The unbeliever has no hope. And that's what this psalm presents
here, the awesome, awful contrast between believers and unbelievers. Another thing, as I said a moment
ago, like most of the psalms, there's always a precious view
of Christ in the psalms. When you preach the psalms, you
preach Christ. Turn to Hebrews 5, verse 7 a
moment. Hebrews 5, verse 7. As we read
this psalm about the cry of the believer, the prayers of the
believer, it's referring to the prayers of Christ also. For it
says in Hebrews 5, verse 6, As he saith also in another place,
Thou art a priest forever. after the order of Melchizedek,
who in the days of his flesh," now this is Christ, who in the
days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and supplications
with strong cryings and tears unto him, unto God, that was
able to save him from death. And he was heard in that he fared. So when we're reading here about,
and the title of this message is, Unto Thee Will I Pray. Unto Thee Will I Pray. We think
about ourselves, about David the writer, and about our master
who prayed with strong crying and tears unto him who heard
and was able to deliver him from death. All right, verse 1. Give ear to my word. Oh, Lord,
consider my meditations. Consider. That means, Lord, take
notice, if you will, take notice of my prayers. Take notice of
my meditation in your great wisdom. Weigh my prayers. Regard them,
consider them, take notice of them, and weigh my prayers in
your scales. If I pray aright, answer according
to your will. But if I have omitted what I
really need, if I have failed to pray aright, then forgive
and grant to me wisdom. But hear my words. Hear my words
and regard, take notice of my meditation. My words. Now there's true intercession
where there's no words. Hannah used no words, but she
had true intercession, true prayer. And then we know this, there's
sometimes many words and no intercession. Sometimes there are no words,
but true prayer. Sometimes there are a lot of
words, but no true prayer. hear my words, and weigh them,
and consider them, and regard them. And if I pray aright, answer. If I pray wrongly, forgive me. Weigh my prayers. Then verse
2, now think about two pronouns here. Hearken unto the voice
of my cry, my King and my God." Here is the sum and substance,
here is the heart and soul of David's plea. My King, my God. He said, the Lord is my shepherd. Our Lord Jesus Christ said, I
go to my Father, your Father. This is the sum and substance
of true prayer. Like Joshua said, Choose you
this day whom you'll serve, whether the gods before the flood or
the gods after Jordan. But as for me, my house, we'll
serve the Lord God." And when Paul stood on the deck of that
ship that was about to sink, he said, Brethren, be of good
cheer. There stood by me this night
the angel of the Lord, listen, whose I am. and whom I serve."
There's the sum and substance of our prayers and pleas. My
King, my Shepherd, my God, my Father. And it's not only the
sum and substance of David's prayer and the prayer of our
Master. Holy Father, that's where he began his prayer in Gethsemane's
garden, Holy Father, Glorify thy son, that thy son may glorify
thee. But the confidence and assurance
that David has comes from this same statement, my king and my
God. Now, if he's my king, and he's
a good king, he said I'm a good shepherd, I'm a chief shepherd,
I'm a great shepherd. Now if he's my king, a good king
loves his subjects. And you'll hear the cries of
His people. And my God, my King, my God,
my God, we're not strangers to God, He's my God. Listen to what
He says in Psalm 146, 2. And as long as I live, I'll praise
the Lord. He may hear, He may not. He may
answer, He may not. He may bless me with prosperity. He may send me through trials
of trouble and poverty. But I'll bless Him as long as
I live. And I'll sing unto Him as long as I live. And I'll call
on Him as long as I live. And by His grace, I'll praise
Him as long as I live. Give ear to my words, O Lord,
Consider my meditations. Weigh them. Regard them. Weigh
them in your scales. And hearken to my voice. You're
my King. You're my God. And unto Thee
will I pray as long as I live. That's the way David talks. All
right, verse 3. My voice shalt thou hear in the
morning, O Lord, When the dew is upon the grass, let thy grace
be upon my soul." The morning. Charles Spurgeon said one hour
of study in the mornings were two hours in the evening. Thirty minutes of meditation
and prayer in the morning is worth an hour. when the body
is weary and the mind is tired. Seek ye first. Seek ye first. When the dew is on the grass,
let the grace of God be upon the soul. Seek ye first the kingdom
of God. You'll hear my voice in the morning. I begin the day seeking thy face. I know we have different possibilities
and opportunities. I have much more opportunity
than And many of you do in the morning to pray, to seek the
face of God, to study, to meditate. Men and women here who are retired,
you have more opportunity to begin the day with God. You hear
my voice in the morning. God rejoices in the firstfruits. But there are mothers here that
are busy. They get up to get the children
off school. It's a busy time in the morning.
It's a hectic time. The men who get up early and
have to get to work. A bunch of time clock. Boys and
girls and young people get up and cram for class. But we can take a few moments. Prayer doesn't take long. It
doesn't take long. You speak to your wife in the
morning. Good morning, dear. Did you sleep well? Yes, I did.
Did you sleep well? I slept well. You talk things
over. And our Lord gave us a model
prayer that can be prayed in 30 seconds. And it sounds like a morning
prayer to me, too. Here's the way it begins. My Father, hallowed
be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be
done. Thy will be done. Whatever I do today, wherever
I go, wherever I meet, thy will be done. on this earth as it
is in heaven. Give me this day my daily bread.
That's got to be a morning prayer, hasn't it? Give me this day my
daily bread. Forgive my sins. And this day,
Lord, lead me not into temptation. Keep my lips, my tongue from
evil. Give me wisdom for each encounter.
That's all I'm asking, each encounter that I have this day. Give me
wisdom to handle it for your glory and my good. Order my steps. Thank you. Not too hard, is it? Not too hard. Not too long. Not too long. My voice shalt
thou hear in the morning. And what's this? In the morning
will I direct my prayer unto thee, and I'll look up. I sought
some help here, and I got some help. In the morning, I will
direct my prayer. The word direct here is to arrange. That's what it means. You look
it up in the Hebrew. It's to put in order. In the
morning, I'll arrange my conversation, my prayer. I'll put it in order.
And Spurgeon says it's the same word. I'll direct my prayer.
I'll arrange my prayer. I'll put my prayer in order.
He says it's the same word used over here in Leviticus. Turn
to Leviticus, chapter 1. He says it's the same word. See,
our God is a God of order. Our God, all of these instructions
He gave to Moses in the Old Testament were ordered. He said, and see
that you do it just like I gave you directions. And here Spurgeon
says in Leviticus 1, verse 7, He gave them orders for the sacrifice,
for the wood, for the showbread, for everything to be put on the
altar. And the sons of Abraham, verse 7, the priest shall put
fire upon the altar and lay the wood in order upon the fire. Don't just throw it on there.
Just lay it in order. And the priest, Abraham's son,
shall lay the parts and the head and the fat in order upon the
wood. that is on the fire which is
upon the altar. And verse 12, And he shall cut
it into his pieces with his head and fat, and the priest shall
lay them in order on the wood that is on the fire which is
upon the altar. Now, Leviticus 24, let's read
one more scripture. Leviticus 24. Leviticus 24, verse
4 through 6. This is the showbread. The showbread
is the bread of presence. That's what that word means.
S-H-E-W-B-R-E-A-D is pronounced S-H-O. Showbread. And it's the
bread of the presence of God. The bread of God's face. In verse
4 of Leviticus 24, it says, He shall order the lamps upon the
pure candlesticks before the Lord continually in order And
thou shalt take fine flour, and bake twelve cakes thereof, two-tenths
deal shall be in one cake, and thou shalt set them in two rows,
six on a row, upon the pure table before the Lord." There's order
to this sacrifice, there's order to the showbread, there's order
to the candlestick, there's order with God. And the old writer said, words
and methods are a poor place. Words and methods. We're not
heard for how much speaking. We're not heard for our words.
But our prayers are in words. Our prayers are in thoughts,
and thoughts are in words. I may pray and not say anything,
but I'm saying some words in my thoughts. Whether they come
out of my mouth, they're formed in thoughts. Words are formed
in thoughts. So our prayers are thoughts and words before God. Sacrifices of praise. Sacrifices
of thanksgiving. And as these, the wood is to
be put in order, and the pieces of the sacrifice put in order,
and the showbread is to be put in order. We're not to come before the
Lord with a heap of words, and with a throng of words, repetitious
phrases. That's what our Lord condemned,
repetitious phrases, just words, religious words, religious phrases,
religious jargon, religious talk. But set it in order. You hear
my voice in the morning, and I'll direct my prayer. to say. I thought that. Somebody said this,
if we direct our prayers to God and put in order our words, it's
no more difficult to pray than to talk to a loving parent, if
we set them in order, if we arrange our thoughts, if we just be still. That's what he said over here,
be still, in that other Psalm we read, and think, and consider
to whom we're speaking, and who's speaking, and why, and what we
want. And what we thought, it's not
just jargon, it's not just accumulation of words, it's not a heap of
words, I'll arrange, I'll direct my prayer, I'll put it in order
to thee. We're not heard for the length
of it, We're not heard for the eloquence
of it. We're not heard for the time it's offered. No time with
God, whether you get up at 4 o'clock or 10 o'clock. We don't have
time with God. Not too many of us have trouble talking to one another. We don't have
much trouble expressing ourselves. You parents don't have much trouble
instructing your children, and children don't have too much
trouble presenting their case before their parents, because
they think about their case and then they present it. And I believe that's what he's
saying here. My voice, you're going to hear in the morning,
first thing. First thing in the morning. And, O Lord, in the morning I'm
going to direct, I'm going to arrange, I'm going to set in
order my sacrifice of praise. Hallowed be thy name. Thy will
be done. Give me this day my daily bread.
Keep me from the evil one. Lead me not into temptation.
Help me in each encounter. I've got a drive here today,
and I need your grace, and I need your protective care. My children
are going to school this morning, Lord. And there's a lot of things
in that school that are bad for my children. Will you watch over
my children? Will you hedge them about? We're talking to our Father. We're talking to our parents.
Don't let them go off without praying for them. Hedge them
about. That's what Job said, I'm going
to offer a sacrifice for my children because it's a good possibility
they won't. The morning's a good time to
do it. And like I say, you've not heard for the length of it.
We're not heard for the eloquence of it. I would never be heard.
We're not heard for the time of it. God sets no time. As often
as you eat this bread, you show forth the Lord's death. And then he says inversely, I'll
look up. I'll look up with expectation. When I have worshipped thee sincerely
and sought thee first with my heart, when I have in meditation
and sincerity directed my desires and needs and wants and prayers
to thee, I'm going to look up. I'm going to look up with confidence,
look up with acceptance in Christ, certainly not in myself, but
in my Lord, accepting the Beloved, and expectation. Old Manoah said
to his wife, we're going to die. You know, they offered that sacrifice. And when they put the sacrifice,
the fire just took it right up to heaven. And then the angel
appeared in the fire and went to heaven. And Manoah said, we're
going to die. We've seen the Lord. She said, that wise woman
said, we're not going to die. Number one, he wouldn't have
told us these things if he's going to kill us. Number two,
he wouldn't have accepted our sacrifice if he's going to kill
us. And number three, he wouldn't give us these promises if he's
going to kill us. Well, God's not going to kill
you because he gave Christ for you and promised you life. So
when you finish praying, look up. Look up. All right, verse four. First,
I'm going to spend just a few minutes on verse 4, 5, and 6,
because here is the Lord's alienation from the wicked, alienation in
six steps, in six steps. Here they are. Number one, thou
art not a god that hath pleasure in wickedness. God has no pleasure
in wicked people, no matter how clever they are. No matter how
charming they are, they fascinate us. No matter how famous they
are, no matter how strong they are, God has no pleasure in wickedness. All these movie stars and politicians
and sports stars, and God has no pleasure. He has no pleasure
in the legs of a man. That's right. Neither shall evil dwell with
thee." They'll not dwell with Him either on this earth or in
heaven. Write it down. They'll never
dwell with Him. Not on this earth and not in
heaven. No matter how many crosses they
wear, or crosses in their earrings, and no matter how many times
they kneel after they make a touchdown and look towards heaven and wall
their eyes back, they're not going to dwell with Him. The only reason we dwell with Him
is because Christ purged our sins. We dwell with him and in
him only because we're sanctified by the blood of his son. They'll
never dwell with God. They can talk about... I heard
a preacher a few years ago on television out here on Channel
61. This fellow had the community church up here at the old community
building, and his cat had died. And he just knew his cat was
in kitty heaven. Honest. Neither shall they dwell
with thee. No way. Thirdly, the foolish
shall not stand in his sight. And we're living in a foolish
day. People making fun, ridicule, jokes about religion, gospel,
God, heaven, hell, church, The foolish shall not stand in his
sight. Everybody's trying to out-funny everybody else. But
I'll tell you this. Earthly kings may enjoy entertainment
of fools. Nearly every king used to have
a jester called him Sir Fool. And they may enjoy that. But
let me tell you this. The all-wise God has no fools
in his kingdom. The foolish, the fool has said,
No, God. The fool has said, I'll tear
down my barns and build bigger ones. The fool, the fool. There
are no fools in God's kingdom. He gives us the spirit of wisdom. Number four, Thou hatest all
workers of iniquity. That's a strong word, but that's
what the Lord says. Turn to Psalm 34, and let me
show you this again. all workers of iniquity, all
of them. Psalm 34, verse 15. The eyes
of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their
cry. But the face of the Lord is against them that do evil,
to cut off the remembrance of them, even the remembrance of
them, from the earth. He hates the workers of iniquity.
Number five, in verse six, Thou shalt destroy them that speak
lies. Newton said, A liar may not be
in danger from the laws of men, but he will not escape the judgment
of God. All liars shall have their part
in the lake furnished with fire. Leasing is lies. God will destroy
them that speak lies. Proverbs says, speak truth with
your neighbor. Truth. What webs of something we weave
when first we begin to deceive? One lie leads to another, leads
to another. God's people tell the truth.
Six, the Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. Who
did you think of when I read the bloody and deceitful man?
Cain. Cain, he was a deceitful person.
False worship, and then in his anger against his brother who
worshipped God from his heart with the blood sacrificed, and
he killed him. And that's the way false prophets
are, they're deceitful men. and then murder God's children.
Well, how awesome are these charges! How awesome! But how good to
leave them. Verse 7, But, like a breath of
fresh air in me, but, as for me, I'm glad to get out of that,
but, as for me, the whole world lies in wickedness, but we are
of God, as for me, This is my resolution, like Joshua of old,
as for me. Watch this now. What is his resolution? Here's my resolution. It regards
the Lord's house. Listen, I will come into thy
house. That's my resolution. Well, the
temple was not then built. When David wrote these words,
Sodom and built the temple. There was no temple. It was a tabernacle. But I'll
come into thy house. I was glad, David said, when
they said to me, let's go to the house of the Lord. But there
wasn't one. There wasn't a temple. But I'll tell you where he came.
The household of God. I was glad when they said to
me, Let's go to the household, the family of God. Let's meet
together. That's one of the problems with
vacation. We had one of the nicest vacations, restful times we've
ever had. And if you go to a place like,
oh, where Brother Gary's a pastor, or somewhere where you can attend
church on the Lord's Day, that's wonderful. But when you go to
a place where there's not one, that's the reason I took Milton
and Paul Edwards and Bob with me, so we could have preaching.
So when you go on a vacation next year, if you go somewhere
where there's not a place to worship, take two of the elders
with you. They'd be glad to go. You raise your hand, he'll go.
He's retired. Most of them are retired, but
they'll go. But I'll come into thy house,
the household of God, family of God. What is the house of
God? The church is the body of Christ. The church is the place where
the people of God meet. That's the house of God. He said
where two or three are met, my name, that's where I am. I'll dwell in the midst of them.
So I believe David is saying here, my resolution, that's for
me. I'm not with these people up
here now. I'm going to come into the house of the Lord. I'm going
to meet with the people of God. I'm going to spend my time in
the presence of those who know the Lord. I'm going to worship
with them. And here, too, this resolution
rests upon two things. Verse 7. As for me, I'll come
into the house, into thy house, because of the multitude of thy
mercies, and because I fear the Lord. And that word fear is our
regard and respect and admire and worship God. That's my two-fold
motivation, because of the multitude of thy mercies. Every one of
us could just as one voice say, oh, the multitude of God's mercies
to us, all of our lives. Why wouldn't we want to be here?
Why wouldn't we want to pray? Why wouldn't we say, I'll bless
him as long as I live? I'll sing to him as long as I
live? I'll call on him as long as I live? I'll pray as long
as I live? I've got lots to be thankful for, the multitude of
his mercies. And in thy fear, and in thy fear, I worship thee. I worship thee. Love and fear,
thanksgiving and respect, grace and reverence. Those are the
two things that always go where God's people worship. Love and
fear, thanksgiving and respect, grace and reverence. That's right. And in thy fear will I worship
toward thy holy temple." Now, like I said, the temple wasn't
built. The temple wasn't built when David said this. The tabernacle
stood, and in that tabernacle, that's where the mercy seat was.
That's where the shekinah glory dwelt between the chair beams.
And David said, that's the direction I direct my worship. That's the
only way I can worship God or know God have fellowship with
God is because of the blood on the mercy seat. And so toward
thy holy mercy seat will I worship thee." The tabernacle stood,
that's where the mercy seat was, that's where the blood of redemption.
Now then, our Lord is at the right hand of the Father, our
forerunner. And that's the direction of our
worship. So Lord, verse 8, lead me. Lead me, O Lord, in thy righteousness. Lead me as a child led by a loving
father. Lead me, Lord, as a blind man
is led by a friend. Lead me, Lord, because it's a
safe and pleasant journey when you lead. And lead me in thy
righteousness. I don't have any. Pairs of righteousness
for thy name's sake. and make, listen, because of
mine enemies, and make thy way plain before my face." Make it
straight, right, and plain. This is what Moses asked for. This is what he asked the Lord
to give him. Show me your way. Lead me, lead me in paths of
righteousness for thy name's sake, because of my enemies within
and without. And make thy way. Make it plain. That's what I'm trying to do
for myself and for you in these studies. Make that way plain. So there'll be no doubt about
it. There'll be no debate about it. Make it plain. Make it straight. Seek straight paths for your
feet. Don't step to the right or the left. Make it before thy
face. because of mine enemies, the
last enemy's death." All right, now verse 9 and 10, the ungodly
are not so. He says about the ungodly, here
he describes them, he says, there's no faithfulness in their mouths.
What is faithfulness? Truth. It's required of a steward that
he be faithful. That doesn't just mean loyal,
it means truthful. Truthful. For whatever reason, do anything
but tell the truth regarding the Scriptures. But them, there's
no truth in their mouths. And listen, their hearts, their
inward part, that's the heart, it's very wickedness. The heart
is deceitful, desperately wicked. Who can know it? You hear people say, well, if
I know my heart, well, that's probably the one thing we're
talking about. That's their wicked man. He doesn't know his heart.
Their mouths have no truth. Their hearts are wicked. Listen.
Their throat is an open sepulchre. Their throat is like an open
grave that sends forth the nauseous stink and stench of death. Everybody's saying, Lord, Lord,
Jesus, Jesus, heaven, hell. Their throat's an open sepulchre,
some of them, and they flatter with their tongues. They deal
double and deceitful. They cry, peace, when there is
no peace. Peace, and there is no peace. Peace is only in Christ. He made
peace for the blood of his cross. No peace in religion. It make
you feel good. There's no peace in environment. Putting on a show is peace at
a person. And they flattered with their
tongues. And David said, Lord, destroy them. Destroy them. Oh God, let them fall by their
own counsels. Cast them out in the multitude
of their transgressions. Why? They rebelled against thee. Now, let me tell you something.
This is not the spirit of revenge. And this is not from want of
pity. David was a pitying person. David was not a revengeful man.
You remember when that fellow cursed him and Joab says, I'll
run him through, I'll take his head off. David said, don't do
that. Don't do that. He's a pitiful fellow. And God
may have commanded him to curse me. I deserve whatever he says. You know what he said? David
was a pitying person. So what's he doing here? It's
not revenge. It's not from want of pity. It's
not from lack of love. David was a man who loved people. But what was it? This is an intense
earnestness for the glory of God and for the eternal glory
and happiness of his people. and for the purity and righteousness
of his kingdom to come. And if he's going to have a kingdom
wherein dwelleth righteousness, where nothing enters in which
worketh or maketh alive, he's going to have to destroy the
wicked and all wickedness. And David said, even so come,
Lord Jesus, and destroy them all. Let them fall. That's right, and the last enemy
will be destroyed, death. Verse 11, but, see we keep going
from the contrast, the wicked, unbelievers. But, let all those
that put their trust in thee rejoice. They trust not themselves. They trust not men. They trust
not their righteousness. They trust not their strength.
But they trust in thy name, and in thy righteousness, and in
thy power, O Lord. They trust you. Let them rejoice. And here's another thing about
them. He says, Let them shout for joy, because thou defendest
them. Let them also that love thy name
be joyful in thee. What do they do? They trust him
and they love his name. They love his name. They love
himself. They love the Lord himself because of the perfection of
his nature, his name. Because of the work of his hands,
creation and redemption. Because of the covenant of his
grace, everlasting love, and especially of the unspeakable
gift of His love, our Lord and Savior. Let them that trust in
Thee rejoice, and let them that love Thy name be joyful in Thee. I love Thy name, O Lord. Let God be God. I trust Him. The last verse, for thy Lord
twofold blessings. You'll bless the righteous with
favor, with free favor, love and grace in Christ, and you'll
compass him, edge him about as with a shield. His love surrounds
us on all sides and covers us and protects us, and he's our
security from all hurt and harm. The Lord bless thee, the Lord
keep thee, the Lord make his face shine upon thee, the Lord
be gracious to thee, the Lord lift up his countenance upon
thee and give thee peace. John Newton spoke on this psalm
and wrote this hymn. Our Lord, our Lord, with such
a heart as mine, unless ye hold me fast, I feel, I know, I shall
decline and prove like them at last. Yet thou alone hast power,
I know, to save a wretch like me. To whom and where could I
go if I turn from thee? Beyond a doubt I rest assured
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, who hath eternal life secured
by his righteousness and his blood, and firm as his throne
his promise stands, and he will well secure what I've committed
into his hands until that great, decisive hour, that's my hope. Unto thee, O Lord, will I pray. You're going to hear me in the
morning.