Psalm 5 — Carl Armerding

Introducing Psalm 5 and Its Superscription

Please open God's Word again at the Book of the Psalms and tonight we'll take a look at Psalm 5. I debated some before thinking about this psalm for tonight because there are so many psalms that I would like to handle.

Of course, there's 150 to choose from and with the 119th offering at least 22 different sermons, it's rather difficult sometimes to decide just which. But in looking over this fifth psalm again, I thought, well, perhaps this may be the message for tonight.

I trust it is. I'd like to comment just briefly on the title of the psalm. Remember, last time we looked at Psalm 4, we remarked that the chief musician might be either the Blessed Holy Spirit Himself or our Blessed Lord.

Because it is said of Him in the midst of the congregation,. Now this doesn't mean, of course, that they didn't have a human psalm director in those days like we have here. They certainly did. But we believe that He was representative and that something deeper than just that is involved in these titles, which to me are just as fully inspired of the body of the psalm itself.

One great commentator, I'm sorry to say, who has written a book on the psalms has omitted the titles altogether. How in the world he achieves this when you come to some psalms which, like the 18th psalm for example, run right into the psalm itself.

It's difficult to see how a man could drop out the title and still claim to believe in the inspiration of the Word of God. Then I'd like to comment on the word nehiloth here. This again is the name of the musical instrument.

Those of you who have the older edition of the Scopial Reference Bible will notice a note at the foot of the page that says nehiloth is not a musical instrument. Yet when you turn to the dictionary, which is included in my copy of the Scopial Bible, you'll look up the word nehiloth and it says flutes.

So all we conclude is that Dr. Scopio didn't know what some of his printers were going to do with his book when they added the Bible dictionary at the end. But Mr. Darby and others take the same view as the dictionary, that nehiloth does mean flutes.

Or an instrument made up of a tube, shall I say, in which certain holes have been pierced. In fact, the Hebrew word for nehiloth simply means piercings. And I believe that's suggestive. I think as we look down through the psalm tonight, you'll see how appropriate that instrument is.

Quite different from a stringed instrument. Here's an instrument through which the prayer of the office, as it were, breathes out his soul. And as we look at the subject matter of the psalm, we'll see how appropriate that is.

Psalm 5 as a Morning Prayer

Give ear to my words, O Lord, consider my meditation. Hearken unto the voice of my cry, my King and my God, for unto Thee will I pray. My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord. In the morning will I direct my prayer unto Thee, and will look up.

For Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with Thee. The foolish shall not stand in Thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak leasing or lying.

The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. But as for me, I will come into Thy house in the multitude of Thy mercy. And in Thy fear will I worship toward Thy holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in Thy righteousness.

Because of mine enemies make Thy way straight before my face. For there is no faithfulness in their mouth. Their inward part is very wickedness. Their throat is an open sepulcher. They flatter with their tongues.

Destroy thou them, O God, let them fall by their own counsel. Cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions, for they have rebelled against Thee. But let all those that put their trust in Thee rejoice.

Let them never shout for joy, because Thou defendest them. Let them also that love Thy name be joyful in Thee. For Thou, Lord, wilt bless the righteous. With favor wilt Thou compass or surround him as with a shield.

This psalm, I think, can be called a real morning prayer. But you know there are two ways of praying. One is to give utterance to our prayers in words, as the psalmist here says in the beginning of the psalm.

Give ear to my words, O Lord. But then you'll notice in the latter part of that verse he says, consider my meditation. And here we have what we might call a wordless prayer. Here is something that's going on in the heart.

Here is something that's going on in the mind. And it reminds me of a verse in the eighth chapter of the epistles of the Romans. Where we are taught, where we are told that we do not know how to pray as we ought.

And I'm sure as I quote that text to you tonight, there are many of you who say yes, I thoroughly agree with that. And many times I come into the presence of my Lord and I don't know what to say. I just don't know what to say.

I dare say many of us here tonight who engage in prayer will say, yes brother, I know exactly what you're talking about. We've taught our little ones to pray. My dear father taught me to pray when I was just a child.

I think back to those early prayers. They were in the German language. Then later on he taught me to pray in English as well. And then when I became a parent myself I thought, well this is a wonderful example to teach my children to pray.

Teaching Children the Language of Prayer

I was rebuked by one brother who said, how can you put language into the mouth of a child who has never yet been born again? Well I said, I'm teaching him something that he can use when he is born again.

The mathematician doesn't say, well now this child can't use these figures until he gets older. He teaches him right now some of the elements of this science of mathematics. And I believe, beloved, as we teach our children the language of the Word of God, the language of prayer, the time will come when the Holy Spirit will use these very things and enable them to give expression to their heart's deepest longing.

So don't hesitate to teach your children to pray. And I trust when you teach them to pray that you'll give them something more than just now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord, and so on. I trust that you'll teach them in the language of Scripture itself.

The Lord's Prayer as a Pattern for Approaching God

I know that some people very much object to the use of what is called the Lord's Prayer. They refer to it as the disciples' prayer. But you know I've found great blessing in that prayer. That prayer teaches me something about approaching God.

Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. What Christian can't say that? Thy kingdom come. What Christian is it that's not longing for the Father's kingdom to come? Thy will be done on earth as it is done in heaven.

What Christian doesn't long for that day? I do. Yes, but somebody says, what about that next one? Give us this day our daily bread. Well my dear friend, if you've never been brought down to that, I have.

I know what it means to have to say to him, give me this day my daily bread. But I can find a way of expressing that, that even you who may have your freezers full can still say, give us day by day our daily bread.

And so I could go on. Oh, but somebody says, yes, but we're not told to pray to be forgiven as the way the prayer puts it. But we are to forgive because we have been forgiven. Yes, many of us try to squirm from under this.

But I believe, friends, it still stands good that if you and I are in an unforgiving spirit, we needn't expect to be forgiven. And so even that prayer which some have put to one side and said, well dispensationally it doesn't fit.

I'm as strong a dispensationist as anyone sitting in this audience tonight. But I want you to know, dear friends, that everything in the word of God has a voice for me from the first page to the last.

And I believe that when the Lord Jesus told his own how to pray, he was at any rate giving us a pattern of prayer. And sure there's nothing wrong with that, is there? And so whether you agree with me or not, and please don't argue with it, put me out to the meeting about it.

Because I've got to that point where I don't change my mind very easily. And so if you, I know you can't convince me, but you can pray for me. But now I'd just like to point out, beloved, as I said a little while ago, that there are times when we can't even find words to pray.

The Spirit's Help in Wordless Prayer

Not even those which are furnished us in the word of God. I know that one of the prophets says, take words with you when you go. But now when you can't pray. When all you can do is sigh in the presence of God.

We might look at that passage in the 8th chapter of Romans in that connection. Let's turn to that for a moment. Keep your bookmark there in Psalm 5 and Romans chapter 8. A well-known verse. You've read it many times.

Perhaps you can quote it even better than I can. But let's look at verse 26. Romans 8 and 26. Likewise, the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.

I'd like to call your attention to the fact that you'll bear with an old school teacher as I give you a little bit of grammar at this point. The word groanings is in what we call the dative case. And in the original language we have what is called the dative of respect.

And so some commentators have rendered this verse this way. The Spirit itself or himself maketh intercession for us with respect to groanings which cannot be uttered. It isn't that he is unable to give occurrence to these, but he's making intercession for us with respect to the groanings which we cannot put into words.

And here is an encouragement for us, isn't it? And what we don't know is balanced by what we do know. For you notice down in verse 28, and we know. And Mr. Darby has put it in so many words in his translation, we do know.

Up in verse 26, we don't know. But this we do know. And what is it? We do know that all things work together for good to them that love God and to them who are called according to his purpose and so on.

So you see the scripture is very beautiful in its balances, isn't it? But to come back to the subject of prayer in our fifth psalm tonight. We've always said there are two ways to pray. One is to pray audibly.

And I like to pray that way when I can. It helps me to keep my mind on my prayers. Otherwise sometimes, you know, your mind wanders when you pray. And so it's nice if you're in a place where you can pray by yourself.

Private Prayer and Meeting God in the Morning

I believe perhaps this is one of the reasons why the Lord, exhorting his own to prayer, says, When thou prayest, enter into thy closet. And when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father, which is in secret.

Then you will notice that the psalmist also gives us the time of the day when he does this. And he mentions this twice in these opening verses of the psalm. Psalm 5 and verse 3, My voice shalt thou hear in the morning.

O Lord, in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up. And I take it that the look again is a silent look. But an expectant look. You're looking up. So that we seem to have here, more than once, this idea of something which is audible, and then again something which is inaudible or silent.

And we're in the presence of God in the very cream of the day. May I make this suggestion to any who do not yet have this wonderful habit of meeting God in the morning. Oh, I know what it means to get up early and have to get off to work to the office.

I was in business for a good many years before I came into what is sometimes called full-time service for the Lord. I don't quite like the expression because I think every Christian ought to be in full-time service for the Lord.

But this is the way we distinguish between those who still have to go on with business. You can only devote a part of their time to the ministry, whereas others are supposed to give all of their time to it.

But this business of getting up early, it just means maybe 15 minutes earlier than usual, that's all. Oh, what a wonderful 15 minutes they are. Before you're disturbed by the ringing of the telephone.

Yes, and if you're a victim of news broadcasts and all that, before you even switch on the button of your radio or pick up your morning newspaper. Don't let anything take precedence over this. Give Him the first moments of the day in the morning.

I grant you, dear friends, that it's difficult at times because there are so many things pressed, especially when one is just raising a young family. We know something about that. But you know, I sometimes thank God for these young alarm clocks.

They were really wonderful. They got me stirred up even before the alarm clock went off. After we got them settled with a bottle of warm milk or something, then we had a time of the Lord. These are wonderful times.

May I suggest, especially to my younger friends here tonight, to get into this habit. It's a wonderful habit. I've practiced it now for many years. I know what of I speak. While other people are talking about tranquilizers and all this other sort of thing to quiet your nerves, I find there's nothing quite like this.

God's Peace and Holiness

Getting into the presence of God. You know, God is the God of peace. And when you get into His presence, you're in an atmosphere of peace. And you can't breathe that atmosphere without somehow taking it on.

It's wonderful when we find human beings like that. The Lord blessed me with a wife like that. I'd come back from a hard day at the school, lecturing perhaps three hours, and counseling with students and what have you, and come back with nerves quite frayed.

Just to have that dear one open the door as she saw the car coming up the driveway, giving you the usual welcome, and whispering in your ear, How about a cup of tea? And then to sit down and just breathe in some of the quiet and serenity that surrounded her as she welcomed back her tired husband.

Beloved, if a human being can do that to us, how much more of the God of peace. Yes, He can do it for you. He does it for me. Again and again, I've proved this to be so. But you know, there's something about God in this psalm which we must not omit looking at.

These verses from verse four down to verse six, they tell us something about God. And I think I can sum the whole thing up by saying that they tell us that God is a holy God. Look at these verses again.

Thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness, neither shall evil dwell with thee. The foolish shall not stand in thy sight. Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Thou shalt destroy them that speak least in your line.

The Lord will abhor the bloody and deceitful man. What does it tell you? It tells you that the presence of the one to whom you come, He's a holy God. But what do I mean by a holy God? Well, somebody says that means He's sinless.

It means more than that. A man could be innocent and be sinless. But innocence is a mere negative term. Holiness is a positive term. There's not only the absence of sin here, but there's positive opposition to it.

And that is why when our blessed Lord was conceived in the womb of the Virgin Mary, the angel did not say that innocent thing which shall be born of thee, but he said that holy thing which shall be born of thee.

Absolutely pure. Not only free from sin, but his whole nature opposed to sin. This is the kind of a God we have to do with. This is what John means in his epistle when he says God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

Many people are very fond of quoting the other verse in the same epistle, that God is love. But long before you read God is love, you read God is light. God is a holy God. And our blessed Lord met him as such as Calvary for you and for me.

Christ's Atonement and Access to a Holy God

Our sins were dealt with in the holiness of God. Not one thing was left uncovered. Everything was atoned for by him who stood in the presence of the holy God, who in that very psalm in which we get his language, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

What does he say just a few verses later? For thou art holy. Thou that inhabitest the praises of his Lord. But you say, well brother you've scared me out of his presence now. No, you look at verse 7 and see.

But as for me, but as for me. But as for me, well I'm really all right. I can go in there any time I like. Oh, that isn't what the psalm says. That isn't what he says. He says, but as for me, I will come into thy house not because of what I am, but in the multitude of thy mercy.

You see that? And that word translated mercy is elsewhere translated loving kindness. In order to give any kind of meaning to the Hebrew word, we have to wed two English words together. The word loving and the word kindness.

That's what's in this verse. In thy great loving kindness. Think of it. Think of the God of grace. This holy one, who dealt with our sins in all of his holiness when he dealt with your Savior and mine as we deserve to be dealt with.

For what the blessed Lord went through at Calvary, dear friends, is what every one of us deserves for our sins. Sometimes people ask me, Mr. Armanin, what do you think hell will be like? Well of course I could give them the answers to the biblical revelation.

But I generally take them to one of the closing chapters of the Gospels, especially those two in Matthew and Mark, where the Lord cries out in the anguish of his soul, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?

That's what hell will be like. That's what it will be like. And the Savior endured this for you and for me in order that the floodgates of mercy might open for you and for me. The psalmist doesn't put all that in here.

But you can see the great change between those verses we looked at, 3, 4, 5, and 6. And then the ask for me. Ask for me, I will come into thy house in the multitude of thy mercy, and in thy fear will I worship toward thy holy temple.

You see dear friends, there is access to God, isn't there? We don't tell you about the holiness of God to keep you away from him. But we tell you about the holiness of God because we want you to know that he himself has provided a way for guilty sinners to come into the presence of a holy God.

The Gospel of Grace in the Whole Word of God

In the very chapter in the Old Testament where God is celebrated as a thrice holy God by the seraphim who held their faces in his presence and cried out Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. The whole earth is full of his glory.

What do you find? You find that the prophet who stands there convicted of his sins and says Woe unto me, woe is me from a man of unclean lips and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips. And yet God purges those lips.

And brings this man into a condition of soul where he is perfectly at home in the presence of God. This is what the blood of Jesus does for a poor lost sinner who comes and trusts the Savior. That's it.

So you can see dear friends, underlined this devotional psalm this evening we also have the gospel of God's grace. As a matter of fact, this underlies everything in the word of God. You and I can't turn anywhere in this book whether it be prophecy, whether it be poetry whether it be the language of the epistles underlying the whole thing is the work of our blessed Lord and Savior for this is the foundation.

And for this reason the apostle Paul said to the Corinthians He determined to know nothing among them saving Jesus Christ and him glorified. And crucified. And to the Galatians he could say God forbid that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ by which the world is crucified to me and I am crucified to the world.

This underlies the whole thing. So when you talk about the simple gospel dear friends don't forget that this is merely the foundation upon which everything rests upon this. Let us go on to see how many things are included in this.

As the writer to the Hebrews says Let us go on to perfection. Let us go on to that which is complete. And here we get some of these things in this psalm. And now you notice that there is a prayer here in verse 8.

Sentence Prayers in the Psalms and Nehemiah

It seems that the psalmist has been leading up to this prayer. So far he hasn't requested anything in this psalm. But you will notice if you go back to psalm 3 which we studied not too long ago and also in psalm 4 that in each one of these psalms you get what might be called a sentence prayer.

I rather objected to the expression a sentence prayer for some time. I thought well why talk about sentence prayers. But they are in the Bible. Particularly in the book of Nehemiah. You want to look at some nice sentence prayers just look into the book of Nehemiah.

You will see them. But here they are in psalm 3 for example. Let's look at it for a moment. He says in verse 7 Arise, O Lord, Savior, deliver me. O my God, for Thou hast smitten all my enemies from the cheekbone and so on.

He is crying out to deliver us. This is the thing for which he has prayed. Then we come down here to psalm 4 and verse 6 Lord, lift Thou up the light of Thy countenance upon us. Lord, I want my face to shine with the reflection of Thy glory.

Now in psalm 5 sentence prayer in verse 8 Lead me, O Lord. Lead me in Thy righteousness because of mine enemies and make Thy way straight before my face. You see what a wonderful morning prayer this is isn't it?

A Lifetime of Prayer and Devotion

Beloved, I am just passing on to you these few thoughts which have been such a blessing to me in my own Christian life. I am not attempting to preach a sermon tonight. Merely just to share with you a few things that have been of real practical value to me in more than 60 years of knowing my Lord and Savior.

More than 60 years since I first trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as a teenager. All those 60 years, what a wonderful thing they've been. To follow the example of my sainted father and mother. Yes, my dear mother, a woman of prayer.

I can remember in those old days when women still wore those great big gingham aprons. Some of you have seen them in museums, haven't you? A bib, you know, and then big apron, strings behind. Frequently in the kitchen I see my mother with this great big apron over her head.

I thought, this is a queer thing. Why has mother got an apron over her head for? And I would peek in on the side and I'd see her lips move in prayer. I couldn't tell you how many times she must have prayed for me.

I was the oldest of her ten children. I'm sure she prayed for me more than she did for all the rest of them. You see, I was there longer. Not only there longer, but I probably needed it more. This is a wonderful thing, isn't it?

To have parents like that. You can think back of these precious things being upheld in prayer. I remember my dear father, when he bade me farewell, I was going to the mission field in Central America.

A young fellow, 20 years of age when I landed on the mission field in Central America. With these words of my father ringing in my ears. The last thing he said to me before the steamer pulled out from the wharf in New York City said, son I'm sorry I haven't got a big sum of money to give you so that you might be free from all financial distractions at least for the first year on the field.

This is one thing I can hand on to you. I've been trusting the Lord and He named the number of years and I found Him absolutely reliable. I never found it or forgot it. He found Him absolutely reliable.

And what a wonderful thing it is now when one has children of his own and grandchildren. And some of these grandchildren are getting up I've got two of them that are over 20 now of the 17 grandchildren.

But you know it's very wonderful when they climb up in their younger years into one's lap and you just teach them a few words of prayer for the Lord. They run to their mother and say Mommy, what do you think?

My children call me Papa. My grandchildren, Papa. Papa taught me how to pray. Well their parents have taught them to pray before. I love it, this is a wonderful thing. If I'm overemphasizing it tonight, at least if you think so it's simply because I'm simply overwhelmed with the importance of it and the necessity of it.

Devoting Fifteen Minutes Daily to Prayer

Oh that the people of God might realize what tremendous potentialities are present here this evening in this group of people of nearly 400 people. What potentialities of every true child of God in this audience this evening were to learn from Psalm 5 to devote at least 15 minutes a day to this wonderful exercise.

But you know I go over the list of my children and grandchildren and by the time I'm over the list 15 minutes is already gone. I have my dear sister Minnie who worked among the Indians out in Arizona for some 35 years.

She tells me that she prays for every member of the Armerding Clan every day and there are exactly 101 names now. 101 names that that dear sister of mine prays for every day of her life. Is this waste time?

I'm sure dear friends when things are balanced up in heaven we're going to see that these were the most valuable hours that we could spend. How much time we waste not only listening to the radio but watching the television.

Things that have only a passing value if they have even that. Someone suggested that it should be called T .W. instead of T .V. Time Waster. I'm not the kind of a folk that's saying well you know I'm a separated Christian I don't look at the television.

You've heard people like that. I've heard people say they're separated Christians they don't drink coffee. Well I'm not a separated Christian according to that standard because I do like my coffee. On the other hand I thank God I'm no slave to these things.

So when you use these instruments which can very often bring you delightful programs or very interesting programs see how you use your time. This is an important matter. We're going to have to give an account for every moment of time that God has given us here.

We're going to have to give an account for one of these days. How much time we could improve by just spending it in prayer instead of watching something that is of little or no value. But I'd like to speak of a few more things at the end of this psalm before I sit down.

The Joy and Protection That Come Through Prayer

You notice after the psalmist here in verses 9, 10 and 11 deals with the matter of his enemies and what he would like God to do with them. Prayers which probably do not quite fit in the mouth of a Christian.

Yet sometimes I find even the Apostle Paul getting pretty close to this kind of language. He spoke of Alexander the coppersmith. He says the Lord reward him according to his work. Now you can take out of that what you lack.

There it is in the book. Let us notice verse 12, verse 11. But then all those that put their trust in thee. I want to speak a little of some of the benefits of prayer. And here I see it I believe in this verse.

Let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice. Let them ever shout for joy. I believe this is one of the, one of the beautiful byproducts of a life of prayer. Is this joy that we have. Someone has called our attention to the fact that the word happiness speaks of things that depend on things that happen.

But joy does not depend on anything that happens. Someone has suggested that our English word joy really has a very lovely suggestion. J stands for Jesus. Y stands for you. With nothing in between. That is joke.

This is the kind of thing that even adverse circumstances can't kill. They shout for joy, that is one thing. Then you notice in the end of verse 11. Because thou defendest or thou dost protect them. That is another great byproduct isn't it.

The Shield of Prayer and God's Protection

The protection of prayer. God protecting those who have come into his holy presence. And how often we found this true. Yes I could give you instances, illustrations from life on the mission field. That would illustrate this, but I'm afraid to do this because some would say yes but I never was in that kind of a position.

But perhaps I can bring it right down to us today. Do you know dear friends that even though I was born brought up in a Christian home. In the nature of things one is thrown into company with people who were not.

And it so happened that one of my school chums was a boy whose father had deserted his mother. And he was left to roam the streets at will. Got into bad companions, learned to smoke, learned to take dope, learned to drink.

And finally wound up with an incurable disease. I was preserved from all of those things. I was preserved from all of those things. I'm sure beloved that somebody had been throwing up a shield of prayer around me.

Thou defendest them. God protects. Oh the protecting power of prayer. I pass it on to you as a thought which is right here in this room. Well somebody says they must be extraordinary people. That do, that get such answers to prayer.

And sometimes when you talk about this you say oh yeah that's alright for a man like Mr. Armading. Well Dr. Thackford is there in the Lord's work. And one dear sister said to me when I went out to the mission field years ago in Detroit.

She said oh it must be wonderful to be in the Lord's work. I said it is. I said why do you think it's so wonderful to be in the Lord's work. Oh she said just to think that you'll be in an environment where you'll be entirely free from temptation.

How little she knew about it. How little she knew about it. How much we needed that divine protection of which the psalmist speaks here. But let me just bring it down to you dear friends and you can't escape this if you claim to be a Christian.

Loving God's Name as the Path of Faithfulness

He says here in the end of verse 11 that them also that love thy name. Do you love his name? Do you love his name? Does it hurt you when you hear his name used in cursing and swearing? Does it hurt? It hurts me.

Oh how I love his name. Yes. I think back to my boyhood days. I wasn't able to. I'm not able to remember of course what happened when I was an infant. But I saw it happening to those who followed me. And my beloved mother rocking them to sleep in the rocking chair.

To the tune and to words. Jesus loves me this I know. For the five hotels and shows. And I love him because he first loved me. Oh beloved. Love is a great protector. It's a great protector. You know there wouldn't be so many broken homes today.

If there was more of this. There wouldn't be so many wrecked Christian lives. If there was more of this. Them also that love thy name. Let them be joyful in thee. For thou Lord wilt bless the righteous.