Psalm 143 of our study this evening. I'm taking the title of the message
from verse 11. Look over there at verse 11 again.
He says in verse 11, quicken me, quicken me. It's an old English
word, quicken. It means to make alive. Make
me alive. Quicken me, O Lord, for thy name's
sake. Quicken me for thy name's sake. And we know He's talking about
making us new creatures in Christ Jesus raising us from the grave
Giving us salvation. So I'm entitling the message
life and salvation because of Christ life and salvation Quicken
me O Lord for thy name's sake life and salvation because of
the Lord Jesus Christ you remember in Ephesians chapter 4 verse
24 where I We read, be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted,
forgiving one another, even as God, even as God, for Christ's
sake, hath forgiven you. That's the only reason for pardon,
forgiveness, isn't it? Christ's sake. Of his fullness
have we all received grace because of grace. The reason salvation
is not found in us the reason salvation is found in him, for
Christ's sake. Again in this psalm we see David,
the king of Israel, a man after God's own heart, notice it says
it's a psalm of David, a prayer of David, calling upon the Lord,
and again his spirit is overwhelmed within him, calling upon the
Lord in a time of trouble. Every believer has the same privilege,
the same blessing, to call upon the Lord. It wasn't reserved
just for David. David was God's special man for
that special day, the anointed King of Israel. But every believer
had the same privilege, the same blessing to call upon the Lord. Scripture says, whosoever shall
call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. I want to call.
Remember the Word from Hebrews chapter 4 where he said, come
boldly unto the throne of grace that you may obtain mercy, find
grace to help in time of need. There's a song in our song book,
we don't sing it much, but it's written by an old writer, Joseph
Scriven, and he penned these words, what a privilege to carry
everything to God in prayer. As Peter said, take your burdens
to the Lord. Cast thy burden upon the Lord
and he shall sustain thee. We're taught in scripture, pray
without ceasing. And in everything, give thanks. Prayer to the believer, praying
is like breathing. It is a very life breath of the
believer. Prayer is. We cannot live, naturally
speaking, without breathing. You wouldn't last long without
breathing, would you? And the believer cannot live
without praying. Cannot live without praying.
We are in a constant attitude of praying unto God. That doesn't
mean that we're down on our knees all the time calling upon the
Lord, but it's the attitude of the heart. It's the attitude
of thanksgiving, and everything gives thanks. Prayer is not something
that's cold, dead, and mechanical. It's not repeat after me, repeat
after me. Prayer is a spontaneous cry of
the heart. The cry of the heart unto God. It's not something mechanical,
something regimental. It's not really something that's
even taught. It's just the cry of the heart. It's the heart
cry of the believer unto his God. Lord, look what he says
in verse 1. Hear my prayer. Hear my prayer. You remember, we've seen this
several times. Look at Psalm 141, verse 1. Lord,
I cry unto thee. Make haste unto me. Give ear
unto my voice when I cry unto thee. Down in Psalm 142, verse
1. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice. Seems like David's praying all
the time. He is. every believer a man of prayer,
a person who cries unto the Lord. I cried unto the Lord with my
voice, with my voice unto the Lord, did I make my supplication,
I poured out my heart, my complaint before Him, I showed before Him
my trouble, crying unto the Lord. Hear my prayer. Now, what good
would it do us to pray if the Lord did not hear our prayer. Because He's a living God, the
true and living God, He hears our prayers. Because He is a
covenant God, He's obligated Himself to hear the cry of His
people. He ever lived to intercede for
us. Now notice what it says there,
Hear my prayer, O Lord, give ear to my supplication, my request. let your request be made known
unto God and then in thy faithfulness answer me and in thy righteousness
because God is faithful and righteous he delights to answer our prayers
you know our prayer is this Lord not my will thy will be done
we can be assured if we pray according to his will our prayer
will be answered Finding the will of the Lord and praying
to that end We don't ask we do not ask to be heard upon our
faithfulness David didn't say Lord hear my prayer because I'm
the king He didn't say hear my prayer because I've won many
battles for the Lord and he did he had won many battles, but
he doesn't appeal unto any merit of his own does he Look what
he says, "'Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear to my supplication,
and in thy faithfulness answer me, and in thy righteousness
answer me.'" You see the difference? We do not ask to be heard upon
our faithfulness or upon our righteousness. David didn't pray
that way, but rather he appealed unto the Lord's faithfulness.
He appealed unto the Lord's righteousness. Now, I like to talk about the
faithfulness of our God. I like to talk about the righteousness
of our God. Our blessed Lord is faithful
to all of His covenant promises. You remember the last words of
Joshua as he dies, getting ready to meet the Lord? He said, of
all that God had promised, not one word has failed. The Lord is faithful to His covenant
promise. He's promised a whole lot in
His Word. And He's faithful to every promise
He's made. Faithful. Faithful. Our Lord,
secondly, is also righteous in all His ways. Answer me in thy
faithfulness. Answer me in thy righteousness. Now this righteousness He's talking
about is not our righteousness, but rather His. Turn over here
to Psalm 31. Find a few scriptures on that. Psalm 31. Look at verse
1 and 2. In Thee, O Lord, do I put my
trust. Let me never be ashamed. Deliver me in Thy righteousness. You see that? 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. Deliver me in thy righteousness."
And we know he's talking about the Lord Jesus Christ, who is
the believer's righteousness. Find Psalm 71, turn over there. Psalm 71. Psalm 71, if you remember, is
all about the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. Psalm 71, verse 15. My mouth
shall show forth thy righteousness and thy salvation all the day,
for I know not the numbers thereof. I will go in the strength of
the Lord God, I will make mention of thy righteousness, even thine
only. Look at verse 19, thy righteousness
also, O God, is very high. Who hath done great things, O
God, who is like unto thee? Look at verse 24. My tongue also
shall talk of thy righteousness all the day, for they are confounded,
for they are brought unto shame that seek my hurt." So David
here appeals unto the Lord to be heard because he knew his
God's faithful. He knew his God righteous in
all his doing and all his ways. Now look at verse 2. enter not into judgment with
thy servant. For in thy sight shall no man
living be justified, cleared of all guilt." Now, what's he
saying here? David here declares three things.
First of all, he declares who he is. He said, I'm thy servant. I'm thy servant. You remember
the story about the bond slave, the willing bond slave who serves
his master not out of captivity, but out of love. And David here
said, I'm your willing, loving servant. The Apostle Paul called
himself repeatedly a servant of the Lord. That's a good title. I'd like to think that every
believer is a servant of the Lord." So first of all, who He
is? Servant. Secondly, what He knows. What
He knows. For in thy sight shall no man
living be justified. What's He saying there? I'll
tell you what He's saying. No man will be justified before
God by any deed or doing on his part, on the part of the man. By the deeds of the law shall
no flesh be justified in His sight, you remember Romans chapter
3, 19 and 20. Third thing, what he asked for. You know what he asked for? The first part of the verse,
enter not into judgment with thy servant. So what's he praying
for? Mercy, isn't he? Mercy. I don't want what's coming to
me. Don't let me stand before God
on the ground of my works. I'll surely be cast out. Don't
enter into judgment with me, according to your loving kindness,
according to the multitude of thy tender mercy, blot out my
sin." He's saying that, isn't he? He's praying, Lord deal with
me according to your mercy, not according to your justice. David
desired to meet God at the mercy seat, not at the judgment seat. How foolish to say before Almighty
God, all I want is what's coming to me. That's a terrible thing
to say, isn't it? We don't want to meet God at
the judgment seat upon the ground of our doing, but we do want
to meet God at the mercy seat, and that mercy seat is Christ.
He's our propitiation, isn't he? This is our desire then for
every believer, that's our desire to be justified before God in
Christ, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that is in Christ Jesus to be accepted in the Beloved. Look
at verse 3, for the enemy has persecuted my soul, he, kind
of personified here, he has smitten my life down to the ground, he
hath made me to dwell in darkness as those that have been long
dead." Now, we studied in the Revelation that Satan is called
the accuser of the brethren, but we know the Lord has dealt
with him. I think here what he's saying
is the enemy and the chief enemy of our soul that ravishes our
heart, that smites us to the ground and makes us to dwell
in darkness is our own wicked sin. You remember over here in
Psalm 140, deliver me, verse 1, O Lord, from the evil man,
remember who I told you that was? Preserve me from the violent
man, our own wicked nature, our own sinful nature, which imagine
mischief in the heart. Continually are they together,
gathered together for war. There's a warfare in the heart
of the believer. Sin has smitten us to the ground
and has persecuted our soul. Our sin has made us to dwell
in darkness by nature." I like that statement there, as those
that have been long dead. How long have we been dead? In
Adam all died. That's a long time. Dead. Graveyard dead. Spiritually so. God, in Adam all died. Representation. and Adam all
sinned, in Christ shall all be made alive." God must, because
of our terrible sin condition, fallen, sinful, in the dark,
dead in sin, how can we deliver ourselves? God must make us alive. God must
make us alive. It's just not some decision we
make. Salvation is not based upon some
decision we make. God must quicken us by the power
of the Holy Spirit. You remember Ephesians 2, 1,
you have equickened who were dead in trespasses and in sin. I'm working on an article for
the Bulletin on Sunday and I hope to have it completed and
in the bulletin by Sunday, but I talked to a local pastor in
the neighborhood here, and I don't really know the man very well,
but he's been actually pastoring the church in this area longer
than I have been here. And I went to meet with him and
talk with him. And he kept talking about making
decisions for Jesus, about forcing people or coercing people to
make decisions for Jesus. And I tried to tell him that
salvation is It involves God raising us from
the dead. It's not the greatest of all
the redemptive work of the Lord Jesus Christ could not be conditioned,
whether it's successful or a failure, upon something the sinner does.
Some decision you make, that can't be so. That's contrary
to the Word of God. And I asked the man, I said,
show me that in the Bible. Well, you know, he couldn't show
it to me in the Bible. I said, well, why do you do those
things? Why do you do those things at the end of the service to
call upon people to make a decision? He said, well, that's what the
apostles did. I said, no, they didn't. No, they didn't. He said, well, that's just what
we're going to do. We went around and around for
an hour, hour and a half, and I tried to show him repeatedly,
repeatedly, repeatedly, salvation of the Lord, salvation of the
Lord, and he kept coming back with this, gotta make a decision. So sad. Sad. Is he afraid to preach the gospel,
and is he afraid that God can't raise dead sinners, and God can't
give life unless the sinner does something? See what we've come
to in our day? It's a sad thing. It's a sad
thing. The enemy has persecuted my soul. He's spitting my life down to
the ground. He has made me to dwell in darkness.
Those who have been long dead will just decide to raise yourself
from the dead. I told him this. I said, hey,
Lazarus, you've been dead four days in the grave. The Lord didn't
say, hey, Lazarus, make a decision for Jesus. He said, Lazarus,
come forth. God must quicken. God must make
a life. Look at verse 4. Therefore is
my spirit overwhelmed within me, my heart within me. It's desolate, desolate, desolate. When considering the effects
of our sin, how many times we've sinned against God, when considering
who we've sinned against, considering that we cannot not sin, our spirit,
our heart is overwhelmed and desolate. There's not one thing
we can do to put away sin. Water baptism won't put away
sin. Our decision is not going to put away sin. Our church membership
is not going to put away sin. Overwhelmed, he said, and desolate. When the Lord is pleased to convict
us of our sin, to show us what we are, that's not something that is
a curse, that's a blessing. To be convicted of sin for the
Lord to strip us and show us what we are before Him, sinful,
it's only as He convicts us of what we are showing us that we
are sinners before God that will ever cry out to the Lord for
mercy. God, be merciful to me, thee,
sinner. Conviction of sin is a blessing.
It drives us to the Lord Jesus Christ to find refuge, to find
righteousness, to find salvation. Now look at verse 5. Therefore
is my spirit overwhelmed within me, my heart within me is desolate,
Look what he says, I remember the days of old. I meditate on
all the good works I've done. I ponder, muse, meditate, ponder
is the word, muse, on all the work of my hands, what I've done
for Jesus, what decisions I've made for Jesus. Now I'm making
fun on purpose because it's just ridiculous. I remember the days
of old. I remember what happened in the
fall. Remember what happened when we
were born in sin, dead in trespasses and sin. He said, I think upon
all the work that you have done for me, not what I've done for
you. I ponder on all the work of thy hands. You see, salvation,
When sin would rob us of comfort, our only recourse for refreshing
is unto the Lord, His work, His doing. Salvation that we enjoy
is not by our works, but rather by the works of His hand. That's
what refreshed David's heart. Salvation by His free grace.
Turn over here to Psalm 57. You remember Psalm 57 verse 2? I cry unto God most high, unto
God that performeth all things for me." God most high that performs all
things for me, accomplishes all things for me. David said, remembering
my sin, my desolation, how depraved I am. I don't think about what
I've contributed. I think about what the Lord has
done for us. His faithfulness, His obedience,
His salvation. I ponder, I meditate upon the
work of thy hand." One other scripture on this, turn to Psalm
92 verse 4. Psalm 92 verse 4. For thou, Lord,
hast made me glad through thy work. Salvation is what He has done
for us, not what we do for Him. I will triumph in the work of
thy hands. O Lord, how great are thy works!
That's pretty clear, isn't it? And thy thoughts are very deep. A brutish man knoweth not, neither
does a fool understand. Oh, but we do. We understand
what the Lord has accomplished for us. Salvation by His free
and sovereign grace. Now look at verse 6. I stretch forth my hands unto
thee. What hands here is he talking
about? The hand of faith. The hand of faith. My soul thirsteth
after thee as a thirsty, thirsty land. Back over here to Psalm
42. Psalm 42. You remember we talked about
as the deer, verse 1, the heart is the young geared, paneth after
the water brooks, so paneth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for
the living God. When shall I come and appear
before God?" You see the believer hungers and thirsts for Christ, looking to the Lord
Jesus Christ. I look forth I look to Thee,
I stretch forth my hand to Thee." The hand of faith stretches out
only to Christ. The thirst of faith is only quenched,
how? The thirst of faith is only quenched
by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's only by the grace of God
that we thirst after Him. By nature, you know what we do?
Job 15 tells us this, by nature We drink iniquity like the water. It's only by the grace of God
that we thirst after Him. I've got another reference here.
Let's find Psalm 63, verse 1. Oh God, Thou art my God, Psalm
63, 1. Early will I seek Thee. My soul
thirsteth after Thee, my flesh longeth for Thee in a dry and
thirsty land where there is no water, to see Thy power, Thy
glory. So as I've seen Thee in the sanctuary,
I thirst after Thee." The thirst of faith is only quenched
by the Lord Jesus Christ. We're going to see Sunday from
John chapter 7 I'm looking at a message from verse 37 where
the Lord said, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. Remember he told the woman at
the well, you drink of that natural water, you thirst again. You
drink of that water that I will give you, there shall be a well
of water springing up into everlasting life. Now back to the text, verse
7. 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." David here is praying,
Lord, don't leave me to myself, isn't he? Don't leave me to myself. Hide not thy face from me. The glory of God shined in the
face of the Lord Jesus Christ. God will not fail us when our
spirit fails and is overwhelmed. He is faithful and will never
leave us alone. He will never, no, never forsake
us. One old writer said, mercy has
wings to its heels when misery is in its extreme. Mercy has
wings to its heels. Hear me speedily, O Lord, my
spirit faileth. Hide not, hide not thy mercy
from me. Hide not thy salvation from me.
Don't leave me to myself. My own thoughts, my own ways
are contrary to the way of grace. Lord, teach me." Now, in verse
8, down through verse 12, he makes seven requests. And my
time is pretty well gone, but we'll look at these in a brief way, cause me to hear,
cause me to hear thy loving kindness in the morning, for in thee do
I trust. Cause me to hear. The Lord must
give us ears to hear the good news of the gospel. The Lord
must give us an appetite for the bread of life. The Lord must
give us a thirst for Him and His loving kindness toward His
people. Now who is the first cause of
salvation? Christ. Who is the second cause
of salvation? Christ. Who is the third cause
of salvation? Christ. No wonder the Apostle
said Christ is all and in all. I've got another bulletin article,
article in the bulletin for Sunday, man who was burned to the stake
for the gospel. Before the religious order of
the day, they asked him for three reasons for his salvation. He said, reason number one, Christ. Reason number two, Christ. Reason
number three. And he sealed his testimony with
his death. For in thee do I trust. Those
who have heard him speak look nowhere else. for salvation. Cause me to hear your love and
kindness. I tell you, you heard from him,
you'll trust him. I won't have to browbeat you into a decision. Lest I be like them that go down
to the bit. Cause me to hear. Secondly, cause
me to know the way. I don't want to know a way. Salvation
is not like a way. Salvation is the way. Cause me to know the way wherein
I should walk. What is the way wherein I should
walk? Christ, the Lord Jesus Christ. As you therefore have received
Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in Him. He is the way that
we walk. We walk looking to Him. For I
lift up my soul unto thee." You see that? Caused me to know the way of
salvation in Christ. Our Lord said, I am the way,
the truth, the life. Look at verse 9. Thirdly, he
prays, Lord, deliver me. Now, we've seen this word here
repeatedly, haven't we? Deliver me, deliver me, deliver
me, O Lord, from mine enemies. Look back at Psalm 142. Verse
5 and 6, I cried unto thee, O Lord, I said, Thou art my refuge, my
portion in the land of the living. Attend unto my cry, for I am
brought very low. Deliver me, deliver me, O Lord,
from my persecutors, from those that are stronger than I. Our
deliverance is of the Lord. Deliver me from my enemies, for
I flee unto thee to hide me. That's a good place to hide.
Christ is our hiding place. Christ is our refuge. The Lord
Jesus Christ is both deliverer and refuge. Who is able? Who else is able
to deliver us? Who else would? Who else would? Who else is able? You know, the
scripture says that this is a faithful saying and worthy of all acceptation
that the Lord Jesus Christ came to save sinners, came to deliver
sinners. Deliver me, O Lord, from my enemies,
I flee to Thee. hide me he is our hiding place
he is our refuge now look verse 10 teach me fourthly he said
teach me cause me to hear cause me to
know deliver me then teach me teach me to do thy will for thou
art my God teach me to do thy will teach me to not only teach
me and reveal the will of the Lord to me but Lord then give
me grace to do thy will to do thy will all those who have heard
and learned they come to the Lord Jesus Christ we are to be
doers of the word not hearers only deceiving ourselves teach
me to do thy will what is we boil it all right down what is
it To do the will of the Lord. Bow to Christ. Believe the gospel. This is the will of God. This
is the will of God. This is the will of Him that
sent me that everyone which seeth the Son and believeth on Him
may have everlasting life and I'll raise Him up at the last
day. This is the will of the Lord. Bow. Bow. Kiss the Son lest you be angry.
You remember Psalm 2? Look at verse 10. Teach me, deliver me, cause me
to know, cause me to hear. And then he said, lead me, lead
me, lead me into the land of uprightness. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the Good Shepherd. The Good Shepherd that lead us
in the green pastures. He said, my sheep hear my voice,
I know them and they follow me. Lead me into the land of uprightness. Now, what do you reckon the land
of the uprightness is? It can also be rendered, lead me
into the plain way. The plain way. The Lord is my
shepherd, I shall not want. Believers are eager and willing
to be led by the good shepherd of the sheep. Christ, our great
and good shepherd, never leads us astray. It's safe to follow
Him. He always leads us to Himself. That's the land of uprightness.
Come unto me, He said, and I'll give you rest. The sixth thing
He says in verse 11, quicken me. Quicken me. Make me alive. Give me life. Give me salvation,
O Lord. And do it for Christ's sake.
For Thy righteousness' sake. That's a good ground to beg for
mercy upon, isn't it? Quicken me, O Lord, for Thy name's
sake, for Thy righteousness' sake. Bring my soul out of trouble.
We make no appeal to our merit, or work, or righteousness, only
to the Lord. Quicken me for Christ's sake.
Reveal the gospel to me for Christ's sake. Show mercy to me for Christ's
sake. For Thy righteousness' sake, bring my soul out of trouble. Verse 12. Here's the seventh
plea, and of thy mercy. Again, he doesn't beg for merit.
He doesn't beg for any help upon the ground of merit, does he?
Mercy. Mercy. Not by works of righteousness
which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us. Aren't we mercy beggars before
God? That's what we are. Mercy beggars. And of thy mercy. cut off mine enemies, destroy
all them that afflict my soul. I am thy servant." This is the
only ground to stand upon for any sinner. Mercy, not merit. Mercy. Mercy. I need mercy, don't
you? Lord, show me your glory. I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy.