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Psalm 119:145-152
Man, that's that's a really good song. That's a really good. I'm not just saying that because I like Christmas. Okay, that's a really good theological song and. Maybe an encouragement is man. I love Sunday nights because everybody's like forced to be close some people are rebels and but that's okay, but.
You know, I just tell you just a thought here. But heart-teared angels saying that would be like an easy win for dads or couples or whatever for you know. Family devotion maybe even around, you know, you can get a little closer to Christmas.
That's okay. But you could just take a line of that a verse at a time and that would you know cover and actually there's more verses I think right there's more verses right then than what we sing. I think there might be one or two more anyway.
So, you know the Baptist hymnal we kind of shrink things down sometimes but you can. You can look that up and you can also just read that and study and go the verses, you know. And and that would make for a good time of contemplating the Incarnation as we get closer and closer to Christmas.
But that's not what you're here for. You're here for Psalm 119. Somebody somewhere said preachers get an extra hour of preaching today. I don't think that's how it works.
Really.
But tonight we're in Psalm 119. We're actually on the 19th stanza. There's 22 stanzas and we are on number 19 and we'll be in verse 145 so if you can find that tonight and the message title is Simple just comes really from the first verse and then the following Theme of this stanza and that is a heart cry For God.
A heart cry For God. The stanza tonight deals with suffering. The suffering is inevitable in this life, but in this Stanza, particularly we see that the psalmist suffering is brought about through the wickedness of others and that happens sometimes.
Suffering is not always at the hands of others, of course, but in this particular passage it is now, how does the psalmist? Answer this suffering. Well, he does so by praying. So I want to examine that tonight a heart cry for God psalm 140 psalm 119 verse 145 through 152 could we stand and just honor the reading of God's Word.
The 19th stanza. With my whole heart I cry. Answer me. Oh Lord. I will keep your statutes. I call to you. Save me that I may observe your testimonies. I rise before dawn and cry for help. I hope in your words.
My eyes are awake before the watches of the night that I may meditate on your promise. Hear my voice according to your steadfast love. Oh Lord according to your justice. Give me life if they draw near who persecute me with evil purpose.
They are far from your law, but you are near O Lord and all your commandments are true. Long have I known from your testimonies that you founded them forever. Let's pray father. Help us. I need your grace tonight.
Help me to articulate this truth. Lord be here with us. Pray that Christ would be exalted Holy Spirit. We pray that you speak to our hearts. Some of us tonight need to be encouraged. We need to be encouraged to continue on in this discipline in prayer.
Some of us need to be convicted. We need to repent and grow in this discipline of prayer. Some of us perhaps even in a Sunday night service need to be saved. Perhaps that's a child here that for the first time realizes Christ Truly is their only hope and they run to him or maybe it's a teenager or maybe it's an adult.
But we pray Holy Spirit that you'd be pleased to apply the gospel tonight to their hearts. We pray in Jesus name Amen, maybe seated so let me just look at a few aspects of prayer tonight from this stanza and.
The first is I want you to remember who the psalmist prays to. Who does the psalmist pray to and this is easy, this is a Sunday school answer we pray to God. Well, that's true. But notice here in verse 145 with my whole heart.
I cry answer me. Oh Yahweh verse 149. Again, hear my voice according to your steadfast. Love. Oh Yahweh according to your justice. Give me life there again in 151 but you are near. Oh.
Yahweh.
And the psalmist walk with the Lord is meaningful and practical in times of pleasure and in times of pain. We ought to turn to the Lord because the Lord delights in his people's dependence on him. God truly is glorified in us when we come to him.
He's glorified in us and in his church when we acknowledge our dependence on him. You're not strong enough. I heard Gunner's prayer tonight. We don't evangelize just because it's in and of ourselves. We depend on the strength of the Lord.
You hear these exhortations from the pulpit. You're not strong enough to do it on your own. You need the grace of God. Yes, I just don't feel like I measure up. Here's the newsflash. You don't measure up you don't but Christ has completed the work.
This is the gospel that we preach and by the work of Christ. We're brought into a Relationship with God a saving relationship where we go to him and we call upon his covenant name. Remember Romans 10 13.
I mentioned this morning those who call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved and one of the Characteristics of the saved is we continue to call upon the name of the Lord. You see the psalmist here addresses God by his covenant name and this covenant is based upon the grace of God.
That's why we call it. It's called the new covenant or we call it sometimes the covenant of grace. It's because Jesus has fulfilled the law all the work Jesus has completed. God didn't lower his standard for us.
You know this God completed his righteous standard his holy perfect standard in Christ. And then Jesus died the death of sinners children. Do you hear me that tonight? You hear me kids? Young men young women.
Do you hear me that the Lord Jesus? demands from you perfect obedience. Every time your mom or dad tell you something the Lord Jesus expects perfect obedience. That's the requirement. The bad news is you've never if you're honest with yourself, you already know this you've never met that.
Not one time has your mom or dad told you something and you've obeyed. Perfectly in heart mind and action you've always fallen short and so we've always broken the fifth commandment in some measure. And when God doesn't lower that for you you guys hear me.
He doesn't lower that for you. He didn't say well. I know you couldn't make it. I know you know how your siblings are like that. I know you guys couldn't do that, so I'll just sweep it under the rug. It's no big deal your mom or dad may act like that towards you or your teachers may act like that towards you.
You know say like hey not everyone made a good made a good grade. So let me just curve everyone's great, but God's not like that because God is holy. God's better than that. And he's just and so you break his commandments and God owes you one thing retribution.
Justice even hell we understand and yet God in his mercy looks to Christ in Your place if you trust him if you look to Jesus children you hear me tonight if you believe on Jesus if you repent of your sins and look to Christ you'd be saved and You come into a covenant relationship here with God and the psalmist understood his position with the Lord.
And so should we we were bought with the price. It is through the blood of Jesus tonight that we come to God in prayer that we can say that we can be bold. The Hebrews tell. Epistle of the Hebrews tells us we should be bold boldly enter the throne room.
Why are we bold. Because we're so lovable. No, why are we bold. Because we're we got it all right. No because we hold the 1689. No. Why are we bold. We're bold in this one?
Truth.
Jesus.
Jesus Christ is enough what he offered on the cross is enough for us to come to God. And so we come to God. His resurrection proves that God's accepted this sacrifice. And we see that the psalmist prays to the Lord in a covenant relationship.
Third secondly, I almost said thirdly secondly We see when he prays.
So.
He says in verse 147 I rise up before dawn and cry for help. I hope in your words a few things to note here. One is that true hope in the Bible will produce tangible changes in our lives. The psalmist hope in the scriptures Causes him to get out of the bed early and to pray.
Do we believe the scripture? Okay, so a lot of us tonight. We could just have a Resounding amens if we preach, you know talked about we need to stand on the Bible and say amen. We need a Bible in schools or whatever.
Hey, man, we need to we need to be people of the book. Amen. But the psalmist actually believe the scriptures. He banked everything on them. I Rise up before dawn and cry for help. I hope in your words I see what you've given me God and I believe it and he recognizes his neediness.
He recognizes his dependence. He cries for help. Many people do not pray as they should because they don't recognize their neediness. Friends remember tonight church family remember tonight then when we don't pray.
We're telling God. We got this. We don't. I don't. You don't. Now I want to make a note here. I have to wake up early to pray man. That's I rise before dawn. You guys realize with the time change we haven't done anything.
Okay spoiler alert. We actually haven't done anything to the day. You understand we haven't shortened the day. We've just kind of moved things around right? And so the reality is now it's gonna get light.
An hour earlier than we were yesterday. Man, do I are you telling me? I have to get up before daylight to pray. Well, I'm not trying to add extra rules here. It's not what I'm doing. And I don't think that we could hold that and say if you're not getting up before daylight to pray.
You're not even a Christian. That's not what we're saying. But I will do want to just make this observation. There is a definite pattern in Scripture concerning morning morning prayer. Anyway, Psalm 5 3 for example says Oh Lord in the morning.
You hear my voice in the morning. I prepare a sacrifice for you and watch. Or we have the example of Jesus Mark chapter 1 verse 35 and rising very early in the morning while it was still dark. He departed and went out to a desolate place and there he prayed.
So I would just say this that many people in the scripture. We have a pattern. We don't necessarily have a.
Command.
But we do have a clear pattern. That people in the scriptures and even in church history. They began their day in prayer. That's not saying the morning is the only time that we can pray. But I'm saying there is something to say before we start our day before we step out onto the road.
Before we head off to work before we get ready for school. Whatever the case may be. We'll go to the Lord. And we pray. They say yeah, but you don't understand. I got to get up early. I get that. But I would also say this maybe you don't understand.
You can't keep going in your own strength. You can't we need God we need prayer. Again, we have passage in the scripture that talk about pray with. I'm in a state of prayer without ceasing right now. We should always be ready to pray.
I think Nehemiah is great. Nehemiah has these long prayers and then he also has these quick prayers. I think that's part of our life. I think like mine and Stephanie's relationship and maybe you and your spouse's relationship.
There are times we have long Conversations and we need those and then there are also times that we send a quick text message to one another. Hey, love you stuff like that. Well our communication with God can be similar.
There are times that we do need the regular long conversations and then there are times that we can pray short prayers. The point is we see the psalmist has A priority of waking up and beginning his day with prayer.
Now thirdly I'll mention this and kind of like this morning, but we're gonna this a little bit longer point. Not as long as this morning, but I just want you to notice how he prays. Psalm 119 focuses on scripture.
Focuses how it's a delight how it's sufficient. It's our hope so on but I want you to see how this psalmist uses scripture in his prayer for deliverance. Before we do that. Let's look exactly what he's praying for first.
I'll just mention these he's praying to be answered. He says with my whole heart. I cry answer me verse 145. He's praying to be rescued verse 146. I call to you save me that I may observe your testimonies.
He's praying for help 147. I rise up before dawn and cry for.
Help.
He's praying to be heard. Verse 149. Hear my.
Voice.
According to your steadfast love. Oh Lord according your justice. Give me life. And he's crying there to be given life. Also what I just mentioned in 149 so he's praying to be answered. He's praying to be rescued.
He's praying for help. He's praying to be heard. He's praying to be given life. Verse 145. He says with my whole heart. I cry answer me. Oh Lord. I will keep your statutes. I'm gonna post something interesting to you tonight.
Is there a connection? between obedience and God answering our prayers. First John 3 22 says this. Whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and do what pleases him. So the text says with my whole heart back to 145 my whole heart.
I cry answer me. Oh Lord I will keep your statutes in 1st. John 3 22. I'll read that again. Whatever we ask we receive from him because we keep his commandments and we do what pleases him. Now I think that the answer to this question is this when we are walking with the Lord.
It's not that our obedience because our obedience always fall short, it's not that our obedience is manipulating God. Rather it's to be thought of this way when we are pursuing obedience. Do our prayers get answered more?
I think we could say the answer to that is yes. Not because of our obedience but because of this way when we're pursuing what the scriptures say. How does our mind and our heart and our prayers what begins to happen, what do we begin to pray for?
We begin to pray more in line with the will of God. Do you understand? I'm not saying that we go out and we just like if you just obey God really hard. Then he'll give you what you really really want.
Well, that's not true. We can't manipulate God. That's not what we're talking about but there's something to be said when our heart and our mind is Consumed with the scriptures and we want to be a holy people and we're trying to walk in the ways of the Lord the way We pray is different.
Understand I pray for things that are aligned with the will of God. Notice how the psalmist gives the purpose for his request in verse 146. He says I call to you save me that I may observe your Testimonies deliver me so that I can observe Your testimony.
I wonder tonight do our prayers come across this way God. I want this thing.
Why?
Well, I hadn't really thought about that. I want it just because I want it. I don't want to kill a big deer. I prayed the other day. I did pray the other day that my kids would see a deer, you know, and God answered that prayer with Caleb.
He decided not to shoot the spike. That's okay. He's he's too big and macho for that so according to him and Hadn't got to kill a deer me and Ella set for five hours and we didn't we didn't even see a deer.
All right. Sometimes I asked for things and I don't think about the reason I'm asking for them, but the psalmist did he's asking them. Verse 1.
47.
47 or 46 that he can observe the testimonies of God. He's asking for rescue. He's asking for deliverance so that he can be more faithful to the glory of God. I Also want you to notice the psalmist makes an appeal based on God's Character, it's important to study the scripture to see who God is and knowing who God is we can appeal to his character.
In our prayers look at for example, verse 149. Hear my voice according to your steadfast love. Right. So two things he makes an appeal to first what I just said is steadfast love. I'll read the next in just a minute.
So he makes an appeal to God's steadfast love. That is God's covenantal love. I want you to hear me based on what you have done. I want you to hear me based on who you are now. I'm not based on me. Would you hear me again?
Remember hear my voice according to your faithfulness not mine. Hear me according to your covenantal Loyalty. Oh what manner of love is like the song we sang just a minute ago. The love that prepares the feast is the love that that drew us to God.
What manner of love that the Father has given us that we should be called children of God and so we are By what Christ has done. I. And love is a messed up in our world today. But Christian. Do you rest in God's love?
You should.
You should think on God's love. We can't think of God's love without thinking of the cross. The cross is the very way that we know God's love is true, not mere lip service. He proved it. Again, all we've talked about tonight is rooted in the love of God and this love of God is displayed at Calvary.
No, none of us tonight. If you're trying to get to heaven based on being a perfect prayer warrior. You're not going to make it our our prayers. Think about this folks. Not just our sins. In our prayers there's enough shortcoming for God to be just to send us to hell and yet and yet.
The call of the Gospels to rest in Jesus who fulfilled the law and died for our sins. Including our prayerlessness. But guess what? He didn't just die for our prayerlessness.
He rose again, too.
Which means we get a new heart a new heart the Bible promises in that scripture passage. We're memorizing that God writes his law upon a heart that that rests in God's love and now we desire to please him.
So if you're resting in God's steadfast love, even though you fall short you desire to pray. So the psalmist appeals to God's character. He appeals to his steadfast love. Hear my voice according to her steadfast love and then he says this Oh Lord according to your justice.
Give me life. Now. This was a few weeks ago. But last time we talked about that. God is just. He is righteous. Shall not the judge of all the earth do right. And he shall and he delights in us praying to him.
Even appealing to his own justice. Have you ever thought about that his justice? This is only for Christians, by the way, because I would I'm gonna make a point just second remember what first John 1 9 says.
If we confess our sins, he's faithful and just to forgive us of our sins. How about that? How's he just? Because of the cross. We want the justice in this sense that justice has been satisfied in Jesus.
That's what we want to pray. Oh Lord according to your justice give me life. In other words. We're not saying look at me and exalt me. We're saying according to what God has done in Christ. Give me life now.
Listen, I said if you're not a Christian you don't want to appeal to God's justice. Because God's justice means hell but but you can appeal to his mercy. You can appeal to his his his steadfast love. You can say Oh God.
You can repent and believe the gospel. You can join us this church in loving the scriptures and seeking the Lord in prayer in this way. I hope that you've already seen that scriptures. The scripture saturates the psalmist prayers and we see that here.
We can press that a little further tonight to in verse 148. He says my eyes are awake before the watches of the night. That I may meditate on your promise. So last time we talked about when do you pray we said way you got to get up before dawn.
We said that's an example, but now we look at the psalmist also stays up late. Does the guy ever sleep right? My eyes are awake before the watches of the night that I made it meditate on your promise.
So he's up early. He's up late but here in this text why that he may meditate on the promise of God. Let me just encourage it to church with something tonight. Do you want to increase your prayer life?
You want to be a better prayer? I do. I'm telling you tonight I do not stand in this pulpit as one who has mastered the discipline or the means of grace that we call prayer. I want to be a better prayer.
It's hard to say prayer because it's spelt like prayer, right? But I want to be one who prays better, but here's one way we can pray better. We can saturate our hearts and minds with the Word of God. You see that there my eyes are awake before the watches of the night that I may meditate on your promise that I may soak in the realities of the scriptures that I may not just read my Bible.
I'm guilty with you. I'm I. I Struggle with you in this sometimes we read the Bible right? I ask my kids. I'll pick on them. It's easier. Hey, what'd you read? I read Luke 16. Okay. What's that about?
Ah, I can't remember. Okay. Well, I guess you got a lot out of reading your Bible today, right? But listen adults. We're guilty of that, too. Aren't we would you read this morning? Why rail? Well, what was about what we're talking about?
I was like, we're not just reading the Bible to check it off the list. And and by the way, the answer so some people like the answer is don't read the Bible. No. That's not the answer the answer is to read the Bible and take it seriously right the answer is to see this as the means of grace that it is and to meditate upon the promises of God and to see the Glory of King Jesus in the scriptures and and the beauty of Yahweh and the beauty of his church.
So we saturate we drink deeply we meditate on the scriptures. We think about it. Why well, I'm saying there's many reasons for that but tonight I'm saying we can Grow in the discipline of prayer through that.
Sometimes you need to read a verse over and over and over and over and just pour over every word. Pour over every syllable break it up. Memorize it write it on a note card until it sinks in. I Told you Brian Borgman said maybe Daniel wrote this psalm.
A lot of people think maybe David wrote this psalm. If it was David then I want to remind you that David was a busy man. He was a busy man. You say yeah, but he doesn't understand busy like I'm busy. Well, okay, he ruled the whole kingdom, right?
I want to make a joke about he had several wives. But you understand he shouldn't have but you understand that it wasn't like he's got all these different people to take care of. He's got a big family to take care of.
He's got a kingdom to take care of and Yet we see here that he has the time.
To.
Go to the Lord in this way. I Want to put it to you this way when I say he has the time because I think that we. We look at this wrong. When I say that he has the time I don't mean to say that he just had time left over that he spent with Yahweh.
Looks to me my argument would be and I would say this to the Christian life and even my own life. He didn't just find time. He made time. He stayed up late if necessary. He got up early if necessary. Why so he could meet with God.
He made time to meet with God. You make time. I make time for the things that are important to me. I Make time to go deer hunting. I make time to watch a football game. I try to make time I can do this better for my wife.
I make time for the things that are important to me. We should make time for meeting with God.
Our heart.
Should desire.
Time.
To meet with God some of you tonight. The reality is you're in a rut and it happens you're in a rut and maybe even before you came in here tonight. You didn't even think about you being in a rut. But you think about tonight when's the last time I got up and before I went to work.
I sought God in prayer. And maybe for some of you it's been too long. Well, what's the answer. The answer is not to take an axe and chop your foot off, right? That ain't gonna help your heart. The answer is to hold up.
Remember the gospel. Take your sins to Christ. Repent and seek his power. We're all struggling. What I mean is like I'm not excusing this. But I'm saying is like nobody in this is thing about prayer and evangelism, too.
So I was like what a great day at church, right? The two things that are really hard to to receive that we're all filling in evangelism and prayer. Boom. Boom, we got both of them on the same day. Well, I'm not trying to beat you up.
But these are things we need to examine in our lives, right and we need to consider. I'm telling you guys We have a gospel that's big enough to change our hearts in this. We have a gospel that's big enough to forgive our sins in this and we have a church.
I believe that it's healthy enough to spur one another on in this discipline in these means of grace. Verse 152. Well, let me just mention verse 151 for a second. But you are near O Lord and all your commandments are true.
Which I kind of skipped verse 150 they draw near who persecute me with evil purpose. They are far from your law. It's just a reality. Listen, I could spend all night on this. But as long as you desire desire to stay plugged up in the scriptures you're gonna have those who oppose you and sometimes even because of your faithfulness want to Reproach you or persecute you or maybe even you'll miss out on things.
But here's the deal which is better for you. Do you want the worldly people near to you or do you want God near? Look at verse 151 again. You are near O Lord. These people may persecute me they may be wrong me.
They may throw me under the bus as it were, but I know this you're near. Oh, Lord. You're near to me and that's enough man. If I could just believe that things of Robert Murray McShane say man if I could he didn't say like that, you know, man.
But he's like if I could just hear Christ praying for me in the other room. I'd be invincible. Yeah, but this is what we have in the scripture. God is near. Well, what are we afraid of afraid of someone ridicule you or stash your tires or harming you some of these are our Things that we may say.
Well, yeah that does kind of concern me but but listen to me if God is near.
Who can stand against us?
Paul says it that way in Romans a if God is for us Who can be against us? Lord you're near and all your commandments are true. You got to ask yourself tonight. Sometimes just take reflect.
I believe it. I believe the book.
Genesis to Revelation. You better believe it because it's all true. And then he says in one verse 152 long have I known from your testimonies that you've Founded them forever. There's God's Word that gives the psalmist insight into God's Word.
It's interesting how that works, isn't it? The more we saturate ourselves in the Word of God the more we trust it the more it comes out of us in our Conversations. The more it comes out of us and our prayers to God the more I don't know.
I was like that's probably nerdy computer lingo that Alex will tell me. I didn't actually say it right, but you know the old I can't even remember the old saying Geico or whatever. Garbage in garbage out.
I hope that's right. Whatever you put into the computer. That's what you're gonna get out. Let's use something more simple for us Perry County folk. I don't know what the I don't know what the abbreviation would be.
But whatever you put in the microwave, that's what's coming out. Right, so you put in a hot pocket. You're not getting a Fine steak that's coming out of the microwave. You're getting a hot pop a hot pocket and it's gonna have liquid hot magma in the center of it somewhere.
Or actually be frozen in the center and then somewhere else. It'll be liquid hot magma, but you understand whatever you put in. That's what's coming out. Let me get spiritual in this whatever you put into your heart.
That's what's coming out, right? That's what's coming out. Osama says I Law how long have I known your testimonies that you founded them forever? So as we have this mindset, I know your scriptures. I meditate on your scriptures.
I put these in my heart when we put these in our heart. This is what? Comes out. I don't know. I don't know if this is helpful for each and I I don't know if part of it even Really feels like a sermon.
But this stanza is very fitting into the whole context of Psalm 119 for those that are covenant children of God for those who on this side of the New Testament Have repented of their sins and came to Christ in faith.
The Bible is something very precious to us and the Bible causes us to be a people of prayer. We pray to God.
We.
Pray for the things that he's called us to pray for. We pray for him in times of think. Thankfulness and gratitude. We pray for him in times of pain and and and and difficulty. On Wednesday morning, which Monty made the joke today is like when are we gonna know the results of the election?
We'll be two days and six weeks from now right. But a Lord will in on Wednesday morning when you wake up. You may have a Prayer of lament or you may have a prayer of Thanksgiving, but either way either way it goes.
We should turn our hearts to God.
Now.
Bit discombobulated, but let me close it this way tonight. We take the Lord's Supper. You need to be reminded of this. The Lord's Supper is not for people who are perfect in their prayer life. Otherwise who would come tonight?
You wouldn't and you wouldn't be invited and neither would I? But the Lord's Supper also is not for those who are satisfied in the sin of prayerlessness. You understand. So, what do we do?
We repent.
We take it to the Lord if there are areas in your life that the Holy Spirit landed home tonight. You say you know what? He's right. The text is right. The Scriptures are right. Not that the preachers right the Scriptures, right?
I see the psalmist heart to pray to God. And my heart's not like that all the time I've been in a rut and I haven't even really thought about that. The answer tonight is not well. I'm not gonna take the Lord's Supper till I get this right.
No. No, the answer tonight is to turn from it right to turn from it to remember the gospel. You remember what Jesus did for you? You remember that perfect life? He lived. He never struggled in his prayer life.
He always prayed perfectly and then he went to the cross and he died for many great sins that you've had. But one of the great sins that you have that he died for is your prayerlessness. God the Father punished Jesus in our place for our prayerlessness.
He became prayerless if you will. He became sin, right? I'm just substituting a sin. Not in his own self, but on his account.
Prayerless.
For you and I.
So I just say to you don't hold on to that sin tonight.
Repent of it.
Take it to God and Let's ask him as a church to be a better people of prayer for his glory. Father we thank you for this stanza. We thank you for Psalm 119, you know with the integrity of my heart that I need you I need your grace.
I need to be a better.
Prayer and.
I pray that for our church family too and I thank you for those in our church who pray and I pray that all of Us would be a people of prayer and that our church Would be a people of prayer. Lord prepare our hearts as we prepare to take this ordinance.
We pray in Jesus name.