If you will, open your Bible
with me tonight to Psalm 25. Psalm 25. Unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. Oh my God, I trust in thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not
mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee
be ashamed. Let them be ashamed which transgress
without cause. Show me thy ways, oh Lord. Teach me thy paths. Lead me in
thy truth and teach me. For Thou art the God of my salvation,
on Thee do I wait all the day. Remember, O Lord, Thy tender
mercies and Thy loving kindnesses, for they have been ever of old. Remember not the sins of my youth,
nor my transgressions. According to Thy mercy, remember
Thou me for Thy goodness' sake, O Lord. Good and upright is the
Lord. Therefore will he teach sinners
in the way. The meek will he guide in judgment,
and the meek will he teach his way. All the paths of the Lord
are mercy and truth, and to such as keep his covenant and his
testimonies. For thy name's sake, O Lord,
pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. What man is he that
feareth the Lord? Him shall he teach in the way
that he shall choose. His soul shall dwell at ease,
and his seed shall inherit the earth. The secret of the Lord
is with them that fear him, and he will show them his covenant. Mine eyes are ever toward the
Lord, for he shall pluck my feet out of the net. Turn thee unto
me and have mercy upon me, for I am desolate and afflicted.
The troubles of my heart are enlarged, O bring thou me out
of my distresses. Look upon mine affliction and
my pain, and forgive all my sins. Consider mine enemies, for there
are many, and they hate me with cruel hatred. O keep my soul
and deliver me. Let me not be ashamed, for I
put my trust in thee. Let integrity and uprightness
preserve me, for I wait on thee. Redeem Israel, O God, out of
all his troubles. The title, as you see in your
Bible for this psalm, is simply A Psalm of David. But I'm going
to look at it tonight as it is a prayer of David, a prayer of
David. You know, the disciples of the
Lord Jesus asked him one day to teach them to pray. And that's
a prayer I'm sure that most all of us have prayed at one time
or the other, that the Lord would teach us to pray. And that is
the way that I would like for us to look at this psalm tonight. To look at it as a guide to prayer. As a guide to prayer. It's a
prayer of David. And as such, it contains plenty
of instructions concerning prayer. Now, we're not going to have
time to look at all of the verses. And there's so many different
subjects. I believe almost every verse you could preach a message
from. But I want to point out five things to us from this psalm
tonight about prayer, a guide to prayer. First, and this is
very important, first we see that prayer must involve the
soul. Prayer must involve the soul. Notice that in verse one. Unto
thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. Now the Jews, and of course
David was a Jew, for the most part would pray standing. They wouldn't kneel as the Lord
Jesus Christ did, but they would stand when they prayed and they
would lift up their eyes toward heaven and they would lift up
their hands. that was just very common among
the Jews. They would pray standing with
their hands lifted and their eyes lifted up toward heaven. Remember the Psalm that we sing
sometimes, Psalm 121, I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills
from whence cometh my help. And you know, Jerusalem It was
situated on a mount and there were several mounts in Jerusalem. We've heard of the Mount of Olives
and Mount Zion, and there was just a number of mounts. And
to lift up your eyes to the mountains, of course, meant to lift up your
eyes unto the Lord, who is above all, who is above all, not only
all creation, but all mankind. I will lift up mine eyes unto
the hills, from whence cometh my help. Now, our help doesn't
come from a mountain, but it comes from the Lord who is above
the mountains. And also in Psalm 28 and verse
2, we read, hear the voice of my supplications when I cry unto
thee, when I lift up my hands toward thy holy oracle. So David here tells us, unto
thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. And it's not the lifting
up of our eyes. It's not the lifting up of our
hands toward heaven that is important. And it's not kneeling on our
knees that is important. It's not the position of the
body that is all important in prayer. But what is all important
is that the soul be engaged. The Lord, he taught us when we
pray to enter into our closets, into our closets or into a prayer
room or into whatever room you may have. But the point is, enter
into your closet, shut the door. In other words, shut the world
out so that you might engage with the Lord in prayer, in worship. When you shut the door, shut
the cares of this life out. And prayer is worship. Remember
our Lord told that woman of Samaria, they that worship God, doesn't
matter who you are, if you're going to worship God, you must
worship him in spirit and in truth. So prayer involves the
heart, it involves the soul, it involves the spirit. It's
not just going through the motions. Sometimes people will say, will
you say a prayer? Well, we don't say a prayer.
We pray a prayer. We don't say a prayer. We say
a prayer. We pray, in other words. That's
what we're talking about. We're not talking about repeating
some prayer that some people do, you know. Refer to that model
prayer as the Lord's Prayer. Our Father which art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name. That's not the Lord's Prayer.
Of course, you know that. That's a model prayer that he
gave his disciples upon which we base our prayers. But the soul must be engaged
in prayer. We must worship him. That's what
prayer is. It's worship, and that's what
worship is. When we come here on Sundays
and Wednesdays and we come here to worship the Lord, prayer is
a very important part of our service. Why? Because this is
the way we worship the Lord. Music also, singing is an important
part because this is the way we praise the Lord. But the soul
must be engaged. When we go to God in prayer,
we must remember this. We must remember to whom we're
speaking. To whom we're speaking. We must
remember that. That must be in our mind. We
must be cognizant of that. That we are addressing God Almighty. We're not addressing some pygmy
God, some little God. Some of the people I was with
recently from Mexico reminded me that down there they have
a saying, Diosito, which means little God. And one man said
that, he said, we're going to worship Diosito. And this older
man said, we don't worship Diosito here. We worship God almighty. He's not a little God. He's a
great God. He's a great God. And when we,
when we pray, we must be aware to whom we are speaking. that
he is in heaven and we are here upon the earth. So that's the
first thing that we see in this psalm about prayer, and that
is our soul must be engaged if we pray. The second thing we
see that prayer is a heritage of God's children. Notice in
verse two, Oh my God, I trust in thee. Now, It is for those
who trust in Him and know Him as their God. I think it was
Martin Luther who mentioned the fact that these pronouns are
so important. My God, my Savior, my Lord. You know, we don't just talk
about the Lord or God or the Savior, but what is precious,
possessive pronouns. That's the word I want. My God,
my Lord, my Savior. And those of us who trust in
Him, as David says here, oh my God, I trust in Thee, become
the sons of God. They've received power to become
the sons of God through faith in Him. And the Lord Jesus said
that when you have entered into your closet and shut the door,
now listen, pray to thy father, thy father, thy God, which is
in secret. Prayer is a heritage or the privilege
of those who know the Lord Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. I know there's a lot of people
that go through the motions of prayer and And they're not praying,
not to God. First of all, because they don't
know God. There's only one way that a man or woman, boy or girl
can know God, and that is through Jesus Christ, our Lord. There
is no other knowing God apart from Him. He's the one mediator
between God and man. And to know Him is life eternal,
to know the Lord Jesus Christ. Prayer is a privilege, it's a
heritage. a benefit, a blessing of all
of God's children, all of us who know the Lord as our Savior,
all of us who trust in Him. I often think of that verse the
Lord told His disciples this one day. He said, if then, if
ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your
children, how much more shall your father He's our Father,
if we know Him in Christ. He's our God, yes, but He's our
Father also. How much more shall your Father,
which is in heaven, give good things to them that ask Him? In other words, those who pray.
They who trust in the Lord Jesus shall not be ashamed. You notice
in this second verse, David said, Oh my God, I trust in Thee, let
me not Be ashamed. The Apostle Paul in Romans 10,
and he's quoting a verse from Isaiah, I believe chapter 28,
when he said, for whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed. Whosoever believeth on him shall
not be ashamed. One day when we stand before
God and all the world is assembled there, those who believe in Christ
will not be ashamed. Why? Because we will be clothed
in his righteousness. We will be accepted in the beloved. So first of all, prayer is a
matter of the soul. It's worship. And second, it
is a heritage. It is a heritage of the children
of God. And third, we see that prayer
includes confession of sins. Notice this in this Psalm, in
verse seven, Psalm 25, verse 7. Remember not the sins of my
youth. All right, look down to verse
11. For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon mine iniquity, for it
is great. And then in verse 18, look upon
mine affliction and my pain and forgive all my sins. He first asked the Lord not to
remember the sins of his youth. And then he confesses that, and
many people believe he is speaking of the sin of Uriah being guilty
of having Bathsheba's husband murdered or killed in the battle.
Pardon. For thy name's sake, O Lord,
and pardon my iniquity, for it is great. Many believe he's speaking
about one particular sin. But then, you notice in that
last verse, verse 18, it is, forgive all my sins. And I've met people over the
years, and you probably have too, who believe that Christians
when we pray that we shouldn't ask the Lord to forgive us for
our sins. And their reason is, they say,
well, he's already forgiven us all our sins. They're already
all forgiven. We don't need to ask again that
he forgive us our sins. But just remember in that model
prayer when the Lord taught his disciples to pray, He said, give
us day by day our daily bread and forgive us our sins. Now it's true that all of every
believer's sins have been forgiven. They were forgiven when the Lord
Jesus Christ died on the cross. You say, you mean past sin? No,
I mean past sins, present sins, and future sins. You say, preacher,
surely you can't be sincere if you tell us that even future
sins are forgiven. Listen, when Christ died on the
cross, all of our sins were future. They were all future. And yes. Our sins have all been forgiven
when Christ died upon the cross and paid the penalty for our
sins. And yet, when we trust in the Lord, we know we experience
in our conscience the forgiveness of sins when we are pardoned. And the word, this is interesting,
the word translated forgive. in verse 18, and forgive all
my sins. You know what that word means,
forgive? It means to lift up, just like
I'm gonna lift up this Bible. That's what the word means, lift
up. And it's a beautiful picture
of how our sins are forgiven. How are they forgiven? Well,
they were lifted up, lifted off of us and laid, made to meet
as Isaiah 53 said, upon the Lord Jesus Christ. And he suffered
in our stead and in our place and paid the penalty for our
sins. Let me read you this comment
by John Gill. And I quote, it is through the
application of his blood, righteousness and sacrifice They are caused
to pass from the consciences of the saints and are removed
as far as the east is from the west. And this is what the psalmist
here desires. And this he requests with respect
to all his sins, knowing well that if one was left upon him,
it would be an insupportable burden to him. Forgive, he prays,
forgive all my sins. And I would just make this comment
about the first time he says, remember not the sins of my youth. We know that's one of the promises
of the new covenant, isn't it? That God declares, I will remember
their sins and their iniquities no more. But I've said this before,
and you know it's true. What God will not remember, sometimes
we cannot forget. the sins of our youth. But they're
gone. They're gone. And as far as this
other one, this is a strange way of speaking. Some people
who do not know the truth about God, they would find, well, that's
strange for the psalmist to say, for thy namesake, O Lord, and
pardon mine iniquity, for it is great. Because most people
would try to impress the Lord and convince the Lord that their
sins are not so great. But every man, woman, boy and
girl who is saved by the grace of God, God the Holy Spirit,
as we read that just a moment ago in John 16, he convinces
us of sin. And every sin, every sin that
we've ever committed against, and every sin is committed against
God and every sin is great because it is committed against a great
God. But there's no sin. Here's a
wonderful thing. There's no sin so great that
the blood of Jesus Christ does not take away, does not wash
away. Matthew Henry pointed this out
about verse 18. Look at verse 18, the verse where
he said, forgive all my sins. Matthew Henry pointed out, it
is observable that as to his affliction, notice what he said
there, look upon mine affliction and my pain. But he doesn't ask
the Lord to do anything about his affliction or his pain. He
just says, look on it. Just look on it. In other words,
as Matthew Henry said, Look upon my affliction and pain, and do
with it as thou desirest. Just look upon it, and then you
do what thou desirest. But as for my sins, forgive them
all. Take them all away. A fourth
thing that we see, we see that prayer makes requests that's
based upon the promises and the character of God. Yes, we make
requests, we have petitions, we ask for our needs, we're to
do that. Even though our Father knows
what we have need of before we ask, but he tells us to ask.
But we ask depending and confiding in the promises that we have
about God and His character, who He is. Notice in verse 4
again, here, chapter 25, verse 4. Show me thy ways, O LORD,
teach me thy paths, lead me in thy truth. Show me, teach me,
lead me, is what the psalmist prays. Show me, teach me, lead
me in thy ways, thy truth. Now that's the desire of all
of God's people. As long as we are in this world,
that's our prayer, that's our desire, that the Lord would lead
us, show us, teach us in his ways, in the truth. Our desire
is, as long as we are in this world, to grow in the grace and
knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the way, the truth, and
the life. Thou art my God, he says. Thou art my God, in verse five. Lead me in thy truth and teach
me, for thou art the God of my salvation. Remember, thou art the God of
my salvation. On thee do I wait all the day. Remember, O Lord, thy tender
mercies and thy loving kindnesses, for they have been ever of old. God has revealed himself from
the beginning of the world as a God of tender mercies and of
loving kindnesses. Remember not the sins of my youth
nor my transgressions. According to thy mercy, remember
thou me for thy goodness sake, O Lord. And the last thing, the
fifth thing, we see that prayer includes others. If you notice
in verse 22, he prayed, redeem Israel, O God, out of all his
troubles. He prayed for others. And when
we pray, our Lord taught us to pray, our father, our father. Yes, he's my father. And if you
pray, he's your father. But he's our father. In other
words, we are to pray for one another. We're not just to pray
for ourselves and our needs, but we are to think upon others. And here the psalmist prays for
God's Israel, that is the people of God. Redeem Israel, O God,
out of all his troubles. Someone said, well, I thought
that if you became a Christian, you never would have any trouble.
Well, you thought wrong. You didn't get that thinking
from the word of God because in the scriptures we are told
that in this world we will have tribulation. All they that live
godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer tribulation. Yes, a child of
God, being a child of God does not exempt us from trouble. But the promise is that when
we go through the trouble, that He will not leave us. He will
not forsake us. He will be with us. Being a child
of God, as I said, doesn't exempt one from troubles, as the scripture
says in the book of Job. Yet man that is born unto trouble,
as sparks fly upward. That's just true of all men.
But let me close tonight with these words about the believer's
enemies. Notice in verse 2. He says, oh my God, I trust in
thee. Let me not be ashamed. Let not
mine enemies tromp over me. What enemies does every child
of God have? What enemies do all men have?
Well, first of all, sin. Sin. Second, Satan. Third, the world. And fourth,
death. And fifth, the grave. All of
these are our enemies, we know that. Let not mine enemies triumph
over me, the psalmist prayed. It is because the Lord Jesus
Christ triumphed over each of those things I mentioned. Sin,
Satan, death, grave, the world. The Lord Jesus Christ is victorious
over all of these things. He conquered death. He came out
of the grave. And he paid the sin debt. Even
though the sins of his people was charged to his account when
he came out of the grave, he was justified. Justified, the
scripture says, by his resurrection. In other words, God put his stamp
of approval. God justified him. Yes! God satisfied him for all
the sins of his covenant people. He's paid for them. They're gone. None of these enemies will ever
triumph over a child of God. Why? Because we are more than
conquerors through Jesus Christ that loved us. We are accepted
in the beloved. Well, I pray the Lord would bless
these few words tonight about prayer to all of us, that God
would teach us to pray that we might learn and might be engaged
more in prayer. Or certainly, that's a blessing
that God has given us to be able to talk with him and make our
requests known unto him, the scripture says, with thanksgiving.
Praise most certainly must be a big part of our prayer, right?
Praising him, thanking him, blessing him for who he is and for his
mercy and grace to us in Christ Jesus, our Lord. All right, let's
sing a hymn before we're dismissed.