This evening, we're going to
take a look at Psalm 143. It's called the Psalm of David. And as I said earlier, there
in verse 11, I'm taking the title for the message from what is
said in verse 11 of Psalm 143, quicken me. Lord, make me alive. Give me life. Give me life. Give me liberty. Quicken me,
O Lord. Now, what do dead sinners need?
You have to be quickened who were dead in trespasses and in
sin. We know for certain we cannot
give ourselves life. We cannot give ourselves spiritual
life. We cannot give ourselves spiritual
blessing. He must quicken us. So quicken
us, O Lord, O Lord, for thy name's sake. And I take that to mean
for the Lord Jesus Christ's name's sake. He has forgiven us for
Christ's sake, hadn't he? And for thy righteousness' sake.
Now that's the amazing part of the gospel, how God can justify
sinners and not violate his holy character. How God can be just
and the justifier through the righteousness established by
the Lord Jesus Christ, through redemption accomplished by the
work of his hand. So quicken me, O Lord, for thy
name's sake, for thy righteousness' sake. Bring my soul out of trouble. Christ suffered once for our
sin, the just for the unjust that he might bring us out of
trouble and bring us unto himself. That's the only way we can come
if he brings us. Bring my soul out of trouble.
Bring my soul out of trouble. So the title I'm taking from
that verse 11, life and salvation because of Christ. Life, spiritual
life, And salvation, salvation is of the Lord, is only because
of the cause, the cause of it, the cause of it. Notice in verse
eight of Psalm 143, cause me to hear thy loving kindness.
Cause me to know the way where I should walk. Cause me, what
would you say that the first cause of salvation is? The Lord Jesus Christ. What would
you say the second cause of salvation is? The Lord Jesus Christ. What would you say the third
cause of salvation is? The Lord Jesus Christ. You see what I'm saying? He's
the cause of our salvation. He is the cause of our salvation. From all eternity, God purposed
to elect a people and to give them to the Lord Jesus Christ,
who is called the elect of God, and predestinate those people
to be conformed to the image of Christ, he made us accepted
in the beloved, as it says in Ephesians chapter one. Ephesians
chapter one. Now, look what he says, and this
is so, this is repeated so many times in the book of Psalms about
David, begging to be heard by God. Hear my prayer. Now, what good would it do if we prayed a long, long, long
prayer and the Lord would not hear us? I'm thinking of an example
there in 1 Kings when Elijah was on Mount Carmel. And he was
having a contest between the true prophet of God and those
prophets of Baal, and the God that answered by fire. He said,
the God who answers by fire, he is indeed God. Remember those
prophets of Baal, they cried and cried, O Baal, hear us, O
Baal, hear us. And they even got so worked up
that they took knives and cut their flesh and started bleeding
and say, O Baal, hear us. And Elijah mocked them. He said,
why don't you call Lula, or maybe you're gone sleeping, or maybe
he's on vacation. Well, they cried louder and louder
and louder and they cried from morning to evening. O Baal, hear us. No answer. Elijah prayed 63 words. O God, O Lord, hear us and answer
my prayer. And you remember what happened?
Fire fell, consumed the sacrifice, consumed the altar, those 12
barrels of water that were poured all over that sacrifice. First
Kings 18. Elijah called upon the true living
God and he was heard and God answered him Had he answered
him look what it says in verse 1 hear my prayer. Oh Lord Give
ear to my supplication and in your faithfulness answer me in
your faithfulness answer me and in thy righteousness answer me
Answer me, because our God is the living God, he can hear us. Because he's a living God. He's
a living God. He ever lived to make intercession
for us. Because he's a living God, he
will hear. Because he's a covenant God,
he's obligated to hear the cry of his people. I was reading
in Exodus chapter three, when Moses met God on Mount Sinai,
specifically the Lord Jesus Christ in that burning bush that was
not consumed. And this is what the Lord said to Moses about
the Egyptians who had been in bondage for 400 years. They cried unto the Lord. He
heard their cry. The Lord said to Moses, I've
seen their affliction. I've heard their cry. I know
their sorrows. And I've come down to deliver
them. They cried 400 years. How many generations is that?
They say 40 years is a generation. So that would be what? 40 generations? They cried unto the Lord for
a deliverer. and the Lord sent to deliver
in his due time. Because God is faithful and God
is righteous, he delights to answer our prayers. When we pray
according to his will, we pray, Lord, not my will, thy will be
done. One of the old preacher brethren
said, prayer has something to do with finding out what the
will of the Lord is and then submitting unto it. submitting
unto it. We don't ask to be heard upon
our faithfulness, do we? David didn't say, Lord, hear
my prayer. I'm your faithful king. He didn't
pray that way, did he? And we don't ask the Lord to
hear us because we've done anything. We ask the Lord to hear us because
he's faithful. He's faithful to his covenant
people. We don't ask to be heard upon our faithfulness. Certainly,
we don't ask to be heard upon our own righteousness, do we? What is our righteousness called?
Filthy rags in God's sight. So we ask the Lord to hear our
prayer upon the basis of the faithfulness of the Lord Jesus
Christ and upon the righteousness the Lord Jesus Christ has established
for us by his obedience unto death. David didn't pray, Lord,
hear me because I'm king. Lord, hear me because I killed
Goliath. Lord, hear me because I've won many, many battles for
the Lord. He appealed to the Lord's faithfulness
and to the Lord's righteousness. Our blessed Lord is faithful
to all his covenant promises. All the promises of God in him
are yes, and in him, amen, and to the glory of God by the Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember when we studied through
the book of Joshua several years ago, and we got to Joshua chapter
24, and all those things Joshua said that the Lord had promised
to Israel about deliverance, about the land that flowed with
milk and honey, about destroying all the enemies in the land of
Canaan, And Joshua, when he comes to the end of his day, he says
this, Lord, of all that you have promised, not one word has failed. God's faithful to his word. We
can take him at his word. We can believe his word. Our
blessed Lord is faithful to all of his covenant promises. Our
Lord is righteous and holy in all his ways, all his works. He is righteous. He's the righteous one, the righteous
one. Don't turn, let me just turn
and read this to you over here in, Psalm 31, verse one, in thee,
O Lord, do I put my trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver
me in thy righteousness. Now you can't get away from this
thing of righteousness. I need redemption. I need my
sin removed by the blood atonement of Christ. But I also need righteousness
established. And that righteousness established
is by the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in Isaiah 42, you remember
verse 21? The Lord is well pleased for
his righteousness sake, because he will magnify the law and honor
it for us. Bow down thine ear to me, deliver
me speedily, be thou my strong rock for a house of defense to
save me. For thou art my rock, my fortress,
therefore, For thy name's sake, lead me and guide me. For the righteousness sake, O
Lord, answer me, answer me. Now look at verse 2, Psalm 143
verse 2. Enter not into judgment with
thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified.
You ever heard one say, all I want is what's coming to me? No, you
don't. The wage of sin is death. I don't
want what's coming to me. Because if God would judge me
on the basis of my best deed, my best thought, my best day,
he said, away. Away with them, they're workers
of iniquity. So enter not into judgment with
thy servant. Now, for in thy sight shall no
man living be justified." Now we see several things that David
declares here. He declares who he is. He said,
Lord, I'm your servant. I am your servant. He says that
again over in verse 12, and at thy mercy cut off mine enemies
and destroy all them that afflict my soul. I am thy servant. Now
that's a high title to be known and to actually be A servant,
a willing, you remember what that title goes back to? That
willing, loving bond slave who serves his master because he
loves him. And that's why we serve the Lord,
we love Him. We serve Him out of gratitude
and thanksgiving. So, David is a servant of the
Lord and every believer is a servant of the Lord. Paul, how many times
he called himself a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ? A servant
of the Lord Jesus Christ. What'd I tell you to put on my
tombstone? Clark's gonna dig my grave and
Lionel's gonna fix my tombstone. Servant of the Lord. I've got
it all fixed out. Got it all figured out. Waiting
for the Lord to call me. That's a high title, isn't it?
Servant of the Lord. And what he knows, here's what
David knows, and here's what every sinner knows that's justified
by the Lord's grace. No man is justified by the deeds
of the law. You see that? For in thy sight
no man living shall be justified. Now, how are sinners justified? or
not by the deeds of the law. We've seen that so many times,
haven't we? In Romans, in Galatians, all
those different places. But sinners are justified, justified
freely by His grace through the redemption that is in the Lord
Jesus Christ. We are justified in the Lord
Jesus Christ. Cleared of all guilt because
He took our sin to Himself. Put it away. God made Him to
be sin for us. Who knew no sin that we might
be made the righteousness of God in Him. We're justified. We're justified by His blood. Justified freely by His grace. Justified. Thinking of this verse
here. But God committed His love toward
us. Romans 5 verse 8, in that while
we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. In due time, Christ died
for the ungodly. Much more than being now justified
by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him. You see,
he took all of our sin to himself. That's what happened at Calvary.
It wasn't what wicked men did that day. I mean, they did their
wicked deeds to the Lord, didn't they? But it wasn't what they
were doing there. That's not our hope. It's what
God was doing there. God put our sin upon Christ. And when the sin of God's elect
was found upon the Lord Jesus Christ, what happened? The wrath
of God fell on Him. Now, if He took all my sin and
took all my judgment and took all the wrath of God because
of my sin, I've been set free. I'm justified.
There's no condemnation to those who are in the Lord Jesus Christ.
So, and here's what he asked for. Mercy. Mercy. Enter not into judgment with
thy servant, for in thy sight shall no man living be justified. He asked for mercy. David desired
to meet God at the mercy seat, not at the judgment seat. I don't
want judgment. Isn't it amazing that the Lord
says, because he's put away our sin, that he ascended to glory
and that he's seated in the heavenlies? As the writer of the book of
Hebrews says, seeing we have a great high priest that has
passed into the heavens, our Lord said, let us come boldly
to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy. and find grace
to help in time of need. You remember what I call that?
Mercy beggars. We're mercy beggars at the throne
of mercy. Now, it's a good and right thing
to seek mercy where mercy is found. It's a good thing to seek
mercy where mercy is revealed. David, when he cried unto the
Lord, Over here, remember, don't turn, let me just read it to
you. You're all familiar with these verses. But I can't quote
them like I used to. I've got to turn and read them.
Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness, according
to the multitude of Thy tender mercies. Blot out my transgression.
Wash me throughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I
acknowledge my transgression and my sin as ever before me.
Have mercy upon me. Have mercy upon me. That seven-word
prayer, that publican, I had a dear friend, I think I've told
you this before, he came to me, and he was a believer, been a
believer a long time, and he said, I just don't know how to
pray. I don't know what to pray for. I said, I'll give you seven
words. Seven words? Yep. God, be merciful to me, thee,
sinner. That's it. Isn't that our constant
prayer? That's our constant prayer. Hear
my prayer, O Lord. That's my prayer. God have mercy
on me, the sinner. And you know in that parable,
that comes from a parable the Lord gives in Luke 18, where
he compares the Pharisee, remember who justified himself? And then
the publican who condemned himself, he smote upon his breast and
said, God, I'm a sinner, have mercy. And you know what the
Lord said of those two men? He said, that one who begged
for mercy went down to his house justified rather than the other.
So the Pharisee justified himself, didn't he? And he was condemned. The Pharisee justified himself,
the publican condemned himself, and we justify it. Many years ago, when my dad passed
away, my dad, very, very self-righteous and religious, part of what they call the Mormon
Church. It's the church of the Antichrist.
They called themselves the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. It's an anti-Christ church. But when my dad passed away and
he was a member of that church, the family asked me if I would
come out there and speak a few words at his funeral service. And I did. There were two speakers
before me and two speakers after me, and I was right in the middle.
And I tried to tell those people, there's a large crowd, a big,
huge building, large crowd. I tried to tell those people
that salvation is by the grace of God because they believe they're
going to heaven upon their righteousness. And they're real big about temple
work. Why those Mormons always have
those temples everywhere? You know, there's 18 million
of those people now. My mother, when she'd come and
visit, and she'd see we have just a small crowd here, and
she would say, well, you know you're not right. We've got,
at that time, we've got 14 million people. Here, you've got 14.
You can't be right. But one of the things I did in
that funeral, I used that Pharisee and that Publican. And I said,
that Publican was always Pharisee was always going to the temple,
doing temple work, temple work, temple work, and justified himself. And God said he went home condemned. You know, that didn't go over
so good. But it was the truth. It was the truth. And my mother's very religious. My aunt. said to me after the
service, and they don't believe that most folks go to hell. To
them, hell is a place where the worst of the worst go. And she
confronted me after the service out in the hallway with her finger
stuck right in my face with a very arrogant, self-righteous way,
she said, you're going straight to hell. I said, well, I appreciate
that. I appreciate your kindness. You see, so many people think
they're justified by what they do. You remember the scripture
said there's a way that seems right unto men, the end of that
way is death. People have got this crazy notion
if their good works outweigh their bad works, that in the
end, and we're gonna talk about this Sunday, the great white
throne judgment. Will they be judged by their
works? Everyone that stood before that great white throne and the
books were open, they were judged. Every one of them were cast into
the lake of hell, the lake of fire, wrath, burning. But that's what folks think.
They think if they're a church member, they think if they're
moral, they think if they're good and they're good outweighs
the bad. When it comes to judgment, God
will see that that ain't gonna work, is it? You know the reason that's not
gonna work? Because the best I have The best morality I have,
or any man has, is nothing but sin. That's all it is. I must have a righteousness that
answers the demand of God's holy law and judgment. And that's
only found in the Lord Jesus Christ. You see what he's saying
here? Enter not into judgment with
thy servant, for in thy sight No man is going to be justified
on the basis of works or deeds or law. Now look at verse 3,
the enemy, the enemy. Now we studied in the book of
Revelation chapter 12, you remember Satan is called the accuser of
the brethren. And how do we overcome him? By the blood of the Lamb.
The enemy hath persecuted my soul, he hath spit my life down
to the ground. God had dealt with our chief
adversary, Satan, the accuser of the brethren. He called a
roaring lion, going about whom he may devour. God has taken
care of him. But there's another enemy that
we have. It's the enemy within us. and is the enemy of our own
wicked, fallen, sinful flesh. That's why Paul in Romans 7 said,
in my flesh that is in me dwelleth no good thing. He said, when
I would do good, evil's present with me. The things that I would
not, that's what I do. And then he says, oh wretched
man that I am. There is that enemy within us that must be
subdued. And that enemy within us has
smitten my life down to the ground. He has made me to dwell in darkness
as those have been long dead, dead in sin, dead in trespasses. And Adam all died. That's how
we got that way. Verse 4, and Adam all died, long dead. but one man death entered into
the world, one man's sin. Therefore is my spirit overwhelmed
within me. Now, we only know about this
overwhelming influence and power of sin, we only know that as
we have been quickened by the Spirit of God and made alive
in the Lord Jesus Christ, and we see him as everything in salvation,
it's only as we've been made alive in Christ Jesus that we
see something of our sin. Before he quickened us and made
us alive in Christ, we didn't care anything about being sinful.
We just thought it was okay. But when God convicts us of our
sin and shows us that we are sinners, therefore our spirit
is overwhelmed within us because of our sin nature we have. born
in sin, shaped in iniquity. And my heart, that leads me to
this word, my heart within me is desolate. And that word we
studied in Psalm 34 is guilty, guilty, guilty. Now, if God doesn't convict us of
our sin and show us that we're guilty, we'll never know anything
of the remedy for our sin Christ alone, Christ in him crucified.
My spirit is overwhelmed within me. My heart is guilty, guilty. He shows us that we're guilty.
You know, here's the thing. Grace is for the guilty. Mercy is for the miserable. Salvation is for sinners. When God shows us what we are
by nature, thank God he doesn't leave us there. He shuts us up
to the Lord Jesus Christ. When he shows us that we're guilty,
he shows us that God is pleased to save sinners by his grace. He says in verse five, I remember
the days of old. and I meditate on all thy works. You see that? I meditate, I remember
the days of old, I remember my deadness and my sin and my guilt
and my remorse and my conviction and all these things, the misery
of my sin. I remember the days of old and
I meditate on all thy works and I ponder, muse on the work of
thy hand. Turn to a couple of Psalms. I
want you to turn and see. Turn to Psalm 92 first of all. Psalm 92. Psalm 92. Psalm 92 verse 4. For thy Lord has made me glad. Through thy work I will triumph
over the works of thy hands. Lord, thou hast made me glad
through thy work. I will triumph in the work of
thy hands, in the work of thy hand. O Lord, how great are thy
work, and thy thoughts are very, very deep. How do we triumph? In the work of his hand. Turn
to one other Psalm. Psalm 111, Psalm 111, Psalm 111. Psalm 111 verse 3, his work is
honorable and glorious, his righteousness endures forever. He has made
his wonderful works to be remembered. The Lord is gracious, full of
compassion. He has given meat unto them that fear him. He will
ever be mindful of his covenant. He showed his people the power
of his works that he may give them the heritage of the heathen.
The works of his hands are verity, true and just judgment, All His
commandments are sure, they stand fast forever, are done in truth
and uprightness. His work is honorable and glorious.
He's made us triumph in the work of His hand. So when we think
about our sinfulness and we think about our guilt, aren't you glad
the Lord Jesus Christ said, I came to do the will of Him to send
me and to finish the work? And then on Calvary 3, He said,
what? He said, it's finished. It's
finished. That leads us down to verse 6. And I've taken too
much time here, but look at verse 6. I stretch forth my hand unto
thee. And this is a hand of faith.
The hand of faith looks to the Lord Jesus Christ. My soul thirsteth
after thee as a thirsty land. Now by nature we thirst after
iniquity. Man drinks iniquity like the
water, it says in the book of Job. It's only by his grace that
we thirst after the water brook, the living well of water of life,
the Lord Jesus Christ. He said, ho, everyone that's
thirsty, come to me. I'll give you drink. told that
woman at the well, you drink of that natural water, you're
gonna thirst again. You drink of that water that I give you,
there'll be a well of water springing up into everlasting life. I love
what she said, you remember? Lord, give me that water. I want
that water. Verse seven, hear me speedily,
O Lord. My spirits faileth. Hide not thy face far from me,
lest I be like them to go down to the pit. All the Lord has
to do for us to go down to the everlasting pit of eternal condemnation
is just leave us alone. Just leave us to ourselves and
we'll perish. Lord, we pray, Lord, don't leave
me to myself. Hear me speedily, O Lord. My
spirit faileth. Hide not thy face from me. I don't want to go down to the
pit. Lord, cause the light and the
glory of the gospel to shine in our heart, that we might see
the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, in verse 8, down through
verse 12, he mentions, I think, seven things. Seven things. And this is, I would encourage
you to go back and look at this. We'll just read through and make
a brief comment. Cause me to hear thy loving kindness. Now, by nature, we're deaf. He
must give us life and eyes, spiritual eyes of faith to see him and
give us ears to hear his loving kindness. The loving kindness
of the Lord is his everlasting covenant mercies to us in Christ.
Cause me to hear thy loving kindness. Remember the Lord said, my sheep,
hear my voice. I know them and they follow me.
He must cause us to hear. He's the cause of our salvation.
For in thee do I trust. That's faith. Trust in him at
all times, ye people. Pour out your heart before him.
God is a refuge for us. And then he said, not only cause
me to hear, cause me to know. As Paul said, I know whom I have
believed, and I'm persuaded he is able. Cause me to know the
way. Now, don't cause me to know a
way. Cause me to know the way. Now, when you see that the way,
what do you think of? John 14.6, don't you? The Lord
said, I am the way, the life, the truth. No man comes as a
father but by me. Cause me to know the way wherein
I should walk. How should we walk? To just live
by faith. We walk by faith, not by sight,
don't we? For I lift up my soul I lift
up my soul to thee. Our Lord said, look unto me and
be ye saved. All the ends of the earth, I
am God. Beside me there is no other. So cause me to hear, cause
me to know the way, the way I should walk, the walk of faith. I lift my soul to thee. Now verse
nine, deliver me. Deliver me, O Lord, from mine
enemies. I flee unto Thee to hide me.
The Lord Jesus Christ is called our Deliverer. He is our Deliverer. He's our Redeemer, and that's
what the word redeemed means. Deliverer. In whom we have redemption
through His blood, the forgiveness of sin according to the riches
of His grace. Ephesians 1 verse 7. He is our
Redeemer. He is our Deliverer. who delivered
us with his own blood by his own power from all my enemies,
sin, death, hell, the grave, name them. I flee unto thee to hide me. He is our refuge. He is our refuge. We hide in Christ. That's why Paul said, oh, they
may win Christ and be found in him. hidden in the Savior's side,
by His Spirit sanctified. And then he says, teach me. See
verse 10? Teach me to do Your will. This
is the will of God, that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth
on Him may have everlasting life. Lord, teach me that will. Teach
me Your will to bow, submit, and believe the Gospel, for Thou
art my God. Thy spirit is good. Deliver me,
teach me, cause me, and then he says in verse 10, lead me.
Lead me. Now what does the good shepherd
do? The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. The good shepherd
leads us. He leads us into the green pastures
of his salvation. Lead me into the land of uprightness. Don't leave me, and the Lord
doesn't lead us to the land of self-righteousness, does he?
He leads us to the land of uprightness, that is, the righteousness we
have freely imputed by the Lord Jesus Christ. Quicken me, O Lord,
for thy namesake, verse 11. Make me alive, O Lord, for Christ's
namesake. were to love one another and
to forgive one another, even as God, for Christ's sake, hath
forgiven us. Quicken me, O Lord. Teach me,
O Lord. Lead me, O Lord. Deliver me,
O Lord. Cause me to hear thy way. You
see what he's saying here? Just make this our prayer right
now. And look at these verses the
rest of the week. And pray this. Lord, hear my
prayer. Quicken me. Teach me. For thy
righteousness sake, bring my soul out of trouble. And again,
it's for Christ's sake, isn't it? For the Lord's name's sake. Bring my soul out of trouble.
We can't bring ourselves out of trouble. God must deliver
us. We need a deliverer. And of your
mercy, verse 12, and of thy mercy, the mercies
of the Lord are new every morning. We're going to study in the book
of Titus chapter 3, verse 5, where it says, not by works of
righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he
saved us. And if thy mercy cut off my enemies,
destroy all them that afflict my soul, I'm your servant. I'm your servant. That's a blessed
psalm, isn't it?