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[Music] well good morning welcome to the house of the Lord as we gather to worship this morning just by way of announcements to get these out of the way and then we could begin begin worship pastor Butler is away for another week he's been away this past week on vacation and he'll be away one more week this coming week so you can certainly remember him in your prayers that it would be a restful time for him and I do have benefit much from his from his holiday and then just that there's no Bible study again this week and that will resume again the first week in September I drove a date but the first week in September after schools back in that's when that's when the Bible study will we will begin well please turn with me in your Bibles to Isaiah Isaiah chapter 40 as we give attention to the God that we worship this will help to tune out tune our hearts to and enter minds of course worship is a mindful thing tune our hearts and our minds to the worship of God we're going to begin at verse 12 and we're going to go to 31 who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand measured heaven with a span and calculated the dust of the earth in a measure weighed the mountains and scales and the hills in a balance who has directed the Spirit of the Lord or as his counselor has taught him with whom did he take counsel and who instructed him and taught him in the path of justice who taught him knowledge and showed him the way of understanding behold the nations are as a drop in a bucket and are counted as the small dust on the scales look he lifts up the Isles as a very little thing and Lebanon is not sufficient to burn nor its beasts sufficient for a burnt offering all nations before him are as nothing and they are counted by him less than nothing and worthless to whom then will you liken God or what likeness will you compare to him the workman moulds an image the Goldsmith overspreads it with gold and the silversmith casts silver chains whoever is too impoverished for such a contribution choose it chooses a tree that will not rot he seeks for himself a skilful workman to prepare a carved image that will not taught her have you not known have you not heard has it not been told you from the beginning have you not understood from the foundations of the earth it is he who sits above the circle of the earth and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers who stretches out the heavens like a curtain and spreads them out like a tent to dwell in he brings the princes to nothing he makes the judges of the earth you scarcely shall they be planted scarcely shall they be sown scarcely shall their stock take root in the earth when he will also blow on them and they will wither and the whirlwind will take them away like stubble to whom then will you liken me or to whom shall I be equal says the Holy One lift up your eyes on high and see who has created these things who brings out their hosts by number he calls them all by name by the greatness of his might and the strength of his power not one is missing why do you say o Jacob and speak o Israel my way is hidden from the Lord and my just claim is passed over by my God have you not known have you not heard the everlasting God the Lord the creator of the ends of the earth neither faint snore is weary his understanding is unsearchable he gives power to the weak and to those who have no might he increases strength even the youths shall faint and be weary and the young man shall utterly fall but those those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up with wings like eagles they shall run and not be weary they shall walk and not faint well be it our is then to trust in this unseen God today as we come to God and worship and please turn with me in your hymn books through the first him which is 282 282 now I'll ask you to stand please [Music] [Music] [Music] well let's go to God in prayer and ask his blessing to be upon our meeting here this morning upon our worship let's pray our gracious and our loving Heavenly Father we come into your holy presence this morning through your son the Lord Jesus Christ we're grateful father that you are a sovereign one you are the king of all kings the lord of all lords Lord you sit enthroned above the circle this earth and father all that happens in this earth you take great care and and sovereign care over that father as we consider how small man is we consider how great you are the father the the nations are but dust in the palm of your hand and how we praise you father that you are God worthy of all worship worthy of all praise this day Lord we pray that you would cleanse our hearts are fresh this day and cause us Lord to worship you for you are worthy of all worship cause us to be creatures who have been made to to worship the true and living God to to open our mouths and and use our minds and and our hearts to declare your praises here in this place this day we pray Lord that you would be worship we thank you that you are a God who who does care for the the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ both here in this place and all over this earth father we think that we are part of that that broader Church that that church universal that church of which Christ is the head of and we praise you Lord that we are not just a small insignificant body of believers here in Chilliwack that we are part of a much larger body that has the the care and the watchful eye of the Lord Jesus Christ upon this day we pray Lord that you would be pleased to to own the worship here in this place and we pray that you would receive it cause us Lord to be mindful of the fact that we come before an audience of one and that is the king eternal and we are the we are the participants in that worship this day so Lord we do declare your your greatness and your mightiness your awesomeness your your holiness and we pray Lord that we might that we might clearly see this day that great grace that has been given to us through your son the Lord Jesus Christ how we praise you that Christ left his throne him in heaven he came to this earth to offer up his life as a sacrifice as an atonement for our sins otherwise we would have had to pay for them ourselves with their own lifeblood and we praise you Lord that that that blood of Christ is an efficacious blood it is a it is effective for every man woman boy and girl all over this all over this earth from ages past to the present and ages into the future father that blood will what will be sufficient as as the atoning sacrifice for our sins and how we pray Lord that you would be pleased to to to lift up the Lord Jesus Christ here in this place this day we pray that we would lift up Christ and we pray that he would be worshiped forgive us of all of our sins and cleanse us afresh father we know we do not live we do not love you as we as with all of our heart soul mind and strength each and every moment of each and every day so Lord we know that we do sin against you we are we are a sinful people yeah we come to a gracious God a God who is full of mercy a God who is full of grace and we prayer though that we might receive that mercy and that grace from you this day Lord we do pray your blessing upon those who perhaps cannot be with us this day because of illness we pray Lord that you would strengthen them cause them to to know your your righteousness and their life we pray Lord that they would that they would benefit from your word and your gracious Holy Spirit for those who perhaps even are amongst us in difficulty or in pain we pray Lord that you would be pleased to in this hour relieve them of that pain that they might be focused upon the worship of our eternal God we pray Lord for your blessing to be upon those who are in persecuting countries Lord week we know the enemy of our souls is after those who who who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ and it just evidence is the fact that that we have the truth by the fact that they want to stamp out the truth so let me pray that you would be pleased to bless the Church of Christ this day all over this earth particularly those in persecuting countries we we do pray Lord that as the church grows and perhaps sometimes through the blood of martyrs that Lord you would be pleased to add your blessing and cause it to continue to to further in and and grow and we do pray Lord that the church that the gates of hell would not prevail against against that that growth that onslaught of the Church of Christ we Lord we pray for the success of the church and and for the success of Christ and his kingdom all over this earth we do pray Lord you ask your blessing to be upon pastor Butler strengthen him enable him Lord to enjoy this time of vacation a time of rest and and and being away from the duties and regular responsibilities here in this place we pray Lord that you would strengthen him in body strengthen him in mind and strengthen him in spirit as well and we pray that he would come back in a couple of weeks refreshed and and ready to took it to take up the torch here we thank you for the good word that he does preach faithfully from this pulpit Sunday by Sunday and we just pray your rich blessing Lord to be upon this congregation that Lord we'd be receivers of that word receivers of good doctrine but that also that doctrine would affect our lives that we would be made and molded and into the image of your son the Lord Jesus Christ that we've not gained knowledge that we would not gain doctrine without also gaining love for one another and love for your word and love for you love for the people around us and so Lord affect us cause cause that word to to truly to leak out as it were into our very character that ultimately you would bring that you would receive glory we'd bring glory to you even by by becoming more and more made to the image of your son the Lord Jesus Christ father we do pray your blessing to to be upon our meeting now we pray that you would strengthen us and cause cause the Lord Jesus Christ we lift it up in this place by the worship of your name and it's in Jesus precious name we pray amen well please turn with me in your hymn books to him number 67 a 67a and I'll ask you to stand [Music] [Music] and please turn with me your Bibles to our reading which is Acts chapter three we'll read the whole chapter Acts chapter three as we work through the New Testament Acts chapter 3 beginning at verse 1 now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of Prayer the ninth hour and a certain man lame from his mother's womb was carried whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which he is called beautiful to ask alms from those who entered the temple who seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple asked for alms and fixing his eyes on him with John Peter said and Peter said look at us so he gave them his attention expecting to receive something from them then Peter said silver and gold I do not have but what I do have I give you in the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk and he took him by the right hand and lifted him up and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength so he leaping up stood and walked and entered the temple with them walking leaping and praising God and all the people saw him walking and praising God then they knew that it was he who sat begging arms at the beautiful gate of the temple and they were filled with Wonder and amazement at what had happened to him now as the lame man who was he was healed held on to Peter and John all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon's greatly amazed so when Peter saw it he responded to the people men of Israel why do you marvel at this or why look so intently at us as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob the god of Our Fathers glorified his servant Jesus whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate when he was determined to let him go but you denied the Holy One and the just and asked for a murderer to be granted to you and killed the Prince of life whom God raised from the dead of which we are witnesses and His name through faith in his name has made this man strong whom you see and know yes the faith which comes through him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all yet now brethren I know that you did it in ignorance as did also your rulers but those things which God foretold by the mouth of all his prophets that the Christ was that the Christ would suffer he has thus fulfilled repent therefore and be converted that your sins may be blotted out so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord and that he may send Jesus Christ who was preached to you before whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things which God has spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began for Moses truly said to the said to the father's the Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from from your brethren him you shall hear in all things whatever he says to you and it shall be that every soul who will not hear that prophet shall be utterly destroyed from among the people yes and all the prophets from Samuel and those who follow as many as have spoken have also foretold these days you are sons of the prophets and of the Covenant which God made with our fathers saying to Abraham and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed to you first God having raised up his servant Jesus sent him to bless you in turning away every one of you from your iniquities Amen well let's pray a gracious that our loving Heavenly Father it's once once again we we praise you Father for this glorious act of the love of the Lord Jesus Christ coming not just to heal physically this this this lame man but ultimately to heal his soul of of his sins and what he what the Lord Jesus Christ did for this lame man we praise you Father he has done for each of us who can name the name of Christ this day and we are grateful Father for the forgiveness of sins that not only do you restore man but you restore him to your father in heaven so that when you look at us father you do not see our sin but rather you see that perfect righteousness of your sent one the Lord Jesus Christ that one who has promised way back in the garden and had that promise that that hope was held throughout the whole Testament and now we are benefactors of that glorious gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ Lord we praise you we thank you that that is the same Lord Jesus Christ that we worship as was worshiped back then and we praise you Father that we get to read your word we praise you Father for your word for these for these for these books of the Bible that that not only inform us but also convinced us of the things that we that we hold near and dear to be true and we thank you Father for that gift of your Holy Spirit and we pray that spirit might abide here in this place this day as we open up your word and send Jesus precious name we pray amen well please turn with me in your hymn books to the last him before the the preaching and that will be to him number 271 to 71 [Music] hey ma'am please be seated if you turn your Bibles please to Psalm Psalm chapter five we're going to do two Psalms one this morning one this evening there were papers given out so first you have one then you're able to follow along with a general outline we'll read Psalm chapter five in its entirety we'll pray and then we'll begin to the chief musician with flutes a psalm of David give ear to my words O Lord consider my meditation give heed to the voice of my cry my king and my god for to you I will pray my voice you shall hear in the morning O Lord in the morning I will direct it to you and I will look up for you or not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness nor shall evil dwell with you the boastful shall not stand in your sight you hate all workers of iniquity you shall destroy those who speak falsehood the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful men but as for me I will come into your house in the multitude of your mercy in fear of you I will worship toward your holy temple lead me O Lord in your righteousness because of my enemies make your way straight before my face for there is no faithfulness in their mouth their inward part is destruction their throat is an open tomb they flatter with their tongue pronounce them guilty Oh God let them fall by their own counsels cast them out in the multitude of their transgressions for they have rebelled against you but let all those rejoice who put their trust in you let them ever shout for joy because you defend them let those also who love your name be joyful in you for you O Lord will bless the righteous was favored you will surround him as with a shield amen let's pray and ask God's blessing to be upon this time our gracious our loving Heavenly Father we again come into your holy presence father we recognize that we have need of your Holy Spirit to open up the word of God it's not just any book but rather it's the very mind and voice of God himself and so Lord we pray your blessing to be upon the reading of your word the opening up of your word the father we might find much much to worship you in regards to and much to praise you in regard to we pray Lord that this would be an encouragement to each one here this morning and that father we would leave here benefiting from having looked into your word that we that we would be made and molded into the image of your son the Lord Jesus Christ Lord we pray your your blessing now and the strengthening in aid of your Holy Spirit and it's in Jesus precious name we pray amen well certainly in in Psalm chapter five the the best posture for for prayer and this is a prayer of David chapter 5 and chapter 6 which we'll look at this evening are both are both prayers and ultimately the best posture for prayer is to realize that that we need help in our prayer and that's what David does here David is giving we begin here with with a prayer of David and remember the disciples when the Lord Jesus Christ he was praying in the in in solitude and when he finished praying his disciples wait until he had finished they said to him they said they said to the Lord Jesus Lord teach us to pray that was in Luke chapter 11 and verse 1 and so certainly we need prayer we need help in our prayer we need guidance in our prayer and that's what David is doing here in chapter 5 DL mu dia an evangelist a great evangelist a great preacher of the 1900s he said he was a great preacher he commanded audiences of thousands he said I'd rather be able to pray than be a great preacher Jesus Christ never taught his disciples how to preach but only how to pray so we obviously we need to help we need help in prayer and in the New Testament the Lord if the Lord gave the disciples instructions on how to pray then then we here in the Old Testament prayer book which is really what the Psalms are they are a prayer book psalm 5 where David here teaches us how to pray when we're in dangerous situations we're in difficulties where maybe and we're in a perplexing situation we were just in plain lousy circumstances that's what this book is about that's what this chapter is about chapter 5 so in David's own prayer here he's going to model for us and I hope that's what hope to progress through is this model of David that he provides for us it's almost like a prayer tutorial we might say so that as he himself prays he leaves behind instructions for us as to how we ought to pray as well and so I trust that we can benefit from the model that that David leaves here from this tutorial that that he leaves for us so you see that in your outline there's four points by the way I need to give credit to certainly dr. Dale Ralph Davis for this outline a first point would be in the first three verses prepare your prayer is as the first point we'll look at and then know your God know the god to whom we pray and thirdly make your request and lastly in the last three verses declare your confidence in obviously in God while beginning note that David does not pray to a distant stranger he's speaking to Yahweh how do we know that while he says in verse in verse two he says he's speaking to y'all way to God he says my king and my god so it's not distant god it's my king it's my god and certainly that's something that I think BK has become pretty a doctrinal truth has become precious to me the transcendence of God versus the versus the imminence or the personal 'no son we pray to a transcendent god we pray to a god who is far off who is far greater than us a God who is far more holy than a so God whom is beyond what we can even imagine but we also pray to a personal God an imminent God a God who sees us in the very circumstances that we are in and so I think that's what David is is suggesting here by the use of the words my king and my god so yes God is a far off but God is also near us God is God is close to us and Yahweh is that redeeming God who is there for his people I just want you to turn your Bibles to Exodus chapter 3 just to give us that sense that God sees the the nitty-gritty of our lives God is not a God who is just a far-off and remains afar off God is a God who sees the nitty-gritty of our life and I'm going to read it's a Fredi lengthy passage but I want you to just you know as I read sense that that personal nosov God that this God who has redeemed Israel is also the same God who watches over us and and cares for us so Exodus chapter 3 verses 1 to 15 now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law the priest of Midian and he led the flock to the back of the desert and came to Horeb the mountain of God and the angels the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush so he looked and behold the bush was burning with fire but the bush was not consumed then Moses said I will now turn aside and see this great sight why the bush does not burn so when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look God called to him from the midst of the bush and said Moses Moses and he said Here I am then he said do not draw near this place take your sandals off your feet for the place where you stand is holy ground moreover he said I am the God of your father the God of Abraham the god of Isaac and the God of Jacob and Moses hid his face for he was afraid to look upon God and the Lord said I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters for I know their sorrows so I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land to a land flowing with milk and honey to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites in the amorite and the parasites and the Hivites and the Jebusites now therefore behold the cry of the children of Israel has come to me and I've also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them come now therefore and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people the children of Israel out of Egypt but Moses said to God Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and that I should bring the children of Israel out of Egypt so he said I will certainly be with you and this shall be assigned to you that I've sent you when you have brought the people out of Egypt you shall serve God on this mountain then Moses said to God indeed when I come to the chill of Israel and say to them the god of your father's has sent me to you and they say to me what is his name what shall I say then and God said to Moses I am Who I am and he said thus you shall say to the children of Israel I am has sent you has sent me to you moreover God said to Moses thus you shall say to the children of Israel the Lord God of your father's the God of Abraham the god of Isaac and the God of Jacob has sent me to you this is my name forever and this is my memorial to all generations so that is the God that we have with whom David is dealing with here in Psalm chapter five the God that we deal with as well Yahweh or God has brought David into a personal relationship with it with him that personal bond with himself and is on that basis that this Psalm that this prayer begins in Chapter five note how David describes his prayer in Chapter five it did it consists of first of all spoken words in in the first half of verse one all call it one I or one beat I'll refer to them as A's and B's one a give ear to my words O Lord so first of all prayer has to be words it can't just be you know Zen or some you know thinking thinking thoughts in our head it needs to be words or it can be words but also for an encouragement it can also mean in verse in verse one B it says in 1b consider my meditation that meditation there really means the word means signs or murmurings that it does psalm 39 verse three uses a very similar word if you just turn to psalm 39 verse three so that yes prayer can be words but prayer sometimes might just be murmurings might just be signs because that's a science is what I'm saying because that's all we can get out Psalm 39 verse three says my heart was hot within me while I was musing that's that word sign or meditation in our in our verse today in verse one be while I was musing the fire burned then I spoke with my tongue so distraught concerns of ours in our hearts are fraying are in our minds maybe that cannot be formulated into words well there's an encouragement here that Yahweh understands it you always understand those thoughts those concerns that perhaps are in your heart that are in your mind that we can't even formulate into words that's a good thing to know perhaps it's almost as though David knew you can turn it to you can turn to Romans 8 that it's probably a familiar passage I would quote it but I'd probably get it wrong so I'm going to look it up Romans 8:26 it's almost as though David knew that there is going to be a Romans 8:26 coming along in in a couple of a couple of thousand years Romans 8:26 says likewise the spirit also helps in our weaknesses for we do not know what we should pray for as we ought but the Spirit Himself makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered so same idea there as these murmurings as these as this meditation in verse one be that David speaks of so the psalmist comes with desperate words in verse two a it says into a give heed to the voice of my cry his prayers not calm it's not a sedate prayer it's but rather it's there's a sense of urgency right out of the gate give heed to the voice of my prayer of my of my prayer sorry of my of my voice they says or my cry give heed to the voice of my cry so there isn't there is a sense of urgency yet with with so much tension in the chapter already beginning in verse in verse two the the tension there he comes in the morning I will I will direct my I will direct my request where to God in verse three verse three my voice you shall hear in the morning so in the morning I will direct my requests so even with the turbulent times that David is in even with the difficulty he perhaps can't even put the things into words they're just in his in his heart or in head there beyond there beyond giving voice to he does seek to direct his request to God what is that word that verb direct mean it means to arrange to set in rows to lay out in an orderly fashion I found it interesting that over Leviticus if you turn to Leviticus chapter 1 a similar word is used because I think it helps us to formulate kind of an image in our mind what does it mean to to lay out our requests before before God or direct my requests so in Leviticus chapter 1 verse 7 and 8 this is the the burnt offering is being prepared the sons of Aaron the priest shall put fire on the altar and lay the wood in order that's the word lay the wood in order just imagine that wood being laid out in order on the fire the priest then the priest Aaron's sons shall lay the parts the head and the fat in order on the wood that is on the fire upon the altar so just as the the in the Old Testament the the the the sacrifice was laid out in an orderly way he's using the very same word verb here David is to lay out the requests before God leviticus 24 8 is the very it has used the same word if you just flip over to leviticus chapter 24 verse 8 he's using that same verb directing mike requests laying in order setting in rows laying out in an orderly fashion I'm going to read 24 8 of Leviticus which reads every Sabbath he obviously does God shall set it in order before the Lord continually being taken from the children of Israel by an everlasting covenant covenant so even our prayers should not be a scattered disorganized fashion as much as sometimes maybe they will be murmurings maybe there will be expressions that we cannot give voice to yeah there's a sense of preparing our prayer in an orderly fashion laid it out before God so in the same it just as the priests in the morning sacrifice they did it in an orderly fashion so David here is getting together and ordering his prayer he's preparing his prayer before before God often we may find ourselves you know in the chair you could if you visited other churches I'm not trying to diss other churches but sometimes certainly when you're in holidays I think it's good to go to other churches just to get a sense of what is out there what what people are experiencing and what you know what what what people are how they're worshiping and and so often it you you hear a sense of just Christian cliches being being being wrapped wrapped a rattled off yeah we just want to thank you Lord for being here we just want to enjoy your worship we just want to ask you Lord to really give us a good time in your presence we we you know help us to worship You Lord well there's just a sense of a cliche miss about that rather than we we really just might even say we just want to stop and worship You Lord you know we need to stop and ponder sometimes what does it really mean to worship in spirit and in truth as John 4:24 talks about worshiping in spirit and truth or as David is suggesting here laying out in an orderly fashion our prayers before God so we don't come in a in a in a haphazard way but we lay out our requests we lay out our petitions in an orderly in an orderly way eeehm bounds a a minister in the last in the 1800's he said what the church needs today is obviously speaking of the 1800s what the church needs today is not more machinery or better not new organizations or more novel methods but men whom the Holy Spirit can use men of Prayer men mighty in prayer so I thought I was a good good good suggestion to a good reminder that that's what we need in the church today we need man of Prayer men who can and women obviously I'm using the word generically but people who can lay out the requests lay out their petitions before God in an orderly manner we may need sometimes to revert to using written prayers I know that for some circles that might that might there might be an aversion certainly was in my heart when I have been to churches where there's written prayers being read out but sometimes I'm think the older I get the more I appreciate that maybe there's good reason for things like that certainly there's a book of book prayers it's called the pastor in prayers by CH Spurgeon it's a book of bound book just of his prayers and it's very edifying to just read those prayers there's a Matthew Henry has some prayers in a book that's bound it's called method for prayer the Puritans they have a bound book and their prayers are called the valley of vision and I'm going to read one read a prayer from the valley of vision so these are this is a Puritan prayer and it's for the Lord's Day it's a lord's day prayer and perhaps I think maybe for us to consider just that the the orderliness the way in which it's laid out might help to order our prayers and be beyond to edification for us perhaps maybe even just to prepare our own hearts for worship on the Lord's Day let me read this so this is the Lord's Day morning it's a Puritan prayer day and night are yours they are also mine from you the night to rid me of the cares of the day to refresh my weary body to renew my natural strength the day to summon me to new activities to give me opportunity to glorify you to serve my generation to acquire knowledge holiness eternal life but one day above all days is made especially for your honor and my improvement the Sabbath reminds me of your rest from creation of the resurrection of my Saviour of his entering into repose your house is mine but I am unworthy to meet you there and and am unfit for spiritual service when I enter it I come before you as a sinner condemned by conscience and your word for I'm still in the body and in the wilderness ignorant weak in danger and in need of your aid but encouraged by your all sufficient grace let me go to your house with a lively hope of meeting you knowing that there you will come to me and give me peace my soul is drawn out to you in longing desires for your presence in the sanctuary at the table where where all are satisfied on a feast of good things let me before the broken elements emblems of your dying love cry to you with broken heart for grace and forgiveness I long for that blissful communion of your people in your eternal house in the perfect Kingdom these are they that follow the lamb may I be of their company so there's a difference between prayer and drivel I think we can we can all identify with that and I'm not advocating eloquence in prayer that's a very eloquent prayer but I think it also is a very educating prayer as well it's a it's a prayer that I would hope all of us go to amen to say amen to and say yeah that's what that's that's my desire when I come to the Lord's house on a Sunday that's the desire of my heart and just to read that perhaps in your own don't quietly the own court your own quietness the quietness of your heart certainly I think that that would be beneficial to all of our souls so I certainly am not advocating eloquence in prayer but certainly want to reject thoughtlessness in prayer and verse 3 just back to our passage verse 3 in the morning I will set in order my requests to you well that's the first point is prepare our prayer be prepared in prayer prepare your prayer that comes before God secondly David gives a second direction that is no God no God note the connection to verses 1 2 3 4 you are reading verse 4 a for you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness these verses are the the reason for David's expectancy the verses verse verse 4 4 a is the reason for his expectancy in the first three verses now you know why is David watching expectantly in verse 3 see I will look up it says in the morning I will direct it to you and I will look up well there's obviously an expectancy there well because verse 4 for you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness he knows what God is like David knows God's character and he's immense he's immersing himself and we ought to immerse ourselves in know the character of God we're praying to God well let's know the character of God let's know the things that about God what does God love what does God hate and pray that we would love the things God loves and hate the things that God hates so we need to know the character of our God and what is God's character well David tells us as I say this is a tutorial in prayer and dave is going to go on and tell us a few points in regards to that character of God God does not delight in wickedness says that in verse 4 a for you and out of God who takes pleasure in wickedness verse 4 be nor shall evil dwell with you evil can never be a houseguest of God thirdly another character of God is arrogant men will never stand in his presence verse 5 a says the boastful shall not stand in your sight so so far you know is this is the way we would expect a holy God to be to not delight in wickedness to to to to where he cannot endure evil and where he would not endure arrogant men but it gets it gets more interesting Yahweh hates evil not only the evildoers are sorry not only the evil but the evil doers as well we're gonna see that in verse 5 B and 6 5 beasts as you hate all workers of iniquity you shall destroy those who speak falsehood the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man so we have no tame God here we do not have a team god we don't worship a team God look how vigorous God is in his righteousness it blows up the myth that well God loves this sinner but sorry God hates the sin but loves the sinner well that's not with this Verte that's not what these verses say it just blows that myth into into into smithereens God hates the sin loving the sinner no that's not what verse 5 B says it says you hate all workers of iniquity he doesn't detest merely bloodthirsty deeds but bloodthirsty men that's what it says in 6b the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful men so as we get to know this God that's what that's the point I'm on that we would know this God well this God is a God who abhors not just the sin but the sinner as well outside of Christ obviously we need we need to add that we don't pray to a bland God that's clear in this in this chapter as well as well Yahweh he has a certain character God or David knows that character and David knows what Yahweh loves and he knows what Yahweh hates and that's the it's this that gives David confidence that Yahweh will come to the rescue of his people if we know what God hates and what God loves then there's a sense of confidence in there that God will come to the rescue of his people so how does the knowledge how does the knowledge of God instruct us in our prayers well I have two points here that I'd like to cover first first off for one thing it infects our prayers with praise if we know our God it's God to affect our prayer with praise let's look back at verses 4 to 6 let me read 4 to 6 together for you are not a God who takes pleasure in wickedness nor shall evil dwell with you the boastful shall not stand in your sight you hate all workers of iniquity you shall destroy those who speak falsehood the Lord abhors the bloodthirsty and deceitful man so David is declaring you always character but in doing that he's at the same time praising Yahweh praising God for the way that he is there's a sense of praise there it's not it's not it's not dark and and negative but rather he's praising God for the character that he is and this is what we do in our call to worship on Sunday mornings why do we read a song why do we begin our worship services with a song well we're seeking to bring before the people of God the character of God and that's what that's why we read the Psalms that we that we read or any any passage out of the Word of God we read Isaiah this morning it's so that we might understand through the scriptures the character of our God so it might be worshippers of that God we might fill our consciences with a sense of who that God is so that's what we're doing when we begin our worship services we're declaring truths about the character of God and that's the purpose of our reading some traditions sometimes I know there's some some churches have a tradition of read certain confessions I was looking at the Belgic confession I thought yeah that would be a great thing other than I think nothing nothing is better than the Word of God I think pastor Butler schooled us in that so I would rather read the Word of God than the Belgic confession maybe for a private reading there's nothing wrong with reading the Belgic confession as I'm gonna read just a four lines here three three-and-a-half lines of the Belgic confession see if this doesn't instruct us in the knowledge of God so that we become worshipers of that God to God to whom we pray it says we all believe with the heart and confess with the mouth that there is only one God who is a simple and spiritual being he is eternal incomprehensible invisible immutable Infinite Almighty perfectly wise just good and the overflowing fountain of all good well contained in that I guess that's one sentence with a few add-ons is a tremendous amount of of knowledge of God of the character of God and so with these words are of the Belgic confession or with the words of some of the psalm we're looking at here today Psalm chapter 5 we're confessing our faith to be sure but we're also losing with praise regarding the character of God in these in these verses so that's what David is doing he's rehearsing the always character and in rehearsing his character he ultimately slips into praise and we can't help but do the same thing as we rehearse the character of God what's the what's the other thing that this that this knowledge of God how does it instruct our prayers well another bit of instructions we must we must know the God what God is like when we pray the character of God is the basis or the springboard of our prayer certainly I think if we were to you know go for a job interview I don't know what the at the Hershey Company and we went for that job interview and we knew nothing about chocolate we knew nothing about the Persia company probably that wouldn't be the best the best we wouldn't pass the interview very well we have we have to know something about who we're going before we might speak up chocolate or talk about how wonderful the Hershey Company is I trust they are good company I no idea just used as an example but we need to know something about that company to kind of in the interview say yeah we you know explain that we we know this about the men we admire that about them perhaps maybe a tech company if you're applying for a job at a tech company to go in and know nothing about technology they're probably not going to hire you but if I can explain yes I know this I know that and I know the other thing then more than likely that would you would stand a better chance of getting a job I know as a teacher certainly if a child were to come to me in the morning and say the my dog ate my homework well I wouldn't look too kindly upon them they would know my character and say I don't think he's gonna I don't think that's gonna pass I don't think he would he's gonna say oh sure no problem to just forget it and move on with the day no there would be consequences with that but if they came to me and said well look my mother you know is in the hospital my grandfather passed away just last week our home was a mess I didn't I didn't get to bed till midnight because we were busy mom in the hospital or something that some of the IFF well they hopefully would know my my steely outside know the inside there is there was a heart and I would hope that they would know that yeah he would probably say sure you know what don't don't worry about the homework you can just you can just carry on and and we can deal with it down the road so that whole idea of that that we would know the character of the person this is the case in prayer as well and I think for David in Psalm 5 here because David you know is in verses 4 to 6 David is making his his he can David can make his petitions for example in verses 10 to 11 I'm gonna read that because he knows of the character of God let's just read verses 10 to 11 and the idea here is that because he knows the character of God he can he can make his petitions in inver which comes later in later in the chapter says pronounce him guilty Oh God remember he knows the character of God and that's we just discussed earlier in regards to the God not being a God who who can who can stand boastfulness evildoers those who take pleasure wickedness because I know that about God I can now read that I can now make this make this pronouncement in verses 10 to 11 he says pronounce them guilty Oh God let them fall by their own councils cast them out of the multicast them out in the multitude of their transgressions for they have rebelled against you but let all those rejoice who put their trust in you let them ever shout for joy because you defend them let those also who loved your name be joyful in you so this is why we can pray for some of the world's governments too there are leaders to be overthrown because we know that God hates oppression God hates oppression in that versus in those verses 4 to 6 clearly God hates oppression so therefore we can pray against oppression we can pray against those governments that are oppressing God's people why would we even pray for Christians in hostile environments to be delivered unless you know that that it's the God who said here that that he he sees our he observes us and we saw X's as well he observes our every move he observes the details of our lives and so that is the God to whom we pray if you turn to your Bibles to Acts chapter 7 verse 34 it's actually a text out of Exodus it's repeated in acts I'll just read it out of Acts Acts chapter 7 verse 34 acts 734 says I have surely seen the oppression of my people who are in Egypt I've heard their groaning and have come down to deliver them and now come I will send you to Egypt that's the passage that we read earlier in in in in Exodus so certainly we need to know our God and that's what I think the psalmist here in in chapter 5 is is saying that that we do need to not not just prepare our prayers but we need to know the God to whom we are praying thirdly the time comes finally to make the request David is about to make his request to God and notice that it doesn't come till verses 7 to 9 the the the request of David and David's making his requests and he's going to make it on the basis of grace in verse 7 a and an attitude of reverence in 7 B first of all grace and that's the way our prayers need to be formulated as well informed with that sense of the knowing the grace of God but also having a sense of the fear and the reverence of God it says but I in seven-eighths in Phatak but i but as for me i will come into your house david has just testified what God hates in the previous verses verses 4 to 6 he hates evildoers he hate he hates bloodthirsty men he hates deceitful men and so therefore we might expect that that David might contrast to that his own self-righteousness he was a man after God's own heart why wouldn't he say in verse 7 but as for me well I am I'm I'm a godly man I'm not like those evildoers those bloodthirsty and deceitful men he doesn't in verse 7 a he says but as for me I will come into your house in the multitude of your mercy so he does not come based in his own religiosity but rather he comes on comes before God on the grace of God to the only on grace does he come and also fear verse 7 B it says in fear of you I will worship toward your holy temple as perfect balance here between the the David exercises a perfect balance II this reflects the the quality of of the psalmist worship and we're gonna quote one sentence here from Dale Ralph Davis on these two verses he says what a combination we have here in 7a we meet the welcome friendship and acceptance grace extends and yet 7b reflects the majesty the kingship and the trembling that fear knows glad welcome and trembling reverence together we see that in this in this as I say that almost like a a prayer tutorial of David and Reuben are tells a story about a Grecian painter who had produced a remarkable painting of a boy carrying a basket of grapes on his on his head it was so true to life so realistic that when the painting was displayed in the form the birds actually began pecking at the grapes thinking that they were they were real well as friends praised the painter but he was very displeased he said quote I should have done a great deal more I should have painted the boy so true to life that the birds would not have dared to come near in short he should have attracted them and repelled them all the same time and so so here David is is lured both by grace and yet sobered by fear he has just the right packaging here for worship now for the request notice the request is it's halfway through the psalm sometimes we jump right to request our prayer time goes right to asking God for things well David in this tutorial for prayer doesn't do that he waits till he's almost halfway through the psalm before he before he starts into his request which is verses eight and nine lead me O Lord in your righteousness because of my enemies make your way straight before my face for there is no faithfulness in their mouth the Rinne word part is destruction their throat is an open tomb they flatter with their tongue well David's request is lead me in your righteousness which is which is 8/8 what does that mean lead me in your righteousness lead me and the righteousness you require a mirror or the right way that you want me to go well certainly as I studied it out I would I would say that it means walking in godliness is even more important than walking safely David isn't is in the midst of something great we don't know exactly what it is what his difficulty is but it's difficult it's a messy situation it's a messy circumstance he doesn't pray for safety he doesn't pray for his own well-being rather he's praying for for godliness in these circumstances that he finds himself in and don't we find that life is sometimes just plain mucky is our desire sometimes to escape the muck of life or two or live a life that pleases Yahweh it pleases God in the midst of that mucky life as we were if we were to call it such maybe it's the New Testament equivalent this this this idea of I've lead me in your righteousness maybe the New Testament equivalent to to Matthew chapter 6 verse 13 a familiar verse to all of us when I read it it says do not lead us into temptation but deliver us from the evil one so again just that we're looking for deliverance that we're looking for the the not the circumstance even to be taken out of her way but that rather we would that our that our life would pleased God in the circumstances that he has put us in sometimes we don't know all the all the the details of our lives so I think of young people looking ahead you think of jobs and careers and families and and futures and perhaps all the dangers that we see in our in our own circumstances are as adults in this world all the pitfalls that fault that that lie before us and what precautions we should be taking as we head into life and and sometimes we may feel that in a crises there's no there's no solution there's there's there's no road ahead of us but verse eight comes along lead me O Lord in your righteousness that's what we can pray so whether you're a young person or an older person whether you're facing questions about jobs the future family whether you're in a very difficult circumstance a difficult home setting whatever the circumstance may be David doesn't itemize all the circumstances that we can use this text in he just says life is mucky life is messy life is very difficult but what can I pray what is my request lead me O Lord in your righteousness that's what we need to pray so we may think of a scenario such as a young woman may be being struck down with with cancer she's living or she's living a normal life all of a sudden she gets the news she's in a hospital award and she's got cancer very very difficult to circumstance to find oneself in maybe a very short time to live maybe children young children in the home and and there she her world has literally caved in around her decisions about the future needs to be made how would we pray for them how would we pray for ourselves well I trust that what prayer would make more sense then this prayer of verse eight a lead me O Lord in your righteousness whatever that means lead me O Lord in your righteousness so I trust that that's really that's David's request that's the extent of his request he doesn't go into detail he doesn't go into a lot of you know God do this this this this just lead me in your righteousness and leave and he left it at that so I trust that that would be a benefit for our instruction moving on to the last point declaring your confidence David's fourth direction here would be to to declare his confidence and that's found in the verses 10 to 12 as David continues in prayer I think we can see that his confidence is growing you may this afternoon want to reread this chapter and just have a sense that yeah David's confidence is growing as as the prayer continues it's a two-pronged petition he's praying against his and and Yahweh's enemies verse 10 pronounce them guilty Oh God let them fall by their own counsels cast them out in the multitudes of their transgressions for they have rebelled against you and as prayer is also for God's people that their joy for their joy and their protection in verse 11 but let all of all of those but let all those rejoice who put their trust in you let them ever shout for joy because you defend them let those also who love your name be joyful in you so God's people cannot enjoy security and and safety verse 11 unless at some point their enemies are taken out of the way verse 10 and certainly that may sound like a hard thing for us to say in the New Testament age but it is very truth the psalm of David's here is this true when he wrote it as it is today in our day and age I think of the situation relatively recently those fugitives in northern Manitoba the two young young kids from the island who had gone on ayane on a killing spree and and they were found to be somewhere in northern Manitoba the whole town though that the whole area was upset they couldn't rest they couldn't find peace there was a doors were locked we were the keeping children indoors even when they went on the road they were just always having their eyes open why because the the fugitives had not been had not been located had not been had not been dealt with and so in the same way when we know that we can't enjoy safety and security unless at some point we know that God takes those those enemies of ours out of our way not necessary enemies physically it could be enemies within our own heart and means within our own minds whatever it might be we think of Esther in Esther chapter 7 or I think of Esther and Esther chapter 7 remember that the people of Israel were under great difficulty they were under great siege they were all to be slaughtered but Esther stood and stood in the place where she was supposed to be and instead of Mordecai being hung on those gallows Haman was hung in those gallons so the enemy of Israel had to be taken out of the way and Haman was was that was put on the gallows and and the people of Israel escaped think of in Exodus excuse me Exodus chapter 14 Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea they were chasing the Israelites out of Egypt they were chasing them and about to about to execute them and and completely obliterate them and they could not have peace Israelites couldn't have peace until Pharaoh and all of his army were washed away in the in the Red Sea if we get turned for I have one other example of all have you turned your Bibles those were long passages but I think they do they do bring to our remembrance how God protected his his people and and we can have a holy confidence in our God if you turn to 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 as a New Testament example of this Paul is encouraging the the the early church of Thessalonica and he's declaring his confidence in the God who does and will protect and his encouragement to the Thessalonians so I'm gonna read it's actually verses 6 & 7 but I think to give a little bit of context I'm going to maybe start at verse 2 and I'll just read from 2 down to 7 we give thanks to God always for you all making Mensch making mention of you in our prayers remembering without ceasing your work of faith labor of love and patience of Hope in our Lord Jesus Christ in the sight of our God and Father knowing beloved brethren your election by God for our gospel did not come to you in word only but also in power and in the Holy Spirit and in much assurance as you know what kind of men we were among you for your sake sir you know I'm reading the wrong I'm reading first I knew something wasn't quite right I want second Thessalonians my apologies I was reading first I told you to turn to second and they appear in the same spot of my bubble so that's why I thought it was okay until this wasn't sounding right so I'm here to read verses three three to seven to give us some context we are bound to thank God always for you brethren as it is fitting because your faith grows exceedingly and the love of every one of you all abounds toward each other so that we ourselves boast of you among the Churches of God for your patience and faith in all your persecutions and tribulations that you endure which is manifest evidence of the righteous judgment of God that you may be counted worthy of the kingdom of God for which you also suffer since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels so there is we need to declare that confidence that's what David does here in this Psalm there's a there's a ruggedness in in the psalmist prayers here and it's it's also a ruggedness about true biblical piety it's okay to read those verses okay to pray those prayers against God's enemies why would we pray those prayers against God's enemies because we know the character of God we know God hates evil we know God abhors deceitful and bloodthirsty men can we turn to Psalm 98 Psalm 98 the verse 7 to 9 just find it here Psalm 98 7 to 9 that the psalmist here is ecstatic about Yahweh judging the world with righteousness Psalm 98 verses 7 to 9 says let the sea just let the sea roar and all its fullness the world and those dwell in it let the rivers clap their hands let the hills be joyful together before the Lord for he is coming to judge the earth with righteousness he shall judge the world and the people's with equity so certainly Yahweh is judging the world with with righteousness why because it means he will put things right and that's all from what David is praying for here that things would put right David's confidence confident assurance rests in verse 12 reading verse 12 of chapter 5 Psalm back in our song for you O Lord will bless the righteous with favor you will surround him with a shield David doesn't know how er when the answers to his prayers are going to are going to be worked out but he knows who will see to it he says for you that's an emphatic you he doesn't know how it's going to be worked out when it's gonna be worked out timelines our God doesn't work on our timelines we don't work on God's timelines but one thing he is certain of that it's God who will work things out for him and as to the individual that that this that that this is also about verse 12 reads for you O Lord will bless the righteous not the general population not general Christendom but you will bless the righteous and when I looked that word up it's it's a singular word it's not a plural that's it's a singular for your Lord will bless the righteous so if we are seeking to be righteous God will bless that God will God will own the prayers of the righteous I found an interesting phrase and in the at the end of verse 12 we're just about finished here at the end of verse 12 B it says with favor you will surround him as with a shield it shows the completeness of our protection surrounding with a shield although you think of a shield chilling you think of a shield you hold here it's a flat piece might have some slight curve on it but how can a shield surround as with a shield how can God's protect us around well Derrick kid kid nur an Old Testament scholar he says this in regards to this shield he says the word for shield us Sina refers not to the handheld but large body sized shield surrounds er wraps in with a shield refers to the closeness of Yahweh the verb wrapped round appears near the end of 1st Samuel 23 when saul almost has his meat hooks on david and his men saul on one side of the hill David and company on the other side of the hill David his men are hurrying to get away from Saul and Saul and his men were closing in on David and his men to nail them he had David surrounded completely surrounded he was rated to basically wrap him up oddly enough just at that moment a breathless messenger caught up with Saul with the news of a Philistine invasion saul had to let David go and go himself to defend his own country saul had been closing in but Yahweh was closer so the enemy cannot wrap us up when the all-way already has us wrapped around with his favor and i hope that when we go go away from here this day that we would consider the the the hope the promise of verse 12 that yahweh has us wrapped round with his shield one last story and then we're almost done there's a German theologian his name was Helmut Felix I'm gonna pronounce it helmet feel it have to talk to Claudia later if I got that pronunciation right he tells of an incident from his early school days when he was about 10 years of age he and his classmates had taken a dislike to another lad in the class Hans the boy's name exuded a kind of lackadaisical attitude towards studies and yet when asked a question in class he could spout off everything one might know about the matter for this and other quirks hans earned the ire that means the dislike the the hatred of Felix and his friends hence they decided that the whole bunch of them need to give Hans a thrashing that means I beat him up but on the morning set for the ambush a strange thing happened honza's father was walking with his son that day to school his father was one of the most highly respected men in town the gang noticed what happened when Hans and his father parted in front of the school they saw how Hans his father stroked his sons hair and patted his cheek when they parted then several times as they be as they both began to go their separate ways father and son would turn and wave at each other Felix said that he and his cohorts were very touched by the scene It was as if they came to a collective if unstated conclusion whoever was loved by such a father stood under a protective taboo and could not be molested they were gripped by an expression of awe and so Hans was spared that day one might say he was wrapped round by his father with a with a with a with favor almost like a shield so how that story you mind when you read this when you read this passage in in Psalm 5:12 or the passage in earlier that we spoke of in 1st Samuel 23 when David when Saul had to take off and left David he was protected by the shield of God so David ends his prayer here with a with the confidence that nothing can finally hurt the righteous for Yahweh's favor will always surround him so what do we do in the meantime we live in an arrogant deceitful lying world we face enemies without we face enemies within what do we do well I think we continue praying what we've been taught here in Psalm 5 verse 8 lead me O Lord in your righteousness so that's the best thing we can pray for ourselves that's the best thing we can pray for one another ear regards to the circumstances irregardless of the difficulties pray that that that we would continue as verse eight says lead me O Lord in your righteousness well I trust that we have been instructed in by David's tutorial in prayer to prepare our prayer to know our God to make our requests and then to declare that conference that confidence in God when we go to him in prayer as we from this David said tutorial in prayer well let's pray our gracious and our loving Heavenly Father we praise you father that you are a kind God you are good God you are merciful God and how we pray for one another father that you would be pleased to to to cause us to be led in righteousness whatever that might mean for each and every each and each individual here this morning father we do pray earnestly that you would lead each of us in your righteousness cause us father have a holy confidence in you a holy confidence in in in in our God in our Yahweh we pray Lord that you would teach us of yourself teach us to love the things that you love and hate the things you hate that we would know your character father we would want to declare your character in praise and worship in our prayer life so Lord instruct us we do pray not just for this hour but for the rest of this day and into next week we pray Lord that you would be pleased to cause us to be a praying people the people who seek your honor and your glory in all circumstances and we just give you our grateful thanks and pray your blessing in Jesus precious name Amen well please turn with me your hem books to him number 568 568 where and we'll close in this worship him [Music] remember let's just close again father we praise you that you are a God of great mercy and we pray that you would be pleased to take us each home this day safely to our homes and we praise you father for the blessing of having your word and we pray that you would hide your word in our hearts and our minds and cause us to think your thoughts after you and we pray that you would be honored and you'd be glorified and praised and worshiped by the people in this place this day and we pray these things in Jesus precious name Amen well you may be seated and we'll we'll be dismissed when the when the hit when the piano has finished playing