Now, the Apostle Paul wrote in Romans 8, 28, and we know this. We're certain about it. We know
that all things, all things in heaven and earth, past, present
and future, all things good and bad, all things work together
for good to them who love God, to them who are called according
to His purpose. And I suppose that it would be
difficult to say to which we owe the most, to the good things
or the bad things, what we consider to be bad things. I suppose it'd be difficult to
say to which we owe the most, to our joys or to our sorrows, to our successes or to our failures, to our health or to our times
of sickness and infirmity. To which do we owe the most?
To our friends or to our enemies. When you look at some of the
Lord's choice servants, you find that they owed a great deal to
these times of difficulty and suffering and trials. I believe that Abraham's trials
revealed and strengthened his faith much more than his victories. I believe the Apostle Peter would
never have been the compassionate, humble preacher of Pentecost
had he not experienced the sorrow of denying his Lord. Do you? I do know that the prodigal son
would have never been the prodigal son if he had not left home. The prodigal son must experience
humiliation to come home with a broken heart. And his failures also revealed
the mercies and grace of his father, brought that forward. Without that experience, we would
never have known the compassion of the father who received him.
If you turn to 2 Corinthians chapter 12, in 2 Corinthians chapter 12,
the Apostle Paul talks about something that God ordained for
him, which he needed, which was most unpleasant. He said in 2 Corinthians 12 verse
7, And lest I should be exalted
above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was
given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to buffet
me." And again he said, lest I should be exalted above measure.
It was necessary. It was necessary. The enemies of the gospel really
gave birth to the Reformation. They drove Martin Luther and
other preachers to emphasize justification by faith. Were
it not for that trouble and persecution, this message would not have been
sounded nearly so powerfully as it was. They drove them to
preach these things. drove them. I have a plant in my backyard.
Not many people are familiar with this plant. It's called
a sweet shrub. But a sweet shrub smells good. The little bloom that's on the
sweet shrub, it's a little purple bloom, about the size of a large grape. And you can Take it off the bush
and smell of it. It smells pretty good, but if
you'll mash it, mash it with your finger, the more you mash
it, the better it smells, the sweeter it is. That's right.
And a believer, someone said a believer is like a sweet shrub.
The more God's pleased to crush him and mash him, trouble him,
sweeter he smells. So I suppose you could think
about that. To which do we owe the most?
The mountaintop or the valley? The joys or the sorrows? The
health or the infirmities? The successes or the failures?
I'd have to say that I owe more to the valleys than I do to the
mountains. I believe God's done more For me, personally, and
I believe in studying those who preceded me in the Scriptures,
I believe that they owe more to their sorrows and troubles
and trials than they do to the times of their happinesses and
joy. So I wonder this. Turn to Psalm
17. I wonder how many of the Psalms
would be missing. if David had not been sorely
tried. I don't believe we'd have Psalm
51. I don't believe we'd have Psalm 73. Are you familiar with
Psalm 73? When he talked about how the
wicked prospered and the godly were afflicted. He wouldn't have
that one. He wouldn't have Psalm 107. Then
they cried unto the Lord in their trouble. And He saved them out
of their distresses. And you wouldn't have this one
here, Psalm 17. That's my subject tonight. David, out of his heartache and
out of his trials, cried unto God. So I want to look at this
and pray that the Lord will give me a little wisdom and a little
understanding that it might be a blessing to you as I look at
it verse by verse. Here in Psalm 17, verse 1, Psalm
17, David said, Hear the right, O Lord, attend unto my cry, give
ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of insincere, hypocritical
lips. Now, three times he asked to
be heard. He says, Hear the right, O Lord. He says, attend unto my cry. He says, give ear unto my prayer. Three times. What does he mean,
hear the right, O Lord? Well, in your margin, it says
justice. Hear justice. Well, I'll tell
you what he's saying. He's saying, hear a mightier
voice than mine. Hear the righteous one, hear
the just one, justice. Hear my advocate, hear my intercessor,
hear the just one, Lord, hear the Messiah. Hear the righteous one speaking,
interceding on my behalf. Attend unto my cry in him, my
cry. You know, that's quite a contrast
to Have a little talk with Jesus." That's a great contrast. I hear somebody say, well, let's
have a little word of prayer. Let's don't have a little word
of prayer. Let's don't. Let's cry, hear the righteous
one on my behalf. Oh Lord, attend to my cry. True prayer is a cry. It's a
cry. And I'll tell you, there's mighty
power Mighty power in a child's cry to prevail with a parent's
heart. You hear that? Let me say it
again. There's mighty power in a child's
cry. It'll wake a mother in the dead
of the night. A child's cry. There's a mighty power in a child's
cry to prevail in a parent's heart. And he says, Lord, so
hear the righteous one, hear the just one, attend unto my
cry, my plea, give ear unto my prayer, and it goeth not out
of feigned lips. It goeth not out of hypocritical
lips. It's not insincere. It's not
deceitful. I am sincere in my cry. Would
you hear me? Would you hear me? There's no
problem with the answer if he hears me. It's not answered prayer we have
trouble with. We've got to find out if he hears
us. If he inclines his ear and hears
us, that's all we need. I just need his ear. And I tell
you the one who has his ear, and that's the righteous one.
He said, Father, I know you always hear me. So that's, Lord, hear
the righteous one. Attend unto my cry, my cry, that
my prayer that does not go forth out of a deceitful mouth and
fain lips. Now, watch verse 2. Oh, I tell
you, I camped here a little while. Let my sentence, Come forth from your presence. Let thine eyes behold the things
that are equal. Let my sentence come forth from
your presence. What are you going to do with
that pastor? All right, listen. David entreats the judge of all
the earth. Shall not the judge of the earth
do right? Right. Here's that right again.
Here's the right one. The judge of the earth will do
right. David entreats the judge of all the earth, the righteous
God, the Holy One, to hear his case and set his sentence. That's exactly what David is
saying. David is saying, I don't want any underling. I want the judge of all the earth
to hear my case and try me. and sentence me. I want God on
this case. You know, if a fellow's in trouble,
real serious trouble, there's certain judges he doesn't want
to sit on the bench. He'd kind of like to have a lenient,
lax judge try him. But David, he's not saying that.
He's saying, I'll tell you who I want to try me and sentence
me. I want my sentence to come from
the lips of God Himself. David has no desire to escape
judgment. He has no desire to be excused. He does not ask for secrecy.
He says, let my case be tried openly before God's throne Himself. He would have God to try. How
can he be so bold? How can he be so bold? How can
he say, how can he a sinner? How can he say, I want God to
try me and sentence me? I want my sentence to come from
his lips. I'll tell you one word, Jesus
Christ. That's how he can be so bold.
You see, the believer expects to be judged on the same principles
as all men. The believer expects to be weighed
in the scales of justice squarely and fairly, with no partiality. The believer expects to be judged
by God Himself. But he expects God to judge him
in Christ. That's the key. In Christ, in
His righteousness and in His blood. That's what David is saying,
hear the righteous one, hear my advocate, hear my representative,
deal with my Savior, and try this case yourself, God. Try
it yourself. And you'll set me free because
of Him. Now, if you don't have an advocate,
you don't want to deal with God. If you don't have this righteous
One on your side, except the Lord on my side, whom have I
in heaven but Thee? Whom have I on earth but Thee?
And if you don't have this substitute Savior, representative, advocate,
intercessor, mediator, you don't want God to try you. You want
to slip around some other way. You don't want to appear before
Him. But if you're resting in Christ, bold I stand in that
great day, who ought to my charge shall lay, through his blood
justified I am from sin's tremendous curse and shame. Let your eyes, he says in verse
2, behold the things that are right, the things that are equal. And he will if he looks on Christ
and me in him. You see that? I do see that. I know what David's saying there.
Let my sentence come from your presence. Let my sentence come from your
presence. And with his spotless righteousness on, I'm as holy
as God's Son. Because verse 3 says, now watch
this, uses the same argument that Peter uses when the Lord
said, do you love me? Well, he said, you know all things,
you know I love you. And David said, you prove my heart. You
look not on the outward countenance as me, and you look on the heart.
You know I love you. You know I love you, beloved.
John wrote, if my heart condemns me not, then have I confidence
toward God. You've proved my heart." That's
where the work was done. With a heart, man believeth unto
righteousness. And then he said, you visited
me in the night privately, quietly, when no one else is around. When
the true secrets of the heart are revealed, that's you visited
me in the night. You know I love you. You know
this is not a feigned profession or a feigned worship. You know
it comes not out of hypocritical, insincere, deceitful lips. You've
proved my heart. You've visited me in the night. That's what Peter pled before
the Lord. The Lord said, Peter, do you
love me? He said, you know I love you.
You know I do. And that's what David said. You've
tried me. You've tried me. You'll find
nothing. I know without fault we stand
in that day before the Lord, in our Lord Jesus Christ. But
I'm telling you, when God tries the heart to find sincerity,
David said, you've tried me. And you haven't found any hypocrisy.
Let's stay with the subject. He hasn't found it. I'm a sinner
trusting you. I'm a sinner resting in you.
I'm a sinner who loves you. I'm a sinner who's depending
on you. You've tried me. And you found nothing. I purpose
that my mouth shall not transgress. What's he talking about here?
Well, out of the heart, the mouth speaks. And if the heart gives
glory to God, the mouth will. If the heart loves God, the mouth
will speak the praises of God. And that's what he's saying.
So let my sentence come from you. You've proved me. You've bested me in the night.
You've tried me. And my mouth speaks what my heart
feels. I trust Christ. Paul said that.
He said, I know whom I have believed. Peter said to the Lord Jesus,
we know who you are. You're the Son of God. We know
that. We know that. Not a question
in our minds about this. See, he's not defending his own
righteousness. He's talking about the righteous
one. All right, verse 4. Now watch this. Concerning the
works of men, what are the works of men? Evil. The works of the
flesh. Concerning the works of men,
by your word, by the word of your lips, I have kept me from
the paths of the destroyer. What keeps me from walking the
ways of men? The word of God. That's what
he's saying. Let me read it to you. This is
the way, this is what he's saying. I have been kept from walking
the paths of Satan and the paths of the world and the paths of
evil men. I've been kept from that by your
Word. If it were not for the Word of
God applied to our hearts by the Holy Spirit, we soon would
imitate the works of evil men. It's the Word of God that I hide
in my heart that I might not sin against it. Thy Word is a
lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path. Psalm 119 says this. Turn over
there a minute. In Psalm 119. We don't take any
credit. Psalm 119, verse 11. We don't
take any credit for what we are and what's been done in us and
for us. We give Him the glory. This is
what David is saying. I've been kept from walking the
paths of the evil by Your Word. If it were not for your Word
applied to my heart by your Spirit, I would soon imitate the evil
works of men. Psalm 119, verse 11. Thy Word have I hid in my heart,
that I might not sin against thee. Someone gave a friend of mine
a Bible. He was showing it to me. And
this was a wise person, and he wrote up here in the front of
the Bible, this book will keep you from
sin, and sin will keep you from this book. That's pretty good,
isn't it? This book. That's what David's
saying here. This book will keep you from
sin. Sin will keep you from this book. So he says, Lord, concerning
the works of men, Verse 4, by the word of thy lips I have been
kept from the paths of the destroyer. Now watch verse 5. Hold up my
goings. I recommend that you write there
over the word goings, steps. S-T-E-P-S. Steps. Hold up my steps in thy paths. Let my footsteps Slip not, be
not moved. Lord, hold my steps in thy paths. He leadeth me in the paths of
righteousness. Who? Well, he's addressing the
Lord here. Lord, what? Order my steps? The steps of
a righteous man are ordered by the order of my steps? Where
I walk, who, Lord, what, hold my steps,
where? Hold them in your path, in your
will, in your way. Why? Well, if you don't, I'll
fall. See that? That's a sermon in
itself, isn't it? Right there at one verse. Who,
Lord, do what? Hold my steps. Where? In your
way, in your path. Why? Well, if you don't, I'm
going to slap you. I'm going to fuck you. That's
right. That's normal. That's what's
going to take place if he doesn't hold it. Now here, verse 6, I
have called upon thee, for thou wilt hear me, O God, incline
thine ear unto me, and hear my speech. One of the writers in
the Treasure of David brought forth some interesting
things on this verse here, verse 6. I have called upon thee, for
thou wilt hear me, O God, incline thine ear unto me, and hear my
speech. He says there are two persons here, two persons, one
little and one great. Who's the little one? That's
I. Who's the great one? I've called upon thee. The little
one calls on the great one. Here are two words, both of them
little, but both of them great. He said, I have called, one syllable,
I've called. And the other, thou hast, thou wilt hear. I've
called and you'll hear. That's two little words, but
oh, I've called and God heard me. There's two tenses, past
tense, I have called. future tense, he will hear. And
here's two wonders, two wonders. The first wonder is this, that
he would hear us. Oh, the wonder of it all, that
he would hear us. You know what the second wonder
is? That we don't call more. And that's, that's the second
wonder. The wonder is that he would hear
us. But the second wonder is, Why don't we call more often? I have called, but thou wilt
hear me, O God. Incline thine ear unto me, hear
my speech. Look at verse 7. Lord, show thy
marvelous lovingkindness. Show thy marvelous lovingkindness. What do you think of when you
see that statement there? Lord, show Me, your marvelous
loving kindness." I think of Mephibosheth when David took
the throne of Israel and he said, is there any of the house of
Saul that I might show him the kindness of God? Lord, show me
your kindness. Show it to my mind and remove
my ignorance. Show it to my heart and revive
my gratitude. Show it to my faith and renew
my confidence. Show it to my experience and
deliver me from fear. Oh, Thou that savest by Thy right
hand. I tell you, every time you see
that statement in the Scripture, you just say this, Save me by
Christ who sits at Thy right hand. He's my trust. He's my hope. He's my stay. O
thou that savest by thy right hand all them that put their
trust in thee." And he saves them from whom? From those that
rise up against them. And verse 8, now watch this.
You know, those that rise up against us, over here in Ephesians,
I think you ought to turn over there with me a moment. Who are
our enemies? Our enemies aren't flesh and
blood. That's not our problem. These are just little temporary
skirmishes and misunderstandings and all this foolishness. That's
all that is. That don't mount the hill of
beans. This battle for a man's soul and for the glory of God
is a battle between mighty powers, mighty
forces. Listen, put on Ephesians 6 verse
11, listen, put on the whole armor of God that you may be
able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle
not against flesh and blood. When David talks about my enemies
are around me, my enemies are upon me, and here Save by thy
right hand them that put their trust in thee from those that
rise up against them." Verse 12 of Ephesians 6, we wrestle
not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against
spiritual wickedness in high places. That's the reason we call on
Him to fight this battle. That's the reason we call on
Him. I've got to be kept... You know, when our Lord taught
His disciples to pray, He said, they said, Lord, teach us to
pray like John taught his disciples. He said, well, when you pray,
our Father which art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom
come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our sins as we forgive
those who sin against us. Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from what? The evil one. That's right. That's what it is. Deliver us
from the evil one. That's right. You see, Satan
and the powers, the principalities of spiritual wickedness and enemies
of Christ are not after you, they're after Him. It's His name
that they want to besmirch. It's His name they want to smear. It's His honor they want to shame. You and I don't amount to much
with them. We're important to Him. Now here, that leads me
to verse 8 of Psalm 17. as the apple of your eye. Hide me under the shadow of your
wings. Keep me. He uses two illustrations. The first one is keep me as the
apple right there somewhere there by the pupil of the eye. That's what that is. Pupil. Pupil
of the eye. There's nothing as sensitive,
and there's nothing as any more precious, and there's nothing,
no part of the body that's guarded quite like the eye. Did you know
that? And David says, Lord, I'm surrounded
with enemies. Powerful principalities and powers,
darkness, keep me like the eyes protected. You ever thought about
this, the eye has bones all around it, like the walls of Jerusalem.
That's thick bones. That eye is set back in there
and protected by the bones all around, like the walls of Jerusalem
around the Holy City. Something else, the eye has a
door on it, and you shut it. You shut the door. At night,
when you sleep, there's nothing, bugs or anything flying to your
eye. The door's shut. God's built doors over the eyes
to protect it. When something comes your way
and you shut that door, it can't touch the eye. And God has given
the flowing fountain always to keep it moist and fresh. Tears. Don't complain about tears. It's
a good thing you've got tear ducts. Then he put lashes on
the eye to screen the dust out. That's right. Somebody sees a
little baby, look how pretty long eyelashes. That's not why
they're there to be long. They're there to screen the eye,
to strain out the dust. And then he put the eyebrows
over the eyes. Keep the sweat out. You earn
your living by the sweat of your brow. But this shell, right out
over the eye, protects it and keeps the sweat and the rain
and other things. See, that's what he's praying
here. Lord, like you've so wisely and powerfully protected the
pupil of the eye, you keep me as the pupil of the eye. Protect me. Got to. Oh, I can handle this situation.
You don't want to. You don't want to. I hear these
preachers saying, tell the devil to go on back to hell. Believe
me. Don't address him. Don't address him. Don't. Don't
do it. Now, don't you go looking for
demons. You'll find you one. You don't want any. What did
the angel say to Lucifer? The Lord rebuked him. I want
nothing to do with these powers and forces of evil. Nothing to
do with them. Nothing. And the second illustration
he uses is an old hen. Keep me under the shadow of your
wings. Protect me as a mother hen. Shields
her babies. Her little ones, she raises those
wings and they all run and she puts them under her wings And
she says, you get to me before you get to them. She protects
them with her own body. That's what I want him to do.
Shield me with himself. Hide me under the shadow of your
wings. Protect me and keep me. Willie!
But I'll tell you, when he brought those people into judgment, he
said, inasmuch as you've done it to the least of these, my
brethren, you've done it to me. And then here in these verses,
I'm not going to dwell upon them. They're unpleasant words that
describe the enemies of our Lord, the enemies of His people, and
God's wrath against them. You've enclosed them in their
own fat. Verse 10, with their mouth they speak proudly. They've
now compassed us in our steps. They've set their eyes bowing
down to earth Like as a lion that's greedy of its prey. And
as it were a young lion lurking in secret places. Arise, O Lord! Disappoint him. Disappoint him. Cast him down. Deliver my soul
from the wicked one by thy sword. That word, which, is by. Both
in verse 13 and verse 14. Deliver my soul from the wicked
by your sword, the sword of your mouth. Out of his mouth goes
the sharp two-edged sword. From men by thy hand, O Lord,
deliver me by thy sword, by thy hand and by thy sword, from men
of the world which have their portion in this life, whose belly
thou fillest with thy hid treasures." They're full of children. and
leave the rest of their substance to their babes. Now here's a
final word, verse 15, that asks for me. I don't envy these men. He's talking about here verse
10 through 14. I don't envy them. I don't covet
their power. I don't covet their influence.
I don't covet their possessions. I don't covet their positions.
Do you? I don't envy them. David said, ask for me. I can
speak for me. I can speak for me. As for me,
I will behold thy face in righteousness. I will stand before thee in righteousness. I will behold thy face and I
will be satisfied when I wake with your likeness. That's what
I covet. As for me, I'll behold thy face. I've seen God's hand in creation's
beauty. I've seen his power in his purpose
and providence. I've seen his wisdom in the gospel. I've seen his love in Christ
crucified. I've seen his grace. And day
by day, mercies, someday we'll see his face. And when we do,
we'll awake with his likeness. One scripture, and then I'll
close. Turn to 1 Corinthians 15. 1 Corinthians 15, verse 42. 1 Corinthians
15, verse 42. So also is the resurrection of
the dead. It's sown in corruption, raised
in incorruption. It's sown in dishonor. It's raised
in glory. It's sown in weakness. It's raised
in power. It's sown a natural body. It's
raised a spiritual body. There's a natural body, there's
a spiritual body. So, verse 54, So when this corruptible
shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put
on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that
is written, Death is swallowed up in victory. O death, where
is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin. The
strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. Let my sentence
come forth from thee through the right one, the righteous
one.