Book of Psalms - Psa. 17, Vs. 3-5

All right, well, let's get started. Last week we started psalm chapter 17. Remember we've backtracked from psalm chapter 18 because Accidentally skip psalm 17. I didn't skip it. I I read through it and did a study on it.

Oh. That's true, that's true. Well, I totally messed that up. I was gonna not say that. Ben can you cut that out of the recording that way? No one will ever know. There is the date, oh well. Well, so I've backtracked to psalm 17 which is okay because in psalm 18 we see David delivered from his enemies.

In psalm 17, we see him praying for deliverance for God to Come to the rescue so to speak to pronounce judgment. He has asked God to send forth his judgment from his presence and.

And.

One of the things that we were looking at yesterday or the kind of the to sum it all up not yesterday last week. Was just the proper way to go to God asking for deliverance.

And.

One of the first things that we noticed is that David is the right. In other words he has Worked on being righteous and we too should work on being righteous if we're going to ask God to deliver us from something.

Sometimes the things that we ask to be delivered from Could be the things that God is trying to use us to turn back to him or to head more towards righteousness. He'll sometimes use situations.

To.

Get our attention and get us more focused on him because maybe we've pulled our attention off of him. So he says here the right Oh Lord attended my cry. So we see he has become righteous. He is a righteous person.

So we have a be do have here. His do is that he cries out to the Lord. We discussed just how? Crying out to the Lord Has kind of this double connotation. There's this almost sad desperate feeling that he's not going to be able to To it, but there's also a joyous Praise type feeling to it.

And so anytime we are feeling the the desperation of needing help from God We should work towards being righteous and towards actively praising him for his righteousness that he's given unto us and.

Then.

After that be and do we have the opportunity to request? Having God's attention on the problem that is at hand.

And.

That's where it says give ear unto my prayer, right? So David is wanting to have God's ear. He wants to have his attention. We we moved on down through verse 3 last week some other things we pulled from it just to remind you.

He said let my sentence come from forth from thy presence one there's the the idea that it's coming from the face of God and I mentioned kind of towards the end of the lesson yesterday that.

The.

Having God's face towards you having God's face shine upon you is.

Often.

Used as a way to show that you have God's favor. So when you look up the word presence here, it's often or it's in this particular case It is being used as let it come forth from your face from the in front of so David is not only asking For God to give him his attention.

He's also asking for him to give him his kind of his face his favor and He wants his sentence like judgment on this case that David is brought as the plaintiff in the case to be pronounced from that place of favor and It's interesting they says let my sentence because the judge is going to not just say Oh, yeah, you're that servant that I love and favor.

So the other guy is guilty. That's not how he works he looks at all the evidence, which is why it's so important that David starts from a place of righteousness and He realizes he knows that in this judgment that he's asking from the Lord the Lord's gonna examine him as well and That's where David starts changing his terminology towards even though he's complaining about someone else.

He's like I but you've examined me and you you might even continue to examine me and you won't find anything Wrong with me here. So he says let thine eyes behold the things that are equal and Then verse or he says thou has tried me and shalt find nothing.

So in other words you're going to You're going to even if you keep Examining me you'll see that I am righteous and we kind of we ended On verse 3 that has proved mine heart that has visited me in the night That has tried me and shalt find nothing.

I didn't actually finish all of verse 3 pop pointed out that I didn't that I had left off the end and I didn't really mean to but it kind of worked out for the best because I Wanted to spend a lot more time on the end there and we were out of time.

So this week we'll start off with the end of verse 3, but we'll just read through verse 3 one more time. Thou has proved mine heart that has visited me in the night.

Remember.

The visiting him in the night is kind of like saying, you know me. It's like if you went to spend the night at a friend's house you are in an environment then where their guard is let down and.

They.

They are in their natural habitat. So you tend to to get to know them on a more personal level when you go. Just spend the night at a friend's house, you you know them in ways that you wouldn't have known them otherwise.

Because they tend to act a little bit more themselves when they're at home and at night. David is saying that's how you know me. Like, you know. We more like myself when the facades down when the outward appearances are not as well cared for.

You know me like that like you spent the night and.

And.

Spurgeon. I shared a Spurgeon quote last week about if we are Righteous we look forward to that kind of stuff. Not only do we enjoy Knowing God and having him know us in that more intimate manner But we really look forward to him knowing us more and spending the night more often if you will.

And then he says that has tried me and shall find nothing. So you're not gonna find anything wrong with me. He really hammers this idea of I'm the righteous one in this situation. And that's because it's so important to be in that State if you're asking for the Lord To judge someone else, you know, it's the same idea as Remove the plank from your own eye before you go get the speck of dust out of your brother's eye.

So David is trying to really bring that out like I am righteous and The reason why that's important is that if you're not You might not receive the kind of favor that you're hoping for in The scenario that you that you're looking to absolve or to resolve.

So my question this morning to start us off Kind of has to do with the end of that verse which of course is I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. But it has even more to do with it than just that what kind of things Would keep us From experiencing the favor That we hope to gain when asking the Lord for something There's the good the easy answer there, right?

So sin it's kind of all-encompassing, right? But there are there any specific sins that we are given? Examples of that Have that direct effect.

Hmm.

Okay, so it could maybe be a sin of pride. Maybe pride would be something that that would Kind of put a block Between us in the favor of God. What's interesting is that there there's some schools of thought that no No, you always have God's favor and in some respect.

That's true. I mean you're his child even when my kids are Disobedient or when they do something bad, you know, or when they Do something that's disappointing to me. They still it's not it's like I had there's an element of my favor that they Cannot escape right and it's very true of God because we are his children That we we always have access to favor like it's always there but there are certainly times when there's like a double portion of favor that I bestow upon my kids because They've just been so good, you know.

And they've done something that they showed me that they're obeying that they're doing The things that I've trained them to do that kind of stuff and I think the same is true for the Lord like there's definitely a cause and effect type relationship When that we have with the Lord where if we are in right relationship with him Things tend to go well with us.

All right, not always. I mean there's you can always have The exception to the rule which is like Job, right? He was in Absolutely, right standing with the Lord. But God that God had a different plan for Job To show that it wasn't because of the favor That that he was bestowing upon Job that Job worshiped God Job worshiped God because that's what Job was created to do and Then he also got favor maybe added favor as a byproduct of that worshiping and that's kind of what God was proving to Satan in In that little time of history there.

So pride could be one if you go to the Lord saying I'm the righteous one, but you're not really but we also have to keep in mind. None of us are truly Experientially righteous our righteousness is as filthy rag.

So we do have to lean on the grace that Jesus gives us. What else? Unforgiveness. Okay. Now you've hit on one that is actually listed as being something that It has a direct effect on our prayer life Any others that you can think of that unthankfulness, okay.

So.

We see in Romans chapter 1 the product of not Regarding God is God and neither were they thankful right for this reason God gave them over unto uncleanliness, right and so we see because of what they Were unthankful for because of their unthankfulness There is a cause and effect God gave them over To uncleanness and then there that cause and effect just snowballed got worse and worse and worse Until ultimately they were a reprobate mind.

Let me let me read a few of these off to you That that are in scripture. We'll start with the all-encompassing one sin. All right, so in Isaiah 59 1 through 2 You have behold the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save.

Now imagine praying to the Lord save me from this oppression. Save me from this unrighteous person and You get a response. What if your response was the Lord's hand is not shortened that it cannot save neither his ear heavy that it cannot hear.

Remember David in the Psalms is asking God for his ear here in Isaiah He can hear it's not that he has a heavy ear that he can't hear. It's not that his hand is short that he can't help like he's absolutely capable but watch verse 2 but your iniquities That's sin have Separated between you and your God and your sins have hid his face Also often known as favor from you That he will not hear.

That's a scary situation.

Right.

But what is that? It's the iniquity. It's the sin that has made it where. Okay. Obviously God cares about. If you're gonna come to me asking me for some help. Why don't you work on you first? Work on righteousness.

Right and.

So we have an example of that here in Isaiah. Notice the phrase your sins have hid his face from you. I Have often read this verse and thought God has hid his face because of sin. That's not how it reads.

It doesn't read that God hid his face. It reads that your sins hid God's face from you. So think about what that must be like if God's face is is there the favor is Available. You don't even have the ability to see it because you've got sin in front of you.

Your your focus is sin. So imagine asking for for God's favor. Imagine asking for his hand in his help.

But.

You can't see Where the favor is where the hand is I. Imagine the the most practical example of how this would play out would be asking God to help you in a situation and The answers may already be right in front of your face.

But you don't have the ability to recognize the answers that God has already provided because of.

Unrighteousness.

So.

That would hinder your ability. To feel like you you're getting your prayers answered.

Wouldn't it?

Does that mean that the answers are not there though? Not necessarily? Yes.

And Whoops.

Mm.

Yeah.

Sure.

Hmm that's an interesting example. Okay, so nephew Cooper three years old knew he'd done something wrong. It's something that my sister had been working with him on for quite some time and He still did something wrong and he came asking for mercy but he still had to suffer the consequences of the action because he needed to learn the lesson and the Consequences helped him learn the lesson.

So maybe that happens with us too, right we still suffer the consequences. And that may not always be the case right like we can ask for mercy and maybe we just get it from the Lord. I mean, that's what mercy really is, right?

You're not suffering the consequences that you deserve. We certainly got that when we got saved and here's an interesting side point. Think of it. Think of it like this. If our sins have the ability to hide The face of God from us.

It's not that God hides his face. It's that our sins Hide our ability to see the face of God. How then can anyone?

Choose.

God when they have yet To be saved they can't choose them. They can't even see him. It's impossible, right? So you you already have Plenty of scripture and and lots of examples before our salvation experience how you can't see God.

It's impossible. You don't have the ability to choose him because you don't even know where he is. You don't know how to see him. So unless God opens your eyes supernaturally Your sins have hid his face from from you now Once you are saved You have the Spirit of God and dwelling in you and because of that you now have.

A.

New type of access because the father always sees you as perfect and that access gives you the ability to ask for forgiveness right here to ask the Lord to wash you of all uncleanliness and it says that he's faithful and just give us our sins and Cleanse us from all unrighteousness, right if we will confess the sins, that's all it says.

It's not even asked is saying that we ask for forgiveness just as confess them. So in other words once you're saved you have the ability to confess what you've done wrong and God is just to go and cleanse you of all unrighteousness.

I imagine that Unrighteousness is very thick and muddy makes it hard to see God's face. It makes it hard to see his favor. So we ask him to cleanse us of that so that we go. Oh, yeah, that's the direction I'm supposed to be going and so praise the Lord.

He gave us the ability to to do that right and and Then commands us to do it. Alright, so sin definitely hinders our prayer life. It gets a little bit more Specific in Scripture about sins that can hinder your prayer life in Psalm chapter 66.

Which we'll get to eventually because we're gonna go on right through the Psalms in verse 18. It says if I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me. Now regard here is an interesting word.

Because it it's like it's almost like you're ignoring what you know to be good and true and right and Instead putting your love and attention on iniquity.

So.

You might would say that a specific sin That can hinder your prayer life. It's just ignoring scripture which makes sense because we have God's Word so many people go on I'm waiting from a word from the Lord and they won't go and read his word, you know and so that right there can be a hindrance to their prayer life because they they want a personal interpretation they want God to speak to them and give them a new word.

Because somehow that makes them feel like they're more holy or whatever if they receive a quote-unquote new word. They better hope That they have the discernment to realize that's not really how God speaks right now.

He speaks through his son right and through his word. And so if you're getting a new word, you better be careful about what that new word is. So to know what to do and instead of loving God's Word I love the sin.

And pursue wickedness nonetheless. That makes it where the Lord's not going to listen to my prayers. So what again? What do we do? We work on? Righteousness when we come before the Lord. Unforgiveness is one that pop brought up if you'll go to mark 11 Verse 25 I believe is where it is Unforgiveness is specifically mentioned and when you stand praying Forgive if you have ought against any.

That your father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. Now we know we ultimately have forgiveness from the Lord. We have the ultimate sacrifice in Jesus and That we are forgiven for our sins and that this this is kind of It almost feels like a Transitionary thing although this is in the New Testament because there was very much the whole idea of Going to the temple Asking for forgiveness go there's other scripture that talks about if you're getting ready to sacrifice leave your Sacrifice at the altar and then go and be reconciled with your brother before you come to do the sacrifice.

And so there's this Transitionary thing going on here because with Jesus he is our sacrifice, right? We don't we don't have a sacrifice that we necessarily leave it necessarily leave at the altar but what's interesting here is that we have Jesus who gives us these two greatest commandments love God love others.

How amazing is it? That if we're going to the Lord asking for forgiveness to get right with him He says why don't you go deal with the people part first like he even a he he Commands us in some scenarios go deal with that.

First.

Now that doesn't seem like it's in the right order. Does it wouldn't you think it should go God first? People second because when they asked what is What are the two greatest commandments or what they said?

What is the greatest commandment? He said it's love the Lord your God with all your heart time soul mind and strength. And the second one is like unto it love your neighbor as yourself. So why then would Jesus have us go like put the sacrifice on hold?

Or in this particular scenario if you're going and asking for forgiveness from the Lord Why would you why would God tell you to put that on hold and go deal with the people first? It seems. Backwards.

Okay, but.

But is that putting the relationship with man before the relationship with God? Pop says no, okay. Because he said go do it and if you go do it, okay very close to the answer I'm looking for. Yes, sir.

Right, well with the sacrifice yes what we're reading here, which is in Mark chapter 11. It's an example. It's not actually talking about a sacrifice. This one is for when you stand praying Forgive if you have ought against any that your father also which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.

Okay, right. Yes.

Yes.

It's kind of yes. No, no, no, you you pretty much nailed it. So here's here's the the the correct way of looking at this right.

That's.

Exactly, right, so Pastor David shows that mark 11, even though it's in the New Testament. This is still Jesus right and he's and he's giving the correct way to do things and this is prior to His death on the cross the Pentecost where we receive the Holy Spirit.

What he's showing is an Old Testament Methodology but there is a secondary application to us in the New Testament and that New Testament. Secondary application is that? What was that picturing? Well, even when God in the Old Testament said go be joined with your brother first.

What he's actually doing is the moment you begin to go do that. You're getting in right relationship with the Lord through the obedience. So then when you come back to do the sacrifice or in this case ask for forgiveness.

What you're actually doing is you're saying? All right, I am aligning with you. It's a lot like when you do Discipline with your kids, right? Maybe spankings when they're little. You're the spanking is designed to get them to yield their will to you.

Well if you're doing what God.

Told.

You to do by going to your brother and dealing with that you are at that point yielding. So it's not just words. God, please forgive me. It's not just I'm trying to systematize it like we talked about last week.

You can't just say well, I I sacrificed and so God has to forgive me. You have to have a yielding to his lordship right and say oh I I am supposed to do what God told me to do and by doing so I'm showing him I'm in right relationship.

So then when I say Lord forgive me It's already a foregone conclusion. Of course, he's gonna forgive you. So it's not it's not like you can make him forgive you by By forgiving someone else. That's not the thing.

It's not like okay. I went and said I forgive. It's that you yielded to his lordship. And so there's true repentance is what that is, right? Yes.

I.

Forgive me.

So so mom brings out the idea that if you're going to do something heartily as unto the Lord you're actually doing it as God's representative and what's happening at that point is you're you are a Picture right.

When you do something heartily and as unto the Lord you're doing a picture Of what God would have you do right like so this. So the others go oh, that's what God looks like. So there's some some cool preacher once said You may be the closest thing to Jesus someone ever sees, you know.

Maybe I don't know but I'll tell you this There is something to that that warrants closer study. Think about Saul on the road to Damascus. Right. Saul is on his way to kill Christians and.

God.

Jesus right shines on him. Saul. Why do you persecute me? And what does Saul do? What's he say to the Lord he says what would you have me do right first. It's who are you and he says I'm Jesus of Nazareth who you persecuted and he says Lord.

What would you have me do at that point? He's yielding that that's the yield right there and then comes the process of The whole justification and sanctification. But what happens is it was done to him because he wasn't going to go and do it.

Right until the Lord opened his eyes and said oh, I'm the one right that's when he yielded. So it's really a cool picture of the sovereignty of God and responsibility of man coming together. At the same time we're seeing that again here in this methodology that Jesus gives right now.

This is post salvation, right? Well in in reality in this in this particular scenario. This is pre salvation. This is like Old Testament stuff. But what we're seeing is a picture right yield and then Justification kind of come in at the same time if you will right in New Testament now that we have the Holy Spirit when we go to the Lord asking for help in a scenario.

There's yielding and then there's deliverance that come in together it's very much a contingent thing. So there's unforgiveness. Selfishness is another one in James chapter 4 verse 3 says he asked and received not.

Because he asked amiss. That ye may consume it upon your lusts. So you're asking God for help, but you're really doing it for completely selfish reasons so you're missing the point. All right, so that could hinder our prayer life.

The way husbands treat their wives.

Specifically is.

Called out as something that can hinder their prayer lives first Peter 3 7 Likewise he husbands dwell with them according to knowledge giving honor unto the wife as unto the weaker vessel and As being heirs together of the grace of life that your prayers be not hindered.

So.

Even the even the way you teach your wife and the way you you treat your wife has the potential to To hinder your prayer life. First John 5 14 through 15 tells us and this is the confidence that we have in him that if we ask anything According to his will how can you ask according to his will if you are not submitted to his will?

All right, so you've got to be in submission to his will in order to ask according to his will. If we ask anything according to his will he heareth us. And if we know that he hear us whatsoever we ask we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him.

What is it that David is asking of hear me? Right first I am righteous. I am in alignment with your will. Right now I'm crying out to you. Hear me Psalm 37 for delight thyself also in the Lord and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

All right, so we're gonna finish up verse 3 real quick in our psalm chapter 17 Passage and we may get another verse or two down because we got a couple of minutes left. So The end of this verse says I am purposed that my mouth shall not transgress so up until this point we have David's Showing I.

I have examined myself. I believe myself to be righteous in an alignment with your will. I'm submitted.

I am.

Not just submitted. I'm also committed. All right, you're not gonna find anything wrong with me and here he's saying I am Purposed that my mouth shall not transgress. What does that seem to mean to you guys?

Okay, his intent is My mouth shall not transgress. Why does he say that?

What's.

Actively trying to follow God, okay. But with what what's he using. Sam, what's he using there? I am purposed that my mouth shall not be transgressed. What's he using. His mouth his words, right?

And.

So, what does it mean that my mouth shall not transgress? Think of the context. I am a plaintiff.

Against this guy.

Right and.

I am submitted. I'm in alignment. I'm praising you for the righteousness that you've given me and the righteousness that you have. I'm crying out to you out of desperation. I'm not just submitted. I'm also committed that I that you will not Find anything wrong with me and my mouth will not transgress.

Oh. Let me just throw that in there. What does he mean? There you go. He's bridling his tongue. Who's he bridling it against? Exactly the enemy. So he has an enemy that he's a plaintiff for. Is the enemy unrighteous.

Yes, is he righteous? Yes, does that give him license to speak ill and to be careless with his words about his enemy?

No, in.

Fact that'd be very unwise and that's what that's a trap that so many Christians fall into because I am experiencing righteous Indignation, I'm gonna let them have it. I'm right. You're wrong. And you're gonna I'm gonna we even brag about it.

You know what I told him I told that guy off. I Just told him off because I was right and he was wrong. And you know what he said. Can you believe he said that to me? So I told him off again. And what are we actually doing?

We're acting from a place of pride. There's no wisdom in it. And Often what happens is your own words will end up being used against you. So later if You find yourself in a situation where maybe you're not the plaintiff.

You're the defendant now. You've you've been careless with your words in the past and it's gonna come back to bite you. David understands this and he says look I'm in the right. But I'm gonna be very careful about how I talk about this situation about the enemy.

So not even my mouth will transgress. Purposed in this In this verse is in the perfect tense. Which is like it's one and done like it's no I am that is I am purposed. Like this is what I am created to be like like it's not like I'm going to act like this for a time and and I am going to In this particular scenario only bridle my tongue because I gotta be careful.

He says I am purposed that my tongue shall not transgress. Sometimes we might go. Okay. I'm in a bad situation. And so I've got to be extra careful how I talk and some people do that they're like, okay now this is serious.

So I got to be extra careful how I talk. Why would you be extra careful? You should always be extra careful. With the way you use your words if you want to stay out of some of those situations be purposed that your tongue shall never transgress in This particular scenario David is talking about the scenario.

But it's interesting they says I am purposed. It's not like in this scenario. My tongue shall not transgress. It's like I am just that way my tongue won't transgress. So when you're spitefully abused when you're wronged by others when you're taken advantage of When your pleasantness is returned with unpleasantness when you're passive aggressively attacked by those who smile at you in public and Stab you in the back in private.

You may indeed be the innocent party. You may be found in the right you may readily invite the truth into the situation like David does hey I'm ready for the judgment to come forward from your presence you may decide the best thing that could happen would be for the oppressor to be found out and.

Then.

You might just maybe a little bit revel in that thought of Justice being done to your enemy and perhaps even be tempted to rail against your enemy carelessly. To call them out to speak ill of them in the presence of others.

It would be justified in the eyes of man. Everybody would say oh, yeah, you you have the right. Would not be wise in the sight of God. So we have to learn to bridle our tongues even in these situations.

Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying that it may minister grace Unto the hearers everybody anybody ever notice. That grace is used there.

You don't let corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth. Because it will administer grace to the hearers. What is grace? Undeserved favor. You don't deserve for me to bridle my tongue. You don't deserve for me to be careful in the way that I interact verbally with you.

But I'm going to do that because it administers grace under the people who are our enemies even. Why. Because.

He says.

Verse 30 there and grieve not the Holy Spirit of God whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. So even how we communicate in the Situation where we are the oppressed How we talk to the enemy could hinder our relationship with God.

Think about that David is.

It's.

Amazing. They say that he's a man after God's own heart because He really is very wise. That's a level of wisdom that many of us probably Only hope to attain. It's very hard to have a bridled tongue With.

When you know, you're in the right and the other guys in the wrong. You just want to tell him off. All right, so let's get to another verse before we're out of time. Verse 4 in chapter 17 concerning the works of men by the word of thy lips.

I Have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. Now in light of what we've been discussing righteousness first. Crying out to the Lord asking for his ear. You'll find nothing if you inspect me. Right you have found nothing.

You know me you visited me in the night. You won't find anything if you continue to inspect me. My mouth will not transgress. Now whose mouth has got is David talking about in verse 4 concerning the works of men by the words of thy lips.

Now he's talking about God's mouth, all right, so my mouth I'm gonna shut up. I'm gonna make sure that I don't say something that will transgress in the scenario, even though I'm the oppressed.

I'm gonna.

I'm gonna hold my tongue and By thy words by the word of thy lips. I have kept me from the paths of the destroyer. We have fallen victim to this idea of open and honest communication. If it's true, it has to be said there.

There are times when Saying something true Will not make the the situation better. Oh, no, but Dave true truth always is. Is good to speak truth coupled with meekness maybe truth coupled with gentleness.

But we don't do that we go oh I'm true I'm I'm speaking truth so I can just spew it out because it's true and we're very. We're very we're not very careful with the way we talk. The only way we can defend against that is God's help like let God do the talking.

I Have had to work really hard on this particularly with my sisters like because I Mean we we've always been. We've known how to push each other's buttons.

Right and.