unto death. So the enemy, the accuser of
the brethren, would accuse us And we can't defeat him. We're
no match for him, but our Lord did. Our Lord defeated him. So we have that enemy, the cues
of the brethren, but we also have enemies within us. enemies within us. And I mean
by that our old sin nature. As David or as Paul said, I know
in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. So we have enemies without. We
have enemies within. Sin has smitten us to the ground. Sin has persecuted our soul. And here's another prayer of
David. Look just across the page at
Psalm 140, verse 1. Deliver me, O Lord, from the
evil man. Preserve me from the violent
man. That's me. Deliver me from myself. Which imagined mischief in their
heart. Continually are they together,
gathered together for war. They've sharpened their tongue
like a serpent and adders, poisons under their lips. Keep me, O
Lord, from the hands of the wicked. Preserve me from the violent
man who have purpose to overthrow me." So he continues to cry for
deliverance from his enemies, without and within. the enemy within our own heart,
our own wicked soul. Our sin has made us dwell in
darkness. By nature, we've been long dead
because of our sin. God must make us alive by his
purpose and grace. And he does that by his commandment.
God has commanded the light to shine in our hearts, to give
us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Christ. He has made me to dwell in darkness. That's where we start. But He
translated us out of the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom
of God's dear Son. Remember that? Colossians chapter
1. I think we read that recently, didn't we? Now look at verse
4. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed. I'm just overwhelmed with the
fact that I'm a sinful man. I'm a wicked man. I'm overwhelmed. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed
with my heart My heart is just desolate. My heart is just guilty. When I think of my sin, it's
against God and my spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart
is desolate. When considering the effects
of our sin and how many times we have sinned against God, when
considering who we have sinned against, We've all sinned and
come short of the glory of God. And considering, I like what
my friend Todd Nybert, Pastor Nybert, often says, considering
that we cannot not sin, just try not to sin. Don't sin anymore. Well, when you say, I'm not gonna
sin anymore, you just did, because you lied. You cannot not sin. We are sinners. That's what we
are. That's what we do. And oftentimes, excuse me, our
spirit and our heart is overwhelmed, is desolate, guilty. There is
a conviction of sin. You know, that's a blessing to
know you're a sinner, to know you're an unworthy, ungodly sinner. It's a blessing to know that
because it drives us to the Lord Jesus Christ for relief. For
relief. What is our relief? Well, don't
turn. Let me just, who is the blessed
man? Remember the blessed man from
Psalm, you remember this, Psalm 32, verse one. Sometimes I can
quote this verse, sometimes I can't. Blessed is he whose transgression
is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man unto whom
the Lord imputeth not iniquity, in whose spirit there is no guile.
Now that's the blessed man. That's the blessed man. We know
the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from all our
sin. Now look at verse 5. I remember,
I remember the days of old. I meditate on all thy works.
I muse or ponder on the work of thy hand. When sin depresses
us, our only recourse for refreshing is unto the Lord. When you feel
your guilt, your vileness, your wretchedness, what is our refreshing? Christ. The Lord Jesus Christ. And it's his work. It's his doing. Now a couple of Psalms. Let's
turn and look at this. Psalm 92. Psalm 92. Psalm 92.
Verse 4. Psalm 92 verse 4. has made me glad through thy
work. I will triumph in the works of
thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works,
and thy thoughts are very deep. So when we're depressed, when
we're pressed down with guilt because of our sin, what do we
do? We remember the working of the
Lord, what he has done for us. Now let's find Psalm 111, turn
there. Psalm 111. The works of the Lord, verse
two. The works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them
that have pleasure therein. His work is honorable and glorious. His righteousness endureth forever.
He hath made his wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is
gracious and full of compassion. He hath given meat unto them
that fear him. He will ever be mindful of his
covenant. He has showed his people the power of his work, that he
may give them the heritage of the heathen. The works of his
hand are verity, truth, and judgment. All his commandments are sure.
They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
So I remember the days of old. And I meditate on all he has
done for us. Honored the law of God for us,
established righteousness for us, delivered us from our sin,
meditate upon what he's done for us. ponder on the work of His hand,
how He has finished salvation for us by His doing, by His working. Salvation that we enjoy is not
by our work, but rather the works of His hand. That makes salvation
to us free grace. Free grace. I love what David
writes in Psalm 57. It says, He performeth all things
for me. Everything He performs for us.
Father, I glorified thee on the earth, I finished the work you
gave me to do. I'm trusting the Lord Jesus Christ
who finished the work of salvation for us. Now, look at verse 6,
Psalm 143 verse 6, I stretch forth my hands unto thee. This
is the reach of faith, the hands of faith, the hands of faith. I stretch forth my hand unto
thee, my soul thirsteth after thee as a thirsty land. I look to thee, this is the look
of faith, the hand of faith stretches out only to the Lord Jesus Christ. The eyes of faith look only to
the Lord Jesus Christ. Looking unto Jesus, who's the
author and finisher of our faith. The thirst of faith is only quenched
by the Lord Jesus Christ. I stretch forth my hand unto
thee, my soul thirsteth after thee as a bare and dry ground. What is a bare and barren and
dried up ground? What does it do when it rains?
Just soaks it up, doesn't it? Just soaks it up. So we stretch
forth the hand of faith, faith is the gift of God. And our soul
does thirst after the true and living God as a thirsty land.
Our Lord said, if any man thirsts, let him come unto me and drink.
And then remember he told the woman at the well, I'm the water
of life. Whosoever drinketh of that natural water will thirst
again, but whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give
him shall never thirst, but that water shall be in him a well
of water springing up into everlasting life. David prayed in Psalm 42,
excuse me, as the deer panteth after the water brook, so panteth
my soul after thee, O God. It's only by his grace that we
thirst after him. By nature we drink iniquity like
the water. You remember from our study in
the Revelation 21, he said, I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end. I'll give unto him that is a
thirst the fountain of the water of life freely, freely. So I stretch forth my hand unto
thee, my soul is thirsting after thee as a thirsty land. He remember Isaiah 55, he said,
ho, everyone that is thirsty, come unto me. Verse seven, hear
me speedily, O Lord, my spirit faileth. Hide not thy face from
me, lest I be like them that go down to the pit. Let's read verse eight, nine,
10, 11, and 12, and I'm gonna have to wind this up Cause me
to hear thy loving kindness. The loving kindness of God is
the gospel. God has to cause us to hear it.
By nature, we're deaf. For in thee do I trust. Cause
me to know the way. We know that Christ is the way,
the truth, and the life. And then he said, deliver me.
Christ is our deliverer. Oh, Lord, deliver me from all
my enemies. Sin, Satan, death, And the last
enemy to be destroyed is death. So deliver me from my enemies. I flee to thee to hide me. Verse
10, teach me, teach me to do thy will, for thou art my God. Thy spirit is good. Lead me. The good shepherd leads us into
the land of uprightness. Verse 11, quicken me, O Lord.
for thy name's sake, for Christ's name's sake, for his righteousness'
sake, bring my soul out of trouble. And of thy mercy, cut off my
enemies. He mentions his enemies three
times. And he always looks to the Lord for deliverance, doesn't
he? And of thy mercy, cut off my
enemies, destroy all them that afflict my soul. And then again,
he says, excuse me, I'm thy servant. I am thy servant.